Permanent link to MTA daily media news

A Critical Juncture For Media Reform
The new Free Press Action Network will be a forum to help expand this growing movement across the country.

I will be a guest on Tony Seton’s America Back on Track today at 3:30 PM ET.  Listen to Tony from 3:00 to 4:00 PM ET every weekday on the Quality News Network.

Access to Web appears cut in Myanmar
YANGON, Myanmar – Myanmar’s government appeared to have cut public Internet access and troops occupied key Buddhist monasteries on Friday, witnesses and diplomats said, in an effort to end demonstrations against the ruling junta.

Spoonfed citizens (by Jeff Jarvis)
In [the] video from [Wednesday] night’s debate, Barack Obama makes politics a bit too cause-and-effect, in my book. Sound bite: “One of the things the next president has to do is to stop fanning people’s fears. If we spend all our time feeding the American people fear and conflict and division then they become fearful and conflicted and divided. If we feed them hope and we feed them reason and tolerance then they will become tolerant and reasonable and hopeful.” Isn’t that essentially insulting? We are politicians’ empty vessels. We are molded by their rhetoric? The Presidency isn’t a PBS self-improvement show. It’s an executive job. Sounds like Obama has been hanging out with Oprah too much.

Financial Modeling for Fun and Profiteers (by Barry Crimmins)
the Huffington Post. It just got done raising $5 million dollars from Softbank Capital and other corporate concerns. Not a dime of this money is going to the dozens of writers who draw the traffic to millionaire Arianna Huffington’s website… Don’t look now but the South has done it again–  and on a “liberal” website! They have brought back slavery under cover of the term “financial model.” Last I checked, great companies pay their laborers in more than visibility, promotion and distribution. They pay money.
But Barry, Arianna may start asking her contributors to pay to post on her websites, if she reads about what Will Ferrell did for his new movie.  See below.

Boy gets $47,000 shot to act in Will Ferrell comedy
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The parent of a 10-year-old boy has won the bidding for a coveted spot to appear alongside comedian Will Ferrell in an upcoming movie, paying $47,100 in an Internet charity auction.

Rather chokes up, and hunkers down
Former CBS “Evening News” anchor Dan Rather choked back tears on several occasions today when discussing his decision to file a lawsuit against CBS… When asked by Carol Joynt, host of the “Q&A Café” held at Nathans restaurant who worked with Rather at CBS in the 1970s, whether “he’d like to” call President Bush as a witness in the trial, Rather paused, then said “I’d like not to answer the question,” leaving both Joynt and audience members wondering whether the newsman has Bush in his sights.”

Spies Prep Reporters On Protecting Secrets
Frustrated by press leaks about its most sensitive electronic surveillance work, the secretive NSA convened a series of off-the-record “seminars” in recent years to teach reporters about the damage caused by such leaks and to discourage reporting that could interfere with the agency’s mission to spy on America’s enemies.

Brooks Attacks Entitlements: The Courage of a Coward (by Dean Baker)
David Brooks is back again spreading dishonesty as the honest broker. He is upset about “entitlements” and how they are going to break the budget… As everyone familiar with the data knows, Medicare and Medicaid are the real problems, as projections showing exploding private sector health care costs make these program unaffordable. The implication of this analysis is that we have to fix the private health care system in order to keep both the private and public sector solvent. But, this would mean going after powerful interests like the insurance industry, the pharmaceutical industry, and the doctors.

Violent Crimes in U.S. Near 5-Year Peak
AP runs another story written by the Bush administration: “A five-year look at crime rates show that the number of murders, robberies, rapes and other violent offenses committed in 2006 is returning to the peak reached in 2002. Crime dropped dramatically after that, the FBI data show….” But 2002 was in no way a “peak” year for violent crime… The only reason the article mentions 2002 is because the big graph the FBI handed out started with 2002—and the reporter was too lazy to look at the full chart to see what the real story was.

Rush Limbaugh On Saving Troops’ Lives: “Whatever”
Newsflash: Rush Limbaugh just described soldiers who are in favor of U.S. withdrawal from Iraq as “phony soldiers.” This will naturally explode into a huge controversy. Pundits like Richard Cohen will scowl darkly and demand that Republicans condemn Rush over it, just as they demanded that Dems condemn MoveOn for criticizing Mighty Scholar-Warrior Petraeus. Pundits will say for days and days that it has put the Republicans on the defensive. (Editor’s note: Sarcasm too heavy-handed here. Please tone down.)

Media Matters for America headlines

Members of Congress denounced Limbaugh’s “phony soldiers” smear

O’Reilly claimed Media Matters had “personally attacked” him, but failed to offer any examples

O’Reilly: “[I]f I could strangle these people and not go to hell and get executed … I would — but I can’t.”

On CNN, Peterson called NAACP “a hate group”

Fox’s Gibson claimed “George Soros is after Bill O’Reilly … over some benign remarks”

NBC debate moderators can’t get past Edwards haircut story, despite acknowledgment it’s “silly”

On her blog, Bruce attacked “the Soros Media Gestapo, Media Matters”

Matthews’ post-debate analysis: “Let me tell you how short Hillary’s leash is”

AJ-C upends its organization chart, reinvents news process
Carl Sessions Stepp says the Atlanta Journal-Constitution “is not only rethinking journalism, it is flash-forwarding into new ways of doing it. …The strategy of thinking Web first, talked about nearly everywhere, is demonstrated hourly.” Stepp also looks at the Mercury News, Politico and other changing newsrooms.

Treat Controversial College Editor Like A Student– Not A Villain
Is embattled Colorado student editor David McSwane, who wrote that now-famous “F— Bush” message, the new evil monster of college newspapering or the deprived First Amendment stalwart expressing his freedom of speech? Neither, he is a student trying to learn.

The Culture of “K-Ville”
FOX’s new drama portrays a post-Katrina New Orleans. But in reducing its tragedy to a cop drama, have the real lessons been lost?

Gigapan: Richer Context, Detail from Digital Photos
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed an intriguing way to enhance digital photography that could have significant implications for photojournalism, news sites, and any effort to share visual information or experiences.

Google’s YouTube Starts Program to Help Charities
Sept. 27 (Bloomberg) — Google Inc.’s YouTube video site will grant some non-profit organizations their own channels so they can solicit donations and upload footage of their work. The channels will include buttons that let people make donations through Google Checkout, YouTube said today in a statement. Google, based in Mountain View, California, will process the donations for free through 2008.

Armani in Second Life
Armani’s virtual store in Second Life has opened today, and the designer himself has gone to the grand opening as his avatar, and was interviewed by Style.com’s fashion director Candy Pratts Price for the event. Second Life users can now don themselves in Armani clothing, purchased with Linden dollars or directly through his online store for non-virtual items. Finally, a really smart integration of a clothing brand and Second Life, with options for purchasing real life items as well. Furniture next? Please?
Not enough consumerism in our real lives?  We have to have it in pretend lives, too?

Another Good Thing: Marthapedia
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia to Launch Social-Networking Site

Hollywood studios go after two piracy sites
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – The Motion Picture Assn. of America has filed suit against two Web sites that it claims are allowing Internet users to view pirated films, many of which are still in theaters.

Verizon Wireless to allow abortion texts
NEWARK, N.J. – Reversing course, Verizon Wireless on Thursday said it will allow an abortion rights group to use its mobile network for a sign-up text messaging program.

Texting, Facebook Used to Alert Students
NEW YORK (AP) – When a masked freshman came to campus at St. John’s University with what police said was a loaded rifle sticking out of a bag, the school alerted students via cell-phone text messages within 18 minutes. And when a suicidal gunman was reported to be on the loose at the University of Wisconsin, the school sent out mass e-mails and took out an ad on Facebook to warn students.

Google’s Game-Changing Phone
Mobile biggies are quaking at the idea of competition from a free, ad-based service

Google Defends the DoubleClick Deal
In Senate hearings on the proposed acquisition, critics say the deal would give Google too much control of the online advertising market

Yahoo’s Quality vs. Google’s Quantity. Who Wins?
Compete has just compiled a study that shows Yahoo’s superiority over Google when it comes to search results… What Compete looked at were the referrals from search queries done across Yahoo, Google and MSN/Live. An entire third of search queries performed on Google led to a dead end, meaning people weren’t clicking on a single search result. This is the silver lining that so many search engine developers look to when creating their own way to navigate the semantic web.
I don’t use Yahoo, but the reason why I don’t click any of the results on many of my Google searches is that the search results show me what I’m looking for.  Seems to me that Google could improve its click results by including less text in its search results.  But I hope it doesn’t.  It saves me time the way they have it.

