carapace – Not your father's america

Avant Browser

It seems that if you build a better browser these days, the world will beat a path to your door, and the latest release of Avant Browser is certainly worth at least a look. The look of the browser is quite appealing, as is the tabbed-browsing feature that lets users switch quickly among websites.
In a neat twist, this latest version also remembers which windows were open the last time you used the program. For those concerned with the pesky specter of pop-up ads and their kind, Avant Browser does a good job of keeping such unpleasant aspects of the browsing experience at bay.

This version is compatible with computers running Windows 98 and newer.

http://www.avantbrowser.com/

From: The Scout Report

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ARMY VEHICLE TESTING

Engineers at Purdue University have teamed up with the U.S. Army to design a new portable test system ensuring the safety and readiness of the eight-wheel “Stryker” vehicle, the newest ground combat vehicle deployed in Iraq.
Purdue’s “fault-detection method” uses a sensor called an accelerometer to detect acoustic energy — sound waves — passing through the spindle. Data collected with the sensor are fed to a computer, where software interprets the information to analyze a part’s performance.
To conduct the test, a technician first removes the wheel and attaches the accelerometer to the spindle with a plastic zip-tie fastener. Then a “modal impact hammer” is used to tap the hub on the outside of the wheel assembly, sending sound waves through the spindle. Sound flows through the metal differently depending on whether the spindle is cracked. The sound waves not only reveal the presence of cracks, but how large they are.

For the full story, visit: http://link.abpi.net/l.php?20060525A2

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It’s Time to Protect Coal Miners

Five more coal miners die in Kentucky blast, but Bush and Congress drag feet on safety.

Read the full story…. http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/F1qVob517qO7/

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Federal authorities are actively investigating dozens of American television stations for broadcasting items produced by the Bush administration and major corporations, and passing them off as normal news.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article621189.ece

From: Poacnewsletter

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O’Reilly baselessly claimed University of Oregon permits “attack [on] Christianity,” but “wouldn’t allow … an attack on a minority group”

Bill O’Reilly has baselessly claimed that the University of Oregon has allowed its students to “attack Christianity,” because a student-run newspaper recently published controversial cartoon images of Jesus but “wouldn’t allow this if it was an attack on a minority group.” In fact, the student paper — The Insurgent — is not the official University of Oregon student paper, and, according to the university’s president, the school has no editorial control over what it publishes. Moreover, in publishing the Jesus cartoons, The Insurgent was apparently responding to a rival paper’s decision to publish controversial cartoons of the Islamic prophet Mohammed, which have sparked Muslim outrage and rioting in Europe, a fact that O’Reilly repeatedly ignored in his coverage of the issue.

Read more:

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200605250016?src=other

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TYRANNY OF THE CHRISTIAN RIGHT

Michelle Goldberg, AlterNet

The largest and most powerful mass movement in the nation — evangelical Christianity — has set out to destroy secular society.

http://www.alternet.org/story/36640/

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The Conservative Nanny State in html

To increase sales, we now have my new book, The Conservative Nanny State: How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get Richer, available for free download in html format.

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=127609575&url_num=18&url=http://www.conservativenannystate.org/

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CEI’S ‘CRUDE’ ATTACK ON GLOBAL WARMING FILM

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/36412/story.htm

The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) think tank, whose donors include Exxon Mobil and the American Petroleum Institute, is running a television ad campaign “targeting global warming ‘alarmists,’ especially Al Gore.” Reuters reports, “The spots are timed to precede next week’s theatrical release of An Inconvenient Truth, a documentary film on global warming that features Gore.” In one ad, “a little girl blows away dandelion fluff as an announcer says, ‘Carbon dioxide: they call it pollution; we call it life.’” As Think Progress notes, CEI “believes the dangers of global warming are akin ‘to that of “an alien invasion.”‘”

SOURCE: Reuters, May 18, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:

http://www.prwatch.org/node/4812

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Borowitz Report – cia plan shocker

CIA OFFERS FRIENDS & FAMILY EAVESDROPPING PLAN

Promises Fewer Dropped Calls in Exchange For 24-hour Surveillance

In a sign that the Bush administration intends to ratchet up its program of domestic surveillance, the Central Intelligence Agency today announced that it was offering what it called a “Friends & Family” eavesdropping plan.

Under the new plan, American citizens would reap significant discounts for long-distance calls in exchange for permitting the CIA to listen in on all of their conversations.

The calls will be routed through a CIA spy satellite and then beamed back to the spy agency’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia, where agency operatives will be listening in on a 24-hour basis.

With many Americans unhappy with their current long distance service, the CIA hopes that consumers will decide that having a CIA agent listening in on all of their conversations is a small price to pay for fewer dropped calls, which the CIA’s eavesdropping plan promises.

According to the agency’s announcement, the CIA is sweetening the deal by offering even deeper discounts if the customer will allow the agency to “out” the names of its friends and family by leaking them to a newspaper reporter or columnist.

Carol Foyler, 28, of Memphis, Tennessee, who signed up for the eavesdropping plan on Monday, said that so far she had mixed feelings about the new service: “I was talking to my boyfriend last night, and all of a sudden I heard Dick Cheney on the line – that kind of puts a damper on things.”

