Permanent link to MTA daily media news

DISTURBING MUSIC RAP VIDEO (by Lynette Long)
I have thought long and hard about posting this video because it is so disturbing.  The blatant disrespect it shows toward women, not just Republican women, is alarming.  It saddens me that not only are women not outraged by this video but participate in this.  Again I feel frustrated by the silence that envelopes the womens groups that are supposed to protect all women not just Democratic women. The task for equality seems impossible at times.  Stand tall women.  Stand with me.
Dr. Long’s video link is broken.  See below.

Drill Baby Drill (video, thanks to No Quarter)

The Lady Killers (by Anglachel)
Calling Hillary a cunt or Sarah Plain a slut only work because of the misogynistic backdrop in which we understand that these are qualities of being female, and where they are used to shame, humiliate, intimidate and justify violence against the women so named, exactly as racial epithets are used to do exactly the same on reviled minorities. These kinds of racial epithets and imagery were acceptable, even respectable, in popular culture… I remember eating at “Sambo’s” restaurants as a child, a chain marketed through racist imagery. It is now gone. Conversely, there are two “Hooters” restaurants within 10 miles of my house, where women’s breasts are the central marketing tool for second rate fried food. It’s promoted as a “family” restaurant, by the way.

What the campaign season has demonstrated is misogyny is as acceptable a weapon of social and political dominance as race demagoguery was through George Wallace’s presidential campaigns… The lady killers are no more and no less than the racists of the Left, and should be treated as such.
Please set aside time to read the entire post.  It’s one of the most important essays written this year.

Yep (by Susie at Suburban Guerrilla)
What Anglachel says [see above]. Yes, I am voting for Obama – but I’m holding my nose. And this is the LAST TIME I’m going to vote holding my nose. If the country wasn’t in such a freakin’ meltdown right now, I’d be voting for Cynthia McKinney. At my son’s wedding, one of the guests (a college professor) came up to me and said, “I guess you’re working on the campaign, right?” I smiled back and said, “No.” He looked baffled and said, “Oh.” His wife, a leading consultant on geriatric policy and a former Hill staffer, came over to me later and confided her husband was one of Obama’s senior advisors on Social Security. “Are you working for him?” she said. “No,” I told her. “After what happened in the primary to Hillary Clinton, there’s no way. I’m not working against Obama, or for McCain, but I’m not helping them, either.” She nodded vehemently. “Exactly! I feel the same way.” There’s a lot of us out there. We won’t forget.
As I’ve said, I’m voting for Cynthia.  I’m done holding my nose.  Some friends of mine went to an event over the weekend that included some Hillary supporters who are actually working for McCain now.  There are more than you might think.

Brooks calls Palin the “worst of talk”… (by Bob Somerby at the Daily Howler)
In [Wednesday’s] New York Times, Maureen Dowd quotes David Brooks, who complains that Sarah Palin “has reinforced the worst of talk-radio culture” since becoming McCain’s nominee. We certainly agree with that, though our own assessment would be a good deal stronger. But as we look at the world TDH covers, we keep thinking we’re seeing that same “talk-radio culture” infecting the (growing) world of “liberal” advocacy. We think that tendency is bad for the world, for progressive interests.

Secret Service denies report of rally cry to “kill” Obama (Hot off the Trail, McClatchy)
The U.S. Secret Service says reports that someone at a Sarah Palin rally in Pennsylvania yelled “kill him” at the mention of Barack Obama’s name are unfounded.

Double standard (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)
What I cannot understand is why the Secret Service doesn’t investigate death threats coming from Obama cultists?… And why didn’t the Secret Service look into the threat on Hillary Clinton’s life published on Obama’s own website? “Just slit her throat, lock her in a car boot, and drive the car into river in West Virginia. Ain’t gonna let no whore screw with the man.” Why didn’t the Secret Service investigate (even after I contacted them) Markos Moulitsas after he published this threat against Hillary on The Daily Kos? “And a Drive-By Won’t Be Out of the Question. What goes around, comes around. The stupid fucking bitch !!” Why didn’t the Secret Service arrest Keith Olbermann for his on-air call for Hillary Clinton’s murder?

Rainey criticizes CNN for “reheated, overwrought and misleading” Palin story
A recent CNN report “seemed designed to yoke Sarah Palin and her husband to the most extreme secessionists in Alaska,” writes press critic James Rainey. He notes that no news outlets “have shown that Sarah Palin embraced the call by some in the party to sever their beloved state from ‘the Lower 48.’”

