Mauresmo wins $1.3M diamond-studded racket–Yahoo headline-00:28, Feb. 19, 2007
By RAF CASERT, AP Sports Writer
February 18, 2007
TENNIS
ANTWERP, Belgium (AP) — Amelie Mauresmo won enough diamonds to last a lifetime. Kim Clijsters will have to do with golden memories.
Mauresmo won a $1.3 million diamond-studded racket trophy Sunday, beating Kim Clijsters 6-4, 7-6 (4) in the final of […]

London fashion week begins, but size zero debate rages
by Elodie Mazein Sun Feb 11, 1:24 PM ET
LONDON (AFP) - London’s Winter Fashion Week kicked off in style, with Dublin-born designer Paul Costelloe unveiling his Parisian-themed collection, but the size-zero furore rumbled on.
Organisers at the British Fashion Council (BFC) had already decided not to follow Madrid […]

That was the actual headline.
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Fri Feb 16, 5:38 PM ET
WASHINGTON -
President Bush had two moles removed from his left temple on Friday. His doctors expect tests on the skin growths to show that they are noncancerous.
Images: (W) tatteredcoat.com via democraticunderground.com; (Robt. Hanssen) mugshots.com; (yellow suit) chadtheatricals.com; (real mole) ksr.ku.edu; (temple) templeharzion.com
Please find the […]

Or, it may be the consolation prize for having one’s weight guessed correctly on the Santa Monica Pier.
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In this photo released by the Institute of Natural History and Ecology of the state of Chiapas, a chunk of amber containing an almost one-centimeter (0.4-inch) frog that was recently discovered by a miner in the southern state […]

Updated: February 13th, 2007 11:41 AM EDT
Flying Creatures May Inspire Future of Aviation
Alan Levin
USA TODAY
“Learning the secret of flight from a bird was a good deal like learning the secret of magic from a magician.” — Orville Wright
As the nocturnal owl stalks its prey, a quirk on its wings enables a silent hunt. Fringe-like feathers […]

In London, motorcycles’ noise is severely restricted. That experience certainly adds fuel to this argument.
Hybrid cars dangerously quiet for pedestrians: US blind group
Wed Feb 14, 2:41 AM ET
An association of blind Americans has warned that cars with hybrid engines using electricity and fuel are dangerously too quiet for pedestrians.
The National Federation of the Blind […]

I tried to avoid this, but the stories scream for recognition. On Sunday I had read about talking urinal cakes–now there is a story about office bacteria. Clorox commissioned the study and got away with a $40,000 tab. The free publicity far outstrips that price.
I read about these cakes on Sunday and had wished they […]

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This is the new nuclear warning sign from the
International Atomic Energy Commission

I.A.E.A. Handout (Reuters)
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Some are unhappy with the final design and have issued these complaints:

Since when does an Evinrude outboard motor send hypnotizing waves to attract corsairs and force the pirates into flight?

A room space heater will not dessicate the human […]

except he’s destroying the U.S. Middle Class in place.
‘Rep. Westmoreland Warns That Iraqis Won’t Just ‘Go Back to Tending Sheep and Herding Goats’
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Westmoreland’s statement comes as little surprise. Last year, he led opposition to renewal of the Voting Rights Act, arguing that racism in the South is as irrelevant today as U.S.-British tensions over […]

Death certificates on abortions proposed
By ERIK SCHELZIG, Associated Press Writer Wed Feb 14, 1:41 PM ET
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Legislation introduced in Tennessee would require death certificates for aborted fetuses, which likely would create public records identifying women who have abortions.
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Rep. Stacey Campfield, a Republican, said his bill would provide a way to track how many […]

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Ex-aide says Rice misled U.S. Congress on Iran
1 hour, 26 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice misled the U.S. Congress when she said last week that she had not seen a 2003 Iranian proposal for talks with the United States, a former senior government official said on Wednesday.
Flynt Leverett, who worked on […]

 MSNBC.com at Noon
MORE TOP STORIES

• Blizzard hits Northeast | • Images
• Chrysler to cut over 13,000 jobs
• Bernanke upbeat on economy
(An upbeat view while 13,000 jobs are lost may qualify
Bernanke for ‘Best In Show’ among Spaniel Economists.)
.
ALSO MAKING HEADLINES

• Scoop: Who is ‘Idol’s’ biggest diva?
• It’s a lightning-speed ‘Idol’ L.A. show
• Spaniel is U.S. top […]

AFP/File/Greg Wood

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Flight Deck

AFP/Photo/Jean-Philippe Arles
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Images: (clouds) free-pictures-phots.com; (windows) community.travelchinaguide.com

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Overheard while George Bush awarded George Tenet the Medal of Freedom

Doug Mills for The New York Times
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February 13, 2007
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Long a Target Over Faulty Iraq Intelligence,
Ex-C.I.A. Chief Prepares to Return Fire
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By MARK MAZZETTI and JULIE BOSMAN
WASHINGTON,
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Feb. 12 — For the past two years, George J. Tenet has maintained a determined silence even as senior White House […]

The Vermont Teddy Bear Company has made great strides in the realm of marketing a product which is hard to ignore. Their web site displays scores of items for people of all ages.

