In case you missed it | It’s almost show and tell time

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It’s almost show and tell time

Unless you follow the gay rights debate like a hawk, you might not have noticed, with all the attention being given to gay marriage these days, that a U.S. district judge ruled last week that the military’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy violates service members’ Fifth Amendment due-process rights and their First Amendment speech rights. The judge is expected to issue an injunction to halt the policy’s enforcement. So very soon our American service people will be able to ask their fellow warriors if they are gay without fear of retribution. And gay soldiers will finally be able to declare, “I’m gay,” with probably a similar lack of, let’s say, cautious panic and trepidation. And that’ll be the end of it, right? Things will just continue on as they were. Probably not, but it’s a start. Michael B. Keegan, president of People For the American Way, said pretty much everybody — including Obama, the leaders of the armed forces, the House of Representatives and the “overwhelming majority” of the American people — think the policy is a bad idea. He called for an immediate end to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. But don’t expect sailors and soldiers to throw off their shirts and “say it loud” just because of one tiny court ruling. Gay people have heard this sort of thing before. One day you can get married, the next you can’t. It’s nearly as confounding as the pot laws in Colorado. Who can grow it? Who can smoke it? Where can they smoke it? Under what circumstances can they smoke it? Let’s hope this new ruling turns out to be genuine and simple: you can be gay, whenever, wherever, and it won’t affect your ability to serve, fight and even die for your country one bit. Seems like a pretty fair deal, doesn’t it?

Her climbing could use some work, but her tenacity is spot on

Sometime around 6 p.m. on Sept. 9, a 19-year-old climber bouldering at “The Dome” in Boulder Canyon had just a second or two to reflect on her decision to pick her way 40 feet up the rock formation without a helmet before gravity brought her crashing down on the trail below.

Just for perspective, the climber’s fall was like jumping out a third-story window onto the hard-packed dirt and rock below. It’s the type of fall one can easily die from. But this young lady didn’t die. In fact, she got moving toward the nearest road. Most Boulderites are pretty fit and could get back to their car in no time, even after a rigorous climb. But have you ever tried it after falling from the roof of a small office building?

Twelve hours after she started her trek she was found by a couple of climbers coming for an early-morning run at the Dome. She’d suffered a severe head injury and hypothermia but was alive nonetheless.

Although we can’t really condone climbing without at least a helmet, we can say this is one tough chick. That’s one hell of a bump to the noggin, and to crawl towards safety after something like that … well, it’s just plain ballsy.

Meat me at the VMAs

Every couple of years someone has to test the limits of fashion and social acceptance of the minor insanity that is super-stardom by donning some hideous or outrageous garb and trotting out on MTV’s awards show to the gawking and false outrage of those in attendance or watching via satellite. This year’s shocker is Lady GaGa. When the pop princess marched up the red carpet at this year’s event she really let her meat hang out. Seriously, she was clad in what looked like flank steak. PETA, of course, flew into a rage (who could blame them, really) while other celebrities, art professors and fashionistas jockeyed to have the most poignant and insightful opinion on Lady Gaga’s roast beast. Our take on it is simple: It might be shocking and headline-worthy now, but just like the pop star wearing it, sooner or later it’s going to start to stink.

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