Gay Soldiers: No Special Treatment, Please
The leak of the DADT report notes how gay servicemembers are utterly uninterested in making grand statements, probably won't come out in any substantive fashion and so not want to be treated differently than anyone else:
The report also concludes that gay troops should not be put into a special class for equal-opportunity or discrimination purposes, the individual said. The recommendation is based on feedback the study group obtained from gay troops and same-sex partners who said they do not want a special classification, according to the source. Gay troops were encouraged to participate in the survey and to submit comments to the anonymous online drop box.
Just allow them to serve their country without the constant threat of blackmail, persecution or being treated as political football. That's all they want; it's the least we owe them for their service.
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan
GA GOP Governor-Elect Nathan Deal’s Transition Team Is Comprised Of State’s Top Special Interests And Lobbyists
Few states were impacted by last week’s Republican victories as much as Georgia. In addition to defeating Blue Dog Rep. Jim Marshall (D), Republicans seized control of every single state-wide office and expanded powerful majorities in the legislature, giving them a position of strength they have not had in modern political history.
Former Rep. Nathan Deal (R) won the governor’s race 53-43, handily defeating former Gov. Roy Barnes (D). During the campaign, Deal had to overcome numerous serious investigations and allegations of corrupt behavior, including his history of exerting political influence to win no-bid contracts for businesses he had a financial stake in. Many good government watchdogs worried that a Deal governorship would continue to use political means for the private profit of special interests tied to Deal.
This morning, the Deal campaign released a list of staffers who comprise his transition team. The list reads like a who’s who list of some of the state’s top special interests and lobbyists — people who have represented corporate giants ranging from Georgia Power to Goldman Sachs. Here are a few highlights:
– Rogers Wade: Wade is leading the transition team. He is currently the Chairman of the Board of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation (GPPF), a far-right local think tank which seats numerous corporate special interests on its board. Before joining GPPF, Wade was a “senior partner in the public affairs firm of Edington, Wade and Associates.” While there, he represented “over half of the Fortune 100 companies from throughout the United States and Europe.” He is also the former vice president of Watkins Associated Industries, a “national company with major holdings in transportation, development, seafood processing, insurance and communications.”
– Pete Robinson: Robinson is the Chairman of Troutman Sanders Strategies, a major Atlanta-based lobbying firm. The firm has in the past defended major polluters and employers fending off labor abuse lawsuits.
– Joe Tanner: Tanner is the president of Joe Tanner & Associates, another Atlanta-based firm heavily involved in lobbying. His firm has served such clients such as WellStar Health System and energy giant Georgia Power.
– Monty Veazey: Veazey is what the Center for Public Integrity calls a “hired gun” — a former legislator who was quickly snapped up to be a lobbyist soon after he left office. He has lobbied on behalf of the Georgia Industrial Loan Association and Kraft Foods, among other corporate clients.
– Rob Leebern: Despite the fact that Deal spent much of his campaign attacking Washington, D.C., he has hired a D.C.-based lobbyist to work on his transition team. Leebern, like Robinson, does lobbying work for Troutman Sanders Strategies.
– Dan Lee: Lee, like Veazey, is a “hired gun.” Shortly after leaving office, he lobbied for such clients as the Corrections Corporation of America, United Healthcare, Goldman Sachs, and New South Energy.
The Deal campaign maintains that none of the transition team members will engage in lobbying activities while they are working for the Governor-elect. Yet the fact remains that Deal has chosen some of the state’s most well-connected conduits for corporate influence in government to staff the team that will be moving him into the Governor’s mansion. If anything, it appears that Deal is signaling to the state’s special interests that pay-for-play is well and alive in the state’s capitol.
Al-Awlaki: Americans “party of devils,” no special Islamic permission needed to kill them
Either them or us. “Radical Yemeni cleric Awlaki calls for killing of Americans,” from NewsCore, November 9:
US-born radical Yemeni cleric Anwar al Awlaki has called for the killing of Americans in a new video message posted yesterday on Islamist websites.
Awlaki said Americans are from the “party of devils” and that no special religious permissions are needed to kill them, the Associated Press reported.
In the 23-minute, Arabic-language message, Awlaki said it was “either them or us.” […]
Yep.
“M. [sic] Awlaki is a problem,” US Homeland Security and Counterrorism Adviser John Brennan said in January.
