Fearless warrior?

Training to go fight terrorists in Afghanistan, Iraq, or wherever??

His greatest fear is that some gay man may make sexual advances in boot camp???

Hell...maybe that ought to be the final test! The night before graduating boot camp...the lean, mean fighting machine is taken to a gay bar and left alone. If he shows up the next day, he graduates! If he doesn't, well...I'll never tell.

But, hey...who am I to question the absurdity of this mentality. I'm one of those liberal do-gooders who eats French Fries instead of Freedom Fries...a card-carrying member of the National Education Association, identified by government officials as a "terrorist organization".

In fact, as of today, I'm buying in...

Mr. President...there is no longer any doubt! It is time to withdraw...bring our soldiers home from Afghanistan and Irag!! They are needed here...boot camp is not the only dangerous place out there!!!

What about all the innocents here in the US of A...unguarded, unprotected!

Sweet, gray-haired/blue-haired ladies...alone in their homes...or riding public transportation...never knowing if the next person they meet might be a godless lesbian!! And what about when they go to the beauty shop and encounter a male hair-dresser. I've heard about "those people". (Of course, I guess by definition, she would be safe..."he" would only be interested in her hair...not her body. Hmmm...maybe women should always request male stylists...and men should always request females. You think?)

In fact, my hair (where it grows) is getting long...was thinking of going to Mastercuts and getting a trim. When I sign in...should I write down that "I need a woman!"

I mean...

With that statement, I kill two birds with one stone...asserting my male machoness AND avoiding a possible encounter of the worst kind.

"Oorah!"

Just in case...

...is there a number I can call about getting a military escort?

From the New York Times...

Link to Original Story

Court Keeps Military Gay Policy for Now

By SABRINA TAVERNISE and JOHN SCHWARTZ

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court on Wednesday temporarily stalled the landmark court decision allowing openly gay recruits to be accepted into the military.

In response to an emergency request from the government, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, issued a one-page order late in the day allowing the Pentagon to continue enforcing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law, which bars openly gay, lesbian and bisexual service members.

The decision, which returns the law to the status quo before a Federal District Court judge in California prohibited its enforcement, will be in effect while the appeals court considers whether to issue a longer stay, until February, when the Ninth Circuit will hear the full appeal. A decision about the longer stay could occur as early as next week; the Log Cabin Republicans, which brought the legal challenge to the law, were told to prepare briefs on the issues by Monday.

The stay almost certainly means the government will go back to enforcing the law as it did before the lower court issued an injunction against it.

Dan Woods, the lawyer for the Log Cabin Republicans, called the stay a “minor setback” and predicted a victory on the question of the long-term stay. “We didn’t come this far to quit now,” he said.

The stay was issued after military recruiting stations got a brief taste of what life might be like in a world without “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

Many consider the decision by the military to begin accepting openly gay applicants before the stay as a landmark moment in American history. But for William Kelley, a young man thinking about enlisting, it was just an overdue act of common sense.

“It was a terrible rule,” said Mr. Kelley, an unemployed 25-year-old who was leaving a recruiting office in Washington after getting results for an aptitude exam for the Navy. “It’s the type of thing we’ll look back on and feel ashamed of.”

A dozen potential recruits interviewed in the capital on Wednesday echoed his comments. The issue, they said, was one of basic fairness. They said people should be allowed to be themselves no matter where they work. Society — at least for many young Americans — had moved on, and it was time for the military to follow suit.

Military officers have argued that if the change is made too quickly, it will place the military on a collision course with federal statutes. Families and spouses of soldiers have access to benefits like housing, health care and education through marriage, which the federal government does not recognize for same-sex couples.

“Will this make problems for the military?” said William Brown, a student who had come to the recruiting office to get information about the Army Reserve, possibly as a way to earn money to finish college. “Maybe. But they’ll just have to adjust.”

Not everyone shared the opinion. A 21-year-old who declined to give his name said that he feared sexual advances by gay men in boot camp, and that he hoped to finish training before a repeal took effect. He said he knew no gay people and admitted that he had never been approached by one.

The recruiting office was having a slow day, and Mr. Kelley was part of a trickle of potential recruits. He is not gay, he said, but does know a gay fashion designer in Manhattan who served in the Marines and a gay actor who played a soldier in an Army advertisement on television.

Society is ready to respect their rights, he said.

A man in his 50s who did not give his name but identified himself as the janitor in the recruiting office shook his head.

“This would have happened a long time ago,” he said, “but we’re dealing with politicians.”

Sabrina Tavernise reported from Washington, and John Schwartz from New York.