ARTICLES - HOT OFF THE FAGGOT

U.S. tourist killed in Israel

Amplify’d from www.calgarysun.com

U.S. tourist killed in Israel

By Jeffrey Heller, Reuters

Israeli emergency personnel carry the body of U.S. tourist Christine Logan, discovered in a wooded area near the village of Matta, south of Jerusalem Dec. 19. (REUTERS/Baz Ratner)

Israeli emergency personnel carry the body of U.S. tourist Christine Logan, discovered in a wooded area near the village of Matta, south of Jerusalem Dec. 19. (REUTERS/Baz Ratner)

JERUSALEM - An American tourist was stabbed to death and another woman wounded while hiking in foothills outside Jerusalem, Israeli police said on Sunday.

“We are examining whether this is a nationalistic stabbing, but other leads are being examined as well,” police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, using Israel’s term for an attack by Palestinian militants.

Kaye Wilson, a Briton who immigrated to Israel, said she and Christine Logan, a visitor from the United States, were attacked by two Arab men while hiking on Saturday south of Jerusalem in an area near Israel’s border with the occupied West Bank.

“All of a sudden two Arabs walked by and they asked me in Hebrew if I had any water. So I said, dismissively, ‘see ya.’ But I immediately felt that something was wrong,” Wilson told Israel’s Channel Two TV from her hospital bed.

“I was scared, but my friend became a bit hysterical, so I told her in English — they spoke in Arabic — ‘be quiet, don’t make any noise, it’ll make them attack us,’” she said.

“Suddenly, they came, it happened so quickly. They attacked us. One of them took out a very long knife, not a bread knife, but one that was serrated,” Wilson said.

“I played dead. I saw (the knife) hadn’t gone into my heart. My friend was dying, I heard her making gurgling sounds.”

Wilson, who was stabbed several times, managed to reach a parking area where people called the police, who mounted an overnight search for Logan. Her bound body was found early on Sunday.

Police identified Logan as an American but gave no hometown.

(Additional reporting by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Read more at www.calgarysun.com
 

American woman kidnapped by Arabs outside Jerusalem; UPDATE: Woman found dead

Amplify’d from israelmatzav.blogspot.com



American woman kidnapped by Arabs outside Jerusalem; UPDATE: Woman found dead

An American woman has apparently been kidnapped by Arab terrorists in a forest between Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh.
A huge police and IDF search was under way on Saturday night for a woman feared kidnapped in the Beit Shemesh-Jerusalem area, in what police think could be a nationalistically motivated incident.

The search, which was joined by volunteers, was launched after another Kaye Susan Wilson, found with her hands bound and several stab wounds in her chest and back, reported being attacked by two Arab men in a forest near Mata, located outside Jerusalem, within the Green Line.

She said she escaped her attackers and managed to reach Mata, where she met two families in a park. They contacted emergency services.

Wilson, 46, a tour guide, made aliya from Britain in 1991, and lives in Givat Zeev. Her missing friend is believed to be American.

Her stab wounds were superficial and she did not lose a lot of blood, accordingto a spokesman at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem. She suffered moderate-to-light injuries, and was treated in the trauma unit.

The spokesman refused to give any more details, saying the case was in police hands, and declined to let doctors speak to the press.
Hey folks - don't ever go hiking in a forest in Israel without a melaveh neshek (armed escort) unless you're carrying a weapon yourself and know how to use it or unless the forest is very crowded (in which case someone else is likely to have a weapon).
Unfortunately, she's been found dead (Hat Tip: Findalis).
The body of Christine Logan, who went missing in the Beit Shemesh-Jerusalem area, was found early Sunday morning, after police and IDF searched all Saturday night, fearing she was kidnapped in a nationalistically motivated incident.

The search, which was joined by volunteers, was launched after another Kaye Susan Wilson, found with her hands bound and several stab wounds in her chest and back, reported being attacked by two Arab men in a forest near Mata, located outside Jerusalem, within the Green Line. Logan's body was found on the road between Mata and Beit Shemesh.
Condolences to the family. Although it's probably not much consolation to the family, hopefully, the terrorists will be found and punished.
Read more at israelmatzav.blogspot.com
 

N Korea raises military alert

Amplify’d from www.irishtimes.com

N Korea raises military alert

North Korea's military has raised an alert for its artillery units on the west coast in readiness for a planned live-fire drill by the South, a government source said today.

