Since I left The Daily Brief, I have judiciously deferred to my friends there on military matters. But I break with that here. And the subject upon which I chose to part with my good friends there is gays in the military. And where I hinge my argument is on a statement by a newsie we all deplore, on a show we all deplore: Dan Rather, on this week's installment of HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher, summarized his response from service members, to the question of gays in the military: "have you been to a gym lately?"

And here is yet another example of where our rank-and-file is way out ahead of both our military leadership, and the general electorate. And, on this question, who's opinion really matters? If our boys and girls in uniform don't care that one of their compatriots gets off on scamming on them in the shower, as long as there is no physical assault, who are we to care?

Hey, Gen. Pace: get with the program.  ¶ 11:48 PM