Military Ready to Act in Response to DOMA Ruling

The Defense of Marriage Act prohibited the federal government from recognizing and extending benefits to same sex spouses. With the Supreme Court striking DOMA down, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced the military is ready to comply:

The Department of Defense welcomes the Supreme Court's decision today on the Defense of Marriage Act.  The department will immediately begin the process of implementing the Supreme Court's decision in consultation with the Department of Justice and other executive branch agencies.  The Department of Defense intends to make the same benefits available to all military spouses — regardless of sexual orientation — as soon as possible.  That is now the law and it is the right thing to do.

Every person who serves our nation in uniform stepped forward with courage and commitment.  All that matters is their patriotism, their willingness to serve their country, and their qualifications to do so.  Today's ruling helps ensure that all men and women who serve this country can be treated fairly and equally, with the full dignity and respect they so richly deserve.

The quick response should not come as much of a surprise. Since the elimination of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, assimilation has come fairly quickly, with Hagel himself speaking out in support of gay troops at Pentagon event for Gay Pride Month yesterday.

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Comments

[Palin's Buttplug]

Conservatism’s death gargle is now clearly audible.

[Acosmist]

Because conservatism was over when the Warren Court destroyed it forever.

Reagan why?

[Xenocles]

Depends on whom you ask. A self-described “lesbian feminist” was on the radio this morning complaining that marriage is a conservative issue and that the “mainstream queer” movement never wanted this.

[Some call me Tim?]

That’s very true. I’ve seen plenty of commentary about how conservatives win, because now the gays will be expected to come into the nuclear fold.

[Chief Justice Roger B. Taney]

Abolitionism’s death gargle is now clearly audible.

[Tman]

Our long national nightmare is over.

Now we can go back to ignoring things like the NSA tapping, leaving our Ambassadors to die in foreign country, and letting the IRS act as Political Action Committee.

Good times.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Just think, if there was no estate tax…

[Agammamon]

http://arstechnica.com/busines…..prevent-it

The anti-self defense brigade strikes back.

[Episiarch]

The goal is that the average user won’t be able to by mistake print a gun

Are these people functionally retarded? How stupid are they, and how much are they projecting that bone-shattering stupidity on the rest of us?

“Oops, I accidentally printed a gun!”

[Tman]

And then the gun just jumped up, loaded itself and shot that guy!

[Fatty Bolger]

Is the gun also going to print its own bullets and load itself?

[Episiarch]

They seem to be focusing on a kid printing one out (which still raises the question about printing cartridges), but it’s still clear how totemic so many fools are about guns. They are animists, more than anything else.

[Gojira]

Get ready for the passive-voice defense (AKA “standard police report”) as soon as one of these kills people.

“The weapon printed and then discharged, killing suspect X.”

[Hugh Akston]

I don’t know if you noticed, Epi, but you have a retarded clone below.

[Episiarch]

So it’s not me stroking out and having more of my “episodes”? Thank Jeebus. The doctor was right, a lobotomy was the right decision.

[Nooge.]

Many of the Ars Technica crowd are authority-worshiping progressive loons. “For the children!” is a valid excuse for pretty much any retarded thing you can imagine over there.

[Xenocles]

It will also put itself together. Just like now we have guns that shoot people on their own, 3D printers will create parts that self-assemble. It will be like nanobots.

[Agammamon]

The only way this can happen is if some malicious idiot mislabels printer files and you think you’re printing out replicas of old-time murderer figurines and you get a handgun instead.

Of course the only danger here is being pissed off that you wasted the plastic printing it out SINCE YOU CAN JUST MELT IT AND THROW THE REMAINS AWAY.

[Apatheist ?_??]

For his part, Cody Wilson, the head of Defense Distributed, says he has no problem with a company employing DRM-style blocking to prevent the printing of firearms.

“Anyone can use the files for any purpose,” he told Ars. “This guy used the files to create a library of forbidden objects. In a free market, anyone should be able to purchase this software if they don’t want their kids to print guns. My question for this gentleman is: [which company] will [promote] this software first?”

He’s such a badass.

[SweatingGin]

Also. My 3d printer says I can’t print a gun with it.

Well. Okay. Can I print a 3d printer? With an OSS control system? Maybe based on RaspberryPI? Too bad, I forgot to include the code to check for printing a gun.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Jeremie Pierre Gay, the company’s CEO…

Questions?

