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A reminder that an astonishing 13,686 service members were discharged due to the stupid and asinine "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. Hopefully scenes such as this one will become commonplace.

via WVEC.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) -- A Navy tradition caught up with the repeal of the U.S. military's "don't ask, don't tell" rule on Wednesday when two women sailors became the first to share the coveted "first kiss" on the dock after one of them returned from 80 days at sea.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta of Placerville, Calif., descended from the USS Oak Hill amphibious landing ship and shared a quick kiss with her partner, Petty Officer 3rd Class Citlalic Snell of Los Angeles. The crowd screamed and waved flags around them.

Both women, ages 22 and 23 respectively, are fire controlmen in the Navy. They met at training school and have been dating for two years.

Navy officials said it was the first time on record that a same-sex couple was chosen to kiss first upon a ship's return. Sailors and their loved ones bought $1 raffle tickets for the opportunity.

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I'm not sure what's worse in this clip: Rick Santorum's answer or the audience booing the gay soldier.

Santorum's bottom line: No sex in the military. Celibacy, FTW! Also, he would reinstate DADT. I promise to add the transcript later.

Here is the transcript:

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Jon Stewart finally gives in and has a go at the angry old man of the senate, and deservedly so. Since losing to Obama in 2008 the crotchety old bastard has renounced his so-called "maverick" ways and pretty much any principle he ever had, and is now just another rightwing bigot polluting the airwaves at every available opportunity.

As with Michael Steele, a muppet is used. In this case a rather foul-mouthed one given to obscene gestures.

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As David informed us earlier this week, CPAC is losing significant chunks of the gay-bashing right over their invitation for GOProud to attend their convention this year. Cenk Uygur attempted to get their chairman, Christopher Barron to explain why he's a Republican in the first place given the way the party benefits from attacking the LGBT community.

UYGUR: All right. President Obama has said many times if you want to go forward, you put it in "D." If you want to go backwards, you put it in "R." Get it?

All right. Now, the president and the Democrats made history last week. They repealed "Don`t Ask, Don`t Tell," and that is a huge step forward for gay rights.

But, as always, the "Grand Old Party" is stuck in the stone age. Two major conservative groups, Concerned Women for America and the Family Research Council, are boycotting the conservative political action conference this year. They`re out -- they`re sitting it out because GOProud, a national organization of gay conservatives, was invited to the event.

For more on this, let`s turn to the chairman of the board of GOProud, Christopher Barron.

All right, Chris. First, let me get it out of the way. Why on God`s green earth are you even a Republican?

CHRISTOPHER BARRON, CHAIRMAN, GOPROUD: Why am I a Republican? Well, first off, I`m not just a Republican, I`m a conservative Republican.

And I`m a conservative because while I was born gay, I wasn`t born to believe that government has all of the answers. In fact, I`ve seen throughout my life that, in fact, government is often the problem, because I believe in free markets, because I believe in a strong military defense, because I believe in the power of the individual. That`s why I`m a conservative Republican.

UYGUR: Right. I understand that. And are gay people -- do they have opinions that range from liberal to conservative on economic matters and other matters? Of course.

BARRON: Absolutely.

UYGUR: Right. I get that.

But what I don`t get is how you can, with a good conscience, vote for a party that does not like you? They don`t like who you are. They don`t like your identity.

BARRON: First off, I completely and totally reject that. We`re, for the second year in a row, participating in CPAC, the largest --

UYGUR: Congratulations. Two years in a row. How about all the other years?

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Looks like Man-on-Dog Rick Santorum is at it again, whipping up those good Christian viewers at Fox into thinking that the evil gay-loving secularists are out to get them. Here he is responding to Juan Williams during a panel discussion on Hannity's show after Williams asked Santorum and guest host Mark Steyn what they thought of President Obama's statement that he was “struggling with the idea of maybe supporting gay marriage" during his press conference after signing the repeal of DADT.

From News Hounds -- Rick Santorum Explains How Repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Is Part Of A Secularist Plot To Rid America Of Religion:

Steyn snidely asked if Obama’s “principled defense of marriage or whatever it was” was “likely to be tossed overboard with so much else?”

Santorum replied, “Look, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was not about men and women serving in the military. Men and women who are gays and lesbians can serve in the military right now. That’s not the issue. The issue is a bigger issue. The issue is – and it’s not even about gay marriage. This is about a larger issue of the secularization of our society. It’s a larger issue about the left just, you know, trying to, you know, put government in control of this country, and trying to move faith, trying to move any people of faith and religion out of the public square, out of America, trying to transform what America’s all about. And this is just one more step in the process and we have Republicans who may be well meaning… but what they’re doing is a larger harm and this is just one more step in that process.”

Yeah, heaven forbid Christians in this country don't have enough of a bully pulpit to keep their members afraid of teh gays for political purposes like Ricky boy is doing here. Hey Rick, when the atheists take over the halls of Congress, you let me know, will ya?

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The Senate looks like they might finally take up the first responders bill and do what's right during the lame duck session. It's a damned shame it took the likes of Jon Stewart on The Daily Show possibly shaming some of these people into doing the right thing, instead of our sorry ass mainstream media giving them a pass on this. Now that it appears this bill is finally going to be passed, I thought I'd share this little tidbit that I caught and almost forgot about from this past Friday on C-SPAN's morning call in show, Washington Journal.

