Gannett Lay Off Will Total 1,400

Gannett Co., Inc. will lay off about 1,400 employees next week as the largest U.S. newspaper publisher continues to try to deal with a struggling economy and its impact on the company's advertisers.

In a letter sent to employees Wednesday, Bob Dickey, president of Gannett's U.S. Community Publishing Division, said newspapers across the country are finalizing plans to deal with local economic conditions and the plans would vary by community.

The company currently employs about 41,500 people after laying off about 10 percent of its work force last year.

Gannett owns more than 80 daily newspapers. Most are members of the Community Publishing Division

CNN Obtains Video of Michael Jackson's Last Rehearsal

CNN has obtained video of Michael Jackson's last rehearsal, in which the pop icon appeared healthy two nights before he died.

AEG, promoter of Jackson's planned London shows, released the short video of Jackson rehearsing on a stage in the Staples Center arena.

Jackson sang "They Don't Care About Us," a song from his "HIStory" album, as he danced along with eight male dancers.

Springfield Republican Lays Off 30, at Least 12 From Editorial

The Springfield (Mass.) Republican laid off 30 people on Monday, June 29. The layoffs include three editors, three photographers and six reporters, a source has told News Cycle.

Unfortunately, there has been no official announcement from management. The newspaper has a daily circulation of about 84,000 and is owned by Newhouse Newspapers, which in turn is owned by Advance Publications. Advance has in the past been tight lipped about staff reductions. For instance, its American City Business Journals recently suffered a round of cutbacks without any public acknowledgement.

Only 307 Newspaper Layoffs Reported in June

Only 307 layoffs were reported in the newspaper industry in the month of June, the lowest number in 2009 by far. While this could be a sign of an improving economy, there are expectations that July could be much worse as Gannett is rumored to be ready to lay off as many as 4,500 people.

Email me to report any job cuts in the newspaper industry.

June 30: Waco (Tx.) Tribune-Herald, 43 people.
June 29: Springfield (Mass.) Republican, 30 people.
June 24: Detroit Free Press, 22 people.
June 22: The State of Columbia, S.C., six people.
June 18: Albany (N.Y.) Times Union, 45 people.
June 10: Bellingham (Wash.) Herald, 30 people.
June 9: Blethen Maine Newspapers, 22 non-union employees and four executives. Five more people were released in a June 15 announcement.
June 8: The Register-Guard of Eugene, Ore., 21 people (14 additional unfilled positions eliminated).
June 5: The New York Observer, 15 people.
June 3: Stanwood/Camano (Wash.) News, 10 people.
June 3 :The Hollywood (Calif.) Reporter, 10 people.
June 2: The Tampa Tribune, 17 people.
June 2: DuBois (Pa.) Courier-Express, two people.
June 1: The Bulletin in Philadelphia ceases operations, at least 25 people.

In May, 1,084 people were laid off. In April, 1,381 people were laid off from newspapers in the United States. At least 3,943 people lost their jobs in newspapers in March. Here is a list of the newspapers that cut 1,492 people in February. Here are the newspapers that reported 2,256 layoffs in January.

Email me to report any job cuts in the newspaper industry.

Billy Mays, 50, Found Dead; No Foul Play Suspected

Tampa police say Billy Mays, the television pitchman known for his boisterous hawking of products such as Orange Glo and OxiClean, has died, according to The Associated Press. He was 50.

Authorities say Mays was pronounced dead Sunday morning after being found by his wife at home. There were no signs of a break-in, and investigators do not suspect foul play. The coroner's office expects to have an autopsy done by Monday afternoon.

Mays' wife, Deborah Mays, says the family doesn't expect to make any public statements and asked for privacy.

Mays was also featured on the reality TV show ''Pitchmen'' on the Discovery Channel, which followed Mays and Anthony Sullivan in their marketing jobs.

A House Filibuster? Boehner Gets Help From a Leading Democrat in Effort to Kill Climate Bill

GOP Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio had a rare chance to filibuster the climate change bill tonight, and he got some help from the Democrats.

There cannot be a filibuster in the House of Representatives because House rules provide for limited amounts of time for each Representative to speak. In the Senate, there are no rules regarding how long a Senator may speak, so a filibuster may be used, unless three-fifths of Senators agree to invoke cloture, that is, end debate on an issue.

But in the House, the Speaker, Majority Leader and Minority Leader are given greater latitude to speak.

While Boehner was speaking (that is, actually reading part of the bill into record), House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., asked the chair if Boehner could continue to read and read and read. The concern was that Boehner was trying to delay the vote pass 6:30 p.m. Eastern to avoid an annoucement of an Obama victory on the network evening news shows.

“I know we have this magic minute that gives leaders a lot of extra time to speak. But I’m just wondering if there is some limit under the rules on the time that a leader may take, even though the time yielded was not 20 or 30 minutes?” Waxman asked.

Then, and here's the interesting part, instead of cutting Boehner off, the Speaker Pro Tempore, Rep. Ellen Tauscher, a Democrat from California, then ruled that Boehner was in order.

That's right, a leading House Democrat ruled against her own party and her president, nearly derailing the bill by allowing the House minority leader to speak as long as he wanted to.

“It is the custom of the House is to listen to the leader’s comments,” Tauscher said to cheers of Republicans.

That could not have been comfortable for Democrats Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was witnessing the events unfold from the back of the chamber.

Controversial Climate Bill Passes 219-212 in House

The House of Representatives passed the controversial Climate Change bill by a narrow vote tonight, 219-212. The vote on the more than 1,000-page bill was close because 44 Democrats voted against it due to fears that the cost in jobs and taxes would be overwhelming to the middle class.

The Waxman-Markey bill's ultimate cost was the center of the controversy, as described by Steven Mufson of The Washington Post.

The Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that the bill would only cost U.S. households an average of $98 to $140 a year from 2010 through 2050. But government analysts acknowledged that estimates are highly uncertain and depend on such factors as the price of oil and the pace of innovation on energy efficiency, carbon capture and sequestration, as well as how people and businesses respond to higher fossil-fuel prices.

GOP leaders have tried to portray the proposal as placing a heavy cost on Americans. Boehner has asserted that the bill would raise annual energy costs by $3,128 per household in 2015 and would drive jobs out of the country. He said in an April 2 news release that that figure did not include higher costs for food and consumer goods and services. The conservative Heritage Foundation has asserted that the cost could reach $4,300 a year.

Boehner's office said that it extrapolated its per-household figure from a two-year-old study of a cap-and-trade bill co-sponsored by then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). That study, by John M. Reilly, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor, said that a cap-and-trade bill could generate $366 billion a year in revenue and that the GOP leader's office said it simply divided that by the number of households expected in 2015.

Afterward, Reilly sent a letter to Boehner accusing him of inflating the cost 10-fold by ignoring the offsetting benefits, such as tax cuts and free allowances, that are part of the current Waxman-Markey bill embraced by President Obama. Reilly said that the measure's cost for a family of four, in today's dollars, starts at about $75 in 2015, rises to nearly $510 by 2025, and then falls to $205 by 2050 as new technology works its way into power plants, building efficiency and automobiles. The average overall cost would be about $340 a year, he said.

"Concern about the cost impacts on middle and low income families needs to be focused on making sure allowance or tax revenue is used to offset cost impacts on these households rather than as an excuse for not proceeding with measures that would help avert dangerous climate change," Reilly said in an April letter.

Today's Wall Street Journal had pushed hard for rejection of the bill in this morning's editorial:

For starters, the CBO estimate is a one-year snapshot of taxes that will extend to infinity. Under a cap-and-trade system, government sets a cap on the total amount of carbon that can be emitted nationally; companies then buy or sell permits to emit CO2. The cap gets cranked down over time to reduce total carbon emissions.

To get support for his bill, Mr. Waxman was forced to water down the cap in early years to please rural Democrats, and then severely ratchet it up in later years to please liberal Democrats. The CBO's analysis looks solely at the year 2020, before most of the tough restrictions kick in. As the cap is tightened and companies are stripped of initial opportunities to "offset" their emissions, the price of permits will skyrocket beyond the CBO estimate of $28 per ton of carbon. The corporate costs of buying these expensive permits will be passed to consumers.

The biggest doozy in the CBO analysis was its extraordinary decision to look only at the day-to-day costs of operating a trading program, rather than the wider consequences energy restriction would have on the economy. The CBO acknowledges this in a footnote: "The resource cost does not indicate the potential decrease in gross domestic product (GDP) that could result from the cap."

But there was also a hard push for this bill's passage, not from the Democrats, but from the energy industry. Anne C. Mulkern of The New York Times reports:

E&E examined spending for 10 industries with stakes in climate and energy legislation: oil and gas, electric utilities, chemical and related manufacturing, agricultural services and products, alternate energy and production services, mining, environmental, forestry and forest products, and natural gas transmission and distribution. The industry data was compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, which uses reports filed with the House and determines the industry categories.

For half of those industries, funds for lobbying increased. For others, particularly those battered by the recession, spending stayed flat or fell. Mining spent about 24 percent less than it did a year earlier. Utility lobbying stayed about even with last year.

But for others, it was time to ramp up the persuasion.

Oil and gas companies, agricultural services and product makers, alternative energy producers, environmental groups, and those in the natural gas businesses spent more than they did last year. Within each of those categories are stories of individual companies and organizations laying out far more than they have in the past.

Those groups say they must educate Congress.

"We're spending that money to represent our member companies at a time when initiatives in the new administration and Congress will have an impact on the viability of the industry," said Robert Dodge, spokesman for the American Petroleum Institute, a trade group for about 400 small and large companies.

Others see advocacy spending more critically.

"It's influence peddling. What you're doing is trying to purchase influence," said Tyson Slocum, director of the energy program at Public Citizen, a watchdog group. "Most of the time there's a positive return on your investment."

Olbermann Mistaken in Calling Hoekstra Iraqi Trip 'Top Secret'

Keith Olbermann will stretch the facts every now and then to make a point. But last week his misuse of military terms was sloppy and incorrect; and ultimately damaging to any commentator's reputation.

Olbermann noted on June 18 that a Tweet by Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., compared messages of disgruntled Republicans during a congressional squabble with the messages from bloodied Iranian protesters who say they were disenfranchised.

"This would be the same congressman who last year Tweeted the whereabouts of a top secret mission to Iraq," Olbermann said.

The problem is Hoekstra was not on a top secret mission, rather a congressional fact-finding tour. And while the military had asked that the media embargo news of the tour until it was over for security reasons, there were no restrictions on the congressional delegations to tell people about the trip. Their staff and families all knew beforehand where they were going and the reason for the trip.

During the trip, the congressman did post a number of Tweets about the trip, but none gave specific news of the delegation's whereabouts or business.

Here is PolitiFact's assessment:

Olbermann is wrong to characterize the delegation's trip as a "top secret mission to Iraq." The term "top secret" means something in military and government circles. There is a hierarchy of classified information, beginning with "confidential," graduating to "secret," "top secret" and "special classified information." You need varying levels of security clearance in order to be privy to classified information.

This trip was none of those. But more to the point, "top secret mission to Iraq" conjures images of rifle-toting troops on a highly sensitive military operation. This wasn't a military mission, it was a congressional visit. In fact, many in the news media knew about the trip, but just agreed to keep it embargoed. Hoekstra's staff knew about it. His wife knew about it.

"We're not talking about something that was classified," said Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Les Melnyk. "Not at all. Top secret? No. We see these reported all the time in the press."

So Olbermann hasn't just exaggerated, he's incorrectly described the visit as a "top secret mission." Without knowing the background, you might think Hoekstra spilled the beans on some covert military operation. We rule Olbermann's statement False.

Iranian Cleric Supports Execution of Protest Leaders to 'Provide a Lesson'

The Associated Press is reporting this afternoon that a leading Iranian cleric, Ayatollah Ahmed Khatami, during his Friday sermon at Tehran University called for the execution of the protest leaders as a means to stopping dissent and to provide a lesson to the opposition.

"Anybody who fights against the Islamic system or the leader of Islamic society, fight him until complete destruction," he said in the nationally broadcast speech.

The cleric alleged that some involved in the unrest had used firearms.

"Anyone who takes up arms to fight with the people, they are worthy of execution," he said. "We ask that the judiciary confront the leaders of the protests, leaders of the violations, and those who are supported by the United States and Israel strongly, and without mercy to provide a lesson for all."

Khatami said those who disturbed the peace and destroyed public property were "at war with God," and said they should be "dealt with without mercy."

He reminded worshippers that Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, rules by God's design and must not be defied.

The cleric also lashed out at foreign journalists, accusing them of false reporting, and singled out Britain for new criticism.

"In this unrest, Britons have behaved very mischievously and it is fair to add the slogan of 'down with England' to slogan of 'down with USA,'" he said, as his remarks were interrupted by worshippers' chants of "Death to Israel."

Meanwhile, USA TODAY's Ken Dilanian is reporting today that President Barack Obama is planning to fund groups that support Iranian dissidents. This would be a continuation of a program that became controversial when it was expanded by President George Bush, and would could contradict earlier administration statements that the United States is not providing support for the dissidents.

The U.S. Agency for International Development has for the last year been soliciting applications for $20 million in grants to "promote democracy, human rights, and the rule of law in Iran," according to documents on the agency's website. The final deadline for grant applications is June 30.

Dilanian reports:

U.S. efforts to support Iranian opposition groups have been criticized in recent years as veiled attempts to promote "regime change," said Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council, the largest Iranian-American advocacy group. The grants enable Iran's rulers to paint opponents as tools of the United States, he said.

Although the Obama administration has not sought to continue the Iran-specific grants in its 2010 budget, it wants a $15 million boost for the Near Eastern Regional Democracy Initiative, which has similar aims but does not specify the nations involved. Some of that money will be targeted at Iran, said David Carle, a spokesman for the appropriations subcommittee that oversees foreign affairs.

"Part of it is to expand access to information and communications through the Internet for Iranians," Carle said in an e-mail.

President Obama said this week the United States "is not at all interfering in Iran's affairs," rejecting charges of meddling that were renewed Thursday by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Asked how the democracy promotion initiatives square with the president's statement, White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said, "Let's be clear: The United States does not fund any movement, faction or political party in Iran. We support . . . universal principles of human rights, freedom of speech, and rule of law."

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said, "Respecting Iran's sovereignty does not mean our silence on issues of fundamental rights and freedoms, such as the right to peacefully protest." [The State Department oversees the USAID.]

The Bush program "was a horrible idea," Parsi said. "It made human-rights activists and non-governmental organizations targets."

Health Care: How Many Are Actually Uninsured?

We've all heard the number: 45.7 million Americans are without health care. This has been a driving argument for the passage of some kind of federally sponsored health-care program.

But is the number real? Is it overstated, or even understated?

FactCheck.org's Jess Henig took a look at the data, and comes to the conclusion that it may not be as high as that, but because of the job losses over the past months the number is likely to increase.

•The Census Bureau estimates that 45.7 million lacked health insurance at any given time in 2007. But fewer lacked coverage for the full year, and more did without for one or more months during the year. All three numbers are likely to be higher for 2008 due to massive job losses.

•Twenty-six percent of the uninsured are eligible for some form of public coverage but do not make use of it, according to The National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation. This is sometimes, but not always, a matter of choice.

•Twenty-one percent of the uninsured are immigrants, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. But that figure includes both those who are here legally and those who are not. The number of illegal immigrants who are included in the official statistics is unknown.

•Twenty percent of the uninsured have family incomes of greater than $75,000 per year, according to the Census Bureau. But this does not necessarily mean they have access to insurance. Even higher-income jobs don't always offer employer-sponsored insurance, and not everyone who wants private insurance is able to get it.

•Forty percent of the uninsured are young, according to KFF. But speculation that they pass up insurance because of their good health is unjustified. KFF reports that many young people lack insurance because it's not available to them, and people who turn down available insurance tend to be in worse health, not better, according to the Institute of Medicine.

Sanford Used State Funds to Visit Mistress in Argentina Last Summer

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford said he visited his mistress in Argentina last summer on a trip that was paid for by taxpayers, and that he plans to reimburse the state.

The visit was a taxpayer-financed trade mission to South America. The admission heighten calls for his resignation.

“While the purpose of this trip was an entirely professional and appropriate business development trip,” Mr. Sanford said in an e-mail statement issued by his office to The New York Times, “I made a mistake while I was there in meeting with the woman who I was unfaithful to my wife with.”

Jim Rutenberg and Robbie Brown of the Times write:

Mr. Sanford called questions about the trip to Argentina “very legitimate” and said he would reimburse its costs. Documents provided by the South Carolina Department of Commerce suggested that they totaled at least $12,000.

Coming one day after Mr. Sanford confessed that he had spent his week’s absence from the state in Argentina with the woman with whom he had been having a year-old affair, Thursday’s admission was yet another blow to his reputation and led several fellow South Carolina Republican leaders to say he could no longer serve as governor.

“I think he’s gone, it’s over,” said one of them, Harvey S. Peeler Jr., majority leader of the State Senate. “Leaving aside his personal life, when you use taxpayer dollars, that’s what Republicans are all about — spending tax dollars wisely. This was not spending tax dollars wisely.”

Mr. Peeler said calls from his constituents were running two to one in favor of the governor’s resignation, though he said that was ultimately Mr. Sanford’s call to make.

Robert W. Harrell Jr., speaker of the Republican-controlled House, said the governor would now have to decide whether he could remain effective in office. Glenn McCall, one of the two Republican national committeemen from South Carolina, called on him to resign, as did two newspaper editorial boards in the state.

But his spokesman, Joel Sawyer, said Mr. Sanford had “no plans to resign,” adding that the governor had called a cabinet meeting for Friday. And The Associated Press reported that Mr. Sanford himself, visiting his family at their beach house on Sullivans Island, near Charleston, shook his head no when, leaving the house by car, he was asked if he planned to step down.

“His next focus is going to be on building back the trust of South Carolinians,” Mr. Sawyer said.

State Senator Thomas C. Davis, the governor’s friend and former chief of staff, said, “Mark has never been one to bow to pressure, and I haven’t heard any calls yet for impeachment.”

Report: Michael Jackson Died After Taking Demerol

The Sun newspaper in London is speculating that the medication Demerol had a part to play in Michael Jackson's death today:

An Emergency Room source at UCLA hospital said Jackson aides told medics he had collapsed after an injection of potent Demerol — similar to morphine.

A Jacko source said: “Shortly after taking the Demerol he started to experience slow shallow breathing.

“His breathing gradually got slower and slower until it stopped.

“His staff started mouth-to-mouth and an ambulance was called which got there in eight minutes “But found he was in full respiratory arrest, no breathing and no pulse. They started full CPR and rushed him to hospital.

“When he arrived they started resuscitation, giving him heart shocks and inserted a breathing tube and other supportive measures to try and save his life.

“He never regained consciousness.The family was told that he had passed.”

WebMD describes Demerol as being used to treat moderate to severe pain. It is also used before and during surgery or other procedures with other types of pain medication. Meperidine (its generic name) acts on certain centers in the brain to give you pain relief. This medication is a narcotic pain reliever similar to morphine.

Drugs.com warns that dangerous side effects or death can occur when alcohol is combined with this narcotic pain medicine, and that Demerol may be habit-forming. It also notes that an overdose can cause death.

The State Reporter Describes How She Tracked Down Sanford at Airport on a Hunch

Reporter Gina Smith wrote a first-person piece in this morning's The State of Columbia, S.C., on how her hunch concerning Gov. Mark Sanford lead her to the airport and a meeting with the now-disgraced politician. (It could be that the newspaper had the e-mails from the governor describing the love affair six months ago, but there's more.)

“Is he there? Is he there?” I kept asking myself as I craned my neck, flipped on my digital recorder and booted up my digital camera.

It’s how you think when you’re playing a hunch, following an anonymous tip that Sanford would be on the plane and anonymous, unverifiable e-mails about an alleged affair between Sanford and woman from Argentina.

Then, my jaw dropped when Sanford appeared. My camera flashed, almost as a reflex.

“Governor,” I called. “Hey. It’s Gina with The State paper. Everybody’s been worried about where you’ve been. ... Have you been on the Appalachian Trail?”

“Well, that’s where I had planned to go when I decided to take a break ...” Sanford said, his voice trailing off. He suggested we grab a seat and have a talk.

Ahmadinejad Rejects Obama's Open Hand Gesture

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today rebuffed any notion of welcoming President Barack Obama's "open hand" gesture in remarks quoted in The New York Times and attributed to the Iranian Fars news agency.

Obama had sent a letter to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, before the election calling for an improvement in relations, The Washington Times reported on Wednesday.

The Fars news agency quoted Ahmadinejad today as saying in remarks addressed to Mr. Obama, “I hope you will avoid interfering in Iran’s affairs and express regret in a way that the Iranian people are informed of it.”

Apparently brushing aside Mr. Obama’s offers, made in the early days of his presidency, of a dialogue with Iran, Mr. Ahmadinejad said, “Mr. Obama made a mistake to say those things.”

“Our question is why he fell into this trap and said things that previously Bush used to say,” he said, according to Fars, quoted in western news agency reports.

Meanwhile, Iranian opposition leader Mir-Hossein Moussavi told Reuters that despite the violence, he has no plans to give up the fight for an annulment of the election results:

I am pressured to abandon my demand for the vote annulment … a major rigging has happened … I am prepared to prove that those behind the rigging are responsible for the bloodshed … Continuation of legal and calm protests will guarantee achieving our goals.

Seventy Iranian academic leaders were arrested yesterday after they met with opposition leader Mir-Hossein Moussavi, the defeated presidential candidate's website says today.

It is unclear where they are being held or for how long they will be detained.
According to state media, 17 people have died in the violence that has gripped the country, and opposition forces say hundreds have been held.

The Times reported:

The official Iranian news agency reported that intelligence and security agents in Tehran concluded that a Moussavi campaign office was used for “illegal gatherings, the promotion of unrest, and efforts to undermine the country’s security,” leading to speculation that Mr. Moussavi could be arrested. The news agency reported that “the plotters have been arrested.”

How the Neda Video Became the Most Important Image of the Iranian Protests

Bill Mitchell, writing for Poynter, explains the impact of the video of Neda's death during a protest in Tehran has affected how news is being covered.

The mention of her name at a presidential news conference reflected the extent to which Neda Soltani had become, as Malveaux put it, "the human face" of the weekend's dramatic events in Iran.

But the brief exchange between correspondent and president also represented something of particular relevance to journalists: a big step in a process that transformed a horrible but isolated event in Iran into international news.

It's a process -- call it Next Step Journalism -- that will shape more and more of the news we need from around the block and around the globe.Journalists have relied on a process approach to writing for years.

The Next Step Journalism process practiced on the Neda story began with an event and is characterized by the collective sharing and enhancing of information.

Such a process provides lots of opportunities for journalists and non-journalists alike to assess what a story needs next, figure out what he or she is best equipped to contribute, and move the story along.

He breaks it down into seven steps: documentation, context. transmission and distribution, verification, correction, analysis and sense-making.

In his piece, Mitchell dissects the process and how a short 30-second video made from a cell phone became the journalistic focus of what could be the biggest story of the year.

The State Publishes Excerpts of Sanford's E-mails to Lover in Argentina

The State of Columbia, S.C., published excerpts of e-mails sent by S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford to Maria, a woman in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

They were sent on Standofrd's personal e-mail account and obtained by The State in December. The newspaper did not explain why it held the e-mails for six months. It will publish the full exchange tomorrow.

The State removed the woman's full name and other personal details, including her address, e-mail address and children's names.

You have a particular grace and calm that I adore. You have a level of sophistication that so fitting with your beauty. I could digress and say that you have the ability to give magnificent gentle kisses, or that I love your tan lines or that I love the curve of your hips, the erotic beauty of you holding yourself (or two magnificent parts of yourself) in the faded glow of the night’s light - but hey, that would be going into sexual details.

S.C. Governor Sanford Admits Affair With Woman in Argentina; Wife Cites Trial Separation

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South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford tearfully admitted today to having an extramarital affair with a woman from Argentina, where he spent the Father's Day weekend without apparently telling his wife and staff.

The admission jeopardizes his marriage as well as his political aspirations, especially for the presidential race in 2012. He also faces the possibility of losing his position as governor.

Sanford has already resigned as chairman of the Republican Governors' Association and was replaced by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, another possible 2012 candidate.

"Any aspirations for 2012, if he had any, are certainly out of the question," Robert Oldendick, a political scientist at the University of South Carolina, told Matthew Bigg of Reuters.

When he first went missing, his staff had said that the governor was hiking on the Appalachian Trail. His wife Jenny Sanford, when contacted by a reporter, had said she did not know where he was.

His wife laste this afternoon in which she said that she asked her husband to leave two weeks after learning about his infidelity. She calls it a "trial separation."

She also said she remained "willing to forgive Mark completely for his indiscretions and to welcome him back, in time, if he continues to work toward reconciliation with a true spirit of humility and repentance." Here is her statement:

I would like to start by saying I love my husband and I believe I have put forth every effort possible to be the best wife I can be during our almost twenty years of marriage. As well, for the last fifteen years my husband has been fully engaged in public service to the citizens and taxpayers of this state and I have faithfully supported him in those efforts to the best of my ability. I have been and remain proud of his accomplishments and his service to this state.

I personally believe that the greatest legacy I will leave behind in this world is not the job I held on Wall Street, or the campaigns I managed for Mark, or the work I have done as First Lady or even the philanthropic activities in which I have been routinely engaged. Instead, the greatest legacy I will leave in this world is the character of the children I, or we, leave behind. It is for that reason that I deeply regret the recent actions of my husband Mark, and their potential damage to our children.

I believe wholeheartedly in the sanctity, dignity and importance of the institution of marriage. I believe that has been consistently reflected in my actions. When I found out about my husband's infidelity I worked immediately to first seek reconciliation through forgiveness, and then to work diligently to repair our marriage. We reached a point where I felt it was important to look my sons in the eyes and maintain my dignity, self-respect, and my basic sense of right and wrong. I therefore asked my husband to leave two weeks ago.

This trial separation was agreed to with the goal of ultimately strengthening our marriage. During this short separation it was agreed that Mark would not contact us. I kept this separation quiet out of respect of his public office and reputation, and in hopes of keeping our children from just this type of public exposure. Because of this separation, I did not know where he was in the past week.

I believe enduring love is primarily a commitment and an act of will, and for a marriage to be successful, that commitment must be reciprocal. I believe Mark has earned a chance to resurrect our marriage.

Psalm 127 states that sons are a gift from the Lord and children a reward from Him. I will continue to pour my energy into raising our sons to be honorable young men. I remain willing to forgive Mark completely for his indiscretions and to welcome him back, in time, if he continues to work toward reconciliation with a true spirit of humility and repentance.

This is a very painful time for us and I would humbly request now that members of the media respect the privacy of my boys and me as we struggle together to continue on with our lives and as I seek the wisdom of Solomon, the strength and patience of Job and the grace of God in helping to heal my family.

Obama Sent Letter to Iran's Supreme Leader Urging Cooperation, Report Says

President Barack Obama sent a letter to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, calling for an improvement in relations, according to interviews and the leader himself, Barbara Slavin of The Washington Times is reporting.

Ayatollah Khamenei confirmed the letter toward the end of a lengthy sermon last week, the Times said, in which he accused the United States of fomenting protests in his country in the aftermath of the disputed June 12 presidential election.

Obama's olive branch offer is consistent with his campaign promise to sit down with leaders of nations that sponsor terrorism without preconditions. It is also in alignment with his inauguration day promise "that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."

The letter was sent before the election, and its exact contents are not known. Administration officials have been reluctant to talk about the letter a day after Obama gave his strongest condemnation yet of the Iranian crackdown against protesters.

The Washington Times quoted an anonymous Iranian government source as saying that the letter was sent between May 4 and May 10, and laid out the prospect of "cooperation in regional and bilateral relations" and a resolution of the dispute over Iran's nuclear program.

The Iranian told the Times the letter was given to the Iranian Foreign Ministry by a representative of the Swiss Embassy, which represents U.S. interests in Iran in the absence of U.S.-Iran diplomatic relations. The letter was then delivered to the office of Ayatollah Khamenei, the Times said.

Swedish Ambassador to North Korea Visits Euna Lee and Laura Ling

Euna Lee and Laura Ling, the two detained American journalists in North Korea, were visited by the Swedish ambassador in Pyongyang, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said in Washington.

The United States has not received a full report on the meeting from Mats Foyer, the ambassador, Kelly said. He reiterated that Washington continues to press Kim Jong Il’s regime to release the pair.

Sweden represents U.S. interests in North Korea in the absence of diplomatic relations.

The two women were abducted along the Chinese border on March 17 while reporting for Current TV, co-founded by former Vice President Al Gore, on the human trafficking of women. They were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for "hostile acts," presumably crossing the border. Diplomats in Beijing have said that it is questionable that the pair actually crossed the border.

Globe, Unions Reach Tentative Deal on $10 Million in Cuts

The Boston Globe and the Guild reasched a tentative agreement last night on $10 million in wage and benefit cuts. The unratified deal is structured to make the 137-year-old newspaper more attractive to a buyer.

It provides a smaller pay cut - 5.9 percent - in exchange for deeper benefit reductions. It eliminates lifetime job guarantees for about 170 veteran Boston Newspaper Guild employees, and freezing the pension plan.

“Our aim throughout our negotiations has been to achieve the necessary savings in a way that causes the least hardship for our employees,’’ said Globe publisher P. Steven Ainsley in a statement. “We’re very pleased to have reached an agreement that accomplishes those goals.’’

Union president Daniel Totten was quoted in the Globe as saying: “It’s been an exhausting process and a very difficult process for the members."

The Guild represents nearly 700 editorial, advertising, and business office employees. A vote has been set for July 20. The first offer failed by 12 votes out of more than 500 cast.

Obama Moves Press Conference Inside, TelePrompter and All

It was a mad scramble yesterday as President Barack Obama decided at the last moment to move the press conference from the Rose Garden to the White House briefing room.

Flags and podiums had to be moved back and forth. But most importantly, Obama’s TelePrompters were relocated so the president would know what to say in his opening remarks.

The hot, humid weather prompted the move. Presidential aides said it was uncomfortable for everyone, but it's also sure that they didn't want any images of Obama with sweat stains on a white shirt.

Obama's Words: What He Doesn't Mention Is Just as Important

So, what did President Barack Obama fail to mention during his 55-minute press conference yesterday? Mike Allen of POLITICO has an interesting take this morning:

A couple of surprising words were missing from President Barack Obama’s 55-minute news conference on Wednesday: “Iraq” — and “Afghanistan.”

Also MIA: “Korea,” “Pakistan,” “soldiers,” “surge” and “war” — as well as the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines.

The omissions were partly a result of the short attention span of the press, which did not ask about those topics after the president did not mention them in his opening statement.

But the silence on those subjects also provides a striking illustration of one of the singular differences between Obama and his predecessor.

Whereas President George W. Bush invoked his status as wartime commander in chief so often that it seemed like a crutch, Obama has much more of a domestic focus, and resists rhetorical calls to arms like “war on terror.”

It’s the Mars and Venus of the 43rd and 44th presidencies.

David Axelrod, Obama’s senior adviser, said the president’s aides have never had a conversation about balancing the role of commander in chief with domestic-policy priorities.

“He feels equally comfortable on each role,” Axelrod said. “His focus isn’t just solving the problems as we find them, but hopefully forestalling some for the future.”

Obama aides say that the attack of 9/11 made war central to Bush’s presidency, whereas a twice-in-a-century recession has forced them to multitask — restoring the economy at the same time the president was engineering a surge of troops into Afghanistan.

CNN Looks at Neda, the Person

CNN takes a look at who was Neda Agha Sultan, the Iranian woman whose death was caught on a cell phone video and who has becaome a rallying point for protesters in that country.

The second of three children, Neda lived with her parents in a middle-class neighborhood east of Tehran.

She was a happy, positive person. Though she studied philosophy and religion at the Azad Islamic University, she was more spiritual than religious. She also loved music. She once studied violin but had given it up and was planning to take up piano next. She had just bought a piano, but it had not yet been delivered.

Her demeanor was typically calm, even serene, but she had a quirky, playful sense of humor. A friend recalled that once, when Neda was visiting her friend's house, she picked up a white Teddy bear, took off her big, purple-studded earrings and put them on the bear. Then she removed a necklace from around the neck of a friend and put it around the bear's neck, taking delight in the bear's transformation.

She liked to travel, having visited Turkey three months ago with a tour group. And she believed in human rights, her friend said.

Reports: U.S. Strike in Pakistan Kills 50 Taliban Militants at Funeral Procession

At least 50 people have been killed and scores others injured after U.S. drones fired several missiles on what Washington calls insurgents' targets in the troubled northwest Pakistan, accroding to PressTV, a news network funded by the Iranian government that broadcasts in English.

Western media, including the BBC, have identified the dead as Taliban militants.

The causalities occurred when three drones fired missiles on Tuesday afternoon at the funeral procession in the South Waziristan bordering Afghanistan, according to the Iranian report. The missiles hit the funeral of people who were killed earlier in the day during a similar strike in the volatile region, the report said.

At least eight people were killed and a dozen other injured in the first U.S. strike by an unmanned drone aircraft hit near Makeen village, 60 kilometres (37 miles) northeast of Wana, the main town in South Waziristan, the report said.

The Khaleej Times, an English language daily newspaper published from Dubai, United Arab Emirates,
has this report:

The attacks came hours after a militant leader who had defected from Pakistani Taliban head Baitullah Mehsud was assassinated by an “infiltrator” in the adjoining district of North Western Frontier Province.

A pilotless aircraft on Tuesday morning fired three missiles to target a hideout used regularly by Mehsud’s fighter in South Waziristan, a security official said on condition of anonymity.

“The missiles hit a Taliban markaz (centre) in the Makeen (area), killing at least seven Taliban,” the official said. Four more militants were injured and two vehicles were destroyed by the strike.

Later, as Taliban members were attending the funeral of their dead comrades, another suspected US drone fired four guided missiles at them.

“Our local sources are saying that 45 people have died and more than 60 are injured,” said the official.

“Almost all of those killed and injured are Taliban and a senior commander of Mehsud’s, Sangeen Khan is confirmed dead, while there are reports that Mehsud’s deputy, Qari Hussain, might also have died.

It seems that Taliban have suffered huge losses, its a major setback for them, he added.

Another intelligence official put the death toll at 50 and claimed that Taliban chief Mehsud himself was attending the funeral. “We are trying to confirm whether he died in the strike or managed to survive it.”

The first drone strike came around two and half hours after Taliban commander, Qari Zainuddin, who had defected Mehsud was shot dead in his compound in the town of Dera Ismail Khan, located adjacent to South Waziristan.

Iran Continues Its Repressive Crackdown on Journalists

A crackdown against journalists and cyber-dissidents is continuing in Iran today, Reporters sans frontières reports. Iranian and foreign journalists are both being targeted by security police.

Among the latest arrests was that of a correspondent for Newsweek, Maziar Bahari, picked up at his home in Tehran on Sunday, Reporters sans frontières said.

“The authorities are using all possible methods to drive foreign journalists out of Iran, where they are unwanted witnesses to bloody repression,” the worldwide press freedom organisation said. “The arrest of the Newsweek correspondent is a clear sign of the regime’s determination to intimidate journalists whether Iranian or foreign, local or international newspaper correspondents.”

Reporters sans frontières says 26 journalist have been arrested since the protests have started.

“After demonising the foreign media, the authorities are trying to have it believed that Iranian journalists are spies in the pay of foreigners, confusing news reporting with spying”, it added.

The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that Iranian security agents arrested about 25 employees of Kalameh Sabz, the reformist newspaper owned by defeated presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, after raiding the paper's offices on Monday evening.

Alireza Beheshti, the paper's editor-in-chief, told the Farsi-language service of Deutsche-Welle that the agents, in plain clothes but armed, rounded up employees and confiscated computers at newspaper's offices in Haft Tir Square, Tehran. He said the agents claimed to have a judge's warrant but did not produce it.

The government has blocked Kalameh Sabz from publishing since June 14, CPJ research shows. The employees were believed to have been at the offices on Monday evening to pick up their pay, according to local news reports.

At the United Nations, Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, urged the Iranian authorities to respect fundamental civil and political rights, including freedom of expression, the right to inform the public and of free assembly.

Iran's Interior Ministry today dismissed claims by the defeated candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi that certain irregularities took place in the June 12 election.

The Iran security services went to the home of Bahari, 41, early in the morning and seized his computer and video recordings. He had been interrogated on June 17 by the Guardians of the Revolution about one of his video recordings relating to the death of a demonstrator. His family said that they have had no news of him since his arrest, according to information obtained by Reporters sans frontières. Newsweek put out a statement yesterday strongly condemning his arrest and calling for his immediate release.

Elsewhere, Reporters sans frontières learned of the arrest at midnight yesterday at his home of Mostafa Ghavnlo Ghajar, a contributor to several newspapers and a specialist on foreign media on Radio Goftogo. Freelance journalist Fariborez Srosh was also reportedly arrested on June 16. He has been imprisoned in the past because of his work with Radio farda (Radio Free Europe).

Eleven days after the presidential election, 26 journalists are currently behind bars. With a total of 36 journalists now jailed, Iran is the world’s biggest prison for journalists, ahead of China and Cuba.

Obama on Iran Riots: 'It's heartbreaking'

President Barack Obama expressed his disappointment at the situation in Iran. "It's heartbreaking, and I think that anybody who sees it knows there's something fundamentally unjust" going on, he said.

Here is video of his comment on Iran:

Is Gannett Considering 4,500 in Layoffs on July 8?

Jim Hopkins on his Gannett Blog is asking Gannett officials if the chain is considering another round of layoffs, this time numbering 4,500 people nationwide.

In a comment, one of Gannett Blog's best sources has told us the following:

1. Principal executive and Chief Financial Officer Gracia Martore has ordered layoffs across the board from U.S. Community Publishing to USA Today, Corporate and the Broadcasting division.
2. On top of layoffs, salary reductions will happen in the broadcast division: a 10% salary reduction.
3. No new furloughs for the rest of the year.
4. Layoffs are scheduled for July 8. Estimated to be 4,500 for U.S. Community Publishing.

My questions:

1. Is any of the above information incorrect?
2. If any of the above is incorrect, please provide, point-by-point, the accurate information.

So far, no reply; nor would I expect that he gets one before July 8.

Obama's Team Protecting Cheney From Jon Stewart?

File this under the "Huh, which side are you on?" department.

Josh Gerstein of Politico writes this afternoon that the Obama administration wants to save former Vice President Dick Cheney from the likes of Daily Show host Jon Stewart.

That was the thrust of arguments the Justice Department presented Thursday, as it sought to prevent the release of an interview Cheney gave in 2004 to Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald as part of his investigation into the leak of the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson.

A Justice Department lawyer said releasing the records could leave Cheney open to attack by his political enemies, including late night talk show hosts. That, in turn, would make it harder for investigators to get cooperation from future presidents and vice presidents.

U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan didn’t decide immediately whether the summary and notes of the Cheney interview should be made public, but the judge said a declaration from former Justice Department official Steven Bradbury was inadequate to justify withholding the records.

Sen. (Not Ma'am) Boxer Dresses Down General Over Title

Patricia Murphy of Politics Daily had this little tidbit about how best to address Sen. Barbara Boxer:

At a sometimes contentious Capitol Hill hearing Tuesday, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee chairwoman, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), had a request for Army Corps of Engineers division leader, Brigadier General Michael Walsh.

During a terse exchange, as Boxer pressed Walsh on why key improvements have not been made by the Corps to the New Orleans levee system nearly four years after Hurricane Katrina, she asked, "Could you do me a favor? Could you say 'senator' instead of 'ma'am? It's just a thing. I worked so hard to get that title. I'd appreciate it."

The general's response? "Yes, Senator."

Albany Times Union Plans to Lay Off 45 People

The publisher of the Albany (N.Y.) Times Union says the newspaper has to trim up to 45 jobs from its payroll and cut 20 percent of the paper's operational costs.

Albany Newspaper Guild President Tim O’Brien said today the union fight the job cuts in court.

Kathy Bowen of the Schenectady (N.Y.) Daily Gazette reports:

Guild members overwhelmingly rejected the company’s contract proposal Monday, and Publisher George Hearst said the consequence of the action is an impasse.

“We made our best and final offer. We have to move forward now and try to make smart decisions in how to lean-up the cost of the business,” Hearst said.

The jobs to be cut would be union and nonunion positions, including editorial and advertising staffers, he said. The company has rejected the idea of cutting salaries or imposing unpaid furloughs and will instead cut positions.

“We are going to ask the people who are left to step up and do more work. It wouldn’t be fair to cut their salaries too,” he said.

O’Brien said the union is concerned for long-term employees who are at the top of the company pay scale and close to retirement.

“If someone is close to but not yet 55, they could lose half of their pension if they are laid off now,” he said.

Under the proposed three-year contract that was rejected by guild members by a vote of 125 to 35, the company would have been allowed to outsource any job and lay off workers without respect to seniority.

O’Brien said the disregard for seniority was unacceptable, and still is.

“We believe that legally we will have a strong case if they go forward,” he said.

Report: North Korea Will Aim Missile at Hawaii

UPDATED at 5:25 p.m. Eastern, Thursday, June 18 with Associated Press information on the positioning of U.S. missiles around Hawaii.

North Korea may fire a long-range ballistic missile toward Hawaii in early July, the Associated Press quoted a Japanese news report on Thursday.

U.S. military experts do not believe the North Korean missile has the range to strike U.S. territory, but that the threat in the near future is real.

The Associated Pres reported late Thursday afternoon:

The United States has positioned more missile defenses around Hawaii as a precaution against a possible North Korean launch across the Pacific, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday. "We do have some concerns if they were to launch a missile to the west in the direction of Hawaii," Gates said.

Gates told reporters at the Pentagon he has sent the military's ground-based mobile missile system to Hawaii, and positioned a radar system nearby. Together the systems theoretically could detect and shoot down a North Korean missile if it came to that.

"Without telegraphing what we will do, I would just say ... we are in a good position, should it become necessary, to protect Americans and American territory," Gates said.

The Japanese report also said that Russia and China urged the regime to return to international disarmament talks on its rogue nuclear program.


The missile is reportedly a Taepodong-2, believed to have the firing range of 3,500-6,000 kilometers (2,175-3,728 miles). But its actual range can be longer, the report said. The distance between North Korea and Hawaii is about 7,000 kilometers (4,350 miles).

It would be launched from North Korea's Dongchang-ni site on the northwestern coast, said the Yomiuri daily, Japan's top-selling newspaper. It cited an analysis by the Japanese Defense Ministry and intelligence gathered by U.S. reconnaissance satellites. The date is of the launch is not known, but the newspaper said it could come on the Fourth of July weekend.

In 2006, North Korea tested a test-fired a long-range missile on the Fourth of July, but it failed seconds after launch. The North also tested five smaller missiles that day in an exercise the White House called "provocative" but not an immediate threat.

The Associated Press reports also notes:

A spokesman for the Japanese Defense Ministry declined to comment on the report. South Korea's Defense Ministry and the National Intelligence Service - the country's main spy agency - said they could not confirm it.

Tension on the divided Korean peninsula has spiked since the North conducted its second nuclear test on May 25 in defiance of repeated international warnings. The regime declared Saturday it would bolster its nuclear programs and threatened war in protest of U.N. sanctions taken for the nuclear test.

U.S. officials have said the North has been preparing to fire a long-range missile capable of striking the western U.S. In Washington on Tuesday, Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it would take at least three to five years for North Korea to pose a real threat to the U.S. west coast.

Repression Live: Iran's Crackdown Seen Worldwide; Hotline Established to Aid Journalists in Danger

The BBC said today that Iran has widened electronic jamming of its services, as the country's Revolutionary Guard ordered domestic websites and blogs to remove any material that might "create tension" amid post-election unrest. Reporters are not allowed to cover unauthorised gatherings or move around freely in Tehran - but there are no controls over what they can write or say, according to the BBC.

Both the BBC's World News and Persian TV channels are now being jammed by "ground-based interference" in what one senior corporation insider told MediaGuardian.co.uk was akin to "electronic warfare".

Iranian authorities also blocked access to Yahoo Messenger early today as the country intensified its crackdown on all means of communication following Friday's controversial presidential poll.

Menawhile, Reporters sans frontières said this afternoon in Paris that two more journalists have been arrested.

Saide Lylaz, a business reporter for the newspaper Sarmayeh, who had been very critical of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s policies, is arrested at his home in Tehran. His wife says she does not know where he has been taken.

It is reported that Mohamad Atryanfar, the publisher of several newspapers including Hamshary, Shargh and Shahrvand Emrouz, was arrested on 15 June and was taken to the security wing of Evin prison.

This brings the total number of Iranian journalists arrested to at least 13.

Reporters sans frontières announced it has established a hotline for Iranian journalists in danger. SOS Presse, a phone hotline for journalists - (33) 1 4777-7414 - is open every day round the clock and, with the help of American Express, a Reporters sans frontières official can be quickly reached. Collect/reverse-charge calls can be made.

Late last night, Aldolfatah Soltani, a lawyer who represents many imprisoned journalists and who is a member of the Human Rights Defenders Centre, was arrested on the orders of the Tehran revolutionary court and is probably taken to the security wing at Tehran’s Evin prison. Ten or so opposition activists, politicians and civil society figures have been arrested in the course of the day in Tehran and three other major cities – Tabriz, Ispahan, and Shiraz.

The Guardian also reports these details:

BBC's Persian website has also been blocked by filters, although the corporation said people were finding a way to unblock them manually and that use of the site had been "massive". It was receiving five videos a minute from people within Iran.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard, an elite body answering to the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said through the state news service that Iranian websites and bloggers must remove any materials that "create tension", or else they would face legal action.

This is the first public statement from what is the country's most powerful military force since the crisis erupted.

Iranian reformist websites, as well as blogs and Western social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, have been vital conduits for Iranians to inform the world about protests over the bitterly contested declaration of election victory for the hardline president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

At least 20 websites affiliated to the defeated reformist candidate, Mir Hussein Mousavi, have been blocked, although some users can still update their profiles by using proxy sites.

"Before this we could bypass filtering by using proxy websites, the links for which were distributed daily among friends by email. But now the Iranian communication ministry has also begun to tackle proxy websites too," one Iranian student said.

"But there is still a small number of people who update their Facebook and Twitter profiles by using special anti-filtering programmes installed on their PC rather than regular proxy websites. The problem is that many people don't know how to use this software."

Obama Proposing Wide Powers to Seize Financial Corporations

President Barack Obama will unveil his proposal to further regulate the financial industry in his effort to avoid a repeat of the market meltdown we experienced last fall.

The New York Times has the 85-page proposal online. Stephen Labaton of the Times explains its reach:

The plan the president will formally announce on Wednesday would give the Federal Reserve greater supervisory authority over large financial institutions whose problems pose potential risks to the economic system. It would separately expand the reach of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to seize and break up troubled financial institutions. And it would create a council of regulators, led by the Treasury secretary, to fill in regulatory gaps.

In doing so, the plan seeks to give Washington the tools to police the shadow system of finance that has grown up outside the government’s purview, and to make it easier for regulators to head off problems at large, troubled institutions or take control of them if they fail.

The Fed is the big winner in this proposal, but blogger Matthew Goldstein asks, who will the Fed be accountable to in this new order?

Now this is not meant to knock the job the Fed has done in the current financial crisis. In many respects, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke should be applauded for showing a willingness to improvise and come up with creative solutions for trying to limit the damage to the banking system and the economy. But throughout the crisis, Benanke & Co. have shown an utter disdain for transparency and full disclosure.

A good illustration of this is the contracts the NY Fed signed last fall with investment advisor Blackrock to manage the distressed assets the Fed acquired from AIG, the hobbled insurance giant. The contract between the NY Fed and Blackrock for managing the CDOs that AIG insured and the Fed took off the banks’ hands is 37 pages. But a good number of those pages are blank –- some 13 page to be exact.

And what is spelled out on these blank pages? Oh, just a few minor details like the fees paid to Blackrock, the firm’s potential CDO conflicts and the firm’s key personnel managing the assets. To be clear, this information isn’t totally secret. All this information has been disclosed to the NY Fed. It’s just that Fed officials have seen fit to keep this information secret from the public.

But if you’re counting on this veil of secrecy to be lifted by the Obama administration when it unveils its regulatory overhaul plan on Wednesday —- think again. The architect of the financial regulatory overhaul is Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, who just happened to head the NY Fed when these contracts with Blackrock were signed.

Obama Slams FOX for Being 'Devoted to Attacking My Administration'

President Barack Obama, in an interview with CNBC’s John Harwood, acknowledged what he called "generally positive" coverage in the first six months of his administration, but took the opportunity to take a swing at FOX News.

“I’ve got one television station that is entirely devoted to attacking my administration. That’s a pretty big megaphone. You’d be hard pressed if you watched the entire day to find a positive story about me on that front,” Obama said.

“We welcome people who are asking us some tough questions. I think I’ve probably been as accessible as any president in the first six months…..I think that actually the reason people have been generally positive about what we’ve been trying to do is people feel as if I’m available and willing to answer questions and we haven’t been trying to hide the ball.”

PricewaterhouseCoopers: Newspapers to Lose 32 Percent of Ad Revenue by 2013

Over the next five years, newspapers will lose $13 billion on the weight of dropping about 32 percent of its advertising revenue as digital technologies become increasingly widespread, according to the PricewaterhouseCoopers Global Entertainment and Media Outlook 2009-2013 recently released report.

The report expects print advertising to fall the most from $36.7 billion in 2008 to $24.3 billion in 2013. Online advertising revenue is anticipated to decline over the next two years. PWC expects online ad revenue to grow to $3.7 billion in 2013 -- a 2.5% increase when compounded annually from 2008.

The global entertainment and media market as a whole, including both consumer and advertising spending will grow by 2.7 percent compounded annually for the entire forecast period to $1.6 trillion in 2013. Initially, the report said, the industry should expect to see a 3.9 percent drop in 2009 and a mere 0.4 percent advance in 2010, with a period of much faster growth during the remaining period to 7.1 percent in 2013.

The report said PreicewaterhouseCoopers is expecting that this recession will last longer than previous ones because of a steeper downturn, and that the impact on consumer spending will be much steeper than in the past. However the economic downturn does not change the underlying drivers for digital migration and will more likely influence their pace and power and hence the timing of industry change. In short, making it more difficult to hide from the digital migration, the report said.

During the period under review, the switch to digital will drive divergences in revenue performance between different segments and geographies. Change will impact the managing of brands, characters, titles and talent across distribution platforms supported by new commercial models.

Marcel Fenez, global leader entertainment and media practice officer for PricewaterhouseCoopers, said, “In some ways this could be called 'the perfect storm.' Inside every cloud is a silver lining and in this case, a digital one. Companies who grasp the opportunities which are appearing in this fast changing marketplace and are agile enough to adapt their business models will be able to take full advantage of the potential and new revenue models as they emerge.

“In previous years we have talked about the Net Generation and how their demands are driving the industry towards new business models," Fenez said. "Interestingly, in this “income elastic” climate where spending power has to stretch even further than before, this younger generation is now exerting influence over older generations who are, in turn, taking a growing interest in new and emerging platforms. End-user spending through digital/ mobile platforms accounted for 23.4 percent of the overall consumer/end-user/ access market in 2008 and we expect this to account for 78 percent of total growth during the next five years.”

ABC Defends Decision to Broadcast 'World News" From White House

ABC News will broadcast "World News" from the Blue Room in the White House on June 24, sparking criticism on from the right that it gives the impression that President Barack Obama and white House officials will control the content of the nightly news.

Charles Gibson will anchor the telecast, which will focus on the president's health-care reform package.

Republican National Committee Chief of Staff Ken McKay wrote to David Westin, president of ABC News, and complained about the broadcast. The letter was posted on the Drudge Report:

Dear Mr. Westin:

As the national debate on health care reform intensifies, I am deeply concerned and disappointed with ABC's astonishing decision to exclude opposing voices on this critical issue on June 24, 2009. Next Wednesday, ABC News will air a primetime health care reform “town hall” at the White House with President Barack Obama. In addition, according to an ABC News report, GOOD MORNING AMERICA, WORLD NEWS, NIGHTLINE and ABC’s web news “will all feature special programming on the president’s health care agenda.” This does not include the promotion, over the next 9 days, the president’s health care agenda will receive on ABC News programming.

Today, the Republican National Committee requested an opportunity to add our Party's views to those of the President's to ensure that all sides of the health care reform debate are presented. Our request was rejected. I believe that the President should have the ability to speak directly to the America people. However, I find it outrageous that ABC would prohibit our Party's opposing thoughts and ideas from this national debate, which affects millions of ABC viewers.