[Agammamon]

Oh the military is going to have a field day with this. They’ll have to hire a feth-ton of new criminal investigators to catch all the cases of “fake” marriages now.

Of course that’s the price you pay when you incentivize getting hitched so much. If it wasn’t so profitable to do so then so many service-members wouldn’t be getting married for the financial benefit.

[Fatty Bolger]

Marriage rates have been dropping for years.

[Agammamon]

Uh, not in the military – there’s a pretty hefty pay jump (and some sweet privileges) for junior enlisted once they get hitched.

[Zakalwe]

Yeah, there’s a lot of fake marriages among opposite sex couples for money and the right to live off base and out of the barracks.

A shocking new report in the Marine Corps Times by Hope Hodge entitled, “Getting Hitched for Benefits, Not Love,” alleges that sham marriages are an “open secret” in the Marine Corps.

Contract unions ? marriages in which parties likely don’t know one another well, yet decide to marry for the sake of additional income and benefits ? are generally entered into solely for the purposes of personal gain.

While some Marines are caught trying to play the system, others go undetected, opening them up to unfettered access to a massive benefits package that is meant for individuals who enter into legitimate marriages.

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

Hell, that went on back in my day. And my day was a long time ago.

[Warrren]

The Sacred Band was a fraud?

[Eduard van Haalen]

From the article:

“I am not aware of any system in place to audit for fraudulent marriage,” [Pentagon Marine spokesperson Capt. Eric Flanagan] wrote. “Additionally, I cannot think of any way to conduct such an ‘audit’ since, in these cases, the marriage is generally legitimate, and the [guilt of the accused] depends on whether the marriage was solely for the purpose of obtaining government benefits, or whether the accused intended to ‘establish a life together and assume certain duties and obligations.'”

Now, assume that the couple actually ‘establish a life together’ as husband and wife, but on investigation it turns out that the wife married for economic security and the husband married for spousal benefits. Assume further that (as the article reports in scandalized tones in one case) the husband gets a dowry for marrying the wife, paid by the marriage broker.

If they’re living as husband and wife, not shacking up with anyone else, who cares if their motive was financial or based on lust, or some other “improper” motive? There are lots of countries where a report entitled “Getting Hitched for Benefits, Not Love” would provoke an “of course, duh!” reaction.

[Agammamon]

Because dude, that’s not the *intent* of the benefit. Its not enough that you’re obeying the letter of the law, they’ve got to ensure that those *unforeseen consequences* are dealt with somehow.

[Xenocles]

I’ve read these stories, and to me there’s no such thing as a “fake marriage” if you have a license from the state (standard libertarian disclaimer). That meets the requirements to get benefits in the military. There’s no marriage purity test.

Until they start slamming the married guys who get hookers at every port call for being in sham marriages they ought to leave these guys alone.

[Zakalwe]

It’s a crime in the military to sleep with someone not your legal spouse. I very much doubt the participants in these sham marriages are celibate.

[Xenocles]

That’s not what they charge them with; they charge them with defrauding the government. There is no fraud, though. All that is required to get the benefits is that you show your valid marriage license at the DEERS office. I knew sailors who hated their wives but stayed married for various reasons – kids, getting eaten alive in divorce court, etc. Love is not a legal requirement of marriage.

[Sy]

I don’t know why they’re complaining. Between overpaying contractors to build shitty buildings and keeping maintenance on staff, they’re saving money this way.

[Agammamon]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..story.html

Arlington county’s $1 mil bus stop is going to end up costing more than a mil.

$575,000 for the actual construction cost, $440,000 for INSPECTIONS!
There are plans for 23 more stops, at a price of $900,000 each – compared to the $10-20 k costs of typical shelters.

“. . . riders have said the slanted glass roof does not keep rain and snow off them while they wait for the bus.”

Of course it doesn’t silly-billy – if it did then the homeless guys would sleep on the bench.

NOTHING LEFT TO CUT!

[ChrisO]

It’s a bit of cosmic justice, though, since only overpaid government contractors and lobbyists are about the only people who can actually afford to live in Arlington anymore.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Rand supports DOMA decision.

Cruz does not.

I voted for Cruz in the primary but not the general because I knew his social conservatism would show up some day. He’s been better than I expected so far.

[Gojira]

What part of Texas are you in?

