Quick News & Notes

• Developing: NY Governor May Not Resign.

  The rumor mill has been working overtime. Yesterday I reported a story that had New York's Governor David Paterson in the center of what is now rumored to be yet another Albany sex scandal, this one involving the Governor, a broom closet, the state police, the New York Times, and a woman, not his wife.

  The AP is reporting today that Paterson "met privately with key Democratic leaders about his re-election plans as questions swirl around the state capitol about a variety of unproven accusations involving the Democratic governor's personal conduct."

  Elizabeth Benjamin says resignation was a topic.

  Earlier reports said the New York Times was going to run a story that included the Governor resigning over a sex scandal. Late yesterday afternoon those reports included the Governor's office acknowledging there was a Times story but claimed it would not run until at least today.

  Wait and see. Wait and see.

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• Won't Repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Cost Money?

  Blogger and activist (and someone I admire) Joe Mirabella has a piece today on Bilerico that asks, "Why was the repeal of "Don't Ask Don't Tell" excluded from the 2011 budget?" It's a good question, one he tried to answer.

  I'm not sure we know.

  Joe writes,

  "Most military heterosexual families have access to a plethora of services and benefits. Basics like health insurance, death benefits, housing and moving costs, are provided to military families."

  "Is DOMA the real reason we don't see more detail on the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell in the 2011 budget? Is DOMA the reason Congress is pushing back and lowering expectations about how quickly we will see a repeal?"

  Take a look at the piece. He's done a lot of work to ask and answer some of the tough questions. I hope more bloggers work as hard as he has on this.

  The one bit I'd add is that repealing DADT will save us money -- not to mention credibility, honor, and manpower -- in the long run. The cost of recruiting, training, and retaining manpower in the military is huge. Add to the the cost of discharging someone and then replacing them. It's big. Imagine if we didn't have to spend all that money?

  And I hope we don't drop the ball: "Oh, look, a shiny..."

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• BREAKING: Pelosi: “I don’t know" About "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Repeal This Year.

  DC Agenda is reporting Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi gave her thoughts today about repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," which has overtaken Washington this week, after Tuesday's hearing.

  I don't think her responses should be held as anything more than the Speaker giving her preliminary thoughts. Here are a few:

  “I don’t know,” she said during her weekly press conference. “I’ll have to examine. We’ll take a look. We’ll sit down together and see what is the advantage of going first with legislation or would the legislation more aptly reflect what is in the review — or is it a two-step process?”

  Asked by DC Agenda about the timeline for repeal, Pelosi said her preference is “to go first with the legislation,” but added, “we’ll have to examine and see what the model is for what the review is.”

  “We have to be careful about how we change it, so that it ends discrimination,” she said. “We can get rid of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ but we want to end discrimination, and that’s why the review has value.”

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• Quote Of The Day: Admiral Mike Mullen

  "No matter how I look at the issue...I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens...For me, it comes down to integrity -- theirs as individuals and ours as an institution."

  -- Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, at Tuesday's Senate Armed Services Committee "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" hearing

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• Hey John Boehner: There's Not Going To Be A "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Debate!

  On "Meet The Press" yesterday, Republican Minority Leader John Boehner said,

  "At a time when Americans are asking 'where are the jobs,' why do we want to get in this debate?"

  That's called "skillful politikin'," but I'm calling him out on it. You see, he's trying to get folks to think that there is actually going to be a debate on repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." There's not. The President has called for "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" to be repealed. The military, as we will see on Tuesday, is drawing up plans for how to enact repeal of DADT. All that remains is "how," and "when." "If" is no longer on the table.

  It's important to continue to call the GOP out on their lies, mis-truths, and mis-information -- whenever you hear it. They've played games with our lives for far too long. Last week taught us a lesson. I hope you were paying attention. I was -- and Boehner's mis-truth was a pop-quiz.

  I think I passed.

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• "Catcher in the Rye" Author J.D. Salinger Dead At 91.

  Famed and reclusive author, whose credo was, "I almost always write about very young people," has died at the age of 91. Salinger's relationships with both women and religion were the subject of much unwanted attention, yet his name remained iconic, especially in the Manhattan literary world, where he grew up. He passed away in a small house in Cornish, N.H.

  More on his life at Wikipedia.

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