Don't Ask, Don't Tell......Don't Rush

DADT repeal and open service will happen whether anyone likes it or not. If not with Obama, then with another POTUS; if not this year, then another.

It's a natural progression for a nation that espouses equality for all of it's citizens. That doesn't mean it has to happen tomorrow to appease interest groups. It should be enacted in an orderly and thoughtful process.

A panel of DIV and BCT CSM's [and sister service counterparts] should be the driving force behind when and how this will occur. They, not aides, lobbyists and counsels will ensure that the structure and morale of the force is not compromised during what will be a rocky transition.

But if it is reasonable to assume that being gay does not hamper one's ability to serve in the Armed Forces, to have the back of a brother, and to uphold the principles in which we live by......is it not also reasonable to allow those same people to serve true to those principles?

Is it not the prevailing attitudes of some straight people that prohibits the open and honest service of gays? As opposed to an inability to meet qualifications and commitment to serve one's country?

I don't advocate the military becoming a social experiment where it degrades capability and denigrates the role of protecting the nation. I do advocate the military upholding a standard commensurate with what we fight for.

Nobel Irony Prize

As much as I think Obama didn't deserve the Nobel Peace Prize, Lesly at Americas Debate had the perfect quote to put the Republican response in perspective:

The idea that a Norwegian-based committee can midwife peace by appealing to Obama's hubris is so dense and seeped in wishful fantasy that I can't shake the image of Bill Kristol.

Beautiful....

Why r kidz ain't learnin?

Two fundamental reasons: lack of parental involvement and federal bureaucracy. Can somebody explain for me the need for and accomplishments of the Department of Education?

Taxpayer dollars for education should be retained exclusively in the districts where they were collected. Individual districts should have the mandate to develop curriculum tailored to the needs and funding of that district, accountable to the state level at it's maximum, for levels of standards and performance.

Charters schools and vouchers can all be part of the solution, but.......we must first drastically cut the mass and layers of administrative bureaucracy. Set a maximum student - teacher ration and allow children from other districts to commute if the parents so desire, using seats vacated by homeschoolers and transfers.

Um....the Nobel Peace Prize?

The entertainment value of hearing Hannity's and Limbaugh's heads exploding today is almost justification alone for the award.

Here's the rub.....I couldn't name another person whom I would have considered deserving of the award either.

But....just hearing Dylan Ratigan state that Obama was nominated 12 days into his term, he was apparently awarded the prize due to his 'aspirations and goals' rather that his acts and endeavors.

I don't think this award is in the spirit of the Nobel Prize. It should have gone to someone else.

Who? I don't know. But not Obama.

Death from Above

If you don't know about this man.....you should

From The Mudville Gazette:

In St. Augustine, Dan Hill was laying tile in his upstairs bathroom when his wife called, "Dan, get down here! An airplane just flew into the World Trade Center. It's a terrible accident." Hill hurried downstairs, and then the phone rang. It was Rescorla, calling from his cell phone.

"Are you watching TV?" he asked. "What do you think?"

"Hard to tell. It could have been an accident, but I can't see a commercial airliner getting that far off."

"I'm evacuating right now," Rescorla said.

Hill could hear Rescorla issuing orders through the bullhorn. He was calm and collected, never raising his voice. Then Hill heard him break into song:

Men of Cornwall stop your dreaming;
Can't you see their spearpoints gleaming?
See their warriors' pennants streaming
To this battlefield.
Men of Cornwall stand ye steady;
It cannot be ever said ye
for the battle were not ready;
Stand and never yield!

Rescorla came back on the phone. "Pack a bag and get up here," he said. "You can be my consultant again." He added that the Port Authority was telling him not to evacuate and to order people to stay at their desks.

The rest of Rick Rescorla's morning is shrouded in some mystery. The tower went dark. Fire raged. Windows shattered. Rescorla headed upstairs before moving down; he helped evacuate several people above the 50th Floor. Stephan Newhouse, chairman of Morgan Stanley International, said at a memorial service in Hayle that Rescorla was spotted as high as the 72nd floor, then worked his way down, clearing floors as he went. He was telling people to stay calm, pace themselves, get off their cell phones, keep moving. At one point, he was so exhausted he had to sit for a few minutes, although he continued barking orders through his bullhorn. Morgan Stanley officials said he called headquarters shortly before the tower collapsed to say he was going back up to search for stragglers.

