Graduate Student's Dissertation Raises a Few Eyebrows

And now some fresh pickings from the grapevine:

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Disconcerting Dissertation?
A George Mason University graduate has finished work on a dissertation that is raising a few eyebrows. Sean Gorman took information available to anyone on the Internet and created maps of all the fiber-optic networks that connect business, industry and financial institutions in this country. Gorman says was simply asking, "If I were Usama bin Laden (search), where would I want to attack?" But now some in the U.S. government want to classify Gorman's work top secret. One Homeland Security official tells The Washington Post the dissertation is "a cookbook of how to exploit the vulnerabilities of our nation's infrastructure." Gorman, meanwhile, is worried about his academic career. "It's hard,” he says, “to put 'classified' on your list of publications on your resume."

White House Worries
The U.S. government has complained to a brothel in Auckland, New Zealand, about its newspaper ad seeking new prostitutes. The U.S. embassy in Auckland says the advertisement is  "in extremely poor taste." You see, the brothel's is named The White House and its logo is almost identical to the U.S. presidential seal. The brothel manager doesn't see a problem, telling the Sydney Morning Herald that the White House is "a universally recognized symbol. I don't think they've got exclusive rights to it."

Mock Votes
A brand new poll from the Pew Research Center has continuing good news for the Bush political team.  When voters were asked who they might vote for,  63 percent said they would be inclined to re-elect the president. No Democratic figure even reached 50 percent, and the list included Al Gore and Hillary Clinton who are not announced candidates. Only 32 percent of those polled said they might vote for Howard Dean, who has surprised many with his fund-raising prowess.

It's a Hit for Howard
Much of that prowess can be credited to Meetup.com, which has helped Democratic Dean generate grass-roots support. But according to the Drudge Report (search), Meetup.com isn't working for Congressman Dick Gephardt (search). His online meetup supporters received an e-mail saying, "Unfortunately, less than five people confirmed that they'd attend the Washington, D.C. meetup, so this month's [meeting] is canceled."

Is That a Joe-ke?
Meanwhile, Democratic presidential candidate and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman has a new press secretary. His name is -- Are you ready for this? -- Matt Gobush. That's right -- Go-Bush.

— FOX News' Michael Levine contributed to this report