Georgia's Republican Senator Johnny Isakson is asked by a caller why he was not going to vote for the first responders bill and rather than answer the question, Isakson pretends he didn't hear the question and tries to punt. He does eventually answer the caller's question only after host Susan Swain repeats the caller's question for them. This is what it looks like when these Senators actually have to face questions from the public and they know what they're doing is wrong and they'd prefer not to answer for it. They attempt to run from it. Pitiful.

Maybe next time Isakson would have better luck just sticking his fingers in his ears and going "lalalalala... I can't hear you!" He came pretty close in this segment. I just wish Senator Isakson was as concerned about the potential fraud in this first responders bill as he has been for military contractors ripping our government off to the tune of billions of tax dollars instead. Good thing he has his priorities in place.

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While it appears DADT is going to finally be repealed, that didn't stop John McCain from doing plenty of grumbling just before the filibuster was finally broken in the Senate.

'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Repeal Faces Senate Vote Today:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says the Senate will take a final vote Saturday afternoon on legislation that would overturn the military ban on openly gay troops.

The vote on ending the "don't ask, don't tell" policy is set for 3 p.m. before senators turn to a nuclear arms treaty with Russia. Passage would send the military measure to the White House.

Senators cleared the way for final action with a 63-33 vote earlier Saturday to move the bill ahead.

The House passed an identical version of the bill this week.

Repeal would mean that, for the first time in American history, gays would be openly accepted by the military and could acknowledge their sexual orientation without fear of being kicked out. [...]

The 63-33 test vote all but guarantees the legislation will pass the Senate, possibly by day's end, and reach the president's desk before the new year. [...]

Sen. John McCain, Obama's GOP rival in 2008, led the opposition. Speaking on the Senate floor minutes before the vote, the Arizona Republican acknowledged he didn't have the votes to stop the bill. He blamed elite liberals with no military experience for pushing their social agenda on troops during wartime.

"They will do what is asked of them," McCain said of service members. "But don't think there won't be a great cost."

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Barney Frank responded to critics of the repeal of DADT, calling it a distraction that could cost lives. As Frank Rightfully pointed out, “The maintenance of this policy is the distraction.”

'Don't ask, don't tell' passes handily in House of Representatives:

Wednesday’s overwhelming vote for repeal had been expected. In May, the House, by a 40-vote margin, successfully attached repeal language to a broader defense bill that eventually cleared the chamber. Republicans, led by repeal critic Sen. John McCain of Arizona, have twice blocked that bill from heading to the Senate floor, most recently last week.

But gay rights activists cheered the vote, saying the House is aligned with President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a majority of troops and most Americans, who all believe openly gay men and women should be allowed to put on the uniform.

A Washington Post/ABC News poll out Wednesday found 77 percent of Americans favor allowing openly gay men and women to serve in the military. The results mirror previous polls that have shown overwhelming public support for ending the “don’t ask” law.

“Momentum is solidly on the side of ending ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’” Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement. “Now it is up to the Senate to consign this failed and discriminatory law to the dustbin of history.”

It looks like they have the votes in the Senate if Reid doesn't let the Republicans run out the clock.

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It appears fear mongering flame thrower Rep. Louie Gohmert has found himself a new target other than those "terror babies" he warned us about. This week it's "teh gays" that are going to literally destroy our military if they're allowed to come out with the possible repeal of DADT, or worse yet, allowing gay members of the military to serve openly might just mean the end of America's "existence as a great nation."

Right Wing Watch has more -- Gohmert: Without DADT, Military Stands to Lose Thousands and US Will Reach the “End of its Existence as a Great Nation”:

While debating the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), of “terror-baby” fame, claimed that the policy’s repeal may doom the military and the nation as a whole. Gohmert blasted the recent Pentagon study, which showed that an overwhelming number of military service members do not oppose repealing DADT, and said that the military could potentially lose “many thousands, or tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands” if the policy is repealed. Gohmert uses no scientific evidence of his own to back up his claim that “hundreds of thousands” of troops could leave, even though the Pentagon’s own polling found that the vast majority of troops do not have problems serving alongside gays and lesbians, and 92 percent of those who believe they have already served alongside gays did not believe that their “units functioned poorly as a result.”

Gohmert went on to suggest that the House, which today voted to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell 250-175, is opening up the floodgates to a disorganized and ineffective military. According to the Congressman, “when militaries throughout history of the greatest nations in the world have adopted the policy that it’s fine for homosexuality to be overt…they’re toward the end of its existence as a great nation.”

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Homophobe John McCain who has embarrassed himself horribly with his shifting goalposts and blatantly ridiculous excuses for blocking the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell had this one coming from Jon Stewart.

Ladies and gentlemen, Jon Stewart presents... Gaypocalypse Now. Here's more from TPM.

Jon Stewart Rips John McCain Over Don't Ask, Don't Tell:

Jon Stewart last night lampooned Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) continued stalwart opposition to repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell, even after the Pentagon released its review indicating that a repeal of the ban on openly gay men and women would have little to no effect on military readiness.

"McCain's like one of them Japanese soldiers living on Okinawa in 1949, still fighting because he doesn't realize the war ended a long time ago," Stewart said. "And, for some reason, even though he's been alone for years and years on this island, doesn't like gay people."

I particularly liked the analogy between McCain and The Black Knight from Monty Python's The Holy Grail. Very fitting. Stewart also slammed "maverick" McCain for flip-flopping on some of his previous statements, although it wasn't as good as this segment I recorded for the site back in September of 2008 -- Daily Show: "John McCain: Reformed Maverick"