13 March 2007

More reasons to dislike the Idiot Administration

Tempest time yet again! Here's a shocker...someone from the Idiot Administration has said something tacky, insensitive, and offensive in public. This time, it is Joint Chief of Staff General Peter Pace, in an interview with the Chicago Tribune. And then he apologized, not for saying the offensive things, but for expressing his personal opinion. Sigh.

He said that he thinks homosexuality is immoral. And that the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy of the military is NOT out of step with modern times. NPR is of course where I heard about this first, and I'm astonished and amazed, perhaps naively so, when I hear public figures being discriminatory. Politically correct speech began to be de regur when I started college, waaay back in the 90s, and while I don't always agree with the doctrine, I do think it is better to say things like mentally handicapped than it is to say retarded. So hearing someone be so openly homophobic, so derogatory, so outre, it really surprises me. What shocks me, is that this is one of the most powerful people in the country; I'm left with a sense of "He CAN'T do that, can he?" He can, and he did.

And then apologizing for expressing his personal opinion. Oy. Where, oh where, do I start with that one? As I have said so many times before, freedom of speech means that you protect the speech that you don't like even more vociferously than you protect the speech that you DO like. Why? Because the next time you don't speak up for free speech, it is going to be someone saying something you agree with that is being censored.

It is this idiot's right to have the opinion that homosexuality is immoral, even when he's dead wrong. And it is MY opinion that he is dead wrong, I firmly believe that homosexuality is genetic, that you are born that way, it isn't a lifestyle choice. If it was simply that someone could 'choose' to be gay or not, why would they, when society treats them the way that it does? C'mon.

As I said a few days ago when I was talking about dear old Scooter, I think you should do whatever works for you when it comes to sex and sexuality. Gay, straight, bi, poly, trans, mono, whatever, dude. Forcing men and women who serve in the armed services to put their personal lives on hold, and not have a relationship with anyone while serving, is just not right. Don't ask, don't tell IS outmoded, and it is time for the military to come into the 90s, at least.

The fact that this is Peter Pace's opinion strikes me as part of a larger problem; obviously, President Idiot knew about his POV when he appointed Pace to his current role. And that's OK with W? Yeah, he deserves that moniker I give him more and more every day.

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