*eyes Apatheist warily*

[Apatheist ?_??]

Not that piece of shit you live in you Dallas fag.

[Gojira]

Pfft, try Plano, the bestest, wealthiest city in America. Which means you’re either a Houstonian, and thus beneath my contempt, or a hick.

[Apatheist ?_??]

We’ve actually had this conversation before but being from Plano Dallas (same shit) your brain is too rotted out to remember.

[Zakalwe]

Plano is a soulless…wait, I had something for this. Come back to me later, I can do better.

[Episiarch]

I thought you lived in Albuquerque, JJ.

[Gojira]

We’ve actually had this conversation before…

I’ve had a LOT of morphine since then.

It actually oozes in a pure state from the tip of Warty’s…well, penis isn’t exactly the right word to describe it.

[Episiarch]

I think the word you’re looking for, JJ, is “meatprobe”.

[Gojira]

Ah, yes. It’s clear now: the morphine drip is to numb and befuddle his prey. They aren’t aware anything is happening until the prostate is jammed.

[Brett L]

Fuck Plano, the flatest, shittiest rich place in the world.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Fuck Plano Texas, the flattest, shittiest rich place in the world.

FIFY X2

[Warrren]

Hey my parents are buried in Texas!

[seguin]

Hey Gojira, if you haven’t tried Le Dame du Lac yet, it’s one of the rotators at the Fillmore. It’s deeee-liiiicious.

[Calidissident]

Well I guess Rand Paul is just an unprincipled pro-gay cosmotarian who just wants to get his pony

/John

[Gojira]

And he’s from Houston.

*eyes Apatheist warily*

[Apatheist ?_??]

My wife went to high-school with Lisa Paul and got her to hook me up with a personally signed book, true story.

[Gojira]

If I knew who that was, it might be awesome.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Granddaughter of Ron Paul, since we were talking about the Pauls being from Houston. Though if Plano doesn’t count as Dallas I don’t see how Lake Jackson would count as Houston.

[Gojira]

Ah, thank you for the clarification.

[Fatty Bolger]

That’s an awful story, try this one instead:

My wifegrandmother went to high-school with LisaLes Paul and got herhim to hook me up with a personally signed bookguitar, true story.

[Sevo]

Jeeze, I didn’t know they were related.

[GroundTruth]

Or maybe he’s more libertarian that he cares to admit.

[Hyperion]

So Rand broke with the SoCons. How’s he going to explain that to them?

[Some call me Tim?]

“It’s a state issue,” has always been his position.

[buddhastalin]

Rand Cruz

[buddhastalin]

oops. Rand “greater than” Cruz.

[Anders]

One must respect the genius focus of this Regime.

Bennies for gays in the military
Free passports for illegal aliens
Free birth control and abortions for all

Look around you. These are the finest leaders in the history of the planet.

[Hyperion]

They aren’t done yet, next up, raise eveyones energy cost until they can’t afford it.

[Anders]

“Apatheist ?_??| 6.26.13 @ 7:25PM |#

We’ve actually had this conversation before but being from Plano Dallas (same shit) your brain is too rotted out to remember.”

Easy now. Real Dallas-ites (as in people who live in…DALLAS…do NOT take kindly to being accused of being from Plano.

It’s like telling a Jerusalem resident they’re from Ramallah or Tehran.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Like I care what people from the “real” Dallas think. I don’t know how Ft. Worthians put up with ya’ll.

[Gojira]

Any time they raise a fuss, I just say, “Look, some cattle are walking down that street!” and point emphatically.

That usually keeps them occupied long enough for me to enjoy a smoke, some gelatto, and then make good my escape.

[GILMORE]

“In unrelated news, hundreds of Marines married their drill instructors in a show of unit loyalty”

[Hyperion]

I trust the military will be getting more fashionable uniforms now?

[Palin's Buttplug]

Camo with pink trim.

[Anders]

Have you seen “Aquaflange” – what they make some Navy folks wear so that everyone can call them gay with extra certainty?

[SugarFree]

Never been a big Jethro Tull fan.

[Episiarch]

If you get any funnier, NutraSweet, I might have to smile weakly at your jokes. Besides, everyone knows you’re a huge Milli Vanilli fan.

[Agammamon]

I’ve always wondered why they got so much shit when nowadays people openly auto-tune their *recordings*.

And how they got those guys to sound so good when nowadays the state of the art is to sound like a speech synthesizer.

