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The Heretik

Obama Warns of Further Economic Pain
WASHINGTON — Saying that the United States economy was likely to worsen before it improves, President-elect Barack Obama on Sunday pledged to pursue a recovery plan “equal to the task ahead,” including the creation of a vast public-works program not just built around bridge and highway projects, but on creating “green jobs” and disseminating new technologies.

Spend, Obama, spend! And save jobs (by Joe Conason)
The first thing Obama should do is use federal funds to keep public employees from joining the swelling ranks of the unemployed.

Obama Pledges Massive Infrastructure Plan (Political Wire)
In his Saturday radio address, President-elect Obama committed to “the largest public works construction program since the creation of the interstate highway system a half-century ago as he seeks to put together a plan to resuscitate the reeling economy… “Although he put no price tag on it, he said he would invest record amounts of money in the vast infrastructure program, which also includes work on schools, sewer systems, mass transit, electric grids, dams and other public utilities. He vowed to upgrade computers in schools, expand broadband Internet access, make government buildings more energy efficient and improve information technology at hospitals and doctors’ offices.”

Broadband nation (by Jeff Jarvis)
If we wanted subsidy, there could be none better than assuring that the entire nation is on broadband. Then all consumers, all content, all advertisers could meet there. It would fast-forward the inevitable. It would spark innovation and jobs and trade and education. To hell with public-service broadcasting. How about public-service connectivity?

Public Opinion Snapshot: Ready for Change on Jobs and Health Care (by Ruy Teixeira, Center for American Progress)
The incoming Obama administration has some mighty ambitious plans to fix America’s problems. And Americans say they’re OK with that. A just-released Democracy Corps poll found that 66 percent of the public supports Obama’s “policies and goals for the country” as opposed to only 28 percent who do not.

Pinsky: Bring back the Federal Writers Project
There are many dislocated “old media” journalists from newspapers, radio, and television on the street who could provide a skilled pool to staff a new Federal Writers Project, says Mark Pinksy. “The FWP could begin by documenting the ground-level impact of the Great Recession; chronicling the transition to a green economy; or capturing the experiences of the thousands of immigrants who are changing the American complexion.”
Let’s hope the hiring would be based on merit, and not who you know.

Supreme Court Rejects Appeal Over Obama’s Citizenship  (The Caucus, New York Times)
Without any comment whatsoever, the Supreme Court today declined to take up an appeal by a New Jersey man who questioned President-elect Barack Obama’s eligibility for the presidency, based on his birth to a father from Kenya and a mother who was a United States citizen. The case, brought by Leo Donofrio of East Brunswick, N.J., contended that Mr. Obama could not be considered a “natural-born citizen” — a constitutional ground for becoming president of the United States — because he had dual nationality at birth.
This decision confirms my belief that the Republican powers that be WANT Obama in the presidency.  They must think they have a better chance of discrediting him and the Democratic Party with Obama at the helm.

just curious (by J –SOM at Liberal Rapture)
I am loath to wade into the Soetoro birth certificate swamp again. But roll up my capris I shall…Call me crazy… I sort of wish this business would go away. But things bother me about this whole affair… A lower court threw out Philip Berg’s law suit because he “lacked standing”. What I am curious about is this: Who has standing in a case like this? Me? You? Anyone? [Emphasis added.] Not being obtuse here. I am genuinely curious. Who can challenge a POTUS?

Infamy (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)
Reverend Wright returned to the pulpit at Trinity United [Sunday]. “Any preacher who dares to point out the simple ugly facts found in every field imaginable is demonized as volatile, controversial, incendiary, inflammatory, anti-American and radical,” Wright said, taking time out to note the thousands of Japanese civilians who died 67 years to the day when American warplane dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.” Uh huh. Yep. The big event that occurred on December 7 was the bombing of Hiroshima — an act committed against a nation which had done nothing to us. Riiiight. Wright’s error tells us much about Wright – n’est-ce pas?

Bill Ayers: Please Go Away (by Hilzoy at the Washington Monthly, thanks to Brad DeLong)
For reasons best known to themselves, the NYT has published an op-ed by William Ayers: “…I never killed or injured anyone…”  As one historian says, “The only reason they were not guilty of mass murder is mere incompetence…. I don’t know what sort of defense that is.” They say they did it to end the war in Vietnam. But how, exactly, that was supposed to happen is a total mystery.

It’s the Underpants Gnome theory of political activism:
Phase 1: Set a bunch of bombs. 
Phase 2: ??? 
Phase 3: The war ends!
That level of tactical idiocy is one thing when you’re collecting underpants. It’s quite another when you’re setting bombs.

Ayers may think that there’s still a debate about the Weather Underground’s effectiveness. And he might also think that he “acted appropriately in the context of those times.” To me, though, he’s just a shallow rich kid who took himself and his revolutionary rhetoric much too seriously, helped inspire people to do things that got them killed, and helped to discredit the anti-war movement and the left as a whole. He has done enough harm already. Now he should do the decent thing and leave us in peace.

History, bass-ackwards (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)
I just came back from the grocery store, where the Globe tabloid blares that Hillary plans to divorce Bill in order to please Obama. Obama, it seems, is still furious at the way Bill Clinton “dissed” him during the primaries. Yeah, you read that right. Clinton dissed Obama. Not the other way ’round. So, do you think it is time to forgive the Jews for rounding up all of those innocent Germans and forcing them to work in concentration camps during World War II? Also, I want our new president to write me a reparations check. It was monstrous for black people to bring whites over from Europe in slave ships.

Hillary’s Eleanor Roosevelt moment (by Ellen Goodman)
One of the lifelong commitments Clinton will bring to her new role is to improve the rights and everyday lives of the world’s women. These issues will not be the “women’s page” in her portfolio, but integral to the way she views the world… Hillary regarded Eleanor Roosevelt as a role model. Mrs. Roosevelt’s second or third or perhaps fourth act was to get the world to agree to the first Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That was adopted exactly 60 years ago this month. Now it’s Hillary Clinton’s … turn.

A tale of two Hillarys (by Gene Lyons)
Look, here’s the deal: There are two Hillary Clintons, the brilliant, conscientious U. S. senator about to become secretary of state and an imaginary character in a serial novel by Dowd and her many imitators… But the newspaper business is in trouble… Hence, the relentless novelization of the news on broad, melodramatic themes suggested by daytime TV: naked ambition, lust, envy, greed, jealousy and betrayal. Which is not to say that either the Clintons or anybody else in Washington is without sin. But I’ve found that when total strangers begin speculating about one’s hidden motives, it’s more often a quite reliable guide to their own.

