9/11 First Responder Bill Passes

After multiple filibusters and blocks from Republicans, the 9/11 First Responders bill (officially called The James Zadroga 9/11 Health Bill) has passed. The bill was intended to provide around $7 billion in care for responders by closing multiple corporate tax loopholes. This would have actually resulted in a bill that would have been deficit neutral. However, Senate Republicans balked at this because it went against their core belief that everything should be done to make the rich richer. Closing the tax loophole was removed but that wasn't enough. Despite adding nearly a $900 billion to the deficit by extending the bush tax cuts along with some extras for the rich, Republican Sens. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Mike Enzi of Wyoming balked at the $7 billion price tag. The final cost of the bill is $4.2 billion that might be paid for by foreign tourists and business visitors.

Once again, while this was debated for months, the Tea Party remained silent on this issue even though they happily invoke 9/11 frequently, are against anything that adds to the deficit and I would think would support the closing of tax loopholes. Yet again a reminder that the Tea Party is another name for Republican and neither group is nearly as patriotic or fiscally responsible as they claim to be. How people that are not rich (aka make under $250,000) continue to support such hypocrites is something I will never understand. The real shame is this was an easy bill to pass that should have been taken care of this summer without all the nonsense.

Net Neutrality Guidelines Created

Yesterday, the FCC issued new guidelines that are an attempt to at least move somewhat forward in a codified version of net neutrality. For those that may only get their info from Fox News, the idea behind net neutrality is real simple - all bits are created and should be treated equally. By this it means those that help get the data from point A to point B shouldn't have the ability to charge more for one type of bit over another, charge to get bits faster than others or anything else that results in some types of data being treated differently than others. By the way, not discussed is if want to treat data differently, that means the telecoms have to monitor and track what the data is for, in effect they will have to know everything you do online. Everyone, especially Americans should be for net neutrality then right? Ironically, the rules passed have basically angered everyone.

Links of the Week

Daily Show Smacks GOP for Blocking 9/11 Bill
When Jon Stewart gets angry, that is usually when the Daily Show is at its finest. Thursday's episode is an example of that as the laid a smack down on the GOP who, in a quest to add $900 billion in debt so the rich can get richer, continues to filibuster the 9/11 First Responders bill. The bill would help provide healthcare coverage to the brave men and woman who searched day and night searching for lost loved ones after that tragic day. As Stewart points out, you would think the party that gets outraged, with a huge assist from Fox News, on any little 9/11 related slight would be all over this bill but nope. This is a no brainer. This bill, more than any other, shows beyond doubt that the GOP has only one priority - get the rich richer. If not rich, then you can frankly just go to hell as far as they care. Not much better is the press which continues to show indifference, I guess because it isn't "sexy" enough but more than likely because they can't handle more than one major story in a 24 hour period. Anything then that and their on air talent gets lost. The entire episode should be watched as it begins with Stewart’s outrage, goes into an interview with a few 1st responders and then has Stewart correct so-called religious Mike Huckabee who manufactured excuses for the GOP's behavior but corrected every step of the way by Stewart. Why anyone supports a party that makes it clear that if you don't belong in the top 2% they could give two craps about you is something I will never understand.

Watching Fox News Makes You Stupid
As the graph shows, the more you watch Fox News, the less you know. Since Fox makes its bread and butter by essentially selling the same lie over and over until people believe it is true, can't really say the results are surprising. Still, having a scientific study back it up does not hurt. The study was based on polling 616 voters, finding how much they watched each network and what they knew about certain facts. Emphasis on facts. Not opinion, not policy but actually proven facts. The result is all there on the graph. You watch Fox News, you risk becoming stupid. Need more proof, go chat up a random Tea Partier.

Links of the Week

Gawker Media Passwords Released to Public
If you have ever commented on Gawker, IO9, Gizmodo, Lifehacker or other sites of the company, then you need to change your password ASAP. You might also consider changing your password to any sites that make use of that same username and password combination especially if used for personal information.

Fox News Boss Orders Slanted News
For a while now Fox News has claimed it is a real news organization by saying there is a difference between its real news times and its opinion news times. Realistically there is no difference as the network is truly 24/7 GOP opinion machine but many remained convinced. New proof further supports this notion as a memo from Bill Sammon, a Fox Managing Editor, pretty much forced all Fox News reporters, on air talent, etc to make sure they use GOP approved phrasing for things like "government option" instead of "public option" because in polls it shows people would support that wording less. After the memo went out, the change went into effect across the board in all the "real" news hours.

Obama Caves on Bush Taxes

To really no surprise of anyone, President Obama did as predicted and once again caved to Republicans on the Bush Tax cuts. The agreement is rather remarkable in the sense it is probably the first time these last years where Republicans may actually vote on a bill they compromised on (this use to be SOP before the Bush era). When Obama caved to Republicans before they all voted no as a block. This happened with health care which was compromised to the point it wasn't much different than the GOP's 1994 health care plan. The bailout which was supposed to have more stimulus spending was compromised to a 40% tax cuts for 98% of the country (which failed to recognize those cuts to no surprise) that every economic expert across the war said would result in a stimulus bill that would have a minimal impact on the economy. Something, two years later we now know was true.

The resulting compromise extends the Bush tax cuts while extending unemployment insurance. The Bush tax cuts will be extended two more years. The estate tax will be altered to protect the first $5 million of an inheritance with 35% tax rate. It used to be the first $2 million before the "Death Tax" moniker made it sound like it affected every American instead of only 1% because most Americans are stupid and can't be bothered to get more information than a made up label. The price tag for this is $10 billion or 2x what Obama's stupid federal employee freeze will "save".

The Earned Income Tax Credit and few others will be extended adding another $40 billion cost. Unemployment insurance, which the GOP voted down, will get a 13 month extension for a cost of $56 billion. Payroll taxes will get a 2% tax cut (so lunch once a pay period on the government, whoopee) which will cost $120 billion. It also has the odd investment spending bill that lets businesses deduct 100% of their investment spending for next two years. Conditional tax cuts work (something the GOP should embrace more but since the rich is their only priority that will never happen), but usually it’s something like 30% if bring a business in, or hire X number of workers. Not sure what a 100% write-off would accomplish. The suggested cost is $200 billion in tax revenue. Overall, this may have an impact of adding $426 billion to the deficit, ironic considering what the GOP campaigned on. Then again, if Americans paid more attention to history and not buzz words, they would know the GOP has never been fiscally responsible. Very hard to be when the goal is to give condition free money to corporations and the rich.

The GOP continue to claim that tax cuts for the rich will fix everything, ignoring the fact that hasn't worked for 10 years now and really 30 years if look at the failure of trickledown economics from 80's on (again unless rich as had 500% growth while everyone else remained stagnant). Unconditional tax cuts do nothing for the economy. The rich don't use it to create jobs or give raises and it has no impact on people's spending. A business either has the sales to support their hiring or they don't. When given to the rich and corporations, it is simply added it to the bottom line and nothing more. Now we are extending that failed economic policy for two more years. So Obama caved and the GOP got their wish for the next two years but at least some very minor stimulus was seeded in.

If Fox News continues its pretty remarkable run and Americans continue to stop using their brains, it is pretty clear the GOP figures they will get control of Congress so can go ahead and make the cuts permanent without regard for the impact it will have on the deficit. Good job Tea Party. Not even one month has passed and already the GOP has tossed you to the side. Next time look at history and recognize the GOP doesn't give two craps about you unless part of the upper 2%. Next time don't vote on the fantasy that you might win the lottery and become rich but on your current practical needs.

