Bubye and good riddance Don't Ask Don't Tell!

[Siggie]

Source

Equality In The Military: Religious Right Suffers Setback In Its Campaign For Theocracy

Today gay men and women are serving openly in the U.S. military, marking another milestone in the march toward equal rights for all Americans. And needless to say, Religious Right leaders aren’t happy.

Tony Perkins at the Family Research Council groused that the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” means the U.S. military has become “a tool in reshaping social attitudes regarding human sexuality.” He asserted that the change will “only do harm to the military’s ability to fulfill its mission.”

Over at Focus on the Family, Karla Dial warned darkly that the new policy raises questions “about freedom of religion and speech in the military — and commanders’ abilities to do their jobs.”

Ron Crews, executive director of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, worried that chaplains might not be allowed to reject openly gay soldiers who offer to teach Sunday school or turn away same-sex couples who want to take part in a military marriage retreat.

“Will that chaplain be able to say ‘no’?” Crews asked in an interview with the Associated Press. “Based on my theological understanding, [homosexual behavior] is a sin and if you’re unrepentant in that sin that disqualifies you from being a Sunday school teacher.”

In fact, all of these “concerns” are merely manufactured hysteria reflecting the Religious Right’s ongoing desire to impose its doctrines on the U.S. military. Top service personnel have assured Congress and the troops that this change will not affect the readiness of our military or negatively impact the rights of any soldier, including chaplains.

“From this day forward, gay and lesbian soldiers may serve in our Army with the dignity and respect they deserve,” said Secretary of the Army John M. McHugh and other Army officials in a statement. “For over 236 years, the U.S. Army has been an extraordinary force for good in the world. Our soldiers are the most agile, adaptable and capable warriors in history — and we are ready for this change.”

McHugh didn’t quote Barry Goldwater, the father of the modern conservative movement, but he could have. Goldwater famously said of this issue, “”
You don’t have to be straight to be in the military; you just have to be able to shoot straight.”

President Barack Obama issued a statement heralding the change and assuring Americans that the dire consequences predicted by the Religious Right and its allies will not happen.

“I was proud to sign the Repeal Act into law last December,” said the commander-in-chief, “because I knew that it would enhance our national security, increase our military readiness, and bring us closer to the principles of equality and fairness that define us as Americans…. Today, every American can be proud that we have taken another great step toward keeping our military the finest in the world and toward fulfilling our nation’s founding ideals.”

Equality and fairness.
Those are concepts that are foreign to the forces of the Religious Right. They prefer intolerance and theocracy. But in a nation built on the separation of church and state, they cannot and must not prevail.

Obama: Americans No Longer Have to Lie to Serve

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Sept. 20, 2011 – President Barack Obama today issued a statement on the repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law that had barred gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the military.

The repeal took effect at midnight.

Here is the president’s statement:

Today, the discriminatory law known as ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ is finally and formally repealed. As of today, patriotic Americans in uniform will no longer have to lie about who they are in order to serve the country they love. As of today, our armed forces will no longer lose the extraordinary skills and combat experience of so many gay and lesbian service members. And today, as Commander in Chief, I want those who were discharged under this law to know that your country deeply values your service.

I was proud to sign the Repeal Act into law last December because I knew that it would enhance our national security, increase our military readiness, and bring us closer to the principles of equality and fairness that define us as Americans. Today’s achievement is a tribute to all the patriots who fought and marched for change; to Members of Congress, from both parties, who voted for repeal; to our civilian and military leaders who ensured a smooth transition; and to the professionalism of our men and women in uniform who showed that they were ready to move forward together, as one team, to meet the missions we ask of them.

For more than two centuries, we have worked to extend America’s promise to all our citizens. Our armed forces have been both a mirror and a catalyst of that progress, and our troops, including gays and lesbians, have given their lives to defend the freedoms and liberties that we cherish as Americans. Today, every American can be proud that we have taken another great step toward keeping our military the finest in the world and toward fulfilling our nation’s founding ideals.

[bell-the-cat]

Re: Bubye and good riddance Don't Ask Don't Tell!

"Americans United" - no such thing exists! All you have are lots of groups of Americans united in their hatred of lots of other groups of Americans, and eager to classify all Americans as either "one of us" or "one of them".

[Haykakan]

Re: Bubye and good riddance Don't Ask Don't Tell!

good

[Siggie]

Re: Bubye and good riddance Don't Ask Don't Tell!

"Americans United" - no such thing exists! All you have are lots of groups of Americans united in their hatred of lots of other groups of Americans, and eager to classify all Americans as either "one of us" or "one of them".

