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The Heretik

Freedom Rider: Bush Goes Out a Winner (by Margaret Kimberley at the Black Agenda Report)
Bush is leaving office in the popularity basement, but his checklist of accomplishments is full. Bush has “succeeded in radically changing nearly every facet of government, and always with the help of the Democratic Party.” Even when at his nadir in the polls, Bush managed to transfer $700 billion dollars into the pockets of his high-roller banking friends. He has implicated so many Democrats in torture, the party has little choice but to give him and themselves immunity. “It is hard to see how Bush can be considered a failure when the so-called opposition aided him every step of the way.”
And that’s why I’m so skeptical of calls for bipartisanship.  What we’ve seen is really unipartisanship–always leaning toward the Republican side.

Quote of the Day (Political Wire)
“I do not work for Barack Obama. I work with him.” — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), in an interview with The Hill, asserting his believe in “three separate but equal branches of government.”
NOW Reid figures out the separation of powers.  He gave Bush every blurring of that separation that Bush ever asked for.

But the failures of the Bush administration give us the opportunity to completely re-evaluate what we believe in and how we want to live.
Doubts Make Consumers More Willing To Reevaluate Brands, Study Finds (Science Daily)
Most consumers crave a clear understanding of brand images, making them more receptive to new marketing messages if anything clouds their vision of companies or products, according to a new study by a University of Illinois marketing expert… [T]he findings are good news for companies seeking to retool the image of seemingly ingrained brands  “The message is that people don’t just form brand opinions and stick with them,” said [Sharon] Shavitt, a professor of business administration. “Instead, they’re constantly monitoring their sense of understanding. They may in fact be swinging between doubt and closure more often than we think.”

The Tyranny of Dead Ideas: Letting Go of the Old Ways of Thinking to Unleash a New Prosperity (by Matt Miller)
In The Tyranny of Dead Ideas, Matt Miller offers a unique blend of insights from history, psychology, and economics to illuminate where today’s destructive conventional wisdom came from and how it holds our country back. He also introduces us to a new way of thinking—what he calls “tomorrow’s destined ideas”—that can reinvigorate our economy, our politics, and our day-to-day lives. These destined ideas may seem counterintuitive now, but they will coalesce in the coming years in ways that will transform America.

Tomorrow’s Destined Ideas
Only Government Can Save Business
Only Business Can Save Liberalism
Only Higher Taxes Can Save the Economy (and the Planet)
Only the (Lower) Upper Class Can Save Us from Inequality
Only Better Living Can Save Sagging Paychecks
Only a Dose of “Nationalization” Can Save Local Schools
Only Lessons from Abroad Can Save American Ideals
Purchase the book on Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble. Click the title of this excerpt, above, for contact information to interview the author or other Center for American Progress on this issue.

Early Family [Economic Adversity] Has Lasting Effects On Teens, Young Adults (Science Daily)
The country’s economic crisis could have lasting effects on children from families that fall into poverty, according to a new paper… [Researchers] found that early socioeconomic adversity experienced by children contributes to poor mental health by the time they become teens — disrupting their successful transition into adulthood by endangering their social, academic and occupational attainment as young adults.
And on into adulthood and senior age, as I can tell you from personal experience.  This research shows even more reason why conservative ideology should be on the chopping block.  It brings about misery for most of the human race.

Free Market Myth (by Dean Baker)
In the context of a too-big-to-fail principle, the removal of restrictions on leverage (investment banks were allowed to leverage their capital at a ratio of forty-to-one compared to just ten-to-one for commercial banks) and the relaxation of other prudential regulation (the nominal value of credit default swaps, a new class of derivative instruments, grew to more than $70 trillion in a nearly unregulated market) essentially gave the banks a license to wager with taxpayers’ money. Banks did exactly what economic theory predicts. They took huge risks, leveraging themselves to the hilt with questionable assets, knowing that they would gain as long as the housing bubble held up. And the banks did so with willing accomplices among pension funds, hedge funds, and other investors because these investors knew that the government would rescue them if things went badly.