"We understand that there's been an upgrade in alert at artillery units," he said.

South Korean marines are expected to stage live-fire drills off Yeonpyeong island, hit by a North Korean bombardment last month, some time before nightfall on Tuesday.

North Korea has threatened another military attack if the live-fire drill goes ahead.

Meanwhile, a US envoy on an unofficial visit to North Korea yesterday warned that the situation on the peninsula is a “tinderbox.”

Mr Richardson, on a private mission to cool tensions, urged North Korea to show restraint and to let the rival South conduct exercises.

"There's enormous potential for miscalculation," he said "I'm urging (on the North) extreme restraint ... Let's cool things down."

Analysts were sceptical the North would carry out the threat it issued on Friday, which rattled financial markets and brought a vow by the South to retaliate against any attack by Pyongyang.

China, the North's main backer, urged both nations to refrain from acts that would inflame an already "extremely precarious" situation.

"The serious tension on the peninsula must not be allowed to escalate," Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun said today. "China is firmly against any behaviour that may result in the situation deteriorating or damaging regional stability."

Yeonpyeong is a usually sleepy place. But the island is also only a short distance from the Northern Line Limit (NLL) - the sea border declared at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War but still disputed by the North.

Many of the 1,600 residents, who live alongside 1,000 military personnel, are uneasy about the prospect of a new barrage and have chosen to leave for the mainland for a while.

Agencies 

Read more at www.irishtimes.com
 

US tourist murdered in Israel

Amplify’d from www.irishtimes.com

US tourist murdered in Israel

Israeli soldiers search for the body of Christine Logan earlier today. Photo: Yoav Ari Dudkevitch/Getty Images
Israeli soldiers search for the body of Christine Logan earlier today. Photo: Yoav Ari Dudkevitch/Getty Images

An American tourist was stabbed to death and another woman wounded while hiking in Israel.

"We are examining whether this is a nationalistic stabbing, but other leads are being examined as well," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

Kaye Wilson, a Briton who immigrated to Israel, said she and Christine Logan, a visitor from the United States, were attacked by two Arabic-speaking men while hiking yesterday in a wooded area south of Jerusalem.

Ms Wilson told police she played dead and managed to reach a parking area where people called the police, who mounted an overnight search for Ms Logan. Her body was found early today.

Police identified Ms Logan as an American but gave no further details. Ms Wilson was treated in a Jerusalem hospital for multiple stab wounds.

Agencies 

Read more at www.irishtimes.com
 

Investigative Journal » The Manufacture of Mozart


An end to religious liberty in U.S. military?

Amplify’d from www.onenewsnow.com
An end to religious liberty in U.S. military?
Fred Jackson - OneNewsNow
In the wake of Saturday's Senate vote to repeal the military's ban against open homosexual expression in the military, a conservative legal group is warning that the religious liberty of Christian chaplains and Service members may be in jeopardy.

By a vote of 65-to 31, the Senate agreed on Saturday to do away with the 17-year old "don't ask don't tell" policy on openly gay troops and sent President Barack Obama legislation to overturn the Clinton-era policy.  Eight Republicans joined with Democrats to eliminate the ban.

Obama is expected to sign the bill into law next week. 

Once the change is applied, which could take several months, it will mean that for the first time in American history, homosexuals will be openly accepted by the armed forces and can display their sexual orientation without fear of being kicked out.

The conservative legal group, Alliance Defense Fund, issued a statement after the vote saying "The Senate's cave-in to pressure from activists to impose homosexual behavior on our military will place our troops' religious liberties in unprecedented jeopardy. Indeed, the first official casualty of this hurried vote may well be the religious freedom of chaplains and Service members."  ADF Litigation Counsel, Daniel Blomberg, went on to say " no Americans, and especially not our troops, should be forced to abandon their religious beliefs."

The ADF says it stands ready to defend Service members if they are ever unconstitutionally required to choose between "serving their country or obeying their God as a result of this damaging policy decision."

According to the Associated Press, Sen. John McCain led the opposition during the Senate debate. Speaking on the Senate floor minutes before a crucial test vote, the Arizona Republican acknowledged he couldn't stop the bill. He blamed elite liberals with no military experience for pushing their social agenda on troops during wartime.

