On May 1, 2012, The Heartland Institute published a digital forensics report from Protek International, a computer and information forensics and security firm based out of Chicago. Heartland hired Protek to investigate whether there was evidence that anyone from Heartland had written the “2012 Heartland Climate Strategy” memo (aka the Memo) that Heartland claims was fabricated by Peter Gleick when he falsified his identity in order to acquire and then leak confidential Heartland documents in February, 2012.

As a result of their investigation, Protek concluded that the Memo had not been created on Heartland’s computer system and didn’t exist there or in Heartland’s email system prior to its publication on February 14, 2012. An S&R analysis of Protek’s investigation report finds that this broad conclusion is not supported by the details of Protek’s investigation. Full story »

I am a survivor of the zombie apocalypse.

Or am I?

I spent the spring semester filling my head with a whole bunch of stories about the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine), motivated solely by curiosity. What is it about zombies that continues to capture public imagination? Why are they such a hot pop cultural commodity?

I watched TV and movies (and, frankly, zombie movies gross me out, so it wasn’t all necessarily great fun), read books and comics, interviewed folks, and indulged my inquisitiveness just to see what I could find out. And you know what? I learned something. Full story »

At the New York Times, Thomas Erdbrink reported on the latest cyberattack on Iran via a virus known Flame. “Iran’s Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre,” he writes, “fears that it’s potentially more harmful than the 2010 Stuxnet virus. … In contrast … the newly identified virus is designed not to do damage but to secretly collect information from a wide variety of sources.”

At Asia Times Online, Pierre Klochendler elaborates:

“Flame can easily be described as one of the most complex threats ever discovered. Big and incredibly sophisticated, it redefines the notion of cyber-war and cyber-espionage,” Alexander Gostev posted on the Securelist blog of Kaspersky Labs, the company that uncovered the worm. Gostev is head of the firm’s Global Research and Analysis Team. Full story »

A make-up woman brushes a small lock of my hair so it drapes slightly over my forehead. That errant wisp tested well with focus groups of women. I glance at the TelePrompter, reciting silently the first few lines. My administrative aide, a former K Street lobbyist doing a two-year turn of “public service” before returning to her high six-figure income, reminds me to at least act humble. The director raises his hand: “five, four, three, two …” and points to me. I begin to speak to the two million registered voters in my district, heavily gerrymandered by my pals in the statehouse.

Good evening, my fellow Americans. I’m here tonight to announce that I will seek re-election to another term as your United States senator. I’d like to tell you why it’s important that you return me to a fourth term in office.

I have accumulated power on the Hill. Full story »

A week ago, Glenn Greenwald performed an excellent dissection on a New York Times article about President Obama’s secretive anti-terrorist “death panels.” When Greenwald finished peeling back the skin, he aptly pinned a great many horrible hidden things with descriptive tags to help us see the inner blood and guts more clearly.

There is more pull-quote material, each quote more galling than the last, in the Greenwald article than one can shake a scalpel at. Just read it.

When the right wing of our fake political spectrum feels that Romney isn’t far enough to the right;

When the current Commander-in-Chief earns praise from his far-right predecessors for continuing their bloodiest policies; Full story »

I detest the phrase premium content. Like much of the poorly thought-out jargon descended from news management gurus and consultants, its definition lies in the mind of the speaker. It’s not alone: For example, product has replaced news as the reason for a journalism organization’s existence. Add repurposing to the list of agenda-hiding argot that hides a rarely disclosed intent.

I’m not sure what premium content is. But I’m dead sure I won’t be able to see it unless I’m willing to pay for it. That’s one yardstick for the premium goods: stuff you’re willing for pay for online vs. stuff that’s offered free. But that definition doesn’t tell you what you’ll get when you decide to buy. Full story »

I am not, ordinarily, afraid of rising early. However, when it is winter and 4am and one of the mizzly-drizzly-dawns where the fine rain settles into every warm crevasse, nestling down and sapping all heat, it better be a good reason.

This particular morning I had risen, dressed and driven to the centre of Cape Town with a few rolls of black and white film, my old Ricoh SLR camera and its 50 mm lens. I went in search of photographs for an advanced hand-printing course I was doing at the Cape Town School of Photography.

I have always loved entrepreneurs; their bravery, compassion and ambition. In every transaction between buyer and seller there is a single moment of intense intimacy. When two strangers connect as they exchange cash for goods. Full story »

I’m a sucker for chalk art, so I always look forward to the Denver Chalk Art Festival. I’m apparently not the only one, either, as the crowd shot below suggests. The crowds seem to be getting larger each year, too, and I suppose it’s easy to understand why. June in Denver, Larimer Square, fantastic artists – what’s not to love, right?