Elsewhere, actress Angelina Jolie denied reports that she gave birth over the weekend, saying that she and Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt were “just good friends.”

http://www.borowitzreport.com/

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three to see

Chappette: Massacre by US Marines In Iraq

http://public.globecartoon.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/globecartoon.woa/2/wr?wodata=8939999719684077614

bad reporter: nsa monitoring all prayers

http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/pictures/2006/05/26/052606-950×315-badreporter.gif

Mike Peters: found jimmy hoffa

http://www.grimmy.com/images/MP_Archive/MP_2006/MP0528.gif

Browster

Browster instantly shows you the page.
Saves Back button clicks, removes page load delays
Saves time, simplifies your browsing.
View almost any link wherever you browse
Browster enables you to hover over almost any link to bring up the page in Browster
This way, you get the convenience of using Browster…anywhere you are on the Web
Browster shows you the full web page, not a thumbnail.
Click links or read the page.
It’s also easy to close – just mouse out!

http://www.browster.com/index.htm

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Word 2003 Trojan horse virus.

“Worries about Microsoft Word attachments in emails have surfaced with the news that hackers have begun to exploit a zero-day vulnerability in Word 2003 using a new Trojan horse virus. The seriousness is compounded by the fact that a fix from Microsoft could be more than three weeks away. Anti-virus vendor Symantec raised an alert on Friday about the Word 2003 vulnerability and the fact that hackers were on the march trying to get control of PCs running the current version of the Microsoft word processor. According to Symantec, opening email attachment that looks like a word document actually opens an executable Trojan horse program, called Trojan.Mdropper.H, which in turn gives a hacker access to the user’s system. According to Microsoft, a fix for the vulnerability is on its way. However, the earliest date that Microsoft has committed to so far is June 13, leaving hackers a significant Window of opportunity to try and hit their vulnerable targets.”

Read more at ITWire.

http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/4366/937/

From: Future Brief

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Bettors put odds on “guilty”

Al Lewis

Mickey, a bookie based in Costa Rica, says the odds were stacked in favor of a conviction for Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling from the beginning. Mickey Richardson, chief executive of the wagering website BetCRIS.com, started taking bets in February as the Enron trial began.

Complete article at:

http://www.denverpost.com/allewis/ci_3866466

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O’Reilly: Young Americans “have no idea what’s going on” because they “get their news from Jon Stewart”

Bill O’Reilly asserted that “[m]any Americans ages 18 to 24 have no idea what’s going on,” stating that they “get their news from [Comedy Central host] Jon Stewart and their point of view from bomb-throwing entertainers.” In fact, studies have shown that viewers of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with John Stewart are consistently better informed about current events than consumers of other media, and Daily Show viewers are significantly better educated than viewers of The O’Reilly Factor. Further, consumers of Fox News in general have been found to be significantly more misinformed about current events than consumers of other mainstream media.

Read more:

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200605250003?src=other

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HEY, FOX – GOOGLE MUCH?

http://www.newshounds.us/2006/05/18/fox_news_hides_background_of_gore_critics.php

We appreciate News Hounds, the folks who “watch Fox so you don’t have to.” The website noted that “Fox News left out some crucial information in a report about the Washington premiere of Al Gore’s film on global warming, An Inconvenient Truth — like the fact that think tanks critical of it were funded by oil companies and automakers, as well as the usual coterie of far-right bagmen. … Reporter Mike Emanuel … did not take the time to tell the viewer anything about either the Competitive Enterprise Institute or the National Center for Policy Analysis. If he really were reporting so that the viewer could decide, Emanuel might have noted these facts available from Sourcewatch,” wrote News Hounds, going on to quote from the SourceWatch articles on each front group.

SOURCE: News Hounds, May 18, 2006

For more information or to comment on this story, visit:

http://www.prwatch.org/node/4815

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The battle spreads in Afghanistan:

Thousands of Taliban have emerged in the provinces of Helmand, Ghazni, Urgzan, Kandahar, Kunar and Zabul, and in all of them the story is the same: where allied forces have taken on the Taliban, the ANA holds the “fort”.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HE26Df01.html

From: Poacnewsletter

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“Un-American” Missouri Law Could Cut off Minority, Senior Votes

Nearly 200,000 could be barred from voting under Republican-backed law.

Read the full story…. http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/T7qVob517qOf/

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INSIDE DONNIE RUMSFELD’S ORWELLIAN PENTAGON

Jim Hightower, Hightower Lowdown

While claiming that they must ‘secure’ America for a post-9/11 world, the BushCheney zealots are taking us back to a pre-1776 world.

http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/36593/

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TOP 10 SIGNS OF THE IMPENDING U.S. POLICE STATE

Allan Uthman, Buffalo Beast

From secret detention centers to warrantless wiretapping,Bush and Co. give free rein to their totalitarian impulses.

http://www.alternet.org/rights/36553/

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three to see

Tom the Dancing Bug: telephone data mining

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/td/2006/td060527.gif

Mike Luckovich: appear before a large group of republicans

http://www.creators.com/0521/LK/LK0526bg.gif

Signe Wilkinson: no alternative to drilling in the arctic

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/wpswi/2006/wpswi060525.gif

Seeing machine

“A partially-sighted Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) poet has developed a small, relatively inexpensive ‘seeing machine’ that can allow people who are blind or visually impaired to access the Internet, view the face of a friend, ‘previsit’ unfamiliar buildings and more.  The work is led by Elizabeth Goldring, a senior fellow at MIT’s Center for Advanced Visual Studies. She developed the machine over 10 years, in collaboration with MIT students and professional ophthalmologists…Goldring’s idea came after an eye examination when technicians looked into her eyes with a diagnostic device known as a scanning laser ophthalmoscope, or SLO. They used it to project a simple image directly onto the retina of one eye..She was able to see the image, and asked if they could write the word ‘sun’ and transmit that through the SLO. ‘And I could see it,’ she said. ‘That was the first time in several months that I’d seen a word, and for a poet that’s an incredible feeling.’”

