Monday Links: Gary Busey Belongs in Middle Earth

* Every other movie star seems completely sane compared to Gary Busey.

* The Real World: Skyrim edition.

* First They Came for My Assault Rifle…

* Kate Middleton as Vigo the Carpathian.

* The Smithsonian's inaugural relics collection.

* Peter Sagal has a new show about the Constitution.

* We need a more equal distribution of smut, from The Onion.

* Make your life easier by going moose hunting in the morning, ladies!

* Governor Rick Scott has Florida's Satanists wrapped around his finger.

* The latest New Yorker cover  shows President Obama's job woes are nothing to sneeze at.

Tags: Daily Links, Florida, Gary Busey, Guns, Hollywood, Inauguration, Kate Middleton, Nerdiness, Porn, Rick Scott, The New Yorker, The Onion, Women's Rights

How Barack Obama Saved "Star Wars"

When it became clear that Barack Obama was going to win re-election over Mitt Romney on the promise of raising taxes on the wealthy and upping the capital gains tax rate, he truly achieved something that nobody thought was possible.

He wrested control of the Star Wars franchise away from George Lucas and put it in the hands of younger filmmakers who might actually turn it into something worth watching…

As the law currently stands, the capital gains tax rate will see the largest year-over-year increase in history. Some intelligent investors didn't wait for election results to lock in the low capital gains tax rate.

A good example is Star Wars creator George Lucas, who recently sold his Lucas Films empire to Disney (DIS) for $4.05 billion. Lucas built his empire over many years and is sitting on a very large capital gain. Although Lucas has not publicly stated that tax policies had anything to do with the timing of the sale, there is speculation that it was a large factor.

Now he just needs to have the CIA scrub the films and all records of any reference to midi-chlorians and have Jar Jar Binks sent to the Tatooinean equivalent of Gitmo, and his legacy will be complete.

As a wizened old hunched and hair-thinning mentor would say, "A big fucking deal this is."

Photo by Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

Tags: Barack Obama, Corporations, Money, Nerdiness, Star Wars, Taxes

Barack Obama's One-Star Amazon Review of "Atlas Shrugged"

President Obama recently sat down with Rolling Stone and conducted what will probably be remembered by history as "The Bullshit Interview."

At some point during the interview, he was asked to give his thoughts on the writings of Ayn Rand and what he thinks about their underlying philosophy as interpreted by conservatives like Paul Ryan. He admits that he has read some Rand, which makes him like most politically-minded people. He does not say whether or not he finished any of her books, which would make him like almost no people.

Spoiler alert: He's not a fan…

"Ayn Rand is one of those things that a lot of us, when we were 17 or 18 and feeling misunderstood, we'd pick up. Then, as we get older, we realize that a world in which we're only thinking about ourselves and not thinking about anybody else, in which we're considering the entire project of developing ourselves as more important than our relationships to other people and making sure that everybody else has opportunity — that that's a pretty narrow vision. It's not one that, I think, describes what's best in America. Unfortunately, it does seem as if sometimes that vision of a 'you're on your own' society has consumed a big chunk of the Republican Party."

This doesn't really surprise me. Barack Obama always struck me as more of a Middle Earth-type nerd.

Tags: Ayn Rand, Barack Obama, Books, Nerdiness, Paul Ryan

Quote Unquote: A Nervous Situation

RNC chair Reince Priebus on Paul Ryan and tonight's vice-presidential debate…

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"It's a nervous situation… This is his first time. Joe Biden's been doing this since the 1800s."

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Yes, I'd imagine it would be rather nerve-wracking to go up against a Time Lord. If things start going bad for him, he can always zap you with his sonic screwdriver.

By the way, those things should not  be allowed on the podium.

Tags: Joe Biden, Nerdiness, Paul Ryan, Quote Unquote, Reince Priebus

Orc Assassination Rogue Running for Maine State Senate

I don't know about you, but I'm not quite sure that America is ready for an "orc assassination rogue" in one of our state legislatures…

In an email sent to reporters today, Maine GOP communications director David Sorensen reports that Colleen Lachowicz "has been living a time-consuming double life as a member of the World of Warcraft community."

Sorensen's release notes that Lachowicz is at Level 85, the game's highest level, and is a character named Santiaga. Lachowicz apparently "lives vicariously through her," and comments as her on the liberal blog Daily Kos.

A sample comment: "So I'm a level 68 orc rogue girl. That means I stab things . . . a lot. Who would have thought that a peace-lovin', social worker and democrat would enjoy that?!"

Come to think of it, this isn't very hard to image at all.

Dennis Kucinich was a U.S. congressperson for years.

Tags: Maine, Nerdiness, Science & Technology, State Legislature, Video Games