I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Lt. Dan Choi this summer at Netroots Nation in Las Vegas.  Yes, I’m very proud of the picture above.  And I’m thrilled that Dan will join me on the air this morning, on the day that we’ll see what our members of the US Senate are made of.

Of course we know that John McCain, who’s leading the charge on a filibuster of the Defense Authorization Bill because it includes a provision that would repeal the discriminatory Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy, is a pandering, homophobic, bigoted, coward.  Sen. Jim Webb is the lone Democrat opposing repeal of DADT and his vote today is in question.

But there’s some hope on the Republican side, where Senators Scott Brown of MA, George LeMieux of FL, and Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine are definitely in play.  In fact, Lady Gaga – who’s emerged as the biggest public champion of repeal – appeared at a rally in Maine yesterday to convince the two “moderate” Republicans to do the right thing.

We’ll delve into all of it on today’s show, as Lt. Dan Choi will give us his thoughts on whether or not he’ll soon be able to retrieve his West Point ring.  He gave it to Harry Reid at Netroots Nation, and said he’d take it back when the discriminatory law is finally repealed.

In the first hour of the show, I’ll speak with two other guests, certainly on related topics.

Marjorie Cohn is the immediate past president of the National Lawyers Guild and a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, where she teaches criminal law and procedure, evidence, and international human rights law. She lectures throughout the world on human rights and US foreign policy.  She blogs at MarjorieCohn.com… Her latest piece, “Bradley Manning: American Hero” also appears on truthout.org.

And Joe Garcia will join us too.  I’ve known Joe for a few years now, and can’t think of anyone who’d do a better job representing South Florida in Congress.  He’s running again from Florida’s 25th district… he came very close in 2008, and the latest polls have him up by 7%.

As always, we’ll start the second hour with a news update from the Talk Radio News Service.  Be sure to check out the latest HuffPost piece from TRNS’ Victoria Jones:  “Can Crazy Witch Christine Win Delaware? Maybe She Can!“