"They will do what is asked of them," McCain said of service members. "But don't think there won't be a great cost."

Read more at www.onenewsnow.com
 

Republicans block bid to allow young illegals to stay

Amplify’d from www.onenewsnow.com
Republicans block bid to allow young illegals to stay
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans on Saturday doomed an effort that would have given hundreds of thousands of young illegal immigrants a path to legal status if they enrolled in college or joined the military.

Sponsors of the Dream Act fell five votes short of the 60 they needed to break through largely GOP opposition and win its enactment before Republicans take over the House and narrow Democrats' majority in the Senate next month.

President Barack Obama called the vote "incredibly disappointing."

"A minority of senators prevented the Senate from doing what most Americans understand is best for the country," Obama said. "There was simply no reason not to pass this important legislation."

Dozens of immigrants wearing graduation mortarboards watched from the Senate's visitors gallery, disappointment on their faces, as the 55-41 vote was announced.

Hispanic activists and immigrant advocates had looked to the bill as a down payment on what they had hoped would be broader action by Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress to give the nation's 10 million to 12 million illegal immigrants a chance at legal status.

Critics called the bill a backdoor grant of amnesty that would encourage more foreigners to sneak into the United States in hopes of being legalized eventually.

"Treating the symptoms of the problem might make us feel better ... but it can allow the underlying problem to metastasize," said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. "Unfortunately, that's what's happening at our border."

Three Republicans - Robert Bennett of Utah, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Richard Lugar of Indiana - joined 50 Democrats and the Senate's two independents in voting for the bill.

Five Democrats - Max Baucus and Jon Tester of Montana, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Mark Pryor of Arkansas - joined 36 Republicans in blocking it. Not voting were Republican Sens. Jim Bunning of Kentucky, Orrin Hatch of Utah and Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

Read more at www.onenewsnow.com
 

We -- Humanity -- Are the 'Cancer' to 'Cure'?!


We -- Humanity -- Are the 'Cancer' to 'Cure'?!

in the eye of romish-masonic elitist shadow government
opposed to infrastructure expansion
PREDICTIVE PROGRAMMING
from the movie "I Am Legend"




"I" = EYE
atop a pyramid



Watch the video- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhO9D1TbuTo

NOTE how she starts blinking her eyes immediately after saying that she has cured cancer, just as this clip ends!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480249/quotes?qt0312024

TV Personality: The world of medicine has seen its share of miracle cures, from the polio vaccine to heart transplants. But all past achievements may pale in comparison to the work of Dr. Alice Krippin. Thank you so much for joining us this morning.
Dr. Alice Krippin: Not at all.
TV Personality: So, Dr. Krippin, give it to me in a nutshell.
Dr. Alice Krippin: Well, the premise is quite simple - um, take something designed by nature and reprogram it to make it work for the body rather than against it.
TV Personality: You're talking about a virus?
Dr. Alice Krippin: Indeed, yes. In this case the measles, um, virus which has been engineered at a genetic level to be helpful rather than harmful. Um, I find the best way to describe it is if you can... if you can imagine your body as a highway, and you picture the virus as a very fast car, um, being driven by a very bad man. Imagine the damage that car can cause. Then if you replace that man with a cop... the picture changes. And that's essentially what we've done.
TV Personality: And how many people have you treated so far?
Dr. Alice Krippin: Well, we've had ten thousand and nine clinical trials in humans so far.
TV Personality: And how many are cancer-free?
Dr. Alice Krippin: Ten thousand and nine.
TV Personality: So you have actually cured cancer.
Dr. Alice Krippin: Yes, yes... yes, we have.
[cuts to post-apocalyptic New York three years later]

....

Anna: The world is quieter now. We just have to listen. If we listen, we can
hear God's plan.


Neville: God's plan.

Anna: Yeah

Neville: All right, let me tell you about your "God's plan". Six billion people on Earth when the infection hit. KV had a ninety-percent kill rate, that's five point four billion people dead. Crashed and bled out. Dead. Less than one-percent immunity. That left twelve million healthy people, like you, me, and Ethan. The other five hundred and eighty-eight million turned into your dark seekers, and then they got hungry and they killed and fed on everybody. Everybody! Every *single* person that you or I has ever known is dead! Dead! There is no god!

