Linkee-poo, it's just another day trying to make the rent

Catherine Schaff-Stump gives her notes from the Worldcon Panel on "How I Got My Agent."

Amanda Carlson on the agent querying process.

Neil Gaiman's advice to young writers.

"The election is not won. Vote." You know, the longer I know Jim Wright online, the more I continue to respect him and grow to like him. And in that post it seems like Jim is upset about something, but I just can't put my finger on it.

And then they came for people who owned books. And I did nothing because… wait a second. (Grokked from Absolute Write)

North Carolina Republican State Sen. David Rouzer said that he'd like to defund scientific agonies, like the Department of Energy, because the read books. Um, there aren't enough desks and foreheads in the world for that one. Dear conservatives, it may come as a shock to you all, but reading is often how people learn things. Especially when they're at the crest of the knowledge chain. You know, those people who give you briefings, someone, somewhere in that chain had to actually do the research and read papers, books, other briefings, all to distill the knowledge. But I guess his occupation is listed as business consultant, and that kind of insipid stupidity sort of fits into my opinion of many business consultants. (Grokked from Vince)

Before you talk to me about how wonderful corporations are and how we should have less regulation, and closer ties between government and business, you must listen to this Fresh Air interview with David Cay Johnston about his new book, The Fine Print: How Big Companies Use "Plain English" to Rob You Blind. Then you can tell me just how unfettered companies should be. And just as a reminder, government is there to prevent this kind of thing, not abet it. Hey, Tea Party, you want to be upset about something regarding your taxes, where's your protest about this?

What gender bias? This gender bias. Good thing we don't need that equal pay act, eh? (Grokked from Random Michelle K)

"One of the more common predictions of what will happen after a Romney loss is that Republicans will convince themselves that they will need a more ideological, more combative candidate in the next election. This could happen, but it seems doubtful for a few reasons. After their 1996 and 1998 losses, Republicans ended up supporting a relative moderate running on a “compassionate” conservative platform for their next nominee." That moderate, by the way, was GW Bush. Only in conservative circles is he considered "moderate." But I will give you that in comparison to, say, Sarah Palin, he's not flaming nut-job conservative. Also, their calculus doesn't take into consideration the rise of the Tea Party. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

And the latest Romney thrust is to misquote the President and once progressives talk about how the RNC is both misquoting and quoting out of context, they then can say, "Well, they did it too with that video of Romney." This is a way of making an attack to put the other side on defense to structure your own defense without someone countering your statements (because they're busy defending).

And because we're interested in the truth, here's a handy little chart on the involvement of former Democratic administration staffers going to nice jobs at Monsanto. Ah, democracy, it's the best way for a few to reach the 1%… levels of earnings. (Grokked from Paolo Bacigalupi)

I wonder how all those people who lined up that Wednesday feel about Chi-fil-a walking back their stance on anti-marriage groups? Although their statements give a lot of wiggle room, it appears the boycotters have won this round. So I guess for "good Christians" (as those who identify themselves as such) when it comes down to ideology or profit will pick profit. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Tweet of my heart: @Pres_Bartlet: Why do we have tax breaks for children? Because it's not the children's fault they were born, and they deserve to be able to afford to eat.