<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt;color:#000000;"><DIV>Again, Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez to easily indulge the notion that a challenge to "don't ask, don't tell" is somehow a victory for ...... Democratic Party Identity Politics?? Or, more fundamentally, fails to challenge the notion that "equality" for gays in the military can be separated from larger issues of life, death, and capitalism. </DIV>
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<DIV>Predictably, from a Senior Editor at The Nation:</DIV>
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<P><STRONG>RICHARD KIM:</STRONG> So, you know, the Log Cabin Republicans were the people who brought forward this case, and they’re actually urging people in the military to not come out yet, because there might be an appeal. But what you saw here is really the party of no; the Republican Party is really the party of homophobia. When Obama came to office, he campaigned, in part, on getting rid of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. He put in place a review in the military, legislation in the last defense appropriations bill that would have gotten rid of it. Senator John McCain filibustered it. And not one—not one—Republican member of the Senate moved over to the Democratic side to break the filibuster.</P>
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<P>So, what you’re seeing here is really the courts being the avenue of last recourse. And the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress, wanting to do this legislatively, they were stopped by the filibuster. And the courts consistently, whether it’s on issues of marriage or Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell or employment, have been really the avenue of last recourse, because there’s been no legislative progress on this.</P>
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<P><A href="http://www.democracynow.org/2010/10/13/while_celebrating_halt_to_dont_ask">http://www.democracynow.org/2010/10/13/while_celebrating_halt_to_dont_ask</A></P></DIV></div><br>
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