If you were within a five block radius of my apartment yesterday evening chances are you heard what sounded like stifled screams. Don't worry, though. This did not come from a poorly soundproofed sweatshop full of migrant workers chained up in my basement, nor from a secret mental facility illegally operating within my domicile.
No, I'm fairly sure it was the sound of me watching the evening news. I used to have a much higher tolerance for it, but some days even limited exposure is enough to set me off. I've had reasons aplenty this week to be a little pissy, but tonight I had to close my eyes and find my happy place before I went full on apoplectic. I am proud of myself for limiting the verbal/physical abuse to a couple of stunned cacti I keep potted near my back porch.
I guess what has gotten my tits in a wringer this week has been the failure of the United States Senate to repeal the shameful and antiquated Don't Ask Don't Tell policy. A whopping 75% of Americans agree with me that DADT is a sucky policy, and its damn hard to find an issue that three quarters of everyone can unite on. The very idea is simply absurd that we still exclude gay people from the ability to serve in the military openly, while also reserving the right to conduct spiteful and expensive witch hunts against them on a whim.
I really don't understand why the GOP and friends are still putting up a fight about it. Why not look good for once and lead the charge against something that is so clearly on the way out with the other trash from the dustbin of history. I mean is there anyone who really doubts this will continue as an issue much further in the future? The repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell is simply a demographic inevitability.
The fact is the Republicans Party is not the only villain of this story. Democrats stand silently by, as their own feckless little Legion of Doom. I've seen Mr Smith Goes to Washington. I know how this should go down. We gotta have a real Frank Capra moment in this county. When some Senator from the opposition threatens a filibuster, by golly, they should be forced to follow through. When southern racists fought against the passage of civil rights, they were forced to actually get their asses out there on the floor of the senate and filibuster. If you are going to block a vote that 75% of Americans agree on, that person should have to defend his position in the well of the U.S. Senate. We've had enough of this brand of phony Democratic leadership offering little more than poorly delivered lip service to the gay community. (So to speak.)
Even if our Mormon brother Harry Reid lacks the ability to use his position in the Senate effectively, it is President Obama who withholds much more power than he's been using. A study last year shows that the President could unilaterally halt gay discharges from the military anytime by signing a simple executive order. It makes me start to believe what they say; that both democrats and Republicans get more out of keeping gay issues alive than they do by solving them.
And may I just say one more thing? At what point did our most effective spokesperson for this issue become Lady Gaga? We can't get Snookie or even a Kardashian? I'm not much of a fan of Gaga to be honest, but I was impressed when she arrived at the MTV Video Music Awards escorting gay men and women who served in the military and were discharged because of their sexuality. Her message might have lost a little credibility however, when she walked on stage wearing a meat dress requiring a butcher as well as a seamstress.
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