Links of the Day

Photo of War Dead OKed - In a reversal of Bush family doctrine that tried to prevent the country seeing the real emotional cost of their Iraqi campaigns, GOPer and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates reversed the 18 year policy of not allowing pictures of the dead coffins as they return to be buried. There is a "condition" in that it’s up to the family of the dead to decide if the pictures will be allowed or not.

Jackson Continues As Nick Fury - After rumors that payday concerns caused Marvel to dump Jackson as Nick Fury (who was the model of the Ultimate version of the character), the hatchet has been buried and Samuel Jackson has signed on to a multi picture deal to play the character in Marvel's upcoming slate of movies. As a fan boy, I breathe a sigh of relief.

Obama Unveiled $3 Trillion Budget - In an attempt to roll back Bush's doctrine of rich first, big business second, war third, country last policies, Obama has released his very expensive spending plan. What makes this one so high is for once the defense spending (both military and Homeland Security) are mixed in making higher then we normally see. The ambitious plan includes re-funding Departments that Bush deemed unnecessary such as Education, Energy, and so forth. It also includes health care reform, energy and medical research funding (that the GOP ignored or deferred to the private sector leading to solutions such as that leg syndrome thing but no advancements beyond that) and budget cuts of unnecessary programs (not sure what those mean). More important it will roll back Bush's rich people first tax policies that he claimed would help everyone by helping those 5% the most. As the currently economy proves, just another area of many he and the GOP was wrong about. Since the passage, in the Senate anyway, will require about three Republicans to cross the isle (again), this budget will sadly experience massive and rich first changes that only the GOP can create. After all, if they didn't go out of their way to break government, how could they prove it doesn't work?

The Neverending Story Remake - Thanks to Friday the 13th's massive opening weekend (followed by a huge 81% drop), Hollywood has joined the remake train. Warner Bros. has optioned the book for a remake, this time following more closely to the original story. My only concern is approach as it needs to be modeled more closely after Lord of the Rings rather than straight out children's fare.

99 Greatest Internet Memes - Time breaks down (by topic, not ranking) of many of the 15 seconds of fame that the internet has wrought over the last few years. Somewhat interesting, I am glad to say I did an outstanding job of ignoring all of them.