Deregulation can be a principled position held by true believers in a free market. But Wall Streeters all wanted one-sided regulation that provided them with an enormous government security blanket without any costs or conditions.
That’s exactly what happened with the savings and loans in the 80s.  How many times to we have to learn this lesson?

Pence Challenges Americans To ‘Check’ His Facts: Guess What? He’s Got Them Wrong (Think Progress)
Appearing on CSPAN’s Washington Journal [Tuesday] morning, Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), the third ranking Republican in the House, repeatedly claimed that the solution to the economic crisis was to “do what Ronald Reagan did” and implement “across-the-board permanent marginal tax reductions.” Towards the end of his interview, however, a caller challenged Pence’s idea, saying that deficits exploded under Reagan, forcing the first President Bush to raise taxes. Pence replied that the caller was right that Reagan “saw deficits and the national debt grow,” but claimed it was the fault of spending in Congress because Reagan’s tax cuts “resulted in more than a doubling of the revenues.” Pence then asked viewers to “check me on this”.
Click through to watch the video.  Krugman gave us the real story in 2004.

The Risks in Obama’s Ambitions (by Michael Gerson, a conservative)
[P]redominantly publicly run health care is an ideological red line for Republicans. In other instances where the middle class has become dependent on government for its health care — witness Britain — the conservative case for individual responsibility and limited government has been fundamentally undermined. People hold tightly to the security of their benefits even when treated by a health system with surly incompetence. Not even the most compassionate conservative is going to accept government control of 16 percent of the economy… [T]he deepest values of American conservatism will be at stake.
The “deepest values of American conservatism”, imposed on us by a 40-plus-year, billion-dollar propaganda campaign from a few wealthy right-wing families, have given us a completely upside down world.  It’s time that those “values” be put at stake (put to the stake?), and examined, rather than being blindly followed.

Watching Death Day and Night So Close By. . . (by Steve Clemons at the Washington Note)
I agree with Zbigniew Brzezinski that the worsening tragedy in Gaza is part of the blur we have been seeing for some time. I put a lot of the blame on Labor Party Leader and Defense Minister Ehud Barak who has been itching to manage a war. But as Brzezinski said, the Israelis and Palestinians have proven unable to rise to a level of strategic, forward-looking maturity to solve this problem and others now need to stabilize the situation, engage in a credible peace negotiation process that involves the other major Arab stakeholders, the US and Europe. Having the Saudis, Jordanians, Egyptians, Americans, and Europeans impose a solution can’t be worse than what we are seeing today.

Who is Black America’s Moral Emissary to the World? (by Glen Ford at the Black Agenda Report)
The global reputation of Black America has suffered greatly under George Bush, who deployed Black faces as fronts for his vicious brand of U.S. imperialism. Barack Obama’s silence on the Israeli assault on Gaza suggests that his honeymoon with the planet won’t last long. So who is to represent the progressive values of African Americans on the world stage? “Thanks to Cynthia McKinney, millions of Arabs have been made aware of a different Black America, one that is not silent, like Barack Obama, in the face of a purposely inflicted human rights catastrophe.”
He finally spoke.  Says he’ll speak later.  See below.

Obama breaks silence on Gaza, voices concern (Reuters)
U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, breaking his silence about the Gaza war, expressed deep concern on Tuesday about civilian deaths in Gaza and in Israel and vowed to push for Middle East peace when he takes power. Speaking after Israeli tank shells killed at least 40 Palestinians at a U.N. school where civilians had taken shelter, Obama said “the loss of civilian life in Gaza and in Israel is a source of deep concern for me…. After January 20 I’m going to have plenty to say about the issue… [W]e are going to be engaged effectively and consistently in trying to resolve the conflict in the Middle East,” he said. “That’s something I am committed to.”

