oh good, "later."
Mar. 31st, 2009 12:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solarbirdOh good, Sec. Gates says the Obama administration will deal with "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" sometime, oh, later. Not "soon." It's been "push[ed]... down the road." Now, it's possible "later" means "the late summer when nobody's paying attention," and that's okay. But if it's not 2009, the realities of Democratic politics means it's going to be 2013, maybe. (Why? Because 2010 means "it's an election year!" which of course really means, "We can't alienate the queerhaters! They matter more than you!" And 2011 is coming off mid-terms and only the GOP will want to take stands (not that the Democrats want to, ever, anyway), and in 2012 "it's an election year!" which means 2013.)
So there you go.
In other news, Japan still doesn't allow same-sex marriage, but now will recognise those marriages for immigration purposes and co-operate fully with identity issuance required for those marriages. So that's useful, and, of course, leagues ahead of the US, where the Federal government doesn't even recognise legal same-sex marriages performed in US states.
I wonder whether there's any calendar for repealing DOMA. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA <cries>
Oh, and Vermont's governor pledges to veto marriage legalisation. A legislative process arose after separate-but-theoretically-equal domestic-partner laws were used by an appellate court to discriminate against the survivor in domestic partnerships. The survivor had tried to file a wrongful-death lawsuit, but the court threw it out on the basis that the separate laws implied same-sex couples could be treated differently than heterosexual couples. It was an excuse, of course, but that's how these things get used. If you're in Vermont, or have friends or family in Vermont, political action now would be good - if the House passes the bill by enough votes, the governor may back off and let it become law without a signature.
In war crimes news, a Spanish court is doing what American justice won't even investigate; starting work on war crimes prosecutions for members of the Bush administration. Great Britain's Conservatives are also pushing that government towards investigations of American torture. Andrew Sullivan notes - and notes - that when it's not the US doing the waterboarding, the Washington Post is more than happy to call it torture. Same with repeated beatings. As Mr. Sullivan puts it:
So there you go.
In other news, Japan still doesn't allow same-sex marriage, but now will recognise those marriages for immigration purposes and co-operate fully with identity issuance required for those marriages. So that's useful, and, of course, leagues ahead of the US, where the Federal government doesn't even recognise legal same-sex marriages performed in US states.
I wonder whether there's any calendar for repealing DOMA. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA <cries>
Oh, and Vermont's governor pledges to veto marriage legalisation. A legislative process arose after separate-but-theoretically-equal domestic-partner laws were used by an appellate court to discriminate against the survivor in domestic partnerships. The survivor had tried to file a wrongful-death lawsuit, but the court threw it out on the basis that the separate laws implied same-sex couples could be treated differently than heterosexual couples. It was an excuse, of course, but that's how these things get used. If you're in Vermont, or have friends or family in Vermont, political action now would be good - if the House passes the bill by enough votes, the governor may back off and let it become law without a signature.
In war crimes news, a Spanish court is doing what American justice won't even investigate; starting work on war crimes prosecutions for members of the Bush administration. Great Britain's Conservatives are also pushing that government towards investigations of American torture. Andrew Sullivan notes - and notes - that when it's not the US doing the waterboarding, the Washington Post is more than happy to call it torture. Same with repeated beatings. As Mr. Sullivan puts it:
Remember: we don't torture. When Bush said that he meant: when we do it, it's not torture. And the WaPo and the AP and the NYT's news divisions agree.Glenn Greenwald also makes another catch, where Newsweek's Evan Thomas states outright that he considers himself a member of the "ruling class," and that as such, his interest is preserving the status quo. Again, it's not the reality - that's long obvious - but the bare statement of it that's kind of neat.
