Obama disappoints on "don't ask don't tell" policy.

I'm seething as I write this, which of course is not unnatural for me as the things I care about I care about with great passion...and sometimes confusion. That is the case for me today.

I have been a dedicated democrat since I was 14 years old and my friend Dave Welhouse talked me into working on a presidential campaign, just making phone calls and lit drops...but it's been something I've always cared deeply about. My Army years were no exception to this, and I found a remarkable number of like-minded people among my friends and colleagues when I served. So much for that ridiculous myth about the military being all republican. I'll put my patriotism, which includes not my right, but my obligation to speak out when I think something has gone terribly wrong (ie: the entire Bush administration) up against anyone's, except maybe the man I'm about to introduce you to. If you've already met this man, this fighter pilot who served with such honor, distinction and dare I say heroism in Bush's war of choice in Iraq (the odious profiteering and other attrocities to be discussed another day, another time) you know just how completely President Obama has failed in one of his most important campaign promises. For those of you who have not yet met this man, his name is Lt. Colonel Victor Fehrenbach. Please follow the link below to learn more about this man who has served our country with such honor and distinction.

Fighting to serve May 19: Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach was an 18-year veteran of the Air Force, and an F-15 fighter pilot. He still would be, but the Air Force fired him because he revealed he was gay. Rachel Maddow is joined by Fehrenbach, who is now fighting to keep his job.

Colonel Fehrenbach is being railroaded out of the military at a time when we most need to maintain our strength--a time when Bush's war of choice has left our military stretched so thin that a good portion of those returning to the field against their will for 3rd and 4th deployments are little more than walking wounded, so affected by the hell of war that they will never be the same, even with the counseling and medications and support that may finally be reaching some of them through increases in funding for what I call "promise keeping"...this nation's solemn obligation to return to health and function, as much as is possible, these, the finest among us, who have voluntarily answered the call, over and over again.

Today I really want to stay on task and address my president, for whom I voted with some reluctance given my aversion to "show ponies," as my Marine Aviator friend likes to call people who are more talk than substance...well actually that's what he calls the Blue Angels, but he has every right to, given the time he's put into the sphincter tightening "rush" of landing an FA-18C jet on a tiny speck bobbing around in a dark ocean for many years. He is another hero, my most precious one, but again, I can't seem to stop digressing.

I want to ask President Obama, as a female who served in the military with honor and pride and fortunately for me, between wars, and as an American, why he is utterly failing Colonel Fehrenbach and breaking his promise to end the archaic "don't ask don't tell" policy in our military, which puts Uncle Sam, not at the head of our forces where he belongs, but wayyy behind lines, in the privacy of bedrooms, an uninvited voyeur and bringer of judgment despite a prurient interest of his own in the most private of matters, matters that have not one thing to do with how a person is equipped to serve in our military. As Colonel Fehrenbach puts it, the reasoning, and I use that term incredibly loosely, behind "don't ask don't tell" is that sexual orientation allegedly affects discipline and order in the ranks. It certainly didn't in the Colonel's case, nor in any of the other cases of which I am aware, in which people, often victims of a personal vendetta of some kind, were labeled, judged unfit, and drummed out of our military after serving with distinction.

As a female in the military I was sexually assaulted by more than one of the people entrusted with command positions in my unit, but oddly not one of them, despite collaborative evidence and the testimony of other women who had faced the same "break in discipline" as I, was discharged, dishonorably or otherwise. Years later one was caught again and got a slap on the wrist, and that was the extent of the punishment for multiple sex crimes, yet men and women who commit NO crime, are ZERO risk to mission effectiveness and serve in OUTSTANDING fashion in every way, lose careers over assertions about sexual preference. Never mind the fact that by the time Colonel Fehrenbach received notice of his impending premature separation from service, the U.S. military had spent somewhere in the area of twenty-five million dollars training him, only a handful of people even knew his sexual orientation and those few only very recently became aware. So much for how the Colonel's private life had a negative impact on structure and discipline; it simply did not. His training, experience and dedication to excellence did, however, save countless lives of soldiers and Marines on the ground. We NEED men and women with his willingness to continue to serve to do a job fewer and fewer remain to do as losses mount in Iraq and Afghanistan.

