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Cops and public officials are given greater lenience in violations of laws when they are performing their jobs. It's even worse with cops because you can't vote them out of office. Even you elected officials do not have the authority to directly fire them.

A few links:

Blagojevich judge, attorney clash; jury sent home
Judge accused of fixing ticket steps down
Brunton resigns as Macoupin County associate judge
Chicago alderman pleads guilty in corruption case
State trooper who caused deadly wreck resigns
Assistant state's attorney resigns after mishandling case
Our Opinion: Boone must resign as coroner
Galesburg police officer facing felony charges
Grandview leader plans to fire police chief

Cops and public officials are given greater lenience in violations of laws when they are performing their jobs. It's even worse with cops because you can't vote them out of office. Even you elected officials do not have the authority to directly fire them.

A few links:

Blagojevich judge, attorney clash; jury sent home
Judge accused of fixing ticket steps down
Brunton resigns as Macoupin County associate judge
Chicago alderman pleads guilty in corruption case
State trooper who caused deadly wreck resigns
Assistant state's attorney resigns after mishandling case
Our Opinion: Boone must resign as coroner
Galesburg police officer facing felony charges
Grandview leader plans to fire police chief

Cops and public officials are given greater lenience in violations of laws when they are performing their jobs. It's even worse with cops because you can't vote them out of office. Even you elected officials do not have the authority to directly fire them.

A few links:

Blagojevich judge, attorney clash; jury sent home
Judge accused of fixing ticket steps down
Brunton resigns as Macoupin County associate judge
Chicago alderman pleads guilty in corruption case
State trooper who caused deadly wreck resigns
Assistant state's attorney resigns after mishandling case
Our Opinion: Boone must resign as coroner
Galesburg police officer facing felony charges
Grandview leader plans to fire police chief

I guess I should be proud of my local paper. The non syndicated stories (non-AP, non-UPI, etc) are published under a Creative Commons license, so when I link and cut and paste from it for my slashdot journals (example here), I don't have to fear a lawsuit.

Their articles' links disappear after a set time, and you have to pay for archived content. Doesn't seem unfair to me.

Oddly, there are two papers in town; the daily SJ-R linked above, and the weekly Illinois Times. The SJ-R with its GPL costs seventy five cents for a paper copy, while the IT is free for both paper and web, but it publishes with a standard copyright notice.

Odd.

It is still better an honest incompetent than an outright criminal in charge. I'm not so sure about that. I'd rather have a competent judge who fixes traffic tickets for his friends than an incompetent one. Of course, worse is one who is both crooked and incompetent.

Well, there are smaller misbehaviours and bigger things. To fix traffic tickets for friends is of course a crime, but it would be difficult to consider it a major crime (even though it gives a very bad example, and can ruin the trust between citizen and institutions). But a prime minister with ties to the mafia, that is totally unacceptable.

Roberto

It is still better an honest incompetent than an outright criminal in charge.

I'm not so sure about that. I'd rather have a competent judge who fixes traffic tickets for his friends than an incompetent one. Of course, worse is one who is both crooked and incompetent.

Too bad you are missing more recent data (which shows Texas crime rates decreasing rapidly, as a greater and greater share of the population gets permits, while New York's are spiking upwards), and that data is not corrected for population growth. Texas is growing, while New York is stagnating, and now losing population, IIRC.

An article with evidence pointing both ways: http://www.sj-r.com/carousel/x1526463189/Concealed-carry-laws-Experts-debate-impact

No, Mr. Burns changed his name to Todd Renfrow (pictured at linked article) and still runs Springfield's power plant. From the linked newspaper story about CWLP:

Several aldermen, including Ward 8 Ald. Kris Theilen and Ward 2 Ald. Gail Simpson, encouraged CWLP general manager Todd Renfrow to find a way to keep the beach open -- even if only during the hottest weeks of the summer. Renfrow said he would look into it.

The government never makes money
Yes, they do. Fees? Penalties? Taxes? It's time for the "Government is the root of all inefficiency" to die.

