This is kind of cool. Salon is celebrating its tenth and anniversary and every day the past week they have been highlighting their top stories from a single year.

I did most of my work for them in 1999 and 2000, and two of my stories made the list each year. The lists for 1999 & 2000.

From 1999, they picked two of my Columbine stories:

”I smell like the presence of Satan”
Is Littleton's evangelical subculture a solution to the youth alienation that played a role in the Columbine killings, or a reflection of it?
By Dave Cullen

Inside the Columbine High investigation
Everything you know about the Littleton killings is wrong. But the truth may be scarier than the myths.
By Dave Cullen

And in 2000 they featured, this two-part series on one of the last bastions of blatant discrimination toward gays in America. (I hate to call it a "gays in the military" story, even though it technically is, because that has phrase has like the mind-numbingly tired politico piece I specifically wanted to avoid):

Don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t fall in love, Part I of II
A rare peek inside the lives of gay military officers, a world filled with staggering sacrifice, loneliness and glass ceilings.
By Dave Cullen

A heartbreaking decision, Part II
Gay officers must choose between personal happiness and the careers they've spent years building.
By Dave Cullen

Hey. You might have noticed I'm rarely here during the week these days.

Yes, by design. Trying to keep my focus entirely on my book during the week. Hence the big one-day bursts on Saturdays and Sundays. So look for me then. (Or on Mondays when you get back to trolling the web at the office, while your boss is away. heeheehee.)

OK, better try that bigger:

LOOK FOR ME MOSTLY ON THE WEEKENDS UNTIL THIS BOOK IS DONE!

Occasionally I may stop by in an evening, if I've had a great day and deserve an indulgence, or maybe once in awhile for a quickie. (Like just now. I figured since I was here to let you know this, I could pound out a quick reaction to the Housewives.)

But hopefully you'll see a lot of self-control.

See you Saturday.

Sad, but not over. I just got this from SLDN:

MILITARY'S HIGHEST COURT DECLINES TO STRIKE DOWN SODOMY STATUTE

Court Leaves Open Question Of Constitutionality Article 125

Washington, D.C. ­ In a decision published today, the military’s highest court of criminal appeals declined to strike down the armed forces’ ban on private, consensual sodomy, known as Article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The court reviewed the statute in wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas in June 2003.  The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces left open whether it would declare private consensual sodomy involving service members unconstitutional in future cases.  In United States v. Marcum, the court found that the appellant’s involvement with a subordinate took his conduct outside of the constitutional protection defined by the Supreme Court.  The court’s opinion is available online at www.sldn.org.

“The court sidestepped the issue of whether Article 125 is unconstitutional,” SLDN Executive Director C. Dixon Osburn said.  “In Lawrence, the Supreme Court took a clear and unmistakable view that government intrusion into private intimate relationships is unconstitutional.  SLDN will now consider all options regarding further challenges to the military’s statute.”

 

Counsel for Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) argued in Marcum that the Lawrence decision, which struck down state sodomy laws, invalidated the military’s similar statute.  SLDN argued, as the court noted, that Lawrence recognized “a constitutional liberty interest in sexual intimacy between consenting adults in private.”  SLDN was joined by Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the ACLU of the National Capital Area.  The law firm of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP represented the organizations.

Marcum was a cryptologic linguist and the supervising noncommissioned officer in a flight of Persian-Farsi speaking intelligence analysts stationed at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraksa.  He was convicted on May 21, 2000 of consensual sodomy and other charges.

After the Supreme Court’s decision in Lawrence, the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces granted appellant the right to challenge to continued validity of Article 125.  The court noted that “constitutional rights generally apply to members of the armed forces unless by their express terms…they are inapplicable.”  The court suggested that consensual sodomy, by itself, even in the military context, may be within the constitutional protection defined by the Supreme Court.  The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces ruled, however, that the additional aspect of that conduct occurring within the context of a superior / subordinate relationship, took the conduct outside of the constitutional protection defined by the Supreme Court.

The military’s sodomy statute applies to both heterosexual and same-sex consensual sodomy.  According to the RAND Institute, 80% of military personnel violate the statute on a regular basis.

 

In 2001, a blue ribbon panel convened to review the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) also called for repeal of the statute.  The Cox Commission, chaired by retired Judge Walter T. Cox III, called military sodomy prosecutions “arbitrary, even vindictive.”  The Commission recommended replacing the existing statute with one more closely resembling civilian prohibitions against forcible sodomy, sexual conduct with a minor and other serious criminal offenses.

“Private, consensual conduct in the bedroom has no impact on the battlefield,” Osburn said.  “Our country right now needs to fight terrorists, not pry into people’s private lives.”

SLDN noted that the decision has no impact on the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” ban on lesbian, gay and bisexual service members. 

This is new. Fifteen active gay military men and women have formed a group to fight the ridiculous Don't Ask Don't Tell ban. They call themselves Gay & Lesbian Service Members for Equality: GLMSE.

Finally, a group to fight the ban from within. They have to keep their identities secret, but they're open to reporters to tell their stories. Interesting stuff at their website.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell is celebrating its ten year anniversary, and Bill Clinton has chosen the occasion to bash the policy.

News release from the SLDN site:

In his strongest denunciation of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” to date, former President Bill Clinton says that “Simply put, there is no evidence to support a ban on gays in the military.” The written statement was made to Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) in conjunction with the organization’s End the Witch Hunts national dinner on Saturday. . . .

Well that's great to get his support, but a little hard not to gag on his words.

I am willing to cut Clinton some slack, but he really screwed both gays and the military (in the long run) on this one. Hard to hear him take the strong stand against Don't Ask, Don't Tell now, coming from the very guy who FORCED IT ON US!

Prior to Clinton, any president could have overturned the gay ban with just a swipe of his pen (executive order). But Clinton got this monstrosity enacted into law, and now it will take an act of congress to overturn it.

Thanks Buddy.