Tuesday Linkee-poos (edited)

Edited to add I love the smell of hypocrisy in the morning. It smells like... burnt popcorn. Hey, Tea Party, remember that whole "hold them accountable" spiel? Yeah, might want to see to that where it comes to Rep. Bachmann. Of course, there will be two years to beg for forgiveness. Or you can fall for the argument about how "for the righteous, all is pure." Strange how the morals change once someone thinks they're in power. And I'm serious. Or weren't you? end edit

On writing fight scenes. (Grokked from eBear).

And speaking of grokking things from Elizabeth Bear, there's also this. Which I think I need to make a daily mantra.

The production for the animation of Neil Gaiman's The Price. I have to admit, this is one of my favorite of Neil's stories. Starts off relatively light and turns incredibly dark at the end.

Well, I guess I was just too good yesterday. Last night the idiocy exploded all over my nice clean "writing links" apron.

Say, here's one of those new "Don't Need No Stinkin' Government Healthcare" freshman wondering just why the hell he has to wait 28 days before getting into the congressional health system. "'This is the only employer I’ve ever worked for where you don’t get coverage the first day you are employed,' his spokeswoman Anna Nix told POLITICO." Really? Hmm, let me see, at my current employer I was covered after working 16 days AND that's the fastest I was ever covered by my new employer's healthcare. Normally we were looking at 3 to 6 months.

Dear, Andy Harris, please stop being a privileged dickwad. Maybe this time in Congress will actually expose you to some of the real life your fellow citizens have had to endure (and no, don't run the bull about your college debt and residency or I'll tell you about just what other people have to go through, who don't end up making $100,000+ a year). Have fun at your cocktail parties. Don't forget 1 in 5 children go to bed without a proper evening meal while you decide if you want to just make a meal of the hors d'oeuvres or order an actual meal. Don't forget to sign the paperwork for your retirement at full pay. And cut out the "Got Mine, Screw You" mentality.

And, no, I don't think I link to the Tea Party Patriot's memo which sent out the personal cell phone numbers of both incoming freshman (and some who lost their elections) because they felt they were being upstaged by another Freshman event (and then encouraged their members to call and complain if those reps didn't attend the TPP event). Hi, Tea Party, welcome to the crowd. You might want to pay attention to what really happens in government and stop making these mistakes if you want to be a player.

There was also the story about how some of the incoming Freshman were overwhelmed by every thing needed to get done (setting up their offices, hiring staff and doing all the proper reporting). Especially those who "ran their own businesses and were going to Washington to show them how it's done." Um, yeah. Hi, welcome to actually running a business/office. Be glad you get classes in how to do it.

And then there's the ever fun Deficit Commission report attempt to control the dialog before the Commission actually makes it's recommendations (read as, "Jumping the Shark"). Just one of many "Don't these people actually pay attention?" moments.

Finally, this person is a serious contender for the 2012 nomination? 1) Transparent (don't be around so you can get anything done, like sign any bills or anything) and 2) Obviously an idiot. Really, Obama should take the month off? No, he should be working his ass off to help turn this economy around. Please, Newt, STFU. Frankly, I'm damn happy this president isn't in the running for the "took more vacation than any president before him" award (aka Reagan and GW Bush).