The economy’s in a meltdown, the troops are still fighting with no end in sight, but Elaine Donnelly and the The Center for Military Readiness have a laser focus on important matters. She is well aware that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is likely to go by the wayside, particularly if Obama is elected, and because the polling shows that most Americans in and out of the military see no good reason why gays and lesbians cannot openly serve.
The handwriting is on the wall for CMR, so what to do? Well, the doyenne of discrimination has decided to do a little Black Ops meeting with veterans service organizations (VSOs) to figure out how to turn up the Homosexual Terror Alert. Fortunately Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) received the secret memorandum on this briefing, and
you’ve got to read the cloak and dagger BS. I’ve obtained a scan of the memo and transcribed it for your reading pleasure.
Because I admire your organization’s work in support of our nation’s armed forces, I am writing to ask you a question. The determined campaign to repeal the 1993 law stating that homosexuals are not eligible to serve in the military is gaining ground. In this critical battle over the culture of our military—the only one we have—do you care who wins?
Homosexual activists are pushing hard to impose their agenda on our military, regardless of the impact on morale and discipline. They are pleased that pro-defense and veterans organizations, which helped to pass the law in 1993, appear to be missing from the field this time. Organizations such as the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network and the ACLU are well-funded and politically powerful, even though they have no arguments that withstand scrutiny.
Given your organization’s long-standing commitment to military readiness and the high standards and sound policy that promotes it, I hope I can count on you in joining CMR to defend the law regarding homosexual conduct in the military. We need to talk about what can be done, and why, face to face.
I am writing to invite you and other concerned organizations’ leaders to a private, off-the-record briefing to discuss this critically important national security issue. Please join us at the CMR office in Washington DC:
Date: Thursday, October 2, 2008
Where: CMR Conference Room, 1615 L Street, NW, Suite 650
Time: 12:00-2:30 PM (Light lunch will be served)
RSVP: Executive Director Tommy Sears, 202/347/5333, tommy@cmrlink.org
Due to this issue’s urgency, this invitation is not transferrable to casual observers, interns or other non-executive support staff. This PowerPoint briefing, which includes short video excerpts of the July 23 House Armed Services Committee hearing on gays in the military, will cover everything you need to know to provide the type of principled, engaged leadership that only you can give. I would welcome new ideas and commitment that could turn the situation around.
We are not without advantages. On our side we have the 1993 law, several court decisions declaring the law constitutional (the most recent in June, 2008), credible facts, common sense, and, I believe, majority support among men and women in uniform.
There are so many outlandish things about this memo and Donnelly’s bluster, considering the sitcom-worthy performance she gave earlier this year at the House hearings on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. More below the fold.
This is no tin-foil hattery, it comes to us from an Army Times article. Of course it starts off sounding like a benign effort to secure the homeland, but don’t you think this unprecedented move in the hands of someone like Bush (or hot-tempered McCain—or worse, fundie Palin) could lead to disaster?
The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling in full battle rattle, helping restore essential services and escorting supply convoys.
Now they’re training for the same mission — with a twist — at home.
Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.
[T]his new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities.
Training for this permanent domestic assignment includes how to use the Jaws of Life, medical training, and skills to clear a road of trees and debris. And then this aside about the unit that will be known as CBRNE Consequence Management Response Force, or CCMRF (pronounced “sea-smurf”).
The 1st BCT’s soldiers also will learn how to use “the first ever nonlethal package that the Army has fielded,” 1st BCT commander Col. Roger Cloutier said, referring to crowd and traffic control equipment and nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals without killing them.
“It’s a new modular package of nonlethal capabilities that they’re fielding. They’ve been using pieces of it in Iraq, but this is the first time that these modules were consolidated and this package fielded, and because of this mission we’re undertaking we were the first to get it.”
The package includes equipment to stand up a hasty road block; spike strips for slowing, stopping or controlling traffic; shields and batons; and, beanbag bullets.
...They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack.
Weigh in folks; do you trust that CCMRF will always be deployed with positive intentions by our commander in chief?
On the Strickland campaign, one of our daily traditions was to judge each day as either a feather in our cap or a black eye. Net positive day was a feather, net negative was a black eye. Unfortunately, we lacked a symbol for repeatedly kicking ourselves in the crotch.
The latest salvo: A statement from Michael J. Durant, the retired Army helicopter pilot who was shot down over Somalia in the incident that would later be made famous in the book and move, “Black Hawk Down.”
“Over the last week, Barack Obama made time in his busy schedule to hold a rally with 200,000 Germans in Berlin, hold a press conference with French President Nicholas Sarkozy in Paris, and hold a solo press conference in front of 10 Downing Street in London. The Obama campaign had also scheduled a visit with wounded U.S. troops at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, but this stop was canceled after it became clear that campaign staff, and the traveling press corps, would not be allowed to accompany Senator Obama.
