"If 'don't ask, don't tell' is repealed and you are assigned to bathroom facilities (that have)] an open bay shower that someone you believe to be a gay or lesbian service member also used, which are you most likely to do?"

-- Question on 2010 Department of Defense Comprehensive Review Survey of Uniformed Active Duty and Reserve Service Members

It seems that ensuring shower security for American soldiers and Marines is critical to maintaining our global military pre-eminence. If our brave men and women cannot comfortably bathe in environments free from the risk of homosexual lust, how can we expect them to battle armed Taliban insurgents and other enemies?

In order to assess the gay shower hazard and other threats to military readiness if the "don't ask, don't tell" policy were repealed, the Department of Defense surveyed American troops over the summer.

Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, found the results reassuring. He told the Senate Armed Services Committee, "Repeal of the law will not prove an unacceptable risk to military readiness. ... I believe our troops and their families are ready for this," although he acknowledged, "some soldiers and Marines may want separate shower facilities."

Read the full story at CNN.com

Hey dagsters. I know that there are a number of creative types running around these parts, and I was wondering if you'd have any interest in adding an arts section to dagblog for fiction, poetry, graphic art, photography, et cetera. It would be a separate section with links in the left panel just below the Readers section. Would you be interested in reading? Contributing? Do you have any suggestions for how it might work?

Fascinating. Here's the full article.

God announced through his spokesman Pope Benedict XVI that male prostitutes with HIV would be permitted to use condoms in order to prevent the spread of the disease. The ruling applied retroactively, so past condom use under appropriate conditions would be pardoned. In principle, the pardon could elevate unrepentant condom users from Purgatory or even Hell, but divine experts expect the ruling to have little practical significance for condemned souls.

Savor this lame duck moment, for the tempest is coming. The 112th U.S. Congress will convene on January 3. Many of the new Republican representatives share an extreme agenda and a passionate disdain for their Democratic colleagues. The feeling is probably mutual. Get ready for a 3-D remake of the classic 1994 gridlock flick, "Republican Revolution."

Creepy medieval puppets hung from the ceiling on the set of the "Glenn Beck Program" -- a conquistador, a squire, a witch, and a bearded guy who looked like a cross between Santa Claus and the Fiddler on the Roof.

"Make no mistake, we are watching a show," Beck gravely told his audience. That much was obvious enough, but Beck did not mean his own television program. "You have to see who's behind the puppets," he continued, "Who is choosing the puppets and the players? Who's the puppetmaster? George Soros."

Dear DC-area readers,

Please join me at Borders at 18th and L at 6:30pm Tuesday, November 9th for a reading from Blowing Smoke: Why the Right Keeps Serving Up Whack-Job Fantasies about the Plot to Euthanize Grandma, Outlaw Christmas, and Turn Junior into a Raging Homosexual.

If you don't live in the area but know people who do, please recommend the reading to them. It will be a big help, as it's always a challenge for first-time authors to fill the room and spread the word.

"You'll notice a pattern in all stories: There are three kinds of characters: heroes, villains and there but for the grace of God go I." -- Glenn Beck

Barack Obama had a story once. He spoke of hope and change, of restoring a distant government tainted by partisan infighting and corporate influence to the people it was meant to serve. But we have not heard that story since November 2008.

It is not uncommon for presidents to change their stories after assuming office, either because the practice of governing demands adaptation or because they only said what they said to get elected.

George W. Bush, for instance, ran for office as a "uniter" and a businessman who would restore efficiency to a bloated government; he quickly proved himself to be anything but.

No matter, the tragic events of 9/11 soon presented him with a far more potent narrative: The swaggering avenger who delivers swift justice against bearded terrorists, mustachioed tyrants and irritating French people.

Read the full story at CNN.com

The New York Times Bestselling Hardcover Nonfiction for October 22, 2010:

1. Earth (the Book) by Jon Stewart
2. Trickle Up Poverty: Stopping Obama's Attack on Our Borders, Economy, and Security by Michael Savage

Jon Stewart is a left-leaning political satirist from Comedy Central. Michael Savage is a right-wing radio host who has trouble distinguishing comedy from communism. Analyzing one Stewart routine, Savage told radio listeners, "Not only is this idiotic and illogical, it is not funny. It is the product of inbreeding." For the record, while inbreeding can cause many congenital defects, it is not known to affect the sense of humor. The comment by Savage was actually one of his more temperate remarks. For instance, he was famously fired from MSNBC after sweetly telling a caller, "Oh, so you're one of those sodomites. You should only get AIDS and die, you pig."