Unserious Men At the Armed Services Hearings

This goes to how Republicans refusing to learn about the policy issues are hurting the country. Sen. Bill Nelson pressed generals on sexual assault convictions overturned by military leadership. On the Republican side, Sen. Jeff Sessions goes on a rant about how Playboy and Penthouse are too blame for sexual assaults in the military.

SESSIONS: Mr. Chairman, I’d just add a letter, a document here that was given to me from Morality in the Media. Pat Truman used to be in the Department of Justice. I knew him when he was there. He points out that, a picture here of a newsstand and an Air Force base exchange with, you know, sexually explicit magazines being sold. So, we live in a culture that’s awash in sexual activity. If it’s not sold on base, it’s right off base. There are videos and so forth that can be obtained, and it creates some problems, I think.

This is the same kind of ignorance that caused Sen. Saxby Chambliss to blame hormones for military sexual assaults.

“The young folks coming in to each of your services are anywhere from 17 to 22 or 23,” he pointed out. “Gee-whiz, the hormone level created by nature sets in place the possibility for these types of things to occur. So, we’ve got to be very careful on our side.”

Sessions and Chambliss just throw these comments out there without providing a conservative policy solution. Does Chambliss feel that large groups of young men and women should be barred from being around each other? Would Chambliss bar males and females from attending high school together? We all know those kids in high school are crazy mad with hormones?

Does Sessions want to propose a constitutional amendment to ban dirty magazines. The Supreme Court ruled in in Hustler Magazine v. Falwell that pornography is free speech. Sessions and Chambliss don't provide answers because they just say these things because they are poorly prepped for the Armed Services Committee hearings and it shows. This is what happens when voters elects people that are willfully ignorant about policy.

Bill Nelson Questions Air Force on Sexual Assault Case Reversed

During the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Sen. Bill Nelson asked military officials if they have ever decided to not prosecute an accused enlisted man or officer because of an outstanding service record. Nelson didn't completely buy it. Nelson asked Air Force Gen. Mark A. Welsh about a sexual assault conviction that was reserved by Lt. Gen. Susan Helms. Ignoring her own legal advisers, Helms overturned the conviction of a captain. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has let Gen. Welch know her displeasure of the Air Force's handling of sexual assault cases.

At a widely watched committee hearing last month, Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, narrowed her eyes with disdain as Michael B. Donley, the secretary of the Air Force, expressed regret about recent assault cases. She then excoriated him and Gen. Mark A. Welsh III, the chief of staff of the Air Force, when they suggested that they were making progress on the problem.

“I do not think you should pat yourself on the back,” Ms. Gillibrand admonished them. Sexual assault, she said, is “undermining the credibility of the greatest military force in the world.” She has since introduced legislation that would give military prosecutors rather than commanders the power to decide which sexual assault cases to try. Her goal is to increase the number of people who report sex crimes without fear of retaliation.

Pay no attention to the happy talk by generals at the Armed Services Committee hearings. There is still much work that needs to be done to make women safe in the military.

The Misunderstanding Saxby Chambliss has on Sexual Assault

At the Armed Services Committee hearing, Sen. Saxby Chambliss can't tell the differences between consensual sex and sexual assault. Chambliss asks a sensible question about if there was a study to find out the pregnancies of first women serving on aircraft carriers were the result of consensual sex or sexual assault. Chambliss then inserts his foot in his mouth.

“The young folks coming in to each of your services are anywhere from 17 to 22 or 23,” he pointed out. “Gee-whiz, the hormone level created by nature sets in place the possibility for these types of things to occur. So, we’ve got to be very careful on our side.”

Chambliss understands that not enough is done by the military or Congress to stop sexual assault. Chambliss is smarter than most of his Republican colleagues. Unfortunately, Chambliss partly attributes sexual assault to kids and their crazy hormones. Rape is about one taking power over another person. That has nothing to do with kids wanting to hook up.