My power company is owned by the city government, and it turns a profit. It also has the lowest rates in the state, and the most dependable electricity. Its customer service is stellar. If the customer service or dependability drops, or if rates rise too much, it's guaranteed to cost the Mayor the next election.

It doesn't hurt that Mr. Burns runs CWLP.

The government never makes money
Yes, they do. Fees? Penalties? Taxes? It's time for the "Government is the root of all inefficiency" to die.

My power company is owned by the city government, and it turns a profit. It also has the lowest rates in the state, and the most dependable electricity. Its customer service is stellar. If the customer service or dependability drops, or if rates rise too much, it's guaranteed to cost the Mayor the next election.

It doesn't hurt that Mr. Burns runs CWLP.

You didn't specify which city had which population, I'm assuming Atlanta is the one with 8.5 million people. However, Springfield, Il has a population of 110,000 (1/5th of the smaller of your two compared cities) and had a total of seven murders last year. That's 18 times fewer murders than either city you mentioned.

Of those seven, most were from firearms, but other murder weapons were a wrench, a table leg, and an oxygen tank. Yes, this is the city where Alderman Simpson lives.

I went to college in Edwardsville in the late seventies. As to the tornado, the local paper has a retrospective about it with a pretty good picture of its devastation.

Felber's is a little redneck bar in the ghetto, on 15th street.

* I think Cook County may be the only county in the country that is legally permitted to levy its own sales tax, but I'm not sure.

No, Sangamon County has a sales tax as well. Here in Springfield there's the state sales tax, county sales tax, and city sales tax. Oddly, when I buy a $.99 loaf of bread at County market, it comes to an even dollar, so I guess food isn't taxed at the state or city level (not sure why though).

That is, of course, one potential set of jurisdictions for one potential customer. Now multiply that ridiculous level of legal complexity for every possible combination of city, county and state that are applicable and you're quickly arriving at a system of rather ridiculous proportion.

That's what computers are for.

Worthwhile? Not in my mind.

Well, I don't like paying taxes either, but I'd say if they're going to those lengths to dodge taxes and the various governments are fighting so hard to collect them, maybe it is worthwile. I'd rather pay income tax than sales tax, and IMO property tax is downright evil. I knew an elderly couple about 20 years ago who had paid off their house, but its valuation rose so mch that they lost the house over the taxes.

Once I've paid for something it should be mine; nobody should be able to collect any more money for it.

Chalk it up to this town being full of cartoon characters, but the local paper has as many if not more assaults by woman as by men. Of course, boys get better educational opportunities than girls: Local teen semifinalist for big science prize... and hey, she's cute!

Chalk it up to this town being full of cartoon characters, but the local paper has as many if not more assaults by woman as by men. Of course, boys get better educational opportunities than girls: Local teen semifinalist for big science prize... and hey, she's cute!

You're FOR the police using fishing expeditions? That use to be considered very unamerican. Don't investigate me unless you have reason to believe that I've committed a crime!

If some slashdotter were to call the FBI because of my journals, telling them tales of drugs and prostitution, I hardly think that what may or may not be fiction (some have tried to guess, some have said they don't want to know) should lead to an investigation.

Even photos or movies of what appears to be criminal activity. Ever see a Cheech and Chong movie? Think that was real dope they were smoking? Nope, they've stated that they tried using real pot on the very first day of shooting, but they got too stoned to actually make a movie. That's not real dope they're smoking (let alone dogshit or a cockroach).

Ever see The Departed? You really think Martin Sheen got thrown out of a window? Or than any of those people were actually shot?

This is not only a waste of tax money, but an infringement of my rights.

Happens all the time 1 2 3.

Most crimes go unsolved, whether it's your bike, someone breaking into your house, even murder. Many "solved" crimes are unsolved; Former Illinois Governor (now Federal prisoner) George Ryan stopped the death penalty in Illinois when it was found that half the men on Illinois' death row were innocent -- the real killers were (and are) still free.