Obama Campaign Says Michelle Obama ‘Interview’ on ‘African Press’ Web Site Is 100% Bogus (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
The conservative blogs are all atwitter about a bizarre interview allegedly with Michelle Obama on a Web site called “African Press International.” “My husband was born in Hawaii and adopted by his stepfather — does that make him unpatriotic,” she supposedly said “on a direct telephone to API” the “interview” hypes. It goes on from there. This morning my inbox is filled with the “WHY ARENT YOU COVERING THIS?” e-mails on the subject. The answer is: because it doesn’t appear to be in any way real. Obama campaign senior adviser Robert Gibbs says the interview is a complete and utter fabrication. “It’s bogus, she didn’t call, it’s all a lie,” he says.

Sacramento County GOP removes website materials urging people to ‘Waterboard Barack Obama.’ (Think Progress)
Yesterday, the Sacramento County Republican party removed from their website images that likened Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) to Osama bin Laden. One of the images “encouraged people to ‘Waterboard Barack Obama’”:

The chairman of the Sacramento County Republican party, Craig MacGlashan, told the Sacramento Bee on Tuesday, “Some people find it offensive, others do not. I cannot comment on how people interpret things.” Earlier this week, the chairman of the Virginia Republican Party, Jeffrey M. Frederick, also compared Obama to bin Laden.

GOP mail ties Obama to terrorists (Hot off the Trail, McClatchy)
In a stark new brochure Wednesday, the Republican National Committee subtly plays on the false belief held by many Americans that Barack Obama is a Muslim, an Arab, or somehow un-American. “Terrorists don’t care who they hurt,” says the cover the brochure, arriving in mailboxes Wednesday in the battleground state of Virginia. The words appear over a picture of someone in shadow eyeing or photograhing the front of an airplane, an apparent reference to the fact that terrorists used hijacked airplanes to kill Americans in 2001. Flip open the brochure, and the photo is of Obama.

K.C. lawyer sues, saying McCain campaign incited violence (McClatchy)
KANSAS CITY — A Kansas City lawyer and supporter of Barack Obama for president has filed suit in federal court, alleging that the Republican ticket has incited violence against the Democratic nominee.
Anybody remember a suit against Keith Olbermann for inciting violence against Hillary?  No?  Me, neither.

McCain, advisers divided over Wright (Politico)
John McCain is at odds with many of his top advisers over launching a renewed attack on Barack Obama’s ties to his long-time pastor and mentor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, according to campaign sources. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and several top campaign officials see a sharp attack on Wright as the best — and perhaps last — chance to rattle Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill. ) and force voters to rethink their support of him. But McCain continues to overrule them, fearing a Wright attack would smack of desperation and racism, the officials said. With McCain unlikely to budge, GOP officials are hoping groups outside of the campaign will finance an ad attack on Obama-Wright ties. It is unclear if any conservative group has the cash to bankroll a serious effort, however. “Wright is off the table,” said one top campaign official. “It’s all McCain. He won’t go there. His advisers would have gone there.”

McCain comes out swinging against Obama (McClatchy)
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — John McCain and Barack Obama clashed sharply in their third and last presidential debate, as McCain tried to paint his rival as insensitive to “Joe the Plumber” and too willing to associate himself with unsavory influences, while Obama charged that McCain was waging an ugly, divisive campaign.

Again, not everything said in debate was true (McClatchy)
WASHINGTON — In the third and final presidential debate, Republican John McCain made inaccurate assertions about the catalyst for the current mortgage crisis and Democrat Obama twisted some facts about his spending plans.

Fact-Checking the Candidates: Does Anybody Care? (Politico)
Has the drum-beat of fact-checks blended into white noise, letting significant misstatements and deceptions get lost in the mix? In all, the fact-checking was flying last night, as it has been throughout the campaign, albeit with limited impact on the candidates, who’ve continued to raise many of the same claims on which the watchmen have cast doubt.

How to win a debate no matter what happens (by gqmartinez at Corrente)
1. Claim the race is already over.
2. Use 1. above to say that the losing candidate needs to have a “game changer”.
3. Make the debates such that no “game changer” is possible.
4. Declare that no “game changer” happened and so the losing candidate actually lost the debate.
Can anyone think of a debate “game changer” over the last 20 years?
NOTE: For the knee-jerkers, this is more about process than anything candidate specific. If the media uses this tactic now, they will use it again in the future. Perhaps on the “debate” of whether we should invade Iran.

So what did the candidates’ words look like? (On Politics, USA Today)
Once again, Janet Harris of Upstream Analysis helps us out with “word clouds” of what the presidential nominees had to say at last night’s debate.