Picture: Obama speechwriter gropes mock Hillary (Spin Cycle, New York Newsday)
Obama’s newly minted chief WH speechwriter, Jon Favreau, showing immense seriousness and maturity, gropes the chest of a Hillary Clinton cardboard cutout in a party picture that has surfaced. Did they do this during the campaign? If so, they’re sure lucky a picture didn’t surface then….

The Clinton response, from spokesman Philippe Reines: “Senator Clinton is pleased to learn of Jon’s obvious interest in the State Department, and is currently reviewing his application.”
What a classy lady she is.

A Concerned Mother Responds to the Controversial Favreau Photograph (by Concerned Mother at No Quarter)
The acts captured in this photograph are misogynistic, and the man who aggressively gropes Hillary Clinton’s breast, John Favreau, is responsible for writing the words that helped install a President who deployed sexism throughout the primary. I am not sure why the misogyny in the photograph is not viewed as such. Is it a result of our willingness to allow little boys, especially little white boys of privilege, what some would call fraternity boys, to misbehave?… Why are the online dolts referring to this sexist pig as a “hottie?” Why is he rewarded with accolades?… Why are women excusing his behavior?

Hillary Sexism Watch, #114 (by ScottRS at Shakerville)
“Boys will be boys.” “He’s only 20-something and just blowing off steam and having fun.” “It’s just a cardboard cutout.” “Lighten up.” “All in good fun.” I have read multiple comments suggesting that those who don’t find the photo pants-peeing funny are just making mountains out of molehills, and trivializing the “real” problems women face. Somehow, this isn’t objectification since it’s a cardboard cutout… Somehow, it’s not demeaning and disrespectful since it’s merely an alcohol-fueled lapse of judgment. [W]hy, pray tell, do so many people seem so compelled to make excuses for what is, at best, such puerile, obnoxious, and just plain disrespectful behavior?
Well, Scott, I guess the motivation is the same as Rush Limbaugh’s ridiculously similar excuses for the Abu Ghraib torturers.  If you have no principles, people whose politics you approve of can do no wrong.

Does it Offend you Now? (by dakinikat at The Confluence)

What does it take to get men to understand that acting out rape fantasies is not funny?  Swanspirit did a little photoshop with the offending facebook photo and I want you to play a little infinite regress … will it offend you now?  Start putting the heads of your mothers, your daughters, and other women you know in the shot and ask yourself is this offensive? 

In which lambert, once again, apologizes for being prematurely correct (by lambert at Corrente)
The picture of Obama’s newly appointed director of speechwriting drunkenly groping a cardboard cutout of Hillary would seem to answer a few questions, wouldn’t it? Makes you wonder how many other photos like this there are floating around… Paul Lukasiak wrote a series on misogny in the 2008 election, here, if you want an analytical perspective.

Saturday: Misogyny, Pissongyny (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
The first thing that comes to mind is that these are the same guys who were all over DailyKos like flies on, well, rice.  Last year at this time, while the recommended list was undergoing a hostage crisis with all those damn Obama conversion diaries, the place was awash in new users who were overwhelmingly male, aggressive, disrespectful, bullying and misogynistic.  They were the, ahem, Obamaphiles.  I was trollstormed off DailyKos by these creeps who screamed “RACIST!!!” at me because I dared to compare their behavior to that seen during a medieval Jihad.  Last year, if you didn’t convert to Obama-love, you were instantly persona non grata and the more aggressive of these hooilgans would haunt your posts, throwing flags until you started to lose your trusted user status…

But the person I find most interesting in the photo … is the Sig Pi Little Sister in the left side of the picture over the shoulder of Favreau… Who is this woman hanging out with these swine?… Why didn’t she stop and ask herself what it means that Barack Obama would hire Jon Favreau to write his speeches?

Boys Will Be Boys (by Susie at Suburban Guerrilla)
[O]ut of the larger context, this [photo] is about sexism specifically directed at Hillary Clinton. But I don’t believe that’s the primary dynamic at work in this picture. The fact is, campaigns are run pretty much like fraternity parties… You want to know why there are so few female campaign managers at the national level? Because most women have a very low threshold for this particular flavor of male bullshit - attitude coupled with non-performance. Campaigns are about connections: Who went to which school, who knows who. [I]t’s not about being capable or even reliable…

Campaigns are unbelievably stressful… I guess my point is that campaigns are dysfunctional and crazy, and not so much about sexism as they are about hyper-testosterone. (There’s some overlap, but they’re not the same thing.) The younger staffers demonize their opponent and operate from their lizard brains, much like the kind of shirtless guys painted the team colors that you see at winter football games. Yes, what took place in this picture is sexism. But it’s institutionalized and inbred sexism. These young guys are only acting the way their Wiser Elders have taught them.
The blogosphere has also been about what school you went to, who you know, who’s your daddy.  A lot of very talented people get little to no recognition.

Swept Under the Rug (by Alegre)
Well it looks like Jon “Frat Boy” Favreau will keep his job.  If he hasn’t resigned in shame by now, he probably won’t ever be forced out over that photo that broke of him over the weekend… CONTACT the Transition Team HERE and let them know what you think. Ask them how they’d feel if someone at this level of an incoming administration had posed in a racist picture like this.  What message do they think it would send to minorities all over this nation about their new president? 

Obama urges donors to ease Clinton campaign debt
NEW YORK – President-elect Barack Obama wants to keep an outstanding commitment before Hillary Rodham Clinton becomes his secretary of state by calling on his donors to help her reduce her massive campaign debt before federal ethics rules prohibit her from doing so.
Biden has also asked supporters to help Hillary.

Obama: “The money is MINE MINE MINE! For ME ME ME MEMEMEME!!!” (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)
Hillary — after working her heart out for Obama in the general — is still trying to retire her debt, even though Obama is still sitting on a mound of campaign cash. Well, it turns out that many other Democrats have a similar issue, and a similar complaint… “Obama aides emphasize the campaign expects to continue having expenses, along with tax obligations and political operations. They also say Obama has little interest in bankrolling state committees or individual candidates.” Why is Obi holding onto the money? 2012, obviously.
What taxes? Campaign committees don’t have to pay taxes, do they?