Note the last line in this news story and many others: "No arrests were made immediately following the attacks." Ther still haven't been any arrests.

The rich and the corporations (your words) don't give a rat's ass that the unwashed masses go online and argue pointlessly without logic, grammar, basic literacy, or willingness to lose an argument.

Of course not, but they do care about the unwashed masses going online and arguing with logic, grammar, basic literacy, and common sense the side of the story that the corporatti doesn't want you to hear. Not everyone on the internet is an illiterate irrational dufus, even though sometimes it seems they are.

Public opinion doesn't merit airtime.

Then corporate opinion doesn't either.

Here's an example of corporate news (Copely Press; your local paper may be owned by the same company) that's utterly and completely illogical and irrational. It says that you should start Christmas shopping earlier this year because stores are going to sell out your favorite gifts. Doesn't make any sense at all in an incredibly bad economy with double digit unemployment, and another story in the same newspaper is saying it's going to be harder to get a part time job than in other years because stores aren't hiring.

If people had anything of use to say in online forums, they wouldn't be arguing about it with strangers on the internet. They would be finding a way to monetize their ideas.

Not everyone is a money-worshiping greedhead. Hell, I can point to comments in my slashdot journals begging me to publish. Some of us value other things far more than the tool we call "money". As long as I have a house, a car, food, drink, and female company I'm happy. IMO only a fool worships a tool.

The trapped citizens damage the dome over time and , Cargill, not wanting news of what he has done to become widespread, plans to destroy Springfield. - Your link

Cargill is a meat packing plant about fifty miles from Springfield (Image shows the dome collapsing). Oh, Here's a picture of Mayour Quim... er, Davlin. Here's a picture of Mr. Burn... er, I mean, Renfrow.

We'd rather have good than crappy, but the power companies would rather spend on executive bonuses than on good security.

Or infrastructure, customer service, repairs, or anything else. Ameren lays off 50, gives outs to 100 more

Amerin already has the highest rates and poorest service than any other company in Illinois. Luckily for me Springfield's power company is owned by the city. We have the lowest electric rates and best dependability in the state.

In March 2006 two strong F2 tornados hit here (almost F3) and I was without power for a week. A single F1 hit the East St Louis area that June, and they were without power for a month.

If that's socialism, I say bring it on! There is no free market in utilities, and IMO they should all be publically owned like CWLP.

So, we go from paying $20-$50 to fill a tank with gas to $100-$200 to charge the batteries, because the increased draw on the electric grid will increase the price of electricity by a HUGE amount.

Electricity can be generated by renewable resources, some of which the energy itself is free -- hydro, solar, wind. We're running out of oil; an estimate I saw last night said the pessimists say we're going to peak in twenty years, the optimists say forty before oil prices start skyrocketing. Be prepared for breathtakingly enormous price increases for oil-based products in the next couple of decades.

there are times of the year where there is concern about the supply of electricity in some parts of the country

I've never lived anywhere that there were concerns about suply. California's problems a few years ago were caused by bad deregulation that let sociopaths get richer by manipulating the market. That wasn't a fault of the economy, it was the fault of California's abysmal legislation and regulation.

So, let's just increase the demand without adding a significant amount of supply to the power grid and that will be fine, right?

We're already increasing the supply to the grid, and have done so pretty much continuously since the late 1800s. They just completed a new 200 megawatt generator in my town, retiring two older generators at a net increase on capacity. They're ahead of the curve.

As electricity here is dirt cheap it would be a net gain for me if I had an electric car. Suply follows demand: when electric cars start getting popular, you'll see a LOT of new power plants being built (at least in states that don't have entirely clueless governments, i.e. California), and most of them will be non-polluting, like solar, wind, tidal, hydro, and nuclear (which has its own problems, yes).

"Supply side economics" is bunk. The economy is driven by demand, not supply. If consumers demand a product or service, that demand will be met by increased supply.