Why should a committee be in charge of a woman’s body? (by lambert at Corrente)
Obama’s abortion formula drives me nuts. From the debate transcript: “[OBAMA] What ultimately I believe is that women in consultation with their families, their doctors, their religious advisers, are in the best position to make this decision.” Because I can’t see the logic of it. Either the woman is in the “best position,” or a sort of committee, composed of the woman (indeed, we’ve come a long way), her family, and various religious and medical experts is in the “best position.” Why would Obama believe that a committee is in the “best position” instead of the woman herself?

‘Joe the plumber’ says Obama’s tax plan sounds ‘socialistic’ (On Politics, USA Today)
The man who was mentioned more than 20 times in last night’s presidential debate — “Joe the plumber” — spoke out on ABC News’ Good Morning America… He wouldn’t say who he’s going to vote for, but Wurzelbacher made clear he doesn’t support Obama’s economic plans: “‘Just because you work a little harder, to have more money taken from you — that’s scary,’ Wurzelbacher said. ‘Why should they be penalized for being successful? … That’s wrong. … Obama wants to take that basic right and penalize me for it. That’s a very socialistic view.’”
Would that it were populist, much less socialist.

Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher related to Charles “the Crook” Keating. Oops. (by Marty Eisenstadt)
John McCain did great [last night] in the debate. But every time John mentioned “Joe the Plumber,” some of us in the campaign banged our heads against the wall… Turns out that Joe Wurzelbacher from the Toledo event is a close relative of Robert Wurzelbacher of Milford, Ohio. Who’s Robert Wurzelbacher? Only Charles Keating’s son-in-law and the former senior vice president of American Continental, the parent company of the infamous Lincoln Savings and Loan. The now retired elder Wurzelbacher is also a major contributor to Republican causes giving well over $10,000 in the last few years.

Bernanke warns of worsening slump; stocks dive (McClatchy)
WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned Wednesday that the economic slowdown is growing worse and called for greater regulation to prevent future crises like the one now menacing the nation.

U.S. Stocks Plunge Most Since Crash of 1987 on Recession Concerns (Bloomberg)
U.S. stocks plunged the most since the crash of 1987, hammered by the biggest drop in retail sales in three years and growing doubt that plans to bail out banks will keep the nation out of a recession. 

Stock slump sends Europe’s leaders back for more reforms (McClatchy)
PARIS — After a dramatic one-day rebound, global stock markets slumped sharply again on Wednesday — providing new impetus as world leaders called for a full-scale revamp of international financial markets at the heart of the intractable economic crisis.

Paulson tries again (by my OTHER favorite Nobel laureate in economics, Joseph Stiglitz)
Britain showed at least that it still believed in some sort of system of accountability: heads of banks resigned. Nothing like this in the US. Britain understood that it made no sense to pour money into banks and have them pour out money to shareholders. The US only restricted the banks from increasing their dividends… For all the show of toughness, the details suggest the US taxpayer got a raw deal. There is no comparison with the terms that Warren Buffett secured when he provided capital to Goldman Sachs. Buffett got a warrant – the right to buy in the future at a price that was even below the depressed price at the time. Paulson got for the US a warrant to buy in the future – at whatever the prevailing price at the time. The whole point of the warrant is so we participate in some of the upside, as the economy recovers from the crisis, and as the financial system starts to work.
And that’s why the moguls didn’t want to deal with Buffett.  He would have driven a hard bargain and fired the perpetrators.  So they demanded welfare from the taxpayers.  And got it.

Goldman, Welfare, Queen & Sachs (by lambert at Corrente)
A modest proposal from Angry Bear: “I figure if the gubmint doesn’t get any say in how banks do business (exactly why is it so important to keep the “talent” that created this mess in the first place?) and foots the bill, can we at least require every bank that takes government money to include the words ‘Welfare Queen’ in its name?”

Katrina for the Rest of Us (by Froma Harrop)
Is the crisis really the fault of Bush, and with him, Republican lawmakers who refused to adequately regulate? Largely. Two things are at its core: One, the financial derivatives that no one understood but were sold as insurance against defaults on risky debt. (These greased the craziest lending practices.) Two, the lax rules that let financial institutions hold only $1 of capital to cover $30 of lending. “But what about Fannie Mae?” my Republican friends passionately interject. They say that Democrats pushed Fannie to help expand lending to lower-income folk (read “minorities”) by buying up their iffy loans. In 2005, they stopped Republicans from tightening the oversight of Fannie… Granted, Fannie should never have been allowed to traffic in subprime debt, but within that riskier universe, it had relatively high standards for quality…

As for the Republican efforts to better regulate Fannie, why did they fail? After all, Republicans in 2005 controlled the White House and held majorities in both houses of Congress. The answer is that too many of their own backers were making big money off the real estate bubble. In any case, the subprime meltdown was only the trigger for a far bigger problem involving many kinds of debt. In sum, an executive culture was allowed to get fabulously rich by taking outlandish risks. Anyhow, the party is over, they say. Well, the party never really began for many of us — but yes, the party is definitely over.

