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Just another report of voting machine problems: in Greenwich, Connecticut, when we voted this morning as the polls opened at 6am, only one machine out of 6 was working. The back-up was significant, as there were dozens of voters waiting. Now, this is strange: these are machines that have been in use for more than 20 years. Why, all of a sudden could the poll workers not get them unlocked? Who knows. It was strange - in contrast to the usual pleasant voting experience, people were testy, the poll workers somewhat confused and in a couple of instances, actually rude....

Is the Kerry Discharge Question a Red Herring? On another thread there is a long discussion of the New York Sun story about the Kerry 1978 discharge from the Navy by Thomas Lipscomb. Reviewing the US Code Sections, I am concerned this may be a non-issue story. Before we make a big deal of it we must eliminate an important possible explanation: The US Code Sections cited, 10 USC 1162 and 1163 are no longer in effect, having been repealed in 1994. The replacement sections are 10 USC 12681-12683. The relevant section is 12683, which provides in relevant part: (a)...

President Bush, speaking last night in front of a packed house of campaign donors, celebrities, local relatives and one conspicuous lieutenant governor in Greenwich, defended his record on the economy and the war with Iraq and said he would not rest until terrorism is defeated. In his sixth visit to Connecticut -- and second to Greenwich -- as president, Bush raised $1.1 million for his re-election campaign with the 30-minute stump speech at the Hyatt Regency Greenwich. "The enemies of freedom are not idle and neither are we," said Bush, who was interrupted by applause more than a dozen times....

Idaho regulators investigating complaints involving 12 patients revoked Dr. Brent E. Woodfield's license after concluding that he didn't understand "the basic principles of the practice of medicine." For Dr. Anacleto Capua, accused of misdiagnosing fatal conditions in three patients, refresher medical courses were recommended by Florida authorities concerned about his medical skills. Hitting the books might have helped Dr. Narpat Panwar, who flunked the U.S. medical licensing exam seven times before passing - only to be accused later in New York of botching a childbirth so badly the newborn suffered brain damage.

Our Secularist Democratic Party By Louis Bolce & Gerald De Maio Anyone who has followed American politics over the past decade cannot help but feel some concern about the supposed fundamentalist Christian threat to democratic civility, pluralism, and tolerance. At the very least, the attentive citizen would find it hard not to regard the cultural and political positions of fundamentalists as outside the mainstream, given the volume of media stories that have conveyed this point. At the same time, the media's obsession with politicized fundamentalism distracts public attention from the changing role of religion in political life today. In particular,...

Violence against Jews escalates in France Tensions in Mideast blamed for increase in anti-Semitic activity 02/11/2002 By GREGORY KATZ / The Dallas Morning News CRÉTEIL, France – The call came in the middle of the night. When Rahamim Oliel picked up the phone, he learned that the Ozar Hatorah school he directed – the Jewish place of learning he had cherished for 28 years – had been set ablaze. That same night, vandals tried to deface the only synagogue in Créteil, a grim suburb just south of Paris where the city blocks are studded with cheerless, socialist-style apartment complexes. ...

DEVELOPING HOT: Condit case investigator: I fear for my life. ... MORE... Woman who quizzed teen girls calls him a 'man who'll stop at nothing'... Condit in sex assault on teens in 1983, NATIONAL ENQUIRER set to report next week... Paper tracked down case officer at the time, says the two teen girls were so terrified of Condit that they fled their homes... Also, case file was later stolen... MORE... Nothing follows yet....

Listening to numerous commentators over the past two to three days, it seems clear that the next stage in pro-Gore spin has taken hold.I have heard more and more commentators claiming that if the situation were reversed, the Republicans would be acting as the Gorons are now. The purpose of this is to give legitimacy to the Gore contest.The most clear answer to this is to point out that the Republicans refrained from demanding recounts in other incredibly close states such as Iowa and Wisconsin, where there was clear evidence of fraud and irregularities on behalf of the Democrats. Secondly, ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Attorney General Janet Reno said Thursday she hoped to decide "shortly" whether to name a special counsel to investigate Vice President Al Gore over his 1996 fund-raising activities. Reno declined at her weekly news briefing to say whether she would make her decision before or during next week's Democratic convention in Los Angeles, where Gore is expected to receive his party's presidential nomination. Asked how close she was to making her decision, Reno replied, "I hope to do it shortly." "I don't know the timing of it.... I will make the determination as I think best when ...

SAVANNAH, Ga. -- Your computer may be possessed by a demon, a leading minister warns. "While the Computer Age has ushered in many advances, it has also opened yet another door through which Lucifer and his minions can enter and corrupt men's souls," said the Reverend Jim Peasboro, author of an upcoming book, The Devil in the Machine. Demons are able to possess anything with a brain, from a chicken to a human being. And today's thinking machines have enough space on their hard drives to acommodate Satan or his pals. "Any PC built after 1985 has the storage capacity ...

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