Greg Abbott's goal: "A Texas where any child of any background" can succeed

Earlier today, the Greg Abbott campaign sent out an email thanking everyone who attended his campaign kickoff in San Antonio. The email ended with this paragraph:

Together we will build a Texas that attracts jobs, promotes opportunity and rewards ingenuity – a Texas where any child of any background has a chance to smile, to hope, to dream and to succeed.

Are we going backwards?

Yesterday was Barack Obama's second inauguration as President, and the celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as well. As expected, the festivities of the day included a number of references to Dr. King as well as our sixteenth President, Abraham Lincoln.

America's first black President, elected to a second term, sworn into office on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, taking the oath with the Bible of the President who freed the slaves. It should have been a triumph for civil rights...but is it really?

Voter Fraud: The Risk is REAL

Friends, this is a long post, but it's probably one of the most important things I've written for this site.  Please take the time to read to the end, share with your friends, and I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments...

You've probably heard about the Department of Justice dropping the case against the Philadelphia Black Panthers accused of voter intimidation (you know, the nightstick-wielding guy who wants to kill all the "crackas"), and maybe you've seen the funny sight of  Facebook users changing their profile pictures to actual crackers:

(The Ritz Cracker Company does not support racism or voter fraud)

OK, now for the serious stuff, a story much more serious than one idiot with a big stick and even bigger mouth.  Yesterday, I came across a story about a filmmaker named Gigi Gaston,  a lifelong dedicated Democrat, who started a new documentary project after the 2008 elections that aimed to disprove accusations by Hillary Clinton supporters that there had been widespread voter fraud in the Democratic Presidential primary process.

Gaston started her film with the belief that the accusations were just nonsense and conspiracy theories, but as she met more and more Democratic voters who told her their stories and showed her their evidence, she became convinced that the accusations were true, the stories of voter fraud and intimidation were real, and, most importantly, a deciding factor in Barack Obama winning the Democratic Presidential nomination in 2008.  The documentary quickly reversed from its original direction and she gave it the title "We Will Not Be Silenced."

Here is Gaston being interviewed on Fox & Friends:

Don't Ask Don't Tell = Hypocrisy + Lousy Logic

I was catching up on some of my favorite blogs and news sites over the weekend, and came across several debates about the potential repeal of the military's "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy.  After reading through the thoughts of some very opinionated people on both sides of the issue, the main thing I couldn't get out of my head was the raging hypocrisy and complete lack of logic inherent in this policy.

I'm not a military law expert, but my understanding of the policy is that the military allows gays to serve, as long as they don't openly tell that they are gay. So let me get this straight (no pun intended!)...it's OK to be gay in the military, but only if you lie about it?  Huh?!

Those who favor repealing the policy call it discriminatory and a violation of civil rights.  Fine, but where were these people when the law was being enacted?  The Democrats like to attempt to claim exclusive ownership of the fight for civil rights, when history shows that is simply not true. 

It was a Democrat president, Bill Clinton, who signed it into law in 1993.  Clinton campaigned on a promise to allow all citizens to serve in the military regardless of sexual orientation.  When it came time to actually lift the ban, however, Clinton ended up losing nerve and offering up this much watered down version of his campaign promise.  I find it hypocritical to campaign as a gay rights advocate, then turn around and enact a policy that basically tells gays to sit down and shut up.  It's just plain disrespectful.  Obama has also totally wimped out on the issue, giving good talking points during the campaign but crossing his fingers and hoping the courts will do the hard work for him. 

The standard arguments in favor of keeping the policy tend to fall into two categories: (1) concerns about sexual relationships causing drama among those serving together, and (2) the belief that gays in the military present some sort of security threat by endangering a unit's camaraderie or morale. 

The first concern is easily addressed the same way the military handled it when women first began serving: enacting rules and regulations restricting fraternization and setting boundaries for relationships.  The men and women serving in our military are intelligent adults, and they can understand the rules against relationships with their superiors, rules restricting relationships within their own units, rules prohibiting sexual assaults, and they can also understand the consequences for violating those rules.  Gay people are not any dumber than the rest of us wandering around this earth - they can understand these rules too.

The second concern is the one that really drives me bonkers.  If gays in the military are really a security problem, or a threat to a unit's morale, if they are really so "dangerous", then how can they magically not be dangerous anymore if they lie about it?  I cannot think of any other situation where the rule is that a particular prohibited activity is fine as long as you lie about it first.  

Is it OK if someone on the No-Fly List gets on a plane, as long as they have a fake ID?  Is it OK if someone opens a credit card in your name, as long as they've stolen your identity first?  Is it OK for someone to get a well-paid job, as long as they lie on their resume?  Of course not.  So if being gay is really, truly, a "threat" to morale, national security, or whatever, why do we allow them in the military if they lie about it?  Isn't dishonesty a threat to morale and security too?