Home Prices Seem Far From Bottom (New York Times)
In hard-hit areas like California, Florida and Arizona, the grim calculus is the same: More and more homes are going up for sale, but fewer and fewer people are willing or able to buy them.

To cut losses, owners consider default (McClatchy)
More than four in 10 South Florida homeowners who bought in the last five years owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.

Government Must Create Jobs (by Marie Cocco)
[J]obs, folks, are the only way out of this crisis. Because job losses — as much as the credit squeeze that is partly responsible for them — are pushing us deeper and deeper into the hole. So far this year, the economy has shed almost 800,000 jobs, with September the ninth straight month of losses. About a fifth of the unemployed have been without work for at least six months, the kind of long-term joblessness that would lead families to lose their homes and their cars even if there were no credit crisis pushing them toward foreclosure or forfeiture.

So far, though, the two presidential candidates still try to entice us with a hodgepodge of economic stimulus proposals that are based largely on tax cuts that are, at best, inefficient, and at worst, continue to dole out money to the most affluent… The public is in the mood to get back to basics, an indisputably good idea when chaos is unfolding around us in part because finance got too exotic — and so, frankly, did consumers’ appetites. So the presidential candidates should stop trying to sell us on solutions that are so convoluted you need an accountant to decipher them.

Democrats Mull $300 Billion Stimulus (Wall Street Journal)
House Speaker Pelosi is considering a plan that would include public works projects and extended unemployment benefits.

Rezko’s “dirty money” list (Repost) (The Real Barack Obama)
This article was orginally published March 30, 2008, at RezkoWatch, and has been reposted a number of times since. What makes it interesting to look at another time is that the list, once thought to connect convicted political fixer, and Obama’s personal real estate fairy, Antoin “Tony” Rezko, to Obama contributors, was later identified as a compilation of contributions that passed through Rezko’s hands but to support Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. As some have written, including Evelyn Pringle [see below] in her Operations Board Games articles, Rekzo was Blagojevich’s political patron and it was Blagojevich who was originally intended as the presidential candidate, not Obama.

Another reason to post this again is RBO’s compilations of campaign contributions from the Illinois State Board of Elections records for Obama’s Friends of Obama political action commitee, from which some of the following information was extracted. The new year-by-year lists put Obama’s contributions and contributors into perspective. Finally, another reason to post this again is that we have reports that Rezko is talking to the Feds and, quite possibly, spilling the beans on Blagojevich — and — hopefully — Obama.
Click through for the details.

Who is Evelyn Pringle and why is the Progressive Mafia trying to silence her? (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)
Long-time readers know that I’ve been encouraging everyone to read the work of Evelyn Pringle, the investigative reporter who spent months looking into Obama’s ties to the Illinois “Combine” – a crook’s paradise of unscrupulous businessmen and corrupt pols. Pringle previously had received great applause for her work exposing fraud and thievery in Iraq. She once was someone that the progs liked… Lefty writers never lacked publication venues when they went after Democrats in the past. Older readers will recall that “progressive” pundits previously expended most of their hatred on Democrats, not Republicans… But Obama changes everything. Obama may not be criticized. No matter how deep his corruption, Obama may not be criticized. The left had no problem with Michael Moore’s portrayal of Al Gore as being somewhere to the right of Mussolini — but anyone who tells the truth about Barack Holy Obama must be a racist.

And so Evelyn Pringle must be silenced. “OpEdNews’ Rob Kall is wondering whether to remove Evelyn Pringle’s articles because she ‘attacked Obama’. Kall says she did so because she is a Hillary supporter.” Pringle’s response: “…When I found out Obama was as corrupt as any Republican, I was not about to keep my mouth shut just because he was a Democrat. Believe me, I knew what might happen to me if I went public – but that was not reason enough to keep quiet either – at least not when you have a conscience like mine. The thought of the Illinois political mob running this country is the most disgusting thing I can think of at this point. Yeah I dislike McCain but I always knew the Republicans were corrupt bastards – Democrats were supposed to be different – well not anymore.”

