Congress Votes to Repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell

The United States Senate votes 65-31 to end the policy of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. The House had already voted to repeal it. The President has said he will await it to come to his desk so that he can sign it.

It's done. It was done by an Act of Congress, and the President's path - to get it ended by an Act of Congress - has paid off.

If anyone can send me a link to an embeddable clip of John Lewis and his speech on this on the House floor, I would appreciate. Lewis was fabulous.

from The Daily Dish

Obama's Long Game: 65 - 31

18 Dec 2010 03:45 pm

Do gay activists, including myself, want to doubt it now? Of course, it's my job to push, to criticize, to explain, to shame, to encourage. But I did so precisely to advance what has happened today, and am glad that it was a small part of the climate that made it happen. I reiterate what I wrote barely a week ago:

It seems to me the events of the last month or so reveal that the Obama administration has finally delivered the goods for the military, which is hobbled by this dated, counter-productive policy, and for the gay community, by moving the issue deliberately through the Congress before the executive branch or the judicial branch.

Like 2009's removal of the HIV ban, which was as painstakingly slow but thereby much more entrenched, this process took time. Without the Pentagon study, it wouldn't have passed. Without Obama keeping Lieberman inside the tent, it wouldn't have passed. Without the critical relationship between Bob Gates and Obama, it wouldn't have passed. It worked our last nerve; we faced at one point a true nightmare of nothing ... for years. And then we pulled behind this president, making it his victory and the country's victory, as well as ours.

We also know now what a McCain administration would have done: nothing. The disgraceful bitterness and rancor and irrationality that the Senator has shown these past few months reveal just how important it was to defeat him and his deranged, delusional side-kick in 2008.

Here's the presidential statement:

Today, the Senate has taken an historic step toward ending a policy that undermines our national security while violating the very ideals that our brave men and women in uniform risk their lives to defend.

By ending Don't Ask, Don't Tell, no longer will our nation be denied the service of thousands of patriotic Americans forced to leave the military, despite years of exemplary performance, because they happen to be gay. And no longer will many thousands more be asked to live a lie in order to serve the country they love.

As Commander-in-Chief, I am also absolutely convinced that making this change will only underscore the professionalism of our troops as the best led and best trained fighting force the world has ever known. And I join the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as the overwhelming majority of service members asked by the Pentagon, in knowing that we can responsibly transition to a new policy while ensuring our military strength and readiness.

I want to thank Majority Leader Reid, Senators Lieberman and Collins and the countless others who have worked so hard to get this done. It is time to close this chapter in our history. It is time to recognize that sacrifice, valor and integrity are no more defined by sexual orientation than they are by race or gender, religion or creed. It is time to allow gay and lesbian Americans to serve their country openly. I urge the Senate to send this bill to my desk so that I can sign it into law.

The President Is Just Cleaning up the Congressional Democrats Mess..

According to the U.S. Constitution, there are three different branches of government: Executive, Judicial, Legislative. Each branch has its own responsibilities.

If you listen to the howling from Congressional Democrats , one would think that the deal the President cut with the GOP just dropped out of the sky, and he just strolled on into negotiations with them, without any CONTEXT whatsoever.

Here's the thing.

The President might have gotten a better deal, hell, he might not have had to make a deal at all..

IF CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS HAD TAKEN CARE OF BUSINESS.

It was Congressional Democrats who didn't do squat about the 99ers. They've known about them for months...how do I know that? Because I heard rant upon rant from Ed Schultz about this topic.

The extension of unemployment benefits was no surprise either for Congressional Democrats. At any time, with a majority in the House, and Senate, they could have done unemployment benefit extensions.

Now, we get to the tax cuts.

Was the President the only person in Washington that knew that the tax cuts were going to expire and a vote needed to be taken on them?

Ummm......NOPE.

The Congressional Democrats were asked to vote on the tax cuts and make them an issue for the fall elections - by the President - in September.

They could have decoupled the tax issue between those making less than $250,000 and those making more than $250,000. They could have done an up or down vote on the tax issue BEFORE November 2010.

But, they didn't.

Not only did they not, but now, we're getting a list of Congresscritters who weaseled their way to the White House, begging off a vote on the tax issue.

So, the DEMOCRATS in Congress FAIL to live up to their legislative responsibilities. They chose NOT to vote on Unemployment Extensions. They chose NOT to add another tier to take care of the 99ers (which is the only part of the President's deal that I disagree with entirely). They chose NOT to vote on the tax cuts by decoupling them. They chose NOT to vote on them at the beginning of the lame duck session. They chose NOT to ram through their proposal on the Estate Tax that they've had on the table for at least a year.

So, they chose NOT to do all those things.

