"only the Polytron reduces an entire mouse to a soup-like homogenate in 30 seconds."

the Polytron

] Atlanta underreported crimes for years to help land the
] 1996 Olympics and pump up tourism, according to an audit
] commissioned by police and released Friday.
]
] Police in this relentlessly self-promoting city of the
] New South routinely altered or suppressed thousands of
] crime reports in a concerted effort "to improve Atlanta's
] chances for selection," the audit said, citing interviews
] with several officers.

Its even worse then you think!

CNN.com - Report: Atlanta more dangerous than statistics indicate - Feb. 20, 2004

] Technology has the potential to empower Americans by
] creating new high quality jobs, making America more
] competitive, and improving the quality of life. However,
] to realize this potential, we need a government committed
] to encouraging innovation and the widespread deployment
] of technology.

I decided I didn't know enough about Kerry. Turns out he has a very strong technology business platform. Much stronger then Dean, Clark, or Edwards, who tend to talk about steel workers when the subject of the economy comes up. I obviously have misgivings about his feelings on Intellectual Property, but his overall picture is better then what I've seen from any of the candidates with possible exception of Lieberman.

:: John Kerry for President - Technology Plan to Create Jobs and Empower Americans to Lead in the 21st Century ::

] President Bush took advantage of the Congressional recess
] today to bypass Senate Democrats and install Alabama's
] attorney general, William H. Pryor, on a federal appeals
] court that oversees three Southern states.
]
] The president named Mr. Pryor, who has gained prominence as an
] outspoken opponent of legalized abortion and as an advocate for a
] greater Christian influence in government, to the United States Court
] of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.

Well, this pisses me off.

There is, at first glance, an extreme hypocrisy in telling the Iraqi governing council that you are a methodist, and that you would like to be able to practice your religion in their country, while on the other hand appointing a fundamentalist from Alabama, whose track record clearly shows that he is opposed to freedom of religion, to a federal appeals court in your own country. The only way to resolve this inconsistency is to accept that Bush doesn't actually believe in freedom of religion. He believes in the propagation of the Christian faith, and he sees freedom of religion in the middle east as a stepping stone toward achieving that goal.

It is very very well established in history that religious states fail because they are religious states. History is very agnostic in the consistent failure of religious states due entirely to the corruption that "ultimate truth" brings to bare on a society when it carries the force of arms, regardless of what religion we're talking about or who runs it. This is not really a matter of opinion.

There are many people on this planet whose religious beliefs do not allow them to accept this fact, no matter how consistent and comprehensive the historical record has been. There is only one way to think about those people. They are irrational. Irrational + Powerful = Dangerous.

Bush Seats Judicial Nominee That Senate Democrats Blocked

] Even so, Atlanta is "the most dangerous city in America,"
] and the positive momentum is "fragile," according to the
] summary. Atlanta's violent crime is 463 percent higher
] than the average city's, and its homicide rate is 520
] percent higher than the national average, Linder &
] Associates found.

I was downtown with some friends year before last and our group got assaulted by a couple of coke heads. One person's nose was broken, the perps brandished a firearm, and they were literally driving around with their headlights off looking for us. It took Atlanta Police ***2 hours*** to respond to the incident, and when they arrived we got this lazy ass beaurocrat who had a very "whatever" attitude about the whole thing and wouldn't even bother to get out of her car to talk to us... we're trying to explain what was going on while bending down to talk to her through her car window while she sat there for another hour filling out paperwork and saying things like "ya'll playing a little game of hide and seek." They didn't do shit. It was a waste of time to call them.

Get up, get, get, get down. 911 is joking your town.

Atlanta is the most dangerous city in America

] NASA's Opportunity rover sent back new images from Mars
] showing that small spheres previously found on the
] surface also exist below, in a trench the rover dug.
] Hints of salty water were also found in the trench, but
] much more analysis is needed to learn the true
] composition.

MSNBC - Have the Mars rovers struck water?

] A federal appeals court has agreed to hear a request from
] the woman formerly known as "Jane Roe" to reconsider the
] 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade that
] legalized abortion.

CNN.com - Effort to reopen Roe v. Wade - Feb. 19, 2004

] There is a grain of truth in the backlash stereotype of
] liberalism. Certain kinds of leftists really do vacation
] in Europe and drive Volvos and drink lattes. (Hell,
] almost everyone drinks lattes now.) And there is a small
] but very vocal part of the left that has nothing but
] contempt for the working class. Should you ever attend a
] meeting of a local animal rights organisation, or wander
] through the campus of an elite university, you will
] notice that certain kinds of left politics are indeed
] activities reserved for members of the educated upper-
] middle-class, for people who regard politics more as a
] personal therapeutic exercise than an effort to build a
] movement. For them, the left is a form of mildly soothing
] spirituality, a way of getting in touch with the deep
] authenticity of the downtrodden and of showing you care.
] Buttons and stickers desperately announce the liberal’s
] goodness to the world, as do his or her choice in
] consumer products. Leftist magazines treat protesting as
] a glamour activity, running photos of last month’s demo
] the way society magazines print pictures from the charity
] ball. There is even a brand of cologne called Activist.

Most leftist don't understand that the right is poor.

The America will vote for Bush

] The poll, taken Feb. 16-17, indicates that if the
] election were held today, Kerry would be chosen by 55% of
] likely voters, compared to 43% for Bush. In the last
] polling, Feb. 6-8, Bush held a 49-48 advantage.

Do people prefer the Dems right now simply because they've been seeing them a lot on Television, or is something sustainable going on here?

USATODAY.com - Top Democrats lead Bush in poll

] Streaming media registered strong growth in 2003, with
] total video streams up by 104% to 7.8 billion and
] aggregate tuning hours for Internet music radio 53%
] higher when compared to '02.
]
] Some 78% of video streams served were viewed at
] broadband rates, according to a report published by
] AccuStream iMedia Research.

Internet Video Streams up by 104% in '03 to over 7.8 Billion