Well, last night, he chose the former, debating himself on the relative "merits" of Don't Ask Don't Tell, and plowing through even when the laughter subsided somewhat and the situation began to feel uncomfortable. It was pretty amazing to see a comedian at a USO show in a former palace of Saddam Hussein in front of hundreds of active duty military personnel  the very personnel proponents of Don't Ask Don't Tell claim require it for cohesiveness (which is code for their lives and those of their comrades)  openly mock the military's stance on the LGBT members some of those soldiers undoubtedly know serve among them.

In the segment, the pro-Don't Ask, Don't Tell Colbert proclaims the issue is a problem to be fixed in Washington and then migrates to the argument that it's about military cohesiveness and those who haven't served shouldn't get involved. I guess that explains why Barack Obama hasn't gotten involved in it yet?

In that trip, a civilian co-worker at the U.S. Property and Fiscal Office saw Brian kiss her girlfriend. So despite not asking nor telling, she was kicked out of the military.

Brian said the effort to remove her from the Guard started with a barrage of anonymous e-mails referencing her sexual orientation and a networking Web site where her photo was posted. The e-mails were sent to her chain of command, including the Kansas Adjutant General's Office.

That however, wasn't enough to separate her from the career she'd chosen, where she'd received awards and promotions and was working on a Master's degree. It took a public display of affection seen off-site by a civilian co-worker whose job was, ironically, protected from discrimination because of sexual orientation to do that.

[Sharon Watson, public affairs director for the Kansas Adjutant General's Office] said a separation from the Guard because of homosexual conduct is "not based on performance but based completely on federal law." The federal law states the military must have proof of the homosexual conduct, an admission from the soldier or an attempt or successful application for marriage to another gay person by the soldier.

Apparently, "proof" is one person noticing that you're living your personal life on your own terms, and requires no corroboration. On the other hand, there's this:

[Brian] said she served with heterosexual soldiers who were found guilty of adultery, sexual harassment, and credit card fraud and received disciplinary actions instead of discharges.

You know, men.

More than 12,500 soldiers have been ousted from the military since the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy went into effect in 1994. A recent study showed that last year, despite women making up a disproportionately small percentage of military personnel, more than half of those dismissed were women. While President Barack Obama has openly committed to ending this discriminatory policy that unhelpfully diminishes the number of qualified people willing to serve in our armed forces, his spokeman Robert Gibbs said on January 14th (the day after Brian was shown the door) that it wasn't going to happen right away. It just sort of seems like some people, like Amy Brian, would rather not have to be kept waiting.

Kansas Army Discharges Gay Soldier [Topeka Capital-Journal]

Related: Obama Will End ‘Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Policy - But Not Right Away [Think Progress]