Obama’s Suprising but Good Pick for Langley (by David Ignatius)
WASHINGTON — On its face, it’s a puzzling choice: Barack Obama selects as his spy chief a former congressman with no first-hand experience as an intelligence professional. Is Obama dissing the CIA? Is he further politicizing this badly bruised agency? What signal is he sending by picking Leon Panetta as CIA director? Here’s the message, according to Obama’s advisers: Panetta is a Washington heavyweight with the political clout to protect the agency and help it to rebuild after a traumatic eight years under George Bush, when it became a kind of national pin cushion. “Leon is not going to preside over the demise of the CIA,” explains one member of the Obama transition team. “The CIA needs to have someone who can represent them well.”
I really hate to agree with a beltway blowhard like Ignatius, but my first thought when I heard about the Panetta selection was that Panetta’s job will be to clean the place up.

Panetta? Ummmmm… Well….. (The Dreyfuss Report, The Nation)
Panetta is a relentless centrist and a conciliator. He’s one more cog in the center-right national security apparatus that Obama is patiently assembling. Which raises another very important issue: Is Panetta the one to stand up and fight for civilian control of the intelligence community? Of course not… In the meantime, by appointing Blair, a man deeply entangled in the military-industrial complex, Obama is guaranteeing that the CIA and the other fifteen or so agencies that comprise the “community” will be ever beholden to the Pentagon, which already absorbs something like 80 percent of the intelligence budget.

Panetta and The Experience Question (by Larry Johnson at No Quarter)
Does Leon Panetta have the personal strength to tell a President keen on pursuing a foreign fiasco to steer clear? I do not know the answer to that. If the answer is ‘no” then the legacy of Panetta at the CIA is already foretold. He will be another war story about a bad Director. If the answer is “yes” then we may be on the threshold of an era of enlightened leadership at the CIA. I hope for the sake of our country that it is the latter and not the former. I am certain of this–Leon Panetta has enough experience in Washington to know what will destroy you and what is truly lasting. I believe he is smart enough to seek the latter…

Biden: It was ‘just a mistake’ that Feinstein wasn’t consulted about Panetta (On Politics, USA Today)
When she heard [Monday] that President-elect Barack Obama has reportedly chosen Clinton-era White House chief of staff Leon Panetta to be CIA director, Sen. Dianne Feinstein did not appear pleased. She said she hadn’t been consulted… Vice President-elect Joe Biden told reporters on Capitol Hill that [not] notifying Feinstein or other senators who oversee the intelligence agencies was “just a mistake.”

TV’s Gupta Is Obama’s Pick for Surgeon General (Washington Post)
America’s most famous television surgeon, Sanjay Gupta, is poised to take his black bag and microphone to the White House as President-elect Barack Obama’s choice for U.S. surgeon general.

The trouble with Sanjay Gupta (by Paul Krugman)
I don’t have a problem with Gupta’s qualifications. But I do remember his mugging of Michael Moore over Sicko. You don’t have to like Moore or his film; but Gupta specifically claimed that Moore “fudged his facts”, when the truth was that on every one of the allegedly fudged facts, Moore was actually right and CNN was wrong.

What bothered me about the incident was that it was what Digby would call Village behavior: Moore is an outsider, he’s uncouth, so he gets smeared as unreliable even though he actually got it right. It’s sort of a minor-league version of the way people who pointed out in real time that Bush was misleading us into war are to this day considered less “serious” than people who waited until it was fashionable to reach that conclusion. And appointing Gupta now, although it’s a small thing, is just another example of the lack of accountability that always seems to be the rule when you get things wrong in a socially acceptable way.
Susie has links to the Gupta review of Sicko and of Michael Moore’s combative response.  I like Gupta, and I think he’ll be a good educator on health issues.  Let’s hope that he learned from the confrontation with Michael Moore not to rely on right-wing think tanks for data.

Obama Considers Parsons for Commerce (Political Wire)
Former Time Warner Chairman and CEO Richard Parsons is under consideration as possible secretary of Commerce, Time reports. Parsons is a Republican, a former White House aide to President Ford and former CEO of Dime Bank.