Caroline Kennedy Weighs Senate Appointment (Political Wire)
“Another Senator Kennedy? The crazy speculation about Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat may not be so crazy after all. A Democrat who would know tells ABC News that New York governor David Paterson has talked to Caroline Kennedy about taking the seat, which was once held by her uncle, Robert F. Kennedy. It’s not exactly shocking that Paterson would reach out to one of the most highly respected public figures in New York, but this is: Sources say Kennedy is considering it, and has not ruled out coming to Washington to replace Hillary Clinton in the Senate.” Update: NBC News confirms Kennedy expressed her interest to Gov. Paterson.
No, dammit!  Goddess, how I HATE nepotism.  This would be a giveaway just because of her name.  There are women who have paid their dues, and one of them should be given this opportunity..

TED WANTS CAROLINE (by myiq2xu at The Confluence)
From the NY Post: “Powerful senator and family patriarch Ted Kennedy has been working back channels to promote niece Caroline as the replacement for Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Senate, family sources told The Post.”… Caroline has never held elective office before, but there’s always room at the top.  This is wrong on so many levels… How will the “no dynasties” progressive bloggers react?  I’m betting they will see no problem with the idea.  It’s not like she’s Chelsea Clinton or anything.

Tsk Tsk Tsk! Is This Really the Next Junior Senator from New York? (by bostonboomer at The Confluence)
How do you like this photo, Barack?

Caroline Kennedy’s Qualifications To Be Senator (by Uppity Woman at No Quarter)
A list of Caroline’s background and experience in politics, legislative ability and achievements for America, which suggest she has earned the position of Senator from New York follows:
1. ….
2. ….
3. ….
4. ….
Let me know if I missed anything. Thanks.

Friday: Gov. Paterson, it’s CAROLYN, not Caroline (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
I have read persistent rumors that Caroline Kennedy is on Governor Paterson’s short list of replacements for Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat…. Why should he pass on Caroline?  Let me count the ways: 1. She’s not a politician.  Never has been.  She’s never run for political office, never advocated for legislation (that I know of), never even expressed an interest… 2. The Senate is not the House of Lords.  I know the argument against dynasties has also been made against Hillary’s run for president.  But in Hillary’s case, she did the whole campaigning thing… 3. There are other women who would be passed over who would be legitimately and righteously indignant.  Kirsten Gillibrand and Carolyn Maloney are perfect examples…. Wake up and smell the Starbucks, Governor Paterson.  You have an opportunity to earn some major mojo by appointing a woman who has *earned* that right through hard work and accomplishments… Do the right thing.

In Minn., recount is done; now challenged ballots will be reviewed (On Politics, USA Today)
The last of the votes have been recounted in the Minnesota Senate race, the Star Tribune writes, and it estimates incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman, the Republican, is about 250 votes ahead of Democrat Al Franken. But things are far from over in the only Senate rate that hasn’t been decided one month after Election Day. Both campaigns have challenged several thousand ballots. The state Canvassing Board will meet Dec. 16 to begin considering those objections. And, one precinct in Minneapolis appears to be short 133 ballots — a mystery that the Franken campaign wants investigated.

Is Norm Coleman under federal investigation? (Think Progress)
Last month, Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) came under fire in a lawsuit alleging that a donor, Nasser Kazeminy, used an insurance company that employs Coleman’s wife to pass money to Coleman illegally. After a watchdog group requested a federal investigation, Coleman’s office gave an “unequivocal ‘no‘” on whether he was being investigated. But TPM notes that now, Coleman’s office curiously won’t say whether he is under investigation.

Lousiana voters oust indicted Rep. William Jefferson. (Think Progress)
AP reports that Rep. William Jefferson (D) has been defeated in his bid for a 10th term by Republican attorney Anh “Joseph” Cao, who will become the first Vietnamese-American in Congress. Jefferson has “pleaded not guilty to charges of bribery, laundering money and misusing his congressional office.”
I can’t tell you how amazing this defeat is.  It’s the congressional district I used to live in.  It’s the seat held by Cokey Roberts’ father, Hale Boggs, and then by her mother Lindy.  It’s been almost 120 years since that seat was held by a Republican.  This is one of the effects of New Orleans losing so much of its African American population in the aftermath of Katrina.

Democrats Now Up 20 Seats in House (Political Wire)
With a loss in Lousiana and a win in Ohio this weekend, Democrats now have a net gain of 20 House seats this cycle with a recount still pending in VA-05.

Bi-Partisan Talk Not Helping Democrats (by Susie at Suburban Guerrilla)
Chris Bowers on the loss of three federal elections since Obama’s victory: “These localized explanations are satisfactory. However, it is also safe to say that the constant talk about the need for bi-partisanship and a ‘team of rivals’ coming from Democrats isn’t exactly encouraging Democratic turnout these days… I’m starting to see a pretty easy path for Republicans to regain power. All they need is, first, for every Democratic leader to keep saying how great it is for Republicans to share power. Next, they need Democrats to keep making people like Robert Gates, instead of Dick Cheney or George Bush, the national face of the Republican Party. Those two messages will keep electing Republicans for years to come, and it will be entirely our own fault.
Those two messages plus all of Obama’s baggage that has still not been exploited..  We tried to warn you, Obots.  But you wouldn’t listen.

Biden Camp Says No Dispute With Reid on Veep Attendance at Senate Dems’ Meetings (by Jake Tapper & Matt Jaffe at Political Punch, ABC News)
Vice President-elect Joe Biden will be forbidden by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid from attending Senate Democratic Caucus meetings, Reid said in an interview with the Las Vegas Sun set to run Sunday at 2 a.m., as excerpted by Politico’s Mike Allen. “Absolutely not,” responded Reid when asked if Biden would be allowed to attend these meetings. But Biden spokesperson Elizabeth Alexander notes that Biden had “no intention” of going to the meetings anyway and there is no conflict at all between him and Reid.
Still inventing controversies, are we, Politico?

Biden taps progressive economist Jared Bernstein as top adviser. (Think Progress)
Vice President-elect Joseph Biden has just announced that Jared Bernstein, Director of the Living Standards program at the Economic Policy Institute, will fill the new position of Chief Economist and Economic Policy Advisor to the Vice President. Bernstein is a renowned progressive economist, with expertise on the middle-class squeeze, income inequality and mobility, low-wage labor markets, and poverty. In May, Bernstein wrote on Huffington Post that it’s now time for progressives to govern after years of conservative failures.