“I’ve spent time at Ramstein recovering from wounds received in the service of my country, and I’m sure that Senator Obama could have made no better use of his time than to meet with our men and women in uniform there. That Barack Obama believes otherwise casts serious doubt on his judgment and calls into question his priorities.”
Besides the fact that this has been explained repeatedly, McCain insists on hammering it to death. And every time he does, it just makes him look worse. There is, of course, the ad he ran saying Obama skipped visiting troops to go visit troops. But there’s also his insistence on toting out veterans to not only lie, but to, quite frankly, embarrass their own record of service by attacking a politician for respecting the Pentagon’s rules and not bringing political operatives to a military hospital. The “analysis”, of course, is only good for McCain:
Dana Milbank at the WaPo delivers a stunning and accurate smackdown to the misguided, misleading and unhinged Elaine Donnelly of The Center for Military Readiness, who testified at yesterday’s House Armed Services personnel subcommittee hearing on the law known as Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
Donnelly treated the panel to an extraordinary exhibition of rage. She warned of “transgenders in the military.” She warned that lesbians would take pictures of people in the shower. She spoke ominously of gays spreading “HIV positivity” through the ranks.
“We’re talking about real consequences for real people,” Donnelly proclaimed. Her written statement added warnings about “inappropriate passive/aggressive actions common in the homosexual community,” the prospects of “forcible sodomy” and “exotic forms of sexual expression,” and the case of “a group of black lesbians who decided to gang-assault” a fellow soldier.
At the witness table with Donnelly, retired Navy Capt. Joan Darrah, a lesbian, rolled her eyes in disbelief. Retired Marine Staff Sgt. Eric Alva, a gay man who was wounded in Iraq, looked as if he would explode.
As I said in my post yesterday, the doyenne of discrimination (who has no military background and zero qualifications of any kind to speak with authority on the subject), actually helps our cause—she had nothing to offer except fear-mongering that was ratcheted so high that Donnelly drew laughter from the gallery. I’m sure from her POV she was successfully laying out her case that The Homosexual Agenda will ruin the military.
The fact of the matter is that America—
hell, the world
—got to see the public face of the supporters of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and what they saw, in all its glory, was untethered madness.
Rep. Vic Snyder (D-Ark.) labeled her statement “just bonkers” and “dumb,” and he called her claims about an HIV menace “inappropriate.” Said Snyder: “By this analysis . . . we ought to recruit only lesbians for the military, because they have the lowest incidence of HIV in the country.”
...”Like a woman who is stared at, her breasts are stared at,” Donnelly explained. She further explained the “absolutely devastating” effect of homosexuals “introducing erotic factors” and made a comparison to Sen. Larry Craig’s adventure at the Minneapolis airport. She said admitting gays to the military would be “forced cohabitation” and a policy of “relax and enjoy it.”
[Pennsylvania Congressman Patrick] Murphy puffed his cheeks with air to calm himself.
Thanks, Elaine. You (along with The Peter) are saving us all some lobbying time. Let’s return to the videotape of Elaine’s award-worthy performance. It’s below the fold.
openly serving will lead to TEH GAY SECKS, foe of all things homosexual, Peter LaBarbera, chose to illustrate his post with a graphic pulled from a site dedicated to military man-on-man porno. So while Elaine Donnelly is fixated on rampant “lesbian assaults” that will naturally occur on unsuspecting enlisted women if DADT is repealed, LaBarbera has other visions in mind.
Jeremy of G-A-Y noted that The Peter must have been engaging in deep research to locate the image, since “after digging for about half an hour, the only place we could track it down is on a site called ‘Gay Pervs,’ which is a links list to all kinds of porn sites.”
Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, testified at today’s House Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee’s hearings on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and if I were on the side of the folks who want to continue the ban on gays and lesbians openly serving, I’d lock her up for the duration. She was literally laughed at during the proceedings, the room erupting at her lunacy, which included visions of rampant “lesbian assaults” and contorted gay sex on submarines if the ban was lifted. But she was ready for her closeup. Look at her ridiculous testimony (courtesy of HRC; Chris Johnson liveblogged it):
3:00 - CJ: Questions from the subcommittee members. Arkansas Congressman Vic Snyder (D) admonishes Donnelly for unnecessarily bringing up HIV in her testimony and tells her that, ironically, by her logic, she should only want to let lesbians into the military. Loud laughter all around. (Meanwhile, that old woman is stern-faced….)
2:35: CJ - Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness is speaking. There is an audible burst of laughter when Donnelly throws in a “San Francisco left” phrase just for dramatic effect. Another guffaw from the crowd when Donnelly expresses her concern over gay men sharing a “cramped submarine” with other soldiers.