Parents have been perfectly capable of looking after their children without GPS tracking for millennia

They did without cars, telephones, indoor plumbing, and electricity, too. This is a good example of where this tech is needed.

The problem is, indie weeklies have crap news.

Well lets see, this issue of the IT has "The Governor blames everybody but himself" about his new book; "Remembering Everett Dirksen"; "Haunted hot spots"; "Headmaster's visit" about Obama; "Order in the court" about crime; "East side residents fear a steel barrier at 10th Street" about the high speed rail coming here; "New law prohibits involuntary sterilization"; "High-speed opposition to Third Street rail corridor" among others.

What are the SJ-R's headlines today? "Quinn marks Sept. 11 anniversary" - yeah that's important to me -- not. "SIU president backs latest cigarette tax proposal" as if what the SIU president thinks about that subject matters. "ExpressCare puts waiting times online" sounds like what one would expect from an indie weekly. "Thousands of Illinois state workers get hefty pensions" news? "Woman attacked with metal baseball bat" well, if you know her or live in her neighborhood, you don't need the newspaper to find out what's going on, and if not it's just gossip about strangers. Same with "Salvage yard burglarized".

I'd say it's the mainstream papers that have crap news, not the indies; at least, not the local indie here. You obviously didn't follow the link, because they DO have well researched news articles about the place where I live. Don't judge all the indies by the rag you ran. Do you think the big dailies don't have constant pressure to get advertisers and can tell them off? If ads were easy to sell they wouldn't be having problems, now would they? If your paper were good advertisers would be begging for ink and you could tell the nutjobs to go away.

About the time CNN and empty-v started, when I first got cable, there were maybe twenty stations. Only the broadcast stations ran ads, and the movies weren't censored and they didn't have those stupid logos at the bottom of the screen, let alone ads jumping out from the other side of the screen while the show was still on. And it only cost ten bucks a month and included HBO.

The problem today is corporate greed, and that same greed is what's killing newspapers, record companies, and the economy itself.

Well, Indians and Arabs seem to own most if not all of the convinience stores here, especially in the bad neighborhoods. Here are a couple of Springfield links for you...

Police Chief Ralph who?
The Mayor
The guy who runs the power company
Alderman Simpson
Springfield Kwik-E-Mart
Sadly, the convinience store Paul McCartney was photographed at in Springfield was not a Kwik-E-Mart

Well, Indians and Arabs seem to own most if not all of the convinience stores here, especially in the bad neighborhoods. Here are a couple of Springfield links for you...

Police Chief Ralph who?
The Mayor
The guy who runs the power company
Alderman Simpson
Springfield Kwik-E-Mart
Sadly, the convinience store Paul McCartney was photographed at in Springfield was not a Kwik-E-Mart

Well, Indians and Arabs seem to own most if not all of the convinience stores here, especially in the bad neighborhoods. Here are a couple of Springfield links for you...

Police Chief Ralph who?
The Mayor
The guy who runs the power company
Alderman Simpson
Springfield Kwik-E-Mart
Sadly, the convinience store Paul McCartney was photographed at in Springfield was not a Kwik-E-Mart

Life is not a comic book

Mine is - I live in Springfield. Here's our Mayor and here's the head of our electric company.

Some of the characters here are even weirder.

In the real world, the people who make the laws of our society are our society's "developers," but the people who actually live in the world, or the "players," often set up unwritten rules.

See Illegal fireworks: Call the cops or let it slide?

It's like people who go 45 MPH in the left lane on a 55 MPH road.

That's illegal in Illinois. It's legal to drive 45 in the left lane, but if someone comes up behind you you must get over.

her stuborness wore well with her old age and I just took her home

Was she one of the women in this article in the local paper?

Chelsey said attorneys for five or six defendants have told him that their clients will also plead guilty, and Costello predicted that everyone will eventually plead rather than face trial.

Ollis is 60 years old, 13 co-defendants are at least 50, and three are in their 70s. Most have been declared indigent so their legal expenses are paid by the public, and any of them could be your neighbor, Costello said.