Shinseki Slated to Head VA, Obama Confirms (Political Wire)
Retired Army Gen. Eric K. Shinseki will be introduced tomorrow as President-elect Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Department of Veterans Affairs, a Democratic official familiar with the announcement said [Saturday]… Shinseki, a 38-year veteran, is best known for his four years as Army chief of staff, and in particular his response to congressional questioning in February 2003 about troop levels necessary to protect a presumed military victory in Iraq. Shinseki told the Senate Armed Services Committee that “something on the order of several hundred thousand soldiers” could be necessary, an assessment that was at odds with the announced determination of Pentagon leaders.

A New Attorney Scandal? Bush-Appointed U.S. Attorney Won’t Vacate Office Under Obama (Think Progress)
Mary Beth Buchanan was appointed by President Bush to serve as U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh in Sept. 2001. Buchanan has held several significant posts within the Bush/Ashcroft/Gonzales Justice Department, most notably serving as director the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys. Just last month, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Buchanan’s reign was expected to end. Indeed, when a new president is elected, U.S. attorneys of both parties generally submit their resignations to make way for the new appointees. But Buchanan has other plans: “Despite a new administration coming into power, U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan said she plans to stick around.”

Bizarro World (by Susie at Suburban Guerrilla)
From the Washington Post: “Intellectual Tilt Worries Critics Obama staff generally share a more intellectual view than is often the norm in government.” And yet, they never seemed all that worried about a moron in the White House, did they? Or did I miss it?

The Deluder in Chief (New York Times)
We long ago gave up hope that President Bush would acknowledge his many mistakes, or show he had learned anything from them. Even then we were unprepared for the epic denial that Mr. Bush displayed in his interview with ABC News’s Charles Gibson the other day, which he presumably considered an important valedictory chat with the American public as well… At one point, Mr. Bush was asked if he wanted any do-overs. “The biggest regret of the presidency has to have been the intelligence failure in Iraq,” he said. “A lot of people put their reputations on the line and said the weapons of mass destruction” were cause for war.

After everything the American public and the world have learned about how Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney manipulated Congress, public opinion and anyone else they could bully or lie to, Mr. Bush is still acting as though he decided to invade Iraq after suddenly being handed life and death information on Saddam Hussein’s arsenal.
Some of us still haven’t given up hope that the New York Times will admit ITS mistake in promoting the Iraq War, and helping the administration to manipulate so many people.  We’d like the Times to promise never to let itself be taken in again by becoming watchdogs instead of lapdogs.

Bush Claims His Library Institute At SMU Will Not ‘Herald’ His Presidency (Think Progress)
During an interview on Thursday with NBC News’s John Yang, President Bush talked about his life after the presidency, namely, putting together his presidential library at Southern Methodist University. A “think tank” will accompany Bush’s library there, and during the interview, Bush claimed the institute won’t attempt to burnish his legacy: “…I’ll be occupied with some interesting things to do. We’re going to build a freedom institute at Southern Methodist, a policy center that’s going to not be a place where we herald George Bush or [the] Republican Party.”
No heralding.  Uh huh.  Click through to watch the video.

Congressman To Push Amendment On Presidential Pardons (American Constitution Society)
A constitutional amendment limiting presidential pardon power is being contemplated by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), TPM Muckraker reports. The congressman said during a public forum that he would introduce an amendment in the coming months to restrict the “president’s near absolute pardon power,” according to TPM. Nadler has already, in a resolution, called on President George W. Bush to refrain from using his power to issue so-called “blanket pardons” of government officials involved in carrying out administration counterterrorism policies, especially those involved in torture of detainees in Afghanistan and Iraq and those involved in implementing the domestic spying program.
Let’s get rid of the Electoral College, while we’re at it.  And give women equal rights.  And shore up our freedoms.  Uh, oh, if we try to amend the Constitution, we’ll end up with a several hundred thousand page document.

Rove planning to ‘name names’ of Bush haters in his new book. (Think Progress)
Karl Rove is reportedly one of the key architects overseeing the “Bush legacy project,” predicting that the President will be remembered as a “far-sighted leader.” In a new interview with Cox News, Rove rails against all the people in America who never “accepted the legitimacy of George W. Bush,” saying that he plans to call them out in his new book.
Please name me, Karl.  Please, please, PLEASE name me!

Gingrich Says Israel Should Set A Deadline For Attack On Iran (Think Progress)
Last night on Fox News, co-host Alan Colmes asked former House Speaker Newt Gingrich about a Jerusalem Post article yesterday reporting that Israel is preparing options to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities. At first Gingrich gave a measured response, saying “I don’t think we’re prepared to sanction an attack on Iran.” Yet just moments later, Gingrich said the Israelis should set a deadline for an attack on Iran… Naturally, Sean Hannity concurred. “I agree with that wholeheartedly, Mr. Speaker.”
Click through to watch the video.

Palin’s priorities: Back in Alaska, she asks child-care hike (McClatchy)
Gov. Sarah Palin is calling for more state spending on children’s health insurance, preschool and other programs, even as Alaska oil prices and state revenues plunge.

CNN poll gives Palin slight advantage over others for 2012 GOP nomination (On Politics, USA Today)
We’ll say it before you do: It’s ridiculous to take any polls about the 2012 presidential race seriously. But they’re still fun for political junkies. CNN and Opinion Research just released the results of a Dec. 1-2 national poll of 460 Republicans. They were asked about some of the potential contenders for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination and whether they would be “very” or “somewhat” likely to support each one. It wasn’t an either/or survey. Respondents were simply asked about each person in turn and whether they would or would not “support them if they decided to run:” Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee, got a 67% “very/somewhat likely” score.

Ex Gov. Chiles’ family threatens suit over Florida budget (McClatchy)
TALLAHASSEE — In stark and angry terms, the family of former Gov. Lawton Chiles is threatening to sue Gov. Charlie Crist and legislative leaders if they try to balance the budget by raiding a trust fund for children and seniors that the state established with the huge settlement from a tobacco case and named for the now deceased governor.

Cheney Personally Thanked Chris Wallace For Defending Bush; Promises Him ‘Special Exit Interview’ As Reward (Think Progress)
Last Monday, at a screening of Ron Howard’s new film “Frost/Nixon,” Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace vociferously defended President Bush against criticism by Howard that Bush has abused the office of the presidency in a way similar to President Richard Nixon… Appearing on Mike Gallagher’s radio show [Friday], Wallace revealed that Vice President Dick Cheney personally thanked him at his holiday party [Thursday] night…“Cheney was genuinely grateful for what I had done, and Ed Gillespie, the senior counselor to the president, was there and genuinely grateful.”
And we call that journalism?  Click through to listen to the audio of the radio show.