[PapayaSF]

They got shit because they weren’t actually singing on their hit recordings. It wasn’t autotuning or studio wizardry, it was promoting them as singing when they weren’t.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Um…whoever was doing the singing for them, wasn’t really singing either.

[SugarFree]

Jethro Tull’s big song was “Aqualung,” which sort of sorts like “Aquaflange.” It was a play on words.

[Episiarch]

I got it, NutraSweet. IT WASN’T FUNNY.

Now go back to your Good Charlotte albums and your My Little Pony collection and work on your comedy.

[Zakalwe]

I agree with Episiarch. Also, I am trying very hard not to vomit.

[Agammamon]

AquaFLAUGE

Its funny – I was in for 15 years before that unioform came out and, for 15 years, I was told that having paint on my uniform meant I needed to throw it out and buy a new one (and as painting was a huge part of my job as a junior enlisted I spent a huge amount of my own money on uniforms) and now the standard is a uniform that comes pre-paint splashed.

Personally I don’t understand why they didn’t go with just the plain dark blue base.

[GILMORE]

NAVPAT/AQUAFLAGE IS A VAST CONSPIRACY BY THE SOVIETS TO EMBARASS OUR SAILORS AND MAKE THEM WANT TO DROWN AND ALSO BE VERY HARD TO FIND WHILE DROWNING, BECAUSE YOU SEE, WHAT THE NAVY REALLY NEEDS IS WATER-COLORED CAMO. WHOEVER THE FUCK APPROVED THAT SHIT NEEDS TO BE KEELHAULED AND GIVEN HEAD-CLEANING COMMAND

[Zakalwe]

It’s not much worse from a practical perspective than the Army ACU, this couch aside, and it arguably looks slightly better from a fashion perspective, so whatever.

[Agammamon]

Well, from a practical perspective – there’s no reason to camouflage shipboard sailors in the first place.

[Agammamon]

What’s funny is – if we wanted out guys to be camouflaged, why don’t we just have them wear haze gray uniforms? That’s why we paint the ships that color in the first place.

Plus, as amusing as it is, the idea that the uniforms are camouflaged against the sea is wrong – the blue is the wrong color and you don’t get a lot of yellow flecks on the wavetops.

[Xenocles]

It’s not about blending in, it’s about getting paint or grease on your uniform having that blend in. The old solid-color working uniforms were awful for that, though that’s about the only benefit to the change.

Although the parka’s pretty good quality. It’s a Gore-Tex shell with a removable fleece liner, which is quite functional despite being as ugly as the rest of the uni.

[Agammamon]

Eeeeeexcept, that shit *still* doesn’t blend in and now the uniform piece you have to replace is twice as expensive as the old one.

And don’t forget having to iron, starch, and crease a uniform the damn uniform regs say isn’t supposed to be ironed, starched, or creased.

The Navy is bugshit insane about uniforms.

[Xenocles]

You have to iron that shit? Tell your chief to go fuck himself.

[Agammamon]

1. Yeah that doesn’t work – evenif he doesn’t say anything about it, it going to show in your eval.

2. When has showing a Chief the letter of the regulation ever helped?

3. Thankfully I’m retired and don’t have to deal with it anymore.

[Xenocles]

Yeah, it’s easy to say that from the wardroom of a shore command. That’s still pretty unreasonable. Sounds like some skimmer bullshit.

[Heroic Mulatto]

What’s funny is – if we wanted out guys to be camouflaged, why don’t we just have them wear haze gray uniforms?

Because it still wouldn’t break up the outline of the body. The theory behind the fractal-like digital camo of the NWU is that it breaks up the outline of the wearer’s body against the background.

In theory, anyway.

[Agammamon]

Dude, I’m on a ship! Not just *on* one but INSIDE it. If you can see me at all we’ve got a huge problem.

Plus, if you notice a guy outside before you notice the 150 m long ship – then *you’ve got a problem.

[Agammamon]

Keep in mind that those sailors on ground combat duty wear an area appropriate BDU and not aquaflage.

Aquaflage is just the Navy’s default working uniform.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Right. I know that. I was just stating the theory.

It sounds better than just MARPAT envy, yeah?