Sebelius Still Not Coming to Washington (Political Wire)
Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) “put to rest any talk that she’s interested in the Secretary of Commerce job now that Bill Richardson’s out,” the Kansas City Star reports. When asked, Sebelius said, “No, no.” Last month, she announced she was staying in Kansas to deal with the state’s budget problems.

Obama picks RIAA’s favorite lawyer for a top Justice post (CNET News)
As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama won applause from legal adversaries of the recording industry. Stanford law professor Larry Lessig, the doyen of the “free culture” movement, endorsed the Illinois senator, as did Google CEO Eric Schmidt and even the Pirate Party. That was then. As president-elect, one of Obama’s first tech-related decisions has been to select the Recording Industry Association of America’s favorite lawyer to be the third in command at the Justice Department. And Obama’s pick as deputy attorney general, the second most senior position, is the lawyer who oversaw the defense of the Copyright Term Extension Act–the same law that Lessig and his allies unsuccessfully sued to overturn.

Key Senate Republican Ups the Rhetoric, Questions “Character” of Obama’s AG-Nominee (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
The ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Penn., this afternoon raised the level of his rhetoric in questioning the “character” of President-elect Obama’s nominee to be Attorney General, Eric Holder… Raising “the issue of character,” Specter said “sometimes it is more important for the attorney general to have the stature and the courage to say ‘no’ instead of to say ‘yes.’”
The Republicans never, EVER questioned Alberto Gonzales’ refusal to say no to George Bush and Karl Rove.  Not once.

Boosters of Incumbent NASA Head May Be Doing Him No Favors (CQ Politics)
Public lobbying by boosters of NASA chief Michael Griffin, who has indicated that he would like to keep his job, may end up backfiring as the new administration considers who should head the agency.

Senate rules chief: We should seat Burris (AP)
The chairman of the Senate Rules Committee has parted with many of her Democratic colleagues and says that the Senate should seat former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California said Tuesday that Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, however tainted by corruption charges, has the right to appoint someone to President-elect Barack Obama’s former seat.
So maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to snub Feinstein when selecting the CIA chief.

Obama refuses to take stand on seating Burris (AP)
WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama has declined to support giving his vacated Senate seat to former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris.

Senate leaders move toward seating Burris (AP)
WASHINGTON – In an abrupt reversal, Senate Democratic leaders are sitting down with Roland Burris in the Capitol amid new indications that he’s likely to be seated as the new senator from Illinois.

Reid Calls on Coleman to Concede (Political Wire)
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said that while Democrats will not seek to seat Al Franken (D) today, Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) should concede the election, The Hill reports. Said Reid: “This is a difficult time for former Sen. Coleman and his family, and he is entitled to the opportunity to concede this election graciously. But we cannot let this drag on forever.”

End to Minn. Senate race pushed even further out (AP)
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Minnesota’s grueling U.S. Senate race, already dragging on two months past Election Day, has now moved even further from the voters — and into the hands of lawyers.

Cuomo Aide Is Said to Try to Slow Kennedy Bid (by Nicholas Confessore, New York Times)
A top aide for Andrew M. Cuomo urged labor leaders and upstate officials to refrain from embracing Caroline Kennedy for New York’s Senate seat.

Poll: Kennedy could put Senate seat at risk (Politico)
A newly-released poll could give Gov. David Paterson serious reservations in appointing Caroline Kennedy to Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat. The poll, conducted by Public Policy Polling, suggests that Republicans would have a credible chance to win the New York Senate seat if Kennedy is appointed. Kennedy leads Republican congressman Peter King by only two points, 46 to 44 percent, in a hypothetical matchup. Kennedy loses one quarter of the Democratic vote and trails King by 15 points among independents. Only 44 percent of New York voters view her favorably, while 40 percent view her unfavorably.

