Why were Sixties-era stoners so much more entertaining than today's breed? Ponder that as you listen to Eric Burdon and the boys from War weave their way through their 1969 hit, "Spill The Wine."

John McCain's POW past remains one of the politico's most powerful identifying markers.

Time and time again it comes up in his stump speeches, campaign commercials and discussions on faith. And for good reason: the Arizona Senator's tale of torture and patriotism captured a nation back in 1973, when he was finally released after almost six years in Vietnamese captivity. McCain became a bit of a - dare we say it - celebrity, and even penned a first hand account of his experience for US News & Report.

In the piece, McCain explains his relationship to his captors, some of whom he claims were gay:

In other words, if you are going to make it, you get tougher as time goes by. Part of it is just a transition from our way of life to that way of life. But you get to hate them so bad that it gives you strength.

Now I don't hate them any more—not these particular guys. I hate and detest the leaders. Some guards would just come in and do their job. When they were told to beat you they would come in and do it. Some seemed to get a big bang out of it. A lot of them were homosexual, although never toward us. Some, who were pretty damned sadistic, seemed to get a big thrill out of the beatings.

It's unclear in this last sentence is Senator McCain means "Some [gays]" or "Some [captors]." Implications aside, it's curious the former seaman would feel compelled to include this queer detail.

This 1973 story, which is quite extensive, does not include McCain's contentious "cross in the sand" story.

John McCain and his campaign have released a new commercial in which the Republican insists he's against war. His family, of course, have been ravaged by aggressive endeavors, so he's running for president to "keep the country I love safe." In fact, he opens this 30-second spot thus, "Only a fool or a fraud talks tough or romantically about war." Sure, McCain hasn't romanticized war games, but he's still too tough to consider diplomatic measures. Anyone smell a small contradiction?

Today marks Don't Ask, Don't Tell's 15th anniversary. May this year be its last…

Just in case you didn't know:

A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations found that President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks.
…
The study counted 935 false statements in the two-year period. It found that in speeches, briefings, interviews and other venues, Bush and administration officials stated unequivocally on at least 532 occasions that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or was trying to produce or obtain them or had links to al-Qaida or both.

That is all.

We're absolutely astonished this morning. The mainstream media - namely: the New York Times - has turned its attention to the plight of gay Iraqis. Here's but a taste of Cara Buckley's piece:

…Until recently, Mohammed and many of his gay friends went one step further, slipping into lovers’ houses late at night. And, until the American invasion, they said, Iraqi society had quietly accepted them.

But being openly gay is not an option in the new Iraq, where the rise of religious extremism has left Mohammed and his gay friends feeling especially vilified.

Wait, the American-led invasion didn't bring peace and queer prosperity? Preposterous!

Our previous installments of The Home Issue have revolved around design, interior and aesthetic.

We're shifting focus today with an interview between our editor and travel writer Mike Luongo. Luongo's longed to travel since childhood and has traveled around the globe documenting life in Afghanistan, Iraq and Argentina, among many, many others.

The New York-based journalist just edited and released Gay Travels In The Muslim World: an anthology of anecdotes and impressions from and of the Middle East. Though he and Belonsky definitely discuss the book, their conversation veers into religion, the parameters of democratization and the ever-troublesome "other".

Check it out, after the jump.

CONTINUED »

Gay Iraqi exile Ali Hili has some choice words for the United States army:

The U.S, and other allied forces are doing nothing to stop the massacres of any ordinary Iraqi, not to mention the homosexuals, the most unpopular portion of Iraqi society under the new evil regime.

Hili and his organization, Iraqi LGBT, are facing considerable financial burden. President Bush, meanwhile, wants another $46 billion for his childish war games.

• John Aravosis chats with CNN's resident tool Rick Sanchez about Larry Craig. Moral of the story: Craig's coincidence defies reality. Meanwhile Aravosis wrote this piece about ENDA. A reader suggested we add him to our list of 20 Most Frightful Anti-Gay Activists…

• GLAAD gets into the news business.

• Queer Iraqi situation worse than imagined:

Up to 25 gay men will next month have to ‘take their chances’ in Iraq where religious militia regularly seek out gays and execute them. Two ‘safe houses’ for gays will be forced to close at the end month – due to lack of cash, it was learned last night.

Make potentially life saving donation here. Or continue being apathetic. It's up to you.

CONTINUED »

Two Canadian soldiers who beat up a gay man will be serving time in prison rather than Afghanistan:

Eric Wright was sentenced to five months in jail and ordered to pay 6,000 euros ($8,500) in damages and Ryan Dowie was given 45 days in jail, a court spokesman told AFP.

The two men, both aged 22 at the time of the incident, were arrested following a brawl in May in which a 28 year-old gay man was hospitalised with serious injuries.

The victim claimed he was attacked after the soldiers had asked him whether he was gay but the court found insufficient evidence proving this.

Well, at least they asked before making an ass out of you and me. They did, however, make an ass out of themselves, their army and basic human values.

The Pentagon's gay bomb plot made the world laugh out loud. And they've been honored for bringing so many smiles:

Pioneering research into a "gay bomb" that makes enemy troops "sexually irresistible" to each other has scooped one of this year's Ig Nobel Prizes.

Other winners included work on treating hamster jetlag with impotency drugs, extracting vanilla from cow dung, and the side-effects of sword swallowing.

The awards, founded in 1991, mark achievements that "first make people laugh, and then make them think".

The prize ceremony took place at Harvard University…

The Pentagon and their gay-baiting scientists won the "peace" category.

Conservative journalist Robert Maginnis on why we should keep Don't Ask, Don't Tell:

Sexual tensions and sex-based favoritism in intimate settings destroy cohesion, whether they involve opposite- or same-sex attraction. If we respect women’s need for privacy from men, then we ought to respect the same need on the part of heterosexuals with regard to homosexuals. Protecting privacy in a military with open homosexuality would necessitate recognizing essentially four sexes and would severely disrupt units.

If that's the case, why don't we have four types of bathrooms? Or, actually, six (for the trannies).