A rock cocaine cigarette filter? A cigarette that delivers birth control and sexual stimulant drugs to the smoker at the same time? A geriatric brand? All of these are actual ideas for new products and promotions that were recorded at cigarette company "brainstorming" meetings. Information about these revealing meetings is compiled on the Brainstorming documents page of TobaccoWiki. It's one of the strangest and most fun pages on SourceWatch. What crazy, weird or sick ideas can you find among the tobacco industry's documents? Go to the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library and, as search criteria, mix and match words like "brainstorming," "synectics," "exploratory" or "problem lab" with words like "promotional" "smoker," "ideas," "sex," "cigarette," "list," and "creative." Be imaginative in your search criteria and see what pops up. When you find something interesting, enter it on the Brainstorming documents page with a short description of the document after the link, or write a short article about it. Don't forget to link to the document using its unique URL -- the one that contains the letters "tid". For examples see the Brainstorming documents page. If this is your first time editing on SourceWatch, you can register here, and learn more about adding information to the site here, here and here. Hold onto your hat, have fun, and thanks for your help!

Administrators of "Popline," the "world's largest scientific database on reproductive health," which is housed at the Johns Hopkins University's School of Public Health, "blocked the word 'abortion' as a search term after receiving a complaint from the Bush administration over two abortion-related articles listed in the database." The search block has since been removed, with the university's public health dean stressing the school's commitment "to the advancement and dissemination of knowledge and not its restriction." But the two studies that prompted the complaint have been removed from the database. Popline is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). In 2001, President Bush revived the "gag rule," which bans U.S. government funding for groups that perform or "actively promote abortion." A USAID spokesperson said she "could not identify the documents that prompted her office's complaint, but said the publications were one-sided in favor of abortion rights."

Mark PennWhen labor leaders complained about Burson-Marsteller's union-busting work, Burson CEO Mark Penn remained as chief strategist for Senator Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. When Penn blogged that his role in Clinton's campaign was "good for business," it wasn't a problem. But it was a serious "error in judgment" -- according to Clinton campaign manager Maggie Williams -- when Penn met with Colombian government officials as part of his firm's work to promote a free trade agreement between Colombia and the United States. Clinton had previously criticized Senator Barack Obama over reports that his "economic adviser had met with Canadian officials," to assure them that Obama's "campaign rhetoric was harsher than his real beliefs about the North American Free Trade Agreement." Penn was "all but forced out" as Clinton's chief strategist, after news of the Colombia meeting broke. However, Penn and his polling firm "will continue to provide polling and advice to the campaign." According to Marc Ambinder, on April 7, "Penn took part on the campaign's morning message call ... as usual. This afternoon, he is also scheduled to be on a call with Clinton and other aides to begin to prepare for Saturday's presidential debate in Philadelphia." On O'Dwyer's PR Daily, one reader commented, "This is not only a huge black eye for Burson, [but] for all of us in the profession. ... Where are the Council [of Public Relations Firms], Arthur Page [Society, and] PRSA on this?"