Note that it is alway "In God in Trust" that is targeted, rather then that thing on the U.S. $1 bill back side and to the left.

The idea of such radical population depopulation, and humanity as a 'cancer' appeares first and lastly upon what are known as the 'Georgia Guidestones':

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Guidestones

The Georgia Guidestones is a large granite monument in Elbert County, Georgia, USA. A message comprising ten guides is inscribed on the structure in eight modern languages, and a shorter message is inscribed at the top of the structure in four ancient languages' scripts: Babylonian, Classical Greek, Sanskrit, and Egyptian hieroglyphs.

The structure is sometimes referred to as an "American Stonehenge."[1] The monument is almost 20 feet (6.1 m) tall if the buried support stones are included, exactly 18 feet (5.5 m) otherwise[2], and made from six granite slabs weighing more than 240,000 pounds (110,000 kg) in all.[3] One slab stands in the center, with four arranged around it. A capstone lies on top of the five slabs, which are astronomically aligned. An additional stone tablet, which is set in the ground a short distance to the west of the structure, provides some notes on the history and purpose of the
Guidestones.

History
In June 1979, an unknown person or persons under the pseudonym R. C. Christian hired Elberton Granite Finishing Company to build the structure.[3] One popular hypothesis is that the patron's pseudonym may be a tribute to the legendary 17th-century founder of Rosicrucianism,
Christian Rosenkreuz.[3]

Inscriptions:
A message consisting of a set of ten guidelines or principles is engraved on the Georgia Guidestones in eight different languages, one language on each face of the four large upright stones. Moving clockwise around the structure from due north, these languages are:
English, Spanish, Swahili, Hindi, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese, and Russian.

1.Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
2.Guide reproduction wisely - improving fitness and diversity.
3.Unite humanity with a living new language.
4.Rule passion - faith - tradition - and all things with tempered reason.
5.Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
6.Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
7.Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
8.Balance personal rights with social duties.
9.Prize truth - beauty - love - seeking harmony with the infinite.
10.Be not a cancer on the earth - Leave room for nature - Leave room for nature.[4]

A few feet to the west of the artifact, an additional granite ledger has been set level with the ground. This tablet identifies the structure and the languages used on it, lists various facts about the size, weight, and astronomical features of the stones, the date it was installed, and the sponsors of the project. It also speaks of a time capsule buried under the tablet, but the positions on the stone reserved for filling in the dates on which the capsule was buried and is to be opened are missing, so it is not clear whether the time capsule was ever put in place. Each side of the tablet is perpendicular to one of the cardinal directions, and is inscribed so that the northern edge is the "top" of the inscription.

The complete text of the explanatory tablet is detailed below. The accompanying image shows the overall layout. The tablet is somewhat inconsistent with respect to punctuation, and also misspells "pseudonym". The original spelling, punctuation, and line breaks in the text
have been preserved in the transcription which follows.

At the center of each tablet edge is a small circle, each containing a letter representing the
appropriate compass direction (N, S, E, W).

At the top center of the tablet is written:

The Georgia Guidestones
Center cluster erected
March 22, 1980

Immediately below this is the outline of a square, inside which is written:

Let these be guidestones to an Age of Reason

Around the edges of the square are written the names of four ancient languages, one per edge. Starting from the top and proceeding clockwise, they are:Babylonian (in cuneiform script), Classical Greek, Sanskrit and Ancient Egyptian (in hieroglyphics).

On the left side of the tablet is the following column of text:

Astronomic Features
1. channel through stone indicates celestial pole.
2. horizontal slot indicates annual travel of sun.
3. sunbeam through capstone marks noontime throughout the year

Author: R.C. Christian
(a pseudonyn) [sic]

Sponsors: A small group of Americans who seek the Age of Reason

Time Capsule Placed six feet below this spot On To Be Opened on

The words appear as shown under the time capsule heading; no dates are engraved.

Physical data: On the right side of the tablet is the following column of text:

PHYSICAL DATA

1. OVERALL HEIGHT - 19 FEET 3 INCHES [5.87 m].
2. TOTAL WEIGHT - 237,746 POUNDS [107,840 kg].
3. FOUR MAJOR STONES ARE 16 FEET,
FOUR INCHES [4.98 m] HIGH, EACH WEIGHING AN AVERAGE OF 42,437
POUNDS [19,249 kg].
4. CENTER STONE IS 16 FEET, FOUR- INCHES [4.98 m] HIGH, WEIGHS 20,957
POUNDS [9,506 kg].
5. CAPSTONE IS 9-FEET, 8-INCHES [2.95 m] LONG, 6-FEET, 6-INCHES [1.98 m] WIDE;
1-FOOT, 7-INCHES [0.48 m] THICK. WEIGHS 24,832 POUNDS [11,264 kg].
6. SUPPORT STONES (BASES)
7-FEET,
4 INCHES [2.24 m] LONG 2-FEET [0.61 m] WIDE.
1 FOOT, 4-INCHES
[0.41 m] THICK, EACH WEIGHING AN AVERAGE OF 4,875 POUNDS [2,211 kg].
7. SUPPORT STONE (BASE) 4-FEET,
2½ INCHES [1.28 m] LONG, 2-FEET,
2-INCHES [0.66 m]
WIDE, 1-FOOT, 7-INCHES [0.48 m] THICK.
WEIGHT 2,707
POUNDS [1,228 kg].
8. 951 CUBIC FEET [26.9 m³] GRANITE.

9. GRANITE QUARRIED FROM PYRAMID QUARRIES LOCATED 3 MILES [5 km] WEST
OF ELBERTON, GEORGIA.

Guidestone languages
Below the two columns of text is written the caption "GUIDESTONE LANGUAGES". The names of eight modern languages are inscribed along the long edges of the projecting rectangles, one per edge. Starting from due north and moving clockwise around so that the upper edge of
the northeast rectangle is listed first, they are English, Spanish, Swahili, Hindi, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese and Russian. At the bottom center of the tablet is the following text:

Additional information available at Elberton Granite Museum & Exhibit, College Avenue
Elberton, Georgia

Astronomical features
The four outer stones are oriented to mark the limits of the 18.6 year lunar declination cycle.[2] The center column features a hole through which the North Star can be seen regardless of time, as well as a slot that is aligned with the Sun's solstices and equinoxes. A 7/8" aperture in the capstone allows a ray of sun to pass through at noon each day, shining a beam on the center stone indicating the day of the year.[3]

Location
34°13′55″N 82°53′40″W / 34.231984°N 82.894506°W / 34.231984; -82.894506

The Georgia Guidestones are located on a hilltop in Elbert County, Georgia, approximately 90 miles (140 km) east of Atlanta, 45 miles (72 km) from Athens, and 9 miles (14 km) north of the center of Elberton. The stones are standing on a rise a short distance to the east of Georgia Highway 77 (Hartwell Highway), and are visible from that road. Small signs beside the highway
indicate the turnoff for the Guidestones, which is identified by a street sign as "Guidestones Rd." It is located on the highest point in Elbert County.

Ownership
Elbert County owns the Georgia Guidestones site. Robert C. Christian deeded the five acres to the county immediately upon purchase from Wayne Mullenix.[2] According to the Georgia Mountain Travel Association's detailed history: "The Georgia Guidestones are located on the farm of Mildred and Wayne Mullenix..."[5] The Elbert County land registration system shows what
appears to be the Guidestones as County land purchased on October 1, 1979. [6][7]

The monument was unveiled in March 1980, with the presence of 100 people.[8] Another account specifies the 22nd of March and said 400 people attended.[2][3]

Reactions: In his article, "Decoding the Georgia Guidestones", Van Smith identifies three potential candidates as the true identity of R.C. Christian (Joe H. Fendley Sr., Dr. Francis Merchant, and
Ted Turner). In the end, Smith concludes that Ted Turner is the most likely candidate for being R.C. Christian, stating, "Our investigation into the identity of Robert C. Christian has uncovered highly persuasive yet circumstantial evidence linking Robert Edward “Ted” Turner to the very center of the Georgia Guidestones originators. This evidence is so strong that we believe Ted Turner probably was R.C. Christian. At the very least, Turner probably knows who R.C. Christian is." [2]