Obama boosts DCCC with extra funds (Politico)
House Democrats are getting a bailout from the party’s favorite ATM: President-elect Barack Obama.

Pelosi’s power move leaves House Republicans fuming (The Hill)
House Democrats are poised to approve new rules that will significantly increase their authority while taking the bullets out of the few legislative weapons Republicans have in the lower chamber. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has approved the changes from the last Congress, when House GOP members frustrated their Democratic counterparts by winning over two dozen amendment battles on the floor… Republican leaders intend to fight the rules changes, which would curtail their ability to delay legislation by forcing Democrats to take politically difficult votes. “This is not the kind of openness and transparency that President-elect Obama promised,” the GOP leaders wrote Monday in a letter to Pelosi… Opposition tactics could include offering motions to adjourn and walking out of the House chamber.

Schumer’s Strategy (Political Wire)
Joshua Green has a fascinating profile of Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) who “helped drive the Democrats’ recent rise to power with what he says is a critical insight about the American middle class — that it is more affluent, and wants different things from an activist government, than most policy makers think.” Schumer believes that if the Obama administration and new Congress “can strengthen the bond between government and the middle class as he defines it… this new Democratic era could last for a generation or longer.”
How elitist do they have to get before the rest of us get concerned?

Ill. impeachment panel may end without FBI tapes (AP)
CHICAGO – Members of Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s impeachment panel say they will move forward despite the possibility that they might not get to hear federal wiretaps of the governor’s conversations with aides and others. “These tapes are relevant evidence, we’d like to have them,” David Ellis, a lawyer for the impeachment panel, said Monday. But he said the panel could wrap up its work as early as this week and “we have already gathered a large volume of evidence.”

Pelosi: Pass stimulus by mid-February (AP)
WASHINGTON – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pressed top congressional Democrats on Wednesday to pass a massive economic recovery bill by mid-February, a call tempered by new projections of unprecedented deficits ahead.

Obama bans earmarks from economic package (AP)
WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama vowed Tuesday to bar lawmakers’ pet projects from his massive economic stimulus plan and to bring unprecedented accountability to federal spending. Even as he promised to fight waste and to make tough budgetary decisions, however, Obama warned that the nation could face trillion-dollar deficits for years to come.

How Kosher is Obama’s ‘Ban’ on Pork? (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
“We are going to ban all earmarks,” President-elect Obama pledged [Tuesday] after a meeting with his economic team, discussing the multibillion dollar stimulus package. Mr. Obama made the promise carefully — his definition of earmarks was “the process by which individual members insert pet projects without review.” One reporter asked the President-elect about this, noting, “you said there will be none that get in there without review. Some people would argue even the so-called ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ got … some level of review.”… But President-elect Obama’s response was to offer his definition of earmarks once more.

Obama pledges to take on entitlement spending (AP)
WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama said Wednesday that reforming massive government entitlement programs — such as Social Security and Medicare — would be “a central part” of his effort to control federal spending. Obama made the pledge but provided few details as he named Nancy Killefer as his administration’s chief performance officer, creating a new White House position aimed at eliminating government waste and improving efficiency.
“Take on entitlement spending” is not something I like to hear from a Democratic elected official.

Why Wait to Raise Top Tax Rates? (by Lane Kenworthy at Consider the Evidence, thanks to Economist’s View)
Public sentiment surely is not an obstacle to increasing the top rate right away. And economic considerations favor doing so. It’s unlikely to delay economic recovery by reducing consumer spending, since most of those affected will still have sufficient income to be able to spend as much as they desire… My guess is that political considerations have won out. The calculation must be that this compromise will improve the odds of Obama’s stimulus package getting through Congress quickly… Yet it seems to me it would have been more useful to hold onto the timing of the top-end tax rate increase as something to compromise on if necessary, rather than give it up at the outset.
Obama’s track record is as a true Village Democrat, giving away potential advantages, rather than negotiating for them.  When we constituents finally convinced him to agree to a filibuster of the Samuel Alito appointment to the Supreme Court, for example, he admitted to the media the weekend before the vote that there weren’t enough votes to sustain a filibuster.  Democrats consistently give away the store and then wonder why the shelves are bare.