IRobot develops gutter cleaner, mobile phone
BOSTON (Reuters) – IRobot Corp , a maker of vacuums and bomb defusers, said on Thursday it has developed a device for cleaning gutters on homes and a Web-controlled robot with a video phone.

Apple update disables unlocked iPhones
Don’t say you weren’t warned. After cautioning customers earlier this week that unlocked iPhones may be disabled when installing future Apple software updates, the company on Thursday made good on its warning.
They said the phones would be disabled.  They didn’t say they would be the ones doing the disabling.

Law Firms Go a Bit Hollywood to Recruit the YouTube Generation
Several law firms are creating recruiting videos and Web sites to attract law students to their firms.

Chicago Video Surveillance Gets Smarter
The city of Chicago and IBM Corp. are announcing the initial phase of what officials say could be the most advanced video security network in any U.S. city. The City of Broad Shoulders is getting eyes in the back of its head.

Genes Tied to Bad Reactions to Antidepressant Drug
Variations in two genes may increase the likelihood that a person will report suicidal thoughts after taking an antidepressant, researchers reported Thursday.

Toxic Shock Drug Might Aid Trauma Victims
Norepinephrine added to fluids protects against blood loss, study finds

Wine, Beer, Spirits Boost Breast Cancer Risk Equally
Three or more drinks a day raise odds by 30%, study finds

For Some, Diabetes Care Worse Than Illness Itself
Complicated daily regimens lower their quality of life, survey finds

Scientists study woolly mammoth DNA
Scientists are approaching woolly mammoths in a different way, extracting DNA from their dense coats in an effort to learn more about them.

New Study Challenges Timeline of Oxygen
WASHINGTON (AP) – Oxygen, key to life on Earth today, began to appear on the planet millions of years earlier than scientists had thought, new research indicates. An analysis of a deep rock core from Australia indicates the presence of at least some oxygen 50 million to 100 million years before the great change when the life-giving element began rising to today’s levels, according to two papers appearing in Friday’s edition of the journal Science.

NASA rover reaches first stop in crater
LOS ANGELES – NASA’s rover Opportunity has reached its first stop inside a huge Martian crater and was poised Thursday to carry out the first science experiments.

Out-of-This-World Hypothesis: Cosmic Forces Control Life on Earth
The rise and fall of species on Earth might be driven in part by the undulating motions of our solar system as it travels through the disk of the Milky Way, scientists say.

Astronomers find mysterious radio burst
A new and intense type of radio burst discovered may signal a cosmic car crash of two neutron stars, the death throes of a black hole — or something else.

Bush’s Climate Meeting: Talk, But No Action
The President’s summit shows a willingness to take global warming seriously. But don’t expect much more than that
That comment is from the communists at Business Week.

Banks Urging U.S. to Adopt the Trading of Emissions
A group representing some of the world’s leading banks will urge the U.S. to introduce a lightly regulated system for trading carbon emissions permits.

Gutsy Equador Proposes A Lid On Oil
Little countries can find the strength to do big things that big countries fear to do. For the good of itself, for the good of the planet, the South American country of Ecuador has proposed to keep the lid on nearly one billion barrels of oil under its Yasuni National Park.

Britain to start phasing out high energy lightbulbs
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain will begin phasing out energy-guzzling incandescent lightbulbs early next year in favor of low energy varieties as part of its battle against climate change, the environment ministry said on Thursday.

ING to Power U.S. Operations with Wind Energy
HARTFORD, Conn., Sept. 28, 2007 — ING announced this week its intent to buy enough renewable wind energy to power its U.S. operations as part of its bid to become carbon neutral by the end of the year.

BP Teams With MIT for Clean Energy Research
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 28, 2007 — BP became a founding member of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Energy Initiative this week to explore energy conversion of low-carbon feedstocks.

Wal-Mart to Only Sell Eco-Friendly Laundry Detergent
NEW YORK, Sept. 28, 2007 — The nation’s largest retailed promised to only sell concentrated liquid laundry detergent to save water, plastic and cardboard. The move is one of several high-profile commitments made at the third Annual Meeting of the Clinton Climate Initiative.

Mountain mining called “genocide” of Appalachia
Larry Gibson’s tiny house sits in a green oasis on top of the Appalachian peak his family has called home for 230 years. The setting would be peaceful if not for the roar of machinery scraping away the surrounding mountain in search of coal. “It’s a noisy, dusty place. They dynamite constantly,” said Gibson, 61. “It’s the genocide of Appalachia, the destruction of a people who have lived in these mountains forever.”

New Greek forests will need 20 years after fires
ATHENS (Reuters) – New forests in areas of Greece scorched by fires earlier this year will need at least two decades to grow back, environmental group WWF said on Thursday.

Beneath Booming Cities, China’s Future Is Drying Up
Groundwater levels are dropping around China, where leaders face tough choices as cities, industry and farming compete for an unbalanced and finite water supply.

The Hill’s Pundits Blog

September 27, 2007

Special Prosecutor Needed for Blackwater, the Republican Mercenary Company

Brent Budowsky

Democratic Congressional leaders should demand, Republican leaders should support, and President Bush should accept the naming of a special prosecutor in the Blackwater case as a condition of confirming a new attorney general.

If the use of mercenary forces in Iraq on such an enormous scale is unprecedented in the history of the American military, and the sheer number of revelations and investigations of scandal regarding mercenary conduct grows daily, and the lack of any prosecutions in this matter raises the reddest of red flags, what is striking is the relationship between a billion- dollar contractor and the Republican Party.

Let’s be clear: Blackwater, like all suspects, should receive the presumption of innocence. But let’s also be clear: This whole matter stinks like a rotten egg, drenched in blood, as part of a catastrophically failed policy that more than any conflict in American history is conducted outside the rule of law.

(more…)

Kyl-Lieberman Iran Amendment Passes By Huge Margin
The Kyl-Lieberman Iran amendment — which ratchets up the confrontation with Iran by calling for the designation of its Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization responsible for killing U.S. troops — just passed overwhelmingly, 76-22.

Buck Fush

Dozens die in car bombings as Iraqi violence surges
BAGHDAD — Car bombs and other attacks killed at least 56 people in Iraq on Wednesday and wounded another 103 in a day of mayhem that heralds an annual surge in violence during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Iraq’s Sunni VP meets top Shiite cleric
BAGHDAD – Iraq’s Sunni vice president held a rare meeting Thursday with the country’s top Shiite cleric to seek support for a 25-point blueprint for political reform, the latest effort by both Islamic sects to promote unity amid unrelenting violence.

Iraq insurgents slam US help in Anbar
CAIRO, Egypt – An Iraqi insurgent group accused Iraqis who help the U.S. military of being criminals and bandits, referring to Sunni tribes fighting al-Qaida in the western Anbar province, according to a new video posted Wednesday.

Shootings by Blackwater Exceed Other Firms in Iraq
WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 — The American security contractor Blackwater USA has been involved in a far higher rate of shootings while guarding American diplomats in Iraq than other security firms providing similar services to the State Department, according to Bush administration officials and industry officials.

Pentagon probes security contractors in Iraq
WASHINGTON — The Defense Department announced Wednesday that it’s sent a team of investigators to Iraq to look into how the U.S. military monitors private security contractors in the wake of a Sept. 16 incident in which security guards working for the State Department killed at least 11 Iraqi civilians. Pentagon officials also said they’ve sent a memo to commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan reminding them that they can court-martial private security guards working under military contracts who violate U.S. military law.

11 Palestinians killed in Gaza fighting
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israeli forces killed two Gaza militants in a missile strike early Thursday, bringing the two-day death toll in Gaza fighting to 11, hospital officials said.

Red Cross kidnappers ‘surrounded’: Afghan officials
GHAZNI, Afghanistan (AFP) – Security forces on Thursday surrounded the abductors of four Red Cross employees, two of them foreigners, and the hostages were expected to be freed soon, an Afghan official said.

Georgia and Russia clash at U.N.
UNITED NATIONS – Georgia’s president told world leaders Wednesday that Russia continues to interfere in its domestic politics and engage in “reckless and dangerous” behavior, the latest in a series of conflicts between the two countries.

Nepal closer to abolishing monarchy
KATMANDU, Nepal – Nepal’s leading party announced its support Wednesday for declaring the country a republic, moving the government a step closer to abolishing the monarchy that has ruled this Himalayan nation for centuries.

