No Playboys for Doughboys?

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Spurned in his attempt to kick HIV-positive soldiers out of the armed forces, Representative Robert Dornan is making another attempt to reform the military. Dornan and two other Republican representatives are sponsoring a bill before a House committee today to ban the sale or rental of sexually explicit material on military installations. Under the legislation, pin-up mags like Penthouse and Playboy could no longer be sold at the base PX, and some steamy movies would have to be taken off the rental shelves. Dornan and his colleagues argue that the materials undermine military families and say the government "should not be subsidizing smut." Military personnel generally give Dornan's measure a thumbs-down, and the American Civil Liberties Union says the wording could be read to prevent selling pictures of Michelangelo's "David" or Harlequin-style romance novels. "You can make the argument that such material is contrary to order and discipline," says Pentagon correspondent Mark Thompson, "but the fact is that this does not treat these men and women, who are deployed around the world to defend our First Amendment rights, like grown adults." Thompson notes. "We trust them to fly $60 million fighter jets, but cannot trust them with a $4 magazine? Congress is showing an amazing ability to focus on teeny, tiny issues and ignoring questions like what kind of military we need to be effective in the future."