Here is the Dem's platform, which is actually on their freakn' website.

DNC: 2004 Party Platform

] The 2004 Republican Party platform is available
] (although, curiously, not on the GOP's own web site).

Space Politics: Republican Party platform, 2004 edition

Less malpractice liability, less stem cell research, fewer new public parks, no emissions controls, drug testing in schools, more death penalty, ten commandments displayed on government buildings, government funding for radical religious schools, marriage amendment, anti-abortion amendment...

Do you want to live in this country?

2004 Republican Party Platform

PBS has been playying a lot of 9/11 related content, including this documentary about the fight over the tower design. Worth checking out...

frontline: sacred ground | PBS

] Current events geeks and news junkies meet monthly to
] talk about what's going on in the world.

Some interesting public speaking events in Atlanta have been posted recently...

Meetup.com: Atlanta Current Events Meetup Group -- Current Events

] The plus: the multidimensional topology of space in three
] dimensions will seem simple at last and a million dollar
] reward will be there for the asking. The minus: the
] solver does not claim to have found a solution, he
] doesn't want the reward, and he certainly doesn't want to
] talk to the media.

Maths holy grail could bring disaster for internet

] A November win by Democratic presidential candidate John
] Kerry would put the United States at risk of another
] "devastating" terrorist attack, Vice President Dick
] Cheney told supporters Tuesday.

We're not even pretending that we're not playing the fear card anymore.

I was thinking yesterday, the RNC had a basic contradiction that is easy to exploit. The official platform of the republican party was written by, for, and of the fundamentalist Christians. However, Rove did everything in his power to spin things at the RNC so that they would appeal to moderate "swing voters." The platform wasn't discussed. Cheney made scripted comments about his daughter.

All the Dems need to do is make sure that details about the Republican's actual platform gets into the hands of the moderate voters.... "Bush promises to do X if he gets into office." If the Republicans play down the discussion they alienate their base, if they admit it (which is what they'll do) they alienate the center. This tactic is too obvious for the Dems to have missed it. I can't think of a good reason for them not to play it...

CNN.com - Cheney: Kerry win risks terror attack - Sep 7, 2004

] One-thousand infrared-enabled stickpins were distributed
] to attendees. The pins "remembered" the unique identifier
] of every other pin that comes into range. When the wearer
] walked past a central display, his or her data was
] downloaded into a PC that generated a visualization of
] the entire network.

Interesting, sort of...

Boing Boing: TraceEncounters and nTAGs

] As an ethnic group, Chechens had been mistreated by the
] Soviet regime, and the Russian empire before it, perhaps
] worse than anyone else. In 1944, the Chechens, along with
] several other ethnic groups, were accused of having
] collaborated with the Nazis and deported to Siberia.
] Their collective guilt established by the order of
] Stalin, on Feb. 23, 1944, more than half a million
] Chechens were forcibly herded onto cattle cars and sent
] to Western Siberia. As many as half died en route, and
] uncounted others perished in the harsh Siberian winter;
] the exiles were literally dumped in the open snowy fields
] and left to fend for themselves.

This is a liberal (I guess) view of the Chechnyan conflict. Its in the interests of Russia and the United States to group this conflict under the general heading of Islamic extremeism because it enables both countries to engage each other's assistance. This author seems to think its really something different. Recent events seem to play right into Russia's hands.

Chechnya - What drives the separatists to commit such terrible outrages? By Masha Gessen

] The government contends its court arguments should be
] sealed from public view and heard before a judge outside
] the presence of Gilmore and his attorneys.

This is the key here. The government can make arguments that you can't rebut in court. This would be an absolute crisis if the government was a plaintiff, but even as a defendant it creates room for abuse. Secret laws with secret justifications.

Government wants ID arguments secret