http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/18/AR2010121801729.html Bam. DADT is toast. You know, even though I'd suggested a phased implementation, and this appears to be sudden, we actually ARE going to get a phased implementation. Gay people are going to do what they do everywher...

Hey, if you're offering Kahluain trade, I'm happy to blame a single individual for systemic problems that predated him and frame the country as ripe for Nazi devastation

BTW, this Christmas, I am getting you someone to argue with! Merry Christmas!

See also content in "Told you so" thread. Anyway--Obama's the sole cause of the economy in freefall (after mentioning the joint republican take less and the democrat spend more congressional plan) when he inherited the great recession and implemented a bailout his predecessor had started? ...

Addendum: Agreement from Fox. On several points actually. http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/12/fox-news-shep-smith-wallops-gopers-for-911-responders-bill-its-disgusting-video.php What they couldn't do was say "GOP" instead of "them" or "they;" it's probably ...

Here's two bonus thought on "urgent needs." First, watch John Stewart hand Senate Republicans their arses. There's a bill to promote healthcare to 9/11 responders with health issues related to their work cleaning up / doing rescue operations (documented in leading medical journals). It wou...

Bill, I think you continue to miss my point. Which is cool. Makes for fun threads. To review: you posted a while ago that scores were dipping and that the guy was thus in trouble for his busing scheme. It sounded like you were emphasizing the busing over the scores, so I wrote in that it sounded lik...

Whoa, JR, peace, amigo. People have been worrying about the direction of the nation for as it has existed. We've got issues, and I think the biggest ones are not who bunks next to us but entitlements and crushing debt, as well as a coming energy reckoning, but this is America, kay? We can handle it....

"It's only "obvious" to you because you have a different concept of marriage than many heterosexuals. That's neither right nor wrong, Ian. But it is a fact." Here is what is clearly, totally, 100% obvious: 1) Straight people are not required to be fertile or even possibly fertile...

"The board voted last month not to renew Berman's contract, which is set to expire at the end of June. The board says it wants to find a leader who can show immediate progress in dealing with low test scores and the district's controversial student assignment plan." Bill, Bill, Bill... do ...

I very nearly added a paragraph about how plural marriage would be a much more likely outcome than incestuous marriage. It is a much clearer case of expanding options to consenting adults. "And if anything, I think a better argument could be made for polygamist marriage than for gay marriage. I...

This is kind of a non sequitor but I'm always happy to see one of those! Looking at the post, the main argument is that this guy will get off if he defends his relationship as an acceptable variation like the gays. I'm in general agreement that the slippery slope thing does not hold here. Gay people...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothetical_types_of_biochemistry Si, unfortunately, doesn't work as well as carbon in producing a variety of complex compounds, and it's also difficult to imagine exhaling sand as a metabolic product, as SiO2 would be the new CO2. A life form using Si instead of C woul...

Thanks. Interesting. "It recommended that some benefits available to military dependents be member-directed, so that partners could be covered under some things, but not others. Housing is a touchy issue, because it touches on what is generally a marriage benefit. Their recommendations on that ...

Bacteria incorporates arsenic in place of phosphorous. Kind cool. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101203/ts_alt_afp/scienceusspaceastrobiologybiology Superdorks and or older folks may remember Captain Kirk realizing that an alien life form needed cement to close a wound because it was silicon rather t...

In an update on PTSD, I learned in this week's JAMA that it's been reported that the VA health system no longer requires even a PTSD-qualifying trauma for a diagnosis of PTSD. E.g., you only need to have feared that such an event might occur. For example, you might be been stationed somewhere where ...