Black man spoke with forked tongue - remember all the things he was going to do right away??

[dick thompson]

Gee, who would have believed that Obama would fire an Arab linguist just because he is gay.  I thought only the "homophobic" right wing would do that.  I am flabbergasted.  My hero has feet of clay - or something. THis is from Huffington Post and an associate professor of political science: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aaron-belkin/obama-to-fire-his-first-g_b_199070.html May 8, 2009 Your request is being processed... This is the print preview: Back to normal view » Aaron Belkin Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Palm Center at UCSB Posted May 7, 2009 | 04:52 PM (EST) BIO Become a Fan Get Email Alerts Bloggers' Index Obama To Fire His First Gay Arabic Linguist digg Huffpost - stumble reddit del.ico.us ShareThis Read More: Arabic-Linguists, Barack Obama Civil Rights, Dan Choi, Dan Choi Gay, Don't Ask Don't Tell, Gay, Gay Rights, Gays In The Military, Military, Obama, Obama Fires Linguist, Obama Firing Gay Linguist, Obama Gay Linguist, Obama Gay Rights, Obama To Fire His First Gay Arabic Linguist, Politics News Dan Choi, a West Point graduate and officer in the Army National Guard who is fluent in Arabic and who returned recently from Iraq, received notice today that the military is about to fire him. Why? Because he came out of the closet as a gay man on national television. Some readers might think it unfair to blame Obama. After all, the president inherited the "don't ask, don't tell" law when he took office. As Commander-in-Chief, he has to follow the law. If the law says that the military must fire any service member who acknowledges being gay, that is not Obama's fault. Or is it? A new study, about to be published by a group of experts in military law, shows that President Obama does, in fact, have stroke-of-the-pen authority to suspend gay discharges. The "don't ask, don't tell" law requires the military to fire anyone found to be gay or lesbian. But there is nothing requiring the military to make such a finding. The president can simply order the military to stop investigating service members' sexuality. An executive order would not get rid of the "don't ask, don't tell" law, but would take the critical step of suspending its implementation, hence rendering it effectively dead. Once people see gays and lesbians serving openly, legally and without problems, it will be much easier to get rid of the law at a later time. I spent a day with Dan Choi last month, and he is not someone we want to fire from the military. He loves the armed forces. He served bravely under tough combat conditions in Iraq. His Arabic is excellent, and he used his language skills to diffuse many tough situations and to save lives, both Iraqi and American. All of his unit mates know he is gay, and they have been very supportive of him. But he doesn't want to live a lie. Obama has been praised for delaying efforts to get rid of "don't ask, don't tell," and some major gay rights groups are actively lobbying to delay consideration of the issue. They seem to believe that Obama should focus on other gay-rights issues first, and that he shouldn't spend his precious political capital trying to ram a repeal bill through Congress. This misses the point. Obama could sign an executive order today. With roughly three-quarters of the public, including a majority of republicans, in favor of open gay service, a meaningful public backlash is unlikely. A slight majority of service members prefer that the policy be left in place, but polls also show that only a tiny minority of them care strongly about the issue, and that the vast majority of service members are comfortable interacting with gays. Obama may believe he has nothing to lose by waiting. But what about Dan Choi's career? Is this really the right time to fire military officers who are fluent in Arabic? This is from Don Surber: http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/2009/05/07/the-rainbow-rebellion/ The rainbow rebellion Andrew Sullivan: President Obama just fired a guy for being gay. The Democratic Party’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy in the military just bit them in the seat. Again. The flamethrowers on the left are upset because Dan Choi, a West Point graduate, violated the policy and announced on national TV that he is gay. Choi is an officer in the National Guard who an Iraqi veteran and is said to be fluent in Arabic. Speaking Arabic is supposed to give gay people magic immunity from the Democratic Party’s law. “Obama is firing him because he’s openly gay. And he has no plans to change that policy, despite a clear campaign commitment,” Andrew Sullivan wrote. Of course, some Obamaphiles are still so starry-eyed that they believe that their president is above the law. Aaron Belkin at Huffington Post wrote: “President Obama does, in fact, have stroke-of-the-pen authority to suspend gay discharges. The ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ law requires the military to fire anyone found to be gay or lesbian. But there is nothing requiring the military to make such a finding. The president can simply order the military to stop investigating service members’ sexuality.” Liberals are so cute when they get angry. UPDATE: Linked by Glenn Reynolds. Thanks. This entry was posted on Thursday, May 7th, 2009 at 9:28 pm and is filed under All. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.