DownWithTyranny!: Is it time yet for the people who've opposed DADT repeal so fiercely that they've had their heads up their butts?

I spent a lot of time studying older and newer photos in order to be able to distinguish between the pre- and post-haircut Justin, so armed with all this background research I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this is "post." (Generally unnoted in the attendant hubbub over the haircut is the fact that as the youngster aged into late-teendom, the old "do" was coming to look kind of silly -- for, you know, a person of his age.)

by Ken

Wisconsin, Wisconsin, Wisconsin -- you'd think there was nothing else happening in the world. When we will we ever find time for the important stories? (if we must have more Wisconsin, an excellent contribution today is Paul Krugman's NYT column "Shock Doctrine, U.S.A.," in which he continues to hammer home the crucial point about the wave of far-right-wing revolution sweeping the country: that it has nothing to do with budget-balancing but follows the now-familiar right-wing strategy of using disaster as cover for ideological transformation.)

LET'S SEE, IN THE IMPORTANT NEWS . . .

Where to start? Well, certainly the most impactful story of the week is Justin Bieber's haircut. Heck, I barely know who this kid is, but I know this story is important.

Then there's Charlie Sheen's . . . well, Charlie-being-Charlie. And will he or won't he return to Two and a Half Men? By his own or CBS's choice? And can the show survive without him? It's a shame Wittgenstein and Bertrand Russell and Hannah Arendt aren'there to help us grapple with these momentous questions.

Or, of equally long-term significance, there's the long-after-the-fact revelation that the Newscorp exec who urged Judith Regan to lie to federal investigators about her affair with Bernie Kerik (if you've had an affair with Bernie Kerik, do you really need someone to tell you you should lie about it? of course technically you're really not supposed to lie to federal investigators, or to pressure other people to) was none other than the master of Fox Noise, Roger Ailes. (At the time, it's assumed, Newscorp impresario Rupert Murdoch was still nurturing the presidential hopes of Rudy Giuliani, and didn't want to see him embarrassed by his close association with Bernie K. As it turned out, Rudy G was more than capable of embarrassing himself.)

The suggestion has been that our Judith used a tape of a phone conversation with the then-still-anonymous exec to, er, encourage Newscorp to give her something like $10M to go quietly -- only to turn around and with supremely bad manners to file another $100M lawsuit! Of course if it had been one high-ranking official of, say, ACORN, encouraging another to lie to federal investigators, they would both long since have been tarred and feathered. Luckily, we've grown beyond this juvenile "government of laws" concept.

SO WHAT DOES THAT LEAVE US?

Well, there's the long-simmering scandal of Facebook's birthday coercion racket, which involves blabbing about the date to every poor soul who showed the questionable judgment to sign on as a person's "friend." The only thing more pathetic than being party to this shameless pandering is having it yield a total-so-far of three birthday greetings, one of which seemed more concerned with picking a fight. (It's possible that an individual person might be overly sensitized on this subject if by chance last year at this time, in the several weeks before the day, he had the two people who habitually remembered the occasion go and die on him.)

CAN'T WE TRY TO BE SERIOUS?

Instead I think maybe we'll do a follow-up on a report I passed on recently, concerning the military's preparations for dealing with DADT repeal. As I noted in my previous post, OutServe co-director JD Smith has been tracking procedures being put into place by the various military service branches for implementing DADT repeal, and he's now sharing a batch of e-documents being sent out by the Army.

There is, for example, an FAQ on DADT repeal, which answers questions like: "What education will be required for Soldiers and their families when repeal occurs?," "What is the changed policy on sexual orientation in the military?," and "Does repeal affect standards of conduct?" (this is an easy one: "Standards for personal and professional conduct apply uniformly without regard to
sexual orientation"). There's a list of "10 things you need to know for DADT Repeal. There's a DADT PowerPoint specifically for Army JAGs.

And there's this "Army DADT FAQs":

ARMY GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE REPEAL OF DADT

1. Leadership Matters Most: Commanders’ and senior non-commissioned officers’ leadership and personal commitment to implementation must be visible and unequivocal.

2. Standards of Conduct Apply to Every Soldier: Our standards of conduct apply equally to all Soldiers regardless of sexual orientation.

3. Treat Each Other with Dignity and Respect: Unit strength depends on the strength of each Soldier. We achieve that strength by treating each Soldier with dignity and respect.

4. Application of our Rules and Policies Will be Sexual Orientation Neutral: Sexual orientation is considered a personal and private matter. All rules and policies, and the enforcement of those rules and policies, will be sexual orientation neutral.

5. Emphasize Our Role as Professional Soldiers: Leaders will emphasize Soldiers’ fundamental professional obligations and the oath to the Constitution and to obey the orders of the President and the officers appointed over them that is at the core of their military service. In the profession of arms, adherence to military policy and standards of conduct is essential to unit effectiveness, readiness, and cohesion.

6. Keep it Simple: Education and training should focus on actions and policies needed to maintain the good order and discipline of an effective fighting force.

7. There Is No Expectation To Change Religious or Moral Views: Soldiers will not be expected to change their personal views and religious beliefs. They must, however, continue to treat all Soldiers with dignity and respect..

8. Good Order And Discipline Will Be Maintained At All Times: Commanders and supervisors at all levels have the authority and responsibility to maintain good order, discipline and morale within their units. Harassment, bullying, or victimizing of any kind will not be tolerated.

9. Chaplains have both the right to serve and conduct religious services according to their faith and a duty to perform or provide religious support: The existing guidance developed by and for our chaplains, should be reiterated as part of any education and training concerning repeal. These regulations strike an appropriate balance between protecting a chaplain’s First Amendment freedoms and the duty to care for all.

10. Stay Focused on Your Mission: Conduct training to minimize disruption on the force to ensure our military mission is not negatively impacted.

Now I realize that just saying this stuff isn't the same thing as getting it done, having all Army personnel suddenly get with the new program. What I want to call attention to here is how, relatively speaking, how simple, clear, and commonsensical this all is. And then remember how passionately, how vociferously, even how apocalyptically this has all been fought -- and in some circles continues to be fought -- by the community of never-say-die homophobes, even in the face of the evidence from more enlightened countries that have tumbled sooner to reality, and discovered that integrating servicepeople of varying sexual orientations is simply no problem.

I'm not thinking just, or even primarily, of the familiar chorus of Krap Kristian Krazies. How about a tip of the hat to the likes of military-preparedness phonies like Senators Young Johnny McCranky and Lindsey Graham. For goodness' sake, this is an issue that even their usual partner in lying stupidification Holy Joe Lieberman knew better. Isn't it time for an apology from them at minimum, and more usefully an open admission of their previous crapitatiousness? An immediate and permanent retirement from public life would certainly seem appropriate but goes beyond anything I'm hoping for. I'll settle for a nice prime-time "Jeez, I can't believe how full of doody I was."

Fortunately, it turns out that within our military there are contingents of planners going about their business. The path may not be as smooth as one hopes in one's fondest imaginings, but at least it's not dependent on bigoted, retarded, hate-mongering sociopaths.