SecDef Gates urges Duke Univ. students to Be A Man! Enlist!

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates spoke at Duke University September 29. First, the background:

It is also true, however, that whatever their fond sentiments for men and women in uniform, for most Americans the wars remain an abstraction. A distant and unpleasant series of news items that does not affect them personally. Even after 9/11, in the absence of a draft, for a growing number of Americans, service in the military, no matter how laudable, has become something for other people to do. In fact, with each passing decade fewer and fewer Americans know someone with military experience in their family or social circle. [ . . . ]

Clearly, SecDef Gates was speaking of people like Duke University alumnus Ben Quayle. And now the money quote:

I’d like to close by speaking about another narrow sliver of our population, those attending and graduating from our nation’s most selective and academically demanding universities, such as Duke. In short, students like many of you. [ . . . ] I am encouraged that several other comparable universities – with the urging of some of their most prominent alumni, including the President of the United States – are at least re-considering their position on military recruiting and officer training – a situation that has been neither good for the academy or the country.

But a return of ROTC back to some of these campuses will not do much good without the willingness of our nation’s most gifted students to step forward. Men and women such as you.

[ . . . ]

So I would encourage you and all young Americans, especially those at the most selective universities who may not have considered the military, to do so. To go outside your comfort zone and take a risk in every sense of the word. To expand what you thought you were capable of doing when it comes to leadership, responsibility, agility, selflessness, and above all, courage. [ . . . ]

SecDef Gates also asks everyone else, for whom it has not been possible to serve [Ben Quayle, anyone?], to do what they can:

For those for whom military service is neither possible nor the right thing for whatever reason, please consider how you can give back to the country that has given us all so much. Think about what you can do to earn your freedom – freedom paid for by those whose names are on that Duke wall and in veterans’ cemeteries across this country and across the world.

OYE Comment:

We thank SecDef Gates for saying what our national civilian political leadership, elected by the American people, should be saying. They should be urging Americans to Be A Man! Enlist!

We also think that those not personally eligible to serve can best Support Our Troops by urging their eligible relatives and friends, their circles of influence, to volunteer. It will change your life.

And where are the Duke University College Republicans? Too busy kicking out their Chairman for being gay (and, therefore, not eligible to serve in our military thanks to "Don´t Ask, Don´t Tell."). Why don´t they listen to SecDef Gates and do what he can´t? Pussies.

Hat tip to Spencer Ackerman. Photo tip here.

Dork Diggler*

This asshole is back. Now as a misogynist, cowardly swine.

Recently, I was the target of a failed punk. James O'Keefe, the so-called "pimp" in the ACORN expose videos, was participating in a detailed plan to "faux" seduce me on his boat. For months, I had been working on a documentary about the young conservative movement. James had called me about concerns he had regarding an upcoming shoot. He asked me to meet him to talk about the shoot. I agreed to fly to Maryland and then drive to his "office" for a face-to-face conversation with him.

When I showed up, there was no office, as promised. Instead, he wanted to get me on a boat, which we later learned, was staged as a "pleasure palace." One of his colleagues, Izzy Santa, who was in Maryland that day, told me about the plan and stopped the punk before it happened.

Izzy told me he had "strawberries and champagne" waiting for me on the boat, and that he planned to "hit on me" the entire time. She said it would all be captured on hidden cameras that had been set up on the boat and in the back yard. She said the sole purpose of the "punk" was to embarrass me, and to make CNN look bad.

*I completely ripped off the title from KagroX

Chris Cox loses Republican Nomination for Congress [NY1]

Millionaire businessman Randy Altschuler defeated President Nixon's grandson Chris Cox in the Republican Primary for Congress in New York's First Congressional District, on Long Island. Republican Nominee Altschuler is 39; his official biography does not mention military service.

So, Long Island Republicans having passed on Chris Cox, we'll focus on Republican nominee and Yellow Elephant Ben Quayle in AZ3 in the Phoenix area.

Chris Cox in Primary 14 Sept.

We haven't forgotten about Chris Cox. His Primary Election is Tuesday, September 14. Other candidates are businessman Randy Altschuler and former government attorney George Demos. No candidate in this Republican Primary is a military veteran.

The winner will face Democratic incumbent Tim Bishop, whose official website contains useful and practical information on how the American people can Support Our Troops. Mr. Bishop has not served in our military, according to his official biography.

FALL DADT Lobby Day 16SEP: The Final Assault

Servicemembers United invites active-duty servicemembers, veterans and supporters to its "Fall 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Lobby Day: The Final Assault," Thursday, September 16, 2010. Register here.

If the College and Young Republicans, and Republican Congressional candidates like Ben Quayle, really want to Support Our Troops, they will at least issue press statements urging the Senate to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" this year.

Sex advice from the young GOP

I went to the Young Republican National Convention and, believe me, there wasn't exactly a parade of women leaving the hotel rooms of the participants in the morning. So I'm calling this dude's bullshit.

Scott, 25

What’s the best reason to date a young Republican?
She won’t change the station while I’m getting my Rush Limbaugh on.

Are young Republicans better in bed then young Democrats?
Yes. Well, at least the men are. In my experience, conservative women seem to be just that in the bedroom.

I consider myself extremely right-wing. But this girl I have a crush on is a huge leftist. I want to go for it, but am afraid that personal politics will eventually lead to bedroom politics. What do you think?

Why not get into that political argument? Settle your differences in bed. Punish that liberal pussy.

Little Malik doesn't celebrate communist holidays

Dan Savage on Ben Quayle

from Savage Love:

Is everyone in the Republican Party a closeted homosexual?

—Ken Mehlman's Out Now


Everyone except Ken Mehlman and Ben Quayle.

Overweight Recruits

Hmmm....lots of overweight and out of shape recruits showing up at boot camp over the last few years. Sounds like the College Republicans have been enlisting.

This is the Army’s new physical-training program, which has been rolled out this year at its five basic training posts that handle 145,000 recruits a year. Nearly a decade in the making, its official goal is to reduce injuries and better prepare soldiers for the rigors of combat in rough terrain like Afghanistan.

But as much as anything, the program was created to help address one of the most pressing issues facing the military today: overweight and unfit recruits.

“What we were finding was that the soldiers we’re getting in today’s Army are not in as good shape as they used to be,” said Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, who oversees basic training for the Army. “This is not just an Army issue. This is a national issue.”

Senile Old Fool

Alan Simpson is tired of those damn freeloading Veterans putting a strain on the deficit.

RALEIGH, N.C.—The system that automatically awards disability benefits to some veterans because of concerns about Agent Orange seems contrary to efforts to control federal spending, the Republican co-chairman of President Barack Obama's deficit commission said Tuesday.

Former Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson's comments came a day after The Associated Press reported that diabetes has become the most frequently compensated ailment among Vietnam veterans, even though decades of research has failed to find more than a possible link between the defoliant Agent Orange and diabetes.

"The irony (is) that the veterans who saved this country are now, in a way, not helping us to save the country in this fiscal mess," said Simpson, an Army veteran who was once chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee.