(Palm-Print
Photo by Edward F. Palm)

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Forest, Virginia, United States
A long time ago, my sophomore English teacher, Father William Campbell, saw something in my writing and predicted that I would someday become a newspaper columnist. He suggested the perfect title for my column--"Leaves of the Palm." Now that I have a little extra time on my hands I've decided to put Father Campbell's prediction to the test. I'm going to start using this blog site not just to reprint opinion pieces I've published elsewhere but to try to get more of my ideas and opinions out there. Feedback is welcome. To find out more about me, please check out my Web site: www.EdwardFPalm.com (Click on any of the photos below for an enlarged view.)

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Revisited

[Christiana Commune, Copenhagen, 2004]
I was heartened today to hear that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has come out in favor of allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the Armed Services.  The Secretary of Defense, however, seems to want to apply the brakes.  He said they first needed to conduct a study and to poll the troops to determine how they felt about it.  I suspect that the majority of today's troops, being young, will have no problem serving alongside gays and lesbians.  But I also wonder if the Department of Defense polled the troops before integrating the Armed Services in 1950--or did they just do it because they knew it was the right thing to do and an idea whose time had come?
      In any event, I can't resist dusting off what I had to say about the issue sometime back:   http://www.seattlepi.com/opinion/343620_firstperson17.html

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オテモヤン said...
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