Links of the Week

R.I.P. Leslie Nielsen
The now late, great comedian and movie star Leslie Nielsen died Monday from complications with pneumonia. The actor starred in the Airplane, Naked Gun and many other hilarious movies. Thanks for the laughs

Republicans Vote Against Tax Cuts for 98% of the Country
You know that issue that Republicans ran on, claiming fiscal responsibility with tax cuts? The issue that helped give birth to the Tea Party (because frankly they are stupid)? Yeah that one. It turns out; to no surprise (if now historically the GOP has never been fiscally responsible and only care about the rich) none of the GOP and Tea Party elected officials really believes in it. The House passed bill to make the Bush tax cuts for 98% of the country. All but 3 Republicans in the House voted against it. Why? Because the bill didn't include a $700 billion bonus tax cut for the other 2% of the country. A bonus that would go straight to the deficit, therefore not be fiscally responsible. The GOP claims giving tax cuts to the rich helps everyone. I point to the last 10 years when the rich got way richer while everyone else's wages and job security remained static or got worse. For 10 years we already had those Bush tax cuts and all we got was two recessions, stagnant job growth, stagnant wages and $3.5 trillion added to the deficit. How dumb does someone have to be to believe that continuing them will suddenly bring different results? Ten years, $3.5 trillion added to the deficit and what do we have to show for it? Not much? Exactly. So why support giving the rich another $700 billion bonus? So the GOP is on the record for being against tax cuts for 98% of the country. Why in the world did Democrats not try this before the election when those votes might have been used against the GOP?

Links of the Week

Rachel Maddow Lecture at Harvard
Mrs. Maddow gave an interesting lecture and Q&A at Harvard that focuses on the relationship between politics and the 24 hour news cycle. She makes a few excellent points, the primary one being that the act of leading and governing has no longer become the job of elected officials. Their prime job now has been to always speak to the news sound bite and not take the risk of doing the strange thing of actually making laws (aka follow the John McCain school of "governance"). It really is worth listening too as even the far right agrees the press do not really do their jobs anymore.

Reporting - Publicity = News
Seems like a simple question but if you really look at how the news works nowadays, it is truly amazing how much time and effort they spend talking about and regurgitating press releases and press conferences while making no effort to separate the truth from the misinformation nor how what was said doesn't match with what has actually been done. The example in this case is Republicans saying they will cut spending. They say that a lot, have for decades. Yet they have never actually cut spending but increased it, by a lot. By more than any Democrat administration ever has. They say "cut spending!" but their actions say "more spending" as they fight to add $700 billion to the deficit with more tax cuts for the rich. They say tax cuts will fix everything, but 10 years of tax cuts show that isn't true. Repeating their words is easy, analyzing and showing how their words don't match their actions nor history, that is news and that is reporters doing something strange - their jobs of reporting facts.

Links of the Weeks

Sorry for the last of posting for last few weeks. I have been on vacation and then pulled my back so frankly just didn't feel like it.

Giant Lego Map of Europe
Hit the link for a gallery of images that creates Europe on a 157 square foot Lego map with little miniature Lego creations to represent the various major cities. The map took 53500 bricks and about 6 months to build. The cool part is the way it was built allows them to take it apart and literally file it away.

Life and Death of the One Dollar Bill
Click the link for a very cool graphical breakdown and the life and times of a single dollar bill. Fun facts include the cost of a single bill to produce (6.4 cents), amount printed each day (16.6 million) and how to read some of the coding on the bills.

Republicans Continue Their Rich First Priority
Only in American is people stupid enough to not only vote against their own self-interests but then nod along when the people they voted for pretty tell them to their face that they are not important. The current big battle is to make the Bush tax cuts permanent. Now the Democrats have no problem with that for 98% of the country. The sticking point is that top 2% of the richest. Dems want to use that 2% to pay for leaving the cuts in place for the other 98%. In other words be fiscally responsible and make sure the cuts are paid for. The Repubs, which ran on platform of fiscally responsibility (even though historically never has been), want to not only keep those cuts but add another $700 billion on top for just those 2%. That cost would go directly to the deficit, which was something I thought the whole Tea Party thing claimed to be against (but then again that "movement" was supported by that top 2%...). So the lesson learned from the recent elections? Not a thing. The Bush tax cuts did nothing to create jobs or help the middle class for 10 years and yet Americans are truly stupid enough to think giving it another 10 will be different.

Links of the Week

Christine O'Donnell: Constitution Moron
There is something very amusing about watching a Tea Party candidate make such a clear fool of themselves (all of them are, with various degrees of ability to hide it). Like all Tea Partiers, her claim is to be one of the few that understand the Constitution (essentially treating it as the Bible) that must be given office to protect it. And like all Tea Partiers, it turns out their study and understanding of the Constitution apparently doesn't actually involve reading it, understanding it, or even being vaguely aware of its history beyond the random pop culture maybe facts that you collect over a lifetime. In a debate with her opponent, Chris Coons, while at a law school no less, O'Donnell was flabbergasted that the separation of Church and State was enshrined in the first amendment. She, of course, only new the random factoid that the phrase was not in the document, I guess it never occurred to her that there might be a different phrasing for the same concept. On top of that she didn't even know the 14th, 16th, and 17th amendments even though she is a member of a political class that has indicated they want them repealed. Now to be fair, I don't have the amendments memorized either. Then again I am not running for Congress on the platform of being the great protector and arbiter of the wishes of the founding fathers like she has been. As usual, hypocrite and a republican are one and the same.

Stewart Disagrees with Sanchez Firing
Once again showing that he is more on the ball than most of his peers, Jon Stewart told Larry King that he thought CNN should not have fired Rick Sanchez for his stupid comments about Stewart and those that run CNN. He had the same problem I did with it, which was penalizing their hired commentators for expressing an opinion that management doesn't necessarily like on their own time. Sanchez is just the latest is a now regular revolving door of CNN reporters who get fired for expressing any opinion that is corporate approved. Reporters have bias. It is hiding that bias, pretending it doesn't exist, or allowing it to dictate what does or does not get covered as news that is a problem. In other words don't behave like Fox News. Past that, the only thing firing people for expressing an opinion does is allow stupid arguments to be given "equal" attention whether they deserve it or not resulting in the mess that is now CNN.

Links of the Week

Sorry for lack of updates, frankly just been busy with posting on the other blogs. Here you go though, a little bit longer than normal link list.

Largest Lego Ship Ever
Hit the link for images and video that shows off a 23 foot Lego recreation of the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid. The ship was constructed to mini-fig (1/40) scale with Wildcat and corsair airplanes to give it the 1945 look from when it was built. A truly awesome creation.

No Bank Accounts Costs Money
A reporter learned the hard way that not having a bank account can be expensive. After around 30 days of not using a bank, the various fees resulting fees cost $93 or possibly at least $1100. The lesson seems to be that even though banks no longer really function as lenders but more as fee machines, it is still cheaper to have an account then not have one since they will find a way to get their pound of flesh one way or the other.

Zack Snyder Directing Superman
After many false starts with the commercial failure of Superman Returns (good ideas but homage taken too far), WB finally seems ready to move on. Watchmen, 300 director Zack Snyder will helm the film. He also hinted, but has not officially confirmed, that Zod will be the film's big bad. It seems likely this will be a reboot of the franchise rather than continuation of the story where Returns left off.

Lego Space Habitat
A gallery that shows off a huge habitat complete with commercial areas, living space, space port, and more. It makes heavy use of a modular design so it’s actually like a lot of identical living spaces with slight changes to each to give it the cohesive but unique look.

Chasing Fox
An interesting article from New York Times about MSNBC's growing pains as it attempts to catch up to the ratings of Fox News now that the network has surpassed CNN. It gives a peek behind the scenes at some of the egos and infighting that flares up occasional, especially between management and the on air talent.

Donald Duck vs. Glenn Beck
An inspired mash-up that combines the many cartoons of Donald Duck with the equally hate filled crazy talk of Glenn Beck.


Portable XBox 360 Slim
Ben Heck is back with a new completed project. For all intents, he crammed an XBox 360 into a kind of briefcase with a 17 inch LCD screen. The result is a fully functional XBox that you can take with you wherever you want. He probably needs to add a handle.


Scream Awards Back to the Future Recreation
In homage to the 25th anniversary (and help sale the impending Blu-Ray edition), Spike TV put together a shot for shot recreation of the teaser trailer from 1985, complete with appearance by Michael J. Fox.

Destroyed and Rebuilt in 3 Minutes
A pretty sweet video that combined 45,000 photos to show the deconstruction and reconstruction of an office building in Paris.

Links of the Week

Starcraft II Lego Thor
Click the link for a sweet gallery of the new Thor Starcraft unit being Lego-ized. Not sure the specifics on how it was created but worth checking out. Hit the link above for the full gallery of images and Sven Junga's other Lego projects.

The Secrets of Scientology - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Check out this BBC episode that gets into Scientology and their practices uses new interviews with ex-members who became disenchanted with the cult after years of their rather crappy and abusive tactics. At the heart of Scientology is a desire for power, greed and control with those at the top treating everyone else as slaves complete with a spy unit, threats, breaking of families, recording of secrets for future threats and so much more. The show does a good job of showing some of those tactics like obsessively following critics around, treating people as sub-human, and recording things with not one camera but many. It is overkill at its finest. You may be tempted to defend the cult, but apply even standards. If Christianity, Judaism, etc use these exact same tactics people would hit the roof. Scientology, if it really wants to be religion like it claims, should not get a free pass. What I find really ironic is the cult hates Psychiatry with a passion but at its core is the basic application of Psychiatric science. The short of it is avoiding this cult at all costs, it is truly dangerous. Unless you are filthy rich and then you will be treated like kings and queens.

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.

Links of the Week

GOP Only for Rich Tax Cuts
The GOP's current platform comes down to "we are not democrats". When asked for a specific plan on how to turn the economy around, the best they can come up with is "tax cuts", specifically make the Bush Tax Cuts permanent. The only problem with this plan is it clearly has worked in the previous 10 years and added around $2.5 trillion to the deficit. Considering the party's sudden love for deficit reduction, further tax cuts present a problem since there are no means to pay for them. Basically a tax cut = increased deficit. So you think when they actually put forth a tax cut plan they would device a means to pay for it right? Nope, as the lovely chart on the right illustrates, their plan isn't really any different than the Democrat, at least until you hit the $500k threshold. The Democratic plan pays for itself and may reduce the deficit because the rich don't benefit anymore than any other tax group. The Republican plan basically goes "you rich? Here have more money!". It’s that trickle down axiom of there that has never worked. After all, what happens to a tax cut that doesn't get spent? It doesn't trickle down. What happened to the previous 10 years of tax cuts? As the economy shows, they clearly didn't trickle down. Instead of listening to the Limbaughs of the world that have 99% opinion and 1% fact, look at the facts. Ignore my words, just look at the chart and noticed the huge difference and ask yourself "does this make any since?" and "Isn't this the opposite of fiscal responsibility the GOP claims to believe in?".

Links of the Week

Lego London Tower Bridge
The pic is an upcoming piece from Lego that when completed has 80 windows, 40'' long, 17'' high with mini Lego vehicles, working drawbridge, tan bricks, arches, and more. The 4,287 piece structure should be hitting Lego online and Lego stores soon. No details on costs but guessing a few hundred.

Weird Science vs. Real Genius Geek-Off
It has been 25 years since these two classics came out and Moviefone decided to determine which is the superior movie based on the good guys, bad guys, "future stars", the ladies, science, geek factor and quotability. Hit the link to see if you agree with their analysis that Real Genius is the better geek film.

