Links of the Week

Are We Run By A$@holes?
Jon Stewart had a hilarious response to the death of the Don't Ask Don't Tell/ Military Spending Bill that the Republicans killed. They claimed it was because procedure things were not followed even though historically how it was handled was no different than it has been in the past. The real reason, of course, is the GOP is the party of hate and they love the Constitution and equal rights until they actually have to apply those principles to things they don't like. To them, the Constitution has a little asterisk mark that says "Does not apply if the GOP doesn't like it." Anyway at the link is video of Jon Stewart breaking it down in his usual hilarious way.

Colbert Testifies Before Congress
Stephen Colbert testified today before Congress in his usual amusing fashion and as the O'Reilly like character he uses for his television show. The result will probably be dismissed but if listen to the content he actually makes some valid points that are worth considering. All I know is Fox News and Republicans hated his appearance which really tells you it’s probably something worth considering.

Stewart/Colbert Rallies
Speaking of the two hosts, the pair have joined together to have two competing rallies on October 30th in Washington DC. Jon Stewart's rally is called "The Rally to Restore Sanity" while Colbert's is "Rally to Keep Fear Alive". Sounds like might be worth going. If still need convincing, Glenn Beck has come to the conclusion it is a bad thing where the pair are going to "activate the youth... to vote with the Labor Unions apparently... [They] will activate the youth to try and get the youth to go out and vote." Because that is a bad thing don't you know. As usual, Beck has no reason for his conclusions but I am sure he will not be pleased when this rally on a network with half of Fox News rating along with a quarter of the advertising budget probably blows his efforts out of the park as far as participating goes. Of course Beck is really a massive scam artist tricking his viewers and related morons so there you go.

Lego Star Wars Chess Sets
Hit the link to view two chess sets themed after Star Wars A New Hope and the Empire Strikes Back. The set isn't just Lego dudes but a Lego base with the dudes’ part of character specific structures. The result, as often the case for fan made creations, worthy of retail.

Links of the Week

GOP Finally Introduce a Plan
The Party of No has spent the last two years doing whatever they can to prevent Democrats from accomplishing as little as possible. Their game plan was simple - regardless of what it does for the country, block anything and everything. No matter how big or how small, try to create as many obstacles as possible to any success as they know the electorate is too stupid to blame them for being unwilling to work together for a solution on anything of significant. As a result of this rather simple plan, the GOP has spent those two years saying all attempts the fix the economy are bad ideas and refusing to provide their own beyond "tax cuts FTW!"

Hit the link above for more. View the graphs, compiled from non-partisan groups. You don't even need the words to re-enforce that how the GOP want to do business is bad for America.

Links of the Week

Actual Waistline and Real Waistline Sizes May Vary
Esquire decided to investigate the accuracy of waistline measurements and discovered something interesting. It turns out the most of the time the measurement is incorrect. For example, the worst offender was Old Navy with the 36'' pant size actually being 41''. I guess it’s useful as an ego boost as can pretend don't need wider pants then you really do but I personally like knowing when I am going up in pant sizes as provides that little extra motivation to skip dessert.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell Unconstitutional
Not sure why it took over a decade but a federal court finally ruled on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy regarding homosexuals serving in the military. "The act discriminates based on the content of the speech being regulated," [District Judge Virginia] Phillips wrote. "It distinguishes between speech regarding sexual orientation, and inevitably, family relationships and daily activities, by and about gay and lesbian service members, which is banned, and speech on those subjects by and about heterosexual service members, which is permitted." It is good news overall but I imagine it will be contest to the Supreme Court. Normally that would actually be a good thing because if the Supreme Court upholds the ruling this would prevent any future policies and laws that would prevent gays from serving openly. However, this is a Conservative Supreme Court where the five always vote in lockstep and have demonstrated frequently that conservatives’ ideals trump the Constitution and the law. They are highly likely to overturn the ruling and that would open the door to an outright ban or more. It is a calculated risk and one I hope Obama and the Department of Justice are considering carefully.

New Apple Products and Other Links

Apple Announcement
Today Steve Job held a press conference to announce a refresh of the iPod line-up, show off a new Apple TV, iTunes update and talk about iOS 4.1 which hits iPhones next week and the iPad in November. The iPod line-up refresh has a few major changes with a new 4th gen Shuffle ($50-2GB, no 4GB) that looks a lot like the 2nd gen, a new Nano ($149-8GB, $179-16GB) that is nearly shuffle sized with touch screen, and updated iPod touch ($229-8GB, $299-32GB & $399-64GB) has all the same design bells and whistles as the iPhone but since can't make calls with it, no concerns with antenna problems. The iPod Classic lives but remains unchanged. The new Apple TV ($99) is now puck sized with no hard drive as now designed for streaming from your home network, iTunes and Netflix. Apple's continued refusal to support non iTunes video formats means that if your library is unplayable through Apple products, that is not going to change any time soon. Probably best to consider other devices or just use Netflix from your gaming console. The iOS 4.2 was previewed with Airplay feature for wireless streaming to iPad or Apple TV but again that codec limitation makes the feature pointless. Over all there isn't really anything innovative was announced today but the new Nano is pretty sweet looking (if overpriced by $50) but the tiny size means video is no longer supported (but that is no real loss).

Hurricane Damaged Six Flags New Orleans
Hit the link to view a gallery of images of a decayed Six Flags, left abandoned after Hurricane Katrina devastated the then five year old location. It is amazing just how decrepit and tore up everything looks even though the site is barely 10 years old.