The AFP on WREL: Report blasts Virginia health care
Editor Chris Graham joins WREL’s “Online with Jim Bresnahan” to talk Virginia news and politics.
The segment begins with a discussion of the report of a state advisory council that this week told Gov. Bob McDonnell that the performance of the health-care industry in Virginia is mediocre. What steps can the administration and the General Assembly take in this tough budget environment to try to achieve reform in health care in Virginia? Chris tries to give some insight into what the next steps might be.
We wrap the week with a review of a proposal from Republican lawmaker Bob Marshall to bar gays and lesbians from serving in the Virginia National Guard in the wake of the repeal of the federal don’t ask, don’t tell policy. Does the effort have a chance of becoming the law of the Commonwealth?
Governor, Republican group react to proposed state action countering DADT
Gov. Bob McDonnell wants to see the Virginia National Guard adhere to the same rules as the Department of Defense with respect to its treatment of gays and lesbians serving in the nation’s military.
McDonnell addressed the issue on his monthly call-in show on WTOP in response to questions that have arisen regarding legislation that Northern Virginia Republican Bob Marshall plans to introduce in the Virginia General Assembly next month that would ban gays and lesbians from openly serving in the Guard.
“Whatever the final guidelines of the Department of Defense, I would expect the National Guard bureau in Virginia to adhere to those rules so we would have one set of rules for the entire military,” said McDonnell, noting his personal exceptions to the legislation passed in Congress last week that ends the controversial don’t ask, don’t tell policy that had banned openly gay men and women from serving in the armed forces.
Marshall, in an interview with a Washington, D.C., TV station Monday night said he is introducing the legislation because of fears of the spread of sexually transmitted diseases from gay troops and the distraction that gay soldiers would have on straight men serving in the military.
“It’s a distraction when I’m on the battlefield and have to concentrate on the enemy 600 yards away and I’m worried about this guy whose got eyes on me,” Marshall said in the interview.
The Log Cabin Republican Group of Virginia, a gay and lesbian civil-rights advocacy group, condemned the Marshall proposal and Marshall’s “extreme and hateful beliefs.”
“With all the important problems facing our country and our commonwealth, Del. Marshall has chosen anti-gay prejudice to help gin up his base to promote his political career,” said David Lampo, the vice president of the Virginia Log Cabin Republicans. “His action is akin to the Southern bigots and officials who attacked President Truman when he ended the Jim Crow laws that governed our military, including the same weak and pathetic warnings about the ill effects he predicts our nation will suffer from ending the policy of government discrimination on the basis of service members’ sexual orientation.”
Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Don’t ask, don’t tell, DREAM Act fall victim to filibuster
An effort to get a vote on legislation repealing the don’t ask, don’t tell policy that is used to keep gays and lesbians from serving in the United States military and a vote on a bill that would open educational opportunities and a path to citizenship for undocumented Americans who are long-time U.S. residents failed today in the United States Senate.
A Republican-led filibuster of the measures, attached to the annual Defense Authorization Bill, blocked consideration of the defense bill and the don’t ask, don’t tell and DREAM Act bills.
Virginia Sens. Jim Webb and Mark Warner voted with Democrats on a motion to bring the bills to a vote. The vote fell four votes short of the 60 needed to suspend debate.
Two Democrats, Arkansas Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor, voted with Republicans to uphold the filibuster. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., voted no as a procedural tactic; under Senate rules, by voting with the majority he can revive the bill at a later date if he wants, and early indications after the vote are that the bills will be revived for consideration after the November congressional elections.
“Once again, politicians are playing politics with people’s lives. Filibustering the defense authorization bill to block action on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ repeal and the DREAM Act — two measures that do justice to the fundamental principle of fairness — is a disappointment and disservice to our country,” said Rea Carey, the executive director of the Washington, D.C.,-based National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, in a statement released Tuesday afternoon.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan talked with reporters before the vote to express the support of the Obama administration for the DREAM Act.
“I believe it’s not only the right thing to do, for the students, who want for themselves the same thing that we want for our children, and it’s also the right thing to do for our country. In this economy, we need everyone trained and prepared for the jobs of the future,” Duncan said.
“The DREAM Act means that students who have spent most of their lives here in America can get a college education. It would put students who have already been educated in our schools on a path to citizenship. It would empower states to apply in-state tution rates to undocumented students. Above all, it would stop punishing innocent young people for the accidental circumstance of their birth,” Duncan said.
Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Do tell, Sen. Webb
Jim Webb, Democrat from Virginia, who earns plaudits for his work on efforts to end economic injustice, is apparently willing to mess on his own legacy with a vote in favor of continued injustice involving discrimination against gays and lesbians serving in the U.S. armed forces.
Democratic leaders are said to be counting Webb as a no vote against blocking a promised Republican filibuster this week on legislation that would end the so-called don’t ask, don’t tell policy that enforces workplace discrimination in the military.
Webb himself has been mum on the issue since a May 27 statement defending his no vote against an amendment repealing don’t ask, don’t tell. In the statement, Webb explained his vote by referencing the ongoing review of the policy by the Department of Defense.
“I have met personally with the officials in charge of this review, and communicated my own observations regarding the comprehensive survey that will be a part of this review,” Webb said then. “I see no reason to pre-empt the process that our senior Defense Department leaders put into motion, and I am concerned that many members of the military would view such a move as disrespectful to the importance of their roles in this process.”
Link to report on WhenVirginiaWasBlue.com.
Bob Marshall: Maintain DADT in Virginia
Posted by afp on February 8, 2011 · 4 Comments
Allowing open homosexuals in our Armed Forces will require “reprogramming” of troops to erase the memory of prior military and religious tradition. This monumental change was tacked onto a small business technology bill before the new Congress took office.
I introduced HB 2474 to maintain DADT for Virginia’s National Guard to stand with the majority of our troops who oppose repeal (Page 49, Pentagon Study.) because our U.S. Constitution empowers Virginia to establish eligibility criteria for our state guard. Every member of the House of Delegates Rules Committee voted against HB 2474 (except for Delegates Joe Johnson and Lacey Putney) despite excellent testimony by a retired Brigadier General, two Colonels and a constitutional law expert.
Delegates cited Attorney General Cuccinelli’s warrantless speculation that federal funds might be cut. But Congressional Republicans who overwhelmingly opposed DADT repeal would hardly force compliance. And now they are a majority in the House of Representatives. Virginia already has different enlistment criteria from federal Armed Forces and hasn’t lost funds.
Repeal of DADT raises questions about unit cohesion, religious freedom, sexual privacy, battlefield blood transfusions (FDA does not allow men who have sex with men to donate blood), homosexual housing/benefits and attrition possibly threatening reinstatement of the draft.
Military readiness and effectiveness must be our concern, not social experimentation in wartime. Please ask your State delegate to support my budget amendment to prohibit state funds from being used to implement repeal of DADT in Virginia’s National Guard.
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