Ask Obama About Don't Ask, Don't Tell

As a candidate for president, Barack Obama told the country's leading gay rights group, the Human Rights Campaign, "America is ready to get rid of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. All that is required is leadership." Now he is about to decide whether he will make good on his promise to end what he called a "policy of discrimination."

His decision will come soon because Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen are set to testify at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee on the policy--the first of its kind since the law was enacted in 1993.

Most administration observers who follow this closely believe that the Pentagon has already signed off on supporting an end to Don't Ask, Don't Tell once the White House decides the timing is right. But Messrs. Gates and Mullen have yet to say so publicly. Their upcoming testimony is the result of pressure from New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat, who last year called for legislation that would have placed a moratorium on gay military discharges.

Many question why the White House avoided dealing with Don't Ask, Don't Tell last year, when Democrats had big majorities in Congress and polls showed that a majority of Americans favor changing the policy. A Quinnipiac poll in April, for example, found that 56% of Americans support repealing the policy.

A big part of the reason why the White House hesitated is fear of a backlash similar to the one suffered by President Bill Clinton in 1993 when he tried to allow gays to serve openly in the military.

Before we decide it's our responsibility to rebuild all the lost homes in Haiti, let's remember that it's our actual responsibility to make sure our own people have roofs over their heads.

Haiti isn't our problem alone. China and Germany and other economically powerful countries also have a "good neighbor" responsibility to less fortunate nations like Haiti. In fact, Haiti's not really our problem at all.

Our "good neighbor" responsibility today is to our actual neighbors here in America, the mom in Milwaukee, the dad in Detroit, the grandparents in Grand Rapids, and the brothers and sisters in Baltimore and Cincinnati - not the huddled masses of Haiti, horrifying as their situation might be.

Sure, for a few weeks, it makes sense to send American forces into Haiti to help them recover from the initial shock of the crisis. But with two wars already stop-lossing our troops to the breaking point, we can't afford to adopt another country as a matter of national policy.

Until we can make sure that the kids in Kentucky can get medical care, or the millions of uninsured Americans can have access to the drugs they need to stay alive, we can't commit to sending a never-ending supply of free medicine to another country while at the same time blocking lower-cost medicine from entering the U.S. at our borders - with the blessing of the U.S. Congress - simply because Big Pharma wants to make an even greater profit.

In the past week, we've seen cabinet members and the First Lady ask Americans to give $10 to the Red Cross by texting "HAITI". Perhaps, instead, these leaders should ask, nay, demand that all those bankers who bungled billions and stole millions in bonuses directly from taxpayers, send some of it to Haiti. Or perhaps, even, to the newly homeless in Houston.

I got this rant.  poor guy.  if you are interested in this stuff you should click the link and check out that weird story about how they are "targeting the effects industry":

Things are going terrible ;) they are slowly deindustrializing LA
while canadian taxes subsidizes the industrializing of Vancouver. DD
now has a place up in Vancouver. Producers loose "points" for hiring
experienced people, and now the industry is setting up artist to pay
for their own payroll:

irs-and-freelance-dilemma

New breed of kids coming in have what they claim a "libratarian"
mindset, which is a perversion of the word because in reality they are
apolitical and don't want to be told what to do. Kids probably raised
with no structure at home because both parents were working now bring
that undiciplined mindset to work. So these brats are anti guild/union
and think that if "you're good, you don't need a union". Wait until
their girlfriends start popping out kids and wants a "house on the
westside", then the tune starts to change. But by then they have new
kids filling the ranks. Also now companies want artist working at
flat rate while in house directors change their mind and work people
into 40 hour straight shifts. Any momentum present at organizing
artist have been undermined by the artist themselves who have reverted
the industry to the bullying tactics that places like DD used to do 15
years ago. I completly blame the artist.

Meanwhile Venice and much of LA is becoming a resort town: where
people bring their wealth. The only people making money are bestbuy
employees making enough to eat at macdonalds, and macdonald employees
making enough to buy x-boxes at bestbuy. Grey Matter, where I worked
in 2004 on Abbot Kinny, is now a gallery. Where well paid post
production people used to sit is a grad from Tish School of Arts
making minimum wage as a receptionist, and the folks who make a
commission on $10k artwork being sold. It looks like resort gallery
towns like Windsor and Healsburg. Meanwhile there are now companies
that manage former homes (like the one you rented down here) as
furnished luxury rentals. Screw rent control. ;). Hanging out on
Venice: all euro foreigners who bring their money, and kids under 30
driving 250K cars.

Sorry for the nutz-o rant, it's been eating at me! I hope you are
doing well and I scared you enough about LA!

Washington -- For hours after allegedly trying to use a bomb in his underwear to blow up a Christmas Day flight to Detroit, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab talked and talked to authorities.

He spoke openly about what he'd done and why, and provided valuable intelligence, U.S. officials said in interviews that spell out the details of Abdulmutallab's arrest on Dec. 25.

Burned and bleeding, the suspect tried a last gambit as he was taken from the plane: He claimed there was another bomb on board, officials said.

There was no second bomb, federal agents learned after a tense search. But the Nigerian suspect's threat set off conversations that are the subject of a fierce political debate over how to handle terrorism suspects.

As he was taken from the scene, federal agents repeatedly interviewed him or heard him speak to others. But when they read him his legal rights nearly 10 hours after the incident, he went silent.

Since the attempted bombing, several prominent lawmakers have argued he should have been placed immediately in military custody, and the nation's top intelligence official said he should have been questioned by a special group of terror investigators, rather than the FBI agents who responded to the scene.

Ruthann Veal is one of only three people sentenced to die in prison in Iowa for an offense at age 14. Her sentencing judge could not take into account that Ruthann was born to abusive, alcoholic parents who violently beat her because Iowa law makes life-without-parole sentences mandatory for certain offenses.

Running as much against the Bush White House as he was running against Sen. John McCain, Barack Obama easily carried Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts in 2008.

Yet when Democratic nominees for governor in Virginia and New Jersey and for Senate in Massachusetts sought to tie their GOP opponents to the still-unpopular former president, the strategy didn't resonate. Voters were more focused on the current administration or local political issues -- and the onetime Democratic magic formula seemed yesterday's news.

"Voters are pretty tired of the blame game," said longtime Democratic strategist Steve Hildebrand, a top aide on Obama's presidential campaign. "What a stupid strategy that was."

Howard Wolfson, a senior official on Hillary Clinton's campaign and veteran Democratic communications guru, noted that his party was able to run against Republican Herbert Hoover's Depression-era presidency for 30 years.

"That doesn't seem to be the case here," he
Another well-respected Democratic consultant put said. it simply: "Need a new game plan!"

"Obama will also call for caps on some student loans, limiting a borrower's payments to 10 percent of his or her income, and forgiving all remaining debt after 10 years of payment for those in public service work -- and 20 years for all others."

Sundance officially kicks off tonight with one of my most anticipated films - renowned documentarians and first-time narrative filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman's "Howl."  Starring James Franco (!), David Strathairn, Jon Hamm (!!), Mary-Louise Parker (!!!), and Jeff Daniels, the film recounts Allen Ginsberg's obscenity trial.  Reactions from both myself and all of our criticWIRE participants should be available here starting tomorrow - but here's three short clips to wet your anticipation: