Image Bite Politics (Political Wire)
Just published: Image Bite Politics: News and the Visual Framing of Elections by Maria Elizabeth Grabe and Erik Page Bucy. The book is the first “to systematically assess the visual presentation of presidential candidates in network news coverage of elections and to connect these visual images with shifts in public opinion.” An interesting finding: “Republicans receive consistently more favorable visual treatment than Democrats, countering the conventional wisdom of a ‘liberal media bias’; and image bites are more prevalent, and in some elections more potent, in shaping voter opinions of candidates than sound bites.”
There’s a formerly progressive website that did wonderful analyses of images in the political media.  Its owner, unfortunately, began to wallow in Clinton Derangement Syndrome and Obama Adoration Syndrome and can no longer be trusted.

European markets mostly rise on expected US uptick (AP)
Europe’s stock markets mostly recovered their earlier losses Tuesday — with the notable exception of Britain’s FTSE 100 index — as U.S. futures pointed to a firmer opening on Wall Streetfollowing Monday’s severe losses.

Wall Street fluctuates a day after massive drop (AP)
Investors ended an early rally and began selling on Wall Street Tuesday as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress an economic recovery depends on the government’s ability to stabilize weak financial markets.

Irrational after all (by Paul Krugman)
Floyd Norris, beating me to the punch, points out that the S&P 500 is below its level when Alan Greenspan gave his irrational exuberance speech. But it’s actually worse than that, since we’ve had a fair bit of inflation since then. In real terms, stocks are down about a quarter.

Bullish Obama Suggests Nation Should Buy! Buy! (Political Punch, ABC News)
President Obama told Americans to take a look at investing in the stock market this afternoon, a remarkable utterance for an American president, especially as the Dow Jones Industrial Average proceeds on its course Southward.

Right Wing Claims Stock Market Declined Because Obama Was Nominated For President (Think Progress)
Since the presidential election last November, the right wing has seized nearly every opportunity to link any sharp decline in the stock market (without any basis in fact) to Barack Obama. Yesterday, losses on Wall Street forced the Dow Jones industrial average to close “below 7,000 for the first time since 1997” and like clockwork, the right (and some on Wall Street) jumped to blame Obama. The Wall Street Journal claimed today that “Obama’s policies have become part of the economy’s problem.” Laura Ingraham said today that Obama’s policies “are not giving us the confidence we need to get back into the market.” Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity touted the line as well, but added that the market’s problems started when Obama was nominated to be the Democratic Party’s candidate for president in the middle of last year.
Click through to watch a video compilation.  Anybody who didn’t expect this kind of trash talk doesn’t know Republicans.

Global recession is fault of US, Brown to tell Congress (The Guardian, U.K.)
[U.K. Prime Minister] Gordon Brown will reject the calls of cabinet colleagues to accept responsibility for the economic crisis when he makes a landmark speech to the US Congress tomorrow… Brown is in no mood to admit that the British government bears any responsibility for the crisis, insisting it is a banking failure caused by lack of regulation in the US and the rise of sub-prime mortgages… Brown insists this is not a typical recession caused by a government allowing inflation to rear out of control, and is instead the product of the failure of an international regulatory system to stay abreast of globalisation.
There have to be international laws to regulate international banking and international business.  And to root out international hiding of profits and stolen money.

Swiss justice minister meets US officials on UBS (AP)
Switzerland’s justice minister expressed frustration Monday after meeting with U.S. officials about allegations that Switzerland’s biggest bank helped Americans evade taxes,
And Swiss banks are among those who have to be regulated.

Lawmakers take first whack at Obama budget plan (AP)
President Barack Obama is sending his Treasury secretary and budget director to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to defend his proposed tax increases, which are being met with misgivings by both Republicans and Democrats in Congress

Texas lawmakers rip budget, but seek millions (Houston Chronicle)
Rep. Ron Paul vehemently denounced the $410 billion catch-all spending bill approved last week by the House of Representatives. But although the libertarian-leaning Republican from Lake Jackson cast a vote against the massive spending measure, his fingerprints were on some of the earmarks that helped inflate its cost. Paul played a role in obtaining 22 earmarks worth $96.1 million

More on earmarks: Obama’s chief of staff has some in bill (McClatchy)
Even though President Barack Obama has repeatedly pledged to ban congressional earmarks, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has 16 such projects, worth about $8.5 million, in the bill the Senate is scheduled to begin debating Tuesday.

Republicans Concede Budget Too Hard to Block (Political Wire)
Democrats “are expected to begin moving the budget through Congress this month with hopes of winning approval by early April. Congressional Republicans say it’s unlikely that they would be able to block the budget because they don’t have enough votes,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
But they’ll fight like the very devil, anyway.  It’s what separates Republicans from Democrats.  They fight, Democrats cave.

Quiet Revolt Could Slow Democrats (Political Wire)
CQ Politics reports there is “a quiet revolt” among vulnerable House Democrats “that could slow some of President Obama’s fast-moving priorities.” Key to watch: The 49 House Democrats from districts that backed Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) 2008 presidential race and whose support for the Democratic majority’s progressive agenda is increasingly not assured.
I TOLD you we didn’t want those people in the Democratic party.

Latest Stimulus Lie: Harry Reid ‘Is Committed To’ A ‘Red Light Express’ To Nevada Brothel (Think Progress)
In the days and weeks since President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, conservatives have distorted its provisions in a desperate attempt to mislead the public about what the package will do… Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) took the lies to a new level [Monday] when he — with the help of an enthusiastic Fox News’s Megyn Kelly — declared that the 2009 omnibus bill included funding for a train traveling straight from “Disney” to Nevada’s most famous brothel, the Moonlight Bunny Ranch:

Obama says $155m in health funding means jobs, too (Boston Globe)
President Obama announced yesterday the latest dividend from the $787 billion economic stimulus package he championed: the release of $155 million for 126 new health centers, enough, he said, to provide basic care to 750,000 Americans and to create 5,500 jobs. “These health centers will expand access to care by helping people in need, many with no health insurance, obtain access to comprehensive primary and preventive healthcare services,” Obama said. “That helps relieve the burden on emergency rooms across the country, which have become primary care clinics for too many who lack coverage, often at taxpayer expense.

Survey: Health care cost keeps the doctor away (AP)
One in four Americans said in a survey that someone in the family put off needed health care in the past year because of cost, including 16 percent who postponed surgery or a doctor’s visit for chronic illness.

Howard Dean: Real Health Reform ‘Rises And Falls On Whether The Public Is Allowed To Choose Medicare’ (Wonk Room, Think Progress)
[Last week], during an appearance on MSNBC’s Hardball, former Gov. Howard Dean (D-VT) said that a public insurance option is essential to any health reform effort: “If Barack Obama’s bill gets changed to exclude the public entities, it is not health insurance reform…it rises and falls on whether the public is allowed to choose Medicare if they’re under 65 or not. If they are allowed to choose Medicare as an option, this bill will be real health care reform. If they’re not, we will be back fighting about it for another 20 years before somebody tries again.”
Click through to watch the video.

Medicare Advantage was Neither (by Marie Cocco)
Good riddance to Medicare Advantage disadvantage. President Barack Obama’s bid to reduce the taxpayer-funded slush fund that flows to the managed-care insurance industry through Medicare is an emphatic, if overdue, effort to turn Washington around. So be ready for insurance-industry propaganda masquerading as concern for the elderly — and know that the facts belie the industry’s fantasies… Remember when HMOs were the next big thing in health care? Managed care was offered as an antidote to the Clinton administration’s attempt at broad health care overhaul. It was to be a magic elixir that cured just about everything that ailed the health care industry…

What happened on the way to this utopia? The insurance industry figured out pretty quickly that it was easy to make a buck by managing price, not care… The greatest lesson of Medicare managed care isn’t that we shouldn’t manage care. It’s that the management must be done for public benefit, not private gain.

Group launches health care offensive (Politico)
Conservatives for Patients Rights is going on TV, radio and the Web in the same week President Barack Obama hosts a health care summit at the White House. The group’s leader, Richard Scott, is hoping a pro-free-market message will rally the right to join the fray on what may be the most hard-fought policy battle in the first year of the new administration.  “If we have more government involvement we’re going to have dramatically worse health care,” said Scott, the wealthy health care executive who is overseeing the effort and seeding it with $5 million of his own cash.
The wealthy health care executive who wants to continue to make exorbitant profits by turning people down for care.  Oh, yeah, we should listen to him.

Study: Universal Healthcare Cheaper Than Bailouts (by Susie at Suburban Guerrilla)
I mean, we already know this, but it’s nice to keep it out in the public eye: “The biggest obstacle to an enhanced national health care system wouldn’t be money, a study conducted by the Institute for Health and Socio-economic Policy found. The transformation of America’s current health care system into a single-payer ‘Medicare for all’ system could cost six times less than the bank bailouts.”

Tax deduction change latest Obama proposal Beck claims “involves enslaving people” (video at County Fair, Media Matters for America)

Duke Energy boss say Obama’s plan will drive up rates (McClatchy)
Duke Energy says Carolinas electricity rates would rise by at least 13 percent under President Obama’s plan to address climate change by auctioning off carbon credits.
Is Duke Energy proposing any ways to keep rates down?  I thought not.

Panel: Raise gas tax, charge drivers by the mile (AP)
Raise federal gasoline taxes to help pay for road projects?
As long as the money is kept in a lockbox, so that pork pigs can’t get their grubby hands on it for other purposes.  And as long as some of the money goes to public transportation.

Pickens remains optimistic about wind energy plan (McClatchy)
Texas oilman turned energy sage Boone Pickens says that he’s received a pretty good hearing from Republicans and Democrats as he pitches his plan to decrease oil imports by using more natural gas but that he has a problem with the Obama administration’s proposed budget, which would slash tax incentives for the U.S. petroleum industry.
Slash ‘em.  No more “incentives” for the rapacious petroleum industry.  They’ve pocketed trillions in profits during the last eight years.

Obama’s chance to lead the green recovery (by Joseph Stiglitz and Nicholas Stern)
We face two crises: a deep global financial crisis … and an even deeper climate crisis… The scale of risk from climate change is altogether of a different and greater magnitude, as are the consequences of mismanaging or ignoring it… The investments necessary to convert our society to a low-carbon economy … would drive growth over the next two or three decades. They would ensure that growth, with accompanying improvements in standards of living, was sustainable. The path that we have been on is not. The economic crisis will leave the US and other economies greatly weakened and it will be imperative to increase efficiency. One area in which there is ample room for improvement is in the energy efficiency of businesses, consumers and the government

Virginia state representative compares stimulus package to slavery. (Think Progress)
Not Larry Sabato notes that this weekend, when discussing the economic recovery package, Virginia state delegate Robert Marshall (R) compared the bill to slavery… “:That is as much a chain of slavery around our children. … It is as much a chain as ankle bracelets were as to African-Americans in the 1860s in this state. It’s just invisible. But it is a chain of death that we’re not going to escape.”
Click through to watch the video.

Fed launches new $200B consumer credit program (AP)
The Federal Reserve on Tuesday rolled out a much-awaited program aimed at boosting the availability of credit to consumers and small businesses. The Fed will lend up to $200 billion to spur consumer lending — for autos, education, credit cards and other consumer debt. The money will be used to provide financing to investors to buy up the debt. The bold program, dubbed the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, was first announced late last year and originally scheduled to start in February. Participants — companies and investors that pledge eligible collateral to back the loan — must request the new government loans by March 17. The Fed will provide the three-year loans on March 25.

Treasury provides $394.9M from bailout to 28 banks (AP)
The Treasury Department has provided $394.9 million to 28 banks in new payments from the government’s $700 billion financial rescue fund.

Bernanke Says U.S. May Need to Expand Bank Rescue (Bloomberg)
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said policy makers may need to expand aid to the banking system beyond the $700 billion already approved and take other aggressive measures even at the cost of soaring fiscal deficits. “Without a reasonable degree of financial stability, a sustainable recovery will not occur,” the Fed chairman said today in testimony prepared for the Senate Budget Committee. “Although progress has been made on the financial front since last fall, more needs to be done.”

The Political-Economy of Financial Adjustment – or Ridding Ourselves of the Zombies (by Arindrajit Dube, thanks to Economist’s View)
Fundamentally, parts of the banking sector are in dire need of re-valuation and liquidation – at least the liquidation of some parties. Almost everyone on the left and right agrees that the zombie banks’ balance sheets are both unsustainable and opaque, that recovery will necessitate bringing the toxic assets out in the daylight, and that eventually this will mean that some people will have to take losses.

Zombie financial ideas (by Paul Krugman)
Every plan we’ve heard from Treasury amounts to the same thing — an attempt to socialize the losses while privatizing the gains. We’re going to buy up all the bad assets at premium prices; no, we’re going to offer the banks guarantees against losses; no, we’re going to let private investors buy the stuff, but offer them de facto guarantees against losses in the form of non-recourse loans. [T]he insistence on offering the same plan over and over again, with only cosmetic changes, is itself deeply disturbing. Does Treasury not realize that all these proposals amount to the same thing? Or does it realize that, but hope that the rest of us won’t notice? That is, are they stupid, or do they think we’re stupid? I don’t know which possibility is worse.

TARP overseer joins board of firm with bank ties (AP)
Former Sen. John Sununu, a member of the government watchdog panel that oversees the financial sector rescue fund, is joining the board of managers of a firm affiliated with a bank that has received $3 billion from the fund.

Failing the test (by Paul Krugman)
It’s a depressing spectacle: on both sides of the Atlantic, policy-makers just keep falling short — and the odds that this slump really will turn into Great Depression II keep rising. In Europe, leaders rejected pleas for a comprehensive rescue plan for troubled East European economies, promising instead to provide “case-by-case” support. That means a slow dribble of funds, with no chance of reversing the downward spiral… And we have the spectacle of James Baker — James Baker! — attacking the Obama administration from the left, calling for temporary nationalization of zombie banks as part of the recapitalization process.

The sickening feeling of drift — the sense that policymakers are refusing to face hard facts, and are dithering while the world economy burns — just keeps getting stronger.

The Limits of a “3 Minute Rahm” in Obama’s Kitchen Cabinet (by Steve Clemons, The Washington Note, thanks to Lambert at Corrente)
[T]he biggest billionaires and financial wizards who support the Democratic Party and Barack Obama …  can get through to the President or at least to Rahm Emanuel any time he wants why he doesn’t make his case more clearly to the occupants of the White House. [One said], “Yes, I can get through to Rahm Emanuel any time, but I get three minutes with him, and then someone else gets their three minutes, and so on. Rahm is the three minute guy — and he’s great during those three minutes.”… [T]he frustration I’m hearing from a great number of these types of donors … is that they are not getting through where it counts. The policy options they are proposing aren’t getting into the basket of proposals that Obama is considering. In other words, some feel that Obama is not getting a full range of choices on the economy and is being provided a narrow band of views that fit the preconceived biases of Larry Summers and Tim Geithner.
Once again, we see the danger of electing a charismatic neophyte to the presidency.

SPIN METER: Oh really? That wasn’t bailout cash? (AP)
Ask a bailed-out bank about its Las Vegas retreat, its corporate jet or its evening in Beverly Hills and you’ll probably get a response like this: Oh that? That wasn’t taxpayer money.

Bank of America CEO’s salary takes a hit (McClatchy)
Bank of America Corp. chief executive Ken Lewis took home a $1.5 million salary but no bonus, restricted stock or stock options in 2008, according to a securities filing Monday.
How can he POSSIBLY live on that measly amount?

Bernie Madoff’s wife says swindled investors shouldn’t get any of her cash (New York Daily News)
Broken victims of her husband’s suspected Ponzi scheme are fighting for pennies on the dollar, but Ruth Madoff says $62 million she squirreled away is none of their business. Lawyers for accused swindler Bernie Madoff claim the money and a penthouse apartment are his wife’s, have nothing to do with any scheme and shouldn’t be subject to forfeiture, according to documents filed in Manhattan Federal Court.

Obama releases secret Bush anti-terror memos (AP)
The Obama administration threw open the curtain on years of Bush-era secrets Monday, revealing anti-terror memos that claimed exceptional search-and-seizure powers and divulging that the CIA destroyed nearly 100 videotapes of interrogations and other treatment of terror suspects. The Justice Department released nine legal opinions showing that, following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Bush administration determined that certain constitutional rights would not apply during the coming fight. Within two weeks, government lawyers were already discussing ways to wiretap U.S. conversations without warrants.

Is Obama embracing the lawless, omnipotent executive? (by Glenn Greenwald at Unclaimed Territory, Salon)
The brief filed by Obama on Friday afternoon … is literally arguing that no court has the power to order that classified documents be used in a judicial proceeding; instead, it is the President — and the President alone — who possesses that decision-making power under Article II, and no court order is binding on the President to the extent it purports to direct that such information be made available for use in a judicial proceeding…  What the President decides is final.  His decision is unreviewable.  It’s beyond the reach of the law…

In the context in which Obama is now invoking this theory, think about what it means:  if, as happened here, the President breaks the law, then he can just label the relevant evidence “classified” and refuse to turn it over to a court which is attempting to rule on the legality of the President’s actions.  Once the President decrees that a court is barred from reviewing the relevant evidence because the President claims it is “classified,” that’s the end of that… It was exactly these theories — and this behavior — that led to eight years of accusations of an “imperial presidency” and a “lawless administration” and the like. 

Obama Offered Deal to Russia in Secret Letter (New York Times)
President Obama sent a secret letter to Russia’s president last month suggesting that he would back off deploying a new missile defense system in Eastern Europe if Moscow would help stop Iran from developing long-range weapons, American officials said Monday… The officials who described the contents of the message … said [that while] it did not offer a direct quid pro quo, the letter was intended to give Moscow an incentive to join the United States in a common front against Iran. Russia’s military, diplomatic and commercial ties to Tehran give it some influence there, but it has often resisted Washington’s hard line against Iran…

Mr. Obama’s letter, sent in response to one he received from Mr. Medvedev shortly after Mr. Obama’s inauguration, is part of an effort to “press the reset button” on Russian-American relations, as Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. put it last month, officials in Washington said. Among other things, the letter discussed talks to extend a strategic arms treaty expiring this year and cooperation in opening supply routes to Afghanistan.
Russia wants an end to U.S. plans to put missiles in Europe.  It makes sense to trade the cessation of those plans, even if we were going to do it anyway, for something in return.

W.House helicopter data found on Iranian computer (Reuters)
Potentially sensitive engineering documents about the U.S. presidential helicopter were found on a computer in Iran after they were inadvertently disclosed by an American defense industry executive, according to a private cybersecurity company.

Militants’ sudden unity threatens Obama’s Afghanistan strategy (McClatchy)
A new alliance of Pakistani extremist groups — united after rival warlords vowed to renew the fight against international troops — threatens to escalate the insurgency in neighboring Afghanistan just as thousands more U.S. soldiers are to be deployed to the region.

Firms defraud government but get new US contracts (AP)
Companies that defrauded the United States and jeopardized American lives received new government work despite rulings designed to stop them from receiving federal contracts, government investigators report.

Blackwater founder steps down as CEO (AP)
Erik Prince, the founder of the beleaguered Blackwater security company, announced Monday he has stepped aside as the company’s chief executive officer.

Obama Web Team Has Difficult Transition (Political Wire)
“The team that ran the most technologically advanced presidential campaign in modern history is finding it difficult to adapt that model to government,” the Washington Post reports. “WhiteHouse.gov, envisioned as the primary vehicle for President Obama to communicate with the online masses, has been overwhelmed by challenges that staffers did not foresee and technological problems they have yet to solve. Obama, for example, would like to send out mass e-mail updates on presidential initiatives, but the White House does not have the technology in place to do so. The same goes for text messaging, another campaign staple.”

White House: We’re Cool With YouTube (Mashable)
Yesterday we wrote about White House’s decision to stop using YouTube for its video needs, most probably due to privacy concerns. However, today the New York Time reports that the White House did not give up on YouTube; they were merely “experimenting” with a new video player. As White House spokesman Nick Shapiro put it: “As the president continues his goal of making government more accessible and transparent, this week we tested a new way of presenting the president’s weekly address by using a player developed in-house. This decision is more about better understanding our internal capabilities than it is a position on third-party solutions or a policy. The weekly address was also published in third-party video hosting communities and we will likely continue to embed videos from these services on WhiteHouse.gov in the future.”

Ron Kirk is latest Cabinet pick hit by tax woes; he owes $9.975 (Dallas Morning News)
dd former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk to the list of Obama Cabinet picks with tax problems. The Senate Finance Committee says he underpaid by $9,975 in the last three years. Senate aides uncovered the shortfall during weeks of vetting, and Kirk – the administration’s designated point person on trade — has promised to pay the Internal Revenue Service in full. The problems: Kirk deducted too much for season tickets to the Dallas Mavericks and too much for tax preparation fees, and failed to report as income speaking fees that he donated to his alma mater, Austin College.

Tax Problems Delay Kirk’s Hearing (Political Wire)
For weeks, the CQ Cabinet Tracker has shown no progress on Ron Kirk’s nomination to become United States Trade Representative. A hearing was scheduled for Thursday, but Reuters now reports it’s been postponed until next week.

Anti-Abortion Activists Plan to Fight Sebelius’ Nomination for HHS (FOX News)
Kansas-based Operation Rescue says it’s going to launch a full-out campaign against Kathleen Sebelius because of her support from Dr. George Tiller, who has been indicted for allegedly performing late-term abortions on underage girls.

Dem Rep: Time To “Tear Down” Barrier Blocking Gays From Military Service (by Greg Sargent at The Plum Line)
Uh oh — this could be a bit of a test for President Obama: The office of Dem Rep. Ellen Tauscher confirms that she will introduce legislation today ending the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy — a barrier she says we need to “tear down” so that the military can be “better.”

RNC escalates battle to hold Minnesota Senate seat (On Politics, USA Today)
Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, circulated a strongly worded fundraising pitch tonight that says “we’ve got to stop liberal Democrat comedian Al Franken from stealing Norm Coleman’s U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota.” Steele asserts that a recount of the razor-close race was “tainted with inconsistencies and improperly counted ballots” and that a panel of judges is on the verge of destroying the one-man one-vote principle. “Your immediate financial support of the Coleman for Senate Recount Fund will help us stop this tragic injustice,” Steele says. “This outrageous power grab by Al Franken and Harry Reid must not stand.”

A recount reversed Coleman’s tiny lead and his subsequent lawsuit has so far slightly enlarged Franken’s lead, to 261 votes. As we noted earlier, Franken said over the weekend that he expects to be seated soon.

Franken Lawyers Predict 2-3 More Weeks (Political Wire)
“After five weeks of testimony and legal argument, Republican Norm Coleman rested his case Monday in the trial to resolve Minnesota’s long-running Senate race. Attorneys for Democrat Al Franken now have will an opportunity to present their arguments, a process they predict will take two to three more weeks,” CQ Politics reports.

Poll Shows Specter is in Trouble (Political Wire)
A new Susquehanna poll shows 53% of Pennsylvanians — and 66% of Republicans — want someone to replace Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA). Said pollster James Lee: “In a two-person race, Specter is toast.” Lee did caution that “the 2010 primary and general election are an eternity away in politics.”

Line Forms for Burris Seat (Political Wire)
With Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL) fending off calls for his resignation, the New York Times notes that “more than half a dozen names were quickly gaining steam as possible candidates in a Senate race in 2010, if not sooner… Still, for all the jockeying, rarely has a political race been so packed with peculiar uncertainties that would complicate any campaign, any fund-raising effort, any hope of a strategy at all. The muddle of moving circumstances and political turmoil that has overwhelmed this state since Mr. Blagojevich was arrested on federal corruption charges in December is now reaching into the elections ahead as well.” Meanwhile, Burris, who refuses to rule out running for the seat himself, has set up a campaign website.

Paterson Approval in Freefall (Political Wire)
The latest Marist Poll shows that just 26% of New York voters think Gov. David Paterson is doing either an excellent or good job in office. That’s a drop of 20 points since the end of January. In fact, Paterson’s approval rating is the lowest any New York governor has received in the poll’s nearly thirty year history. In a general election match up, Rudy Giuliani (R) crushes Paterson 53% to 38%. The two were in a statistical tie two months ago. In a Democratic primary, Andrew Cuomo also crushes Paterson 62% to 26%. However, Cuomo would defeat Giuliani 56% to 39%.

Blago lands six-figure deal to write book on ‘dark side’ pf politics (On Politics, USA Today)
Ousted Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich has signed a six-figure contract to write a book about the dark side of politics, publicist Glenn Selig says. The book — tentatively called The Governor – is due in October and will embarrass some people, Selig said in a release. The impeached governor has been charged with trying to sell off President Obama’s former Senate seat and other counts of corruption. The discussions over filling Obama’s seat are part of the book, Selig said. The Chicago Sun-Times says Illinois legislators have introduced a bill that would prevent Blagojevich from benefitting financially from the book if he is convicted.

Current GOP Strategy Echoes Kristol’s 1993 Memo Urging Obstruction Of Dems (by Greg Sargent at The Plum Line)
With the GOP gearing up to defeat President Obama’s big-ticket initiatives, a lot of folks have been trying to track down a copy of the full memo that Bill Kristol famously wrote in 1993 urging Republicans to block Bill Clinton’s health care reform plan at all costs. Bits and pieces of the memo are floating around but the full one has been elusive. Well, I have obtained a PDF copy — you can read the whole thing right here. And it’s really a striking read, because it demonstrates two things. First, how much the current GOP strategy seems to echo the strategic objectives Kristol articulated 15 years ago. And second, how much worse off the GOP is now than it was then in terms of being able to achieve those objectives.

Reporter Says Outburst Was Spontaneous
Rick Santelli, a CNBC reporter who suggested a “Chicago Tea Party” to protest the mortgage bailout plan, said he did not coordinate his comments with right-wing groups.

Is CNBC now embarrassed by Rick Santelli? (by Eric Boehlert at County Fair, Media Matters for America)
The New York Times today notes that Santelli’s appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart was yanked, with a CNBC flak telling the Times, “It was time to move on to the next big story.” As I suggested in my column this week, real damage was done to the cabler by Santelli’s on-air rant, his prancing around right-wing radio where he concocted stories, and by CNBC’s decision to relentlessly hype Santelli’s performance. That a biz reporter would uncork such a partisan outburst on air, crossing all normal bounds of journalism, and then be celebrated, revealed a real deficiency in leadership at CNBC. It’s nice to see execs there have belatedly caught on to the error of their ways.

Quinn: “We’re looking for some form of the Fairness Doctrine, which really is Jim Crow laws for conservatives” (video at County Fair, Media Matters for America)

Hannity, Pfotenhauer, Lou Holtz suggest cold weather proves there is no global warming (video at County Fair, Media Matters for America)

Shuster: “Why do Republicans have such a difficult time … saying the simple words, ‘Rush is wrong’?” (video at County Fair, Media Matters for America)

Limbaugh responds to Steele: “Why do you claim that you are leading the Republican Party when you are obsessed with seeing to it that President Obama succeeds?” (video at County Fair, Media Matters for America)

Coulter, Beck defend Limbaugh, are “very disappointed” with Steele “picking on” him (video at County Fair, Media Matters for America)

O’Reilly, Goldberg disagree over whether Limbaugh is “bigger” than McCain, McConnell (video at County Fair, Media Matters for America)

Does Michelle Malkin not understand what “ugly” and “incendiary” mean? (by Eric Boehlert at County Fair, Media Matters for America)
While offering the RNC chief, Michael Steele, some “friendly advice” (nothing condescending there, right?), Malkin writes: “There’s nothing wrong with criticizing Rush Limbaugh. But if you are going to go on Obamedia outlets like CNN and throw around words like ‘incendiary’ and ‘ugly,’ you better back them up.”… If anyone’s curious about what Steele was referring to in terms of the “ugly” and “incendiary” nature of Limbaugh’s show, they can start by clicking here.

Making Limbaugh Leader of the Republicans (Political Wire)
The Los Angeles Times notes the White House is advancing an aggressive political strategy: “Persuading the country that real power behind the Republican Party is not the GOP leaders in Congress or at the Republican National Committee, but rather provocative radio talk show king Rush Limbaugh… President Obama himself, along with top aides and outside Democratic allies, have been pushing the message in unison.” And it’s got Republicans tied up in knots trying to distance themselves from the conservative talk show host and kiss his ring at the same time.

Steele Apologizes to Limbaugh, Kaine Says: “See?!” (Political Punch, ABC News)
[A]ccording to a Gallup poll completed Feb. 1, 28% percent of Americans view El Rushbo favorably, 45 percent unfavorably. The rest, 27 percent, express no opinion. That’s a 28/45 favorable/unfavorable rating, which is not great. Why is the White House embracing him as the president’s chief opponent? Among Democrats, Limbaugh has a 6/63 favorable/unfavorable. Among independents, it’s 25/45. And why is RNC Chair Michael Steele apologizing to him…? Limbaugh’s fave-unfave is 60-23 among Republicans…

Countered DNC Chair Tim Kaine: “I was briefly encouraged by the courageous comments made my counterpart in the Republican Party over the weekend challenging Rush Limbaugh as the leader of the Republican Party and referring to his show as ‘incendiary’ and ‘ugly.’ However, Chairman Steele’s reversal this evening and his apology to Limbaugh proves the unfortunate point that Limbaugh is the leading force behind the Republican Party, its politics and its obstruction of President Obama’s agenda in Washington.”

White House: Reporters Should Ask Republicans Whether They Agree With Rush Limbaugh (by Greg Sargent at The Plum Line)
At the White House press briefing, press sec Robert Gibbs doubled down on the White House strategy of elevating Rush as the face of the opposition, pushing reporters to ask GOP officials whether they are With Rush Or Against Him when it comes to Rush’s desire to see President Obama fail: “I think maybe the best question, though, is for you to ask individual Republicans whether they agree with what Rush Limbaugh said this weekend.”… [That] question, obviously, is exactly the one that Rush, for his own purposes, wants the “drive by media” to be asking Republican officials. It’s a nifty little game: Rush gets the story framed his way, and he gets to accuse the media of being anti-GOP. A twofer! Anyway, this story won’t be going away anytime soon, if the White House, and Rush, get their way.

On CNN, FRC’s Perkins: Limbaugh is “more in touch with the conservative base of the Republican party than most Republican leaders” (video at County Fair, Media Matters for America)

Buchanan declares that “Rush may be out front” in articulating desire for Obama to fail, but now “he has got everyone behind him” (video at County Fair, Media Matters for America)

On CNN, Rep. Ron Paul said it’s “pretty sad” that Limbaugh is almost like the spokesperson for GOP (video at County Fair, Media Matters for America)

Frum: Limbaugh “cannot be allowed to be the public face” of conservative movement (by Jamison Foser at County Fair, Media Matters for America)
David Frum writes: “Rush knows what he is doing. The worse conservatives do, the more important Rush becomes as leader of the ardent remnant. The better conservatives succeed, the more we become a broad national governing coalition, the more Rush will be sidelined… [H]e cannot be allowed to be the public face of the enterprise – and we have to find ways of assuring the public that he is just one Republican voice among many, and very far from the most important.”

Whenever CNN manages to find two Democrats who disagree about where to go for lunch, it breaks out the “DEMS IN DISARRAY” chyron and goes wall-to-wall with the idea of the Democratic Party in turmoil. Just sayin’.

Limbaugh claimed “effort[s] to marginalize me” are efforts “to wipe out conservatism,” and attacks Republicans for “wimping out” (video at County Fair, Media Matters for America)

Limbaugh: “If there’s anybody who wants America as it was founded to fail, it’s Barack Obama” (video at County Fair, Media Matters for America)

Jonah Goldberg: I want Obama to fail. (Think Progress)
In an LA Times op-ed today, right-wing blogger Jonah Goldberg joins the bandwagon of conservatives hoping for President Obama’s failure. Implying that hoping for the country’s failure is a perfectly natural sentiment, Goldberg writes, “The scorpion must sting the frog. The conservative must object to socialized medicine”: “…Well, given what Obama wants to do, I hope he fails too…” Goldberg adds that he is “dubious” about the criticisms of moderate conservatives like Ross Douthat and David Frum, who argue that the Republican party’s Limbaugh obsession “guarantees that the GOP will become a powerless rump party only for conservative true believers.”

Coulter: Dems have “a Nazi collaborator, literally — international financier George Soros — funding their phony grassroots organizations” (video at County Fair, Media Matters for America)

California Republicans question GOP recruiter’s pay, results (McClatchy)
The head of an upstart group that aims to recruit California Republicans to run for statewide offices earned $900,000 in salary and benefits in the 2007-2008 election cycle, angering some Republicans who wondered Monday if the cash is being well-spent.

Utah state senators agree that homosexuality is ‘the greatest threat to America’. (Think Progress)
Last month, Utah state Sen. Chris Buttars (R) was kicked out of the state senate judiciary committee after he called homosexuality a “perversion” and “the greatest threat to America going down.” Appearing this weekend on the radio show “Inside Utah Politics,” Republican state Sens. Howard Stephenson and Dennis Stowell defended Buttars, complaining that “his words were taken out of context” and that “the gay community is using him a little bit to get more publicity“.

Conservative Media Grabs On To New Rasmussen Health Care Poll (by Greg Sargent at The Plum Line)
Wow, that was quick. I noted [earlier] that Rasmussen Reports seemed to present its new poll on health care in a way designed to maximize pick-up by the conservative media, something that Ras seems to do on a regular basis. As I noted, Ras emphasized the number that supposedly suggested reluctance to health care reform, rather than the one buried in their survey finding overwhelming support for the central argument in favor of overhauling the system right now. Barely 15 minutes later, the Weekly Standard grabs on to Rasmussen’s poll and slaps this headline on it: “Rasmussen: Many Believe Health Care Reform Should Be Delayed Until Economy Improves”…

But again: The Ras poll also found that an astonishing 78% think that controlling health care spending is very or somewhat important to improving the economy. In other words, while it’s true that Ras’ top-line result does indicate some public hesitance, the poll also shows that a huge majority endorses Obama’s argument. But you had to dig way down beneath Ras’ headline to find that out.

L-Word Loses its Pop (Political Wire)
The New York Times notes “that ’socialist’ has supplanted ‘liberal’ as the go-to slur among much of a conservative world confronting a one-two-three punch of bank bailouts, budget blowouts and stimulus bills. Right-leaning bloggers and talk radio hosts are wearing out the brickbat. Senate and House Republicans have been tripping over their podiums to invoke it. The S-bomb has become as surefire a red-meat line at conservative gatherings as ‘Clinton‘ was in the 1990s and ‘Pelosi’ is today.”

Politicos now have to deal with paparazzi-style tactics in addition to traditional reporting
TMZ.com chief Harvey Levin says his audience doesn’t particularly care about the nuances of policy, but does care about personality — and increasingly, politicians can make for juicy video and sexy headlines. “Our feeling is … if you understand the personalities of some of these people, you care more about them,” he says.
And MY feeling is that worship of the superficial is dangerous for democracy.

AP Ignores Cries Of ‘Socialism,’ Claims That Congressional Republicans Have ‘No Desire To Demonize’ Obama (Think Progress)
AP writer Jim Kuhnhenn wrote that “congressional Republicans show no desire to demonize President Barack Obama, so they’re condemning Democratic leaders instead.” As evidence, Kuhnhenn quotes Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), the House Minority Whip, saying that “We want to work with this president“… But Kuhnhenn’s thesis ignores the effort by the congressional GOP to paint Obama and his policies as socialist in nature. For instance, at CPAC last week, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) called Obama “the world’s best salesman of socialism“… It isn’t just the backbenchers like DeMint who are demonizing Obama as a socialist. Members of the GOP congressional leadership are pushing that line of attack as well… Apparently, the AP doesn’t consider attempts to cast Obama as a socialist to be efforts to demonize.

Who is on Pelosi’s Bad Side? (Political Wire)
Apparently, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi learned from her father, Baltimore Mayor Tommy D’Alesandro, to diligently keep track of people she has had helped in some way — with an added twist. Politico: “Those around Pelosi say she has always kept her own favor file. But, like her father, she has also maintained a ‘disfavor file’ in her head — a roster of those whom she believes have screwed up, betrayed her, challenged her or merely annoyed her… The list, Pelosi allies say, is real — even as they warn that overstating her vindictiveness feeds into the right-wing caricatures of Pelosi and perpetuates ethnic and gender stereotypes.”
Politico has joined the “we can read Democrats’ minds” brigade.

Newsweek peddles GOP talking points (by Eric Boehlert at County Fair, Media Matters for America)
The latest: Some Republicans wanted to support Obama’s stimulus package–no, really–it’s just that Nancy Pelosi ruined everything. See, it’s Pelosi, not Republicans, who completely scuttled Obama’s hope for bipartisanship. Newsweek headlines it this way; “Obama’s Pelosi Problem: The president has laid out a paradigm-shifting agenda. There will be pushback from the GOP—but less, perhaps, were it not for the House Speaker.” I doubt RNC aides could have written it better themselves.

Does ABC News understand how income tax works? (by Jamison Foser at County Fair, Media Matters for America
The ABC article is based on the premise that an individual’s entire income is taxed at the same rate… But that isn’t actually how income tax works. In reality, a family earning $255,000 will pay the higher tax rate only on its last $5,001 in income; the first $249,999 will continue to be taxed at the old rate.  So intentionally lowering your income from $255,000 to $249,999 is counter-productive; it will result in a lower after-tax income. The people ABC quoted don’t seem to understand that.  Worse, ABC doesn’t seem to understand it, either.

Politico, relentlessly out of touch (by Jamison Foser at County Fair, Media Matters for America)
Here’s how Politico begins an article about the ban on gays serving openly in the military: “It is precisely the sort of knife fight no president wants to get into, especially in his first 100 days. But it seems that President Barack Obama is about to get dragged down the same dark alley as Bill Clinton when he was forced to confront the highly charged issue of gays in the military early in his term.” Politico didn’t bother including any polling data on public attitudes towards gays serving openly in the military.  Maybe that’s because the polling undermines the entire premise of the Politico article.

An ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted last July found that 75 percent of Americans favor allowing gays to serve openly in the military – up from just 44 percent in 1993.  The poll even found 64 percent of Republicans in favor.  64 percent of conservatives, too – and 59 percent of conservative Republicans. And yet, here’s Politico insisting – without data – that the issue is dangerous for Obama:

Worst Science Article Ever? Women “Evolved” to Love Shopping (Discoblog, Discover)
Case in point: “Shopping is ‘throwback to days of cavewomen,’” a piece by Ben Leach at the U.K. Telegraph. It refers to a study (we use the term loosely) led by David Holmes of Manchester Metropolitan University, which “found” that “skills that were learnt as cavemen and women were now being used in shops.”… According to the study, we learned to spend our days in malls maxing out AmEx cards from our ancient Neanderthal precursors. Except for the fact that Neanderthals are not direct ancestors of modern humans, and the two didn’t have any overlap. So just when did these “instinctual gathering” lessons occur? When we were all riding on the backs of Tyrannosaurs spearing woolly mammoths?

Not to mention the glaring definitional problem: If our non-ancestors are indeed responsible for “teaching” us all these spend-happy behaviors, how are they “instincts”? And to top it all off, … the study … was commissioned by Manchester Arndale shopping centre in response to a rise in January visitors, according to the Daily Express.

Dean Baker:

The Stock Market Is Not the Economy #4238

The Waste From Patent Monopolies in Health Care

Unauthorized Copies Are Not Necessarily “Counterfeits”

What Ideology Says That the Purpose of the Government is to Subsidize Insurance and Pharmaceutical Companies?

New York Times Prints Peter Peterson Propaganda

Plunging House Prices Escape Notice

NPR Couldn’t Find a Democrat to Talk About President Obama’s Budget

NYT Conceals Welfare for Citigroup

Same-Sex Spouses File Major Lawsuit In Massachusetts Challenging The Ban On Federal Benefits (Think Progress)
Today, Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) filed the first concerted, multi-plaintiff legal challenge to Section 3 of the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). GLAD is representing a group of LGBT plaintiffs who have been harmed by the federal refusal to recognize their marital rights. Under Section 3, legally married same-sex couples are excluded from any federal law or program that benefits other married individuals.

Is Mexico disintegrating?  (by David Rieff, author of At the Point of a Gun: Democratic Dreams and Armed Intervention)
Mexico, which is in freefall, its state institutions under threat… The crisis consists in nothing less than an effort by the major drug cartels to tame and suborn the Mexican state, and not just in the strip along the United States border, though the epicentre of the crisis is there. Obviously, the cartels’ leaders do not have designs on Mexico’s presidential palace. But, through a policy of terror extending from Oaxaca in the south, through Acapulco on the Pacific coast, and up to the great border cities of Tijuana and Juarez (Mexico’s sixth and seventh most populous cities, respectively), they have made it abundantly clear that they are trying to achieve impunity. The only recent parallel in Latin America was a similar effort fifteen years ago by the Colombian drug cartels.
What will it take for us to realize that legalizing drugs and diverting some of the money we now spent on interdiction to treatment for addicts is not only the sane thing to do, it’s cheaper and more humane.

Media Matters for America headlines

Drudge, Fox News again suggest a few days of cold weather trump climate change science

NY Times ignored other recent example of Republican walking back criticism of Limbaugh, despite Emanuel pointing it out

Just weeks after suggesting Dodd should be “impeached” on CNBC, Kudlow confirms interest in Dodd’s Senate seat

Limbaugh accused Sebelius of blocking KS tax refunds, ignoring Republicans’ budget demands

Boehlert: Matthews’ “Oh God” vs. Santelli’s rant: Which told us more about the press?

Media predictably revive conservative rhetoric of “socialized medicine” with Sebelius pick

Wash. Times’ Lambro falsely accused Obama of misrepresenting contents of bill

CBS Evening News airs Donohue saying Sebelius nomination is “an insult to Catholics” without noting her Catholic support

Wall Street Journal advances discredited claim that Clinton did not condemn Suha Arafat’s remarks

Court Wades into Copyright Dispute (American Constitution Society)
Among the Supreme Court’s orders [Monday] morning is one the grant of certiorari in a copyright case bearing on the compensation that freelance writers are due for republication of their works. In Reed Elsevier v. Muchnick, the high court has whittled the question presented into whether federal law restricts “the subject matter jurisdiction of the federal courts over copyright infringement actions.”

Defendants Want Web Comments Scrubbed 
A judge overseeing the death-penalty trials of four defendants in the torture-slaying of a young Knoxville couple was asked Friday to tame inflammatory public comments on local media Web sites.

AP editor: We have to listen bloggers and social networking entrepreneurs
“We have a responsibility to complete the job that is already underway — to reinvent the media business to assure that it can continue to sustain the quality journalism that is so vital,” says Associated Press managing editor Michael Oreskes. “To do that, we must listen to the market. We must listen to the social networking entrepreneurs who are tapping the Internet’s power of community. And to the bloggers who have revived that fine old art of pamphleteering in a powerful new way by combining it with the Internet’s power of aggregation.”

Death Throes of the Rocky (by Nancy Mitchell, writing at Salon)
If there is a “brand” that we journalists at the Rocky Mountain News embraced, it was embodied in the instructions that were once posted in our managing editor’s office. Three simple rules, not produced by a focus group: Get the news. Tell the truth. Don’t be dull. I’d like to believe we did all three.

Thompson Reuters To Launch Video News Service In June (Paid Content)
Thompson Reuters is trying to sweeten the deal it offers its financial services clients with a finance and stock market-focused video news service in June—and it’s hiring 120 new employees to run it. Much of the non-ad-supported content will be kept behind a pay wall; premium clients will get the video as part of their subscriptions, people on lower tiers will need to pay extra… The coverage will be a blend of breaking news and markets analysis, with contributions from Reuters journalists… The service will also pull in content from third-parties like TheStreet.com, ForexTV, and Beet.tv.

FT Paid Subscriptions Up 9% in 2008, Still Firing People: Wha?
Iconic pink paper The Financial Times is actually making money(!) from paid subscriptions, according to an earnings statement. According to Pearson, which owns FT, FT.com, and The Economist, online subscriptions grew five times faster than non-paying registrations in 2008.

Philadelphia Media Holdings Splits The Baby, Will Publish Daily News As Inky Edition (Paid Content)
The Philadelphia Daily News will continue to exist as a brand and a separate, competitive newsroom (for now) but will be published as an edition of bigger sibling the Philadelphia Inquirer… By publishing the Daily News as an edition of the Inquirer (all it takes is the right language under the logo), the company can claim the latter is a single subscriber to wire services, combine advertising metrics and roll up circulation… PMH can continue to sell the Daily News as a 110,000-circulation tab but claim it has a single 440,000-circulation newspaper for the Audit Bureau of Circulation.

LA Times Not Paying
New Republic senior editor John Judis isn’t happy about not being paid for an LA Times opinion piece written shortly after the 2008 election, and yesterday he warned other journalists to demand pay in advance.

Magazines See Some Bright Spots for Second Quarter
But Most Believe Fourth Quarter Will Be Crucial for Survival

Martha Stewart Living to Broaden Editorial Focus
Martha Stewart Living’s association with its eponymous founder, 360-degree marketing programs, and editorial consistency have made it a favorite of marketers. But now, facing sharp ad page declines, Living is broadening that message to include beauty, travel, and fashion editorial content.

