Lady Mechanic Initiative
By Staff, Lady Mechanic Initiative
A Nigerian outfit is helping women leave the world's oldest profession for a newer, more promising field: auto mechanics. The Lady Mechanic Initiative, a nonprofit, nongovernmental group driven by Sandra E. Aguebor, has been training women to wield tools since 1997, when a Nigerian auto-mechanic decided to leverage her own handy-woman skills into a means for social change. Targeting marginalized groups, such as sex workers, orphans, refugees, widows, and ex-cons, Aguebor is steadily building a workforce of empowered, self-reliant individuals who have a 'positive impact to themselves and the society.' (Thanks, Bust.) -- Kristen Mueller
http://www.ladymechanicinitiative.org/home.htm

Mow Down Pollution with Simple Lawn, Equipment Care
By Patricia Monahan, The Progressive
Before tending the fairway that extends from your front door to the street, a little mower-maintenance may be in order. The average mower puts out as much pollution in an hour as eight new cars going 55 mph for the same amount of time, but with a little elbow grease, you can have your mower running more smoothly and efficiently. And though hand tools and push-mowers are preferable, as they produce no pollution when in operation, if you must go with gas power, then a well-maintained mower with a four-stroke engine and the correct oil-to-fuel mixture is optimal. -- Nick Rose
http://progressive.org/media_mpmonahan051806

Criminal Kinship
By Ronald Bailey, Reason
As technology improves, providing the police DNA samples could become as commonplace as giving them fingerprints. But where fingerprints can implicate only the person giving them, a DNA sample, with its ability to reveal genetic similarities within bloodlines, can be used to track down members of that person's family. Civil libertarians are warning that this technology will lead to a national database with everyone's DNA information on file. And they're driving the point home by referencing recurring talk of a 'national ID card' that would be embedded with each carrier's personal genetic code. -- Bennett Gordon
http://www.reason.com/rb/rb051906.shtml

Artless
By Cara DeGette, Colorado Springs Independent
School-sponsored art shows aren't known as bastions for radical thought, but some pieces at the Young People's Art Exhibition in Colorado Springs were revolutionary enough to set off the school district's censors. A prime offender was a 5-foot-tall painting called 'Dismantled Stereotype,' which was nixed for depicting a teenage athlete standing in front of a truck adorned with a gay-pride sticker. Most teachers and administrators agree that rules prohibiting controversial subject matters must be enforced, but some have argued that the school took such severe actions to avoid seeming sympathetic to the 'gay agenda.' Said the artist, Addie Green, to a member of the show's selection committee, 'Don't you get it?' -- Bennett Gordon
http://www.csindy.com/csindy/2006-05-25/cover.html