That he is facing separation from service two years short of a retirement he has earned is a travesty, a grave disservice to the Air Force and to those on the ground whose lives he has saved and to those he is eager to continue to protect and defend. To Colonel Fehrenbach personally, it's the end of life as he knows it. He was a "military brat" and has known no other life or career. The Air Force has literally been his family since he was born, and now, because our president cannot seem to find the "intestinal fortitude" to keep his promise to Colonel Fehrenbach and countless others like him, the Colonel is losing not only a distinguished career but his more than well-earned retirement and his military family, which I can assure you, nothing else comes close to replacing.

President Obama cannot unilaterally end "don't ask don't tell" and congress shows no current interest in picking up that particular "hot potato" issue at this time for political reasons, but Obama CAN temporarily suspend the practice of forcible ejection from service based on sexual orientation or accusations in that regard until such time as congress does address this campaign promise issue. Colonel Fehrenbach, in keeping with his remarkable idealism and continued desire to serve the many rather than his own self-interests does not seek this remedy for himself, rightly stating that it is a temporary fix for an issue that should be addressed officially and immediately as was promised in speech after speech by Obama during election season. He is simply holding President Obama to his word. I believe that Colonel Fehrenbach has more than earned the right to do so.

Colonel Fehrenbach, please accept this, my verbal salute to you and your service to this often ungrateful nation. You have my utmost respect and admiration, which you have more than earned, not only from the air, but in your quiet dignity in challenging the President to live up to his promises to us all, for the greater good of our military, our nation and ultimately the world.

that creepy burger ad on TV

Okay... call me picky but I just have to say ENOUGH OF THE GREASY BURGER GUY COMMERCIAL ON TV!!! I'm addicted to reruns on USA Network (hey... no one's perfect and I have a weakness for crime dramas, okay?) but it seems sometime during EVERY commercial break they show that HORRID ad in which a tall lovely woman approaches an unkempt, gross and greasy guy (yes, I like alliteration--a lot) to the music of Poison's "She's My Cherry Pie". She breezes beautifully by, handing him a scrap of paper with a number written on it and keeps runway walking away as he anxiously opens the paper, only to smear grease over the final 4 numbers, making at least one of them illegible. In a panic, he tries to get her attention as she drives off giving him the universal "call me" sign, with thumb to ear and pinkie finger to lips. We are then led to believe that if we all eat shaved rubber and bacon rather than actual hamburger, the sexy babe will be ours. Of course this leaves most females, who actually DO eat burgers from fast food places too, completely out of the equation, unless they are the much dreamed of lesbians waiting for the "right man" or better yet, just bisexual and "up for it" at all times as my beloved second Duke of Rochester, John Wilmot--well actually his play-write, put it in "The Libertine" ...ahhh what a movie. But, as usual I digress...but I really do like me better without the ADD meds .

Anyway, the thing is this. The ONLY and I mean ONLY way that woman would give THAT man a phone number is as some kind of cruel practical joke or if she's working for PETA and recruiting people to the vegan or at least vegetarian life-style. I really do wish someone more talented than I would do a YouTube follow-up of that ad...sadly I haven't the technical expertise or legs quite long enough to carry it off. Be well all. Love you 94 and 97.

Hello! Greetings! <3 Brett Favre <3

Greetings from MarquesSpot (yes, as in "X marks the spot"...it was the best I could come up with quickly)...
This is just a short and hopeful hello and welcome to my inner space (and sending out a wave to fellow ppl whose minds occasionally swerve toward the gutter...will I EVER grow up? ...I sincerely hope not!) This is my 4th, I think, attempt at blogging, but I am going to do my very best to write at least five times a week, though my aim is for daily, so please do keep tuning in if you don't find me too annoying, and please do feel free to comment. Nothing is more stimulating than the free exchange of ideas in cyber-space as long as we can keep things at least somewhat ...oh screw it, say whatever you want.


