Republican lawmaker urging end to `don't ask, don't tell' policy

<At odds with her party's leadership, Republican Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida is urging the Pentagon to end "don't ask, don't tell" and allow gay men and lesbians to join and remain in the military.

"We've tried the policy. I don't think it works. And we've spent a lot of money enforcing it," said Ros-Lehtinen, a member of the Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations, who became a co-sponsor of the bill on Tuesday.

"We investigate people. Bring them up on charges. Basically wreck their lives. ... People who've signed up to serve our country. We should be thanking them," she said.

Although her support won't change the law overnight, it represents a dramatic break with GOP leadership over a hot-button issue that has split the party and the nation.

Ros-Lehtinen, along with House Republicans Christopher Shays of Connecticut and Jim Kolbe of Arizona, joins 70 Democrats in support of the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, introduced by Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass., last month to repeal the longtime gay ban.>


http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2005/04/10/news/breaking_news/doc425905e5231ec347011137.txt

Now that we need more cannon fodder, this'll probably pass. Heck, they might even legalize marijuana just so the pot-smokers don't get kicked out.

will always ensure that marijuana remains illegal. It is a "wonder drug" they cannot patent and control.

I've often heard that if salicylic acid, the active ingreedient of aspirin, were brought on the market today, it would require a prescription. Fortunately in the late 1800s, there was a lot more individual freedom in terms of medicinal substances. Coca-Cola really did have some coca in it, for instance.

No way could you get aspirin OTC if it were brought to the market today. When I was a child, we still got "baby" aspirin for our aches and pains. A friend of mine said his mother sent him to school every day with a baby aspirin in his pocket (good old Bayer's Childrens orange chewable) in case he had a headache. I'm amazed more kids didn't have Reyes' Syndrome.

if I fail the drug test, I would not get called up under current laws?

...and they will still take them.

Don

They'd probably just send you right over to jail.

Recruiters are finding loopholes to include people with criminal records.

... turns up a truffle once in a while. I doubt her Latino constituents will be very supportive of this. Latinas? Maybe. :shrug:

Wake me up when the military offers spousal benefits to domestic partners. ZZzzzz....

I couldn't get "The Birdcage" out of my mind. (Isn't it time I saw that again? Required every 3 - 6 month, it seems.) If her district includes Miami, I imagine she has her share of gay constituents.

I do like what she said about ruining their lives versus thanking them for serving.

School boards and Colleges would no longer be able to kick out recruiters on THAT charge.

They don't want all of the kids to "turn gay" when the draft is started to send kids to Iran!

A gooper that's actually CONCERNED about the troops???

yeah right...

as long as you're not engaging in inappropriate behavior on base or in uniform, there is no problem.

And this is true for STRAIGHT AND GAY troops.

NOONE should be allowed to act randy on base or in public while in uniform.

"We don't care what you do so long as you don't do it in uniform, on base, or get in trouble..."

No matter if you're gay or straight, PDA's are not appropriate in uniform.

In the 20 years I was in and the subsequent 7 years working with the military, except for the one XO who had problems with "wimmin in his Navy" back in 1980, every single CO/XO/CMC (Command Master Chief) I had come in contact with could care less what anyone did with their private lives and affections unless it came up to their notice via Non-Judicial punishment or if Shore Patrol brought you in.

Haele

that a repuke says this means LESS than nothing to me.

the evil spread by conservatives around gay and lesbian folk simply makes her too late to the party to forgive.

we need troops....

Will they recognize civil unions and supply medical benefits and housing to a partner? Or does the government want gays to keep on paying their taxes, and provide them no other benefits or protections that every other citizen of the United States enjoy, except the opportunity to be drafted or killed in service to this country?

As the parent of a gay draft-age child, this becomes more sick by the day...and you better believe this is a maneuver to circumvent a whole bunch of Republicans children from being forced to carry the label "gay" when they use that option to opt out of the draft.

there aren't enough troops to go kick Fidel.. :-)

Damn! Masquerading as gay has been "Plan A" for a lot of kids hoping to avoid the draft, if and when it arrives.

Guess it's time to develop "Plan B." Any suggestions?

And, ummm...flee to Sweden? I could stand some time in an open-minded socialist paradise after spending my entire life in this ultra-right fundie nuthouse.

I have read only Christian will work. Forget Hindu, Muslim, etc. They won't work.

Don

So I don't trust the bitch.