Yoko Ono and others have praised the inscribed messages as "a stirring call to rational thinking", while opponents have labeled them as the "Ten Commandments of the Antichrist".[3]

The Guidestones have become a subject of interest for conspiracy theorists. One of them, an activist named Mark Dice, demanded that the Guidestones "be smashed into a million pieces, and then the rubble used for a construction project",[9] claiming that the Guidestones are of "a deep Satanic origin," and that R. C. Christian, belongs to "a Luciferian secret society" related to the New World Order.[3] At the unveiling of the monument, a local minister proclaimed that he
believed the monument was "for sun worshipers, for cult worship and for devil worship".[8]

Another popular conspiracy theorist, Alex Jones, in his 2008 documentary 'Endgame: Elite's Blueprint For Global Enslavement' highlights "the message of the mysterious Georgia Guidestones, purportedly built by representatives of a secret society called the Rosicrucian Order, which call for a global religion, world courts, and for population levels to be maintained at around 500 million, over a 5.5 billion reduction from current levels. The stones infer that humans are a cancer upon the earth and should be culled in order to maintain balance with nature."[10]

Researcher Van Smith claims to have uncovered numerological messages encoded within the proportions of the various Georgia Guidestones components that link the monument to the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world which opened in Dubai over thirty years after the Georgia Guidestones were designed. Smith presents evidence demonstrating that the opening date of the tower, the death of Dubai's emir, Sheik Maktoum bin Rashid al Maktoum, and the exact height of the Burj Khalifa can all be deduced directly from the proportions of the granite slabs.[11]

In 2008, the stones were defaced with polyurethane paint and graffiti with slogans such as
"Death to the new world order."[12] Wired magazine called the defacement "the first serious act of vandalism in the Guidestones' history".[3] More recently, in an apparent attempt to topple the monument, a large notch was cut from the top of the English language Guidestone near the 8" long, 1⅝" thick stainless steel dowel pin used to secure that slab to the capstone.[2]

Read more at continuingcounterreformation.blogspot.com
 

NOW says Hooters violates California law

Amplify’d from www.upi.com

NOW says Hooters violates California law

SACRAMENTO, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- The National Organization for Women says Hooters is in violation of California blue laws because it allows kids into its restaurants.

The dispute centers on a rules banning kids from strip clubs and other adult-entertainment establishments, and NOW contends Hooters falls into the category because of the chain's trademark server uniforms.

Customers at Hooters are staffed by and large by young women in tight tops and orange short shorts, which NOW says puts sex appeal on a menu that is not suitable for youngsters, The San Diego Union-Tribune said Saturday.

"You can't have it both ways," California NOW president Patricia Bellasalma told California Watch, a media partner of the Union-Tribune.

NOW has asked the district attorneys in three counties and the state attorney general's office to look into the allegations. There was no immediate comment from Hooters corporate headquarters.

Read more at www.upi.com
 

Straight Troops Must Shower With Gays, Says DOD Working Group

Amplify’d from www.cnsnews.com
Straight Troops Must Shower With Gays, Says DOD Working Group--‘Gay Men Have Learned to Avoid Making Heterosexuals Feel Uncomfortable or Threatened in Situations Such as This’
US Marines in Afghanistan

U.S. Marines in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan on Sunday, Oct. 4, 2009. (AP Photo)

A special Defense Department working group appointed by Defense Secretary Robert Gates has recommended that the military should “expressly prohibit” heterosexuals from using separate showers, bathrooms and bunking facilities from homosexuals when the repeal of the law banning homosexuals from the military goes into effect.

The working group has also recommended that commanding officers be left with the authority to exempt individuals from using the same showers, bathrooms and living facilities as homosexuals, but only on a “case-by-case” basis.

The House voted earlier this week and the Senate voted this afternoon to repeal the military ban on homosexuals, which has often been referred to as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

The working group’s Nov. 30 report—“Report of the Comprehensive Review of the Issues Associated with a Repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’”--concluded that permitting heterosexuals to use separate showers, bathrooms and bunking facilities from homosexuals of the same gender would “stigmatize” homosexuals and be “reminiscent of ‘separate but equal’ facilities for blacks prior to the 1960s.”  The working group was co-chaired by Jeh Charles Johnson, the Defense Department’s general counsel, and U.S. Army Gen. Carter F. Ham.

