] NEW DELHI, India. Secretary of State Colin Powell
] said here Tuesday that outsourcing U.S. companies
] hiring workers abroad to take the place of U.S. employees
] is "a reality of the 21st century," but that India
] should do more to offset the loss of U.S. jobs by opening
] its market to American goods.

TRANSLATION - "Its an election year and I'm just anoteer stooge trying to drum up the black vote for the GOP - just like I did back in 2000. This is a desperate plea to refrain from taking more votes from my boss till after November." -LB

Powell prods India on outsourcing

] In June 2003, I wrote something about instant messaging
] that included the words "question" and "answerer". In
] November of that year, a young girl trying to finish her
] homework searched for "instant message question
] answerer", found the piece I had written, and IM'd me,
] looking for some answers.

Stupid People

The administration is now trying to say that they didn't say that Iraq posed an immediate threat to us...

Unfortunately, since they don't have their history re-writers completely in place, they're getting called on it.

Ha.

MoveOn.org: Democracy in Action

] City officials were so concerned about the potentially
] dangerous properties of dihydrogen monoxide that they
] considered banning foam cups after they learned the
] chemical was used in their production.
]
] Then they learned that dihydrogen monoxide - H2O for
] short - is the scientific term for water.

Nice....

sacbee.com -- AP State Wire News -- City falls victim to Internet hoax, considers banning items made with water

Elonka wrote:
] If people are going to blame Bush for everything that goes
] wrong, then I believe that they should also give him credit
] for some of the things that go *right*.

Sure. Just as soon as the Republicans decide to stop blaming Clinton for everything gone wrong under the sun during and after his presidency. There was good AS WELL AS BAD under Clinton; under EVERY president. Its partisan politics my dear - ANY way you slice it.

] And say what you
] will, we haven't had another 9/11 while on his watch.

Yea, well cross your fingers, knock on wood, grab a horse shoe, and pick all the 4 leaf clovers you can find. al Qaeda has shown they are calculated and patient in their attack plans. Another major attack WILL happen again - just as the department of homland security has repeatedly warned us. Only a matter of time.

If it doesn't happen on Bushs watch, its because he got lucky - not because he is some great leader. -LB

RE: Furor over Bush's 9/11 ad

ryan is the supernicety wrote:
] ] Senate bill 500, sponsored by conservative Republicans
] ] and members of the Green Party and libertarians, would
] ] add printers to Georgia’s 26,000 computerized voting
] ] booths so that officials have the ability to review any
] ] election.
] ]
] ] "What Senate bill 500 does is say there ought to be a
] ] paper trail. There ought to be a ballot like we did
] ] before that is cast for every single individual, so that
] ] if there's a problem or a question there's a check," said
] ] state Senator Tom Price (R-Roswell).
]
] Ryan -- we should find a way to support this...

thank GOD. Yea it WOULD be kinda nice to be able to review and verify the results of something trivial like an ELECTION OF PUBLIC OFFICIALS, wouldn't it? :)

I'm actually amazed the electronic voting machines were approved without any sort of checks and balances. No one was smart / brave enought to ask the tough questions... "what if the system crashes or is hacked? how can you verify how people voted?" -LB

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

] Georgia (AP) -- A Georgia woman who tried to use a fake
] $1 million bill to buy $1,675 worth of merchandise at
] Wal-Mart was arrested, and police later found two more of
] the bills in her purse.
]
] The U.S. Treasury does not make $1 million bills, but
] similar-looking currency is sold in some souvenir shops.
] The fake bill featured a picture of the Statue of
] Liberty, police said.
]
] "It looks real, but of course there's nothing real about
] this," said Stacey Cotton, police chief in Covington,
] about 30 miles southeast of Atlanta. "People do crazy
] things all the time."
]
] A store clerk immediately noticed the bill was fake when
] 35-year-old Alice Regina Pike handed it to her on Friday,
] Cotton said.
]
] Pike then tried to use two gift cards worth only $2.32 to
] buy the merchandise, but when that did not work she again
] asked to cash the $1 million bill, Cotton said. The store
] then called police.
]
] Pike was jailed on forgery charges. A woman who answered
] the phone at the jail said she did not know if Pike has a
] lawyer.

I'd have said "I'm sorry, I don't have change for any bill over $100,000. You'll need to go pick out some more merchandise..." till the cops arrived. -LB

$1 million bill leads to arrest

] Citing problems in last week's primary election, two
] leading senators Thursday asked the secretary of state to
] decertify the use of touch-screen voting systems for the
] upcoming November election.
]
] "California has a lemon law which protects consumers if
] they buy an automobile that doesn't work. So far,
] electronic voting in California is a lemon. It needs to
] be fixed," said Sen. Ross Johnson, R-Irvine.
]
] Electronic voting machines have been controversial almost
] since their invention. Some computer scientists say the
] systems leave elections vulnerable to hackers, while
] other critics say that because most electronic voting
] terminals do not produce paper records, there's no way to
] ensure accurate recounts.
]
] There's also a concern that system problems in California
] could lead to voter confusion like that surrounding the
] 2000 presidential election in Florida.
]
] In the March 2 statewide election, where 14 counties used
] touch-screen voting systems, the number of system
] failures was "alarming," said Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland.

Lets hope this starts a domino effect trend into other states. -LB

USATODAY.com - Calif. senators want decertification of e-vote systems

] MADRID, Spain - (KRT) - In a stunning upset triggered by
] last week's terror attacks, Spanish voters on Sunday
] dumped the nation's ruling party, which has been a
] staunch supporter of the United States in the war in
] Iraq.

Something about the timing of this smells funny...

KansasCity.com - The Kansas City Star, breaking local news, sports, entertainment, business

] On Sunday, Putin was helped by overwhelmingly positive
] coverage on Russia's state-controlled nationwide
] television stations, giving his competitors little
] opportunity to reach voters.
]
]
] Such media coverage drew criticism from Putin's
] opponents, international observers and U.S. officials,
] who said it gave the Russian president an unfair
] advantage.
]
]
] "You've got to let candidates have all access to the
] media that the president has," U.S. Secretary of State
] Colin Powell told "Fox News Sunday."
]
]
] "It's not entirely clear to me why they go out of their
] way to keep opposition candidates from fully
] participating in the electoral process," said Powell, who
] added that this does not mean there is yet cause to worry
] that democracy in Russia is crumbling.
]
]
] Putin's campaign manager, Dmitry Kozak, shot back on
] Sunday that democracy in the United States is far from
] perfect.

Touché.

Putin's victory criticized by foes