A good series on the loss of civil liberties during the war on terrorism, much of which may be familiar to you, but certainly not all.

More good parenting ideas from America - feed those infants french fries and soda pop!

"Neuromarketers" - nueroscientists scanning the brain to enhance marketing - is the kind of vaguely scary thing that we in the high tech west are having to deal with.
Meanwhile, back in the jungle...
Psychological warfare of a vastly different character in the Congo.

The overweight suburban shopper; the underpaid elderly greeter; the overworked, underaged Chinese laborer; the illegal immigrant cleaning crew--all part of that smilin' face that is Wal-Mart.

An endless succession of vacated spaces, a present without color, the creation of fear, implied revelations...in Keri Mortimer's paintings, the viewer tells the story with the simple icons put forth.

I thought the government wasn't Soviet-style anymore in Moscow...

The comparison between Iraq and the Philippines may be more accurate than the one between Iraq and West Germany, but it is hardly more comforting. In fact, it is so discomfiting—it implies such a dismal forecast for America's occupation in Iraq over the next several years (for that matter, the next few decades)—that it's hard to imagine Bush would have made such a remark if he'd understood its full implications.

Meet the person who might become the world's most famous saint...

"Markets make a great servant but a bad master and a worse religion. Markets produce value, but only communities and families produce values. And a society that tries to substitute markets for politics, ethics, or faith is seriously adrift." OK -- all those in favor of eating all the food all at once, raise your paws. (M)

The US Supreme Court affirms doctors' First Amendment rights and protects their ability to speak freely with their patients.

This is common sense, but I wonder how many would consider it radical: Oregon posts reward for driving less. "PAYD is an innovative approach to insurance that rewards motorists for driving less by selling insurance on a per-mile rate instead of a fixed rate. ... Essentially, pay-as-you-drive makes buying car insurance more like buying gasoline: The less you drive, the less you pay."

(Identical) letters claiming to be from U.S. troops in Iraq and hailing the Army's accomplishments there have cropped up in newspapers across the country - although some of the troops say they either didn't sign them or were forced to by a superior. (Thanks to hit and run.)

The more commercial television news you watch, the more wrong you are likely to be about key elements of the Iraq War and its aftermath, according to a major new study released in Washington this week.

And the more you watch the Rupert Murdoch-owned Fox News channel, in particular, the more likely it is that your perceptions about the war are wrong, adds the report by the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA).

Supervisors of a hospital in Abington, PA complied with the demand of a pregnant patient's husband that no black employees assist in the delivery of his child.

The skeletons of hundreds of African slaves have been returned to New York City for solemn re-burial.

Predicting the future is no problem, as long as you realize that your predictions will be wrong close to 100% of the time. (M)

Race-based social inequity in health care: "In one comprehensive study of 1.7 million patients, African Americans received major therapeutic procedures less often than whites in 37 of 77 conditions, according to the report. In contrast, minority patients underwent limb amputations in greater proportions and were given anti-psychotic medications more often."