] 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.

[ holy fuck! i mean, i wasn't about to start strolling around downtown at 1 am, but i never felt like we were in such a bad position... i'm truly amazed. -k]

Atlanta,Georgia,11Alive,ATLANTA,News,Weather,Doppler,sports,events

] The device casts the lenses by applying pressure and
] constraints to a programmable membrane, which becomes the
] mold surface when under pressure.

[ Very very cool. -k]

MIT STUDENT INVENTOR SEES CLEAR FUTURE IN ‘DESKTOP PRINTER’ FOR LOW-COST EYEGLASS LENSES

] But suddenly, as of Friday, North Dakota's power-plant
] emissions have been deemed acceptable by the Bush EPA --
] despite the fact that no significant efforts have been
] made to reduce pollution in the state.

[ awesome! worst. president. ever. -k]

North Dakota 'reduces' pollution by measuring it differently

] Monday the New Mexico House of Representatives passed a
] bill that would require every car sold in the state to
] have an ignition interlock. This device is essentially a
] breath analyzer that prevents the car from being started
] if the driver is drunk. The bill would require that every
] new car sold be equipped with an ignition interlock by
] 2008 and every used car by 2009. Ignition interlocks
] require a breath test, which takes 30 seconds to
] complete, to start the car as well as random 'rolling
] retests' to discourage others from taking the test for
] you. These rolling retests require the driver to take the
] test as the car is moving. If the driver fails a retest,
] the horn sounds and the lights flash until the car is
] turned off.

[ Jesus. Fuck that. Sounds like a bunch of bullshit, and expense, for the millions of us who've never driven while even slightly drunk. I'm gonna be pissed if my car is $500 more expensive because there are a bunch of fucktards in this country that can't get it through their fucking heads that driving drunk is a fucking bad idea. This country claims to be founded on a distrust of government and a policy of minimal government invasiveness, and yet everyday someone is all about abdicating their responsibility to parent or drink responsibly or whatever in favor of mandating unwieldy controls. Completely absurd. -k]

Slashdot | An Ignition Interlock In Every Car?

] I work at a well known flower shop, and one day a gentleman
] came in whose Mother had just passed. He ordered a casket
] spray (flowers on the casket) --a beautiful arrangement
] of 5 dozen pink roses. I asked him if he'd like a script
] on it (the ribbon with the lettering) to say something
] like "Dear Mom" or "Beloved Mother" or something similar
] to that. He thought for a moment, and then said, "Yeah.
] Yeah, I do...uh, can you make it say 'First Class
] B#*@h?'".

Woo-hoo! More Etiquette! This is etiquettehell.com and it will simultaneously make you never want to get married, attend a ceremony, work in an office, attend an office party, or basically celebrate anything or have any friends. Unless, of course, you get to bitch to an international forum. Burn, hours, burn.

[ heh... yeah, there's a lot of stupid ceremony we humans have built up over the years. On the other hand, there's a lot of people lacking even common decency, much less etiquette. -k]

Etiquette Hell

] this piece by Richard Florida in the
] Washington Monthly, which explains how the Bush
] administration's anti-scientism (among other things)
] threatens our economic health.

very interesting. goto http://www.ucsusa.org/global_environment/rsi/index.cfm to read about the scientist's movement to stop the distortion of science by the bush admin....

[ there was a brief discussion of this as pertains to stem cell research the other day on our blog... aside from being deadly to the millions of current and future patients that stem cell therapy could help, the US is gonna miss out on a lot of the economic windfall that these therapies will generate, all out of a misguided, (IMO) hyper-religious, ideological stance.

It's clearly not limited to stem cells... -k]

TAPPED: Conservative Lysenkoism, Continued.

Decius wrote:
] Most leftist don't understand that the right is poor.

[ I disagree. The Right *is* poor (although it may be more accurate to say that the poor are *Right* given that the policy makers tend to have money)... leftists know that, but too many still think, like M. Villepin, that the unwashed masses, so to speak, respect education, erudition, fine talk and logical argument. They don't. They simply don't. They act with instinct, based on Image, and generally dismiss anyone who *appears* pedantic or superior. I've just demolished my ability to ever run for office because the previous statement is so elitist that any leak of it would convince people that i don't respect "regular people". In fact, if "regular" means "willfully ignorant" then they'd be correct, i don't respect them, but the Right doesn't either, at least no further than the rancher respects his cattle -- they're just devious enough not to say so out loud. The Right has managed to put forward a commoners face, while the bastards get rich off the populace they consistently hoodwink. The left gets all huffed about the illogic and hypocracy, but manage to convince no one because they can't control the image.

There's a lot to be said about framing the issues too, as someone said on NPR the other evening -- the right is quite good at making it sound as if your (leftist) position is atrocious (see, for example, "Death Tax", "Pro-Life" and "War on Drugs"). This is another major battle we need to start winning. -k]

RE: The America will vote for Bush

] Ardent Atheistic Darwinist Richard Dawkins even wrote a
] book1 about how to spread ideology as a type of
] "biological weapon" using jingles and pop-culture.

[ HA! They're talking about memetics! There are some seriously insane people out there man. Their homepage has the baby jesus crying... FUCKING LITERALLY! GO THERE! If this is a hoax, it's the best one i've seen in a while... it's really, stunningly absurd. -k]

OBJECTIVE: Creation Education: Evolutionism Propaganda

] 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?

[ I think it's mostly a media induced bubble that causes the 12% difference, but i think it's realistic that Kerry is favored over Bush as of now. If you look at the approval ratings right now, the very best (for Bush) shows him with a 58/40 Approve/Disapprove... and that's ABC/WP's consistently higher approval numbers. The average i took over 11 polls puts the margin around 9%, with an average of 5% non-commitals. That means Bush is easily in crossover territory given the MOE's. Every one of those polls shows his numbers going DOWN too, so we could be seeing a majority disapproval before long (Zogby, admitedly the most left-leaning of the polls, shows 49/50 right now).

I realize polls can't be the be-all end-all, but i think the bubble is sustainable as long as dems are smart and hammer away on the most critical and indefensible things Bush (and his administration) has done, and quickly move past blustery non-issues. I think W is going to have a very hard time defending his economic stances, and that's where we need to press.

I especially can't wait to see a campaign ad with Bush's "I'm a uniter, not a divider!" line, followed by a few of the choicest examples of just how divided this nation is right now. We must demolish him. -k]

USATODAY.com - Top Democrats lead Bush in poll

] 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.

[ This is a really good look at some major failings among the liberal left... the more i read and see, the more obvious it is to me just how much the left has fallen down on the job in this country. It's like we'd prefer to be martyrs, the righteous paragons of Truth, tormented by the variform demons of our movement -- the uneducated blue collar, the vicious and sneaky republican, the unjust and unethical Media. We'd prefer to beat our breasts and make a show than to modify our tactics, tone down the righteousness, and convince people to see things our way. Clearly the rebpublicans are good at this -- as this article indicates, they've managed to make the richest, most priviledged people on earth *appear* to be populist, the friendly guy-next-door who has your interests at heart, Mr and Mrs MiddleAmerica. As many liberal commentators have noted recently, it's time to steal that page of the republican book, as much as it may offend our sense of self-righteousness, and begin to reverse course. I don't have the answer, but i'm damn sure gonna keep looking. -k]

The America will vote for Bush