Linkfest - GOP At It Again

Lego Serenity
Hit the link to view the Lego creation of the ship Serenity from the movie and the Firefly series. Stuff like this makes you wish Lego would get more into the sci-fi business as this would be awesome to be able to build. (via BrothersBrick)

2004 Election May Have Been Hacked
Court investigations in Ohio's 2004 presidential election (a key swing state then) indicates that the Republican Party may have hacked the election. The story is a key reason why the GOP was so gung ho on moving to paperless voting as most of the companies granted the contracts to provide electronic voting are Republican supported companies. In this case the company is Tennessee based SmarTech that was owned by Michael Connell (who died in an unexplained plane crash) who was a major GOP supporter. The evidence indicates that a redundancy switch to SmarTech kicked in during election day and after the change suddenly Bush experienced a surge in voting support. I suspect like most voting stories, the press will mostly ignore this one and focus on the fake ones the GOP creates to support their laws to prevent people from voting legally.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell Ending
The Pentagon and President Obama have certified the end to the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. The technical last date is September 20th but apparently exactly how it will be implemented from that point on is something lawyers have to work out. The GOP is probably already trying to use this as a wedge issue for the 2012 elections.


Deficit Charts
Hit the link for a bunch of charts that show where the deficit is coming from. The primary source remains the GOP supported Bush tax cuts which account for almost as much as the recession, TARP, both wars, and stimulus bills combined. Only in GOP land can you magically "make" money by not doing anything to increase revenue. Cutting is always a good start, but it should not be the only available solution. Especially since the last decade, 10 freaking years, have shown it does not work. Cutting taxes does not cause the rich, scuse me "job creators", to actually create jobs. I will never understand how Americans believe that GOP is the fiscally responsible party even though 60 years of history does not back this up at all. Even the 8 years of the Bush presidency should have wiped this thinking out. I bet every day the GOP goes "thank god for the short term memory of the American people!"

Airlines Ripping People Off
Since Saturday, 4000 FAA workers have been furloughed thanks to the GOP refusing to extend the FAA' authority without getting union banning concessions. The result is in a time of concern over the deficit; $25 to $30 million in taxes from airline tickets is not being collected. You would think this would mean a savings on airline tickets in the $20 or so range depending on cost and other factors. Turns out you would be wrong. Instead the airlines are keeping the cost difference and in many cases they actually increased their prices. Currently the only airlines to pass on the savings are Spirit and Alaska Airlines. Yet further proof that despite what the GOP claims, corporations will not do the right thing even if cut their taxes. Gee shocker, now if could only explain that to the Tea Partiers that worship the rich.

The Walking Dead Season 2 Trailer
You are missing out if not watching this great TV show that is returning this October. The comic book series it is based on is even better (even though the current story arc involving a shot child is questionable).