Timeline of Idiocy

2003 - 'U.S.Military in Search of Arabic Translators' "Jennifer Ludden reports on the U.S. military's direneed for more translators who speak Arabic and other Middle Easternlanguages."

2005 - 'Army,Marines miss recruiting goals again, Morecash and appeals to parents, patriotism haven't reversed trend'"WASHINGTON - Pentagon officials say it's not a crisis, but it is a majorconcern — a battle here at home to win the hearts and minds of potential newrecruits."

2006 -' U.S.is recruiting misfits for army. Felons, racists, gang members fill in theranks' "After falling short ofits goals last year, military recruiting in 2006 has been marked by upbeatpronouncements from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, claims of success bythe White House, and a spate of recent press reports touting the military'sachievement of its woman- and manpower goals."

2006 - DefenseSecretary Donald Rumsfeld: "As you know, you go to war withthe army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a latertime."

2006 - 'ArmyMeets Yearly Recruiting Goal'  "WASHINGTON - The Army isending its best recruiting year since 1997 and expecting similar success in2007, despite the weight of grim war news from Iraq, Army Secretary FrancisHarvey said."

2007 - 'ArmyMisses May Recruiting Goal' "With an array of special incentivesfor attracting recruits, the Army managed to recover from a 2005 recruitingslump, but the impact of the Iraq war and the strong domestic economy have madeit difficult to attract enlistees."

2007 - 'USArmy unable to afford translators, bomb-proof trucks' "GeneralPeter Schoomaker outlined an unfunded $10bn additional "wish list" ina memo to the congressional military committee" (included $13.3 MILLION forforeign languages translation.)

I think I found some clues where some of the problems lie, AND where GeneralShoomaker's money could have come from...

2007 - 'U.S. military continues todischarge gay Arab linguists, and Congress members seek hearing' "WASHINGTON:Lawmakers who say the military has kicked out 58 Arabic linguists because theywere gay want the Pentagon to explain how it can afford to let the valuablelanguage specialists go."

'Arabic Translator Firedfrom the Navy for Being Gay'

Since ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ became law, over 11,000 service membershave been discharged because of their sexuality.  The number of servicemembers who have left on their own volition, or have decided not tore-enlist because of this law is not documented. The government has spent over$363 million dollars in taxpayer money to implement this unfair legislation. Dozens of other countries, many of whom have fought side-by-side with oursoldiers, allow lesbians, gays and bisexuals to serve openly. Those are thefacts and they have nothing to do with a service members passion and skill toperform his duty.

So I pose this question to each and everyAmerican (civilian and military). Would you feel safer fighting side by sidewith an individual which is capable of telling you "they areyelling, watch out, the bad guys are over there...you should go theother way" OR would you rather be with someone that can tell you thestarting line-up of the NY Yankees?

I wonder how many hungry children (andadults) $363 million would feed? And as far as the argument "themilitary is no place for gays"...well we would probably have to go wayback to the very first army ever formed, then tell the first 10 soldiers"one of you is one of them and this is no place for you".

Ican't even believe that we are still having this conversation with the statethis world is in today.

I'd say this guy was qualified.