Manhattan Diary
by Cahir O'DohertyRSS 
Recent Posts
- Violent attacks on gays in New York up 70 percent in 2013
- Will New York Senator Chuck Schumer ditch gay couples for an immigration deal?
- If nobody's happy, it's working – the abortion debate and Irish politics of stalemate
- Conservative news entertainment complex claim Barack Obama leader of Al Qaeda
- Why Irish grudges are passed on - a long tradition of never forgetting
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Those self-serving bankers, developers and politicians who treated Ireland like their own private casino have just handed their fellow citizens a 19 century diet of austerity, poverty and heartache (because, they suspect, they'll never fight back).
And if you ever imagined the people responsible for this disaster would share in the losses, or acknowledge their culpability, then today you've had your fingers rubbed on the fiery braille of what's really happening.
There have been no shattering public protests, no riots, just - for the most part - sad acceptance. So far.
Why? Why are they going so quietly?
You can't get there from here. Essentially, that's the explanation being given by the Obama administration for their multiple - and increasingly incoherent - decisions to appeal discharges under the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy.
Yesterday afternoon the Department of Justice appealed a September ruling ordering the Air Force to reinstate lesbian flight nurse Maj. Margaret Witt, who was suspended in 2004, and ultimately discharged under DADT.
"In certain cases, where the intention is to reduce the risk of infection, it can nevertheless be a first step on the way to another, more humane sexuality," the Pope said.
The Pope cited male prostitution as an example of when people could use condoms.
According to former President George W. Bush's new memoir "Decision Points," in 2006 McConnell asked the commander in chief of the United States to draw down the number of troops in Iraq in order to help Republicans survive in that November's elections.
You read that right. At the time McConnell was pugnaciously defending the war effort in Iraq he was privately pleading with Bush to diminish that same effort in an attempt to save Republican seats.
Just as her mother aims to charm America with an outdoorsy portrait of her Alaskan fairy tale life, along comes her potty mouthed daughter to harpoon the whole enterprise with a disastrous post on Facebook.
Responding to teenage critics of her mother's reality show, young Willow Palin unleashed a shocking tirade on another teen, calling him "so gay" and "such a faggot."
Whilst it's fair to say the majority of America's teens have at one time or another used the term gay as a pejorative, it's uncommon to hear the f-bomb unleashed so casually these days. Because at heart kids know it's just wrong.
But at this point his objections are starting to have the ring of French farce. Complete with slamming doors and raised voices in his own home, presumably.
What McCain's really looking for, it seems clear, is to keep gays from serving openly without the threat of DADT.
Yesterday Cindy McCain apparently caved to pressure, issuing a clarification of the statements she made in support of the LGBT community in a viral ad campaign this weekend.
In the NoH8 campaign McCain had voiced her objection to the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy - a view that for the first time publicly contradicted her husband John McCain's hardline stance.
If the United States government is sending the message that LGBT people are second class citizens McCain asks, can we really be surprised when they're daily harassed, bullied and attacked in our nations schools and streets?
Her stance puts her at powerful odds with her own husband, Senator John McCain, who enthusiastically supports Don't Ask, Don't Tell and will likely continue to even when a much anticipated internal military study next month confirms that the policy's repeal will have minimal impact on our armed services.
