pass. Instead you kept trying to blame the votes against the Omnibus
earmark bill on the DADT alone. Someday you might learn something but
I kinda doubt it. Now maybe you will accept that some of the votes
against the Omnibus krep bill were against something other than DADT.
Although I doubt that too. You are far too wedded to blaming anything
that goes against what you want as being homophobic alone. Obviously
that is not so.
On 12/18/2010 09:43 PM, Tommy News wrote:
> Victory! Senate Repeals 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell', Despite 31 Republican
> No Votes and John McCain's Fillibuster Attempt. This is a long overdue
> victory for Civil Rights equality. Repeal of DOMA and Passige of ENDA
> and UAFA, and introduction of The American Equality Bill for Civil
> Rights are next.
>
> Senate Repeals 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'
>
> Drew Angerer/The New York Times
> Senator Joseph I. Lieberman gave the thumbs up as Majority Leader
> Harry Reid spoke at a press conference after the "don't ask, don't
> tell" vote.
>
> By CARL HULSE
> nk WASHINGTON — The Senate on Saturday voted to strike down the ban on
> gay men and lesbians serving openly in the military, bringing to a
> close a 17-year struggle over a policy that forced thousands of
> Americans from the ranks and caused others to keep secret their sexual
> orientation.
>
>
> Clockwise from left, Senators Mark Udall, Joseph I. Lieberman, Susan
> Collins and Kirsten Gillibrand after a news conference on the repeal
> of "don't ask, don't tell."
>
> By a vote of 65 to 31, with eight Republicans joining Democrats, the
> Senate approved and sent to President Obama a repeal of the
> Clinton-era law, known as "don't ask, don't tell," a policy critics
> said amounted to government-sanctioned discrimination that treated
> gay, lesbian and bisexual troops as second-class citizens.
>
> Mr. Obama hailed the action, which fulfills his pledge to reverse the
> ban, and said it was "time to close this chapter in our history."
>
> "As commander in chief, I am also absolutely convinced that making
> this change will only underscore the professionalism of our troops as
> the best-led and best-trained fighting force the world has ever
> known," he said in a statement after the Senate, on a preliminary
> 63-to-33 vote, beat back Republican efforts to block final action on
> the repeal bill.
>
> The vote marked a historic moment that some equated with the end of
> racial segregation in the military.
>
> It followed an exhaustive Pentagon review that determined the policy
> could be changed with only isolated disruptions to unit cohesion and
> retention, though members of combat units and the Marine Corps
> expressed greater reservations about the shift. Congressional action
> was backed by Pentagon officials as a better alternative to a
> court-ordered end.
>
> Supporters of the repeal said it was long past time to abolish what
> they saw as an ill-advised practice that cost valuable personnel and
> forced troops to lie to serve their country.
>
> "We righted a wrong," said Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, the
> independent from Connecticut and a leader of the effort to end the
> ban. "Today we've done justice."
>
> Before voting on the repeal, the Senate blocked a bill that would have
> created a path to citizenship for certain illegal immigrants who came
> to the United States at a young age, completed two years of college or
> military service and met other requirements including passing a
> criminal background check.
>
> The 55-to-41 vote in favor of the citizenship bill was five votes
> short of the number needed to clear the way for final passage of what
> is known as the Dream Act.
>
> The outcome effectively kills it for this year, and its fate beyond
> that is uncertain since Republicans who will assume control of the
> House in January oppose the measure and are unlikely to bring it to a
> vote.
>
> The Senate then moved on to the military legislation, engaging in an
> emotional back and forth over the merits of the measure as advocates
> for repeal watched from galleries crowded with people interested in
> the fate of both the military and immigration measures.
>
> "I don't care who you love," Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon,
> said as the debate opened. "If you love this country enough to risk
> your life for it, you shouldn't have to hide who you are."
>
> Mr. Wyden showed up for the Senate vote despite saying earlier that he
> would be unable to do so because he would be undergoing final tests
> before his scheduled surgery for prostate cancer on Monday.
>
> The vote came in the final days of the 111th Congress as Democrats
> sought to force through a final few priorities before they turn over
> control of the House of Representatives to the Republicans in January
> and see their clout in the Senate diminished.
>
> It represented a significant victory for the White House,
> Congressional advocates of lifting the ban and activists who have
> pushed for years to end the Pentagon policy created in 1993 under the
> Clinton administration as a compromise effort to end the practice of
> barring gay men and lesbians entirely from military service.
>
> Saying it represented an emotional moment for members of the gay
> community nationwide, advocates who supported repeal of "don't ask,
> don't tell" exchanged hugs outside the Senate chamber after the vote.