Part 1–Independent Thinking: PARTISAN NO MORE (by kenosha Marge at InsightAnalytical)
I found out a fundamental thing about myself this election cycle. For years I cringed as fellow liberals called conservatives horrid names and impugned their intellect. I cringed because I had family and friends who were good, decent people and, horror of horrors, Republicans… Taking a step back and looking around I began to wonder how many of my other preconceived notions were wrong. This election cycle has challenged the core beliefs for many of us. We look around without the bias of our partisanship and we don’t like what we see. We have had the nastiness and name-calling turned on us by fellow Democrats/Liberals and we are outraged…

Partisan Republicans will vote for Republican Crooks over good decent Democrats; indeed they will deny that such a creature exists. Partisan Democrats will vote for Democratic Crooks over good decent Republicans and insist from their partisan viewpoint that there are no good Republicans. Partisan voters insist there is no good to be found in the other party. And elected officials will follow the party line, with a few exceptions, whether the party line is good for the country or not. Our country is going to hell in a partisan handbasket.

Major League Baseball Agrees to Fox’s Request to Delay Game 6 of World Series 15 Minutes to Air Obama TV Ad (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
In order to accommodate the half-hour TV ad Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., purchased for Wednesday October 29, Fox has requested and received permission to delay the 6th game of the World Series by 15 minutes.

Obama gets the cover of the ‘Rolling Stone,’ again (On Politics, USA Today)
For the third time this year, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama gets the cover treatment from Rolling Stone. The latest issue goes on sale Friday.

Telecom Companies Provided Cell Towers for McCain Ranch (Political Wire)
A Washington Post investigation finds that Verizon and AT&T offered a free “cell site on wheels” for McCain’s property in Sedona, Arizona to better their cell phone coverage… The McCain campaign responds it was a Secret Service request for cell service, however Marc Ambinder notes “it’s also fairly clear that the original request had nothing to do with the Service, and that Verizon was well on its way to building a tower by the time McCain became the nominee and reluctantly accepted the Service’s services.”

Will Gloves Come Off When McCain Faces Letterman? (Washington Post)
Presidential candidate John McCain gets his second on-air grilling this week when he has his makeup date with David Letterman tonight, a day after debating Democratic candidate Barack Obama. TV industry navel-gazers are anticipating big numbers for Letterman, who for the past three weeks has knocked himself out ginning up a feud with McCain.

Hank Williams Jr. interview: He’s making an ‘important’ TV ad to help McCain (On Politics, USA Today)
First iTunes and YouTube, now national TV. This isn’t the first time country singer Hank Williams Jr. has gotten involved in politics, but his work this year for Republican John McCain is his highest profile campaign gig. Williams just told us that … he is making “a pretty important video” about the Second Amendment right to bear arms, to be taped in part at the Country Music Hall of Fame… Meanwhile, singer/songwriter James Taylor will be singing on behalf of Obama next week.

As Election Nears, Chocolate News Enters Comedy Fray (New York Times)
Chocolate News borrows the fake-news template from two of Comedy Central’s most successful programs, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report, but uses the conceit to fill a void of politically charged black-oriented comedy. The first season of this show is an equal-opportunity offender, skewering rappers, Maya Angelou, gangbangers, and election fraud.

CNN to Start Weekend Comedy Show With D.L. Hughley (AP)
The latest entrant into the TV comedy business is … CNN? The news network announced Wednesday that it’s starting a show with comedian D.L. Hughley. Tentatively titled D.L. Hughley Breaks the News, it will air live at 10 p.m. Saturdays and replay 24 hours later. The show will debut Oct. 25.

Mini-Tidbits: Campaign Finance API, More…
Want to mash up campaign finance data, or make your own campaign finance map? Try this: “When we first started talking about creating and releasing APIs for databases collected by The Times, campaign finance data from the Federal Election Commission was a natural choice. The upcoming presidential election has seen record fundraising by the candidates and a host of new donors. Now we want our users to be able to analyze and reuse some of the data we’ve been looking at while reporting on the campaign.” Find more cool data mashup resources at the Times Developer Network

Appeals Court Sides With Ohio Republican Party On Voter Registration (American Constitution Society)
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in a ruling that reverses one it issued last week, says the Ohio Secretary of State must take additional actions to ensure that thousands of new voter registrations are not fraudulent. The Associated Press reports that the full Sixth Circuit ruled that Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner must use other state records and the Social Security database to verify hundreds of thousands of new voter registrations before Election Day… Brunner added that the federal law does not allow government databases to be improperly used to block voter registrations.

