(Note To those who have left comments on my blog sorry but all have been deleted due to robo- spaming and viruses. Site is now clean. )
Republicans threaten a filibuster against DADT & On Tuesday.
They did just that.
Even though President Obama and the US Military agreed to the repeal of DADT Senator John McCain votes against the repeal.
But McCain had said he would vote in favor of the repeal if the top brass of the military said that it was now time to do so.
So the once respected Senator John McCain flip-flops and votes against repeal while also voting against urgent financial assistance to the US military-so much for supporting the Troops or for supporting the top brass. Once again McCain plays politics ignoring principles in favor of appealing to the Religious Right .
Rachel Maddow- McCain stands firm for hypocrisy on DADT - Lady Gaga Speaks in Favor of Repeal
Anyway the proposed bill has been blocked by the GOP. Preventing the admission of openly Gay people into the military in this case trumped providing essential funds to the US military.
American Religious Right and the participants at the passed weekends Values Voter Summint and the Party of NO win once again and Obama and the Gay community lose.
Senate Republicans Use Filibuster to Block Efforts to Repeal 'Don't Ask Don't Tell' Policy by Meena Hartenstein at new York Daily Via CommonDreams .org Sept. 21,2010
Gay rights advocates waiting for the Senate to repeal "don't ask, don't tell" got the message loud and clear from Republicans on Tuesday -- don't hold your breath.
Senate Republicans have blocked a military spending bill that includes a repeal of the controversial policy, using a filibuster the Democrats needed 60 votes to overcome.
Democrats failed to come up with the necessary votes, and despite support from Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D.-N.Y.), the bill was stalled by a vote of 56-43.
But it is not just the right wing Religious Right endorsed Homophobes who won this round but also their brothers in arms the bigoted Nativist anti-immigrant anti-Hispanic crowd who flexed their muscles.
Senate Blocks "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Repeal and DREAM Act by: Mike Ludwig,Truthout.org, Sept.21 2010
"Republicans are again playing politics with our national security," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Ried (D-Nevada) "Today they blocked the Senate from debating a bill that would give our troops the resources they need to keep America safe - stopping not only funding for combat vehicles and bulletproof vests or measures to improve our military's readiness, but even a well-earned pay raise to help our troops and their families make ends meet."
Blocking the defense bill also stalled the DREAM Act, a piece of legislation designed to pave the road toward citizenship for illegal immigrants enrolled in higher education.
Rachel Maddow in her piece on Christine O'Donnell's win in the primary points out that a number of her endorsers and fund raisers were deleted from her websites homepage. These supporters we assume are a bit too radical to be seen taking part in her bid for Congress. This doesn't mean that they are no longer part of her base or that she no longer agrees with their view but is rather a cynical move to make O'Donnell appear more mainstream.
Groups and individuals Maddow names include:
Herb Deninberg of Independence Hall Tea Party PAC who had been calling for an armed insurrection against the US government.
also include radical anti-Abortionists who insist there should be no exceptions
Catholic Families For America
Susan B. Anthony List Candidates Fund
Concerned Women PAC
Pence Protect Families and to make abortion illegal and stop the Homosexual agenda
Christine O'Donnell , Gary Bauer, Newt Gingrich all revving up the Culture Wars and anti-Muslim, anti-Immigrant rhetoric. Some may ridicule them and dismiss them out of hand but they do have some influence over legislators as we see when it comes to DADT or Gay Marriage or stopping the building of Mosques in America.
While they attack Muslim Americans for attempting to establish Shari they themselves are involved in insisting that America must reflect Judeo-Christian values as they interpret them. They for instance see nothing wrong by insisting that all elected or appointed legislators or Judges in America be Christian or Jewish and that all others they say need not apply.
At the moment they are targeting Gays and Muslims and once they achieve their goals they will move on to the next group ie liberal Christians and liberal Jews or Catholics and labor unions or liberal or leftist dissidents and on and on til in their view America is once more pure and can once again in their view be considered a Godly Country.
Rachel Maddow: The Culture War Is Back (VIDEO) Huffington Post Sept. 21, 2010
Rachel Maddow declared Monday that the culture war is back.
Maddow was discussing the rise of GOP nominee for the Delaware Senate seat Christine O'Donnell. She noted that, after her primary victory, O'Donnell's website was overhauled, with some of its more controversially right-wing sections hidden away. This, she said, was reminiscent of the steps that some other Tea Party-backed candidates, such as Nevada's Sharron Angle, took after their own primary wins.
Maddow tied the O'Donnell makeover into what she said was a relatively hidden undercurrent in the current election season: the resurgence of right-wing cultural politics, even in an age when many in the Tea Party have said they want to de-emphasize social issues in favor of economic ones.