[Agammamon]

Oh, its all about envy. From Aquaflage to the fight over *exactly* what specific pattern of desert digital camouflage (even though it would be cheaper, the Marines had a fit over the idea that we would use the same digital patter for our desert uniforms) we would use, to physical fitness requirements.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Head? Who said head? I’ll take some of that.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Head? Who said head? I’ll take some of that.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Rodents!

[Xenocles]

It’s aquaflage, like camouflage. A flange is a fitting between two pipes.

[Warrren]

You install an aquaflange with a hydro-spanner. Everybody knows that!

[Eduard van Haalen]

I’m telling all of y’all, it’s an aquaflage.

[Agammamon]

Sitting on a park bench?

[Eduard van Haalen]

I have altered the joke…pray I do not alter it any further.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5rRZdiu1UE

[Heroic Mulatto]

Are you saying this dude is actually marrying a ladyboy?

[Xenocles]

There are so many things wrong with that:
-Nobody would get married in that uniform
-It doesn’t even look like there’s any blue in the pattern
-It’s pretty much an old tiger-stripe jungle pattern

So I guess that’s three things.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Yeah, it does look like tiger-stripe and Korean War era “duck hunter” camo had a baby.

[Heroic Mulatto]

By the way, the topper for the United States Ninja Corps is worse.

[Xenocles]

I should start reading Regretsy again.

[buddhastalin]

Dolce and Gabbana, hello!

[Palin's Buttplug]

Gold in irreversible long decline.

Gold is an investment that should have worked when the inflation which was supposed to run rampant due to currency devaluation kicked into high gear. As the inflation thesis gets debunked gold is getting mercilessly hammered. There just isn’t a compelling fundamental reason to own gold and the chart is broken. The only thing left to do is hope and panic; usually in that order.

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs…..04756.html

The “Hyperinflation Lie” – I must have heard that shit 5000 times.

“Bernank won’t quit printing!”

[Anders]

Sean Hannity says you should own Gold.

Do it, Buttplug.

[Xenocles]

One thing I do wonder about is why all these metals companies are so eager to offload their gold for cash if it’s about to go through the roof. I hate those commercials on the radio.

[Cytotoxic]

Yeah, it’s impossible for Gold to recover-oh wait there was that time in the ’70s when it fell by 50% then rose by seven-fold or so. So fuck you and Dickers and the shitty bonds that are getting hammered. Gold: still a better investment than your garbage.

[Warrren]

5000 years of gold being the ballast for the worlds economies and this the time when loses it’s value?

Try again.

[Warrren]

I was replying to Stalin’s buttboy there…

[Jordan]

Robert Blumen has you monetarist clowns pegged:

Fleckenstein has pointed out that the people who say this did not identify the equity bubble, did not believe that we had a housing bubble, nor have they identified the current genuine bubble, which in the bond market. But now these same people are so good at spotting bubbles that they can tell you that gold is in one.

Most of them did not identify gold as something which was worth buying at the bottom, have never owned a single ounce of gold, have missed the entire move up over the last dozen years, and now that they’re completely out of the market, they smugly tell us for our own good that gold is in a bubble and we should sell.

[Warrren]

Good link. Bookmarked. And he’s absolutely right about the gold-smugs.

Exactly why should we listen to those people?

Ultimately having some metal around, like guns, and some food makes a person more independent and that is something that many folk just cannot abide.

[Brandybuck]

“Hagel is a fricking statist! He should not be granting benefits to gay partners, ‘cuz the military needs to get OUT of the marriage business. No benefits to anyone! If the soldiers want their spouses on their insurance then they can damned well get a private sector job!”

“Oh, and damned Rosa for riding on a government bus in the first place!”

— Channeling Lew Rockwell

[Heroic Mulatto]

It was a private company that operated the bus line in Montgomery.

Jus’ sayin’

[Calidissident]

I believe that there were laws that made it illegal for transportation companies not to segregate. I know there were in most of the South (and there was integrated transportation in many areas post-Civil War and pre-Jim Crow)

[tarran]

Yep, IIRC one of the landmark cases upholding Jim Crow had been brought by a bus company that didn’t want to segregate its passengers and was being compelled to by law.

[Irish]

Hey guys! It turns out that massive government programs and a bloated pension system are not the path to prosperity.

The BEA also found, to the shock of all concerned, that while California was experiencing the largest tax hike in US history, the national economy grew at eight times the pace of California’s. The Texas economy, by contrast, grew 71 percent faster than the national economy that year.