Yes, yes... It's Americans that are united in their desire for separation of church and state (i.e. following the constitution).

Membership in any group would create an in-group/out-group situation...
At least this is non-Armenian criticism? Maybe it'll be better received?

[bell-the-cat]

Re: Bubye and good riddance Don't Ask Don't Tell!

Yes, yes... It's Americans that are united in their desire for separation of church and state (i.e. following the constitution).

Membership in any group would create an in-group/out-group situation...
At least this is non-Armenian criticism? Maybe it'll be better received?

I don't think a gardening group would hold that everyone who is not a member of that gardening group is either 100% against them, and thus intent on destroying every green thing in the country, or 100% for them, and thus willing to support compulsory lifetime gardening classes for every citizen. But that's the way it seems to be with politics in America. The only thing that unites them is that they all proclaim to be following/defending the constitution.

[Siggie]

Re: Bubye and good riddance Don't Ask Don't Tell!

I don't think a gardening group would hold that everyone who is not a member of that gardening group is either 100% against them, and thus intent on destroying every green thing in the country, or 100% for them, and thus willing to support compulsory lifetime gardening classes for every citizen. But that's the way it seems to be with politics in America. The only thing that unites them is that they all proclaim to be following/defending the constitution.

Gardening as a common interest would be enough to create the in/out-group thing. I don't think that all of these groups have that mentality either. That's a gross generalization; certainly people can be ambivalent or apathetic. Americans have mastered apathy.

[KanadaHye]

Re: Bubye and good riddance Don't Ask Don't Tell!

Yes, yes... It's Americans that are united in their desire for separation of church and state (i.e. following the constitution).

Membership in any group would create an in-group/out-group situation...
At least this is non-Armenian criticism? Maybe it'll be better received?

Does it say anywhere in the constitution about separation of synagogue and state?

[Siggie]

Re: Bubye and good riddance Don't Ask Don't Tell!

Does it say anywhere in the constitution about separation of synagogue and state?

Yes, "establishment of religion" covers that too.

[KanadaHye]

Re: Bubye and good riddance Don't Ask Don't Tell!

Yes, "establishment of religion" covers that too.

Somebody is doing a sh!tty job pointing it out.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."

I don't see anywhere about separation of church and state. All it says is that Congress shouldn't favour any single religion over another.

[bell-the-cat]

Re: Bubye and good riddance Don't Ask Don't Tell!

Gardening as a common interest would be enough to create the in/out-group thing. I don't think that all of these groups have that mentality either. That's a gross generalization; certainly people can be ambivalent or apathetic. Americans have mastered apathy.

What you call "apathy" is more likely to be disgust at the extremists on both "sides" (and the "sides" are invented and talked-up by those same extremists). So, in America it seems you can't be neutral/apathetic/disgusted/apolitical anymore. (Reminds me a bit of the old Northern Irish joke - an athiest visits Ulster, when there he is asked what his religion is and he replys he is an athiest. "But are you a Catholic athiest or a Protestant athiest?" he is then asked.)

Look how each side does its best to heap contempt on the other - there is no attempt at making an argument that might persuade. It is all just preaching to the fanatical believer and demonising the non-believer. This applies just as much to the writings of the "Right" as that from the "Left".

"needless to say Religious Right leaders aren't happy".
Make out that your enemies don't think, that they just respond like animals acting out of instinct. Make their individual viewpoints and informal groupings into an sinister unified organisation through use of capitals (I am unaware that there is any such organisation called "Religious Right"). make it clear that anyone who is not 100% in agreement with you must be part of this sinister "Religious Right".

"Karla Dial warned darkly"
"Ron Crews, executive director of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, worried"
"all of these 'concerns' are merely manufactured hysteria"
Trivialise your opponents concerns - they are sub-human, don't have genuine concerns like real humans, are not fit to have views and are not intelligent enough to think. (Seems they are just a bunch of weak women, what with their worries, their hysteria, their dark depressions).


"President Barack Obama issued a statement heralding the change."
As in angels herading the Messiah? (Regardess of the facts that said Messiah now has more Americans abroad to kill or die than even George Bush junior had).

"Today, every American can be proud that we have taken another great step toward keeping our military the finest in the world and toward fulfilling our nation's founding ideals.
More of the obligatory " we are following/defending the constitution" stuff.

"Equality and fairness. Those are concepts that are foreign to the forces of the Religious Right. They prefer intolerance and theocracy".
Translation: Measured arguments and acceptance, these are concepts that are foreign to the forces of the I'm Right. We prefer intolerance and theocracy.