Myanmar soldiers fire weapons into crowd
YANGON, Myanmar – Soldiers fired automatic weapons into a crowd of anti-government protesters Thursday as tens of thousands defied the ruling military junta’s crackdown with a 10th straight day of demonstrations.

China-made kid’s jewelry, toys recalled
WASHINGTON – Toys and children’s necklaces made in China were recalled Wednesday, including five more items from the popular Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway product line, because they contain dangerous levels of lead.

Iran strengthens South America ties
LA PAZ, Bolivia – Vilified by world leaders wary of his nuclear ambitions, Iran’s president is turning to South American leftists who are embracing him as an energy and trade partner and counterweight to U.S. influence.

Hungry Somalis still share
JOWHAR, Somalia – Some days, Lul Haji Adam listens to her youngest son wail with hunger as she scrupulously divides up the food she has scraped together between the 65 members of her extended family.

Bush asks Congress for billions more for Iraq
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration asked Congress on Wednesday for $42 billion more next year for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan… The Iraq war’s total cost is approaching that of the 1964-73 Vietnam War’s estimated total of $518 billion, in 2007 dollars. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the total for Iraq didn’t include indirect costs such as veterans’ care or the ultimate costs of long-term involvement, which the Congressional Budget Office has said could exceed $2 trillion.

Veterans still getting shoddy treatment
A government report being released [Wednesday] concludes that wounded warriors are still getting the runaround from the Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs despite big promises of change after last February’s revelations about scandalous conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Bills to aid hurricane-prone homeowners face White House opposition
WASHINGTON — Two federal efforts aimed at lowering the cost of homeowners insurance in coastal states are heading to the House of Representatives floor but face opposition from the White House, some sectors of the insurance industry and lawmakers from states not prone to hurricanes.

The SCHIP Hits the Fan
Bush not only remains dead-set on vetoing the popular child health-care initiative, he’s once again pushing a dead-on-arrival proposal to give tax breaks to people who buy private insurance. Even some leading Republicans are agog.

Dems to try to pass hate crime measure
WASHINGTON – Senate Democrats are trying to force President Bush to sign hate crimes legislation he has threatened to veto by attaching it to a massive bill funding the Defense Department and the Iraq war.

Cheney heads to Utah for a private speech on Friday
WASHINGTON _ Vice President Dick Cheney will speak to a super-secret,conservative policy group in Utah on Friday during his second trip to the state this year.     Cheney will address the fall meeting of the Council for National Policy, a group whose self-described mission is to promote “a free-enterprise system, a strong national defense and support for traditional Western values.”     The organization — made up of few hundred powerful conservative activists — holds confidential meetings and members are advised not to use the name of the group in communications, according to a New York Times profile of the group.

House votes to condemn MoveOn’s ‘Betray Us’ ad
By a 341-79 vote, with all “nays” being Democrats, the House this afternoon passed a resolution condemning MoveOn.org Political Action’s “General Betray Us” ad… After today’s vote, MoveOn PAC executive director Eli Pariser released a statement saying that “with every passing day, America’s frustration with politicians in Washington drops the approval ratings for this Congress to new lows.  Congress is fiddling with an ad while Iraq burns. We will continue our ad campaign to accuse the Republicans who are blocking an end to the war of a ‘Betrayal of Trust.’ “

GAO: PRESIDENT’S 2005 SOCIAL SECURITY TOUR COST TAXPAYERS MILLIONS (pdf)
In 2005, the Bush Administration launched an initiative to increase support for the President’s efforts to privatize Social Security, including campaign-style events featuring the President and top administration officials and the creation of a “Social Security Information Center” in the Department of the Treasury… At a minimum, the White House effort in support of privatizing Social Security cost more than $2.8 million … an underestimate of the true costs, as it does not include the cost of staff time, Secret Service protection, and other expenses.

Lawmaker seeks to keep ‘murderabilia’ items out of U.S. mail
WASHINGTON — State and federal prisoners would be barred from using the mail to sell personal items under a bill introduced in the House of Representatives by the man who caught the Green River Killer.

Pace’s comments on gays elicits loud protests.
In March, Joint Chiefs Chairman Peter Pace declared, “I believe that homosexual acts between individuals are immoral.” Today, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) … offered Pace, who was attending his final hearing before resigning his post, an opportunity to clarify his remarks… Pace’s response created such an outrage from the audience that Chairman Robert Byrd (D-WV) was forced to temporarily adjourn the hearing: “Let us clear the room!” he shouted, as chaos erupted.
Click through to watch the video.

Craig says he’ll stay in office ‘for now’
Sen. Larry Craig … said Wednesday that he would stay in office, presumably beyond the Sunday deadline he had set for his resignation, after a Minnesota judge heard testimony in Craig’s request to withdraw his guilty plea in a men’s room sex sting. The judge said he wouldn’t rule before the end of next week.
Thank you, Larry, you are the gift that keeps on giving.

Watchdog group urges probe of highway earmark linked to Young
WASHINGTON — A watchdog group asked the House ethics committee on Wednesday to investigate how a $10 million earmark for a Florida highway interchange, which was backed by Alaska Republican Rep. Don Young, was inserted into a bill that already had won final congressional approval.

2 Patriot Act Provisions Ruled Unlawful
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Two provisions of the USA Patriot Act are unconstitutional because they allow secret wiretapping and searches without a showing of probable cause, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken ruled that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, as amended by the Patriot Act, “now permits the executive branch of government to conduct surveillance and searches of American citizens without satisfying the probable cause requirements of the Fourth Amendment.”

Court to consider lethal injection case
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to take a hard look at the method of lethal injection most states use to put inmates to death in a case that could further slow the pace of executions.

High Court to hear voter ID arguments
WASHINGTON – A voter seeking to cast a ballot is first told to produce a photo ID. Is that intimidation or a prudent safeguard against election fraud?

Ohio, Florida laws could dampen Democratic voting
WASHINGTON — Ohio and Florida, which provided the decisive electoral votes for President Bush’s two razor-thin national election triumphs, have enacted laws that election experts say will help Republicans impede Democratic-leaning minorities from voting in 2008. Backers of the new laws say they’re aimed at curbing vote fraud. But the statutes also could facilitate a controversial Republican tactic known as “vote caging,” which the GOP attempted in Ohio and Florida in 2004 before public disclosures foiled the efforts, said Joseph Rich, a former Justice Department voting rights chief in the Bush administration who’s now with the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights.
And the Senate Rules Committee yesterday decided to allow the nomination of a voting rights hit man to go through for a vote of the complete Senate.  They’re going to steal 2008 if they can.

3,000 and growing:
The number of students and faculty at Stanford University “protesting plans to bring former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to the Hoover Institution next year as a distinguished visiting fellow.” 

Overview: Dollar sinks but equities rise
US stocks finished strongly on Wednesday, boosted by positive corporate news and the expectation of rate cuts, with the dollar setting a record low against the euro for a fifth successive day.

Durable goods orders plummet
WASHINGTON – Demand for big-ticket manufactured goods plunged in August by the largest amount in seven months, with widespread weakness signaling a slowdown in the nation’s industrial sector.

Is GM’s Health Plan Contagious?
The UAW’s deal to assume retiree benefits may become a model for others. But it’s not an easy path

Going once, going twice …
In sluggish housing markets, more sellers are turning to auctions to energize their prospects and lure qualified buyers.

Permanent link to MTA daily media news

Political ads likely to run up $100 million tab
Presidential candidates, the political parties and interest groups will spend at least twice as much as they did in 2003-04 on TV ads before nominees are chosen, campaign advertising experts say. A record $100 million or more will likely be paid to put campaign ads on the air by the time the Republican and Democratic races are effectively over, likely some time in February. And the allure of posting ads for free on YouTube and at campaign websites won’t replace broadcast TV because that “old media” is better suited for reaching voters, the experts say.

Bud.tv Gets Another Year to Prove Itself
Anheuser-Busch has announced that they will continue to fund their struggling online video site, Bud.tv, for at least another year. This news comes as a surprise to some as it is estimated that the site is only attracting approximately 50,000 unique visitors a month.  With the site already costing the company between $20 – $30 million, you have to admire their tenacity to stick by a site that is not providing a large return on investment.
Man!  What I could do with $20 to $30 million!  There would be a media revolution.