Read more at Engineering Online.

http://tinyurl.com/g22fj

From: Future Brief

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USGAO – Offshoring in Six Human Services Programs

Offshoring Occurs in Most States, Primarily in Customer Service and Software Development.

GAO-06-342, March 28.  [Revised to correct data on the occurrence in two state programs due to an error made by a contractor in its survey response to GAO.]

http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-342

Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d06342high.pdf

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Is the National Security Agency being “turned against the people,” as the Congressional committee led by Sen. Frank Church warned might happen

We the people cannot know; it’s classified.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13179.htm

From: Poacnewsletter

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Massive Collection of Formerly Secret and Top Secret Transcripts of Henry Kissinger’s Meetings with World Leaders Published On-Line

National Security Archive Update, May 26, 2006

28,000 Pages of Documents Show Kissinger as Negotiator and Policymaker in Real-time, Verbatim Talks with World Leaders

For more information:
William Burr, 202/994-7000

Washington, DC, 26 May 2006 – Today the National Security Archive announces the publication of the most comprehensive collection ever assembled of the memoranda of conversations (memcons) involving Henry Kissinger, one of the most acclaimed and controversial U.S. diplomats of the second half of the 20th century.

Published on-line in the Digital National Security Archive (ProQuest) as well in print-microfiche form, the 28,000-page collection is the result of a seven-year effort by the National Security Archive to collect every memcon that could be found through archival research and declassification requests. According to Kissinger biographer and president of the Aspen Institute Walter Isaacson, “Henry Kissinger’s memos of conversation are an amazing, fascinating, and absolutely indispensable resource for understanding his years in power.” Nearly word-for-word records of the meetings, the memcons place the reader in the room with Kissinger and world leaders, and future leaders, including Mao Zedong, Anwar Sadat, Leonid Brezhnev, Georges Pompidou, Richard Nixon, Gerald R. Ford, Donald Rumsfeld, and George H.W. Bush.

The memcons show Kissinger at work from 1969 to early 1977 as policymaker, negotiator, and presidential adviser. They show him pursuing détente with the Soviet Union, rapprochement with China, strong ties with Europe and Japan, stability in the Middle East, and, most important, a diplomatic resolution to the Vietnam War. The near-verbatim transcripts vividly show Kissinger’s style as negotiator, his use of flattery and humor, his outbursts, and his musings on U.S. interests and the use of power. They show Kissinger in the early days of the Nixon administration as his influence was growing as presidential adviser, at the height of power when he served simultaneously as Secretary of State and national security adviser, and later after President Ford fired him from his White House post. The documents are equally revealing of Kissinger’s numerous interlocutors.

Follow the link below to view a sampling of twenty of the newly-published memcons, documenting a variety of episodes in Kissinger’s career in statecraft:

http://www.nsarchive.org

The complete collection of memcons is available through the Digital National Security Archive (ProQuest):

http://www.proquest.com/products_pq/descriptions/dnsa.shtml

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Enron Convictions

CHARLIE CRAY, ccray@corporatepolicy.org, http://www.corporatepolicy.org

Director of the Center for Corporate Policy and coauthor of “The People’s Business: Controlling Corporations and Restoring Democracy,” Cray said today: “Enron exposed the dark side of the American corporate business model: the failure of deregulation and enforcement budget cuts, the tort reform laws that eviscerated any checks and balances provided by the market system’s gatekeepers (accountants, lawyers and bankers), and the system of executive compensation that motivated greedy executives at companies like Enron to cook the books and serve the results up to unsuspecting investors, employees and pensioners like a slice of all-American pie, while they quietly cashed out themselves. It’s not enough to pluck the few rotten apples off the highest branches when the roots of the problem go much deeper.”

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

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ENRON BOSSES–GUILTY; GEORGE BUSH–GUILTY

John Nichols, TheNation.com

The biggest Enron fraud is Bush’s claim that he was not close to now-convicted Enron founder Ken Lay.

http://www.alternet.org/story/36692/

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New Report: Wall Street Analysts Concerned about Impact of Oil Prices, Energy Policies and Climate Risk on Auto Sector Companies

April 28, 2006

BOSTON – A new Ceres report released today finds that the uncertainty in the U.S. regarding the future course of energy and climate change policy is a major problem for investors and Wall Street analysts in assessing the value of auto companies, and that analysts need better disclosure from auto companies about their strategies for managing the risks and capturing the opportunities posed by new energy and climate change policies taking effect worldwide.

The report, Climate Risk and Energy in the Auto Sector – Guidance for Investors and Analysts on Key Off-balance Sheet Drivers, highlights key findings from an auto analyst briefing last December at JP Morgan in New York City where Wall Street analysts, institutional investors such as CalPERS and CalSTRS, and others gathered to discuss the impacts of high oil prices, fuel efficiency and foreseeable climate change regulations on the future of the auto industry. Three conclusions were widely agreed upon by the analysts at the meeting:

Regulatory uncertainty on climate change is a major problem for the auto sector;
Flexibility in manufacturing is a key factor for future profitability;
Investors need improved disclosure on the risks and opportunities posed by fuel prices, climate change, and other factors.

