AMERICAN NOTES

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
POLITICS
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

WHERE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES LEARN TO BE BAD

ASSOCIATED PRESS - A cloud of election rule violations is hanging over
student elections this week at Yale University, one of the nation's most
politically active campuses where presidential hopefuls have been
groomed for generations. All five candidates for the school's top office
were cited for breaking the student government's strict rules on how
candidates can campaign and when. . .

One candidate improperly sent a mass e-mail to about 600 students.
Another put up a campaign Web site too early. Others violated rules on
campaign advertising. None of the candidates was thrown out of the race,
but experts say such infractions are becoming more common nationwide as
student groups try to curb excessive campaigning. . .

Yale counts current and former President Bush and President Clinton
among its recent alumni and has had an alumnus in every presidential or
vice-presidential race since 1972.

http://www.courant.com/news/education/hc-ap-yale-vote-0411,0,3002127.story?coll=
hc-headlines-education


||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
HEALTH & SCIENCE
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

JOBS AREN'T GM WORKERS' ONLY PROBLEM

GLOBE AND MAIL - Viagra, Cialis and other erectile dysfunction drugs are
costing General Motors Corp. a hefty sum. The company spends $17-million
annually on such drugs, said GM spokeswoman Sharon Baldwin. Although
that's a small fraction of GM's overall health care costs, which in 2005
were more than $5-billion, company executives often use the example to
illustrate what they say are out-of-control health-care costs. . .
Viagra is covered under GM's labour agreement with the United Auto
Workers union, as well as benefit plans for salaried workers. Ford Motor
Co. declined to say how much it spends on erectile dysfunction drugs,
and a spokesman for DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group could not
provide figures.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060417.RGM17/TPStory/Business


||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

BRITAIN RETHINKING RELIANCE ON HAPPY PILLS

INDEPENDENT - Britain is in the grip of a damaging dependence on
anti-depressant drugs such as Prozac, prompting calls from mental health
experts for a radical rethink in the treatment of the 3.5 million people
affected. The prescription of so-called "happy pills" has risen by more
than 120 percent in the past decade amid soaring levels of depression
and anxiety, an Independent on Sunday investigation reveals today.

Faced with growing concern from doctors who say they are forced to
prescribe drugs as a "second best" treatment, the Government is to
promote alternative methods of dealing with the nation's dependency on
drugs. . .

A recent survey of GPs found that nine out of 10 had prescribed
anti-depressants as a "second-best" treatment because of the long waits.
Voluntary organizations such as Mind, the mental health charity, will
provide counselors to expand the capacity available to GPs in the pilot
areas.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article358011.ece

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
POST CONSTITUTIONAL AMERICA .
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

LOCAL HEROES: LIBRARY WINS SECRECY BATTLE WITH FBI

ANAHAD O'CONNOR, NY TIMES - After fighting ferociously for months,
federal prosecutors relented and agreed to allow a Connecticut library
group to identify itself as the recipient of a secret F.B.I. demand for
records in a counterterrorism investigation. The decision ended a
dispute over whether the broad provisions for secrecy in the USA Patriot
Act, the anti-terror law, trumped the free speech rights of library
officials. The librarians had gone to federal court to gain permission
to identify themselves as the recipients of the secret subpoena, known
as a national security letter, ordering them to turn over patron records
and e-mail messages.

It was unclear what impact the government's decision would have on the
approximately 30,000 other such letters that are issued each year.
Changes in the Patriot Act now allow the government discretion over
whether to enforce or relax what had been a blanket secrecy requirement
concerning the letters.

Lawyers for the group, the Library Connection of Windsor, Conn., argued
that their client was eager to participate freely in the debate last
year over the reauthorization of the Patriot Act. But federal
prosecutors asserted that the Patriot Act required that the group's
identity remain secret and that the government would suffer irreparable
harm if any information about its investigations became known.

The decision by the Justice Department to drop the case was applauded by
the American Civil Liberties Union, which brought the lawsuit on behalf
of the librarians. The civil liberties group said it would identify its
clients at a news conference once court proceedings in the case are
completed in a few weeks.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/13/nyregion/13library.html?_r=
2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin


||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
OTHER NEWS
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

GREAT MOMENTS IN ZONING

STEVE KEMME, CINCINNATI ENQUIRER - Passing motorists often honk their
horns and wave when they see Robin Sutton working in her yard. "It
happened so often I could hardly get my flowers in the ground," she
said. But their interest wasn't Sutton or her flowers. It was the
circuslike display in her backyard.

To wit: 15 toilets sprouting with plastic flowers; dozens of purple,
green, brown and white toilet brushes poking up from the lawn, and a
host of multicolored pinwheels whirling in the breeze. There's also a
plastic human skeleton sitting on one of the toilets and another one
riding a plastic horse.

The unusual yard decor is part of a protest launched eight months ago by
Sutton and her partner, Allen Lade, who have lived for five years at the
corner of Forestlake and Lancelot drives. . .

Sutton and Lade set up the toilets - almost all donated by their plumber
friends - because Anderson Township refused to allow them to build a
6-foot-high cedar fence along the Lancelot Drive side of their backyard.
The couple wanted the fence for privacy and to allow their grandchildren
to play safely. But the township's board of zoning appeals said the
fence would be too visually imposing.

Since then, Sutton and Lade have greatly expanded their own visually
imposing display. They added the skeletons for Halloween. For Christmas,
they strung 2,800 lights in their backyard. They invited neighborhood
children to spray-paint the toilet brushes. "It's fun," Sutton said.
"But it's also a reminder of basic property rights. It shows the
absurdity of being told you can't put up a fence."