“He’s clearly a part of al-Qaeda in [the] Arabian Peninsula. He’s not just a cleric. He is in fact trying to instigate terrorism.”…
“He’s not just a cleric.” In Brennan’s world, if he were just a Muslim cleric, he would pose no threat, because Islam is a Religion of Peace. The policy errors to which that false assumption leads are detailed here.
Special Report: India Rising
A Special Address by The Honorable Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Senator McConnell reflects on the message of the people to Capitol Hill following the elections and examines a policy agenda for moving our nation forward.
The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.
How to Keep Politics a Game of Special Interests and Insiders
Hey mom and dads, it’s election week! Does your child like to argue? Does he like to boss his younger siblings around? Does he love the sound of his own voice?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, your child is a natural born politician. Now to ensure his success in the political world, send him to Camp Politics for a three-week intensive training program:
Once he gets elected to office, the most important thing for him to learn is how to stay there. If he does a bad job, people will want to get him out of office. So your child will need to learn how to silence those that want to speak out against him.
Of course, this violates basic free speech rights. But Camp Politics has figured out a sure-fire way around the First Amendment that means politics will remain a game for special interests and political insiders.
It’s called campaign finance laws.
We all know that speaking takes money. And the only way ordinary Americans can speak out effectively about politics is to pool their resources with their friends and neighbors. But campaign finance laws limit the amount of money people can spend on political ads and organizing and they wrap people in red tape to the point that they can’t even speak!
When politicians can limit what people can raise and spend on political speech, and make the laws on political speech extremely complicated, politicians can effectively limit the speech of anybody that wants to kick them out of office.
Of course, there are nay-sayers. Take Institute for Justice free speech expert Paul Sherman:
How much red tape should ordinary Americans have to deal with in order to talk about politics? Under the First Amendment, the answer is simple: None. In America, the only thing you should need to talk about politics is an opinion.
Unfortunately, this country has moved far from this constitutional commitment to free expression. Today, even simple acts like placing an ad in the newspaper urging the public to vote for a ballot issue or local political candidate can lead to fines or even jail time.
A new report by University of Missouri economist Dr. Jeffrey Milyo, Keep Out: How State Campaign Finance Laws Erect Barriers to Entry for Political Entrepreneurs, shows that campaign finance laws are effectively silencing speech all across the country.
What explains the proliferation of these laws? As Dr. Milyo concludes, these laws are designed by political insiders, for political insiders. And by shutting out political entrepreneurs, incumbent politicians and entrenched interests are able to shut out competition.
The Institute for Justice has gone so far as to launch a major national Citizen Speech Campaign to restore free and unfettered political debate.
Camp Politics urges you to send your kids to us right away. Otherwise, Paul Sherman and his buddies at the Institute for Justice may secure free speech nationwide. According to Paul Sherman:
Free speech is the birthright of every American, not a privilege to be enjoyed at the whim of political insiders. With your help, we will win the fight to restore the protection that the First Amendment so richly deserves.
So watch out for the Institute for Justice! And send your kids to Camp Politics today.
There’s a link between today’s mudslinging…and the Coalition’s special adviser cull
Patriot Room Radio #103: The November Punishment, special guest Thomas Grier
Well, it’s over. The dems got mopped like a dirty floor. Clyde reviews the results, looks back at the 111th Congress and forward to the 112th. Special guest Thomas Grier of Rebel Politics dot com.
The Dana Pretzer Show On Scared Monkeys Radio – Tuesday, November 2, 2010 – Special Guests: Dr Clint VanZandt, Mike McIntyre and Robin Sax
LISTEN TO THE DANA PRETZER SHOW TONIGHT LIVE AT 9PM ET ON SCARED MONKEYS RADIO
Tonight Dana welcomes special guests:
- Dr Clint VanZandt – Retired FBI Agent, Safety Expert, Author – Discussing Zahra Baker and Russell Williams Cases
- Mike McIntyre – Crime Reporter, Author and Radio Host – Discussing the Russell Williams Case
- Robin Sax – Former DA and Current NBC News analyst Robin Sax discussing the Anna Nicole case.
LISTEN TONIGHT LIVE AT 9PM ET
Moran’s show a 2-Hour Election Special
Co-host Monica Showalter with several guests calling in during the two hours, including AT’s Rich Baehr and Larrey Anderson.
American Thinker Blog
