The CNN/YouTube debates sure were straight last night, huh? We had to wade through immigration, Iraq and the economy before we got our 'mo moment.

For those of you who came and went before the blessed event, we'll fill you in: homosexual and Retired Brigadier General Keith Kerr inquired:

I'm a retired brigadier general with 43 years of service. And I'm a graduate of the Special Forces Officer Course, the Commanding General Staff Course and the Army War College. And I'm an openly gay man.

I want to know why you think that American men and women in uniform are not professional enough to serve with gays and lesbians.

Well said, if you ask us.

We break the candidates down, after the jump.

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Senator Hillary Clinton promised voters that she'll try to overturn Don't Ask, Don't Tell: the discriminatory policy that forbids soldiers from coming out. Regardless of the Democrats lofty goals of equality, Clinton wants gay military men and women to watch themselves:

In Tama, an Air Force veteran asked Clinton about her support for allowing gays to serve openly in the military. How would privacy be protected, he asked?

Clinton said she believed all service members, including gays, must be expected to observe the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which determines appropriate behavior.

"I feel strongly that if someone wants to serve their country, if they're a patriot, if they'll comply with the code of military justice and have appropriate behavior, they should not be disqualified simply because they are gay."

Who knew a presidential candidate could be so ironic?

Don't Ask, Don't Tell got a judicial probing yesterday in Seattle.

Former military major Margaret Witt and her lawyer are appealing Witt's dishonorable discharge. Witt had spent eighteen years serving her country and had even garnered two decorations from President Bush when an anonymous tipster blew up her lesbianic spot, thus leading to her aforementioned discharge.

Witt fought the 2004 decision, but lost during the first round of July 2006 hearings. Now Witt's fighting back hard in Seattle, where her lawyer's playing the Lawrence v. Texas card. That case, of course, dismantled our nation's anti-sodomy laws. Witt's lawyer, however, insists that ruling also applies to Don't Ask, Don't Tell because it makes gay sex a "fundamental right". DADT violates those rights by enforcing gay silence.

A Justice Department lawyer says otherwise, telling the appeals panel, The court very clearly stops short of…recognizing a fundamental right."

Witt, who appeared in uniform during yesterday's hearings, describes DADT as "irrational". We describe it as "discriminatory," which violates more than just Lawrence v. Texas, but our constitution.

We've previously reported on two Canadian soldiers accused of anti-gay attacks in Amsterdam. Canada's National Post provides more details:

The two soldiers, on leave from the mission in Afghanistan, were arrested on May 26 by Dutch police after an altercation in Amsterdam, a Canadian Defense department official confirmed.

The men were originally charged with attempted manslaughter, attempted criminal negligence causing bodily harm and public violence but there have been ongoing discussions to reduce those charges. The charges are under the Dutch criminal code and do not have an equivalent under the Canadian legal system, military officials said.

Rather than give them the boot, the Canadian military simply reassigned them to a base in The Netherlands.

Yale students will be seeing soldiers on their campus:

For five years, Yale Law School has fought to restrict military recruiters from its job fairs because of the Pentagon’s policy that bars openly gay or bisexual people from the military. But with the federal government threatening to withhold $350 million in grants if the university does not assist the recruiters, that fight will all but end on Monday.

After an appeals court ruled in favor of the Defense Department on Sept. 17, the law school said it would allow recruiters from the Air Force and Navy to participate in a university-sponsored job interview program for law students on Monday afternoon.

Yale law professor Robert A. Burt insists the war's just begun, "The judges who hold office at the moment disagree with us. We must wait for history to vindicate our position.”

Ah, yes, that legendary Yale fighting spirit…

A military magistrate has ruled that Johnny Lamar Dalton must face a court martial.

Dalton, a private first class out of Fort Bragg, stands accused of assault with a deadly weapon, general assault and "crimes against nature" after infecting his gay teenage lover with HIV.

Dalton's forthcoming trial shouldn't come as a surprise to him. The 25-year old military man had previously been warned to inform potential lovers of his HIV status. Obviously he didn't listen.

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Joint Chiefs nominee Admiral Michael Mullen faced a Senatorial grilling yesterday.

In addition to addressing Iraq - which he says has greatly depleted America's military - Mullen also indicated that he's open to abolishing Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

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No body asked and he certainly didn't tell, but an American soldier will be discharged for appearing on patriotic porn site, activeduty.com. And, no, it's not Matt Sanchez.

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You've got to be fucking kidding:

After discharging 60 Arabic language translators for being gay, the military is now forced to rely on a translating machine that has not been fully tested, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

NIST researchers are evaluating a prototype, real-time, two-way translation systems for the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA), point out that wartime military patrols and civilian encounters can be especially dangerous if neither group understands the other’s language.

Servicemember's Legal Defense Network honcho Steve Ralls remarks, "The military is placing homophobia well ahead of national security."