“Given that many corporate CEOs now agree that mandatory climate change regulations are inevitable, Wall Street needs more clarity from President Bush and Congress on the eventual structure of climate policy so analysts can assess the financial and competitive implications on auto companies accurately,” said Mindy S. Lubber, president of Ceres and director of the Investor Network on Climate Risk, which includes over 50 institutional investors managing nearly $3 trillion in assets. “Investors are calling for policy certainty and better climate risk disclosure so analysts can better estimate the fair value of the auto companies in their portfolios.”

Experts also agreed at the December meeting that U.S. automakers have less flexibility to meet changing regulatory and consumer demands. The report states that only two manufacturing facilities in the U.S. – facilities owned by Nissan and Honda – are capable of rapidly switching from producing SUVs to more fuel-efficient vehicles.
…

Complete article at:

Climate Risk and Energy in the Auto Sector

http://www.ceres.org/pub/publication.php?pid=89

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Fox News’ Hemmer hosted Wall Street Journal’s “convincing” Du Pont, who continued to mislead on global warming

On Fox News Live, anchor Bill Hemmer interviewed Wall Street Journal columnist and former Gov. Pete Du Pont (R-DE) about An Inconvenient Truth, a new documentary on former Vice President Al Gore’s campaign to raise awareness of global warming. During the interview, Hemmer repeatedly characterized as “convincing” Du Pont’s Journal column, which presented a series of assertions on global warming that misrepresent the underlying scientific research and relied on a misleading, industry-funded study on climate change to claim that the “truth about ‘global warming’ is much less dire than Al Gore wants you to think.”

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200605250008?src=other

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Borowitz Report – gore warning shocker

GORE COULD CAUSE GLOBAL BORING

Hillary Produces Cautionary Documentary About Former Veep

The election of former vice president Al Gore to the White House could result in a disastrous phenomenon called “global boring” in which millions of people around the world would fall asleep in an unprecedented narcoleptic pandemic.

That is the message of a new documentary about the 2000 Democratic Party standard-bearer that has been produced and narrated by Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and is being released in selected cities today.

The documentary, entitled “An Incoherent Truth,” collects moments from some of Mr. Gore’s most mind-numbing speeches to make a persuasive case that a Gore presidency would set off a doomsday scenario of global tedium.

Speaking at the film’s premiere in New York, Sen. Clinton said that while the film “is not for the squeamish,” it is a cautionary tale “that every American should see, if they can stand to sit through it.”

Insisting that global boring is not a made-up phenomenon but one that is based in scientific fact, Sen. Clinton said that a Gore presidency “would unleash a force of boredom equal to a thousand ‘Da Vinci Codes.’”

In his home state of Tennessee, Mr. Gore attempted to discredit the concept of global boring by giving a three-hour speech on the subject.

But at the conclusion of Mr. Gore’s address, which was complete with slides, video, and PowerPoint demonstrations, there were mixed reviews for his performance.

“I would like to say that Al made his case,” one Gore aide said, “but after ten minutes I found myself losing consciousness.”

Elsewhere, NASA launched a new weather satellite in order to give the White House earlier and more accurate hurricane warnings to ignore.

http://www.borowitzreport.com

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three to see

Deb Milbrath: kenny oh-boy

http://www.milbrathdraws.com/archives/2006/05/26.jpg

Tom Toles: out of arrows

http://www.buffalonews.com/graphics/2006/05/24/0524toles.jpg

Jeff Danziger: Rudy Giuliani, Ralph Reed, Georgia, Giuliani Record

http://danzigercartoons.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/05/dancart2797.jpg

May 2006 CLIMAS Update Newsletter

The May 2006 issue of the CLIMAS Update, the biannual newsletter of the Climate Assessment for the Southwest Project, is now available for download and online viewing. This issue contains articles about recent CLIMAS research projects, information on upcoming workshops, a list of recent CLIMAS publications and student awards, and other news from the project.

To access the CLIMAS Update, please visit our website’s publication page at the following link:

http://www.ispe.arizona.edu/climas/pubs.html#newsletter
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WHY BUSH NEEDS “ILLEGAL” IMMIGRANTS
Keith Gottschalk, Rabble

Undocumented immigrantion has been to Bush’s advantage,stimulating the economy and creating a distraction that covers other problems with the administration.
http://www.alternet.org/rights/36695/
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Enron Convictions
GREG PALAST, leni@gregpalast.com, http://gregpalast.com

Palast is an internationally recognized expert on regulation of power markets and coauthor of the book “Regulation and Democracy.” He said today: “Just like Al Capone, who went to jail for failing to file his taxes, Lay is convicted merely of stock fraud. This is nothing compared to the manipulation by Lay and his co-conspirators of the California power market which cost $9 billion -­ to say nothing of his shenanigans in Texas, England, Brazil and India.”

Institute for Public Accuracy
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Borowitz Report – dean reassurance shocker

DEAN REASSURES DEMOCRATS: ‘WE WILL FIND A WAY TO SCREW THIS UP’

DNC Chief Determined to Uphold Losing Tradition

Amid a growing belief that there is no way the Democrats can blow the 2006 midterm elections, Democratic National Committee chief Howard Dean sought today to reassure the party faithful that the party was “doing everything in its power” to uphold its losing tradition.

