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Andrew Sullivan: HARVARD SIGNS UP
AndrewSullivan.com ^ | 20 NOV 2001 | Andrew Sullivan

Posted on 11/20/2001 11:40:09 AM PST by RobertBauman

HARVARD SIGNS UP: In a fascinating sign of the times, Harvard's new president, Lawrence Summers gave a speech last week - barely covered in the national media - that seems to me a cultural milestone. "The post-Vietnam cleavage between coastal elites and certain mainstream values is a matter of great concern and has some real costs," Summers said in an interview with the Crimson. "The United States is engaged in a conflict that is very widely seen as between wrong and right, fear and hope, and is without the moral ambiguity of Vietnam," he went on. Hard to see his predecessor saying something that bold. Summers even brought up the thorny issue of allowing ROTC back on campus since it was banished in the 1970s. The military's policy of persecuting gay servicemembers is one reason a reconciliation hasn't yet taken place. But Summers clearly wants a rapprochement. "[This crisis] provides an opportunity for some reconciliation of values," he added. With any luck, the military will at some point return the favor. We need our elite universities providing the military and intelligence services with the best the country can offer. And we need a military that will not destroy talent for an anachronistic relic of discrimination.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: andrewsullivanlist
we need a military that will not destroy talent for an anachronistic relic of discrimination.

That doesn't even make sense. Funny how Sullivan tries to slip in this comment as though his lifestyle is somehow equivalent with true minorities like Blacks. Andrew makes some good points sometimes, but this time he is way off base. Our military would surely be weakened if we allowed homosexuals to flamboyently display their lifestyle while currently serving with other men in the showers, bunks, and on deployment. Common sense will tell you that.

Colin Powell: “I think it would be prejudicial to good order and discipline to try to integrate gays and lesbians in the current military structure. Skin color is a benign, nonbehavioral characteristic. Sexual orientation is perhaps the most profound of human behavioral characteristics. Comparison of the two is a convenient but invalid argument. African-American leaders were telling me that they resented having the civil rights crusade hijacked by the gay community for its ends."

Source: My American Journey, by Colin Powell, p. 533 Jan 1, 1995

1 posted on 11/20/2001 11:40:09 AM PST by RobertBauman
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To: RobertBauman
I think AS is a great writer and pundit. But he loses me whenever he takes off on his CRUSADE to normalize gays. Well, we all have an agenda and this is his.
2 posted on 11/20/2001 11:51:42 AM PST by corkoman
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To: RobertBauman
I'm not sure if , as an American, I want the elites returning to our military. Somehow the officer corps from the academies and from the Rotcie programs in the heartland have provided a sensible combination of quality and patriotism and leadership.

Those students weaned on the politically correct pablum of the Ivies would not be my first choice to lead my child over the hill.

The President of Harvard may be well intentioned, but I'd decline his offer. Better to have his best and brightest go into the sciences and develop better weapons for our forces and better medicines to defend against the consequences of insane hatred.

3 posted on 11/20/2001 11:59:09 AM PST by xkaydet65
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To: xkaydet65
The ivies science programs are weak. Mostly they produce writers no one reads, lawyers and politicians. At one time they were culturally incestious and closed, now they are intellectually incestious and closed. I don't see them having, ever, any effect on the millitary culture. Too dirty, too much hard work. The nco's would break their self esteem in days, really thick ones would receive purple harts the hard way.
4 posted on 11/20/2001 12:07:57 PM PST by Leisler
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To: xkaydet65
Those students weaned on the politically correct pablum of the Ivies would not be my first choice to lead my child over the hill

Very well said. Thank you.
5 posted on 11/20/2001 12:08:14 PM PST by pt17
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To: RobertBauman
1. Harvard. A sick, nasty, un-American institution. I did not have a very good time there in 1969-72 at the law school, having just returned from a tour of duty in Vietnam and refusing to crawl around saying it was wrong.
2. Gays in the military. It will never work. None of the "experts" who advocate it have ever served in the military. In addition to the close, cramped living quarters, it is necessary for unit cohesion and morale for the men to love each other (in a non-sexual way) -- being willilng to lay down your life for your buddy -- and I can think of nothing more perverse and destructive to that than having an openly-declared homosexual around. Never work.
6 posted on 11/20/2001 1:11:04 PM PST by Viet Vet in Augusta GA
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To: RobertBauman
Is there anything in your mind between flamboyance and the closet? Probably not. I wonder if there are any flamboyant ones in Afghanistan right now as part of the British special force units, or in the 6,000 man force slated to go in (or at least was slated)?
7 posted on 11/20/2001 1:20:47 PM PST by Torie
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To: RobertBauman; *Andrew Sullivan list
bump
8 posted on 11/20/2001 1:22:24 PM PST by Free the USA
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To: xkaydet65
It's not so easy in the midwest either...
ROTC in the Heartland
Lutheran School doesn't want those who discriminate, while gladly taking state and federal monies
9 posted on 11/20/2001 1:59:18 PM PST by SemperQueso
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To: RobertBauman
Well, I was raised Episcopalian and I just want EVERYBODY TO SHUT UP ABOUT THEIR SEX LIVES!! I really don't want to know. I wouldn't dream of running around talking about my sexuality (in fact, I won't even concede that I have any such thing), and I wish everyone else would just follow my example. It is not an appropriate topic of conversation in polite society. Then the entire stupid issue GOES AWAY.

Sorry, just had to rant a little. :)

10 posted on 11/20/2001 2:20:16 PM PST by walden
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To: RobertBauman
Andrew Sullivan's Barebacking Sites
If you've ever watched a political chat show or read a major newspaper, you know who Andrew Sullivan is. Very British, gay Catholic conservative, HIV+, former GAP model, former editor of The New Republic, and tireless moralizer.

Look at his behavior. Do you really want to be on the be on the same side as Mr. Sullivan.
Do Republican need the Republican Unity Coalition?

This is Homosexual Disinformation 101, divide and conquer. We have been fighting for years not only the democRATs but the RINO Republicans. They are in every group. They are the first to volunteer and the last to do anything. We need to get rid of these people so we can mount an effective campaign in the year 2002.

11 posted on 11/28/2001 6:14:50 AM PST by Jimbaugh
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