Reflections on Obama’s “Non-Ideological Pragmatism” (by Paul Street at the Black Agenda Report)
The corporate media work hard to frame pro-business policies as the “practical” and “pragmatic” work of “centrist” and “non-partisan” politicians who can “get the job done.” The clear implication is that progressives have their heads in the clouds, and are incapable of “getting things done.” Of course, “Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin certainly ‘got things done.’ So did Richard Nixon and George W. Bush and so on.” That doesn’t make them the good guys. Barack Obama and his handlers stress that he is “non-ideological” – which really translates to non-threatening to entrenched interests.

Health Care Spending in U.S. Grew at Lowest Rate in a Decade 
But consumers are still paying more for out-of-pocket expenses, reports say.

Who Will Be at the Table? (by Trudy Lieberman, Columbia Journalism Review)
How is a poor soul in Congress to know which of these “grassroots ambassadors” [on health care] have been coached by advocacy groups, and which are honest-to-goodness representatives of the public? How are reporters to know before they interview them for their stories? A member of Congress may throw up his or her hands and listen to the group that gave the most money. Reporters can’t do that. Their work requires some hard digging before they pass along quotes from fake agents of the grassroots.

The Post’s Jihad Against Social Security Continues (by Dean Baker)
Another day, it’s another front page article in the Washington Post about the budget deficit. The Post has apparently not not heard about the economic downturn that has the rest of the country concerned. The article includes a comment about “the looming challenge of skyrocketing Medicare and Social Security spending. ” Of course Social Security spending is not projected to skyrocket. It is projected to increase gradually, and its costs are fully covered by its own tax stream until 2048, according to the Congressional Budget Office’s latest projections. The cause of skyrocketing Medicare care costs are the sharp projected rise in health care costs, but the Post doesn’t want to talk about health care reform.

Obama hails ‘extraordinary gathering’ (AP)
WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama hailed a rare Oval Office gathering of all U.S. presidents as extraordinary on Wednesday, while President George W. Bush wished him well and pledged that the office “transcends the individual.”

Bush Rewards Iraq War Loyalists Blair, Howard, And Uribe With His Departing Medals Of Freedom (Think Progress)
[Monday], White House Press Secretary announced that “President Bush will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, and former Prime Ministers Tony Blair of the United Kingdom and John Howard of Australia.” Perino noted that the three leaders have been strong allies of Bush foreign policy.
Click through to watch the video.

Bush laments pushing for Social Security reform two days after citing it as his biggest accomplishment. (Think Progress)
[Monday] the Weekly Standard’s Fred Barnes reported that during a private meeting with President Bush last Friday, Bush cited his failed push to privatize Social Security as his biggest domestic policy achievement. However, yesterday in an interview with conservative columnist Cal Thomas, Bush seemed to change his mind, saying he wished he had focused on immigration reform instead of Social Security.

Laura Bush unveils George W. Bush state china (AP)
WASHINGTON – First lady Laura Bush showed off a new gold-rimmed set of official George W. Bush state china on Wednesday, with less than two weeks to use it before the family packs up for Texas.
And once it’s packed up, it will never again see the light of day.

Bush Will Not Run for Senate (Political Wire)
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) said he won’t run for the U.S. Senate in 2010 to replace the retiring Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL), the AP reports. “Bush said ‘now is not the right time to return to elected office.’”

Alaska troopers union drops complaint over drug case (McClatchy)
The union representing Alaska state troopers has backed off allegations that a drug investigation of Sherry Johnston was slowed down last fall to shield the national candidacy of Gov. Sarah Palin.