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Love Rider
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Mad About You
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Love Bandit
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Sweetheart Bear
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Packaging

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Hoboken Teddy Bear Outfit Local #9 began as satellite of ILGWU in 1922. It split to form its […]

GRIM MOMENTS IN MARKETING
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While there may be countless MBA treatises on the coffee-drinker conquest by the company named after Ahab’s First Mate, I wonder why no one has written about the short-lived 1957 coffee house chain named after the Pequod’s chief harpooner?
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At first glance, location choice may have caused a problem, but this site […]

Before there was…

and its many oils, chocolates, pajamas and free gifts…

[…]

Harry & David Fruit-of-the-Month Club, Starbucks, Burger King, Vermont Teddy Bear and its affiliate, Pajamagram, are just a few of the wonderful consumer brands which have demonstrated their staying power. Sadly, other brands came before these and were unable to achieve success. I shall endeavor to show the reader some companies that never reached beyond…Grim […]

Auto insurers play hardball in minor-crash claims
POSTED: 11:23 p.m. EST, February 9, 2007
Story Highlights
• State Farm, Allstate employ consultant’s strategy, CNN research finds
• Theme of strategy is “deny, delay, defend,” former employee says
• Companies convince juries that claims are fraudulent
• Insurers, institute deny treating claimants unfairly
By Drew Griffin and Kathleen Johnston
CNN
Adjust font size:
Decrease fontDecrease font
Enlarge […]

Rep. Rohrabacher: Global Warming May Have Been Caused By ‘Dinosaur Flatulence’ »
This week, Congress held its first hearing on the landmark IPCC report on climate change. That report concluded that global warming is “unequivocal” and human activity is the main driver, “very likely” causing most of the rise in temperatures since 1950.
During the […]

This is how one makes a state a little more warm.
N.D. Senate OKs cohabitation law change
By DALE WETZEL, Associated Press WriterFri Feb 9, 7:22 PM ET
Living together out of wedlock would be downgraded from a sex crime to fraud, and then only if the couple claims to be married, under a proposal that passed the […]

What’s trendy on cruises?
From Yahoo Home page this morning…
Feb 11, 2007

Top, far right hand column marks a return to those thrilling days of yesteryear when the New York Times’ Judith Miller did her part to ‘Let slip the dogs of war.’

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February 10, 2007
Deadliest Bomb in Iraq Is Made by Iran, U.S. Says
By MICHAEL R. GORDON
WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 — The most lethal weapon directed against American […]

 The Wall Street Journal editorial page–dispatches from the Winter Palace.
Trial exposes White House crisis machine
By PETE YOST, Associated Press Writer
Fri Feb 9, 9:22 PM ET
David Addington, chief legal adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, says he was taken aback when the White House started making public pronouncements about the CIA leak investigation.
In the fall of […]

The parents are lucky the snake-handling religious sex-education teacher missed his train.
Students Get Lesson to Chew On
Gum Sharing Disgusts Montgomery Parents, Officials
By Daniel de Vise
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 10, 2007; A01
It was a novel class exercise: Ask a room full of Montgomery County high school students to take turns chewing the same piece of […]

From the country which gave us “Plutot Hitler Que Blum” comes this story. 
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France’s Socialist Party presidential candidate Segolene Royal holds the report on the institution of the government as she speaks to reporters at her campaign headquarters in Paris, February 8, 2007. REUTERS/Michel Euler/Pool (FRANCE)
French intellectuals abandoning Royal
By ANGELA DOLAND, Associated Press Writer
Fri Feb 9, […]

  It only took the inspector general four years to reach his conclusion.
Official’s Key Report On Iraq Is Faulted
‘Dubious’ Intelligence Fueled Push for War
By Walter Pincus and R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, February 9, 2007; A01
Intelligence provided by former undersecretary of defense Douglas J. Feith to buttress the White House case for invading Iraq […]

The arrogance in the White House would be laughable if it were not so disgustingly dangerous. 
Friday, February 09, 2007
Not Our Kind of People [Mark Krikorian]
According to a congressman’s wife who attended a Republican women’s luncheon yesterday, Karl Rove explained the rationale behind the president’s amnesty/open-borders proposal this way: “I don’t want my 17-year-old […]

I continue to post about this latest Tin Horn Torquemada story because he continues to trample the Constitution.
Alberto Gonzalez’s coup d’etat
The Constitution be damned, the attorney general has seized control of U.S. attorney appointments for partisan purposes.
By Joe Conason Salon
Feb. 09, 2007 | Under any circumstances, the Bush administration’s sudden, explicitly political dismissal […]