kiss my bitter ass: "Howard Dean came into the restaurant where I wait tables in Burlington, Vermont. He was very laid-back, not high maintenence at all. He tipped well, 20%+, not too high, but that's okay because I don't think he is personally very rich and the fact he was so nice made up for it. Anyway, he acted like just a regular guy in Burlington, Vermont, very easy to wait on, no fuss. He definately didn' t expect to be treated any differently because he's running for President. I thought he was pretty cool. "

Should I be impressed because a bitter waitress speaks well of him, or cynical that the post is a plant by a hip PR flack poser?

The Goretti girls take 'flasher': "Call it 'Girls Gone Wild,' South Philly-style.

"Three former victims recognized the suspect - who had been preying on the girls since Sept. 14 - and chased him down. About 20 Goretti students soon followed and they managed to wrestle him to the ground until Philly cops arrived, police spokesman William Colarulo said last night."

Despite their behavior, the article insists on referring to them as victims. To my eye, they pretty much refused to be victims. You go girls.

Get PLAY: NU gets good vibrations: "I don't own a vibrator. But I think I might be the only girl who doesn't. "

She blames "Sex and the City" and feigns surprise, but I think we should take up a collection.

Cajun Turducken: "What's a turducken? It's a turkey, stuffed with a duck, stuffed with a chicken. Plus lots of Cajun dressings and seasonings."

I discovered Turducken when I was looking for an antidote to Tofurkey.

Funkins - Carvable Pumpkins!: "Fun-Kins® are made of a low density, flame resistant, polyurethane foam. The consistency of the foam is similar to a real pumpkin shell.

"The foam is tinted orange inside and out to give your Fun-Kin® a real glow when lit."

Fake foam pumpkins. Whatever happened to "grows on trees"?

Copyright officials rule against Lexmark: "Lexmark International, the world's second-largest printer maker, had charged that SCC violated the act by making components for use in remanufactured laser printer toner cartridges. Among the components is a chip that mimics the behaviour of one made by Lexmark.

The ruling says that section 1201 of the DMCA allows aftermarket companies to develop software for the purpose of remanufacturing toner cartridges and printers."

Good. One problem fixed, many others remain. Toner cartridges down -- garage doors, the MPAA and the RIAA to go.

Hernando: Food robber takes all but the bread: "The gunman may have thought he was stealing Arby's night deposit when he made off with an employee's dinner."

Ahhh... the old "dine and dash", or is that dash and dine...?

Twenty-twenty-twenty-four hours to go: "Kiefer Sutherland must be exhausted. Over the course of two days, his character on Fox’s “24,” counter-terrorism expert Jack Bauer, has experienced more heartbreak, death, loss and explosions than all the other people in Los Angeles combined. And he’s done it all without stopping to use the bathroom."

Well, not really. Jack was seen at a urinal in S2 while Mason struggled with radiation sickness. Time will tell whether S3 suffers from the same flaws as S1 or S2. Mandy and the cougar top my wish list for recurring characters...

Hollywood takes anti-piracy message to school: "But some copyright law experts aren't pleased that the MPAA is the only sponsor for such classroom discussions. They worry that the lesson plans don't address "fair use'' constitutional protections for digital copying for personal or educational use.

"This is really sounding like Soviet-style education. First they're indoctrinating the students and then having students indoctrinate their peers,'' said Wendy Seltzer, a lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "The takeaway message has got to be more nuanced. Copyright is a complicated subject.''"

I do not like the idea of corporate interests getting access to students for one-sided propaganda campaigns. However, at $1 to reach 9 students, it's a real bargain for the MPAA. From the article, though, it appears the students are largely not buying it. Good.

Afghan beauty trades burka for bikini: "THE FIRST AFGHAN entrant in an international beauty contest for 30 years, and the first since the fall of the hard-line Islamic Taliban government in 2001, joined more than 50 other women at a posh hotel in the Philippine capital this week to fight it out for the Miss Earth title."

The only other Miss Afghanistan was Zohra Daoud, who joined the Miss Universe contest in 1972. That was 7 years before Vida Samadzai was born. Another vote for Democracy, Whiskey, Sexy.

White faces charges for asking minor for sex: "Reverend Stephen White, infamous for preaching against homosexuality and sexual promiscuity at Yale and other college campuses, now faces charges that he solicited sex from a teenage boy in a Philadelphia suburb."

Today's lesson in hyprocrisy. Fred Phelps, are you listening?

