YOUR ROUNDUP OF Economic Gloom.

ADVERTISING AGE: 9/11 Ad for WWF Causes Tsunami of a Crisis for DDB Brasil.

FINANCIAL PROBLEMS for the Cayman Islands.

SOME SCHOOLS LUKEWARM TO COOL on Obama student address.

USEFUL, BUT WASTED ADVICE. “I talk to the wind. The wind cannot hear.”

IN MY AREA, we’re seeing school closings due to swine flu.

INSTAVISION: I talk to John Scalzi about Old Man’s War and military SF, whether we’re living in the Singularity, preparing for the apocalypse, and the lameness of Holden Caulfield as compared to Robert Heinlein’s teenage protagonists. Plus, Scalzi’s Hugo-winning book Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded. (Bumped).

ABU MUQAWAMA: The Obama Administration: MIA on Afghanistan?

GALLUP: Democratic Advantage in Party Affiliation Shrinks: Gap now 5 points, down from 17 in January. And no bottom yet.

BOISE: Health-Care Rally Turns Into A Shout-Down.

BBC: ONLINE POLITICS RESERVED FOR RICH.

Typical blogger shown below:

UPDATE: Moe Lane emails: “Since when is 100 grand a year ‘rich?’ I mean, it’s not *poor*, but it’s upper-middle class at best in most urban areas of the United States.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Eric Thompson writes: “Since when is 100 grand a year ‘rich?’ How about: Since Obama promised to only raise taxes on the ‘rich’.” Got it in one, Eric . . . .

THIS IS YOUR NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: Feel safer now?

JIM LINDGREN: “The biggest problem with the media’s understanding of the Tea Party movement is that some on the left assume (1) that the Tea Parties are Astroturfed at least as much as some of the left’s own demonstrations and (2) that the educated right hates Obama at least as much as the educated left hates Bush and Cheney. So far, I haven’t seen much evidence of either.”

THE NEW LUMIX GF1 sounds promising: A compact DSLR-quality camera that takes interchangeable lenses. I’ve certainly liked my Lumix LX-3 a lot, and this is sort of its big brother. A little pricey, though.

UPDATE: Reader Jeff Nolan writes:

$899 seems pretty reasonable considering the feature set. From what I have read it appears that the only limitations are the lens selection (older 4/3 lenses require an adapter which means autofocus may not work) and the picture framing with live view (I still can’t get used to this, prefer the old school method).

It’s an innovative camera and I have to admit that I am a little envious because I just plunked down $3k for a Canon 5D MkII knowing full well that one of the things I really don’t like about DSLRs is that the bulk makes traveling a hassle.

One of the things I love about the camera marketplace is that it is vibrant and ultra competitive, with prices continuing to decline by double digits year over year.

Yes, why isn’t healthcare this way? Hmm, what could be different?

ANOTHER UPDATE: Les Jones emails that the problem is Baumol’s Cost Disease.

GENES THAT ARE UNIQUE TO HUMANS. Not as many out there as you might think.

HOW MUCH CAN YOU REALLY LEARN with a free online education?

NEWSPAPER-KILLER CRAIG NEWMARK: “It’s kind of like I’m a Batman villain — The Befuddler (successor to The Riddler?) Will I have to wear a funny outfit? Warning: should not be form-fitting.”

REVIEWING THE REVIEWERS: A roundup of book reviews from all over.

A BAD REVIEW FOR USASPENDING.GOV: “The U.S. federal government’s USAspending.gov Web site is a travesty, almost a parody of a government-transparency site. The site looks fine, but it significantly fails U.S. government accessibility requirements, and its use of graphics has only gotten worse — far worse — since I wrote about execution issues a month ago. Further, it’s old-school, a mockery of Gov 2.0 principles of interactivity and responsiveness and community.”

BILL WHITTLE, SCOTT OTT, STEPHEN GREEN: NBC Hires Jenna Bush: The New Royal Class & Culture of Celebrity.

ABC NEWS on Obama’s “Precipitous Slide.” Tom Maguire says that this is what happens when you run as a centrist, but govern as a lefty.

HOW TO FIX stuck or broken garage doors.

SUSANNAH BRESLIN: Eliot Spitzer May Be Considering Running For Office; Ashley Dupre’s Mother Calls BS. Meanwhile, Spitzer just wishes he’d hooked up with the mom.

REFLECTING ON THE NOW-DISCONTINUED Honda S2000. I looked at those when I bought the RX-8. Nice cars, but it was one of those East Tennessee summers where it seemed to be raining every day, and so the convertible wasn’t as appealing as it would have been in, say, southern California.

IN CANADA, A VICTORY FOR ACTUAL HUMAN RIGHTS, instead of just “Human Rights:” Hate speech law unconstitutional: rights tribunal. “The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has ruled that Section 13, Canada’s much maligned human rights hate speech law, is an unconstitutional violation of the Charter right to free expression because of its penalty provisions. The decision released this morning by Tribunal chair Athanasios Hadjis appears to strip the Canadian Human Rights Commission of its controversial legal mandate to pursue hate on the Internet, which it has strenuously defended against complaints of censorship.” Excellent news.