Republicans for Rich Only
In one of the things that baffles me, the GOP continues to get support from the middle class and the poor despite the fact that the party policy comes down to a collective "f%^k you". The party talks to them a lot but if every really look at their record they have done nothing for a majority of Americans in decades now. Sure they talk a good game about tax cuts but the only ones that have ever seen any real tax cuts is the rich. If you make over $250k a year, the GOP is your best friend. If you don't, you really have no reason to support them from a financial and economic standpoint. Another example of this is going on now. The states are essentially going bankrupt. All 50 of them. Police officers, firefighters, teachers and more are getting laid off (which is bad for the economy). Odd little cuts are being made like unpaving roads, cutting off lampposts, and more in a bid to shave money off the budget. This isn't "wasteful" spending being cut now but essentials that are needed for safety. So what does the GOP do? They say no. Their "solution" yet again. Make permanent the Bush tax cuts despite the fact they will ADD $700 billion to the deficit and did NOT help the economy in the previous 10 years. Basically their solution is "hey it didn't work for 10 years, let’s try it for another 10 just to make sure!" and people are buying it. It truly boggles my mind that people just cannot see something that simple and reject it as stupid and not working.

California Gay Marriage Ban Lifted
The Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker has ruled earlier this week that the California law banning marriage was un-Constitutional and has now ruled that marriage can resume on August 15th. It is a major victory for gay rights movement and a major defeat for the mostly conservative contingent that has been working hard for years to codify a country wide ban. Ironic considering the conservative "movement" has been making talking about how the Constitution has been circumvented by Obama (while unable to provide specific examples and supporting the Bush's patriot act), that the country is going fascist (while supporting an actual fascist immigration "show your papers" law) and claiming love for the Constitution (while trying to overturn the 14 and 17th amendments. Its real simple, if you love the Constitution, you have to support equal rights. If you support equal rights you have to support gay marriage. You can't really have it both ways regardless of the mental gymnastics used to attempt to justify it. But if there is a real constant in politics, it’s that a conservative is by definition a hypocrite.

Harry Potter 7 Split Revealed
The final story of Harry Potter is being split into two films. Part 1 this Christmas and Part 2 next Summer. The point the movies will break has finally been revealed by Entertainment Weekly in this week's magazine article about the movie. It seems it will occur around Chapter 24 (out of 36) when Voldemort captures the Elder Wand. This leaves the Gringotts break-in and Battle of Hogwarts as the main pieces of Part 2.


He Who Yells Loudest Is Still Stupid
Knowing they have no plans beyond stop taxing the rich, the GOP keeps bouncing from scare tactic to tactic to get the ignorant to vote for them. Their entire 2010 campaign comes down to "be scared of stuff, vote for me and I will cut rich people's taxes to protect you!" The new meme is "terror babies" or "anchor babies". The idea is people are having babies here so that 20 years from now they will attack the United States. In a bizarre interview with Rep. Louie Gohmert basically yells his way through the interview on the idea that yelling really loud means he is right. Asked for evidence of his assertion he can provide none yet mentions it must be true cause of an airplane conversation. It is the usual GOP nonsense of lying but making it seem true with repetition and yelling a lot. After 10 years of this you would think people would stop falling for it. Sadly no. Hit the link to watch the rather insane exchange. The GOP, "we hate everyone but the rich...vote for us."

2010 San Diego Comic-Con 80 Plus Panel Videos

It is a few weeks late but finally able to post the links to 80 panels from the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) that were recorded and posted on line. Big thanks to all the uploaders.

The lengths vary from as short as 10 minutes to a full hour, usually the difference related to how much copyright footage was show during the panel. Because of that material you will often find a reference to a clip but that get shown as had to be edited out per SDCC recording rules or avoid DCMA takedowns. The panels cover TV, movies, toys, comics and video games. I have watched most but not all. Probably my favorite of the bunch was Castle with Nathan Fillion kept things going with his usual wit and charm. The other ones worth watching include The Visionaries Panel with Joss Whedon and JJ Abrams, Mythbusters, Psych and pretty much all the SyFy panels.

