My Email To Bill O'Reilly About His "Tonight Show" Appearance And His Comment About "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" And Letting Gays Openly Serve In The Military

-----Original Message-----
From: LNVTM1 - Lenny Vasbinder
Sent: Friday, July 30, 2010 6:26 PM
To: 'Oreilly@foxnews.com'
Subject: Tonight Show comments about gays in the military

I know it's easy for lots of folks to say that gays should be able to openly serve in the military... and they can serve, but not "openly" under the "Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) rule... BUT many of these same folks that are in favor of gays serving openly haven't put much thought into what to do about housing these openly gay men and women.

Right now, the sexes are segregated for living quarters while in boot camp, aboard ships, when serving in various bases around America and the world, etc. All men sleep in one barracks, tent, housing unit, etc... and all women sleep in separate housing. The housing usually has open showers and changing areas for lower cost. The reason for the segregation of the sexes is to limit the chances for sexual fraternization between service members since it's against the rules anyhow.

So... How would we house openly gay people? We can't knowingly put gay men in with the straight men as that would be like putting a man in the women's barracks or a woman in the man's barracks and since the gay person could/would be sexually attracted to all of the straight people in their barracks... even more so if there are multiple gay men/women in the same barracks, it would easily lead to sexual fraternization situations. We can't put all of the gay men together since they could/would be sexually attracted to each other. We can't put all of the gay women together since they could/would be sexually attracted to each other.

The only solution would be to give each gay service member their own separate living quarters with their own bed and bathroom... BUT would that be fair to all of the straight service members who would have to live in community housing (barracks, tents, etc.)???

OR... are you thinking that each service member should have their own sleeping, changing, bathing quarters?

Let me know your thoughts... even better if you discuss this on the air! ;-)

Leonard "Lenny" Vasbinder
(address and phone omitted here but included in email to Bill O'Reilly since he requires it)

References:
A Military Brat in a Military Family and having read and debated this issue many, many times with friends and family.
http://www.taskforcemountain.com/mountain-sound-off/19-blog/4047-qdont-ask-dont-tellq
http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,167950,00.html?ESRC=dod.nl  (and other articles on Military.com)

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"No Apologies" OR "You Could Have Heard A Pin Drop"???

I received the below via email and after checking it out on Snopes.com and other resource sites, found that at least part of it is factually accurate. The rest of the information, whether accurately quoted and/or attributed, or not, is still accurate as far as the spirit of the information.

Lenny Vasbinder

At a time when Obama and other politicians tend to apologize for our country's prior actions, here's a refresher on how some of our former patriots handled negative comments about America.

These are good.

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JFK's Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, was in France in the early 60's when DeGaulle decided to pull out of NATO. DeGaulle said he wanted all U.S. military out of France as soon as possible.

Rusk responded, "Does that include those who are buried here?

DeGaulle did not respond.

You could have heard a pin drop

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When in England, at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of empire building by George Bush.

He answered by saying, 'Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.'

You could have heard a pin drop.

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There was a conference in France where a number of international engineers were taking part, including French and American. During a break, one of the French engineers came back into the room saying, 'Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intended to do, bomb them?'

A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly, 'Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?'

You could have heard a pin drop.

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A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals from the U.S., English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies. At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of Officers that included personnel from most of those countries. Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a French admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English. He then asked, 'Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French?'

Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied, 'Maybe it's because the Brit's, Canadians, Aussie's and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have to speak German.'

You could have heard a pin drop.

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AND THIS NEXT STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE...

Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry on bag.

"You have been to France before, monsieur?" the customs officer asked sarcastically.

Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously.

"Then you should know enough to have your passport ready."

The American said, 'The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it."

"Impossible. Americans always have to show your passports on arrival in France!"

The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained, "Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find a single Frenchmen to show a passport to."

You could have heard a pin drop.

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If you are proud to be an American, pass this on!

Checked on Snopes.com where at least part of this information has been verified as accurate. The rest of the information, whether accurately quoted or attributed, or not, is still accurate as far as the spirit of the information. http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/powell.asp

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