This Guy is a Sham

[Riot]

Originally Posted by Danzig

i wonder how long it will take for that certification??

I didn't realize that hadn't been done. They mentioned the need at the repeal - why isn't it done is a very good question.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Riot

I didn't realize that hadn't been done. They mentioned the need at the repeal - why isn't it done is a very good question.

because this way he can have his cake and eat it too. obama is the 'good guy' but it's the mean ole' pentagon who won't let it move forward. yeah, so much for his avowal that he would 'do what's right, even if it means i only serve one term'.

[miraja2]

Originally Posted by Danzig

because this way he can have his cake and eat it too. obama is the 'good guy' but it's the mean ole' pentagon who won't let it move forward. yeah, so much for his avowal that he would 'do what's right, even if it means i only serve one term'.

The cynic in me wonders if the administration is taking their time with this in order to keep it an issue as long as possible.
Most Americans believe DADT should be permanently and completely repealed. And at the last Republican debate all (or all but one, can't remember for sure) of the candidates said they wanted DADT completely reinstated.
So - politically speaking - the later the final removal of DADT comes, the better it is for the administration. It will force leading Republicans to take their increasingly unpopular pro-DADT (anti-gay) stance even closer to the 2012 election.

If this is actually the case (and again, this is just pure speculation on my part) it obviously sucks that the administration is willing to sit back and let people be discharged simply to help their political situation. On the other hand....at least it is a good sign for this society that it is the ANTI-gay position that one side is trying to force the other side to take publicly.

[Riot]

Originally Posted by Danzig

because this way he can have his cake and eat it too. obama is the 'good guy' but it's the mean ole' pentagon who won't let it move forward. yeah, so much for his avowal that he would 'do what's right, even if it means i only serve one term'.

He sure can still be one term. I think his gay marriage rights view is just another tell that he's not as progressive as many thought.

I would hope to think Obama isn't happy with any delay, but I've seen zero public pressure. If it's needed, it has to be done.

I can't find any current status on the certification. From Wiki:

On December 18, 2010, the Senate voted to end debate on S.4023, the Senate's bill identical to H.R.2965, via a cloture vote of 63-33.[61] Prior to the vote, Sen. Lieberman gave the final argument in favor of repealing DADT and Sen. McCain argued against repeal. The final Senate vote was held later that same day, with the measure passing by a vote of 65-31.[62]

U. S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates released a statement following the vote indicating that the planning for implementation of a policy repeal will begin right away, led by Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Clifford L. Stanley, and will continue until Gates believes he can certify that conditions are met for orderly repeal of the policy.[63]

President Obama signed the repeal into law on December 22, 2010.[4]

The passage of the repeal act does not result in the immediate repeal of DADT. Under the terms of the new law, the President, the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff must certify in writing that they have reviewed the Pentagon's report on the effects of DADT repeal, that the appropriate regulations have been reviewed and drafted and that implementation of repeal regulations "is consistent with the standards of military readiness, military effectiveness, unit cohesion, and recruiting and retention of the Armed Forces". Once certification is given, a 60-day waiting period will begin before DADT is formally repealed.[64]

Representative Duncan D. Hunter announced plans in January 2011 to introduce a bill designed to delay DADT repeal. Should his bill be adopted, all of the chiefs of the armed services would need to submit the certification currently required only of the President, Defense Secretary and Joint Chiefs Chairman.[65]

In January 2011, Pentagon officials stated that the training process to prepare troops for the repeal would begin in February and would proceed quickly, though it might not be completed in 2011.[66] In May 2011, the US Army reprimanded three colonels for performing a skit in March 2011 at a function at Yongsan Garrison, South Korea that mocked the repeal.[67]

[Riot]

PS New York is voting tonight on gay marriage.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Riot

He sure can still be one term. I think his gay marriage rights view is just another tell that he's not as progressive as many thought.

I would hope to think Obama isn't happy with any delay, but I've seen zero public pressure. If it's needed, it has to be done.

I can't find any current status on the certification. From Wiki:

the airman who was cited in the article i posted-he was just discharged at the beginning of this month. so, even if certification occurred tomorrow, they could still actually kick people out based on their sexuality. when is a change not a change? the process could take years.
this issue isn't one that would garner obama any more votes than he has already-there's nothing in it for him to push it.

[Danzig]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43660098/ns/us_news-life/

Appeals court orders immediate halt to gay military ban
Ruling comes after Obama administration says 'don't ask, don't tell' policy is unconstitutional


SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court ordered the U.S. government on Wednesday to immediately cease enforcing the ban on openly gay members of the military, a move that could speed the repeal of the 17-year-old rule.

..A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said the "don't ask, don't tell" policy must be lifted now that the Obama administration has concluded it's unconstitutional to treat gay Americans differently under the law. The appeals court noted that Congress repealed the policy in December and that the Pentagon is preparing to certify that it is ready to welcome gay military personnel.



...well, that's good news. i figured this would end up being handled by the courts. no politician has the balls to stand up for equal rights. god forbid that the religious right get their panties in a wad and perhaps vote against a politician.

[horseofcourse]

Obama/Romney is gonna be the ultimate comedy show. They are clones who will spend a fortune trying to appear different and the voters will just eat it up like starved hyenas with all the major TV players shoving it on them with the same talking head raving lunatics. They are the epitome of modern politicians at the national level. I think our true masters still prefer O as our fake D's can ultimately do more of what they want than our fake R's in the theater.

[Danzig]

on another, more important note:

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news...by-the-numbers


some excerpts, but i recommend reading it all..


The debt debate, by the numbers

With congressional leaders at the White House on Thursday for another debt limit parley with President Obama, here are some basic numbers to keep the debate in perspective:

As of the end of the day Tuesday, the Treasury had a cash balance of $78 billion.

Last year at about the same point, Tuesday, July 6, 2010, it had a cash balance of $224 billion and a year earlier on July 6, 2009 it had a cash balance of $257 billion.




and:

There were reports Thursday that Obama would seek deficit reductions of $4 trillion. That was the approximate number recommended by the Bowles-Simpson fiscal commission which the president appointed early last year.

According to the Congressional Budget Office’s baseline projection, the cumulative deficits over the next ten years will be more than $6.7 trillion -- so a reduction of $4 trillion in future deficits would amount to nearly a 60 percent cut over that ten-year period.

and it ends as such:


According to the CBO estimate released last March, the government will collect $2.23 trillion in revenue in the current fiscal year – 13 percent less than in 2007.

This year federal spending will amount to about 24 percent of gross domestic product while revenues will be 14.8 percent of GDP.

When Obama said to his Wednesday Twitter town hall audience, “We actually now have the lowest tax rates since the 1950s,” he was incorrect.

Today’s highest personal income tax rate, 35 percent, exceeds the top rate in 1992: 31 percent.

But he would have been correct to say that revenues as a percentage of GDP are the lowest since 1950, when they were 14.4 percent of GDP.