MOVIES
Battlefield Los Angeles - Part 1 | Part 2
Captain America - Part 1 | Part 2
Cowboys & Aliens - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Green Lantern - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Red Press Conference - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6
Red Panel - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9
Resident Evil: Afterlife - Complete
Salt - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Sucker Punch - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Super - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Thor - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
The Avengers - Complete | Trailer
The Expendables - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3.1 | Part 3.2 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6
Tron Legacy Press Conference - Complete
Tron Legacy - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Trailer

Links of the Week

GOP Holding Laws Hostage for Bush Tax Cuts
In yet another example of conservative hypocrisy, the GOP is holding pretty much all activity in Congress hostage in effort to make Bush's tax cuts permanent. Despite claiming fiscal responsibility and reducing the deficit, the previous decade of cuts resulted in around $3 trillion being added to the deficit (more than Obama is expected to add in his entire first time). If made permanent, the cuts are expected to add at least another trillion. The GOP claims it helps the economy, but considering the cuts has been in place since 2001, that doesn't seem true. Especially since the cuts only provide significant assistance to those that make $150k or more so around 10% of the country. The graph to the left is why they are fighting as the Obama plan would re-shift tax policy so that the burdens to the rich and even then not that significantly but to the GOP the rich shouldn’t even pay $1 in taxes. Then again, considering pretty much the top tier of the GOP are in those wealthy categories that benefited most under Bush, their perspective is no surprise. What is the surprise is their non-rich followers that support a policy that doesn't benefit them in any meaningful way.

Things You Didn't Know About Scientology
Hit the link to look at an amusing chart that compares science with the cult of Scientology. It includes a handy timeline of Earth's history that science believes occurred and the bat-sh$t crazy that is the cult's version along with a few myths they try to sell but isn't true.

Tom Mankiewicz R.I.P.
The screenwriter of Superman, Superman II, most of the 70s James Bond films and more died on July 31st at his home 68. He was 68.

Links of the Week

Green Lantern Posters
Even though the movie is a year away, we have teaser posters that show off the main cast of the movie with Ryan Reynolds (Green Lantern, Hal Jordan), Blake Lively (Carol Ferris), Peter Sarsgard (Hector Hammond) and Mark Strong (Sinestro). Nothing remarkable yet, other than the observation that Lively is exceptionally hot as a brunette. Hit the link above for hi-res pics.



New DMCA Exemptions
Oops. Apple spent the last year or so trying to make it illegal for user to jailbreak their phone and here the Copyright Office instead makes it not only legal but specifically sites Apple in their change. While Apple continues to march down the 1984 path (really, can't even do what you want to your own purchase?), it’s nice to see at least some people get in the way. The other major exemption is the use of clips from an already owned purchase as long as used for documentaries, non-commercial videos and educational use. Basically, if using the clip and not making money from it. This isn't a move a GOP administration would ever allow since they see corporations as their masters.

DC Universe Online Trailer
If only DC would actually make a movie that looks this good and this dark. The trailer uses pre-rendered CGI to basically show the intro sequence for the upcoming MMORPG that establishes the skeleton of the story driving the game. It involves a despotic future where the heroes are just defeated by all the villains when Brainiac invades. Back to the present, the heroes must make sure that future doesn't happen.

Stargate Universe Season 2 Trailer
If don't mind spoiling the season 1 "everyone could die!?!" finale, hit the video below to check out the return of Stargate Universe on September 28th. I just hope the series picks up the pace as I have been a fan since Stargate-SG1 premiered on Showtime but this series is a drag. Uninteresting characters (but with potential), not particularly interesting situations and very slow moving plot. The foundation of a great series is here but in an effort to not be SG1 or Atlantis (which should not have been cancelled), they created something dull. On the plus, breaking up the DVD box sets stopped my buying habit of all things Stargate, so saved some money there.



YouTube Time Limit Increased
Speaking of YouTube, after years of staying at the same number, the average uploader can go to 15 minutes. While YouTube already makes exceptions for "partners", this is the first major change in the time standards since nearly the inception of the website. Hopefully this will decrease the amount of "Parts" you find for many videos.