Monday, October 25, 2010

Five Myths - Lies? - Obama is Putting Out on DADT

Not to beat a dead horse, but I am beyond over the bullshit and lies emanating continually from the White House as the Liar-in-Chief tries to build a smoke screen for his betrayal of LGBT Americans in the form of his administration's continued support of DADT - even as Obama makes mealy mouthed excuses that he wants the law repealed. Contempt is about the only word that describes my feelings for this Judas in the White House. And I don't buy anything the man said in his opportunistic "It Get's Better" video. No, I see that as just more of the bullshit being used in an attempt to again sucker LGBT Americans into believe that our Liar--in-Chief gives a tinker's damn about LGBT equality. More disingenuous words that do not jibe with the man's actions. A post over at Pam's House Blend does a great job in eviscerating the myths/lies being floated by the White House for political cover - probably in the hope disheartened gays will go to the polls next week. It's a long post and deserves a full read, but here are some highlights.
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Myth No. 1: Since DADT is a law enacted by Congress, the president has no choice but to enforce it.
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Fact:
While DADT is certainly a law enacted by Congress, the president has express statutory authority to suspend its enforcement. That authority comes from 10 U.S.C. § 12305(a), which provides as follows: Sec. 12305. Authority of President to suspend certain laws relating to promotion, retirement, and separation (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, during any period members of a reserve component are serving on active duty pursuant to an order to active duty under authority of section 12301, 12302, or 12304 of this title, the President may suspend any provision of law relating to promotion, retirement, or separation applicable to any member of the armed forces who the President determines is essential to the national security of the United States.
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Myth No. 2: The president hasn't suspended the discharges because he wants "durable" repeal, and the only way to achieve that is for Congress to pass the pending defense authorization bill.
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Fact:
Even if passed, the so-called "repeal" provision in the defense authorization bill will not mean "durable" repeal. Thus, if the president's refusal to suspend the discharges is based on the fact that his order could be undone by a future administration, the legislation before Congress will not fix that problem. To understand why this is so, one has to look at the text of the actual statute.
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And therein lies the problem. Assuming statute passes, and DOD issues regulations permitting LGBs to serve openly, those regulations can simply be revoked by a future administration. If you've read the statutory text carefully, you'll see that there's nothing in it that requires DOD to permit LGBs to serve openly. The statute contains nothing compelling DOD to treat LGB servicemembers the same way it treats straight servicemembers. Indeed, under the language of this statute, DOD would be perfectly within its legal rights if it banned LGBs from service completely. In effect, enacting this statute takes us back to the status quo circa 1992.
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Myth No. 3: The Department of Justice was required to appeal the judgment in the Log Cabin Republicans litigation.
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Fact:
Taking the appeal was a matter of discretion. Nothing absolutely required DOJ to defend the law in the first instance, and nothing absolutely required it to appeal.
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Myth No. 4: DOJ is just appealing so that they can get a higher court to invalidate DADT and set a wider precedent.
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Fact:
A party only appeals from a judgment if it disagrees with it. The Log Cabin Republicans, representing LGB servicemembers, prevailed before U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips. Judge Phillips held DADT unconstitutional, and she later enjoined DOD from enforcing the policy. DOJ's appeal now seeks to overturn that decision. . . . . this myth is one of the most baffling things I've ever heard in my life. It completely fails to account for DOJ's actual position in the litigation, and it ignores the profoundly negative consequences a victory by DOJ would have for LGBT Americans.
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Myth No. 5: DOJ's appeal doesn't matter, because a future administration could appeal later.
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Fact:
If DOJ hadn't appealed, Judge Phillips' decision would have become final after 60 days, and no further appeals would be possible. The reason for this can be found in the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, specifically Rule 4(a)(1)(B).

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Again, I am to the point where I believe NOTHING that this president says to the LGBT community because he doesn't mean any of it and - worse yet - he's not even being honest on this huge issue of DADT repeal.

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