At a top-level summit called “Defeat: 2006″ being held in Boston, the former Vermont Governor gave a rousing speech to concerned Democrats, bringing his audience to his feet by vowing, “I can assure each and every one of you, we will find a way to screw this up.”

With President Bush’s approval rating below thirty percent and key Republican members of Congress the targets of ethics probes, many Democrats have been worried that their historic role as losers and sad sacks might come to an abrupt end this November, a fear Mr. Dean attempted to quell today.

“Folks, let’s not forget, we’re Democrats,” Mr. Dean said. “If there’s a way to lose, we will find it.”

Carol Foyler, a longtime Democrat from Bethesda, Maryland who attended the summit, said that she had been worried that the Democrats might somehow pull out a victory in 2006, but added, “Just knowing that Howard Dean is in charge makes me feel much more confident about losing.”

Elsewhere, after a study by the Georgetown School of Medicine said that millions of dollars are wasted on unnecessary medical tests, the American Medical Association said that there might be something wrong with the author of the study and he should come in for a checkup immediately.

http://www.borowitzreport.com/

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three to see

Ted Rall: the re-enactors

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/trall/2006/trall060522.gif

Minimum Security: The sky is falling

http://workingforchange.speedera.net/www.workingforchange.com/webgraphics/WFC/sm052206.jpg

Jack Ohman: finally, something we can ride
http://www.oregonlive.com/cgi-bin/prxy/photogalleries/nph-cache.cgi/cache=3000;/olive/images/5162/510.GIF

The latest from NASA’s Earth Observatory (23 May 2006)

In the News:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/

* Latest Images:
Drought in Northern China
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17284

San Francisco Peaks Volcano Field
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17283

Washington, D.C.
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17282

Los Glaciares National Park, Argentina
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17281

Three Gorges Dam, China
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17280

Central Pyrenees
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17279

Merapi Volcano, Indonesia
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17278

Typhoon Chanchu
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17277

* Media Alerts

  http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/MediaAlerts/

- New Century of Thirst for World’s Mountains
- Risks Associated with Living in Low-Lying Coastal Areas
- Satellites Reveal Photosynthetic Trends in Northern High Latitudes
- Seismologists Detect a Sunken Slab of Ocean Floor Deep in the Earth
- Coral Reef Reveals History of Fickle Weather in the Central Pacific
- Fabled Equatorial African Icecaps to Disappear

* New Research Highlights

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/Research/

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There is one web

“The web should remain neutral and resist attempts to fragment it into different services, web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee has said.  Recent attempts in the US to try to charge for different levels of online access web were not ‘part of the internet model,’ he said in Edinburgh.  He warned that if the US decided to go ahead with a two-tier internet, the network would enter ‘a dark period’.  Sir Tim was speaking at the start of a conference on the future of the web.  ‘What’s very important from my point of view is that there is one web,’ he said. ‘Anyone that tries to chop it into two will find that their piece looks very boring.’”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/5009250.stm

From: Future Brief
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MAMMA MIA, HERE I SELL AGAIN

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_22/b3986060.htm?campaign_id=search

“No major corporation has embraced word-of-mouth marketing as aggressively” as Procter & Gamble, writes BusinessWeek, in a story about P&G’s Vocalpoint. Vocalpoint is “a state-of-the-art method for reaching the most influential group of shoppers in America: moms.” The program has enrolled 600,000 mothers with “large social networks” to pitch products. P&G provides Vocalpoint participants with “messages mothers will want to share,” along with “samples, coupons, and a chance to share their own opinions with P&G.” While the Word of Mouth Marketing Association supports full disclosure, P&G doesn’t tell its stealth marketers to disclose their involvement with P&G. P&G’s Steve Knox said, “We have a deeply held belief you don’t tell the consumer what to say” (except for product pitches). The Federal Trade Commission “hasn’t yet developed a disclosure policy” on word-of-mouth marketing, though it’s expected to rule on a complaint that Consumer Alert filed against P&G’s teen word-of-mouth program soon.

SOURCE: BusinessWeek, May 29, 2006
For more information or to comment

http://www.prwatch.org/node/4820

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Editorial, Opinion Pieces Address Medicare Costs, Rx Drug Benefit

 

Access this story and related links online:

http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=37487

An editorial and several opinion pieces recently addressed Medicare costs and the Medicare prescription drug benefit.

Summaries appear below.

Peoria Journal Star: Now that the enrollment deadline has “passed without calamity … it’s the perfect time for Congress to revisit Medicare Part D,” a Journal Star editorial states. ” A good starting point would be waiving the penalty on late enrollees,” the editorial states, adding that Congress should consider allowing “seniors to switch plans, penalty-free, if their coverage suddenly changes” and enabling Medicare to “negotiate for prescription prices as the Veterans Administration does” (Peoria Journal Star, 5/23).

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), USA Today: During the first year of implementing the new drug benefit, “the late-enrollment penalty meant as an incentive could simply punish America’s seniors for problems beyond their control,” Baucus, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, writes in USA Today. He says, “Big new programs have glitches, plain and simple,” and some “warrant a one-time waiver.” Baucus adds, “I don’t believe any seniors who signed up for drug coverage before May 15 would begrudge their fellow Medicare beneficiaries a little leeway now” (Baucus, USA Today, 5/23).