Judge rejects U.S. request to search for, delete classified records: "The Justice Department says it may renew an extraordinary request to let the FBI conduct a search-and-destroy mission on any computers harboring classified information about a 1980s case that temporarily became public in a lawsuit. A federal judge previously rejected the idea.

"The initial request from federal prosecutors in Sacramento, Calif., was considered highly unusual by legal experts because it did not specify which computers the government believed might contain the classified information or how agents would retrieve and destroy information already made public."

"U.S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. agreed with the government's request to remove the classified documents from the court file and substitute sanitized versions. But in his decision last week, Burrell rejected as "unsupported by authority" the government's broader request to seek out and delete any electronic copies that might have been downloaded onto others' computers before they were effectively sealed."

We won't say what, we won't say who, and we won't say where -- can we go now?

Thankfully, at least for now, you can see what all the fuss is over. The California First Amendment Coalition (CFAC) has made the sealed documents available on their web site. Makes you wonder why no specifics were given, unless asking for a warrant against the California First Amendment Coalition was something they didn't want publicized. The two documents are available (for now) here and here.

Georgia runs from the MATRIX: "'The State of Georgia will not transfer any additional information to the company responsible for the MATRIX project,' said Governor Perdue. 'I have held serious concerns about the privacy issues involved with this project all along, and have decided it is in the best interest of the people of Georgia that our state have no further participation in the MATRIX pilot project.

'The criminal, prison, and sexual predator information previously submitted will remain part of the database. This information is relevant to the crime fighting purpose of the pilot project, but personal information of law-abiding citizens is not. I feel today's decision reflects a proper balance between fighting crime and respecting the right to privacy.' "

Cost was also cited as a reason for pulling out. At least they're doing the right thing, if partially for the wrong reason. The new strategy appears to be to shift the interdicted DARPA projects down to the state level under the auspices of a private contractor, Florida-based Seisint. Yes, you've heard that name before...

Rumsfeld memo on Iraq, Afghanistan: "It is not possible to change DoD fast enough to successfully fight the global war on terror; an alternative might be to try to fashion a new institution, either within DoD or elsewhere -- one that seamlessly focuses the capabilities of several departments and agencies on this key problem."

Not to harp on the Rumsfeld thing, but here is the complete text of the memo referenced below. Fuel for the "shadow government" fire...

Election boils down to a culture war: "The culture war between the Red and Blue Nations has erupted again — big time — and will last until Election Day next year. Front lines are all over, from the Senate to the Pentagon to Florida to the Virginia suburbs where, at the Bush-Cheney ’04 headquarters, they are blunt about the shape of the battle. “The country’s split 50-50 again,” a top aide told me, “just as it was in 2000.” Translation: They can’t win re-election by wooing the (mostly coastal) Blue states, but only by firing up (mostly non-coastal) Reds."

To my eye, Howard Fineman presents some of the most lucid and insightful political reporting, and he does it in an extremely accessible way. Yes, we're still fighting the "culture wars", and we will be for years. Remember, there are no winners in war, except those making the weapons. Until we have a leader who insists on doing the right thing, not the politically expedient thing, we're screwed.

There's hope. Take Howard Dean (please). In Vermont, he signed civil unions legislation despite popular opinion running 70% against. When he ran for re-election, he ran on the issue, doing what many considered politically suicidal. He was able to convince a substantial majority to vote for him, saying that it was the right thing to do, and explaining that any other strategy would eventually legitimize gay marriage. If the state doesn't offer equal rights outside of marriage, the courts will inevitably sanction gay marriage. His approach allowed the religious issues to remain religious issues, while addressing the underlying civil rights issues. This is how you avoid the culture wars.

The price of liberty is tolerance. We are made stronger by our differences, by our tolerance of those different than we are, and by our acceptance that those with opposing views must be equally protected. We are made weaker by favoring special interests, yielding to partisan self-interest over what's good for the country, and by attempts to legislate morality.

Rumsfeld questions war on terrorism: "'Today, we lack metrics to know if we are winning or losing the global war on terror,' Rumsfeld wrote. 'Are we capturing, killing or deterring and dissuading more terrorists every day than the madrassas and the radical clerics are recruiting, training and deploying against us?'

'It is not possible to change DoD fast enough to successfully fight the global war on terror,' Rumsfeld wrote. 'An alternative might be to try to fashion a new institution, either within DoD or elsewhere -- one that seamlessly focuses the capabilities of several departments and agencies on this key problem.'