Huffington Post Raises Another $5 Million (by Stan Schroeder, Mashable)
The cool thing to do if you have a famous blog, it seems, is raising funding – and more funding. The Huffington Post, world’s 5th most popular blog according to Technorati, has raised another $5 million in its second round of funding. The investors are the same as in the first round: Softbank Capital, Greycroft Partners, CEO and co-founder Ken Lerer as well as Bob Pittman’s Pilot Group. This rounds it up at $10 million of funding total – not bad for, you know, a blog.
Give me $5 million, and I’d STILL mount a media revolution.

Huffington Post doesn’t have plans to pay its bloggers
“That’s not our financial model,” says co-founder Ken Lerer. “We offer them visibility, promotion and distribution with a great company.” He says the Huffington Post will be profitable next year, when its audience could double, thanks to interest in the 2008 election.
And I would PAY my CONTRIBUTORS, by damn.

Technology puts Myanmar protests in international eye
BANGKOK (AFP) – Myanmar’s swelling protests are in the global spotlight with the help of hi-tech gadgets in the era of YouTube — a stark contrast to the 1988 uprising in the pre-Internet age.

Media Coverage Helps Ahmadinejad, Harms US Public (by Danny Schechter)
How the Media is Selling Us Another War

Gen. Sean Hannity And Fox News Lay Out Their War Plan For Attacking ‘Ticking Bomb’ Iran
The Fox News network is now in full drumbeat mode, trying to promote a war against Iran. Last night, armchair General Sean Hannity did his part to beat the Iran war drums… The network also announced that this Saturday at 9 pm, it will air a “Fox News investigative piece” entitled Iran: Ticking Bomb. The show will be hosted by Dan Senor, the former spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority… Fox has also been parading one pro-Iran war voice after another.

FAIR Media Advisory: Disappearing Antiwar Protests
Hundreds of thousands of Americans around the country protested the Iraq War on the weekend of September 24-25, with the largest demonstration bringing between 100,000 and 300,000 to Washington, D.C. on Saturday. But if you relied on television for your news, you’d hardly know the protests happened at all.

Scoop for Spanish Daily: Transcript of Private 2003 Bush Talk Promising Iraq Invasion
NEW YORK El Pais, the highest-circulation daily in Spain, today published what it said was the transcript of a private talk between President George W. Bush and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar on February 22, 2003… Bush purportedly said he planned to invade Iraq inf March “if there was a United Nations Security Council resolution or not….We have to get rid of Saddam. We will be in Baghdad at the end of March.” He said the U.S. takeover would happen without widespread destruction. He observed that he was willing to play bad cop to British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s good cop.

Countdown: Rep. Harman Gives More Details On Bogus Terror Threat On Capitol
Keith Olbermann talks with Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) to get more details on the revelation that the Bush Administration used bogus intelligence in order to frighten lawmakers into voting for last August’s expanded FISA bill. Harman says that after much digging she found the classified intelligence document in question and the document clearly stated that the intelligence community did not deem the source to be reliable.
Click through to watch the video.

Clinton rips right wing for ‘feigned outrage’ over MoveOn ad.
In an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, President Bill Clinton said there was something “completely disingenuous about the feigned outrage” from conservatives over the MoveOn ad. Clinton noted that many of the same conservatives who expressed outrage had likened Sen. Max Cleland (D-GA) to Osama bin Laden and had smeared Sen. John Kerry’s (D-MA) war record.
From a man who was attacked relentlessly by that same right wing.  Click through to watch the video.

Iraq War Spending: Context Please (by Dean Baker)
The Post…refuses to express its budget numbers in a way that would be meaningful to readers. The 2008 [Iraq war funding] request is equal to approximately 6.3 percent of projected spending for the year. It comes to $630 for every person in the country. By comparison, Congress proposed spending $7 billion a year more on the State Children’s Heath Insurance Program (SCHIP) than President Bush requested. This difference is approximately equal to what President Bush will spent on the war in Iraq in two weeks.

Media Matters for America headlines

On O’Reilly Factor, Bruce called Media Matters the “media Gestapo” and MoveOn.org “the political Gestapo”

CNN’s Roland Martin on O’Reilly comment: “[L]ast I checked, I didn’t hand over my brain to Rev. Sharpton”

Major newspapers, network news still silent on Romney-Blackwater connection

NY Times’ Seelye, public editor give conflicting reports on whether Times promised to run Giuliani ad on specific day

In LA Times op-ed, Krikorian cherry-picked “anecdotal evidence” on immigration crackdown

Reporting on $175K donation, LA Times did not mention that GOP is behind CA electoral-vote initiative

Media Matters’ Waldman: “[I]f Bill O’Reilly got caught robbing a bank he would say he was taken out of context”For Gay Press, ‘Good Old Days’ Are Here
Indeed, according to the Gay Press Report, advertising spending in publications, about half of them weekly newspapers targeting the so-called GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered) audience, increased 205% between 1996 and 2006.

Republicans gripe about Jackie Kucinich’s political reporting
At least one high-ranking Republican has refused to be interviewed by The Hill’s Jackie Kucinich — daughter of Dennis — because he questions her objectivity. Kucinich’s editor, Hugo Gurdon, says: “Her reporting is not influenced by her father being a presidential candidate and longtime politician, except perhaps that it means she grew up in the political world and understands it well.”
But if her name were Jackie Bush, she’d be touted by Republicans as a perfectly objective reporter, whether she was or not.

Murdoch era at the Wall Street Journal has already begun
The News Corp.-Dow Jones deal doesn’t close until November, but Michael Calderone finds signs that Rupert Murdoch’s already influencing the Wall Street Journal. “Several times over the past few months, he’s expressed his preference for shorter, newsier front-page stories. Sure enough, a 400-word piece on M.I.T’s miscalculation of S.A.T scores in the September 22-23 Weekend Journal didn’t jump past page one. That sure looks like a new direction.”
I actually agree with Murdoch on this one.  The Journal’s long stories tend to be lots of words that ultimately don’t tell you anything useful.

Air America gives free time to presidential candidates
Air America Radio has made Democratic candidates an offer they couldn’t refuse. The liberal network says all eight candidates have accepted an offer of 60 minutes each of free broadcast airtime during evening primetime, to use any way they want. The candidates will use their time during the first two weeks of October between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET during a new show called Clout! [hosted by Richard Greene]

NPR Rebuffs White House On Bush Talk
The White House reached out to National Public Radio over the weekend, offering analyst Juan Williams a presidential interview to mark yesterday’s 50th anniversary of school desegregation in Little Rock. But NPR turned down the interview, and Williams’s talk with Bush wound up in a very different media venue: Fox News.

Brought to You By…
The sorry state of commercial radio grows sorrier still as [Laura] Smitherman chronicles its slide into “a commercial-saturated world, akin to infomercials proliferating on television, and print advertising that pervades almost every public space… Radio is attractive to advertisers because it’s harder to differentiate the commercial from the regular programming and, therefore, listeners are less likely to turn the channel.”

Fox News Uses Maven to Expand Online Video Coverage
Fox News and Maven Networks are teaming up to bring the news channel more in to the digital age with far more video content. Maven will be supplying Fox News and the upcoming Fox Business Network, with all of their needed video support. Until now, Fox’s site has been fairly sparse with video implementation, but they are planning a major upgrade with an eye towards becoming more like an interactive television channel.

Microsoft touts new ‘media extenders’
NEW YORK – Microsoft Corp. and its hardware partners are trying to bridge the divide between home computers and TV sets this holiday season with the release of several “media extenders.”

Who Controls The News? On The Web, You Can
If you could create a newspaper based on what you like to read, would it look different from the front page of The Christian Science Monitor? Or The New York Times? Now, you can.

New Study Offers Surprising Numbers on Newspaper/Yahoo Deal
Little hard numbers have emerged on the revenue benefits of the big newspaper partnership with Yahoo. But now Deutsche Bank analysts have put pencil to paper, and estimate the Yahoo consortium could push newspapers into positive revenue territory a year earlier than originally forecasted, with online gains of 40%.

Amazon launches digital music store
SEATTLE – Amazon.com Inc. launched its much-anticipated digital music store Tuesday, a move analysts say represents the first hint of real competition for Apple Inc.’s market-leading iTunes.

Ring! Ring! Ring! In Japan, Novelists Find a New Medium
TOKYO — When Satomi Nakamura uses her cellphone, she has to be extra careful to take frequent breaks. That’s because she isn’t just chatting. The 22-year-old homemaker has recently finished writing a 200-page novel titled “To Love You Again” entirely on her tiny cellphone screen, using her right thumb to tap the keys and her pinkie to hold the phone steady. She got so carried away last month that she broke a blood vessel on her right little finger.