Maddow said that, though the GOP was supposed to be "uniting Republicans and conservatives on all these fiscal issues and not dealing with these divisive social issues anymore," the 2010 crop of candidates was more extreme on issues like abortion than many in the past. Five of them want to ban abortion entirely, even in the cases of rape and incest.
All in all, she said, the culture war had returned:
"Culture war issues are back in Republican politics this year, even though everybody said they weren't. And they're back in a big way. The right is now starting to admit it amongst themselves, even as the Beltway media has failed so far to catch up."
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
On Rachel Maddow Christine O'Donnell's History on Anti-Gay Hucksterism
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
and some examples of concern over morals and values:
Mike Huckabee At Values Voter Summit insists they should only vote for candidates who are anti-Abortion/ Pro-Life
Ken Blackwell of Family Research Council
Values Voters: morals bedrock of economy
and from Bill O'Reilly on Christine O'Donnell
Bill O'Reilly: Christine O'Donnell Said Some 'Crazy Stuff' On My Show (VIDEO)
also see article Weekend Warriors: Lessons From The ‘Values Voter Summit’by Rob Boston at The Wall Of Separation at Americans United For The Separation of Church and State Sept. 20, 2010 reprinted here in full .
I survived the Values Voter Summit this past weekend. I’ll have a full report in the October Church & State, but here’s a sneak preview of some of the things I learned at this event:
If you keep waking up at 3 a.m., God probably wants you to form a Tea Party group: Two Tea Party activists spoke about being so concerned over the state of the nation that they couldn’t sleep at night. Finally, they concluded that God was waking them with an urgent order to form Tea Party groups. What finally convinced them of this was hearing Fox News Channel’s Glenn Beck describe similar middle-of-the-night wakings. Personally, I’d suggest cutting down on the caffeine before bedtime.
France invented the separation of church and state: You thought Thomas Jefferson and James Madison came up with the idea of dividing religion and government, but former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) set us all straight: It was those cheese eaters across the pond! Along with the guillotine and existentialism, this must rank as one of their greatest accomplishments.
The Religious Right does not want theocracy: Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association (AFA) made this clear: Groups like the AFA and the Family Research Council don’t want a theocracy. (That’s what those nasty Muslims want!) The Religious Right merely wants to see a flock of “Christian statesmen” who will “align the public policy of the United States with the will of God.” Yes, that’s much better. Thanks for clarifying, Bryan!
If a cranky guy in a cowboy hat says it, you can take it to the bank: Dale Peterson, who ran unsuccessfully for agriculture commissioner in Alabama, appeared on stage to rant and rave about, well, lots of things. The gist seemed to be that this straight talkin’, gun totin’, cowboy boots wearin’, horse ridin’ everyman doesn’t much like President “Barry” Obama or the Democrats. He later told a reporter that Obama was not born in America.
Obama stole the election: At a session on how get out the vote on Election Day, a distraught woman disrupted the proceedings to insist that something be done about Obama’s theft of the 2008 election. The woman, a resident of Virginia, said it was clear he had stolen it. Her evidence for this was a claim that a man named “Jose” voted five times at her precinct.
Be afraid, very afraid, of ‘the elites’: The mysterious and nefarious group known as “the elites” – I’m thinking it would be more frightening to capitalize them as The Elites – was attacked by numerous speakers. None bothered to explain who these people are, but it’s clear they want to tear down the nation, destroy religion, turn our children into hedonists and possibly force grandma to appear before a Death Panel. Former FRC head Gary Bauer said The Elites “treat the Constitution like toilet paper.” That Gary – he’s always keeping it classy!
It’s OK to wear costumes to the Summit: Once again, I enjoyed seeing the boys from the American Society from Tradition, Family and Property at the Summit. This band of monarchy-loving ultra-Catholic medievalists sponsored a booth in the exhibit hall, as they did last year. Again they handed out fliers attacking same-sex marriage – while wearing sashes, capes and brooches. I really wanted to ask where they got that stuff. After all, Halloween is only five weeks away.
Act as normal as possible: Gil Mertz, an FRC staffer who serves as emcee of the event, reminded attendees that reporters were present and urged them to think about the Religious Right’s image when they are interviewed. “Don’t be the weird one,” he implored the crowd. Hate to break it to you, Gil, but it’s not a good sign when you have to remind people not to be weird.
It was a whole lot of crazy, and I had to detox by watching reruns of Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow online for six hours. Look for my full report next month.
Note To those who have left comments on my blog sorry but all have been deleted due to robo- spaming and viruses. Site is now clean.
and so it goes,
GORD.
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