Finally, and most disturbingly, the US Census Bureau found that between 2009 and 2011, California had the highest supplemental poverty measure in America, with 42 percent more people in poverty as a share of the population than Texas.

[Fatty Bolger]

Green energy and trains is going to turn it all around, just you watch!

[Brett L]

8*1.71 = 13.7. So TX grew at 13.7x CA.

[GILMORE]

Honest = this is the first thought that ran through my head on reading this post =
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…..ata_player

[Agammamon]

Is there anyone else who would agree with me if I said that the PM links should be the *last* scheduled article posted?

[Zakalwe]

It depends; am I available for participation in the PM links and is my mojo flowing? Otherwise, no.

I personally feel that Reason could get along with 1/3 of the daily posts on H&R.

[Agammamon]

If you loved “X-Com” way back when and have been disappointed by the poor remakes over the years then check out “Xenonauts”

http://www.xenonauts.com/

Its available on Steam as “early access”, which means that its still in development but there’s a (mostly) playable version out for testing (effectively an open beta).

It started out as a fan-made game several years ago, before X-Com: EU was a gleam in the developer’s eye but has picked up the pace now that real funding is available.

I’d say that we’re on the cusp of a new golden age of gaming – the internet is allowing developers to chase large numbers of small investments to develop games outside of mainstream “safe” projects.

In the pipeline we’ve got
a new “shadowrun” CRPG (out 25 July)
“Wasteland 2” (probably out by the end of the year
“Torment: Tides of Numenara” a largescale CRPG in the vein of “Planescape: Torment”.

If you didn’t care for “Diablo 3” then check out “Path of Exile” – an “action RPG” much like “Diablo 2” (F2P)

“Unrest” looks interesting

http://www.kickstarter.com/pro…..ient-india

[Agammamon]

And there’s even a group making a “Dark Dungeons” movie – a satire based off the Chick tract “Dark Dungeons”.

http://www.kickstarter.com/pro…..e?ref=city

[seguin]

Would they have to make that a satire? It’ll be funny enough if they play it straight.

[Agammamon]

I think even playing it straight its a satire – even the original tract seems to be satirical.

[Stormy Dragon]

But they already made Mazes and Monsters 30 years ago!

[Agammamon]

Yeah and they made “Superman” years ago – OK maybe that’s a bad example.

[Brett L]

Dude. The new X-Com was a pitch perfect remake. But I’ll still fund Xenonauts.

[Agammamon]

Oh I *liked* EU, its a damn good game and surprisingly good considering its short development time.

They did an amazing job streamlining the game down to its essentials while keeping enough complexity to be interesting.

But I like the complexity and detail management of the original and want THAT game, but with a graphics-lift.

The only thing that’s come close until now is “UFO: Afterlight”.

[Some Jerk]

Thank you. I was about to scream “YOU’RE FUCKING CRAZY, ENEMY UNKNOWN WAS AWESOME!”.

What details were you missing? They got everything that I remember from the original. Scientists, Engineers, Green Rocks, Alien Corpses, Governments.

It was better than I seriously ever thought a X-Com remake COULD be.

[Agammamon]

Well, multiple bases for one.

[seguin]

Wasteland 2, that’s the one done by the Penny Arcade guys,right? Might be pretty good…and Shadowrun? Definite maybe.

[Agammamon]

No, “Wasteland 2” is being done by InXile Entertainment, heading up by Brian Fargo – he’s responsible for producing a few small games like “Baldur’s Gate”, “Planescape: Torment”, oh and a little known game called “Fallout”.

[Agammamon]

The Penny Arcade guys are doing up “On TheRain-Slick Precipice Of Doom 4”.

[Apatheist ?_??]

In the pipeline we’ve got
a new “shadowrun” CRPG (out 25 July)
“Wasteland 2” (probably out by the end of the year
“Torment: Tides of Numenara” a largescale CRPG in the vein of “Planescape: Torment”.

I funded all of those. Kickstarter indie games are like crack.

[Agammamon]

I funded Torment – $80 bucks gets me a copy of it *and* “Wasteland 2”.

[Sevo]

From the headline, I thought there was an armed advance on various marriage bureaus for licenses.