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060416/NEWS01/
604160342/1077


||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

CLICHE CHALLENGE

FUNCTIONALITY has soared into fifth place with BEST PRACTICES making it
into the top ten. Other climbers include BOTTOM LINE, STRATEGIC PLAN,
and STATE OF THE ART

Here are the current top ten cliches according to our Google analysis:

1. Context
2. Marketplace
3. Prior to
4. Real time
5. Functionality
6. Empire, imperialism, or imperial
7. Embedded
8. In accordance with
9. Next generation
10. Best practices

http://prorev.com/cliche.htm

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

GREAT MOMENTS IN RETIREMENT

THE KIRCHER SOCIETY - Les Stewart of Queensland, Australia began typing
the numbers from one to a million - in words - in 1982. It took him 16
years, seven typewriters, 1000 ink ribbons, and 19,990 sheets of paper
to finish. And he did it all with one finger. According to Record
Holders:

"When asked why he has undertaken this time consuming and repetitious
task, Les says that he has little else to do now that he has been
classed as an invalid, and can no longer work. Besides that, Les enjoys
typing and used to be a police typing instructor before his sickness
which meant his withdrawal from the force. Typing an average three pages
a day with one finger since April 1982, Les said his secret was to type
for 20 minutes on the hour, every hour."

http://www.kirchersociety.org/blog/?p=509

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
INDICATORS
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

RICK ROSS, CULT NEWS - Scientology is ranked lower than Islam as one of
the most, unpopular religions in America. Even Islam, despite Muslim
terrorists and radicals making headlines, is seen better. . . CBS found
that amongst Americans 45% said they have an unfavorable view of Islam,
a rise from 36% in February reports Daily Times in Pakistan. Only 19%
of had a favorable view of Islam, compared to 30% in 2002. But only 8%
of the American public view Scientology favorably . . . 58% had a
favorable impression of Protestantism, 48% of Catholicism, 47% of the
Jewish religion, 31% of Christian fundamentalist religions and 20% of
the Mormon religion.

http://www.cultnews.com/index.php/2006/04/15/has-tom-cruise-damaged-scientology/


||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

UPI - A USA Today/Gallup Poll says nearly half of the Americans it
surveyed feel the United States should mind its own business
internationally. . . The newspaper said public opinion now is
reminiscent of the Vietnam War. In 1964, only 20 percent said the United
States should "mind its own business" but by 1972, the percentage had
nearly doubled.

http://insider.washingtontimes.com/articles/view_upi.php?StoryID=20060414-120724-1329r


||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
BOOKSHELF
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

WALL STREET VERSUS AMERICA
The Rampant Greed and Dishonesty that Imperil Your Investments

RUSSELL MOKHIBER AND ROBERT WEISSMAN - It's not the same old recitation
of corporate and Wall Street crimes that have bored generations of
business school students taking their required ethics courses. While it
purports to be about Wall Street, it is in fact a biting critique of the
elites that populate the Wall Street firms, regulatory agencies, law
firms and newsrooms across America. Weiss spent 18 years as a reporter
at Business Week, but he never wrote with this point of view and
intensity.

He doesn't much care for New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. Or
former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Arthur Levitt.
Or Harvey Pitt. Or William Donaldson. Or the class action lawyers. Or
regulation, for that matter.

He despises the fringe microcap fraudsters as much as the more
mainstream hedge fund hooligans and mutual funds rip-off artists with
their excessive and hidden fees.

He sees evil in the one-sided agreements that all investors sign with
their brokers -- the agreements that strip investors of their access to
the courts and shuttle them instead into an arbitration system dominated
by Wall Street veterans. . .

He's on to something that few others in the financial press get. . . "It
is the nature of financial journalism to glorify the powerful and the
wealthy," Weiss said. "That's true in all journalism to a great extent
... It has to the do with the pressures of the job, the pressures of
advertising, although they are never spoken of as such. It is the nature
of covering a beat where there are a lot of wealthy people. You tend to
be hagiographic. Fear of lawsuits has increasingly become an issue. It
discourages tough reporting. It has become a background issue. It's
never spoken of. No one ever comes out and says -- we are afraid of
lawsuits. It is never spoken. It is always in the distance. It's
background noise. It's part of the culture."

http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/corp-focus/2006/000236.html


||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FURTHERMORE. . .
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

AP - A DEA agent who accidentally shot himself in the foot while
demonstrating gun safety to school children is suing the agency, saying
video of the incident has made him the joke of the Internet. Lee Paige
was making a presentation to children at the Orlando Youth Minority Golf
Association on April 9, 2004, when he shot himself. Moments before the
shooting, the 14-year agency veteran was displaying his firearm and
telling students he was the only one in the room professional enough to
handle a gun. He was suspended for five days without pay after the
accident, and the video was turned over to the Drug Enforcement
Administration. The lawsuit filed April 7 in federal court in Washington
alleges the agency leaked the video to the public.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2006/04/14/national/
a090010D05.DTL

VIDEO
http://www.pistolwimp.com/media/44457

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
OTHER NEWS
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

UPDATE: ARCHIVE SECRECY

CHRISTOPHER LEE WASHINGTON POST - The National Archives will no longer
enter into secret agreements with federal agencies that want to withdraw
records from public access on Archives shelves and will do more to
disclose when documents are removed for national security reasons. The
new policy cannot guarantee full disclosure, however, because in some
cases federal regulations limit the Archives' ability to reveal which
agency is reviewing records and why, said Susan Cooper, a spokeswoman
for the Archives.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/17/
AR2006041701295.html?nav=rss_nation