The Spin Is In: “Apparent Evolution” in Obama’s Thinking on Iraq (by bostonboomer at The Confluence)
[T]he biggest promise, the raison d’etre for Obama’s entire campaign, the evidence for his supposed “good judgment,” his supposed plan to end the war in Iraq–now that will be a toughie for even MSNBO to explain away. This week the New York Times began the propaganda retooling process with this “news analysis” of Obama’s statements at his national security news conference on Monday. “…An apparent evolution of Mr. Obama’s thinking can be heard in contrast to comments he made in July, when he called a news conference to lay out his Iraq policy in unambiguous terms. ‘I intend to end this war,’ he said then…”

But, as the Times points out, the koolaid drinkers are calming lapping it all up and the denizens of the military-industrial complex are just as happy as clams: “To date, there has been no significant criticism from the antiwar left of the Democratic Party of the prospect that Mr. Obama will keep tens of thousands of troops in Iraq for at least several years to come…”
So people we don’t like do “flip flops.” But people we do like “evolve.”  Nevertheless, FAIR thinks the media are being unfair.  See below.

Media Root For Obama To Reject Withdrawal Timeline (FAIR)
Corporate media are cheering what they suggest are signs that President-elect Barack Obama will break his campaign promise and defy both U.S. and Iraqi public opinion to keep combat troops in Iraq for longer than his 16-month withdrawal timetable.

It’s official: Gregory to moderate “Meet the Press”
“I’m honored and deeply humbled as I take on this role,” says David Gregory. “I’m filled with a great sense of purpose as I join a superb team to cover Washington and the world from a treasured platform in our country.”

CNN Looks to New Face for Sunday Morning (New York Times)
CNN is close to installing its longtime White House correspondent John King in the host role for its Sunday program “Late Edition.”

Matthews Set to Sign New Contract (Political Wire)
According to Mike Allen, Chris Matthews will reportedly announce the signing of a new contract with MSNBC which would effectively end the talk about his potential Senate bid in Pennsylvania.
So all that running for office stuff was just a ploy, to increase his salary?  I’m shocked.  SHOCKED.

Joe Scarborough & Mika Brzezinski Will Begin Radio Show Monday (TV Newser)
Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski will begin hosting a radio show on WABC in New York Monday morning. The show will air from 10 a.m. to noon. In January, Glenn Beck’s radio show moves to an overlapping time slot on WOR-AM. Says one insider, “The New York radio wars have begun anew!”

MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski to Write Advice Book (Portfolio)
Morning Joe co-host Mika Brezinski has parlayed her show’s buzz into a book deal. In January 2010, Weinstein Books will publish Sometimes You Have to Take a Step Back, “a motivational book aimed at women, based on Mika’s own personal and professional triumphs and failures.”
I HATE nepotism.  Brezinski only has that job because her father was once national security advisor to a president.  And he’s close to the next president.  Which makes Scarboro pretty prescient for having hired her.

Maureen Dowd is a “stupendous reporter” (County Fair, Media Matters for America)
So says her pal on the NYT Op-ed page, Gail Collins. No really. Plus this:  ”She [MoDo] works really, really, really hard, and she mines the territory that she’s writing about with great skill and great effort.” Like when the often painful-to-read MoDo wanted to take the temperature of race relations in the nation’s capitol following Obama’s election and she tried to engage her “cute black mailman” in small talk? Was that what Collins had in mind when she claimed her friend ”works really, really, really hard”? Or when she invented a John Kerry quote during the 2004 campaign? Was that why Collins announced MoDo was a “stupendous reporter”?

O’Reilly to Give Up Radio Show (New York Daily News)
Bill O’Reilly has formally confirmed he’s giving up one of the most successful syndicated radio shows in the country, saying he has just run out of hours in the week. O’Reilly said the radio show, which he launched in May 2002, will end “in the first quarter of next year.”

Former drug officer launches ‘KopBusters’ TV show (The Raw Story)
“It is not illegal to grow plants under a light in your home but it is illegal to lie on an affidavit and plant drugs on a citizen. This operation was the first of its kind in the history of America. Police sometimes have other police investigating their crimes but the American court system has never dealt with a group of citizens stinging the police. Will the police file charges on the team who took down the corrupt cops? We will keep you posted.”

Vague pledges to “end torture” and “comply with treaties and laws” (by Glenn Greenwald at Unclaimed Territory, Salon)
[W]ver the next couple of months, everyone involved in [the torture] debate — especially Democrats in Congress, including those who aren’t really interested in ending “coercive” or “enhanced interrogation techniques” — is going to pay flamboyant lip service to the goal of “ending torture” and “ensuring compliance with all treaties and laws.”  Everyone is going to say they are for that. But … those generalities reveal virtually nothing about whether they actually intend to take the steps necessary to put an unequivocal end to the Bush torture regime and restore America’s standing in the world 

A Democratic insider’s call for a new presidential secrecy power (by Glenn Greenwald at Unclaimed Territory, Salon)
Matt Miller, a Senior Fellow with the Center for American Progress (CAP) and former official in the Clinton OMB, has an Op-Ed in The Washington Post decrying the “kiss-and-tell” books written by top presidential aides once they leave the White House, and he singles out as examples the “tell-all” books written by George Stephanopoulos and Scott McClellan (whose name is repeatedly misspelled throughout the Op-Ed).  Miller doesn’t merely want former officials who write such books to be stigmatized and scorned, though he does want that.  Far beyond mere disapproval, he actually wants to vest presidents — or at least the new President — with the formal legal power to block publication of these books in the first place.
Um, don’t we call that censorship?  Aren’t we against it?

Missing atheist sign found in Washington state (CNN)

(CNN) – An atheist sign criticizing Christianity that was erected alongside a Nativity scene was taken from the Legislative Building in Olympia, Washington, on Friday and later found in a ditch. An employee from country radio station KMPS-FM in Seattle told CNN the sign was dropped off at the station by someone who found it in a ditch. “I thought it would be safe,” Freedom From Religion Foundation co-founder Annie Laurie Gaylor told CNN earlier Friday. “It’s always a shock when your sign is censored or stolen or mutilated. It’s not something you get used to.” The sign, which celebrates the winter solstice, has had some residents and Christian organizations calling atheists Scrooges because they said it was attacking the celebration of Jesus Christ’s birth.
Nobody but Christians can celebrate at this time of year?