[widget]

From Kamala Harris (CA AG) channeling MLK:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZi_T03GE_I

Each day that passes when any individual is denied their [?] civil liberties is a sad day in our country and certainly our state, And we know these same-sex couples have been denied equal protection under the law for far too long. And each one of those days has been a day where a family member who may have enjoyed or participated in a wedding ceremony may have passed away. Each day that has passed is a day that a baby may have been born, and that California child then is in a situation where they [?] don’t have the full dignity that other children have when that look up and they
ask “Why can’t my mommies or daddies be married also?”.

Your mommy won’t qualify for public assistance if she’s married to an able-bodied daddy, for one thing. So now what happens if she’s married to an able-bodied other-mother?

[Killazontherun]

California child then is in a situation where they [?] don’t have the full dignity that other children have when that look up and they
ask “Why can’t my mommies or daddies be married also?”.

Why do politicians have to make same sex unions sound so gay.

[widget]

Why do politicians have to make same sex unions sound so gay.

Because simple contract enforcement isn’t?

[Anonymous Coward]

Each day that passes when any individual is denied their [?] civil liberties is a sad day in our country and certainly our state….

I agree and eagerly await your lawsuit against Google or FOIA request against the federal government with regards to the NSA’s spying on American citizens.

California child then is in a situation where they [?] don’t have the full dignity…

PAUSE.

Children don’t have any dignity. They’re annoying little crumbsnatchers too small and stupid to survive on their own. When the kids can feed and clothe themselves, then they have the right to an opinion worth hearing. Until then, they can fuck off and stop interfering with the rights of the citzenry.

FOR THE CHILDREN.

[Some call me Tim?]

They sure as fuck don’t have any dignity if they attend a government school.

[Sevo]

widget| 6.26.13 @ 8:35PM |#
“From Kamala Harris…”

KH was a casual poke for Willy Brown, and she’s ridden those coattails as far as she’s gotten by now.
The woman is a shameless panderer to whatever looks like it will get her the next office. She’d probably screw the corpse of Chavez if she thought it’d get her two votes.
She not only doesn’t have principles, she doesn’t even have dogma. She’s the lowest form of cynic; see that pile of shit Ted Kennedy for comparison.

[Calidissident]

“She’d probably screw the corpse of Chavez if she thought it’d get her two votes.”

I don’t know if she’d screw Chavez’s corpse, but I’d definitely screw her.

Not that I’m a fan of her politics

[widget]

…she doesn’t even have dogma. She’s the lowest form of cynic; see that pile of shit Ted Kennedy for comparison.

She’s easy on the eyes. Can’t say the same for Ted Kennedy.

[Sevo]

Jeeze, you guys’ll take sloppy seconds to Willy?
No thanks!

[buddhastalin]

Enough Willie talk. Have you ever seen him in person? Dude wears makeup.

[Some Jerk]

wahhhhhhhhhhhhh imma Libertarian but I’m butthurt about this ruling for some reason

[Sevo]

OK, John cares; go find him and listen to the load of mendacity he’s serving.

[Anonymous Coward]

Doz Bill Clinton haz a sad rite nao?

[Warrren]

Review of the movie Lawless, which I passed on when it came out.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blo…..40498.html

This review makes it sound very much worth watching.

[nicmart]

It’s a shame that Reason is mostly a bystander, and doesn’t do the sort of reporting (like Greenwald) that puts stories on Page One of American newspapers. Less passive, more aggressive.

[Alice Bowie]

The Big Purple Flag with the Pink Triangle is flying at FULL STAFF in Fire Island tonight.

…i robbed this one from Howard Stern. He said something similar when Richard Simmons got married to a woman.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Here it comes
Nelson Mandela Life Support Shut Down as Respected Humanitarian Dies Age 94

[Sevo]

NYT headline tomorrow:
“Obama to make major speech, put scandals behind!”

[Warrren]

I pity folks who have a lot of lefties in their FB feeds. I’ve got exactly one and he’s bad enough.

Imagine 10 or 12 of them.

[Sevo]

Hard to beat on the guy. AFAIK, he really did stick to his principles and pushed the end of apartheid; there is no negative there.
What replaced it is questionable, and that witch of a wife he had is not good, but no way I’m going to blame him for either one.
Just RIP. And at 94, he didn’t get cheated.

[Warrren]

Right, I agree on Apartheid but he and the ANC just destroyed SA afterwords.

Socialists are gonna socialist.