Judge Rules in Favor of Exit Polling (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
Exit pollsters have a right to do their work within 100 feet of Minnesota polling places, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. U.S. Chief Judge Michael Davis called the state’s new exit poll law unconstitutional and issued a preliminary injunction allowing ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, CNN, and the Associated Press to conduct polls close to voting places Nov. 4.

YouTube, PBS urge people to record voting (AP)
SAN FRANCISCO – If voters see problems on Election Day, YouTube and PBS want them to whip out their video cameras and throw the footage onto a new Web site for documenting voters’ experiences on Nov. 4.

Report: Taxpayers paid for GOP politicking in 2006 elections (McClatchy)
WASHINGTON — The White House dispatched cabinet members and other agency officials to more than 300 events nationwide to help Republican candidates in the run-up to the 2006 midterm elections, according to a House of Representatives committee report.
Of course, we knew it.  This is just confirmation.

Mahoney Linked to Second Woman (Political Wire)
Hours after Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-FL) “addressed a report that he had an affair with a former aide and paid her to keep quiet about it, details of a purported tryst with a second woman surfaced,” the AP reports… Meanwhile, The Hill reports Democrats have abandoned Mahoney’s campaign by pulling resources out of FL-16.

Inflation brings bigger benefit, and higher expenses
BOSTON (MarketWatch) — Amidst all the volatility and uncertainty in the financial markets these days, one thing is definite: Come October 16, Uncle Sam will announce the cost-of-living adjustment for 34 million Americans who now receive Social Security benefits. Unlike in years past, however, that adjustment is expected to be among the largest increases in 25 years No one yet knows exactly how big the automatic benefit hike will be. But experts are predicting that Social Security beneficiaries will see their monthly benefit rise by at least 5%, perhaps more. In calculating the COLA, Social Security will look at inflation over the 12 months ended September 2008. For the year ended August 2008, inflation as measured by the consumer price index (CPI-W) was running at 5.9%. That means the average monthly benefit could rise to about $1,142 from $1,079 now, a $63 increase.

What will it take to shatter the glass ceiling? Maybe re-modelling the basement (by David Bjerk, Assistant Professor of Economics at Claremont McKenna College and Adjunct Economist at the RAND Corporation)
Females and minorities may be underrepresented at top jobs due to a sticky floor rather than a glass ceiling. This column says that if females and minorities face greater obstacles in signalling their abilities to employers early in their careers, then they may never have the opportunity to reach the top. Policies might try targeting the bottom of the job ladder.

Media Matters for America headlines

• Politico’s Smith uncritically quoted McCain misrepresenting Biden proposal for Iraq

• ABC’s Wright did not note falsehoods in the attacks on Obama that he reported McCain will make

• ABC World News reported on ACORN but ignored voter suppression, including indictment of GOP official in NH case

• Dick Morris baselessly accused ACORN of “committing voter fraud”

• CNN’s Griffin suggested ACORN should not hire “recovering alcoholics” and “homeless people”

• Echoing smear emails, Halperin falsely suggested video shows Obama during “pledge of allegiance”

• AP, CNN report that Obama represented ACORN, but not that DOJ was also a plaintiff in the lawsuit

Lawyer of murdered journalist Anna Politkovskaya ‘poisoned’
The lawyer representing the family of Anna Politkovskaya, the murdered Russian journalist, was recovering from an apparent attempt to poison her as the trial opened today of three men accused of involvement in the killing. A judge in Moscow rejected a request to postpone the preliminary hearing because Karinna Moskalenko was ill in France, where police are investigating the discovery of a large quantity of mercury in her car.

France to halt games when anthem is booed
Any football match in France before which the country’s national anthem is booed will now be “immediately stopped”, French Sports Minister Roselyne Bachelot said Wednesday after meeting with President Nicolas Sarkozy.  

UAE: Influential Blog Blocked After Analysing Impact Of US Financial Crisis (Reporters Without Borders)
Its author, who often writes about political transparency, free expression and the media, posted an entry on 11 October entitled “Let’s laugh together: our economy is doing well,” in which he analysed the impact of the US financial crisis on the UAE.

Journalist Arrested During RNC Faces Over Year In Prison (Reporters Without Borders)
Jason Nicholas was one of over 40 journalists arrested while covering the Republican National Convention on September 1st. While most charges against other journalists in St.Paul have been dropped, Mr. Nicholas has not yet been cleared of obstruction to the legal process.