OMG: There is on older lady in the room who just turned around to the room brimming with youngsters and issued the warning, “Show respect while she speaks!” She looks right at me when she finishes. WELL OKAY!
The room keeps laughing at Donnelly’s outrageous statements. The older woman is obviously losing this fight. “They’re just disrespectful people!” she hisses.
“Equal opportunity is important, but the needs of our military must come first,” are Donnelly’s closing words. I guess the words from generals and veterans who have actually served in the military don’t mean anything to her, huh?
Donnelly, btw, has never served in the military, and admits she has no qualifications or expertise on sexuality. WTF is she doing up there, then? Is this the best the fossils on the Right can do?
John McCain’s “intolerable risk” position on gays and lesbians openly serving is tired, bigoted and out of step with boots on the ground and the American public. Look at the latest figures from this Washington Post-ABC News poll (July 10-13, 2008):
Seventy-five percent of Americans in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll said gay people who are open about their sexual orientation should be allowed to serve in the U.S. military, up from 62 percent in early 2001 and 44 percent in 1993.
Majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents alike now believe it is acceptable for openly gay people to serve in the U.S. armed forces. Shortly after he took office in 1993, Clinton faced strong resistance to his campaign pledge to lift the military’s ban on allowing gay people to enlist. At that time, 67 percent of Republicans and 75 percent of conservatives opposed the idea. A majority of independents, 56 percent, and 45 percent of Democrats also opposed changing the policy.
...While 71 percent of veterans said gay people who do not declare themselves as such should be allowed to serve, that number drops sharply, to 50 percent, for those who are open about their sexuality. Non-veterans, by contrast, are as likely to support those who “tell” as those who do not.
McCain, again, is living in the past when you see defenses of DADT like this:
In 2007, McCain responds to a question by CBS5’s Hank Plante about the “intolerable risk statement” (below) in light of polling that runs counter to his illogical position:
“Because our military leaders tell us it would hurt morale and discipline…” blah, blah, blah.
Plante: “Your predecessor in the Senate, Barry Goldwater, didn’t feel that way…you are kind of at odds with that.”
McCain: “I would assume so; Barry has now passed away, it’s hard for me to ask him.”
I would love for McCain to stand in a room with retired Marine Sgt. Eric Alva, the first American service member injured in Iraq, who lost a leg on March 21, 2003 when he tripped a landmine that he is an intolerable risk.
Darren Manzella, the Army Sergeant who appeared on 60 Minutes with Lesley Stahl to tell his story of coming out of the closet to his colleagues and commanding officer, and who served openly in Kuwait without incident, has now been discharged under the absurd Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. The Pentagon has decided that it was time to boot yet another decorated service member from its ranks not simply for being gay—but for exposing the fact that the boots and the ground and most COs don’t give a damn about someone’s sexual orientation. (SLDN):
“The discharge of battle-tested, talented service members like Sergeant Manzella weakens our military in a time of war. National security requires that Congress lift the ban on gays in the military and allow commanders to judge troops on their qualifications, not their sexuality,” said Adam Ebbin, Communications Director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN).
SLDN reports that a growing number of service members are also serving openly without incident. The organization is aware of more than 500 troops who are ‘out’ to their colleagues and, in some cases, their commands.
Sergeant Manzella said, “My sexual orientation certainly didn’t make a difference when I treated injuries and saved lives in the streets of Baghdad. It shouldn’t be a factor in allowing me to continue to serve.”
Manzella, 30, enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2002 and was twice deployed to the Middle East in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. While under fire on the streets of Baghdad, he provided medical care to his fellow soldiers, Iraqi National Guardsmen and civilians. He was awarded the Combat Medical Badge, and also received several other awards recognizing his courage and service.
Manzella, who was the recipient of the Barry Winchell Courage Award at this year’s SLDN annual dinner for telling his story, discussed DADT in his acceptance speech. It’s below the fold, along with an interview I conducted with Manzella, and John McCain’s “intolerable risk” letter on DADT.
The economy’s in a meltdown, the troops are still fighting with no end in sight, but Elaine Donnelly and the The Center for Military Readiness have a laser focus on important matters. She is well aware that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is likely to go by the wayside, particularly if Obama is elected, and because the polling shows that most Americans in and out of the military see no good reason why gays and lesbians cannot openly serve.Because I admire your organization’s work in support of our nation’s armed forces, I am writing to ask you a question. The determined campaign to repeal the 1993 law stating that homosexuals are not eligible to serve in the military is gaining ground. In this critical battle over the culture of our military—the only one we have—do you care who wins?
On the Strickland campaign, one of our daily traditions was to judge each day as either a feather in our cap or a black eye. Net positive day was a feather, net negative was a black eye. Unfortunately, 
Dana Milbank at the 
