Thursday, October 21, 2010

New Guidance on DADT: Discharges to Require Higher Approval

Given the recent yo-yo like events involving DADT , the bigots at DOD and within the senior ranks of the fossilized U.S. military are acting in some ways as if they have whiplash. Long term, however, despite that actions and betrayals of the Obama administration, DOD does seem to realize that history (or is it changing voter demographics?) is NOT on their side. Perhaps seeing the long term hand writing on the wall DOD has announced that it is issuing new regulations on the application and administration of the religious based discriminatory policy known as DADT. Metro Weekly has coverage - here are some highlights:
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Discharges under the military's ''Don't Ask, Don't Tell'' policy will now take the approval of the service branch secretary, and only in consultation with the defense department general counsel and the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, according to a pair of memoranda issued by senior military leadership today.
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Until further notice, pursuant to a memorandum from Defense Secretary Robert Gates and a follow-up memorandum from Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Clifford Stanley, no service member can be discharged under DADT without the ''personal approval of the secretary of the military department concerned, and only in coordination with me and the General Counsel of the Department of Defense.''
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We are clearly in a legally uncertain territory.''. . . .When asked if the ''coordination'' required would allow Johnson or Stanley to effectively ''veto'' the decision of a service secretary, the lawyer said that that is not the case. He said that the purpose of the change was ''to ensure greater uniformity and care in the enforcement of the law.'' He also noted it was ''not a substantive change in the decision making'' involved in the enforcement of DADT.
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Until such time as DADT is repealed and thrown n the trash heap of history, the USA and the U. S. Constitution's promise of equality and religious freedom for all will be nothing less than an complete farce and as phony as the myths supported by the old Soviet Union. Comrade Obama has - in my view - about as much reliability for veracity as Leonid Brezhnev and the old Soviet Politburo.

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