“In the course of our review we heard from a very large number of Service members about their discomfort with sharing bathroom facilities or living quarters with those they know to be gay or lesbian,” said the report. “Some went so far to suggest that a repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell may even require separate bathroom and shower facilities for gay men and lesbians. We disagree, and recommend against separate facilities. Though many regard the very discussion of this topic as offensive, given the number of Service members who raised it, we are obliged to address it.”

The working group said that having homosexuals use different bathrooms and living facilities from heterosexuals would not only create a “logistical nightmare” but would be discriminatory.

“The creation of a third and possibly fourth category of bathroom facilities and living quarters, whether at bases or forward deployed areas, would be a logistical nightmare, expensive, and impossible to administer,” said the report. 

“And, even if it could be achieved and administered, separate facilities would, in our view, stigmatize gay and lesbian Service members in a manner reminiscent of ‘separate but equal' facilities for blacks prior to the 1960s,” said the report.

“Accordingly,” the report concluded, “we recommend that the Department of Defense expressly prohibit berthing or billeting assignments or the designation of bathroom facilities based on sexual orientation. At the same time, commanders would retain the authority they currently have to alter berthing or billeting assignments or accommodate privacy concerns on an individualized, case-by-case basis, in the interests of morale, good order and discipline, and consistent with performance of mission. It should also be recognized that commanders already have the tools—from counseling, to non-judicial punishment, to UCMJ prosecution—to deal with misbehavior in either living quarters or showers, whether the person who engages in the misconduct is gay or straight.”

The report also said a survey of more than 115,000 active duty service members indicated only 29.4 percent would “take no action” if they were assigned to share an “open bay shower” with a homosexual.

The other 70 percent of service members answered this way when asked what they would do if assigned to an “open bay shower” with someone they believed to be a homosexual: 25.8 percent said they would use the shower at a different time than the homosexual, 17.7 percent said they would talk to a superior to see if they had a different option, 11.1 percent said they would have a discussion with the other person to see how they would handle the situation, 7.9 percent said they did not know how they would handle the situation, 7.0 percent said they would do “something else,” and 1.3 percent said they would talk to a chaplain, mentor or leader about how to deal with it.

The report acknowledged that in focus groups conducted for the working group “a frequent concern expressed by some Service members was personal privacy in settings where they may be partially or fully unclothed in the presence of another Service member they know to be gay or lesbian—for instance, shared showering facilities or locker rooms.”

However, the report concluded that the concerns that heterosexual service members in this regard were based on “stereotypes” about homosexuals and stated that homosexuals have “learned to avoid making heterosexuals feel uncomfortable or threatened in situation [sic] such as this.”

The report argued that heterosexuals and homosexuals shower together “every day” in college and high school gyms and “in professional sports locker rooms” and that it should be no different in the military.

“Here again, we are convinced that separate bathroom facilities would do more harm than good to unit cohesion and would be impracticable to administer and enforce,” said the report. “Concerns about showers and bathrooms are based on a stereotype—that gay men and lesbians will behave in an inappropriate or predatory manner in these situations. As one gay former Service member told us, to fit in, co-exist, and conform to social norms, gay men have learned to avoid making heterosexuals feel uncomfortable or threatened in situation [sic] such as this. The reality is that people of different sexual orientation use shower and bathroom facilities together every day in hundreds of thousands of college dorms, college and high school gyms, professional sports locker rooms, police and fire stations, and athletic clubs.”

The report quoted the adverse sentiments of a number of service members who participated in focus groups where they indicated they did not want to have to shower, use the bathroom or roommate with homosexuals.

“I live in the barracks and I don’t think that it would go over well in that kind of environment,” one service member told a DOD focus group. “I’m concerned about how people would treat that individual.”

“In the privacy side of the thing, they’ll have to make some changes to the current infrastructure, [for example] privacy stalls in the bathrooms,” said another service member.

“I do not have to shower or sleep in a room with men so I do not want to shower or sleep in the same room as a woman who is homosexual,” said a female service member. “I would feel uncomfortable changing and sleeping as I would if it was a man in the room. I should not have to accept this.”

“Tell him if he hits on me I will kick his - - -!” said another service member who participated in a DOD focus group.

Read more at www.cnsnews.com