A U.S. Nuclear Power Milestone

This is a long overdue and welcome development.

The first new nuclear reactor built in the United States in more than 40 years is now up and running in Waynesboro, Georgia.

From here.

Georgia Courts Still Confused About Outcome Of Civil War

DECATUR, Ga. -- A new online juror questionnaire offered by the DeKalb County Court listed "slave" as an occupational option. Court Administrator Cathy McCumber told 11Alive, the questionnaire went online a month ago, but is based off an internal list that's been used for 13 years. She says the list is 62 pages long, so she's not sure if the word slave has always been on it, or if it was added before the questionnaire went online. 11Alive and the court learned about the problem Monday morning, after a potential juror filling out the form hit the letter "s" for sales. He says he got "slave" instead. . . . The company that designed the software says the drop down menus in the survey are inputted by the user. . . . Until a month ago, jurors had to fill out the questionnaire by hand and mail it in to the courthouse.

From here.

The "slave" option was removed within an hour of being discovered and brought to the Court's attention. My suspicion is that it was a bad joke inserted by data entry employees assisting in the transition who felt they were mistreated and were describing themselves.

Georgia Voter ID Law Struck Down Again

Colorado's General Assembly rejected in the current special session a voter ID law modeled on that of Georgia suggested by Governor Owens. It looks like the decision was a wise one.

Georgia recently passed a law mandating photo IDs for elections, which was struck down as an unconstitutional poll tax by the Court. A new law was passed making voter ID free. Now, the law has been struck down again, at least for the July 18, 2006 primary election in Georgia in a new court challenge, and the Georgia Supreme Court is considering an appeal of the decision.

Parallel legislation challenging the revised law is also pending in federal court.

Notably, this is a case where the staff attorneys at the Justice Department had opposed the requirement as not meeting the standards of the voter's rights acts, but were overturned by Bush Administration political officials in their determination.

Hat Tip to Daily Kos Diarist a gnostic.