Full story »

In recent years, the annals of national security are replete with retired generals expressing second thoughts about how militarized the United States has become. The latest is Gen. (Ret.) James Cartwright, who chairs the Global Zero movement’s U.S. Nuclear Policy Commission, which recently issued a report titled Modernizing U.S. Nuclear Strategy, Force Structure and Posture. It’s a radical departure from what you’d expect from a former chief of STRATCOM (the United States Strategic Command), which includes the U.S. nuclear-weapons arsenal. Full story »

by Chip Ainsworth

We were somewhere near the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis when Susan looked at me and said, “This will be the most East you’ve ever been in your life. How cool is that?”

The high-speed ferry was a few seats shy of its 400-passenger capacity and was doing 40 miles per hour over smooth ocean waters. “There are no McDonald’s in Nantucket. No Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks, and only one Cumberland Farms.”

We were seated next to a young couple from New York. Brandon was taking a break from composing television jingles, and Veronica was an actress in search of a part. They were living together in a one-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn that cost $2,000 a month.

Veronica, who was reading, pointed to her book and told Susan it was “girl erotica” called “Shades of Gray.”

“No wonder Amazon wants me to buy it,” Susan replied.
Full story »

About The Typeface

The words are set in ink
on the pulped innards of trees.
The idea for words
comes first from Sumeria
as wedges in wet clay: tales
of what came before, lost
to flood and forgetfulness.
The shapes of the letters
formed in Phoenicia, and sorted themselves
into vowels and consonants -
each breath a brush stroke Full story »

It’s just David being David.

That is—David Stern, Commissioner of the NBA, who is now accused of fixing last week’s draft. That’s nothing new for David—over the years he been called out for fixing games, rigging the draft, reneging on trades, and cooking the books to screw over the union. And he’s not just being accused by us wingnuts in the blogosphere. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo, NBA executives think Stern rigged the lottery so that a team recently owned by the NBA got this year’s can’t-miss prospect, Anthony Davis of Kentucky.

David Stern is probably the best executive in professional sports (although you have to give Selig honorable mention for turning into senile Uncle Bud every time the topic of steroids comes up.) Stern is charged with selling a niche sport basically played by urban black people to wealthy suburban white people. That ain’t easy. Full story »

Progressive Pushes “Perform or Payback” Plan

Declaration by Oswald M. Griswold III, progressive/entrepreneur/activist

Since our political hubs begin to loom as business subsidiaries for the biggest banks, energy-industrial cartels, and unhinged billionaires, let’s fight back with a business-reward model for progressive campaigns. If corporations are people, why can’t the residual left reinvent itself, just like willful corporations that leverage deductible “investments” — or go elsewhere? Think: lemon law for progressives. Full story »

Though with decreased frequency, drone attacks continue in Pakistan The latest, reports the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, were in Waziristan, on May 28:

CIA drones returned to the attack in North Waziristan for the fourth time in six days, with a strike on the village of Khassokhel. … Up to seven people were killed in the bombing of a house. … A second missile attack destroyed a vehicle in datta Khel. … Up to four alleged militants died in the second strike of the day.

We all know that drone attacks create enemies and drive civilians into the arms of militants. But, with even more dark irony, civilians killed in drone strikes are liable to become militants posthumously, when they weren’t in life, due to fuzzy accounting. Full story »

Just two months ago we lost Bluegrass icon Earl Scruggs. Yesterday, Folk legend Doc Watson died at the age of 89. Both were from my native North Carolina and each played a huge role in the Tar Heel state’s rich musical tradition.

Today S&R bids a fond farewell to one of America’s true innovators. Happy travels, Doc.

Full story »

Domestic terrorism is not what it used to be.

Terrorism used to be the province of the left. Crews like the Weather Underground, the Panthers and the Symbionese Liberation Army blew up buildings, kidnapped heiresses and brought cities to their knees with crippling protests. Now the best the left has to offer on the city-crippling front is the Occupy Movement who, if you listened carefully, weren’t demanding peace and justice as much as for jobs and better credit scores. They might well have brought cities to their collective knees, but if so it was only because the municipalities dozed off listening to all those lame speeches and slid off their benches. Full story »

Today didn’t go the way Candidate Romney had hoped. Some very brief notes are in order.

First, congrats to photographer Justin Sullivan. This is a great shot.

Full story »