"They are nice old ladies," Costello said. "This is not some high-power, $2 million house of prostitution."

You couldn't find a younger hooker to take home?

I have no idea what the decibel rating of a modern siren is

Not very damned loud at all. Sometimes "progress" goes backwards.

On March 12, 2006 two tornados blew down quite a bit of Springfield's infrastructure, power was out city-wide. Later that night the sirens should have gone off again, but they couldn't, as the power was off.

In the aftermath, the cartoons in the city government (incling the guy who runs the power company, alderman Simpson, and Mayor Quim... er, Davlin) decided to get some new high tech emergency sirens that could run on batteries if the power went off.

You can't hear the damned things. They're completely worthless, but we're paying $2 a month extra on our electric bills to pay for the worthless pieces of crap.

I can hear the train whistles just fine, miles away.

From Springfield's local paper:

Sangamon County officials purchased touch-screen voting machines from an Illinois company called Populex and used them starting in 2006. After this year's primary election, however, the State Board of Elections disallowed those machines because they hadn't been tested as the federal government requires.

As a result, Sangamon County this election is using equipment leased from Election Systems & Software Inc. of Omaha, Neb.

Under the new system, voters are given paper ballots and fill in ovals next to their choices using pens provided by election officials.

Each voting location will also include a machine, called an AutoMARK, which can be used by people who have disabilities. AutoMARK, for instance, can magnify the ballot, offers Braille markings and provides headphones, if necessary.

[WTF??? I put a "snit" in brackets here and it isn't showing]

Most polling places will have a single optical-scan machine, though Kern said some multiple-precinct polling places will have two. An election judge will be nearby to help, but not so close as to affect the privacy of the ballot, she said.

The county is renting the ES&S machinery on a yearlong contract that began Aug. 14 and extends through the 2009 spring elections. The cost is $423,000, Aiello said, though he expects the county to recoup $85,000 in federal grant money to pay for the machines to help voters with accessibility challenges. The Populex machinery cost $2.7 million, Aiello said.

State's Attorney John Schmidt said the financial health of Populex is being monitored, but it appears "they have no money," so it wouldn't do any good to sue Populex now. The county has several years to take legal action to get money from the company if it appears Populex ever regains the ability to pay, he said.

We're getting some new voting machines this election (they're being rented) and if the newspaper is to be believed, these machines will actually be trustworthy.

They're doing it as I've advocated for years.

Sangamon County had to obtain new voting machines after the State Board of Elections ruled the county couldn't use the more than 900 machines it purchased for $2.7 million three years ago.

The board said the company that made the machines, Populex Corp. of Elgin, had not completed all the required testing.

County officials say they prefer to rent equipment for this election because the state is likely to adopt new standards for voting machines, and the county does not want to be stuck with even more machines that might not be certified under the new rules.

<snip>

Compared to the Populex machines, the rental equipment is fairly simple. Voters will mark paper ballots with a pen or pencil, and those ballots will be fed into a scanner. Voters who miss a race or over-vote will be alerted by the machines and given the option of changing their ballots.

Simple design == elegant design. I wish some of you guys (especially you mechanical engineers and software coders) would learn that.

Though most policemen are good people,

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&tab=wn&ned=us&q=%22false+arrest%22

http://illinoistimes.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A7027

http://illinoistimes.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A6290

http://www.sj-r.com/news/x857675110/Former-police-officer-sues-for-drug-probe-information

I see you don't live in Illinois.

I don't WANT the mainstream media to "get it". They are run by the multinational corporations and uber-rich people who have no clue nor care about me whatever. Their main purpose is propaganda, secondary purpose is profit.

For instance, in 2000 Ralph Nader wasn't on the ballot in enough states to win the election even if he carried every single state. OTOH the Libertarians were on the ballot in 49 states. The mainstream media slobbered all over Nader but had nary a word to say about the Libertarian.

