Your Tax Dollars For Homophobia!
Don't ask how much "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" cost us -- you don't want to know. Liz Sidoti writes for the AP:
Discharging troops under the Pentagon's policy on gays cost $363.8 million over 10 years, almost double what the government concluded a year ago, a private report says.The report, to be released Tuesday by a University of California Blue Ribbon Commission, questioned the methodology the Government Accountability Office used when it estimated that the financial impact of the ``Don't Ask, Don't Tell'' policy was at least $190.5 million.
``It builds on the previous findings and paints a more complete picture of the costs,'' said Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass., who has proposed legislation that would repeal the policy.
Congress approved the ``Don't Ask, Don't Tell'' policy in 1993 during the Clinton administration. It allows gays and lesbians to serve in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps as long as they abstain from homosexual activity and do not disclose their sexual orientation.
The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, which has represented service members who left the military under the policy, estimates the Pentagon has discharged more than 10,000 service members for homosexuality since ``Don't Ask, Don't Tell'' went into effect in 1994. The number of discharges has gone down in recent years.
In February 2005, the GAO said the financial impact could not be completely estimated because the government does not collect financial information specific to each individual's case.
Cautioning that the figures may be too low, the GAO said the federal government spent at least $95.4 million to recruit and $95.1 million to train replacements from 1994 through 2003 for the 9,488 troops discharged during that period because of the policy.
The university study said the GAO erred by emphasizing the expense of replacing those who were discharged because of the policy without taking into account the value the military lost from the departures.
So, the commission focused on the estimated value the military lost from each person discharged. The report detailed costs of $79.3 million for recruiting enlisted service members, $252.4 million for training them, $17.8 million for training officers and $14.3 million for ``separation travel'' once a service member is discharged.
And let me just remind you, for all of you who think religion is no biggie, that this idiocy exists due to religion, and the fact that the primitives who are religious were told that their Big Imaginary Friend has a problem with homosexuality.
As an atheist, I couldn't care less if you're gay, straight, or hermaphrodite (although I do have a special soft spot in my heart for drag queens). I just hope you're all having sex, and having a hell of a time doing it.
via Sploid
Someone else blogged this the other day and noted that more money is lost due to the discharge of pregnant women. Should the military end the policy of allowing women to enlist?
I'm not saying that the don't ask-don't-tell policy is right, but it's silly to base your opposition to the policy on the dollar cost of discharging gays.
nash at February 15, 2006 7:47 AM
the over weight solders (36,513) getting kicked out are more than the gays (9501) and pregs (26,446) put togethere... it's that old religion thing again, the going through the eye of an needle stuff, skinny guy on the cross.. etc.
so if the gays are costing 364 million that means the pregs cost us a little over a billions dollars and the fatties cost us just a couple pennys short of 1.4 billion.. all this reminds me that i still have to do my taxes for the 05 year.
but seriously i don't think you can really blame this one on that old holy book too much there's only a couple of lines in the whole damn thing that the rightous folks can cling too to smack down those queer ones with. as they overlook jesus' saying about loving everyone and turning the other cheek and all..
-mike- at February 15, 2006 9:37 AM
> this idiocy exists due
> to religion
Bzzzzt! That's wrong. It's wrongsy-wrongoe. It's a prehistoric flying Wrongasaures.
There are plenty of us who have sexual freakery (and sorrow) in our lives who never went to church. Priests and nuns may do much to deform these impulses, but they're plenty weird and sparky enough to do damage on their own.
> I just hope you're all
> having sex
Fucking is fun! But it can really be a problem on aircraft carriers. Yes, this military policy is problematic and technocratic and half-assed and disturbing. Did any serious human being really think that welcoming these people (women, uncloseted gays) into the service could be done smoothly? Puh-leeze.
So we're dealing with it, slowly and badly. But this was going to happen someday. Blaming every problem with life on Earth on Jerry Falwell or Joseph Ratzinger is silly.
Crid at February 15, 2006 10:09 AM
Fucking is Fun
Problem on aircraft carriers
It's wrongsy-wrongoe.
Crid- you came so close to a perfect Haiku.
zen master eric at February 15, 2006 8:33 PM
-mike-, those are beautiful numbers. Are they real?
Eric, someone once said somewhere that Haiku always mention seasons or the passage of time.
Crid at February 16, 2006 1:10 AM
i took the numbers from the washington post that said the new dollar number for the gay outtings was 364 million (tuesday v-day) which made it $38,311.75 per person. they also had the number of others who were outted for weight and pregs. so i just guessed that it would cost the same to replace someone no mater what the reason for their leaving...
-mike- at February 16, 2006 7:19 AM
"I just hope you're all having sex, and having a hell of a time doing it."
That's exactly what my Dad said when I came out to him 20+ years ago!
Lena at February 16, 2006 4:25 PM
Your dad rocks. A pity there aren't many, many more like him.
I'm a flaming hetero, and I still resent the language "coming out," as if there's something to admit to (ie, be ashamed of)...a gift of all the religious nutters. I mean, you're sexual. You're sexual with somebody of age who's consenting. That should be a problem for me or anyone else why?
Amy Alkon at February 16, 2006 5:04 PM
You're right, my dad really does rock. I adore him!
Lena at February 16, 2006 7:09 PM
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