AND, now, they have the NERVE to be yelping like a beaten dog when the President steps in and tries to clean up their neglect. Their mess.



I've been listening to so-called pundits all over tv too, White and Black, and they've lost their minds too. Watched Roland Martin this past Sunday, and listening to his panel, and them talking about how the President folded, and how the Republicans were going to ' have to come around' when it came to unemployment extensions, my only thought was, as I restrained myself from throwing something at the tv:

Have those Negroes been watching the same GOP?

IN WHAT WORLD do they think that the GOP was going to 'come around' to unemployment benefits extension?

IN WHAT WORLD?

I am not part of the national media political complex whose livelihoods depend on perpetuating the DELUSION that there are two parties that genuinely want to work in Washington.

Simply put - that's a fucking lie.

You have the Democrats - with all their imperfections.

And, then you have a bunch of soulless, without a conscience, would sell their Mama for a buck, and would feed us all to Corporate America if it deposited a check in their bank accounts - Republicans.

THAT is who they are.

That family in Tennessee that lost their home because they didn't pay a $75 fee, and had the fire department stand there and watch their house BURN TO THE GROUND - THAT is the essence of the Republican 'Lord of the Flies' mentality.

The creation of DEATH PANELS IN Arizona, killing off Medicaid Transplant Patients, so as to fund a tax break for the rich -- THIS is who the GOP IS.

I am not part of those who think that the GOP has a point about ANYTHING. People have a point, when they are willing to express humanity towards their fellow man.

THAT is NOT the GOP.

When I hear DELUSIONISTS like Congressman Anthony Weiner get on Rev. Al's show and have the nerve to criticize the President and this deal, and when Rev. Al called him on the deal that Congressional Democrats would put together, he said he HOPED that they could do better.

HOPE?

2 MILLION PEOPLE would be without unemployment benefits and this man HOPED that the Congressional Dems could do better?

PRETENDING that the GOP would lose ANY sleep about cutting off unemployment benefits is a DELUSION that angers me. Playing chicken with people without a conscience is a losing proposition.

Here is what Senator Jim DeMint says about unemployment benefits:

Commentary: DeMint's attitude towards jobless is cruel
.................................
Yes, if there was ever a moment in this recession that underscored the growing “let them eat cake” attitude of some, it came during a radio interview Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina gave the other day.

Vowing to fight any attempt to deny the rich anything less than a permanent income tax cut, DeMint said he opposed extending jobless benefits to the long-term unemployed, especially if it added to the debt.

Even then, unemployment compensation ought to be turned into a loan program, he said.

“It then encourages people to go back to work,” DeMint said.

Yes, sir. If only those lazy bums collecting jobless benefits had to repay the government aid they’re squandering on food, gas and lodging, then maybe they’d get off their fat butts and find work.

I haven't heard JACK about anyone criticizing DeMint, and IMO, SILENCE=CONSENT.

Here's another one from Big Pharma himself:

The Daily Bile Of Limbaugh
14 Dec 2010 10:36 am

Sometimes the hackery is so blatant it's amusing. Here's a December 10 classic:

The unemployed are being treated as virtuous. They are being treated to further payments while not working, now up to three years. You're seeing more and more Democrats come out and actually wage war on the rich; wage war on working people; wage war on creative people; wage war on the people that provide jobs; wage war on the productive people of this country. You see it now. It's been a little bit more abstract, but now these guys lost the election, and the mask is off and you are seeing the genuine Marxists that they are, you're seeing it, and you're seeing the venom that's attached to 'em. I mean they look at what happened to Charlie Rangel as fair. You know, there's an all-out war against productive self-reliant people in this country by the Democrat Party. That's what you notice.

Shortly therafter he goes to a commercial break. And when he returns?

Ladies and gentlemen, if we were on the ball and if the Republicans were on the ball, the question being asked would be: Why are the Democrats trying to take away unemployment extensions here at Christmas? That's how this ought to be framed. If we were on offense, that would be the question: Why are the Democrats trying to take away unemployment benefits here at Christmastime? That would put them on defense. That's the question we should be asking.

Any criticisms of the racist junkie?

NOPE.

SILENCE=CONSENT

For those who STILL live under the DELUSION that the GOP could be SHAMED into anything, the GOP JUST DENIED BENEFITS TO 9/11 RESCUE WORKERS WHO HAVE BECOME ILL.

That's right....this bunch of soulless parasites, that people have the nerve to get on tv and talk about them that they could be ' SHAMED' into doing the right thing by the unemployed...

JUST DENIED BENEFITS TO 9/11 RESCUE WORKERS.



And, people STILL want to tell me that the President could have gotten a better deal?