Montana ruling legalizes assisted suicide  (MSNBC)
HELENA, Mont. – A Montana judge has issued a ruling saying residents of the state have the right to doctor-assisted suicide. The ruling issued late Friday by state District Court Judge Dorothy McCarter makes Montana the third state in which doctor-assisted suicide is legal.

Report Links State Firearm Laws to Rates of Gun Slayings, Trafficking (Washington Post)
States with lax gun laws had higher rates of handgun killings, fatal shootings of police officers, and sales of weapons that were used in crimes in other states, according to a study underwritten by a group of more than 300 U.S. mayors.

Health care reform from the grass roots
In another signal that health care reform is a top priority for President-elect Barack Obama, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle has begun organizing Americans even before being formally announced as Obama’s pick for secretary of health and human services.

“Healthcare Reform” Screw Job on the Way–And YOU Can Join In! (by GRL at InsightAnalytical)
[S]aid Kennedy spokesman Anthony Coley. ‘The insurance industry has advanced serious proposals that deserve serious analysis and consideration.’” Meanwhile, there’s a new twist to the story… “President-elect Barack Obama and his aides are determined not to repeat the mistakes the Clinton administration made 15 years ago in trying to revamp the nation’s health care system. That means applying some of the lessons learned — moving fast, seizing momentum and not letting it go… The strategy begins with giving people the chance to highlight their concerns and experiences.”

Over at the The Obama-Biden Plan, … [the] last line of the entire “agenda” is billed as A Commitment to Fiscal Responsibility: “Barack Obama will pay for his $50 – $65 billion health care reform effort by rolling back the Bush tax cuts for Americans earning more than $250,000 per year and retaining the estate tax at its 2009 level.” Oops, hasn’t that “changed” already??  Yes, it has!

Need Healthcare? Go shopping! (by hipparchia at Corrente)
Not. Michael Dukakis runs down the list of the market-oriented — Go Shopping! — solutions we’ve tried, or have proposed, for containing healthcare costs. HMOs. Managed care. Consumer-driven health care. Pay for performance. Electronic health records. Then he asks: “How do all those other advanced, industrialized countries have health care that’s better than ours for about half the cost? Answer: They treat healthcare as a public utility, and regulate its prices, with a fraction of the overhead and bureaucracy that plague our system.”
Click through to watch the video.

GM CEO: Serious Health Care Reform ‘Undoubtedy Would Help Level The Playing Field’ (Think Progress)
Testifying before the House Financial Services Committee [Thursday], General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner said that his company has spent over $103 billion over the last fifteen years on pensions and post-retirement health care benefits. “Obviously if we had the $103 billion and could use it for other things, it would enable us to be even farther ahead on technology or newer equipment in our plants or whatever,” Wagoner said. Considering these enormous costs, Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI) asked Wagoner whether he would support “a national health care program in order to stay viable.” Wagoner agrees that serious health care reform would “undoubtedly” help the Big Three stay competitive with foreign automakers:

“Car czar” proposed for any automaker bailout (Reuters)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A government “car czar” would oversee any bailout of U.S. automakers under proposed terms being negotiated by the White House and Congress for extending up to $17 billion in emergency loans that mainly aim to spare General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC from bankruptcy.

Congressional analysts: Auto aid plan falls short (AP)
WASHINGTON – A plan to tap fuel-efficiency loans to bail out U.S. auto makers doesn’t come close to covering the $34 billion the Big Three say they need to survive, officials say.

Krugman: US Auto Industry Will Likely Disappear (CNBC)
Nobel economics prize winner Paul Krugman said Sunday that the beleaguered U.S. auto industry will likely disappear. “It will do so because of the geographical forces that me and my colleagues have discussed,” the Princeton University professor and New York Times columnist told reporters in Stockholm. “It is no longer sustained by the current economy.” 

Me, misreported (by Paul Krugman)
Urk. I gather that there’s a report on the wires quoting me as saying that the US auto industry would disappear. What I actually said was that the concentration of the industry around Detroit would disappear. And did I really say “me and my colleagues”? I guess it’s possible — but that doesn’t sound like I speaking.
Dr. Krugman accepted his Nobel Prize this morning.

McConnell: While Detroit goes under, Kentucky’s Toyota plant is doing great. (Think Progress)
In an interview with the Louisville Courier-Journal, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) noted that despite the economic turmoil in Detroit, Toyota plants in Kentucky are sitting pretty… Toyota, in fact, has seen its stock drop more than 50 percent since the beginning of the year:

The Undeserving (by Anglachel)
The LA Times has a business columnist, David Lazarus, who isn’t much of a writer and he’s far too committed to conventional economic wisdom for his own good, but in today’s Sunday Times he hit one out of the park: “Why were Wall Street workers not asked for concessions? Say what you will about the role of the [UAW] in exacerbating Detroit‘s financial troubles, one thing stands out: Blue-collar workers are taking it in the shorts as part of their employers’ efforts to secure some bailout bucks from Uncle Sam. I don’t recall white-collar workers on Wall Street stepping up with similar concessions in return for their companies’ receiving billions of dollars in taxpayer cash.”

The poll that accompanies the article is over 77% in agreement that blue collar workers are being treated differently and unfairly compared to white collar workers. It’s just an online poll so should be taken with a grain of salt, but it probably does register some fairly common popular sentiments that are not often represented in the media.

UAW Worker’s Convoy to Washington: Light Rail, fuel-efficiency, Medicare for All….oh, and loans. (by Damon at Corrente)
The small UAW caravan to Washington is going not just to support the loans for the Big Three, but to push liberal and progressive causes. I don’t see any of the Kos kids putting their money where their mouths are… “The caravan plans to focus not just on getting the bridge loan passed but also on proposing ideas to develop plans for using plants to manufacture more fuel-efficient cars as well as green energy technologies such as wind turbines and mass transportation such as light rail and high speed trains… They’ll also broach the subjects of more accountability for financial assistance and tax abatements provided to corporations, stronger unions to protect fair wages and benefits, and more consideration for a national health-care system like the ‘Medicare for All’ proposal by Michigan representative John Conyers to help relieve the health care costs burden that weigh automakers down.”

Teevee Wisdom (by Susie at Suburban Guerrilla)
I wonder when the Wise Men of the Village will figure out that they are the ones who have turned the public against the auto industry bailout? And yet, they were so conspicuously supportive of anything that Wall Street wanted. Hmmm….