FCC chair eyes fallow TV airwaves for broadband
WASHINGTON (AP) – The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday proposed opening up unused portions of the television airwaves known as “white spaces” to deliver wireless broadband service. 

WSJ Editor Says Newsstand Sales Up 20 Percent
Jeff Bercovici: Wall Street Journal managing editor Robert Thomson mentioned that the Journal’s newsstand sales are up 20 percent, but didn’t provide a frame of reference for that figure. AJournal spokesman clarifies that the increase has taken place in the last few weeks, a period during which, for obvious reasons, a lot of financial-news outlets have seen huge gains.

Buying MySpace Looks Like One Of Murdoch’s Smartest Bets
Erick Schonfeld: Three years ago today, Rupert Murdoch bought MySpace and its parent company Intermix for $580 million. That turned out to be money well spent. The last time we ran the numbers, we figured that MySpace alone is worth between $3 billion and $20 billion, depending on how much you value each user.

Could Recession Help Big Media?
James Erik Abels: The slowing market may actually help, boosting traditional media’s control over the digital media ecosystem by giving it an opportunity to buy smaller upstarts or watch them get crushed. Think about it this way: The digital businesses that may be hit hardest by a downturn aren’t really media businesses at all.

Blogging Journalists: Survey Results Pt.1: Context And Methodology (Online Journalism Blog)
Results from an online survey to find out how journalists with blogs felt their work had been affected by the technology. 200 blogging journalists responded in total, from 30 different countries.

Desperate Times: TVGuide Sold For A Buck…Really (Paid Content)
Wow, we knew Macrovision was desperate to get rid of the print version of TV Guide, but didn’t know the extent to which it would go to the liabilities off its books: we reported earlier this week that it was sold to PE firm OpenGate Capital..now the price has come out in an SEC filing from MVSN. It is $1, and on top of that, Macrovision is loaning the firm up to $9.5 million, and OpeGate will assume certain liabilities of the TV Guide Magazine business.

Playboy Cuts Jobs
Playboy Enterprises Inc. eliminated 80 jobs and warned of a third-quarter loss as a worsening economy forces the entertainment company to make deeper expense cuts than originally anticipated. The Chicago-based media company notified employees Wednesday that it will trim $12 million from expenses instead of the $10 million it said it would just two months ago.

Esquire’s E-Ink Cover Inspires Hacker Community
Esquire’s much ballyhooed (and equally berated) electronic cover has spawned a mini-movement of YouTube-friendly hackers bent on manipulating its circuitry. Here are some of the best attempts — including one enterprising geek who says he’s made over $200 selling his copies on eBay — as well as some odd video clips featuring the Esquire cover.

Mudd complains there’s almost “too much” TV news these days
“It’s 24/7. But there is no place you can go in the morning and find a professionally prepared, responsible news broadcast,” says Roger Mudd. There’s still good broadcast journalism being done, he adds, “but I don’t think there is enough of it. In many cases the broadcast networks have left the field of good hard reporting. So many have gone to soft reporting.”

Fox News’ Hume Reflects on Retirement
He’s been covering presidential campaigns since Ford-Carter ’76. And as he geared up to anchor last night’s final presidential debate — anchoring his final debate — FNC’s Washington managing editor Brit Hume explained why he’s walking away. In a word: enthusiasm. “This stuff exhausts me as much as it excites me,” Hume said.

‘Mad Money’ Host Cramer Attacked in Fox Ads
Keeping up the financial-news wars, Fox Business Network is airing ads on much-larger rival CNBC, bashing Jim Cramer, one of the cable channel’s biggest stars, for his investment tips. Fox Business skirted CNBC’s ad sales department by buying spots in local markets, including New York and Los Angeles, from cable operators such as Time Warner Cable and Comcast.

When has a video game ever made you cry?
From the awkward feelings that arise during sex to the joyous and heart-wrenching juggling act that is fatherhood, a host of independent titles prove that video games really can explore and evoke the kind of emotional experiences that movies and books do.

Google Partners With Embassy Row For Second Original Series On YouTube (Paid Content)
Poptub, an entertainment-focused original video series, has been quietly making the rounds on YouTube for the past month, the Hollywood Reporter reports. The series, which is produced by NY-based Embassy Row, is supposed to be an Entertainment Tonight for the YouTube generation, with a mix of interviews of Internet celebrities like Obama Girl and more traditional red carpet events. Its launch was overlooked amidst the hype surrounding Google’s other branded entertainment play, Seth MacFarlane’s animated shortsCartoon Cavalcade of Comedy. Like Cavalcade, Poptub resides on its own YouTube channel and is distributed through Google AdSense (via “Gadgets” or widgets), increasing the number of eyeballs for potential advertisers. Ad revenue will be split between Google, Pepsi-backed Embassy Row, and the website that hosted the clip.