>
> "Today's vote means gay and lesbian service members posted all around
> the world can stand taller knowing that 'don't ask, don't tell' will
> soon be coming to an end," said Aubrey Sarvis, an Army veteran and
> executive director for Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.
>
> Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona and his party's
> presidential candidate in 2008, led the opposition to the repeal and
> said the vote was a sad day in history.
>
> "I hope that when we pass this legislation that we will understand
> that we are doing great damage," Mr. McCain said. "And we could
> possibly and probably, as the commandant of the Marine Corps said, and
> as I have been told by literally thousands of members of the military,
> harm the battle effectiveness vital to the survival of our young men
> and women in the military."
>
> He and others opposed to lifting the ban said the change could harm
> the unit cohesion that is essential to effective military operations,
> particularly in combat, and deter some Americans from enlisting or
> pursuing a career in the military. They noted that despite support for
> repealing the ban from Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Adm. Mike
> Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, other military
> commanders have warned that changing the practice would prove
> disruptive.
>
> "This isn't broke," Senator James M. Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma,
> said about the policy. "It is working very well."
>
> Other Republicans said that while the policy might need to be changed
> at some point, Congress should not do so when American troops are
> fighting overseas.
>
> Only a week ago, the effort to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell"
> policy seemed to be dead and in danger of fading for at least two
> years with Republicans about to take control of the House. The
> provision eliminating the ban was initially included in a broader
> Pentagon policy bill, and Republican backers of repeal had refused to
> join in cutting off a filibuster against the underlying bill because
> of objections over limits on debate of the measure.
>
> In a last-ditch effort, Mr. Lieberman and Senator Susan Collins of
> Maine, a key Republican opponent of the ban, encouraged Democratic
> Congressional leaders to instead pursue a vote on simply repealing it.
> The House passed the measure earlier in the week.
>
> The repeal will not take effect for at least 60 days, and probably
> longer, while some other procedural steps are taken. In addition, the
> bill requires the defense secretary to determine that policies are in
> place to carry out the repeal "consistent with military standards for
> readiness, effectiveness, unit cohesion, and recruiting and
> retention."
>
> Multimedia
> Interactive Graphic
> How the Senate Voted
>
> Timeline
> Congressional Action on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
>
> Blogs
> The Caucus
> The latest on President Obama, the new Congress and other news from
> Washington and around the nation. Join the discussion.
>
> FiveThirtyEight: Nate Silver's Political Calculus
> More Politics News
> "It is going to take some time," Ms. Collins said. "It is not going to
> happen overnight."
>
> In a statement, Mr. Gates said that once the measure was signed into
> law, he would "immediately proceed with the planning necessary to
> carry out this change carefully and methodically, but purposefully."
> In the meantime, he said, "the current law and policy will remain in
> effect."
>
> Because of the delay in formally overturning the policy, Mr. Sarvis
> appealed to Mr. Gates to suspend any investigations into military
> personnel or discharge proceedings now under way. Legal challenges to
> the existing ban are also expected to continue until the repeal is
> fully carried out.
>
> In addition to Ms. Collins, Republicans backing the repeal were
> Senators Scott P. Brown of Massachusetts, Richard M. Burr of North
> Carolina, John Ensign of Nevada, Mark Kirk of Illinois, Lisa Murkowski
> of Alaska, Olympia J. Snowe of Maine and George V. Voinovich of Ohio.
>
> "It was a difficult vote for many of them," Ms. Collins said, "but in
> the end they concluded, as I have concluded, that we should welcome
> the service of any qualified individual who is willing to put on the
> uniform of this country."
>
> Mr. Lieberman said the ban undermined the integrity of the military by
> forcing troops to lie. He said 14,000 people had been forced to leave
> the armed forces under the policy.
>
> "What a waste," he said.
>
> The fight erupted in the early days of President Bill Clinton's
> administration and has been a roiling political issue ever since. Mr.
> Obama endorsed repeal in his presidential campaign and advocates saw
> the current Congress as their best opportunity for ending the ban.
> Dozens of advocates of ending the ban — including one severely wounded
> in combat before being forced from the military — watched from the
> Senate gallery as the debate took place.
>
> Senator Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat who is chairman of the Armed
> Services Committee, dismissed Republican complaints that Democrats
> were trying to race through the repeal to satisfy their political
> supporters.
>
> "I'm not here for partisan reasons," Mr. Levin said. "I'm here because
> men and women wearing the uniform of the United States who are gay and
> lesbian have died for this country, because gay and lesbian men and
> women wearing the uniform of this country have their lives on the line
> right now."
>
> More:
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/19/us-military-senate-vote
>
>
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