Earlier: Don't Ask, Don't Tell, And Try Not To Be A Woman

MOE: Morning boo! Time to get onerous?
MEGAN: Maybe ponderous?
MOE: I was checking Drudge last night on the way to a bar and there was this bizarre bunch of headlines as to Obama's 5 a.m. Western Wall visit and I thought, damn, that is early for the hecklers to be waiting.
MEGAN: Yeah, I don't heckle anyone before 10:30 at least. Luckily the Germans have the Obamania, so I don't expect too many hecklers there.
MEGAN: We should probably take a moment to defend our Attackerman on his reporting on how McCain fucked up when he said the Surge predated the Anbar Awakening, because Joe Scarborough accuses him and other bloggers of eating Cheetos while frantically Googling to play gotcha. Because I have never once seen him eat or heard about Spencer eating Cheetos, and I'm pretty sure he knew about the timing without having to Google since it's his job to know shit like that, being a national security reporter and all. It ought to also be McCain's job — or McCain's policy staff's job — to not just make shit up that isn't true.
MOE: That is hilarious. You name your whole show after a popular morning beverage and you get on us for eating extruded snack food? Speaking of which my own Awakening here has yet to be followed by my morning joe so I am a little slow. Do you think CBS was seriously trying to cover up McCain's ignorance though? Or are the video editors basically, half-Awake themselves?
MEGAN: Yeah, um, I haven't had any caffeine either because I needed to hydrate first this morning... I mean, I don't know if CBS did it to cover up what they knew was a wrong answer, or because someone on McCain's staff knew it was wrong, but why would you splice in an answer he gave to another questions completely randomly?
So, yes, personally, I think it was deliberate. I don't think you do it at that moment, for that question, for that answer, if it's not deliberate.
MOE: They were like "oh god this McCain senility thing has gotten too fucking hard to watch" or whatever?
MEGAN: This is why I wonder if it wasn't a quiet word from someone within the McCain camp, someone who realized the size of the gaffe and asked nicely or not-so-nicely and CBS complied. Because that's what I'd do if I worked for McCain.
CBS is saying that they "edited it for time,", which totally doesn't explain anything.
MEGAN: Anyway, so, onto other things, Nas rapped on Colbert last night, which he was on to promote his petition against racism Fox News and looking, dare I say, fucking hot as shit.
MOE: Well speaking of Subtle Mainstream Media Tricks To Save Politicians From Themselves That Are Completely Ineffective, John Edwards and Rielle: why make the story of the day "Why The Mainstream Media Is Ignoring This Urgent Sex Scandal" when you could just, like, run a bunch of stories saying the National Enquirer seems to have stalked John Edwards and boy, what a shameless douchebag! (They would probably spell it "douche bag.") Because my future colleague over at Gawker has a point here, even if the "Constitutionally Protected jobs" thing is an unbelievably warped jab to make considering the last time fucking anyone in newspapers had any fucking sense of job security was the Reagan administration, but that's neither here/there.
MEGAN: Well, but then you'd have to cover the National Enquirer. And they're probably still smarting over Gennifer Flowers or something.
Oh, well, if we're going to be like the real media, we should probably totally change the subject now and I would like then to point readers to Dana Milbank's column today which is about the House's Don't Ask Don't Tell hearing yesterday in which psychotic Elaine Donnelly testified about lesbian rape gangs and shit and just about everyone there was shocked that she thought it was appropriate but she always, always does. Also, she doesn't want women serving in the military for the sake of the men. And in 1950, she probably wasn't so keen on integration either. She's a scary bitch, yo.
I might have once implied in print that she herself is just scared of her own lesbian tendencies. Because I'm a mean bitch like that.
MOE: Dude, someone watching that hearing got a totally dope plotline for his next thrasher movie though. I love Vic Snyder for calling her testimony "just bonkers" because I can't really do better, this woman's just totally completely nuts and the thing we always forget is THERE ARE MORE OF THEM LIKE THIS OUT THERE MANY MANY MORE.
MEGAN: Yeah, there totally are more people like that out there. Speaking of more of "them," Steve Doocey weighed in on sexism yesterday. That guy is so dumb I think it probably rubs off.
MOE: And don't forget they're not just any lesbian rape gangs they are black lesbian rape gangs. Because white lesbians in the military are too busy planning their weddings while watching the L Word and styling their expertly layered hair to bother raping anyone?
MEGAN: Oh, right, black lesbians are waaaay scarier. Did I ever tell you how I once ended up at a black lesbian bar in D.C.?
My friend made me get on one of those party shuttle buses for her bachelorette, but the organizers were from out of town and ended up taking us to a black lesbian club. Best. Bar. The. Whole. Night.
Great DJ, appropriate level of air conditioning, super nice people. After dancing with strangers for 40 minutes I realized the bride and all her friends were huddled in a corner and talking about me.
MOE: Omg I went to a black gay coke bar last weekend and although or maybe because the coke was probably not really coke but crushed up No-Doz cut with laxatives it was the Best Night Ever Too. Musically, muscle tonally, etc. Anyway, we need to find some site about this alleged black lesbian rape gang attack in 1974. If only to WARN THE READERS.
MEGAN: I'll do that while you read about Lieberman comparing creepy Catholic-hating crazy pastor John Hagee to Moses and saying that bloggers would've shit all over Moses and Miriam, too.
MOE: Well, you gotta admit bloggers will shit on anything, they are like junkies that way. Remember Pastor Pfleger? That guy was so clearly Down with God but the haters wanna hate, you know?
Lieberman is such an idiot.
MEGAN: I mean, is he trying to flame out? Like, can he be recalled by voters or something? Because I don't understand when he went batshit.
MOE: I CAN'T FIND ANYTHING ABOUT THIS CYNTHIA YOST LESBIAN RAPE THING does this mean I have to nexis?
MEGAN: Ok, so, the lesbian rape story is only available in Elaine's testimony. This woman, Cynthia Yost, claims that she was hugged and rubbed by a group of black women she knew to be lesbians but never reported it until now.
MOE: because my nexis is down.
MEGAN: Page 10, by the way.

“Some of them were ethnic minorities, and it was a group of black lesbians who decided to gang-assault me. I don't know what else you would call it. This incident happened in the spring of 1974, at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. We were riding crowded together in a "cattle truck", and suddenly they all began groping my crotch and breasts through my fatigues, talking suggestively, rubbing my thighs, hugging me tightly around the waist and shoulders, and giggling.
“This was in 1974, when the military brass lived in terror of accusations of racist attitudes among military personnel. It was assumed that any white person hitting or attacking a black one for any reason, even in self-defense, was, ipso facto, a racist. Such an incident, reported, meant a letter of reprimand in one's permanent record, and many tedious hours of "race relations" classes.
“…I didn't report the assault because I wanted to keep my record clean, and I didn't defend myself from their physical assault for the same reason. I didn't want a permanent label of "racist" to derail my military career. So, I restrained my nausea and outrage, and just kept pushing their hands and arms off me and telling them to please stop. They finally did, when they were tired of it.

MOE: dude that description is totally from a porn.
MEGAN: Totally. Homophobic rantings about homosexuality are always pornographic for some reason. Frankly, like, why was it important that her alleged assaulters were black in that context.... if it wasn't important to her?
MOE: Yeah and call Lizz Winstead but this so-called gang rape does NOT SOUND THAT TRAUMATIZING. I mean, also, like, this is just nuts. I wonder where Cynthia Yost is now. I bet if we teepee-d her house she'd call it a hate crime.
MEGAN: We hate her for her heterosexuality, because we're just a bunch of fucking dykes.