John Olson, a Morgan Stanley regional director, saw Rescorla reassuring colleagues in the 10th-floor stairwell. "Rick, you've got to get out, too," Olson told him. "As soon as I make sure everyone else is out," Rescorla replied.

Morgan Stanley officials say Rescorla also told employees that "today is a day to be proud to be American" and that "tomorrow, the whole world will be talking about you." They say he also sang "God Bless America" and Cornish folk tunes in the stairwells. Those reports could not be confirmed, although they don't sound out of character. He liked to sing in a crisis. But the documented truth is impressive enough. Morgan Stanley managing director Bob Sloss was the only employee who didn't evacuate the 66th floor after the first plane hit, pausing to call his family and several underlings, even taking a call from a Bloomberg News reporter. Then the second plane hit, and his office walls cracked, and he felt the tower wagging like a dog's tail. He clambered down to the 10th floor, and there was Rescorla, sweating through his suit in the heat, telling people they were almost out, making no move to leave himself.

Rick did not make it out. Neither did two of his security officers who were at
his side. But only three other Morgan Stanley employees died when their building was obliterated.

However, over 2600 employees of Dean Whitter walked out of the south tower and in to the rest of their lives that morning.

McDonald v. Chicago

The Supreme Court set the stage for a historic ruling on gun rights and the 2nd Amendment by agreeing today to hear a challenge to Chicago's ban on handguns.

At issue is whether state and local gun-control ordinances can be struck down as violating the "right to keep and bear arms" in the 2nd Amendment.

link

This case is brought about due to a gross miscarriage of justice by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, who declared that the 2nd Amendment does not apply to State and local government. In essence stating that a local governing body can disregard an Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Aren't States prosecuted or otherwise disciplined for that in every other instance? The due process clause of the 14th Amendment which states in part: No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

A reading of Chicago's gun registration laws [which ban handguns for but LE and Court Officers] gives cover to the agenda of an outright ban of all firearms, but the odious provisions of registration make it clear what their intent is.

I stand firmly with Otis McDonald, but have doubts about the outcome of the case.

CinC v. Commander.....Rift or Rubbish?

Since the McChrystal Report was leaked to Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, and after a speech in London by Gen. McChrystal speculation has run rampant in the media about a possible public rift between the General and the President. So much so that SecDef Gates has weighed in as well:

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates cautioned military and civilian leaders Monday against publicly airing their advice to President Obama on Afghanistan, just days after the top U.S. general in that country criticized proposals being advocated by some in the White House.

"In this process, it is imperative that all of us taking part in these deliberations -- civilians and military alike -- provide our best advice to the president candidly but privately," Gates said in a speech at the annual meeting of the Association of the U.S. Army.
WaPo

Speculation has also arisen about who leaked the report and why. This raises some serious questions about national security, petty partisanship and media complicity.

Who do you believe leaked the McChrystal Report....the military or the Administration....and for what gain?

Is it beneficial or detrimental for strategic consultations and/or differences of opinion between the CinC and a Combatant Commander to be held in the public eye?

Is there an ideological rift between the two, or is the media ramping up speculation for profit and gain?

The Ball is in your Court, Afghanistan

From yesterday's NYT, COIN Guru David Kilcullen writes, in part:

COUNTERINSURGENCY is only as good as the government it supports. NATO could do everything right — it isn’t — but will still fail unless Afghans trust their government. Without essential reform, merely making the government more efficient or extending its reach will just make things worse.

Only a legitimately elected Afghan president can enact reforms, so at the very least we need to see a genuine run-off election or an emergency national council, called a loya jirga, before winter. Once a legitimate president emerges, we need to see immediate action from him on a publicly announced reform program, developed in consultation with Afghan society and enforced by international monitors. Reforms should include firing human rights abusers and drug traffickers, establishing an independent authority to investigate citizen complaints and requiring officials to live in the districts they are responsible for (fewer than half do).

If we see no genuine progress on such steps toward government responsibility, the United States should “Afghanize,” draw down troops and prepare to mitigate the inevitable humanitarian disaster that will come when the Kabul government falls to the Taliban — which, in the absence of reform, it eventually and deservedly will.

Today's Moment of Zen