Media Matters for America headlines

• Ignoring his own reported standard for hosting Coulter, NBC’s Lauer interviews Coulter on Today

• On Hardball, Buchanan said Reid doesn’t want Burris seated “[b]ecause he’s an African-American”

• CNN’s Lou Dobbs Tonight baselessly included Franken in segment on “Dems behaving badly”

• Coulter claimed a reportedly “fairly typical” vote shift proves MN Senate election is being “openly stolen”

• After penning book blasting “the way liberals use victimhood,” Coulter portrayed herself as victim of an NBC “setup”

• Dick Morris claimed Franken is “stealing [the election] right in front of our eyes,” echoed WSJ’s claims of disputed ballots being counted twice

• Dobbs again questioned human-caused global warming, suggested sun may be more responsible

• Savage on Obama choice for CIA director: “[M]aybe Bill Ayers picked Leon Panetta”

• Dobbs on NM investigation: “Maybe [Richardson] messed with Senator Hillary Clinton one time too many”

• The Hill asserted some “surprise[d]” “liberals” did not resist Obama’s “sudden turn to tax cuts,” ignored his campaign pledge to cut taxes

• On Hannity & Colmes, Coulter continues attack on single motherhood, calling it “a recipe to create criminals, strippers, rapists, murderers”

• ABC World News report claimed “[q]uestions … raised” about Clinton’s support for NY project, but ignored relevant answers

• CBS’ Smith: Coulter “says that I am certifiably insane. Perhaps I am, for having her on the program this morning”

Azerbaijan Bars Foreigners From Use of Its FM Band
The move to enforce a law that bans foreign companies from broadcasting in the country effectively bans Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Voice of America and the BBC.

Internet portals targeted by Chinese crackdown apologise
SHANGHAI (AFP) – Google and other major Internet sites apologised on Wednesday after the Chinese government accused them of failing to police links on their web pages that could lead to pornographic material.

Useful Firefox Add-ons for Journalists, Part 1 (by Amy Gahran at Poynter Online)
One of the main reasons I love the Firefox Web browser (available for Mac, Linux, and Windows) is because you can customize it with useful add-on extensions. This allows one program to serve many unique needs. Some Firefox extensions, I’ve found, are particularly useful for journalists and other media professionals. This week I’m going to cover a few Firefox plugins I use daily.

Readership Climbs, But is it the Answer? 
The fall FAS-FAX revealed a continued focus on “quality” and “total audience,” while the Audit Bureau of Circulations continues to modify its rules. Will ABC’s Audience-FAX help newspapers tout their readership stats, to draw out more advertisers?

Pruitt: McClatchy has not closed its DC bureau
Nat Hentoff said on NPR’s “Weekend Edition Saturday” that he was stunned to hear that McClatchy had closed its Washington bureau. “Of course, this comment is completely untrue,” McClatchy CEO Gary Pruitt writes in a staff memo. “We are all likely to see and hear more rumors, misinformation, misstatements, etc. about McClatchy. We will do our best to correct what we can. We would also like to ask your help in checking with us when these situations arise before becoming concerned or assuming this kind of information is accurate.”

Aspen Times editor: We proved our relevance during the bomb threat saga
“Without the local news media in an event like this, information would be hard to come by for everyone,” says Aspen Times editor Bob Ward. “It’s nice to have something prove our relevance when times are tough. Local newspapers have an important place, thank God.”

Buyer Saves Two Connecticut Dailies
Ten days from extinction, Edward Gunderson, publisher of the Bristol Press in Connecticut announced Tuesday that Michael E. Schroeder, owner of Central Connecticut Communications, has entered into a letter of intent to buy the daily along with The Herald of New Britain.

Digital boom helps British music sales hit record
LONDON (AFP) – British music sales are booming as young fans increasingly buy songs online rather than illegally downloading them, the country’s industry body said Wednesday.

