Mark your calendars! EFF is 15 years old this year, and we are going
to celebrate! We're having an anniversary bash at our San Francisco
headquarters on Shotwell Street on Sunday, October 2nd, 2005. The
party starts at 5 p.m.

For those of you in SF the EFF is throwing a party next weekend.

EFF: EFF Hosts 15th Anniversary Party!

We are gearing up for the 2005 Loveparade in San Francisco on Saturday September 24th. This years parade starting location is at Market & 2nd Street and opens at 12 Noon. The parade is schedule to start at 1pm and parades west on Market Street to the festival location at Civic Center. Once at the festival area the floats will park and all the participants can enjoy the multiple genres of music that will be played. We are asking for a $5 donation upon entering the festival location, this will go to supporting our community partners and other national non-profit organizations.

Please join our newletter and be the first to know! This is not your ordinary parade. Instead of standing on the sidelines watching it go by, everyone is encouraged to dance in the streets with the floats as the parade moves by.

This rules. San Francisco needs this. Although many people in the city go to Burning Man it moved out of town early in its history and isn't tied directly to the city's culture. Halloween has always been a big deal in San Francisco but its also obviously not a local event and people who don't live in the city don't know about the revelry there. There are also various GBL celebrations but they obviously don't represent the whole city. This is something that can be broadly representative of the city's culture and has the potential to become a permanent fixture like Mardi Gras in NOLA or its elder version in Berlin.

Love Parade SF

House Bill 179 Concerning Evolution

Is it possible to comply with this law? Is there factual scientific evidence inconsistent with or no supporting the theory of evolution? I'm not aware of any. If there is some I'd like to see it. Someone please meme it.

Here's the bill on evolution

] The purpose of this website is to advocate that the State
] of Georgia compile and distribute a Voter Information
] Guide to voters in the State prior to each election and
] primary. This website will explain the concept, why its
] important, and what individuals can do to help make it a
] reality. This website will also act as a clearing house
] for information about efforts to improve voter education
] in the State of Georgia.

I said I'd do something about this, and I am. This website is the first step. Let me know if you have any comments or criticisms. Tell your friends.

Advocating a Voter Information Guide for Georgia

Elonka wrote:
] A list of the local issues that I will be voting on in
] tomorrow's election. I always feel like I'm cramming for a
] test, since some of the names and propositions I've never
] heard of.
]
] Where I grew up in California, we'd be mailed a complete
] sample ballot before the election, so we could see a complete
] list of what and who we were voting on. Here in Missouri
] though, it's always a struggle to find out ahead of time
] what's going to be on the ballot!

I want to underline this comment because I agree strongly with it. I lived in California for a few years and found the voter guide to be an incredibly valuable resource. I spent hours last night trying to research some of the local races in Georgia to determine who I'm going to vote for. Its difficult to even obtain information about some of these candidates. These elections are largely decided on name recognition, party affiliation, and newspaper editorial endorsements. Trusting any of these methods to make your decisions is unwise, in my opinion.

I would really like to see a voter guide in Georgia. I'm contemplating starting a website/mailing list about and trying to promote the concept. I think its a tremedously valuable resource.

I discuss this a little here:

http://www.memestreams.net/thread/bid13919/

RE: St. Charles County Voter Guide

] Violent crime in cities dropped 3.9 percent compared with
] 2002 and 3.7 percent in less metropolitan areas.

The funny part is this:

] Excluding traffic stops, law enforcement agencies made
] 13.6 million arrests in 2003, or about 4,695 arrests for
] every 100,000 Americans. In 2003, those agencies solved
] about 46 percent of violent crimes, including about 62
] percent of murders.

The funny thing is that they are arresting more people per 100,000 then there were crimes per 100,000. Given that criminals often commit more then one crime, the cops are busting way more people then there are criminals. And as they are only "solving" about half the cases.... you get the picture...

FBI says violent crime down 3% last year | ajc.com

] Comparing categories of crime in 2003 and 2002:
]
] Murders were up to 7.1 per 100,000 people, from 6.1.
]
] Rapes were up to 23.9 per 100,000, from 22.4.
]
] Robberies were up to 153.3 per 100,000, from 147.2.
]
] Property crimes - the category that includes
] burglaries, larcenies and car thefts - were up to
] 3,953.5 per 100,000, from 3,754.4.

Woohoo!!! Can I invest in this stuff?

] Georgia's shifts in crime are consistent with what's
] happening nationally, said Ryan King, an associate
] researcher with the Washington-based Sentencing Project,
] which monitors sentencing and the criminal justice
] system.

What? See next meme for more details.

Georgia continues to kick ass at crime!

biochik007 wrote:
] w1ld wrote:
] ] mp3 of Kerry support both sides of many issues.
]
] That rox! sad but true, sad but funny...

Actually, its not true. Its standard issue political dishonesty, and the people who buy into it are the problem with this country. I mean it.

Political issues are complex. The way that politicians manipulate you is by pretending that they are not. This works as follows:

1. Say you are going to do A. (Example: Save the children.)
2. Demonstrate that A is good. (The children are at risk!)
3. Ask people if they support A. (Don't you want to save the children?!)
4. Once people have expressed support for A, propose legislation that includes both A and B (Section A says we want to save the children. Section B proposes doing do by disposing of toxic waste by turning into candy and distributing it on Halloween.)
5. When people vote against your legislation because of section B, accuse them of opposing section A. (How dare you suggest that we shouldn't save the children! Don't you want to save the children!?)
6. If all else fails, accuse your opponent of being inconsistent. (First, you said you wanted to save the children. Now you say you don't.)
7. Never actually discuss part B.

Everyone will go along with it, because they are too fucking stupid to bother to actually read the legislation in question. It works every time.

In this case:
1. Say that you are going to disarm Saddam Hussein.
2. Publish intelligence information of questionable value (in one case ripped verbatim from a college student's class report) supporting the idea that Saddam is an imminent threat. No one can question this information because you control the intelligence services and they sign off on the intel.
3. Ask Congress to pass a resolution supporting your effort to disarm Saddam Hussein.
4. Once the resolution has passed, blow off the international allies who typically provide the financing for such military adventures and launch a pre-emptive war that significantly undermines established international law concerning military conflicts (only as a last resort, only in self defense).
5. When people oppose you because of part 4, accuse them of opposing the idea of disarming Saddam Hussein. Make sure you completely confuse the concepts of what was done and how it was done.
6. If all else fails, accuse your opponent of flip-flopping (First, you said you wanted the war, now you say you oppose it.)
7. Don't talk about how we're going to pay for this. When it turns out that there is no WMD, claim we are there to support democracy, while simultaneously stating that you are fine with an Islamic Fundamentalist state in Iraq if thats what the people there want.

This is how politicians fuck you. Bend over. You are being fucked.

RE: Audio mp3 of Kerry doing the Flip Flop

] NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Federal authorities said Friday
] they arrested an Iraqi-born Nashville resident on
] illegal weapons charges during a sting operation set up
] after he made threats about "going Jihad."

Federal agents arrest Iraqi native buying machine guns, grenades

] ''We accept full blame for it,'' he said. ''We should
] have done a better job of catching that. It aired one
] time.''

"And we would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for you damn New Yorkers..."

'Daily Show' satirizes Channel 5 for running fake government news