Hachette Retools Women’s Mag Division, Hopes To Jolt Digital Side (Paid Content)
Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. (HFM U.S.) is reorganizing its women’s magazine division by grouping staff around signature titles like ELLE, Woman’s Day and Metropolitan Home… Each group will be led by a Chief Brand Officer, who will oversee sales and editorial direction across both print and digital… The EICs in each division will now be called VPs of brand content, and while they’ll maintain editorial duties for their print titles, the company’s Digital Media group will still be responsible for the bulk of the digital content.

Each unit will also have a VP, brand publisher to oversee sales, and a VP, brand development for business development; if there’s a mobile, book publishing, or licensing project related to a brand—like Elle’s clothing line for retailer Kohl’s—then the teams will work with a dedicated mobile, book publishing or licensing specialist.

Penthouse Magazine Closing?
Anthony Previte, FriendFinder Networks’ chief operating officer, reportedly announced he is closing down Penthouse ”because it does not make any money and is in the red for production.” When asked about it, though, FriendFinder CEO Marc Bell laughed at the rumor.

Samir Husni to Launch Magazine Innovation Center in August
Samir Husni, the University of Mississippi professor known as “Mr. Magazine,” … is launching the Magazine Innovation Center, a non-profit think tank of sorts, and says he will devote the remaining years of his professional career to furthering the future of print. The center, which will be housed at the University of Mississippi, will launch in August, Husni said… One of the center’s first goals, he said, would be to come up with new ways for magazine distribution.

The Cunning Genius of the Public Radio Fundraising Drive (by June Thomas, Slate)
If you’re a public radio addict like me, you know the despair of waking up on a winter morning, turning on the radio, and hearing the jarring sound of your local host begging for money. Pledge drive is last-nerve-frayingly exasperating — but it’s also sheer genius.

CC Media Reports Big Loss
Radio and outdoor-advertising company CC Media Holdings Inc., the owner of Clear Channel Communications, reported a $5 billion loss for the fourth quarter, reflecting a big impairment charge stemming from a decline in the value of its radio licenses and permits and other assets.

TV Everywhere — As Long As You Pay for It
Time Warner’s Bewkes Plots Industry Initiative to Eradicate Free Content

A Fill-In on Cable News Is Thrust Into Host’s Chair
Jane Velez-Mitchell is a true-crime author, a television talking head, a lesbian, an animal activist, a recovering alcoholic, and a vegan. She was until recently a glorified freelancer for Headline News. Now she is one of Headline News’s nightly hosts — and her show is setting ratings records for the network.

TV News Outlets Seeking Out Youthful Eyes and Ears
John Houseman, assistant news director at New York’s WPIX, has enlisted students as contributors to his news operation. He wants the budding journalists — as well as students at Fordham, Rutgers, and New York universities — to send in video material if they see something they believe to be a story.

CBS’s Moonves Rules Out CNN/CBS News Merger
CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves ruled out a merger of the company’s news operations with Time Warner’s CNN. Speaking at the Deutsche Bank media and telecommunications conference, Moonves was asked about a possible merger of CBS News and responded, “We’ve have five different discussions with CNN about doing something together, and it has appeared to be unmanageable.” He added that Time Warner has also had talks with ABC. “We do look for opportunities to do a deal with CNN, but it’s not in the cards.”

Toys R Us Sees Opportunity In Used Games; Rolls Out Three-Month Trial (Paid Content)
If GameStop can rack up $2 billion in revenues from used-game sales alone—is there room for another mass game reseller? A Cheap Ass Gamer forum member spotted a sign in Toys R Us enticing gamers to “sell back” their used games in exchange for store credit today (pictured); Joystiq confirmed with a company rep that the 12-week trial was taking place in “a couple New York stores,” but the spokesperson wouldn’t reveal much else.

Gawker Media Breezes Through February; Other Smaller Sites Faring Well, Too (Paid Content)
Jim Romenesko got ahold of [Gawker Media founder Nick Denton’s] latest memo to the troops, which notes that the company’s ad revenues for 2009 are up by about a fifth over last year so far. Traffic to the entire group of blogs amount to nearly 300 million page views in February, up by 34 percent year-over-year. Denton attributes the performance in part to new, larger ad units and the fact that the sales team has far fewer sites to concentrate on. The company successfully spun off four properties last year: Gridskipper, Idolator, Wonkette and Consumerist; it also consolidated operations and laid off staff at Valleywag, Defamer and Fleshbot…

Staying slim may be in Gawker’s best interest, according to the WSJ, which highlights the fact that some smaller online publishers are faring relatively well in the face of the ad sales crunch.

85+ Tools & Resources for Freelancers and Web Workers (Mashable)
Deciding to become a freelance worker can be a scary proposition. Sure there is an allure to picking what projects you work on, but it can also be stressful not knowing where your next paycheck will come from. Luckily there are numerous resources out there that not only help you find more work, but also loads of tools to help you do your job more efficiently with a professional edge. We’ve gathered over 85 tools and job sites for a variety of freelancers and web workers. While a lot of these items are focused on web design elements such as photography, programming and writing, we made sure to include something for everyone.

Flickr Opens Up Video Uploads for Everyone (Mashable)
Almost a year ago Flickr added the ability for Pro users to upload up to 90 second videos. Today they’re announcing that they’ve lifted the restriction to Pro users to include everyone, meaning that any Flickr member can now upload and share videos on the site.

Hackers Target Facebook
Facebook has been targeted by malicious hackers seeking to steal valuable data from members. The social network site has been hit by five separate security problems in the last seven days, say security experts.

Yahoo Teams With Newspapers to Sell Ads
Many newspaper owners and publishers say that an innovative partnership with Yahoo is one of the only bright spots in an otherwise horrible advertising market. The deal creates packages that let advertisers reach visitors at the newspapers’ Web sites and Yahoo users in the area.

Food Network Seeing Huge Growth From Web Offerings
Revamped Content Offerings, Portal-Like Presence Is Luring Marketer Dollars

Network Scale and ‘Content Velocity’ (by Steve Smith at MIN)
As audiences and ad dollars fragment across the Web, media brand executives scurry for new strategies to recapture and aggregate these fleeing eyeballs. Some acquire those audiences outright and others start embracing that expanding universe of nano-niche blogs in order to cobble together some scale.

Ad Skippers Beware: Ask.com Going After You With TV Crawl
Search engine Ask.com has started an ad campaign that relies mostly on “crawls” that show up in the lower part of the screen during selected cable programs. The marketer hopes to capture attention by posing questions to viewers at the bottom of the screen about the subject matter they are watching.

Liked the Show? Maybe It Was the Commercials
Hate commercials? They may enhance your television-viewing experience.