Had the roles been reversed I'm convinced it would have been Nader who would have been ignored and the Libertarian trumpeted. In a truly democratic republic, all viable candidates (candidates on the ballot in enough states to win should they garner the votes) should have their views aired and be included in debates.

But the people who own the mainstream media are the same people who finance the elections in our pseudodemocratic plutocratic republic. With only two candidates to bribe with campaign cash, no matter who loses they win and you lose.

BTW, I don't give a rat's ass about Britney's drug and child support problems. Why is this meaningless nonsense trumping science, politics, and stuff that truly matters?

They were gioving away copies of the State Journal-Register (Warning - the first item in that link is hilarious) at the store the other day. The man giving them away asked if I ever bought copies. "Nope", I said. "I read it on the internet".

He looked really crestfallen at that, probably more so because of my white goatee.

I would have said "I get my news from links from slashdot" but he wouldn't have had a clue what I was talking about.

-mcgrew

In Springfield (home of alderman Simpson) the city owns the power company and the water company, and we have the cheapest electricity in the midwest, and service is very reliable. I wish CWLP would provide cable, telephone, gas, and internet!

Note this drawing of Springfield's mayor Davlin, CWLP's general manager Todd Renfro, and some guy probably related in some way to alderman Simpson.

-mcgrew (yes, my town is a cartoon)

Yeah, loke I said... how about Clown known as Klutzo gets new name (There was another clown named Klutzo who was arrested for molesting children and then died in jail when a fat jailer sat on hime, links to news items in the linked journal). Or more newsworthy, Taylorville deaths possibly a murder-suicide. How many peopl outside Chicago (that don't read the Chicago newspapers) know about he drunken off-duty cop that beat a small woman bartender senseless, and the other bad cops in Chicago that make me want to not go to Chicago unless absolutely necessary?

I picked a bad example. I knew better, which makes me an idiot.

Yeah, loke I said... how about Clown known as Klutzo gets new name (There was another clown named Klutzo who was arrested for molesting children and then died in jail when a fat jailer sat on hime, links to news items in the linked journal). Or more newsworthy, Taylorville deaths possibly a murder-suicide. How many peopl outside Chicago (that don't read the Chicago newspapers) know about he drunken off-duty cop that beat a small woman bartender senseless, and the other bad cops in Chicago that make me want to not go to Chicago unless absolutely necessary?

I picked a bad example. I knew better, which makes me an idiot.

Well, it's not hopeless; they may come to their senses. They passed a "moment of silence" bill with "prayer" in the name that mandated a moment of silence in schools here in Illinois last year, and pretty much repealed it.

No, I live in THE Springfield. As in this political cartoon about the local power plant exploding. Note that the artist's depiction of Todd Renfrow (the bald guy on the right) and Mayor Davlin are well penned. And we have an alderman named Gail Simpson.

The real Springfield is Capital of Illinois. And our roads suck, too. Well, except for the one in front of the Capitol.

The reason your roads suck like ours and California's don't is the weather. Florida mostly has good roads too.

No, I live in THE Springfield. As in this political cartoon about the local power plant exploding. Note that the artist's depiction of Todd Renfrow (the bald guy on the right) and Mayor Davlin are well penned. And we have an alderman named Gail Simpson.

The real Springfield is Capital of Illinois. And our roads suck, too. Well, except for the one in front of the Capitol.

The reason your roads suck like ours and California's don't is the weather. Florida mostly has good roads too.

A 33-year-old woman was arrested for allegedly driving under the influence and marijuana possession after her van hit a utility pole early Saturday in the 800 block of East Stanford Avenue, police said.

Shannon M. Jackson of the 2200 block of South 12th Street was treated at Memorial Medical Center for a cut on her head before she was jailed.

The accident occurred about 1:30 a.m.

Jackson told police she was driving a 1998 Dodge Caravan west on Stanford when she "passed out and wrecked her vehicle," an accident report said.

Police said it appeared Jackson had crossed oncoming traffic in the eastbound lane before her van hit the pole on the northeast corner.

