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There's just still so much we don't know and a lot that we can't know.  But I can't go with you, Doc, on some of your points.
Acquisition saga:
Based on what the record shows, and Geoff has, I think, done a fair job of reporting it, this is a serious incident.  Set aside the legalities or what "no contest" means.  I'm just talking about the internal Mariners context.
A woman says she is violated.  She has male DNA on her person.  The male DNA is Josh Lueke's.  Without any embellishment or technicalities of the judicial system or anything else.  I think that gets taken seriously in 30 of 30 cities.  I'm sorry, but Chuck Armstrong is not the only exec who doesn't want to get blindsided by a story like this.
Now, on the Pelosi-to-Palin scale, I'm way on the Palin side.  I'm not beholden to PC agendas or anything else.  I cannot, however, believe that Seattle is the only city and Chuck Armstrong the only club exec that would make this an issue.  It is a serious incident, and Geoff has accurately described it as a serious incident.  And, frankly, I don't think that Jack Z. was necessarily dismissing it, either.  I think he had blinders on in the heat of the trade negotiations, and he wanted Josh Lueke's arm.
So I think there is definite fault to be placed on Z.  Obviously, they agreed it would not cost him his job, but it would cost him Fusco.  Armstrong could have let it drop more gracefully, and could have given Z and Fusco more "cover" instead of letting the media run with the "Fusco fired due to Lueke mess" storyline.  That shows a lack of class on Armstrong's side, but we knew that already.
But having the incident cost Z is not unfair.  I think he muffed it.  And it is not Armstrong horning in on Z's bailiwick (putting together the roster).  It was Z horning in on Armstrong's bailiwick (worrying about the club's standing the community) by making the call on Lueke without giving Armstrong any notice, and either not knowing the facts or not anticipating the fallout.  And I don't fault Baker, at all, for reporting the facts.  He operates in the real world, and the makeup of the Mariners roster is what he is assigned to report on.
Going forward saga:
We don't know that the Mariners will trade Lueke for a bag of balls.  The fact is, they haven't. The fact is, Texas will take him back, and that hasn't happened. We don't know that they don't have him penciled in to their future roster.  The fact is, they are sending him to the Arizona Fall League.   We don't know if the club will refuse to wrap him in some PR cushion as he moves up the ladder and on to the MLB roster.  It hasn't happened yet.  I think they will make a PR effort, because I don't think Armstrong would be so nihilistic as to needlessly beat up on his own team just to make a point (but I could be wrong on that, too).
My own strong sense is that Z has decided to take his lumps with Josh Lueke, and everyone is going to try to make the best of it going forward (including Armstrong).  It cost Fusco but now, assuming Lueke toes the line, it is over.  I could be wrong, of course, but that's my sense.