Verizon Rejects Abortion Rights Group’s Messages
Saying it had the right to block “controversial or unsavory” text messages, Verizon Wireless has rejected a request from Naral Pro-Choice America, the abortion rights group, to make Verizon’s mobile network available for a text-message program. The other leading wireless carriers have accepted the program, which allows people to sign up for text messages from Naral by sending a message to a five-digit number known as a short code.
And therein lies the danger of allowing carriers to make decisions on content.

Creationist vs. Atheist YouTube War Marks New Breed of Copyright Claim
YouTube yanked several videos last week that had been posted by the self-avowed atheist group Rational Response Squad. The videos criticized the Creation Science Evangelism ministry. YouTube removed the videos and at one point suspended Rational Response Squad’s account. The videos included content owned by Creation Science Evangelism. But Rational Response Squad argued in an open letter to YouTube that the content fell under fair use. The videos were eventually reposted, and Rational Response Squad’s account was reinstated. “The default, unfortunately, is that (sites like YouTube) take it down, and leave it to the user to issue a counter-notice,” said Corynne McSherry, a lawyer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

NBC Universal Bans Junk-Food Ads From More Kids Shows
Restrictions Affect ION’s Qubo Programming on Local NBC Stations, Telemundo

Public Service Groups Follow the Audience
Partnership for a Drug-Free America is making a major commitment to online advertising while shifting spending away from traditional television outlets.

Teen Finds Her Flickr Image On Bus Stop Ad
It’s 10 o’Clock: Do you know where your face is? A Texas high school student discovered hers was plastered on bus stops and Internet ads for a mobile phone company half a world away, thanks to Flickr and a “creative” ad team. Now she’s suing.

ringtone lg free 320069 ringtone phone boyz cellfree absolutly ringtones nextel702 ringtonesringtone adding pc from2260 ringtones nokia30p ringtonestreo free 650 palm ringtone Map

Vonage Patent Ruling Partly Upheld
NEW YORK (AP) – For the second time in two days, Internet phone company Vonage Holdings Corp. was hit with bad legal news Wednesday when a federal appeals court upheld a jury verdict and injunction against it for patent infringement.

Coming Soon: Make VoIP Calls Using an iPhone
TruPhone, a VoIP services provider in the UK, is reportedly developing new software that would enable iPhone users to make calls over WiFi. In turn, this means users would be paying to make calls over the Internet as opposed to over their mobile network, which is generally considerably less expensive. When not in range of a WiFi network, the service would place the calls through the SIM card, as is the case with all iPhone’s (and most other mobiles) today.

Steroids Sold on MySpace, Official Says
Steroids have long been sold in gyms and locker rooms, through the mail and at weight-lifting competitions. It appears teenagers can now purchase them by browsing their favorite social-networking Web site.

Scientists Feel Miscast in Film on Life’s Origin
A group of scientists are upset about their inclusion in a film that makes the case for intelligent design.

Kids’ Vaccine Ingredient Not Likely Linked to Neurological Problems
CDC study finds no clear association between thimerosal, mental woes.

Music Training Helps Gets People Talking
It affects brain to enhance verbal skills, study finds

Close Friends Protect Teen Girls From Abusive Boyfriends
Teenage girls who stick close with their circle of friends are less likely to take abuse from the boys they date, a new study suggests.

Food Tastes Boring to Anorexics
Food tastes more bland and boring to anorexics than it does to people without eating disorders, finds a new study. Furthermore, the inability to enjoy food might last even after people recover from the disease.

High HDL Levels Protect Heart Health
Reduced risk of cardiovascular trouble even when LDL levels were low, study finds.

Fruits, Veggies Won’t Lower Colon Cancer Risk
Study finds no link, but these foods do fight other health woes, experts say

Microbes Turned Into Drug Factories
Bacteria play a deadly role in transmitting infectious disease, but some are now being engineered to become highly efficient factories for plant compounds that could keep us from getting sick and old. The plant-derived chemicals, called flavonoids, have the potential to fight obesity, cancer, heart disease and even signs of aging.

Study lifts cloud over promising genetic therapy
CHICAGO (Reuters) – U.S. scientists said on Wednesday they found a way around a potential speed bump in the hotly pursued area of genetic therapy known as RNA interference, which has drawn billions of dollars in drug-company investments. Although one study suggested RNA interference, or RNAi for short, might be toxic, the researchers said they found a safe way to do it.

Copy of Magna Carta to Be Sold
LONDON (AP)—A 13th-century copy of the Magna Carta, a milestone of English freedom, will be offered for sale in New York in December, Sotheby’s auction house said Tuesday. The vellum manuscript owned by the Perot Foundation is estimated to sell for $20 million to $30 million, Sotheby’s said.
Treasures like this one should never be in private hands.

Quantum communication: atoms talk long distance
CHICAGO (Reuters) – U.S. physicists have coaxed tiny artificial atoms into communicating in an advance that may lead to super-fast quantum computers, the researchers said on Wednesday.

NASA Rover Reaches First Stop Inside Giant Martian Crater
NASA’s Mars rover Opportunity has arrived at its first stop inside an expansive crater, where it is poised to reach out and touch what may be the ancient remains of the red planet’s surface, mission managers said Wednesday.

Impact of Arctic heat wave stuns climate change researchers
Unprecedented warm temperatures in the High Arctic this past summer were so extreme that researchers with a Queen’s-led climate change project have begun revising their forecasts.

Global Warming Fix: Help the Earth Cure Itself
James Lovelock, environmentalist, futurologist and creator of the Gaia hypothesis and its view of Earth as a huge organism, proposes that we help the planet “cure itself” by artificially ramping up ocean mixing, which would stimulate the growth of carbon-munching algae, thereby sinking more carbon dioxide into the ocean.

Poll: Many Pessimistic About Environment
People want their leaders to move boldly to help the environment but give them dismal grades for their actions so far, according to a poll released Wednesday that highlighted rampant pessimism on the issue.

Bush climate goals marked by bureaucracy
WASHINGTON – The United States is lining up with China, India and the world’s other biggest polluters in opposition to mandatory cuts in Earth-warming greenhouse gases sought by the United Nations and European countries.

Brazil Claims First With Carbon Auction
Brazil’s largest city sold millions of dollars worth of carbon credits at an auction Wednesday in a deal that experts said paves the way for developing countries to make money fighting global warming.

Big Oil’s Big Stall on Ethanol
Even as it pockets billions in subsidies, it’s trying to keep E85 out of drivers’ tanks

Jane Goodall says biofuel crops hurt rain forests
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Primate scientist Jane Goodall said on Wednesday the race to grow crops for vehicle fuels is damaging rain forests in Asia, Africa and South America and adding to the emissions blamed for global warming.

Waste Management to Build 60 Landfill Gas to Energy Facilities
COLUMBIA, S.C., Sept. 27, 2007 — Waste Management Inc. plans to make a major investment in renewable energy by building 60 more landfill gas to energy facilities across the U.S. in the next five years.

Ill winds for Mont. wind power project
BILLINGS, Mont. – The strong winds that blow across the Northern Plains have been chased over the past two years by a spate of politicians and entrepreneurs eager to exploit them as an energy alternative to fossil fuels.

HSBC Launches Climate Change Investment Indices
VANCOUVER, Sept. 27, 2007 — HSBC Corporate, Investment Banking and Markets announced this week the launch of several indices to help investors track the stock market performance of companies that could profit from climate change challenges.

Demand for Leaders in Sustainable Business on the Rise
In an effort to meet the growing demand for leaders in sustainable business, Presidio School of Management – now in its fifth year – has expanded its offerings to include an executive education certificate program. The Sustainable Management Executive Certificate program will launch in January 2008 in partnership with the Law Firm of Hanson Bridgett – one of San Francisco’s oldest law firms.

China Starts Countdown To Save Biodiversity By 2010
As the rate of biodiversity loss accelerates worldwide, civil society organizations and governments are joining forces to fight the global extinction crisis.  On September 7 in Beijing, twenty Chinese and international organizations signed the Countdown 2010 declaration, committing themselves to additional efforts to reduce biodiversity loss by the year 2010.

US dismisses Iranian pledge to help unite Iraq
Iran pledged at UN talks Saturday to help national reconciliation in Iraq but the assurance was immediately brushed aside by the Islamic republic’s archrival the United States.
Don’t forget that Iran offered to help with Iraq in 2003, and was rebuffed.  The truth is that this administration doesn’t want anything to do with Iran except to bomb it.