An itty bit about me, which will probably turn into something the size of a novella because I have little self control once I start writing. Marque Roseqvist is my pen name. I use it because some of what I say may not please my employers at a Catholic hospital, plus it's a nod of sorts to my brother Mark, who died a couple years ago. Roseqvist was our grandfather's last name before he was adopted as a child. I write some short online fiction, some of which I may link to if I ever write anything good enough to share with a non-MMORPG oriented audience. I'm chronologically an adult, but basically I'm a teenaged boy stuck in the body of a "lushly curvaceous" (someone else described me that way...I'm not that stuck on myself) female woman. I say the teenaged boy thing because my interests seem to lie in similar direction to theirs, hot cars, video games (zomg I'm an effing FFXI addict!) and thrill seeking in general, and I do suffer from a terrible case of gutter-brain at times. I do, however, know how to behave in polite society, as long as I'm allowed to take off my shoes and run through the puddles on the way back to the car when I've gone to "Phantom of the Opera" or whatever. I love sex, I love to talk about sex, draw about sex, write about sex and daydream endlessly about sex. That said, I am NOT looking for online sex...only one of the many inner contradictions with which I am sure Freud, rest his incestuous soul, would have had a field day.


I am a die hard moderate-to-liberal tree hugging, wood worshipping, Mother Earth loving, enthusiastically voting democrat, though now that we finally have that dangerous despot Bush out of the White House, I find that subject a lot less interesting. I get the whole sea change thing, but even *I* am beginning to feel as if a bit too much is being shoved down my unwilling gullet, so I can actually empathize to some degree with my friends (and I do have some, we do all have some skeletons in the closet after all) in the GOP. I am also, for the record, an honorably discharged, twice promoted early by waiver in a single enlistment, Army Veteran. SEE??? All that BS about no democrats in the military is just that, BS. I am also a Registered Nurse, BSN specializing in newborn intensive care, NICU, high tech, cutting edge care of micro-premies and other premature and/or critically ill newborns...so NO, Michele (my not so beloved ex sis in law) I do NOT love being able to sit around rocking babies all day. That's rather hard to do when they are connected to machines that are breathing for them, though it IS doable for the parents when the infants are stable enough to tolerate that much handling and their skin has matured to the point that it does not come off at the slightest touch. Sorry for the graphic description, but I always found Michele's condescending (she does have a degree in ***fashion merchandising*** after all--gosh I sure hope I gave that the proper emphasis--meowwww-hisssss) comments about my career choice a tad annoying. Speaking of annoying, that self-important, pseudo-sanctimonious, topless-posing hypocrite, Miss California gets to keep her title, even though she's clearly too stupid to realize how offensive she is when she acts like her freedom to speak her mind in a pageant equates to people giving their lives in the Battle of the Bulge. She completely lacks any hint of humility, and she can take her "forgiveness" of me and ...well I'm sure you can imagine the rest. She does not represent "her generation" or anyone else's, and her ego is intolerable...and any Barbie Doll could take her place, and would absolutely have more sense and sensitivity. Dear Goddess, spare me the drama, seriously!

***Note to readers*** I over-use parentheses, because that is how my thought process goes, and I have a tendency to write in run-ons, so if you have trouble following me, just skip what's in the parentheses and hopefully my writing will take on a bit more cohesiveness for you. Note to note: You may notice I'm a little opinionated, but I keep an open mind and share your thoughts with me.

And finally and very importantly, I am an absolute, total, complete and forever Brett Favre Fan. I hope he goes to Minnesota and plays the best season of his career, because though I bleed green and gold I DESPISE the current trio of traitors in charge of the Packers at this time, who treated Brett in such an underhanded way. Ted Thomposon got caught in a lie last season, and because Brett called him out on it rather than just letting it go, which would be totally against his nature, he exposed that lie...and for that he was punished by three people who don't know the first thing about honor or integrity or how things are done in Green Bay, a place that held its place as the last bastion of "old school" community-owned football. The press treats Favre's possible return to football as if it's a comedy of sorts, but there is nothing funny about it. He has an axe to grind, and I support him completely in honing it to the sharpest edge possible, and then let the heads fly! I guarantee there will never be a street in Green Bay named after Ted Thompson, coach McCarthy or Mark Murphy, the gutless wonder. And with that I will close my comments for today. Take care everyone, and GO VIKINGS (if Brett becomes part of the team of course.)