Wednesday, September 13, 2006

The right to serve

NYTimes:

MADISON, Wis. -The three young men who tried to enlist at an Army recruiting station here appeared to be first-rate military material.

Two were college students, and the other was a college graduate. They had no criminal records. They were fit and eager to serve at a time when wars on two fronts have put a strain on American troops and the need for qualified recruits is great.

But the recruiter was forced to turn them away, for one reason: they are gay and unwilling to conceal it.

“Don’t judge me because of my sexuality,” said one of the three, Justin Hager, 20, a self-described Republican from a military family who has “a driving desire to join” the armed forces. “Judge me because of my character and drive.”

As the Pentagon’s search for soldiers grows more urgent, gay rights groups are making the biggest push in nearly a decade to win repeal of a compromise policy, encoded in a 1993 law and dubbed “don’t ask, don’t tell,” that bars openly gay people from serving in the military.

It’s not the grunts on the ground that keep this policy in place:

“Would you rather have a felon than a gay soldier?” said Capt. Scott Stanford, a heterosexual National Guard commander of a headquarters company who returned from Iraq in June. “I wouldn’t.” [..]

“People are really blasé about the issue,” said Tim Smith, 24, a former marine who was discharged last year after a civilian chaplain, told of Mr. Smith’s homosexuality by congregants, alerted his commander.

Graceless!

I just wish someone would give Nancy Grace some of her own medicine:

Two weeks after telling police that her son had been snatched from his crib, Melinda Duckett found herself reeling in an interview with TV’s famously prosecutorial Nancy Grace. Before it was over, Grace was pounding her desk and loudly demanding to know: “Where were you? Why aren’t you telling us where you were that day?”
A day after the taping, Duckett, 21, shot herself to death, deepening the mystery of what happened to the boy.

Police have refused to say whether she left a suicide note, and said nothing they have found so far in their investigation of her death has shed light on the whereabouts of her 2-year-old son, Trenton.

Investigators have stopped short of calling her a suspect but have focused increasing attention on her movements just before the boy vanished and the notes, computer, camera and other items seized from her house.

Duckett’s family members disputed any suggestion that she hurt her son. They said that the strain of her son’s disappearance pushed her to the brink, and the media sent her over the edge.

Rebecca Dana’s New York Observer piece from last winter documented well that Grace falsified much of her own crusader for victims’ rights and professional vilifier story.

Via Gay Orbit, “She was an idiot as a prosecutor in Atlanta. She still is.”

Sonny Perdue: Get elected governor, take a tax break

Wonkette’s been listening to radio in Atlanta:

Partial transcript:

SMARTASS CALLER: “The one thing I haven’t been able to do is find a way to have a friend of mine write me a bill that saves me a $100,000 on my taxes. I was wondering how I might be able to get that done.”

GEORGIA GOVERNOR SONNY PERDUE: “Well, you get elected governor, Brian.”

Over at MyDD they have a Governor Forecast 2006 Update. Sonny can afford the candor, Georgia’s still safely in the “Likely Republican” category.

For more on the issue I’m guessing the caller was referring to, see here and here. The favorite quote from the former? ”I like land.”

TiVo HD no Myth

CNet’s review:

TiVo newbies might experience a little sticker shock when pricing the Series3. At $799, that’s a significant jump from even the most expensive Series2 TiVo DVR, which tops out at $399. But TiVo has its eye on deep-pocketed consumers and hardcore videophiles who are already dropping serious money for HD televisions. [...]

The feature package explains the high price tag. It’s the first THX-certified DVR, bringing to the home theater the same high-quality sound viewers would get at the multiplex. THX, which essentially means the movie’s sound is guaranteed to come off the way a director intended, was first used in the 1980s. THX has “a high premium perception in the market,” and TiVo worked together with THX to make sure the sound and picture quality can be delivered according to THX’s standards, Morrison said.

Two cable card slots enable the TiVo to record two programs in HD at the same time while the user is watching a third pre-recorded show. The Series2 can record just two basic cable channels or one basic cable and one digital cable channel at once. The previous incarnation also could not record over-the-air stations.

I haven’t been happy about the TiVo subscription price options and I’m not as much of an early adopter geek as I once was. When it comes time to replace my old clunker, I’ll be considering the subscription free open source alternative, MythTV,

None of the above

Which iPod will you buy next? Overall, the news was underwhelming. Still it’s all about the interface; we do like ”Cover Flow.”

LATER: Read/Write Web, ”Apple’s iPod success won’t be repeated with iTV.”