Webb: Lieberman And Kyl’s Hawkish Iran Amendment Is ‘Cheney’s Fondest Pipe Dream’
On the Senate floor [Tuesday], Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) made an impassioned appeal to his fellow senators, declaring that the Lieberman-Kyl amendment on Iran should be “withdrawn” because the “proposal is Dick Cheney’s fondest pipe dream.” Webb cautioned that the “cleverly-worded sense of the Congress” could be “interpreted” to “declare war” on Iran.
Click through to watch the video, and call your senators!  Tell them not to give George Bush cover to start another war.  Capitol switchboard (all toll free): 800-459-1887, 877-851-6437, 800-828-0498, 866-338-1015, 866-340-9281, 800-614-2803

The Heretik

Iraqi Prime Minister Says That Civil War Has Been Prevented
Civil war has been averted in Iraq and Iranian intervention there has “ceased to exist,” Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said [Monday]. “I can’t say there is a picture of roses and flowers in Iraq,” Maliki told the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. “However, I can say that the greatest victory, of which I am proud . . . is stopping the explosion of a sectarian war.” That possibility, he said, “is now far away.”
Off the reservation?

WHO: Cholera outbreak in Iraq spreading
GENEVA – A cholera outbreak in Iraq is spreading, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, with new cases confirmed in Baghdad, Basra and for the first time three northern districts.

Suicide epidemic striking Kurdish women
IRBIL, Iraq— Three weeks after she was burned, the petite 18-year-old lay in a hospital bed, her head, arms and upper torso swathed in cotton. He seared face was daubed with ointment.

Iran leader says nuclear issue closed
UNITED NATIONS – Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared Tuesday that Iran’s disputed nuclear program is “closed” as a political issue and said Tehran will ignore U.N. Security Council demands and sanctions imposed by “arrogant powers” to curb its nuclear program.

Bhutto: Extremism has grown in Pakistan under Musharraf
WASHINGTON — Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who’s pledged to end her 10-year exile next month in hopes of returning to power, said Tuesday that the Bush administration had made a mistake by believing that the government of Gen. Pervez Musharraf was the best choice for fighting terrorism. Bhutto said extremism had grown under Musharraf, whose government has received more than $10 billion in U.S. aid since 9-11 in return for help in fighting al Qaida.

Buddhist monks defy assembly ban
YANGON, Myanmar – Security forces fired warning shots and tear gas canisters while hauling Buddhist monks away in trucks Wednesday as they tried to stop anti-government demonstrations in defiance of a ban on assembly.

Canadian military wrote Karzai speech: opposition
OTTAWA (Reuters) – A speech that Afghan President Hamid Karzai delivered to Canada’s Parliament a year ago, urging the country’s continued military support, was nothing more than a “political stunt,” written by Canadian defense ministry staff, an opposition party charged on Tuesday.

Nicaraguan leader rails at U.S. hegemony
UNITED NATIONS – Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega accused the U.S. of imposing a worldwide dictatorship and defended the right of Iran and North Korea to pursue nuclear technology in a speech Tuesday before the U.N. General Assembly meeting.

Italy pushes death penalty moratorium
UNITED NATIONS – Italy’s premier Tuesday called for a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty with a view to its complete abolition, a move he said would guarantee better justice around the globe and an end to cultures of vengeance.

House approves increased child healthcare but misses veto-proof margin
In one of the biggest congressional health care votes since 2003, the House of Representatives voted 265 to 159 to reauthorize and expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program by $35 billion over five years. But the victory tally fell short of the tally needed to override a promised veto of the measure by President Bush.

Alleged Iranian ‘Front’ Represented by Mukasey Law Firm
For more than 25 years, U.S. intelligence and law enforcement authorities say they have suspected the New York-based Alavi Foundation is a “front” for Iranian espionage and anti-American activities. For more than 25 years, court records show the foundation has been publicly defended and represented by the New York law firm where attorney-general nominee Michael Mukasey is a partner: Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP.

Senate Rules To Consider FEC Nominations Wednesday
The Senate Rules and Administration Committee will consider four nominees to the Federal Election Commission Wednesday… Of the four nominees, [Hans] von Spakovsky could prove the most controversial because of his tenure in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. The conservative commissioner reported to Bradley Schlozman in the Civil Rights Division, and Rules Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) isn’t a big fan of latter’s work. She grilled Schlozman earlier this year for his prosecution of several liberal organizers in Missouri in a controversial voter fraud case right before the last election.
Digby has the goods on von Spakovsky.

White House backs down, withdraws CIA nominee.
The White House has withdrawn the nomination of John Rizzo to become General Counsel at the CIA. Rizzo’s nomination had elicited a fury of outrage from key senators and human rights and advocacy groups. The anger stemmed form Rizzo’s refusal at a June confirmation hearing to disavow his approval of a 2002 memo that stretched the definition of torture.

McConnell reaffirms public FISA debate will kill Americans.
At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this morning, Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell reaffirmed that public discussion of the administration’s surveillance program would lead to the “killing of Americans.”
Click through to watch the video.  Meanwhile, see below for what will really kill Americans.

Violent Crime, a Sticky Issue for White House, Shows Steeper Rise
Violent crime in the United States rose more than previously believed in 2006, continuing the most significant increase in more than a decade, according to an FBI report released [Monday]… The uptick presents a significant political challenge for the Bush administration, which has faced growing criticism from congressional Democrats, big-city mayors and police chiefs for presiding over cuts in federal assistance to local law enforcement agencies over the past six years.

Waxman: State Department blocking congressional probe
WASHINGTON — Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Cal., charged Tuesday that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her aides are trying to impede congressional probes into corruption in Iraq and the activities of controversial private military contractor Blackwater USA… The department also retroactively classified a study drafted by the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad that reportedly details extensive corruption in al-Maliki’s government, Waxman said.

Court Advances Military Trials for Detainees
WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 — A special military appeals court, overturning a lower court ruling, on Monday removed a legal hurdle that has derailed war crime trials for detainees at Guantanámo Bay, Cuba. The ruling allows military prosecutors to address a legal flaw that had ground the prosecutions to a halt. The decision, by a three-judge panel of a newly formed military appeals court, was an important victory for the government in its protracted efforts to begin prosecuting some of the 340 detainees at Guantánamo.

1 in 4 Gulf War veterans still has serious illness, panel hears
WASHINGTON — Sixteen years after the Persian Gulf War ended, more than 1 in 4 of those who fought remain seriously ill with medical problems ranging from severe fatigue and joint pain to Lou Gehrig’s disease, multiple sclerosis and brain cancer, the chairman of a congressional advisory committee testified Tuesday.

4th-graders’ test scores rise, 8th-graders’ stall
WASHINGTON — Although fourth- and eighth-grade students have shared slow but steady math gains for more than a decade, eighth-graders’ reading scores have stalled while their younger peers’ scores have continued to rise, according to test results released Tuesday… The test results come as Congress heads toward what probably will prove a contentious debate on changes to the No Child Left Behind law, which faces a reauthorization deadline at the end of this month.

More Bad News for Ted Stevens?
One of the Alaska state legislators on trial in the VECO investigation, Rep. Pete Kott (R) has been convicted on 3 of 4 counts. Not directly connected to Sen. Stevens (R), but the more convictions the feds pile up, the more people there are going to be willing to talk.

NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD CALLS FOR … FEDERAL INVESTIGATION INTO JENA 6 ARRESTS AND PROSECUTIONS
The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) calls for the immediate release of Mychal Bell, one of the six high school students who have come to be known as the “Jena 6.” The Guild also calls for all charges against the Jena 6 to be dropped, and for the investigation and disbarment of Judge J.P. Mauffray and District Attorney Reed Walters.

Democrats Maintain Image Advantage Over Republicans
According to a new Gallup poll, the Democratic Party enjoys a large lead in favorability over Republicans. Currently 53% of respondents hold favorable opinions about the Democrats, compared with only 38% who do so for Republicans. The poll found similar margins believe Democrats will handle the economy better… [F]or the first time since Gallup asked about national security in this annual poll, Democrats are viewed more favorably in their ability to handle security issues than are Republicans (47% to 42%).

Democrats Outpace Republicans in Fundraising
According to CQ, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) has once again out raised its Republican counterpart… The Democrat’s current cash advantage could be compounded by the fact that the GOP likely will have more seats to defend in 2008. The house campaign committees show a similar pattern.