Apple Reveals New iTunes Pricing Structure (Mashable)
Apple has confirmed the rumors that iTunes will be moving to a variable pricing structure. Top tracks will carry a $1.29 price point, while other, less popular songs will be available at $0.99 and $0.69. Along with the new price points, all tracks on iTunes will be DRM-free by April. So who are these changes good for? For one, the record labels, which stand to make more money on releases from expensive, top 40-type artists. Meanwhile, as I wrote last night, the drop in prices is good for consumers whose musical tastes fall more into the long tail of iTunes’ huge music catalog. But, for the millions of people who fuel downloads of iTunes’ most popular tracks, this change marks a 30% price increase, which, adds up to a lot of money on an annual basis.

Sell-down part CBS’ web strategy.
CEO Les Moonves says the internet is where more CBS content will be in the future. And as the company trims its local radio station holdings, Moonves says “conversations are ongoing” but the credit crunch continues to make it difficult for buyers to secure financing.

Worries about Main Street advertisers.
National advertisers have been radio’s Achilles Heel for more than a year. But facing a tough year ahead, some local spenders may close their wallets. Wachovia analyst Marci Ryvicker says a “fear of depression” has caused them to stop spending. She believes local ad revenues could be down 13% this year.

Time Warner and CBS Avert Programming Dispute
Time Warner Cable extended a deal to carry CBS television stations, CBS said, avoiding what could have been another heated industry dispute.

Doctors Will Make Web Calls in Hawaii
Doctors will be able to make face-to-face Web calls on patients in Hawaii starting Jan. 15.

Report: LiveJournal on Life Support (Mashable)
LiveJournal, one of the longest-running online communities, is apparently being hit harder by the recession than most. The company has reportedly laid off 20 of 28 employees, “leaving only a handful of finance and operations workers.”… While LiveJournal execs are apparently blaming the slowdown in the economy and ad spending, stats point to an overall decline in interest in the medium. Both LiveJournal and competitor Xanga have seen their traffic decline over the past two years, as social networks like Facebook and MySpace have come to dominate the demographics that the blogging sites target.

Snap, Map, Chat And Hyperlink?
European researchers working in the MOBVIS project have successfully developed a system that can attach hyperlinks to real-world urban features. Users simply take a picture of a streetscape with their mobile phone and the MOBVIS system will do the rest. It will accurately identify the features, such as buildings, monuments or even street furniture. It will then render relevant information by applying an icon, within the picture on your phone, to the feature. Simply click on the icon to get the information directly. MOBVIS can even identify logos and banners.

WebEx on iPhone: Attend Meetings from the Golf Course (Mashable)
Web meetings. Love them or hate them they’re pretty much ubiquitous these days. You may even been ready to head out for an early weekend, when you receive the dreaded email with subject line, “mandatory WebEx meeting.” What a buzz kill, right? Well now with Cisco WebEx Meeting Center, you can pop out early and still pop into your web-based meeting, making your boss or client feel like your first priority when you’re actually out on the golf course.

Augmented Reality Devices: See the Online World While Walking the Real One (Mashable)
[I]magine beginning able to walk around with a pair of sunglasses on that allow you to see the physical world with virtual context. If the sunglasses you’re wearing are AR (Augmented Reality) enabled, your view of the world could be filled with context from sites like Wikipedia, Facebook, and Google Maps. Say, for instance, you’re walking through the Las Vegas Convention Center at CES – your AR enabled device could provide an overlay of Facebook data, including names and recent status updates, right next to the faces within your view.

That sounds pretty far fetched, but we’re not that far off from such a world. Take, for example, the announcement by Vuzix of their new Wrap 920AV pair of sunglasses with both Virtual Reality and AR capabilities. The device comes with a 60 inch virtual screen, the ability to view 2D or 3D video formats, has 6 hours of battery life, and is compatible with mobile devices (including the iPhone), digital cameras, DVD players, game consoles, and PCs.

Billions at stake as China issues 3G licences
SHANGHAI (AFP) – China issued long-awaited third-generation mobile phone licences Wednesday, a move that will pour billions of dollars into new networks as consumers buy video- and Internet-enabled handsets.