'The U.S. is putting relatively little effort into a long-range plan, but we are putting a great deal of effort into trying to stop terrorists,' Rumsfeld wrote. 'The cost-benefit ratio is against us! Our cost is billions against the terrorists' costs of millions.' "

Let's review. We are fighting an open-ended war against an invisible enemy with no clearly defined way to tell if we are winning. Rumsfeld now openly admits that. His solution? To create a new "institution" that integrates several agencies to accomplish this. We've already pulled elements of too many agencies into Homeland Security, now Rumsfeld is suggesting that we set up a military equivalent.

When the "solution" is to cannibalize civilian agencies to create the Department of Homeland Security, then to cannibalize military agencies to create an equivalent -- people should be asking for a better definition of the problem. The "solution" resembles a coup as much as a rational response to terrorism. Few administrations have ever gone so far in establishing their own security apparatus, and if pursued, I believe the military agency Rumsfeld advocates would be unprecedented. With extremely limited legislative oversight, and secrecy laws that exclude most judicial oversight, it is appropriate to ask what other uses these agencies might have, beyond their stated purposes. bin Laden said that his true victory would be in America turning itself into a police state in reaction to terrorist attack -- is this not what we are witnessing?

Jeremiah Akin's observations about Riverside County's Logic & Accuracy testing: "I recently took part in the Riverside County Logic and Accuracy Testing Board that met on 9 September 2003. This board was put together to observe testing of the touchscreen voting system that Riverside County uses.

There were several problems I saw with the running of the test. Among them were:

-- People signed a form stating that they had witnessed the test and had verified the results, before the test was completed.

-- The test was run in a pre-election mode of the vote counting software. No test was run on the software while it was in the configuration that it would be in on election day.

-- The observation board was given a seriously misleading description of the make up of the voting system that Riverside County uses. Sequoia Voting Systems, the manufacturer of the touchscreen systems, also gives a very misleading description of their products on their website and in their brochures. "

Kudos to Peace and Freedom Party for getting someone who is technically qualified onto the Logic and Accuracy Testing Board. Boos to the board for rubber-stamping the system before a flawed testing procedure was even completed.

Links to the Salon interview and the full report (.pdf) fill in many additional details.

Man Stabs Lectern at Riverside Meeting: "Police arrested a man who pulled out a pocketknife when he appeared before the Riverside City Council on Tuesday night and stabbed the speaker's lectern to illustrate what he considered lax security at City Hall.

The incident appeared to unnerve council members, some of whom were wounded five years ago this month when a gunman walked into City Hall and opened fire. Seven people were injured in that shooting."

You'd think that after a shooting, they'd have improved security. Instead, they'll punish the citizen who points out that they're still vulnerable.

How do you handle people who are outraged at lax security, and demonstrate its shortcomings? There's a college student in court this week for sneaking prohibited items onto planes after warning the airlines and TSA that their security was ineffective and that he would demonstrate this. Sadly, he'll probably go to jail. Rather than improve the system, punish those who illustrate its weaknesses.

Hardware Analysis - How NOT to install computer hardware -: "Well, for the sake of these retailers as well as those having to buy these opened boxes, this article covers the basics of how NOT to install newly purchased hardware. Please give it a good read and take the advice to heart. And keep in mind that it is only fair to keep the hardware you break, don't return it because of your own mistake to not properly install it. Furthermore, use these instructions at your own risk, we take NO responsibility whatsoever and do take the above with a grain of salt, we consider ourselves among the above mentioned enthusiasts too."

Anyone who has worked in computer service should recognize most of these, especially if they've dealt with personal systems. They omit the common tricks of using liquids (including the convenient "cup holder" features", foreign objects, and debris. I like reversing all the fans, coating all the internals with spray adhesive, and setting it right behind my table saw -- produces a nice coating of sawdust on everything inside...

Caucasian Club founder decides to leave school: "'On one level, it is understandable that when white students see other students celebrating their cultures and participating in activities that recognize their backgrounds, like Cinco de Mayo or the Chinese New Year's Parade, those students might feel some degree of resentment. They wonder if they, too, have an ethnicity,' Noguera said. 'But almost everything else, though it's not named as a celebration of white people and white culture, is just that. Most of U.S. history glorifies the experience of individuals and groups of people who are white. That is the norm.' "

I've always wondered why it's acceptable to have minority clubs but not majority clubs. I've also wondered who'd show up for the "white" club -- enough to make me think it might not be such a good idea. But if you can found a Latino club without being a racist, why can't you found a caucasian club? The lesson is that overt advocacy of culture related to race is only acceptable if your race is in the minority, otherwise, you'll be perceived as a racist.