Edwards Unveils $50B HIV Plan
(Washington) Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards has unveiled a $50 billion five year HIV/AIDS strategy that also would dismantle many of the initiatives of the Bush administration which have been seen as limiting the effectiveness of earlier plans.

Giuliani party draws criticism from Dodd
WASHINGTON – The International Association of Fire Fighters accused Republican Rudy Giuliani of exploiting the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks because a supporter is holding a $9.11-per-person fundraiser for the presidential candidate.

Nader Preparing for Another Run?
The “Ralph Nader Democratic Caucus Campaign Draft Committee” is seeking campaign workers in Iowa and New Hampshire, according to advertisements placed on Craigslist.

Can broken primary system be fixed?
WASHINGTON — Florida’s defiant decision to hold its presidential primary weeks earlier than both national parties dictate highlights one inescapable fact: There’s no easy fix for this mess of a presidential nominating system. Parties set rules and dates, but self-interested states ignore them with little fear of meaningful consequence or much concern for the national interest.

Stocks seen rising after GM-union deal
PARIS (Reuters) – Stock futures pointed to a rise on Wall Street on Wednesday, buoyed by General Motors Corp.’s deal with the United Auto Workers, as well as expectations of more Federal Reserve rate cuts.

Home price declines accelerated in July: S&P
A drop in prices of existing single-family homes accelerated in July, and the annual decline in the 10 largest cities was the sharpest since 1991, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case Shiller national home price index on Tuesday.

Consumers face record winter heating costs
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. consumers are expected to pay record prices for heating oil, electricity and propane to warm their homes this winter, and low-income families will need government help to cover those bills, government energy officials said on Tuesday.

UAW reaches tentative agreement with GM
DETROIT – The United Auto Workers and General Motors Corp. said Wednesday they have reached a tentative contract agreement that ends a two-day nationwide strike immediately.

Jim Cramer: Bust the UAW – There’s No Reason To Build Cars In America
CNBC host Jim Cramer has a message for the hard-working men and women of the United Auto Workers Union currently on strike: sit down, shut up and be happy with less so GM execs can stay rich. [Tuesday] on Hardball, Cramer does his best tough guy act, fortunately Ross Eisenbrey, Vice President of the Economic Policy Institute … reminds Cramer that the UAW strike is about keeping jobs in America and that this war against the working class isn’t just about unions, it’s happening to non-union workers as well.
Click through to watch the video.

Permanent link to MTA daily media news

The Left’s Media Miscalculation (Redux) (by Robert Parry)
In view of the MoveOn fiasco, we are republishing our April 29, 2005, report, entitled “The Left’s Media Miscalculation,” which explains how this media asymmetry developed.
Click through to read or re-read the essay.  This problem is so clear to me.  But Bob Parry of Consortium News and Mark Karlin of BuzzFlash seem to be the only progressives with a platform who agree with me.  Where are the rest of you?  Why aren’t we working together to create our own mighty megaphone?

Dan Rather is right (by Eric Boehlert)
Using Bush’s own military records, I’ll list 10 glaring discrepancies regarding his fraudulent military service, none of which is based on the disputed memos that were aired by CBS News in 2004. And yes, I’m pretty sure all 10 discrepancies will come as news flashes to the same journalists who mocked Rather last week for having the temerity to suggest his National Guard report was true.
Please click through to read the entire article.  The destruction of Dan Rather is one of the most important examples of the power of the right-wing megaphone.

Spacey to star in HBO’s ‘Recount’
Kevin Spacey, Laura Dern, Denis Leary, John Hurt, Tom Wilkinson, Ed Begley Jr. and Bob Balaban have been set by HBO Films to star in “Recount,” the drama about the controversial Florida results in the 2000 presidential election. Jay Roach is directing a script written by Danny Strong.
And the Florida non-recount was one of the first national examples of the right wing’s power to re-create reality.

Timing is Everything (by digby, regarding “Recount”, above)
The people involved show that this is not going to be a “Path to 9/11″ hit job so the wingnuts are going to have an epic case of the vapors not seen since … well, their last epic case of the vapors. Good. It’s past time Hollywood pulled out the big political guns and started making some straight-up political movies. We’ll probably have to fight off the Democrats more than the Republicans because as always, they’ll feel the need to distance themselves from even the tiniest bit of partisan controversy, but to hell with them. This story has never actually been told and it’s long ov erdue..
This is how Hollywood can help build the mighty megaphone for truth, honor, and decency.

Bush astounds activists, supports human rights
UNITED NATIONS — President Bush implored the United Nations on Tuesday to recommit itself to restoring human decency by liberating oppressed people and ending famine and disease… Bush didn’t mention the U.S. prisons in Afghanistan or at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. practice of holding detainees for years without legal charges or access to lawyers, or the CIA’s “rendition” kidnappings of suspects abroad, all issues of concern to human rights activists around the world.
Have I told you lately that I love McClatchy?

Trump On Fox: Bush “Perhaps The Worst President In The History Of This Country”
Donald Trump, who is no fan of President Bush, gives his unvarnished opinions on Fox & Friends [Tuesday] morning, which got hosts Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade a little worked up. While it’s clear he’s not considered a hostile guest, the hosts do their best to push back against his criticisms. Kilmeade makes sure that Trump isn’t Pro-Saddam and Doocy proclaims the United Nations hates America!, but The Donald doesn’t miss a beat.

Journalistic progress on Iran
The New York Times does a piece on how — despite right-wing hyperventilation — Ahmadinejad isn’t really that important. Not in his own country, and not in the grand scheme of international relations, except for how we keep supporting him by giving him too much attention and being belligerent.

White House prepares ‘phonetic guide’ for Bush.
As President Bush spoke to the United Nation’s General Assembly [Tuesday] morning, “a marked-up draft of the president’s speech popped up on the U.N.’s website” that included “phonetic spellings of some names and countries, and the cellphone numbers for Bush speechwriters.” White House Press Secretary Dana Perino got annoyed when a reporter asked “if the president has trouble pronouncing some country’s names,” calling it an “offensive question” before saying, “it was taken down and there’s nothing more to say about it.”

Turning Ahmadinejad Into Public Enemy No. 1 (by Juan Cole)
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to New York to address the United Nations General Assembly has become a media circus. But the controversy does not stem from the reasons usually cited.

O’Reilly Rips Columbia’s Invitation To Ahmadinejad As ‘Revolting,’ But Admits He Invited Him Too
[Monday] night, Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly criticized Columbia University’s decision to invite Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak on campus. O’Reilly, who spent much of last week railing against Columbia’s invitation, called the event “revolting” and singled out Columbia University President Lee Bollinger as being “hypocritical beyond belief” for his invitation. But moments later, O’Reilly revealed that he had also offered an invitation to Ahmadinejad to appear on his own show.

Witt blasts NYT public editor’s column on MoveOn.org ad
Times public editor Clark Hoyt (left) says he would have have demanded changes to eliminate ‘Betray Us” in MoveOn’s ad, “a particularly low blow when aimed at a soldier.” Leonard Witt responds: “I would argue having any one person at The New York Times decide how a public body can properly address a United States general is a particularly low blow to free speech.”

Bashing middle class: Why newspapers die (by Will Bunch)
I’ve been meaning to write something longer on this topic, and still will — in fact, it’s going to be dealt with in my early 2008 book on media reform. It’s how both the ever-shrinking middle class, and newspaper decisions that are hostile to that diminished yet still critical segment of America, are hastening our own death spiral. Instead of connecting with the rank-and-file, many big newspapers are already focusing on what they call “niche” publications, but what they really mean is something that, to paraphrase Barbara Bush, almost rhymes with “niche,” and that’s “rich.”

Media Matters for America headlines

Fox News lashed out at media criticism of O’Reilly’s racially charged comments

Matthews revisited Yankees comments to claim Clinton “tried hard to prove she was a Noo Yawker”

Reliable Sources panel dismissed Rather claims, but left out other times when CBS allegedly placated White House

Fox News’ “body language expert” accused Clinton of exhibiting “evil laughter”

Sowell cited Neo-Nazis’ actions as example of “racial hype game” surrounding Jena 6 case

MSNBC’s Scarborough highlighted O’Reilly’s comments about Sylvia’s in Harlem

MSNBC asks about “GOP hypocrisy?” in denunciations of MoveOn but silence on Limbaugh’s “Senator Betrayus” comments

CNN’s Costello failed to ask NRA’s LaPierre about Nugent’s slurs against Obama, Clinton, Feinstein

Big media enters the spin zone
Will major media conglomerates soon unload some of their biggest assets? Executives from top media firms were asked about possible spin-offs and/or division sales during two high profile media conferences last week… “What a lot of media companies are doing is reassessing what they own,” said David Gurwin, chair of the entertainment and media law group and the technology transactions group at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, a Pittsburgh-based law firm. “But I don’t think any media company lives in a vacuum. No industry is immune from what’s happening in the financial markets.”