Good for Obama on Chicago sit-down (by lambert at Corrente)
WaPo: “At a news conference Sunday, President-elect Barack Obama said Republic should follow through on its commitments to its workers.” Actually, Obama said more than that: “‘The workers who are asking for the benefits and payments that they have earned, I think they’re absolutely right and understand that what’s happening to them is reflective of what’s happening across this economy,’ Obama said.” What I like to hear. More like this, please. “If the people lead, the leaders will follow.”

Rubber Stamp Agencies (by Mark Thoma at Economist’s View )
Ratings agencies are supposed to solve market failures, not create them. The market failure arises because in most cases it’s prohibitively costly for individual investors to collect and analyze the information they need to make informed judgments about the quality of the financial assets they are considering purchasing. Without some means of overcoming this risk assessment problem, these markets are unlikely to flourish… But when agency relationships are broken, i.e. when the profit motive of the ratings agencies provides incentives that are not fully compatible with the best interests of investors who purchase the securities, and when the interests of the ratings agencies instead become aligned with the firms issuing … the securities they are rating, problems are bound to develop.
That’s exactly what happened with the big accounting firms, too.

The God That Failed: The 30-Year Lie of the Market Cult (by Chris Floyd at the Greanville Journal)
This was the cult that captured the governments of the United States and Britain (among others), as well as the Republican and Democratic parties, and the Conservative and Labour parties as well. And for almost thirty years, its ruthless doctrines have been put into practice. Regulation and oversight of financial markets were systematically stripped away or rendered toothless. Essential public services were sold off, for chump change, to corporate interests. Public spending on anything other than making war, threatening war and profiting from war was pared back or eliminated. Such public spending that did remain was forever under threat and derided, like the remnants of some pagan faith surviving in isolated backwaters. 

Grim Job Report Not Showing Full Picture (New York Times)
As bad as the headline numbers in Friday’s employment report were, they still made the job market look better than it really is… The number of people out of the labor force — meaning that they were neither working nor looking for work and that the government did not consider them unemployed — jumped by 637,000 last month, the Labor Department said. The number of part-time workers who said they wanted full-time work — all counted as fully employed — rose by an additional 621,000. Take these people into account, and the job market may be in its worst condition since the early 1980s. It is still deteriorating rapidly, too.

Chinese property hunters to raid US
Chinese bargain hunters are preparing to descend on American cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, where homeowners have suffered steep price falls in the US. SouFun, the biggest real estate website in China, is organising a trip next month to look at properties in California and possibly Nevada. Liu Jian, the company’s chief operating officer, said about 300 people had expressed interest in the idea in the three days since it was advertised.
The Chinese are coming!  The Chinese are coming!

Media Matters for America headlines

Armstrong Williams: Hillary Clinton’s “antics and brokering of deals … have signaled the beginnings of a rogue element”

Savage: “[A]ny heterosexual woman today over the age of 25 who grew up in America is basically a dominatrix”

Politico still focused on Obama’s — but not Bush’s — church attendance

Mason claimed “liberal left” is “up in arms” over Gates, Clinton selections; didn’t note poll showing strong Democratic support for Obama’s choices

Media tout Bush’s purported candor in ABC interview, ignoring substantial evidence to the contrary

Media still wedded to $70+ per hour autoworker falsehood despite GM’s recent statements to the contrary

Despite falsehood after falsehood, O’Reilly reportedly claimed canceled Radio Factor ”was fact-based”

Hannity, Gingrich falsely suggested that Pelosi made unprecedented use of military plane — but “practice began with Speaker Hastert”

Ignoring evidence to the contrary, Wash. Times uncritically quoted claim that Obama’s birth certificate has “clearly been altered” [What Obama has presented may not have been altered, but why has he forbidden access to the real birth certificate, the one in the vault?]

Continuing his pattern of disparaging remarks about low-income Americans, Cunningham criticized “fat poor people”

Memo to Politico: Al Gore never claimed he “invented the Internet”

Journalists Become Targets In Mexico’s Drug War
Mexico is the deadliest place in the Americas to be a journalist, and among the deadliest in the world.

British ISPs restrict access to Wikipedia
Internet service providers in the UK have begun filtering access to Wikipedia after the site was added to the Internet Watch Foundation’s blacklist… The content being filtered is apparently that deemed to meet the Internet Watch Foundation’s criteria for child pornography — in one case, this involves a 1970s LP cover art which, although controversial, is still widely available.

Consumers Won’t Cut Media Spending (Broadcasting & Cable)
Despite the darkening economic forecast—and the official word last week that the United States is indeed in a recession—U.S. consumers have no plans to reduce spending on Internet, wireless, cable and satellite services. That’s according to a new study from Amdocs, a customer experience consultancy.

Leonard Downie Jr. Joins ASU Cronkite School Staff 
Downie, who spent more than 40 years at The Washington Post, 17 as top editor, is the third major former editor to join the ASU staff in recent years. Others include Tim McGuire, former editor of The Star Tribune in Minneapolis, and ex-Sacramento Bee editor Rick Rodriguez.

2008 Media Person Of The Year: Arianna Huffington (I Want Media)
The blog queen and co-founder of the preeminent “Internet newspaper” is named the most outstanding figure in media.
I do NOT get it.  She peddles trash.

What I Missed Only Getting News Online (by Ted Knutson, Editor & Publisher)
To save money, I recently stopped buying newspapers and got all of my news online. I was satisfied. At least until I took a writing test for a job recently and found I was all too ‘news poor.’ Now I’m back into print.
If he’d asked me where to get his news online, he wouldn’t be saddled with those subscriptions.

Viacom’s Bloodbath
The sheer size of the bloodletting that went down at Viacom [Thursday] surprised current and now-former employees. Initially expected to total around 300 people, CEO Philippe Dauman nearly tripled that number by announcing that Viacom would cut 850 jobs.

Psst, Want to Buy a Media Titan Cheap?
Giants Can Be Had for Bargain Prices, but Is It Worth Gambling? Ad Age Handicaps the Players

Diller Sees M&A Opportunities in Downturn
IAC Chief Barry Diller is sitting on a pile of cash but won’t give in to investor demands that he buy back stock to rescue the company’s ailing share price. Instead, he is conserving firepower so that IAC can swoop in on what he expects to be a “cascade” of acquisition opportunities at bargain prices.

How Credit Crunch Shaved At Least $45 Million Off Jupiterimages’ Sale To Getty Images (Paid Content)
When Jupitermedia sold off its online images business to its larger rival Getty Images for $96 million in October, some people considered it second-time lucky for the company: Jupiter tried to sell its whole business to Getty in early 2007, but it fell apart then. But the latest sale was not without hitches, and in fact the credit crisis that ballooned in September-October may have shaved almost $40 million to $45 million off the final deal price, based on the deal proceedings disclosed in JUPM’s PREM14A filing late last week.

