A series of previously-secret files detailing the inner workings of the Clinton Administration were released Friday – including an account of a pivotal January 1993 meeting between Al Gore, Bill Clinton, then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell and others about the role of gays in the military. 

Clinton, who had campaigned on a pledge to end the ban on military service by gays and lesbians, faced stiff opposition by numerous military leaders at the meeting, Politico reports:

Powell said he was making “no moral judgment” on gays but believed “they can best serve in other areas.”

Clinton told the chiefs: “The whole thing on both sides cause[s] me great discom[fort]. Men and women who [are] patriotic [and] served w/ dist[inction are] otherwise highly conformist pers[onally] in [the] best sense…[I] believe some are born gay and others not. [The] job of soc[iety] is not to disc[riminate] on [the] basis of moral judgement. [It’s my] belief gay friends should be able to serve.”

Clinton heard strong disagreement from Powell and the other chiefs. Marine Commandant Gen. Carl Mundy [right] may have been the most strident opponent of allowing gays to serve openly. Quoting someone involved in a Queer Nation parade, Mundy said people associated with “gay pride” are licentious and unconstrained by law or morality. Mundy, who died earlier this year, also suggested that announcing “I’m gay” was the “same as I’m KKK, Nazi, rapist,” the notes show.

The notes also describe a separate meeting in which top officials discussed Mundy’s malicious comments.

“When I heard [the] Marine Gen[eral] I just said—I have to give my own view,” Clinton said. “Al really helped.”

Gore added that he thought Mundy was “borderline in his presentation,” especially when he compared gays to Nazis.

Clinton did not agree with Gore that Mundy’s remarks were out of line, the notes say, adding that he thought the Marine commandant “meant it well.”

When asked about Mundy’s now public comments, Powell told Politico, “Carl Mundy who died recently was the most outspoken, but I don’t think that he crossed a line, nor has that ever been mentioned to me.”

Head over to Politico HERE for a more thorough breakdown of the behind-the-scenes lead-up to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. 

BY KYLER GEOFFROY

A weekly round-up of the best tech, science, and geek-related news from around the web

 Mashable takes the world’s first 3D printed car for a test drive.

 But don’t get too excited for the possibility of 3D printed flying cars in the future, as Space X and Tesla CEO Elon Musk explained this week why flying cars might not be such a good idea after all. “If the sky was full of cars flying all over the place, it would affect how things look. It would affect the skyline. And it would be noisier and there would be a greater probability of something falling on your head. Those are not good things.” You can still get excited for ground travel though, as Musk this week unveiled Tesla’s all-wheel drive ‘D’ model.

 Check out this NASA video showing how Orion – the spaceship that will one day take us to the Moon and Mars – will be launched on top of a Delta rocket December 4. 

 Earlier this week, Facebook launched hyper-local advertising that can target you with ads for businesses within a mile of your current location. The company is also working on a stand-alone app that allows users to anonymously interact with one another.

 Introducing the Plastc card, the e-ink card that may one day replace everything in your wallet. 

 Google chairman Eric Schmidt warns that the government’s mass surveillance programs may end up “breaking the internet” In related news, Twitter is suing the federal government to protect its right to provide information about the scope of U.S. government surveillance on individuals.

 The science behind why orange juice tastes gross after brushing your teeth. 

 A group of engineering grad students from MIT are predicting the 2022 Mars One colonists will suffocate on the red planet a mere 68 days after arrival. “At about 68 days, the first wheat crop will reach maturity and the level of oxygen will spike. To avoid a huge fire hazard, the oxygen will need to be vented, but there is not yet a reliable way to preferentially vent oxygen without also venting the nitrogen used to maintain pressure. Thus, the colony will run out of nitrogen almost immediately. The end result, says the paper, is suffocation due to low air pressure. Well, that or the habitat explodes and the survivors suffocate outside.”

 A Japanese company has created a cloud control “smart ring” that enables wearers to control their smartphone, smart home appliances, smartwatches, and Google Glass. The aptly named Ring has already completed a successful Kickstarter campaign and can be yours for $269.99. Check out the promo video below:

 The Boston Globe looks at the growing number of post-doctoral science students languishing without jobs due to federal funding cuts. 

 The U.S. Navy is testing the use of “drone” boats to swarm enemy vessels. 

 A robot first responder that can go where humans can’t. “Atlas was designed by Boston Dynamics, a leading robotics company, under contract with the Pentagon. The goal was to create a bot that could replace rescue workers in dangerous areas— Yosemite during last year’s wildfires, for example, or the Philippines after a massive typhoon, or Napa, California, after the 6.0 earthquake in August. Thousands of first responders each year are put in danger, or die, at such sites. The 6-foot 2-inch, 330-pound Atlas uses hydraulically driven joints to exert massive force—one kick can turn a cinder block into crumbs. Hydraulics also allow Atlas to right itself if it’s thrown off balance. When Atlas runs, range-finding sensors render the way forward in 3D so it won’t trip. Tools such as screwdrivers fit onto its articulated hands.”

 In related news, tech research firm Gartner is predicting robots will replace a third of all jobs by 2025.

  The case for a “code” of virtual reality ethics and morality. “Most people in the modern world have been brought up in such a way that it’s both ethically and morally wrong to murder someone in real life or to abuse a child. I would argue that if our virtual experiences approach the realism of real life — which they surely will — then it would be a good idea for us to try and behave with at least a modicum of morality. This could be as simple as a code of conduct for developers and publishers of VR experiences, or as complex/overreaching as an active policing system that keeps VR users within bounds.”

 Batman’s Batcave and Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar get the virtual reality treatment. 

AFER lawyer Ted Olson and Family Research Council President Tony Perkins exchanged sharp words on FOX News Sunday in a panel covering this week’s Supreme Court reverberations on marriage equality.

Perkins, the leader of a Southern Poverty Law Center-designated hate group, brought his usual “natural marriage” nonsense and related arguments which Olson too politely called a “canard”.

Said Perkins: “You still have two circuits that have decisions coming up that look favorable toward natural marriage. I think the effect here is what you need to look at. I think the effect here is that the court did a back-alley type Roe V Wade judicial decision that let the lower courts do their evil bidding…The court has lit the fuse to a powder keg culturally that is going to have ramifications for years to come in this nation.”

Replied Olson: “We have a Constitution and a Bill Of Rights precisely because we want protections from majority rule. When the majority in a legislature or a popular vote take away rights of individuals that are protected by the Bill Of Rights, then we have an independent judiciary to rectify that situation. It’s happened again and again and again throughout this country’s history…There’s no heterosexual couple that is going to decide to get a divorce or not get married or not raise children just because another couple next to them is treated equally and with respect.”

Watch it all go down, AFTER THE JUMP…

(h/t jmg)