Ed Feulner, Chicago Sun-Times: “It’s time for Congress and the administration to change Medicare from today’s open-ended entitlement to a defined-contribution program, one that adjusts contributions for age, health costs and income,” Feulner, president of the Heritage Foundation, writes in a Sun-Times opinion piece. He adds, “[I]f lawmakers won’t do something now, they’ll have to do something in five years, or in 2018 when Medicare goes into the red. And the sooner they act, the more choices they’ll have” (Feulner, Chicago Sun-Times, 5/24).

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National Security Archive Update, May 25, 2006 – The Diary of Anatoly Chernyaev

Former Top Soviet Adviser’s Journal Chronicles Final Years of the Cold War

Archive Publishes First Installment on Author’s 85th Birthday

For more information:
Svetlana Savranskaya, 202/994-7000

Washington, DC, May 25, 2006 – Today the National Security Archive publishes the first installment of the personal diary of Anatoly Sergeevich Chernyaev, a senior policy adviser during the final years of the Soviet Union. Published in English for the first time, it is hard to overestimate the uniqueness and importance of this diary for our understanding of the end of the Cold War, the peaceful withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan and Easten Europe, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The diary gives the reader a rare opportunity to become a fly on the wall during the heady discussions during the early days of perestroika and witness how the dying ideology held the reins on the hearts and minds of Soviet society.
In 2004, Anatoly Chernyaev donated the originals of his diaries covering the years 1972-1991 to the National Security Archive to provide full public access to his private notes. The Archive is planning to publish full English translation of the diaries in regular installments.
This first installment of Chernyaev’s diary covers the year 1985, which saw the election of Mikhail Gorbachev to the post of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the beginning of the changes that were evident first in the “style,” and then in the practice of Soviet domestic and foreign policy. The diary gives a detailed account of Gorbachev’s election and of the political struggle associated with it. The author observes the changes in 1985 from his position as a senior analyst in the International Department of the Central Committee, where Chernyaev was in charge of relations with West European Communist parties.
Please visit the Archive Web site to read the first installment of the diary:

http://www.nsarchive.org

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Why Won’t the U.S. Acknowledge Israel’s Nuclear Weapons?
ROBERT NORRIS, rnorris@nrdc.org, http://www.nrdc.org/nuclear

Norris is senior research associate with the Natural Resources Defense Council and director of the Nuclear Weapons Databook Project. He said today: “Israel has nuclear weapons and has probably had them for more than 30 years. The standard estimate is 100 nuclear weapons. The U.S. government does not publicly acknowledge that Israel possesses nuclear weapons, though it’s clear from declassified archival documents that the U.S. government was concerned about this going back to the Kennedy administration.” Norris is co-editor of the “Nuclear Weapons Databook” series, a five-volume encyclopedia of nuclear weapons; he also co-writes the “Nuclear Notebook” column for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

From: Institute for Public Accuracy
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2004: President Bush appoints former ChevronTexaco lawyer as chairman of the Federal Trade Commission.

2006: Federal Trade Commission clears oil companies of price fixing

http://www.kbtv4.tv/news/default.asp?mode=shownews&id=11444

From: Poacnewsletter

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Limbaugh, Imus, Carlson touted Drudge story on DNC even after Drudge issued apparent retraction

Rush Limbaugh, Don Imus, and Tucker Carlson touted a report by Matt Drudge claiming that according to “sources,” Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairman Howard Dean had authorized a secret effort to aid Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu in his attempt to unseat incumbent New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin — even after Drudge issued an apparent retraction.

Read more:

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200605230010?src=other

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Borowitz Report – hoffa shocker

HOFFA TAUNTS U.S. IN NEW VIDEO

Late Teamster Boss Twits FBI For Failing to Find Him

Late Teamster leader Jimmy Hoffa appeared in a new video broadcast worldwide today in which he taunted the Federal Bureau of Investigation for failing to find him in their recent search for his remains.

For the FBI, whose credibility as the nation’s top crime investigation unit has been somewhat tarnished in recent years, the surprising appearance of the Hoffa video is just the latest in a series of setbacks.

Looking surprisingly vigorous for a man who has not been heard from in over thirty years, Mr. Hoffa twitted the FBI agents for failing to locate him in Milford Township, about thirty miles north of Detroit.

“You can dig all you want, but you’re never going to find Jimmy Hoffa,” he said in the just-released video, adding, “I’m going to Disneyland!”

At the Federal Bureau of Investigation, officials said that they were studying the video closely but that early analysis indicated that it was authentic.

Mr. Hoffa’s taunts created a public relations nightmare of sorts for the agency, who immediately attempted to put the best spin on the video.

“It does appear that Jimmy Hoffa has successfully eluded our attempts to find him,” said FBI spokesperson Hedrick Bucknell. “On the positive side, this means we can stop digging.”

Mr. Bucknell said that the Hoffa video serves as a strong argument for the FBI’s program of domestic surveillance: “In addition to eavesdropping on every living person in this country, we’re going to start doing it to the dead ones, too.”

Elsewhere, Montenegro voted to gain its independence form Serbia, thus creating a new country for President Bush to mispronounce.

http://www.borowitzreport.com/

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three to see
Mike Peters: an army of one

http://www.grimmy.com/images/MP_Archive/MP_2006/MP0619.gif

David Horsey: the dick cheney code

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/horsey/

bad reporter: headlines

http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/pictures/2006/05/19/051906-950×315-badreporter.gif

May 2006 Southwest Climate Outlook

The May Southwest Climate Outlook is online.