They might as well give terrorists plane tickets and send them on their way…

Private First Class Johnny Lamar Dalton ain't getting first class treatment at Cumberland County jail, where he's being held on a $50,000 bond for infecting an 18-year old male lover with HIV.

The 25-year old soldier from the 22nd Aviation Support Battalion has been charged with assault with a deadly weapon, a misdemeanor assault charge and a "crime against nature," military speak for anal sex, which is strictly prohibited for American soldiers.

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America's Department of Defense could learn a thing or two from their British counterparts. The Ministry of Defense has apologized for discriminating against gay soldiers.

Commander Phil Sagar told BBC radio:

Of course we're sorry for anyone who's suffered personal trauma. We can't change the past and what's happened has happened. But if, as I'm sure you have, you've got testimony from people who feel that their lives have been ruined from this, then clearly that is not a good place to be.

Sagar's apology didn't come from left field - fifty former soldiers are looking for financial compensation for their unfair treatment.

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Staunch republican and former Congressman Bob Barr penned a letter in today's Wall Street Journal calling for our government to repeal everyone's favorite discriminatory policy, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell".

In addition to highlighting the policy's money wasting, talent trashing aspects, Georgia-born Barr - who admits he's not the biggest gay activist this side of the political divide - takes some time to dig into his political peers, particularly the presidential candidates:

Last week's forum of 10 Republican presidential hopefuls offered the country some troubling insight into the thinking of leading GOP candidates. In particular, the five who responded to questions about the Clinton-era "don't ask, don't tell" policy governing military service by gays and lesbians showed a disturbing move away from conservative principles, in favor of what smells strongly of political expediency or timidity.
…
Republican presidential candidates left me — and I suspect many others — questioning whether those candidates really even understood the issue, or were simply pandering to the perceived "conservative base." The fact is, equal treatment of gay and lesbian service members is about as conservative a position as one cares to articulate.

Barr goes on to explain what good conservatives know - Don't Ask, Don't Tell's a disgusting invasion of privacy. If the GOP wants to keep the government out of people's personal lives, they should abandon the policy all together.

Don't you hate when conservatives make sense?

The Pentagon's anti-gay politics came into clear view this weekend after officials finally admitted the government once commissioned a so-called gay bomb. Once detonated, the bomb would release a powerful aphrodisiac officials hoped would transform once mighty soldiers into sissies (pictured).

Berkeley's Sunshine Project employed the Freedom of Information Act to obtain records of the queer weaponry, which the Pentagon played down as an "idea". The records prove, however, that the government actively pursued the project. Berkeley's Edward Hammond explains:

The Ohio Air Force lab proposed that a bomb be developed that contained a chemical that would cause enemy soldiers to become gay, and to have their units break down because all their soldiers became irresistibly attractive to one another.
…
It would have never come to my attention if it was dismissed at the time it was proposed. In fact, the Pentagon has used it repeatedly and subsequently in an effort to promote non-lethal weapons, and in fact they submitted it to the highest scientific review body in the country for them to consider.

The Pentagon papers also indicate the Air Force requested $7.5 million to fund the bomb, which officials describes as "distasteful but completely non-lethal". Warmongers initiated the project in 1994, the same year 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' went into effect.

It's a banner day for the gays. First Isaiah Washington got booted from Grey's Anatomy. Now, Joint Chiefs Chief General Peter Pace - who infamously referred to gays as immoral - has been replaced in the Pentagon. From Think Progress:

Ha-ha, that's what you get for saying:

As an individual, I would not want [acceptance of gay behavior] to be our policy, just like I would not want it to be our policy that if we were to find out that so-and-so was sleeping with somebody else's wife, that we would just look the other way, which we do not. We prosecute that kind of immoral behavior.

Schmuck…

Jason Knight's on again, off again affair with the Navy seems to be on again.

Knight got the boot after coming out in 2004, but mysteriously invited him back, despite Don't Ask, Don't Tell's prohibition on the pansies. Following Knight's telling interview with Stars & Stripes, officials sacked him once again. Now, they've changed their military mind.

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network explains:

Former Petty Officer 2nd Class Jason Knight, a Hebrew linguist recently deployed to Kuwait, has been placed on Individual Ready Reserve duty until April 2009, despite publicly ‘coming out’ in national media outlets and being told he would receive a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” dismissal.

His dismissal form, however, declares "completion of service," not a 'Don't Ask' related retirement, thus making him eligible for IRR. Knight remarked of his reentry:

I was expecting to be dismissed under ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ but am ready, willing and able to continue my service to the Navy if I am needed. My sexual orientation has never been an issue for my command or my colleagues; it should not be an issue for my country, either.

Well said, Mr. Knight. Now go on out there and protect us. We'll hold down the fort…