Nearing the Ends of DOMA and DADT:
Let's end another week of hastening our descent into the dustbin of empires on a positive note.

If you watch the video of Sen. Al Franken questioning Focus on the Family Senior Vice President Tom Minnery during a hearing on repealing the odious Defense of Marriage Act, you can pinpoint the moment that Minnery's soul is crushed. Franken called out the Christian conservative leader on a study that said children with two parents are better off health-wise than children with one. Minnery claimed this meant parents of different sexes, which is not what the study itself said (and which the study's author confirmed). There he was, Minnery, caught in either a lie (and lies make baby Jesus cry, so that can't end well) or willful ignorance. And he winced, as his soul imploded, right when the rat realized that he had been cornered and boxed up.

Of course, a rat being just a rat who needs to raise cash from other rats, Minnery later said that he would have told Franken that the study he was citing never mentioned the sex of the couples, so it was natural to assume same sex ones were just left out. Ooh, that sucks, doesn't it? When you leave an argument and think, "Oh, fuck, that's what I should have said." No second chances, man. Just convenient press releases later where one can rattle off all the coulda, shoulda, woulda one wants.

And with President Obama evolving to the point of supporting Dianne Feinstein's kill-DOMA bill, the inevitable is becoming more inevitabler.

Meanwhile, over at the Pentagon, things are about to get even more openly festive. Apparently, today, the Defense Department is going to certify that gay and lesbian Americans are allowed to die for their country without lying about who they are. If you'll remember, the Don't Ask Don't Tell repeal was contingent on the Pentagon doing a study that said, "Umm, most everyone doesn't give a shit. And those that do are intolerant redneck assholes or closeted gays." So, with that done, let the cornhole in the foxhole begin.