American Morning
PolitiFact Truth-O-Meter
Editor's Note: PolitiFact.com is a project of the St. Petersburg Times that aims to help you find the truth in politics. Every day, reporters and researchers from the Times examine statements by members of Congress, the president, etc. They research their statements and then rate the accuracy on their Truth-O-Meter.
Levin claims that other Western countries have lifted their bans
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/10/13/levin.carl.gi.art.jpg caption="Sen. Levin says other Western countries have ended their "don't ask, don't tell" policies."]
President Barack Obama has repeatedly said that he plans to repeal the military's "don't ask, don't tell" rule, which prevents openly gay and lesbian people from serving in the military.
But so far, no go.
"Meet the Press" host David Gregory asked Michigan Democrat Carl Levin, who chairs the Senate's Armed Services Committee, whether Obama would follow through on his promise.
"I think he, he will and he can," Levin said on the Oct. 11, 2009, episode. "I think it has to be done in the, in the right way, which is to get a buy-in from the military, which I think is now possible. Other militaries in the West, the British and other Western armies, have ended this discriminatory policy. We can do it successfully."
The Truth-O-Meter says: TRUE
Read more: Levin's done his research
Rockefeller says health insurance premiums have doubled since 2001
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/10/13/rockeffeller.jay.gi.art.jpg caption="Sen. Rockefeller says health care premiums for consumers have doubled since 2001."]
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., recently wrote an opinion piece for the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call in which he said, "Insurance companies have seen their profits soar by more than 400 percent since 2001, while premiums for consumers have doubled." We address the first part of this statement in another item; we'll take up the second half here.
The 2009 Employer Health Benefits Survey, published by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust, is considered the definitive source for health benefits cost information, and its data stretch from 1999 to 2009. (Even though Rockefeller didn't explicitly say it, we'll assume he was talking about the period since 2001 when he made this assertion.)
The Truth-O-Meter says: TRUE
Read more: He's right, individuals and families are paying twice as much
Michael Moore claims in his movie, 'Capitalism,' that during the Reagan era, millions were thrown out of work
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/09/28/moore.michael.gi.art.jpg caption="Moore claims that during the Reagan era, millions were thrown out of work."]
In his latest film, Capitalism: A Love Story, Michael Moore singled out the Ronald Reagan administration for the loss of millions of jobs.
During the Reagan administration, he said, American government was run more like a business. The fallout of Reagan's "trickle-down" economic policy, he said, is that major corporations laid off American workers at the same time they were raking in enormous profits.
And, he said, "Millions of people were thrown out of work."
In backup material for that claim on his Web site, Moore points to a line from a May 28, 1991, article in the Washington Post: "Since 1980, 2 million workers have been cut from the U.S. manufacturing payroll. Millions more have accepted — or been forced to accept — reductions in earnings."
The Truth-O-Meter says: BARELY TRUE
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Unless you have been gay, you really don't know what you are talking about. But of course the right wing always knows what they are talking about and always now what is best for everyone else on the planet. The small vocal minority in the military (and on the internet) are against having gays serve openly. The huge silent majority of the military are in favor of it. You can pretend its "family values" or "national security issue", but it is just another example of right-wing, neo-con bigotry.
You are correct – it is liberal social engineering, and I suspect you are right that many in the military are not happy about it. Of course, the exact same thing could be said about President Truman signing order E. O. 9981 in 1948 and desegregating the military, so I imagine the 2.4 million African Americans now proudly serving in our military appreciate a little social engineering, however unpopular, if that's what it takes to break the cycle of mindless bigotry.
Unless you have been in the military you really don't know what you are talking about. But of course the politically correct always know what they are talking about and always know what is best for everyone else on the planet. The small vocal minority in the military (and former military) are in favor of having gays serve openly.The huge silent majority of the military are not in favor of it. You can pretend it is "civil rights" or "human rights" but it is just another example of liberal social engineering.