Our false "fierce advocate" in the White House has betrayed us again by appealing the DADT ruling of Judge Virginia Phillips - no surprise to me since I am increasingly convinced that Obama does give a rats ass about LGBT Americans outside of how many votes we can deliver and how much money we can be duped into ponying up for Democrats. David Mixner has a column on his blog that properly takes Obama to task. Meanwhile, The Advocate has coverage on the disingenuous bullshit coming out of the Obama Justice Department as efforts are made to stay Judge Phillips' injunction against the enforcement of DADT and any further discharges under DADT. First, here are highlights from David's post:*
As you listened to President Obama on MTV yesterday about DADT, you couldn't help but feel he was whispering sweet nothings into your ear and seeing someone else on the side. Nothing in his words match his actions. In fact, the decision to appeal the DADT Federal Court decision is tragic with powerful consequences. The Department of Justice, in appealing the case, is morally wrong and cowardly. The message being sent by Secretary of Defense Gates and the Obama team deeply is ingrained with homophobia.
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in this time of tragic suicides and brutal hate crimes, the President couldn't have sent a worst message. Instead of standing up for justice, freedom and human dignity, he reinforced the concept that the LGBT community is indeed different from other Americans and needed a special process to be integrated into American life. Every young LGBT American will see a Democratic President making a decision involving their lives in a process that separates us from other Americans and not brings us together.
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Empty promises of action in the future no longer work Mr. President. The odds of either a lame duck Congress or a new Republican dominated Congress tackling DADT after this year's elections is not promising. You know it and so do I.
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The President had a moment where he could have exercised greatness and powerful moral leadership. Instead, he chose 'process' and 'politics' over justice and freedom. . . . . He has failed us miserably. This could have had been all over yesterday.
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As I said, in this alternate universe of late, it is the Log Cabin Republicans, not the Democrats who are doing the heavy lifting for LGBT equality. While Obama & Co. seek to uphold the religious based anti-gay discrimination (something that ought to be obviously unconstitutional to anyone outside of right wing religious extremist circles) , the Log Cabin Republicans are the ones upholding the U.S. Constitution's principles. Here are highlights from The Advocate:
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In the latest legal back-and-forth over "don't ask, don't tell," attorneys for the Log Cabin Republicans urged a federal judge Friday to reject arguments by the Justice Department to keep the policy in place pending appeal in the case.
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On Thursday the Justice Department asked U.S. district judge Virginia A. Phillips to stay her decision barring enforcement of "don't ask, don't tell," which she ruled unconstitutional in September.
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A senior Pentagon personnel official warned the court that an immediate end to DADT "will cause significant disruptions to the force in the short term and, in the long term, would likely undermine the effectiveness of any transition to accepting open service by gays and lesbians in the event the law is repealed or eliminated."
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Nonsense, replied lead Log Cabin attorney and White and Case partner Dan Woods, who called the government's claim of hardship "a red herring" in a Friday court filing.
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"[T]he heart of the government’s argument in its application [for a stay of the injunction] is to bemoan the administrative and rulemaking burden that would supposedly be placed on the military if the Court’s injunction remains in place, and to plead that the current military Working Group be allowed to complete its 'orderly,' if ponderous, research and recommendations project without interference from courts fulfilling their constitutional function," Woods wrote. "Homosexual servicemembers are fighting and dying today in two wars for their fellow Americans’ Constitutional rights; their own Constitutional rights should not be held hostage to an uncertain bureaucratic process that wants time to develop educational and training materials."
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Log Cabin Republicans believes that the Department of Justice is severely underestimating the professionalism of our men and women in uniform. The United States military is the most powerful, most adaptable armed force in the world. It has dealt with racial integration and greatly expanded opportunities for women, and has grown stronger because of it. Open service for gay and lesbian Americans will be no different.
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Personally, my view is that Obama cannot leave office soon enough. He's a very slick liar and in the final analysis just as homophobic as his BFF Rick Warren. A pox on him and similar cynical liars.
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In the latest legal back-and-forth over "don't ask, don't tell," attorneys for the Log Cabin Republicans urged a federal judge Friday to reject arguments by the Justice Department to keep the policy in place pending appeal in the case.
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On Thursday the Justice Department asked U.S. district judge Virginia A. Phillips to stay her decision barring enforcement of "don't ask, don't tell," which she ruled unconstitutional in September.
*
A senior Pentagon personnel official warned the court that an immediate end to DADT "will cause significant disruptions to the force in the short term and, in the long term, would likely undermine the effectiveness of any transition to accepting open service by gays and lesbians in the event the law is repealed or eliminated."
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Nonsense, replied lead Log Cabin attorney and White and Case partner Dan Woods, who called the government's claim of hardship "a red herring" in a Friday court filing.
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"[T]he heart of the government’s argument in its application [for a stay of the injunction] is to bemoan the administrative and rulemaking burden that would supposedly be placed on the military if the Court’s injunction remains in place, and to plead that the current military Working Group be allowed to complete its 'orderly,' if ponderous, research and recommendations project without interference from courts fulfilling their constitutional function," Woods wrote. "Homosexual servicemembers are fighting and dying today in two wars for their fellow Americans’ Constitutional rights; their own Constitutional rights should not be held hostage to an uncertain bureaucratic process that wants time to develop educational and training materials."
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Log Cabin Republicans believes that the Department of Justice is severely underestimating the professionalism of our men and women in uniform. The United States military is the most powerful, most adaptable armed force in the world. It has dealt with racial integration and greatly expanded opportunities for women, and has grown stronger because of it. Open service for gay and lesbian Americans will be no different.
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Personally, my view is that Obama cannot leave office soon enough. He's a very slick liar and in the final analysis just as homophobic as his BFF Rick Warren. A pox on him and similar cynical liars.
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