[widget]

….no negative there.

http://fromtheold.com/news/fam…..0031617151

This has been kicking around for a while now. The Internet doesn’t have everything. The blog South Africa Sucks has been erased. Really. Erased. Moldbug has some archaeological factoids on this here:

http://unqualified-reservation…..jenny.html

[Calidissident]

Do you read his comment? He explicitly stated that there have been problems with what has replaced apartheid. Doesn’t mean ending apartheid wasn’t the correct thing to do.

South Africa really is a tragic situation. Apartheid had to (and inevitably was going to) end and there was no way that many blacks were not going to hold resentments toward white people post-apartheid due to all of the history, and that the built up resentment manifest in ugly ways.

[widget]

There’s more to it than resentment. You might be too PC whipped to say it. Been there. Whites consistently score higher on IQ tests than blacks, and not just by a little bit, a full standard deviation separates them. East Asians outscore whites by 1/2 a SD, consistently. Ashkenazi score an average 113 on IQ tests. Again, consistently. Oh but we’re all God’s little snowflakes with blank slates for brains to be nurtured.

What amazes me, as an observer, is that there is a general impression that the measurement of global temperature is accurate but the measurement of IQ is not.

[Calidissident]

Well I wonder who this is

[Some call me Tim?]

ah nothing like a little racism to set off the sirens.

[Sevo]

“Whites consistently score higher on IQ tests than blacks, and not just by a little bit, a full standard deviation separates them”

And, man, them Kenyans sure can run!
Pretty sure I got your number when you walked in the door, murcan.

[Russell]

First they came for The Articles of War,
but we were not subject to them…

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Home wrecker

[SeaCaptain(Yokeltarian)]

Doesn’t a “drod2214” post around here?

[Guy Laguy]

USA! USA! USA!

[Guy Laguy]

ObamaCars!

[Guy Laguy]

OMG Why isn’t hip hop abs required by law!

[Guy Laguy]

OMG how is it legal to not be on slimgenics!

[Guy Laguy]

The end of the American Dream?

[MJGreen]

Awwwwwwwwwww shoes. I accidentally went to Facebook. One dbag on my feed has made several posts about how the DOMA decision is all thanks to President Barack Obama. He and Joe Biden (Biden 2016!!) must be thanked first and foremost for this achievement.

[Guy Laguy]

who else?

[Sevo]

…”DOMA decision is all thanks to President Barack Obama.”…
Sorta like the tornado survivor who says ‘god saved us’; did god not save all the others?
Obozo’s been ‘saving’ gays for 5 years now…

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Guess I am a true anarchist like those Greek anarchists.

Not quite — you’re required to destroy at least on small business’ window in support of an Orwellian state before you attain that level of rank stupidity.

[Warrren]

STEVE SMITH IS MADE OF HORROR!

[Gojira]

If Dick Cheney becomes Gannon, I’ll forgive him, too.

[Agammamon]

Wait, I must have missed the part when Jesse took over the magazine and changed its mission to supporting the *gay agenda*.

[Gojira]

Not in Dragnet it isn’t.

What Gannon did you think I was talking about?

[LynchPin1477]

Zelda. It all comes back to Zelda.

[Warrren]

Where are you registered?

[Warrren]

Giving it away is politically useless unless it is too expensive to purchase.

[Agammamon]

Look Steve, get over your homophobia – in no way does making the definition of marriage include same sex couples have any effect on *your* rape.

[Agammamon]

Well its obvious that you’re not a libertarian as you don’t adhere to the NAP, but don’t you think that if there’s going to be marriage at all then it should be equally available to anyone who chooses it?

And keep in mind – gay marriages have no more effect on your rapey lifestyle than the straight marriages that preceded them.

You’re still free to violate people at will as you gambol about the plains, just now it will be an equal raping, free of (unconscious) institutional discrimination.

[PapayaSF]

Nonsense. Birth control is not “too expensive to purchase,” and cost-shifting giving it away seems to have proven quite politically useful.

[Warrren]

Fine but I’m not going to clutter up my line with a bunch of qualifiers.

[Sevo]

Does it match the ‘award’ they gave him when he signed the law?

[jesse.in.mb]

Damn it Agammamon, I liked you, but you’ve forced my hand; you know too much about THE AGENDA. Please report to disintegration chamber 6. You may of course have brunch with stuffed french toast and mimosas first. We are not barbarians.

[Agammamon]

Uhm, yah then?