Jackson also was ticketed with failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, improper lane usage and operating an uninsured motor vehicle.

A City Water, Light and Power line crew responded to repair the damaged pole.

Two solicited for sex

Two men were solicited for sex in the parking lot of the Amtrak station at Third and Washington streets about 7:45 p.m. Monday.

The victims, ages 16 and 19, told police they were walking home from the mall and stopped to rest at the train station, then saw a black Toyota sport utility vehicle circling the parking lot. The vehicle eventually stopped in front of them, and the driver offered to pay $20 if one of them would perform a sex act on him.

The teens, alarmed, went inside and called police. The man was gone when officers arrived.

They described the man as white, in his 40s and balding with gray hair.

The detective, Scott Kincaid, outlined for the coroner's jury the police department's investigation into Strode's death, including statements from her boyfriend, who left the house about 3:20 that morning to meet another woman. He then got up about 10:45 a.m., downloaded some music from a computer and went to a hardware store to buy a furnace filter.

In related news, last decade the US Congress mistakenly passed the DMCA.

In other related news, Springfield's paper is reporting (DOH!) that "Two men were caught Wednesday night with hundreds of DVDs and compact discs, packaged for illegal resale, inside their car... A police report indicated one of the men was arrested; however, a check of jail records showed he was not booked in."

Good thing those guys were just selling 500 bootleg DVDs and 500 bootleg CDs. If they'd ripped them to (degraded) MP3 and posted them for free on the internet, lets do the math here at $100,000.00 per track...

We have lots of people here in South Park (no, not a joke) that run solar

Is this a first, someone from one cartoon town responding to someone else on slashdot from another cartoon town? We have an alderman named Gail Simpson here in Springfield. The power plant blew up a month or so ago, look at This editorial cartoon about it. Now look at a photo of Todd Renfrow, AKA "Mr. Burns" (on the right, in front of the giant check) and a photo of Springfield's Mayor.

Its scary thinking what Canadians must look like where you live! I can't figure out if I live in Cool World or Toon Town. Anyone reading my journals most likely thinks I either make them up or...

We have lots of people here in South Park (no, not a joke) that run solar

Is this a first, someone from one cartoon town responding to someone else on slashdot from another cartoon town? We have an alderman named Gail Simpson here in Springfield. The power plant blew up a month or so ago, look at This editorial cartoon about it. Now look at a photo of Todd Renfrow, AKA "Mr. Burns" (on the right, in front of the giant check) and a photo of Springfield's Mayor.

Its scary thinking what Canadians must look like where you live! I can't figure out if I live in Cool World or Toon Town. Anyone reading my journals most likely thinks I either make them up or...

Here in Springfield, our power plant runs on coal. Since my electricity's cost is not only the coal, but the maintenance and transmission of electricity, it should be cheaper to line my roof with these things than to buy it from Mr. Burns (he's the one in front of the giant check, on the left. He's also the one in the first linked picture, also on the left).

But at a dollar per watt I'd pay $20,000 for a single circuit... oh wait my math is wrong. At 100 volts that aould be $200. So I could power my whole house for a one time investment of less than $2k?

Sounds too good to be true. What's the catch?

That reminds me of a something I heard in a bar. A guy is talking to a woman about an item in the paper about prostitution and he asked her if she'd have sex with a stranger for a million dollars. "Anybody would" she said.

"How about a buck fifty?"

"What do you think I am???"

"We already determined that, now we're just haggling over the price."

I think my problems with women stem from the fact that I'm in Springfield. All the women I know here are cartoons. Take my roommate Amy, for example. When she had her face rebuilt after her ex-husband tried to kill her, her surgeons were very skilled indeed - too skilled. And her body is a caraciture of a beautiful female body as well; she's a few pounds overweight but very shapely, with a thin waist. She reminds me of the receptionist in the old '70s TV show taxi, except she's brunette, not blonde. That itself is a cartoonish coincidence because Amy drives a cab.