Georgia's voting machines are really scary.

Black Box Voting: Black Box Voting: Who's Lying?.

According to Salon.com, Diebold Election Systems, now denies that a program patch was ever applied to the Georgia voting machines: "We have analyzed that situation and have no indication of that happening at all."

Well okay. But did everyone in the Georgia Secretary of State's Office imagine this last-minute voting program fix?

.....

Michael Barnes, of the Georgia Secretary of State's Elections Office, says he actually helped install the patch himself, and though it was a big job, they "touched" every one of Georgia's 22,000 voting machines before the November 2002 election.

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Diebold Election Systems, the company that has voting machines installed in at least 30 states and five Canadian provinces and is busily selling more voting machines, has still not explained their folder called "rob-georgia," which contained -- well -- voting machine program patches.

Georgia officials do admit that a program fix was administered to all 22,000 unauditable touch-screen voting machines shortly before the November 2002 election.

A folder called "rob-georgia?" A patch installed on 22,000 unauditable voting machines right before a closely decided election? For the first year in decades we have no exit polling? Two major races go against all the leading polls? Republican party members owning the company that applied the patches to the unauditable voting machines? Are we actually voting anymore, or just going through the motions while the voting company decides who are "elected" officials are going to be?

      

95 dead in nightclub fire.

AJC: At least 95 dead in R.I. nightclub fire.

MSNBC.com: At least 95 killed in R.I. club fire.

MSNBC: Great White guitarist missing.

My first thought was, of course, I wouldn't be caught dead at a Great White concert. And I am sure there will be plenty of Great White jokes in the coming weeks. However there does seem to be a problem with nightclubs. Many are unsafe, as this weeks two fateful nights have shown. I worked in the bar business for years while in college. I know how people are packed into clubs, exits are locked so people cannot sneak in, guidelines and code are ignored to save money, and then alcohol is thrown into the mix. I can't say what actually happened, and if more exits might have saved people in RI. I do know that these clubs generate incredible amounts of cash, and little is ever put back into the buildings. This needs to change. If clubs are going to be allowed to operate, the government needs to make sure that there are plenty of open exits. Fire marshalls need to strictly enforce code, and approve any pyro. Club management building owners need to be held jointly accountable for the condition of the building, and any violations of building or fire code.

Update: Among the missing is Great White's guitarist, Ty Longley. Evidently, the club had recently passed a fire inspection. There were no sprinlers because a building that size in not required to have them in that location. They had exits and was not overcrowded, but everybody tried to get out of the building through the front door, unaware of fire exits. The club did not have a permit for pyrotechnics. Witnesses are saying that the club was engulfed within 3 minutes, and the crowd was slow to get out because they thought the fire was part of the act.

Another Update: NPR  was reporting that the club management said Great White did not have permission to use pyro. Great White has said they did have permission.

Tbogg on the tragedy:

Yeah. Great White.

Let your inner music critic take it from there.....

And one of his readers:

When the clock radio woke me up this morning, the first story was about this fire. And the first thing that came to mind after the initial shock of two nightclub disasters in one week was "Who knew there were still 54 Great White fans?"

      

80 Freepers unite as counter protest to millions!

Betty Bowers: Tens of Bush Supporters Take To the Streets In Support of the President .

"It is clear to me that all of those peaceniks are just damned communists," observed Rhonda Jones on a chilly Columbia, Missouri street corner. "Because that's what communists are always doing – protesting. Just look at those folks in Russia and Chinaland. Protesting their governments all the time. Not a bit of gratitude in any of them. You sort of expect that from filthy foreigners, but here in America, we are a democracy and we don't go in for that type of trouble making and back talk. If you've got a problem with our country's government, then you can exercise your freedom as a American and buy an ticket on Delta and get your ass the Hell out of Dodge."

Just go read the damn thing. Some scary pictures of what Freepers look like.