Clear Channel Shareholders Approve Buyout
Shareholders of the company approved a $19.5 billion buyout on Tuesday, more than 10 months after the deal was proposed.

Latest Richardson ad enlists bloggers to vouch for his plan to end the Iraq war
Left-wing bloggers today make what appear to be their first appearances in a candidate’s TV ads so far this election, praising Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson for his plan to remove (as his campaign puts it) “every single soldier from Iraq, leaving no residual troops behind.” The bloggers are Chris Bowers of Open Left, Christina Siun O’Connell of Firedoglake and Matt Stoller of OpenLeft.com.

Panel: Political Candidates Stick to Traditional Media
Political candidates from both parties are demonstrating a stubborn devotion to traditional media, along with a cautious streak that is holding them back from truly embracing the Web as an outlet for political ad dollars, according to a group of panelists speaking during a Mixx Conference session.

Bulky Yellow Phone Books Turn the Page to Online Video
The yellow pages are turning a new leaf with video on the Web. Idearc Media Corp.’s Superpages.com, Yellow Book USA Inc., and AT&T Inc.’s Yellow Pages already offer listings on the Web. Now these companies and others are beginning to offer online videos, allowing advertisers to post versions of their TV commercials alongside their Web ads. The directory companies are even offering to produce new videos for businesses, which run as long as two minutes on some sites.

Web Video Ads Will Not Save Your Soul
According to a study commissioned by [Google and AOL] and conducted by market insight and information group TNS, 75 percent of respondents in a recent online survey said they watched more video online than they did a year ago and over half expect to watch more online video in the next year. Seventy-eight percent agreed that online video ads provide as much or more of an opportunity to learn about an advertiser than television. Better news yet for Google and AOL, 63 percent of respondents said they prefer video sites to include advertising in order to keep content free.

Remember when people said they’d never pay to watch TV?
“If the television model is a guide, then the eclipse of subscription-supported news on the Web is probably not a permanent change,” says Peter Osnos. “One of these days someone will conjure a device or a service that will expand offerings and provide them with additional convenience that will eliminate, at least initially, intrusive advertising, for a fee.”

“People will pay for porn, but they won’t pay for Friedman”
That’s Brooke Gladstone’s observation about TimesSelect (and Tom Friedman). “I just want to dispute that,” responds NYTimes.com exec Vivian Schiller, “because actually people did pay for it. …TimesSelect did work, however, in the long haul, just the growth of advertising revenue versus the kind of single-digit growth that we would find in subscription revenue is going to keep us in business longer so that we can keep hiring more reporters and keep covering news of the world.”

The View From Your Airplane Window Was Brought to You by …
A start-up called Ad-Air said it had created the “first global aerial advertising network” — giant, billboardlike ads that will be visible from the air as planes approach runways.

Sharp to offer Blu-ray recorder with 1-terabyte HDD
TOKYO (Reuters) – Sharp Corp (6753.T) said it would launch a Blu-ray high-definition DVD recorder with a 1-terabyte hard disk drive (HDD), the world’s largest storage capacity on any Blu-ray recorder, as it competes with the HD DVD camp.

Software Takes Aim at Altered Photos
SAN DIEGO (AP) – Tracing its roots to a founder’s anger at a no-show home remodeling crew, the makers of Shoot & Proof software aim to erase any doubts that digital photos are faked or manipulated.

Google Calendar Optimized for iPhone
Google has released a version of Google Calendar that is optimized for usage on the iPhone. Now when you browse to http://calendar.google.com on your iPhone, you will be able to see your different calendars in their respective colors.

New Smithsonian museum appears online
WASHINGTON – The Smithsonian Institution’s museum dedicated to black history and culture launches this week with an interactive Web site — long before its building opens for visitors on the National Mall.

Scientists: Brain injuries from war worse than thought
Scientists trying to understand traumatic brain injury from bomb blasts are finding the wound more insidious than they once thought. They find that even when there are no outward signs of injury from the blast, cells deep within the brain can be altered, their metabolism changed, causing them to die, says Geoff Ling, an advance-research scientist with the Pentagon.
And they discovered this by blowing up animals.  One horror on top of another.

Brain Activity Might Point to Early Alzheimer’s
In future, quick diagnoses should mean better treatment, experts say

Omega-3s Guard Against Type 1 Diabetes
High-risk kids who ate more fatty acids were less likely to develop diabetes, study says

Study Links Coronary Disease, Colon Cancer
Higher incidence of malignancies found in heart patients.

U.S. breast cancer death rate continues dropping
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The death rate from breast cancer continues to drop steadily by about 2 percent a year, but black women are not seeing the same benefits as whites, the American Cancer Society said on Tuesday.

Smart Bra Does Breast Cancer Screening
A breast-screening smart bra developed by the Centre for Materials Research & Innovation (University of Bolton, UK) allows users to detect breast cancer at the earliest possible stage, making a cure much more likely.

Blood test detects early lung cancer
A simple blood test that identifies early lung cancer before it has had a chance to spread could save lives by alerting doctors to the need for treatment.

Study Questions Flu Shot’s Value for Older People
Most trials don’t even include people over 70, researchers note

Hospitals’ Primary Care Docs Boost Outcomes
Patients cared for by these generalists were discharged sooner, study found

Treatment Programs Benefit Depressed Workers
Study found significant improvement in symptoms and productivity.

People ‘See’ Common Letters in Brighter Colors
The more often you use a letter or number, the brighter the color you associate with it. No, it’s not a psychedelic experience, but a common link among people, called synaesthetes, who see vivid colors when they see, hear or think of digits, and to a lesser degree in everyone, a new study finds.

Migrating birds may “see” Earth’s magnetic field
LONDON (Reuters) – Migrating birds, it seems, can “see” the Earth’s magnetic field which they use as a compass to guide them around the globe.

Paleontologist aims to preserve mountain
LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The Robledo Mountains’ reputation as one of the world’s most important landscapes of pre-dinosaur fossil trackways likely will be enhanced by another discovery — petrified wood slowly emerging from the desert floor.

NASA to Embark on Asteroid-Belt Mission
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) – NASA is about to embark on an unprecedented asteroid-belt mission with a spacecraft aptly named Dawn. The 3 billion-mile, eight-year journey to probe the earliest stages of the solar system will begin with liftoff, planned for just after sunrise Thursday.

Astronomers Spot New ‘Halley-Like’ Comet
The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) has spotted an unusual comet that flies around the sun at regular intervals. 

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Climate change action urged at UN
Sep. 24 – The head of the United Nations and others urged quick global action to stem emissions that heat the planet.

Greenland Snowmelt This Year Could Cover U.S. Twice
The amount of ice that has melted away from Greenland’s ice sheet this year could cover an area twice the size of the United States, with more melting occurring in 2007 than the average going back to 1988, a new study finds.

Alaskans warn House panel about global warming’s effects
WASHINGTON — Scientists, conservationists and even the mayor of the eroding village of Shishmaref painted a grim picture of the effects of climate change in Alaska, including the loss of habitat for polar bears and the end of a way of life for native people.

Silicon Valley Revs Up Clean Tech Development
OAKLAND, Calif., Sept. 26, 2007 — From mass carpool programs to biofuels and solar research, a new report details how Silicon Valley is leading the charge to tackle climate change.

Sun-powered homes defy a cool housing market
With foreclosures rising and home prices diving, there is a bright spot in California’s residential real estate market: Solar-powered homes are starting to outsell traditionally electrified new homes in several markets, and developers are stepping up their use of the technology.

Group buys swath of Virgin Islands land
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – A large swath of coastal land has been secured by a U.S. conservation group, paving the way for the biggest expansion of the U.S. Virgin Islands National Park since it was created more than 50 years ago.

Corporations Need a Water Strategy: Report
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 26, 2007 — If current trends continue, freshwater resources will grow more scarce and polluted, creating a global crisis where two-thirds of the world’s population will live in water-stressed conditions by 2025, according to a report released last week.