This month’s outlook provides recent drought conditions and the latest seasonal forecasts. This month we have two feature articles that explore different aspects of Southwest drought. They are entitled “Southwest drought can pack a hefty punch” and “Putting the AZ drought plan into action.”
Special thanks to Doug Duncan, who submitted this month’s cover photo, which depicts low water levels in Sharp Spring in the San Rafael Valley

To download a printer-friendly PDF file (3 MB) of the March 2006 Outlook, visit:

http://www.ispe.arizona.edu/climas/end/packets/maypacket2006

As always, you can view the latest Southwest Climate Outlook in html format at:

http://www.ispe.arizona.edu/climas/forecasts/swoutlook.html

Highlights from the May 2006 Outlook

Drought – Drought has intensified in the Southwest, with most of the region in severe or extreme status and some areas in exceptional drought.

Southwest drought conditions are expected to persist or intensify, but improvements are expected in western New Mexico and southeastern Arizona.

The exceptionally low snowpack in most of the basins in Arizona and New Mexico has led to a streamflow forecast of much below average for 2006.

Reservoirs in Arizona have declined since last year. New Mexico reservoirs are better than last year, but the large Colorado River reservoirs, Elephant Butte, and other important reservoirs remain below average.

Fire Danger – The long-term moisture deficits and the abundant fine dry fuels produced by last year’s wet winter point to an active and severe fire season.

Temperature – Since the start of the water year on October 1, temperatures over most of the Southwest have been above average.

Precipitation – The Southwest has been much drier than average since the start of the water year, with less than 50 percent of average precipitation in most areas.

Climate Forecasts – Experts predict increased chances of warmer-than-average temperatures and equal chances of precipitation through November 2006.

El Niño – ENSO-neutral conditions have returned and are expected to continue over the next three to six months.

The Bottom Line – Drought is like to persist or intensify over most of the Southwest. Hydrological drought continues to affect streamflow and some large reservoir levels, and agricultural drought conditions have persisted throughout the region.

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Report Reveals Wireless Threats

Ongoing index to track and reveal trends that help enterprises and government organizations protect themselves from emerging wireless threats.

http://www.govtech.net/magazine/channel_story.php/99598

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Save Our Courts Alert – Urge Senators to Oppose Unqualified Nominee Brett Kavanaugh
Senate Again Turns Attention to Controversial Judicial Nominees

Urge Senators to Oppose Confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit

May 24, 2006 — Less than one year after the bipartisan Gang of 14 brokered a compromise to avert a “nuclear” showdown, Republican senators led by Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) have resumed the divisive debate over some of President Bush’s most controversial judicial nominees. The Senate could vote on one of these nominees, Brett Kavanaugh, as soon as today.

Call your senators today [(202) 224-3121] and urge them to oppose the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

A review of Kavanaugh’s record reveals the strident workings of a political operative, not the legal experience and qualifications necessary for a seat on the nation’s second highest court[1]. Kavanaugh has less legal experience than nearly any previous nominee to the D.C. Circuit, with little direct exposure to litigation or a courtroom. The American Bar Association recently took the rare step of downgrading its rating of Kavanaugh, based on colleagues’ reports that the nominee is inexperienced, “sanctimonious,” and “insulated.”  And The New York Times has taken a position against the confirmation of Kavanaugh, calling him “unqualified” for the federal bench.

In two hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Kavanaugh repeatedly refused to answer senators’ questions about his qualifications for the federal bench or his experiences within the Bush White House. Among the unanswered questions are the role Kavanaugh may have played in developing some of the administration’s most controversial policies, including the warrantless wiretapping of American citizens, torture practices in Guantanamo Bay, and the vetting of right-wing judicial nominees. Kavanaugh’s nomination was voted out of the Committee earlier this month by a narrow, party-line vote. 

Use the URL below to read the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights’ letter opposing the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh:

http://lccr.convio.net/site/R?i=IchRZt0OIt-I0HVbGg-H8A

Call your senators today at (202) 224-3121 and tell them that Kavanaugh is unqualified. Urge them to oppose his nomination to the D.C. Circuit.

Click this link to forward this alert to others:

http://lccr.convio.net/site/R?i=E6Z-ZapTgSM75eTIuDArjA

Then use this link to sign up to receive Nominations in the News, the free newsletter that will help keep you informed about this and other controversial judicial nominations:

http://lccr.convio.net/site/R?i=HBU6XDzE6aGAxHr5Uthwug

[1] The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is widely regarded as one of the most influential courts in the country, second only to the Supreme Court. Unlike other appeals courts, the D.C. Circuit oversees the action of federal agencies on matters that affect millions of Americans.

© Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. Redistribution of this email publication with full attribution is encouraged.
 

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Straussism:

The Philosophy Directing The Age Of Tyranny: The purpose of this document is to present the principles of Straussism as a rosetta stone to give one the knowledge to decipher and translate the rhetoric and behavior of the George Bush neocon administration into some degree of coherent meaning.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13145.htm

From: Poacnewsletter
 

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Mr. Olmert Goes to Congress

The Jerusalem Post is reporting today: “Amid a lengthy round of applause, including a standing ovation from U.S. lawmakers, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert addressed the U.S. Congress…”

SANDY TOLAN,

 sandytolan@gmail.com, http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-op-tolan21may21,0,5050089.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

http://salon.com/opinion/feature/2006/05/23/olmert/index_np.html

Tolan wrote the recent Los Angeles Times oped piece “The incredible shrinking Palestine: Israel is whittling away at Palestinians’ land again, but it needs the U.S. to sharpen the knife.” Tolan is author of the new book “The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East.”

