Instead of thinking advertising, how about this? Revenue is generated by capturing call termination fees (on both ends with Google voice) - but that's nothing compared to the big payoff, mobile payments through Google Checkout. So, Google gets to pillage and plunder both the telephone companies and the credit card companies, making them the hero of this generation and the next. And then there is the possibility of selling the mobile media data (a la Nielsen/Arbitron) for extra cash, if they feel they need it.

You'd think this attack was completely deserved, wouldn't you?

The real question is did the votes make it to Karl Rove's IT manager's server before they were counted? After all, that might appear to be suspicious, you know, if the guy died in a plane crash before he testified.

Americas Waste-to-Energy http://www.aw2e.com/index.jsp generates electricity, distills potable water and gasifies trash, all the while reclaiming landfills. Is this a perfect solution? Probably not, but I would suggest it is a damn sight better than what we have now. Add to that the need to move toward a distributed generation policy, a concept that can cut down on ling line transmission losses (of up to 80% of the generated electricity we produce) and this really might be the technology of the future. http://www.eere.energy.gov/de/

Wireless Philadelphia (and no, I don't want to discuss how unsuccessful it has been to date) was formed because almost half of the city had no broadband coverage - nothing, not even DSL which barely qualifies as broadband, in many places.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/ip-telephony/?p=709

And let's not forget that the citizens of Pennsylvania gave some huge tax breaks to Bell Atlantic to deploy broadband which never materialized, if you believe one side of the story.

http://www.tispa.org/node/14

Now, how about those wonderful laws that discourage municipalities that wish to build a network?

http://www.baller.com/comm_broadband.html

I know, I know, the telecoms are a for profit companies and are just protecting their interests.

But the reality is that in many places in this country there are too many miles of wire and too few customers to pay for the service.

Perhaps you are one in one of them.