Outlook Grim for Ad Business
The housing market has been sluggish for over a year, and the stock market’s been on a roller coaster ride over the last month. But for the advertising business, the real pain is just about to start. At least that was the collective wisdom among a panel, which included several prominent media and agency executives, as well as a rather blunt analyst.

Display Ad Prices Trending Downward; Fall-Off Is Consistent, But Not ‘Dramatic’—Pubmatic (Paid Content)
Here’s some more evidence of how bad things are… The average price of a display ad was 27 cents in Q3, a nearly 50 percent drop from Q407′s 50 cents, according to Pubmatic… Some of the other findings in its survey showed:
– Display ad pricing has generally trended downwards across website sizes and verticals.
– All categories moved down from last quarter, with the exception of Technology which stayed flat.
– Social nets are still the lowest priced category, with sports coming in a close second, at 21 cents and 25 cents, respectively.
– Entertainment had the biggest drop of all verticals, falling 42 percent to 33 cents in Q3 from 57 cents in Q1.
– Small-sized websites’ inventory was more than triple the value of larger sites in Q3, with values of 61 cents and 18 cents, respectively.

Search Firms: Expect Smaller Budgets, Slower Growth In The Coming Months (Paid Content)
Search tech and service firms continue to pump out “state of the market” reports in advance of this week’s Q308 earnings announcements from Google and Yahoo, and the latest two from Efficient Frontier and Covario paint a murky picture for the future of search spending in the U.S.

Lending Alternative Hits Hurdle
One the most audacious ideas of the Web 2.0 boom — that people could lend money to other people over the Internet and cut out banks, is experiencing a squeeze.

Computers speed agriculture inspection process
YAKIMA, Wash. – Mark Jolley used to carry armloads of reference manuals and handbooks to the central Washington warehouses where he inspects apples and pears to ensure their quality for the export market. Now, he’s armed with just a tablet computer.

WordPress Parent Buys Polling Site PollDaddy (Paid Content)
Automattic, the parent company of WordPress platform, has acquired the online polls service PollDaddy, likely in a small cash and equity deal. The official terms of the deal were not disclosed. PollDaddy offers free polls, used by a lot of bloggers, but also offers advanced services for a fee. Its services will now be natively embedded with the WordPress editor and as a plugin, but will also continue as separate services, integrated within other social media sites such as MySpace, Ning, Blogger, Typepad, Hi5, Orkut, Piczo and others. Last month Automattic acquired blog commenting platform Intense Debate, also for an unspecified sum.

Media Turn Down Movie Ads Because of ‘Porno’ in Title
Kevin Smith made a movie with such a bothersome title he cannot even place ads for it in some places. Some newspaper, TV, and outdoor ads for Smith’s comedy Zack and Miri Make a Porno have been rejected because of their content or the five-letter word that ends the title, said Gary Faber, head of marketing for the Weinstein Co., which is releasing the film.

Wealthy Asians use phones to blog, take photos: study
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – For wealthy Asians, mobile phones and Blackberrys are much more than a way to stay in touch, with a survey finding portable communication devices increasingly being used to watch videos, take pictures and surf the Web.

A Look at Google’s First Phone
A rival to the iPhone is about to debut, with software by Google, body by HTC and network by T-Mobile.

Google Can Remotely Kill Your Android Apps (Mashable)
We’ll be honest: here at Mashable we know that reading terms of service for new products can yield interesting and/or controversial info; but those things are just too long to read. Luckily, the folks over at ComputerWorld have done so for Android and they’ve discovered this interesting tidbit: “Google may discover a product that violates the developer distribution agreement … in such an instance, Google retains the right to remotely remove those applications from your device at its sole discretion.” Hey — you, the angry customer, cry — but what if I’ve paid for this application? Don’t worry (too much). Google will do their best to reimburse you, making “reasonable efforts to recover the purchase price of the product… from the original developer on your behalf.” Whatever reasonable efforts might mean, it’s good that they’re at least acknowledging this possibility.

Doctors warn of rash from mobile phone use
LONDON (Reuters) – Doctors baffled by an unexplained rash on people’s ears or cheeks should be on alert for a skin allergy caused by too much mobile phone use, the British Association of Dermatologists said on Thursday.