For related maps of the West Bank, see:

<http://www.stopthewall.org/news/maps.shtml>.

From: Institute for Public Accuracy
 

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Why Won’t the U.S. Acknowledge Israel’s Nuclear Weapons?

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert meets with U.S. President Bush today and speaks to a joint meeting of both chambers of Congress on Wednesday. The U.S. government does not publicly acknowledge Israel’s nuclear weapons arsenal.
MORDECHAI VANUNU, vmjc1954@gmail.com, http://www.vanunu.com

Vanunu is a former Israeli nuclear technician who in 1986 revealed through the Sunday Times of London the existence of Israel’s nuclear weapons. He said today: “The nuclear weapons in the Mideast are not in Iraq, they are not in Iran — they are in Israel. … The Middle East is now moving towards a nuclear weapons race; with Iran moving to do what Israel produced in the last 40 years. I did my best 20 years ago to prevent this situation of a future nuclear weapons war in the Middle East. The best solution for the Middle East would be if it were free from all nuclear weapons.”

After revealing Israel’s nuclear weapons arsenal, Vanunu was kidnapped from Rome and jailed by the Israeli government. For over 11 years, he was in solitary confinement. In April 2004, he was released from prison but continues to be under severe travel limits and other restrictions. Said Vanunu: “I hope the Israeli government will respect my human rights and let me leave. I want to go to the United States.” Vanunu, who is in Jerusalem, has been frequently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

From: Institute for Public Accuracy
 

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Another Big Tax Break for the Rich?

After passing a $70 billion tax giveaway that goes mostly to the wealthiest Americans, Congress is already at it again. While that $70 billion boondoggle will cost working families in cuts to student loans, child care, job training, services for the elderly and many health programs, Congress is set to give another big break to the richest of the rich.

Congress is debating repealing the estate tax, which affects just the richest one-quarter of one percent of the population. And while only the very wealthiest would benefit from a repeal of the estate tax, the cost to working families would be enormous: $1 trillion in the first 10 years, according to government figures.

Tell your senators to stop giving tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans and work for working families for a change.

Click Here to Take Action

http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/estatetax/s3guser17wixm7?

Supporters repealing the estate tax—a few wealthy families financing a huge propaganda campaign—have tried to paint it as a “death tax” that eats up inheritances as low as $1,000. But only those whose estates are worth more than $2 million (or $4 million for couples) are affected under the current law, meaning only the very richest Americans—just 0.27 percent of families—pay the tax.

The Bush administration and its allies in Congress have made their priorities clear. More tax breaks for the wealthy and cuts to the programs working families rely on. Contact your senators today and tell them these priorities aren’t your priorities.

http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/estatetax

Thank you for all you do.

In solidarity,

Working Families e-Activist Network, AFL-CIO
 

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Framing of Immigration

Framing is at the center of the recent immigration debate. Simply framing it as about “immigration” has shaped its politics, defining what count as “problems” and constraining the debate to a narrow set of issues. The linguistic framing is remarkable and varied: frames for illegal immigrant, illegal alien, illegals, undocumented workers, undocumented immigrants, guest workers, temporary workers, amnesty, and border security. These linguistic expressions are anything but neutral. Each framing defines the problem in its own way, and hence leaves out relevant issues needed to consider the full range of solutions. 

We present an analysis of the framing used in the public debate and how it impoverishes the discussion, and suggest alternative framing to highlight important concerns currently left out.

Read more…

http://www.rockridgeinstitute.org/research/rockridge/immigration
 

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Borowitz Report – american idol shocker

BIN LADEN FURIOUS AT ‘AMERICAN IDOL’ FOR TROUNCING HIM IN RATINGS

Orders Global Jihad Against Popular Songfest

Just days after releasing a new terror tape, al Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden is furious that the ratings for his tape were dwarfed by those of the “American Idol” finale and has declared an all-out “global jihad” against the popular song contest.

Millions of viewers worldwide watched the “American Idol” finale Wednesday night, drawing the ire of Mr. bin Laden, who had hoped that his latest terror tape would be the highest-rated TV show of the week.

But while “Idol” fans around the globe watched Taylor Hicks defeat Katharine McPhee for the top songfest honors, Mr. bin Laden was angrily seething in his cave, plotting revenge, sources close to the madman say.

“When Taylor started singing his number, Osama took off a sandal and threw it at the TV screen,” one close associate of the terror chief said. “He was like, ‘I can’t believe people are watching this crap instead of my tapes.’”

In yet another terror tape broadcast today on the Arabic-language network al-Jazeera, Mr. bin Laden vowed revenge against his latest nemeses, thundering, “I will not rest until I have put an end to these American idols and their American idolaters.”

While Mr. bin Laden’s associates publicly support his latest jihid, one aide who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the terror chief’s sagging ratings may be partially his own fault: “We suggested he introduce a singing segment on his terror tapes, but he balked.”

Elsewhere, NASA said that Voyager II has determined where the solar system ends but has yet to determine why anyone needed to know this.

http://www.borowitzreport.com/

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three to see
This Modern World: Good grief!
http://www.workingforchange.com/webgraphics/WFC/TMW05-24-06.jpg
Mike Keefe: Effective Fences
http://www.intoon.com/toons/2006/KeefeM20060524.jpg
Dan Wasserman: can we design a car that…
http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/Third_Party_Graphic/2006/05/17/1147922324_1910.gif