Eideard

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A federal judge has ordered the reinstatement of an openly lesbian former Air Force major who was dismissed from the military under the government’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

Judge Ronald Leighton of Tacoma, Washington, made his ruling Friday. It is the latest legal and political setback for the Obama administration, which is seeking to end the policy through a legislative and executive solution.

Uh, I would have to interject, here, that Obama is trying to dump it off on Congress. He knows, you and I know, that will accomplish nothing. Especially before the fall election. There is nothing “executive” happening.

And he apparently hasn’t the integrity to live up to his promises to the Gay and Lesbian community made during his presidential campaign.

Maj. Margaret Witt, a decorated flight nurse with 20 years of service, had sued to return to the Air Force Reserve. She was honorably discharged in July 2007 on the grounds that she had a six-year relationship with another woman, a civilian…

“Her discharge from the Air Force Reserves violated her substantive due process rights under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. She should be restored to her position as a flight nurse with the 446th AES as soon as is practicable,” wrote the judge…

She was described in employee reports and by trial witnesses as an “exemplary officer” who was an effective leader, caring mentor, and skilled clinician. She had hid her homosexuality for years…

Witt’s lawyers from the ACLU argued the Spokane native’s sexuality never led to any problems within her unit. Several members of her squadron had testified they would welcome her back.

“Today we heard the hammer of justice strike for Major Margaret Witt,” said ACLU of Washington Executive Director Kathleen Taylor. “We look forward to the day when all members of our military can serve our country without invidious discrimination. To discharge her simply because of her sexual orientation was entirely unfair to her and unwise for the military, which needs her significant skills.”

The saddest thing is that the Democrats and Obama are a slightly better alternative to the intellectually and ethically corrupt thugs in the Republican Party and their teabagger Brown Shirts. On some issues.

I can’t be moved to vote for the evil of two lessers.

Dancing lawyers!
Daylife/AP Photo

The Pakistani government has agreed to reinstate the independent-minded former chief justice of the Supreme Court, a stunning concession to the opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, who had been heading toward the capital in a convoy threatening to stage a mass protest over the issue after he broke free from house arrest at his residence near here.

The concession, broadcast on national television by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, came after a tumultuous weekend in Pakistani politics in which a dispute between President Asif Ali Zardari and Mr. Sharif escalated into a crisis that was destabilizing a nuclear-armed nation already under pressure from a growing Islamic insurgency and severe economic troubles.

The decision to restore the chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, came after calls to Mr. Zardari and Mr. Sharif, including from Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, asking them to ease their differences…

In reaction to Mr. Zardari’s concession, Mr. Sharif said he would call off his protest and the planned sit-in in the capital. He said the restoration of the chief justice was a victory for Pakistan and a due but belated move by the president. After making his remarks in Gujranawala, he returned to his home in Raiwind, outside of Lahore…

A lawyers’ movement has agitated for Mr. Chaudhry’s return, and Mr. Sharif made Mr. Chaudhry, as a symbol of an independent judiciary, the centerpiece of his platform since his return to Pakistani politics from his exile in late 2007.

RTFA. Regardless of where you fit into support for a faction of Pakistan’s politics, the restoration of a central aspect of institutional law must be welcomed.

As on outsider – one whose only commitment is to democracy and peace, economic justice – this looks like one step forward. I hope it isn’t answered by two steps backwards from the forces dedicated to medieval solutions.

“Bacon sandwiches for everyone!”
Daylife/Reuters Pictures

The Vatican said the pope issued a decree lifting the excommunication of four traditionalist bishops who were thrown out of the Roman Catholic Church in 1988 for being ordained without Vatican permission.

The four bishops lead the ultra-conservative Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), which has about 600,000 members and rejected modernizations of Roman Catholic worship and doctrine…

One of the four bishops, the British-born Richard Williamson, has made a number of statements denying the full extent of the Nazi Holocaust of European Jews, as accepted by mainstream historians.

In comments to Swedish television broadcast Wednesday, he said “I believe there were no gas chambers” and only up to 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps, instead of 6 million…

Pope Benedict has already made several gestures of reconciliation to the schismatic group, including allowing the unconditional return of the old-style Latin Mass.

That move also angered Jews because the ceremony includes a Good Friday prayer for their conversion.

The rationales for Williamson’s bigotry and foolishness are the same as for any similar sophistry denying historic fact and record. The crime now extends to a Pope who would rather have his followers paying dues – than leading anyone to an understanding of horrific crime.

Ministers believe it is an “important subject” and may help school pupils to learn modern languages. Less than 15 per cent of state schools teach Latin and the number of qualified teachers is falling.

However, the Department for Education is understood to be considering adding Latin to the new Languages diploma. Baroness Morgan, the schools minister, has indicated that the Government wishes to see Latin regain its status as an important language.

She said it was “an important subject and valuable for supporting pupils’ learning of modern languages”. She added that the Language Diploma Development Partnership was “considering the place of Latin”.

Meanwhile, peers have also asked to be given access to Latin lessons in the House of Lords. Baroness O’Cathain, a Conservative peer, asked for Latin courses to be added a list of 10 modern languages on offer to peers.

Should be a real aid to learning Chinese. And they could bring over the Pope to teach the House of Lords.

Daylife/Getty Images

Tens of thousands of Coloradans who had been removed from the state’s voter rolls will be allowed to vote in next week’s election and given extra protections so their ballots are counted, under an agreement reached late Wednesday in federal court here.

The voters’ names had been removed by Mike Coffman, the Republican secretary of state, who said he did so because the voters had moved out of state or were listed more than once on the rolls. But Mr. Coffman was sued by a coalition of voting rights and other groups who said such purges were generally prohibited by federal law within 90 days of an election.

Under the agreement, voters removed from the rolls will be permitted to cast provisional ballots, and those ballots will be counted unless election officials can prove the voters were not eligible. To strike such ballots, county election officials must conduct an extensive records review on each one, a decision that must then be reviewed by Mr. Coffman’s office.

Edward B. Foley, a law professor at Ohio State University and an authority on voting litigation nationwide, said the settlement was noteworthy because many states had put the onus on voters to prove that their provisional ballots were legitimate before they could be counted. The settlement shifts this responsibility to the state.

The wrap on all of this is that the Help America Vote Act is what state after state is using to keep people from voting. Does the hypocritical model of the so-called Patriot Act work at every level of American government?

You call your crappy law one thing when the intent is the exact opposite.