Tuesday, October 10, 2006
What kind of priorities are these?
While considering the news of the last couple of weeks, I was struck by the contradiction offered by the leaders of our nation on basic attitudes towards morality. Consider for example the following article by MSNBC dated from January of 05:
One must wonder at the priorities of the leadership in Washington D.C. when patriots who offer a desperately needed service in very short supply which directly affects the well being and safety of our Armed forces and homeland in time of war are given their walking papers because they are gay. But known perverts who demonstrate the willingness to abuse their power are elevated to chairmanships with oversight over the very activities and perversions they are guilty of in the first place.
Let me clarify this. The Foley issue isn't about him being gay. If he had been hitting on teen age girls his offense would have been just as bad in the eyes of the law, if not the koolaid drinkers of his party. Foley's offense is that he was in a position of power and acted like a perv to kids. He was put there by Republican leadership after they knew he had a problem. So to reiterate: if he were simply gay, but had not been picking up on the kiddy help, everything would have continued without a hint of scandal. Conversely if he were straight, and hitting on the teenies... that would have been a problem.
The perverse nature of these policies truly is striking. America is in desperate need of translators because of the Iraq war. The ability of these translators is not affected in the least by what gender they find attractive. Yet we boot translators if they are outted. All this while House Republicans put the figurative wolf in charge of the kiddy hen house.
Frankly this juxtaposition between discharging those most qualified for needed jobs while hiring those least suited for the task follows a long and cherished tradition by the group currently in power. No bid contracts, neocon flunkies being hired to rebuild Iraq, industry officials appointed to lead governmental agencies with nominal oversight on that officials industry, hiring a horse assosiation politico to oversee FEMA... the list just goes on and on. This cronyism has led to the waste of our blood and treasure on a massive scale.
And they want us to believe that they are the ones to vote for if you are concerned about Americas security. Shouldn't Republicans at least be expected to get this type of priority straight before they lecture the rest of us on how superior they are at keeping us safe?
The number of Arabic linguists discharged from the military for violating its "don't ask, don't tell" policy is higher than previously reported, according to records obtained by a research group.In case you need a reminder there was also another event that occurred in 2005 that recently has had major ramifications in the Foley scandal. Mark Foley was appointed co-chairman of the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus. This happened after at least two separate warnings from fellow Republican House members regarding his behavior to House pages.
The group contends the records show that the military - at a time when it and U.S. intelligence agencies don't have enough Arabic speakers - is putting its anti-gay stance ahead of national security.
Between 1998 and 2004, the military discharged 20 Arabic and six Farsi speakers, according to Department of Defense data obtained by the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military under a Freedom of Information Act request.
One must wonder at the priorities of the leadership in Washington D.C. when patriots who offer a desperately needed service in very short supply which directly affects the well being and safety of our Armed forces and homeland in time of war are given their walking papers because they are gay. But known perverts who demonstrate the willingness to abuse their power are elevated to chairmanships with oversight over the very activities and perversions they are guilty of in the first place.
Let me clarify this. The Foley issue isn't about him being gay. If he had been hitting on teen age girls his offense would have been just as bad in the eyes of the law, if not the koolaid drinkers of his party. Foley's offense is that he was in a position of power and acted like a perv to kids. He was put there by Republican leadership after they knew he had a problem. So to reiterate: if he were simply gay, but had not been picking up on the kiddy help, everything would have continued without a hint of scandal. Conversely if he were straight, and hitting on the teenies... that would have been a problem.
The perverse nature of these policies truly is striking. America is in desperate need of translators because of the Iraq war. The ability of these translators is not affected in the least by what gender they find attractive. Yet we boot translators if they are outted. All this while House Republicans put the figurative wolf in charge of the kiddy hen house.
Frankly this juxtaposition between discharging those most qualified for needed jobs while hiring those least suited for the task follows a long and cherished tradition by the group currently in power. No bid contracts, neocon flunkies being hired to rebuild Iraq, industry officials appointed to lead governmental agencies with nominal oversight on that officials industry, hiring a horse assosiation politico to oversee FEMA... the list just goes on and on. This cronyism has led to the waste of our blood and treasure on a massive scale.
And they want us to believe that they are the ones to vote for if you are concerned about Americas security. Shouldn't Republicans at least be expected to get this type of priority straight before they lecture the rest of us on how superior they are at keeping us safe?
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