The Miami Herald Is Said to Be for Sale
Burdened by debt and a steep slide in advertising, McClatchy is said to have approached potential buyers for The Miami Herald.

Scripps Puts Rocky Mountain News Up for Sale
E.W. Scripps Co. says it’s putting the Rocky Mountain News up for sale after losing $11 million on the Denver operation in the first nine months of the year. The newspaper announced the development on its Web site Thursday.

Gannett’s Green Bay paper to combine sections — even though it had a 42.5% profit margin
Press-Gazette publisher Kevin Corrado and executive editor John Dye tell readers that “reports of our death are greatly exaggerated. They are, in fact, just dead wrong.” (They don’t tell readers about the paper’s “startling” profit margin.) “In the days and weeks ahead, we will be making more changes, including combining some sections of the newspaper,” the execs write. “In the meantime, we want to stress that even with the most recent job cuts, the Press-Gazette didn’t eliminate one reporter’s job, one photographer’s job or one sales job.”

Rainey: Journalists have no reason to fear Pasadena Now’s outsourcing
“I’m as sour on the idea of outsourcing journalism to [India] as the next ink-stained wretch,” writes James Rainey after visiting the Pasadena Now offices. “The man with the men in Mumbai is in survival mode, with dozens of ideas but no money to put more reporters on the street. In that sense, he may have a lot more in common with the newspaper industry than some of us cranky journalists care to admit.”

Many Newspapers Underwhelmed By CNN’s New Wire Service; Plans Call For Fewer Than 30 Stories A Day (Paid Content)
The newspaper editors who were invited to CNN’s Newspaper Summit last week, which showcased the cable channel’s new wire service, have given the Time Warner company high marks for reaching out. But many appear to have been less than impressed with the small amount of stories that will be available on the wire. No formal plan or details were offered by CNN, according to E&P. The summit was a three-day event and was attended by representatives of 30 newspapers, many of whom have previously voiced complaints about the Associated Press’ wire service membership rates. CNN offered its guests no details at all about how it would match AP’s pricing. Instead, the idea was to canvass editors and ask them to help design the service.

“Murdoch has not ruined WSJ, as many feared he would,” says ex-staffer
“In fact, in the estimation of not a few, he has already made it a better newspaper,” writes Tunku Varadarajan. “The Journal’s news stories are now shorter, sharper, newsier and more relevant. The paper is expanding. He is the only press mogul who does not have to butcher his payroll and put reporters on the dole.”

Dow Jones to Launch Japanese Site
Robert Thomson, the managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, has said that parent company Dow Jones expects to launch a Japanese-language Web site in the first half of next year. However, Dow Jones has no plans to make an acquisition in the country, according to Thomson.

NYT to borrow up to $225 million against its building
The Times Company owns 58% of the 52-story building, which was completed last year. Some investors have complained that the company has too much of its capital tied up in that real estate.

Tribune Hires Bankruptcy Advisers; May File Ch. 11 This Week (Paid Content)
Tribune, the Sam Zell-owned newspaper chain, has hired bankruptcy advisers in an attempt to stave off potential bankruptcy filing, reports NYT, citing sources. It is using investment bank Lazard and the law firm Sidley Austin, to try and restructure its crippling debt and assess its options, the story says. WSJ says it could file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as early as this week.

TV Guide’s Print Buyer To Launch A New Site, Separate From TVGuide.com (by Rafat Ali at Paid Content)
TV Guide, the print magazine now under the ownership of LA-based private equity firm OpenGate Capital, plans to launch a new website (at TVGuidemagazine.com which it owns) to accompany the mag. The only problem is that TVGuide.com exists, and was not sold by Macrovision as part of the sale, so not sure how the PE firm will navigate around that confusion… In a story in NYT, the new print owner is hopeful of the magazine’s future viability, despite skepticism from everyone else in the industry. And as we reported first, the $1 sale price was not the full picture: OpenGate took on $70 million to $100 million in subscription liabilities, and of course is funding the business day to day.

Eye Spy: Filmmaker Plans to Install Camera in His Eye Socket
Rob Spence looks you straight in the eye when he talks. So it’s a little unnerving to imagine that soon one of his hazel-green eyes will have a tiny wireless video camera in it that records your every move. The eye he’s considering replacing is not a working one — it’s a prosthetic eye he’s worn for several years. Spence, a 36-year-old Canadian filmmaker, is not content with having one blind eye. He wants a wireless video camera inside his prosthetic, giving him the ability to make movies wherever he is, all the time, just by looking around. “If you lose your eye and have a hole in your head, then why not stick a camera in there?” he asks.

NBC to Shuffle Its Entertainment Unit
The moves come after severe contractions in the network television business as well as another fall without a new hit show for NBC’s prime-time lineup.

Strapped Local Stations Look To Web For Cash
Increasingly, struggling local television stations are looking for salvation in the Internet. Some 30% of TV stations have managed to increase online revenues to a point where they matter. Driven by increased consumer use of online video, stations are pushing hard to turn it into a moneymaker.

Facebook Video Just Got Usable (by Mark ‘Rizzn’ Hopkins at Mashable)
Facebook announced … a number of notable upgrades to their video portion of the social network. Following behind YouTube’s recent upgrades to their display, Facebook announced today that they’ll be supporting high resolution – up to 720p – to go along with higher quality audio codec support. Perhaps even more important, though, is the addition of remote embedding capability.

ZenithOptimedia Cuts ’08 Online Forecast To 21.2 Percent Growth; Total Ad Spend Slipping 0.2 Percent (Paid Content)
The recession’s squeeze has pushed ZenithOptimedia’s bullish outlook for online ad spending downward a bit, as the Publicis Groupe media shop is predicting global online ad revenues to rise 21.2 percent this year and about 18 percent in 2009. The company will present its forecast on a panel at the UBS Global Media and Communications (PDF) conference in New York this morning, on a panel with Interpublic Group’s Magna and WPP’s GroupM.

Media Companies Cull 30,000 in Fight for Their Future
Execs Blame Recession as They Wield the Ax, but This Is About Reinvention, too

Why You Should Wait to Buy a Set-Top Box
Whether you’re eyeing an Apple, Netflix, or Blockbuster model, you’ll get one cheaper, and probably better, if you wait a few months