In the absence of opposition, I am concerned this event will become a glorified infomercial to promote the Democrat agenda. If that is the case, this primetime infomercial should be paid for out of the DNC coffers. President Obama does not hold a monopoly on health care reform ideas or on free airtime. The President has stated time and time again that he wants a bipartisan debate. Therefore, the Republican Party should be included in this primetime event, or the DNC should pay for your airtime.

Respectfully,
Ken McKay
Republican National Committee
Chief of Staff

ABC News Senior Vice President Kerry Smith on Tuesday responded to the RNC complaint, telling the Drudge Report that the complaint contained 'false premises':

"ABC News prides itself on covering all sides of important issues and asking direct questions of all newsmakers -- of all political persuasions -- even when others have taken a more partisan approach and even in the face of criticism from extremes on both ends of the political spectrum. ABCNEWS is looking for the most thoughtful and diverse voices on this issue.

"ABC News alone will select those who will be in the audience asking questions of the president. Like any programs we broadcast, ABC News will have complete editorial control. To suggest otherwise is quite unfair to both our journalists and our audience."

Iran Tightens Its Fist on Reporters; 11 Iranian Journalists Arrested

Iran's brutal crackdown on journalists and information that began after the announcement of the disputed presidential election results is continuing and getting worse as journalists are being rounded up and arrested, reports Reporters sans frontières, whose press release and report are the sources of this post. Additional censorship measures have been adopted as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tries to suppress media coverage of fraud allegations.

“Independent sources of news and information find it very hard to make their voice heard now in Iran because of the censorship,” Reporters sans frontières said. “The authorities are tightening their grip on all news media and means of communication that could be used to dispute Ahmadinejad reelection ‘victory’. They are doing everything possible to limit coverage of the consequences of the election fraud.”

The advocacy agency reiterates its appeal to the international community not to recognise the results of the presidential election first round held on June 12.

“A democratic election is one in which the media are free to monitor the electoral process and investigate fraud allegations but neither of these two conditions has been met for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s supposed reelection,” the agency said. “We urge the international community, especially European countries, not to recognise the results announced by the authorities as long as the electoral process is subject to censorship. An election won by means of censorship and arrests of journalists is not democratic.”

The security services have moved into the offices of newspapers where they are reading articles and censoring content. Mehdi Karoubi, one of the candidates, referred to the censorship in a press release. “I cannot even publish my release in my newspaper Etemad Meli,” he said.

The newspaper’s front page shows a photo of Ahmadinejad at a rally with columns left blank because of editing by the censors. The newspaper Velayat in the province of Qazvin (north of Tehran) has been suspended for publishing a cartoon of Ahmadinejad.

Even governmental news sources have been targeted in the crackdown. Four interior ministry officials have been arrested for given results that were different from those announced by Ahmadinejad’s allies, Reporters sans frontières said.

Four pro-reform newspapers have been closed or prevented from criticizing the official election results following a warning from Tehran prosecutor general Said Mortazavi. Kalameh Sabaz, a daily owned by opposition presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavi, had its distribution blocked and it was forced to change a front page announcing Mousavi’s victory. It has not been able to publish any issue since June 13.

Eleven Iranian journalists have been arrested since June 12. Reza Alijani, Hoda Sabaer and Taghi Rahmani were arrested on June 13. Alijani and Rahmani were released yesterday evening. Freelancer Kivan Samimi Behbani, the former editor of Nameh (“The Letter”), an independent monthly closed in 2005, and Ahamad Zeydabadi were also arrested and then released.

Abdolreza Tajik was arrested at midday yesterday at the headquarters of the newspaper Farhikhtegan by three men in plain-clothes. A member of the Human Rights Defenders Centre, Tajik has worked for many Iranian publications that have been closed by the authorities, including Bahar (closed in 2001), Hambastegi (closed in 2003) and Shargh (closed in 2008).

Five of the journalists arrested in the past few days are still detained. They include Said Shariti, the editor of the news website Nooroz, who is being held by the police, and Mahssa Amrabadi of the daily Etemad Melli. She was arrested at her home yesterday by intelligence ministry agents who came with a warrant for the arrest of her husband, fellow-journalist Masoud Bastani. He was not at home at the time.

Two women journalists working at the Mousavi campaign headquarters were physically attacked on June 12. The Mousavi campaign news centre was ransacked on June 13 by Ahmadinejad supporters, who destroyed its computers. The Qalam News agency operated out of this centre.

There is no word of about 10 other journalists who have either been arrested or gone into hiding.

Iran is also fighting against the Internet, controlling and blocking all news websites likely to challenge Ahmadinejad’s announced victory. Ten or so pro-opposition websites have been censored. Most of the world is getting its news out of Iran from Twitter and other Internet sites.

The censored websites include www.entekhab.ir/ (inaccessible since June 11), www.ayandenews.com/ (inaccessible since June 12), teribon.com/, the pro-reform sites khordadeno.com/, aftabnews.ir/index.php and ghalamesabz.com/, norooznews.ir (the news website of the pro-Mousavi Islamic Participation Party) and www.ghalamsima.com/ (which also supports the Mousavi campaign). And the women’s rights website www.we-change.org/ has been blocked for the 20th time.

The international websites YouTube and Facebook are hard to access, the journalism agency reports. The mobile phone network is being jammed. The service of the leading mobile phone operator, which is state controlled, has been suspended since 10 p.m. on 13 June. The SMS messaging network has been cut since the morning of June 12, preventing use of Twitter.

The blockage of the foreign media has been stepped up. In addition to the blocking of the BBC’s website, the Farsi-language satellite broadcasts of the VOA and BBC – which are very popular in Iran – have been partially jammed. The BBC reported that their Farsi broadcasts have been the target of significant jamming “coming from Iran” since 12:45 Greenwich Mean Time on June 12, and that the jamming has been getting steadily worse.

The authorities yesterday ordered the Tehran bureau of the Arab satellite TV news station Al-Arabiya closed for a week after it broadcast video of the first demonstration following the announcement of Ahmadinejad’s reelection.

Foreign journalists have been prevented from covering the demonstrations, some have been notified that their visas will not be renewed, and some have been the victims of police violence. A member of a TV crew working for the Italian station RAI and a Reuters reporter were beaten by police in the capital. A BBC TV crew was threatened by police at one point, but demonstrators chased the police away. The correspondents of the German TV stations ARD and ZDF were forbidden to leave their hotel on June 13. Reuters reports that its journalists are banned from leaving their office or taking pictures.

Two Dutch TV journalists working for Nederland 2 were arrested and expelled. Reporter Yolanda Alvarez of the Spanish television station TVE was deported together with her crew today.

Accused 9/11 Mastermind: I Made Up Stories to Stop Torture

Accused al Qaeda mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed testified at a 2007 hearing at Guantanamo Bay that interrogators tortured lies out of him, according to sections of government transcripts released Monday.

"I make up stories," Mohammed said during the hearing.

The Associated Press gives this account:

In broken English, he described an interrogation in which he was asked the location of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

"Where is he? I don't know," Mohammed said. "Then he torture me. Then I said, `Yes, he is in this area or this is al Qaeda which I don't know him.' I said no, they torture me."

During the same military tribunal hearing, Mohammed ticked off a list of 29 terror plots in which he said he participated.

The transcripts were released as part of a lawsuit in which the American Civil Liberties Union is seeking documents and details of the government's terror detainee programs.

Previous accounts of the military tribunal hearings had been made public, but the Obama administration went back and reviewed the still-secret sections and determined that more could be released.

ACLU lawyer Ben Wizner called on the Obama administration to disclose more details, saying the new materials "provide further evidence of brutal torture and abuse in the CIA's interrogation program and demonstrate beyond doubt that this information has been suppressed solely to avoid embarrassment and growing demands for accountability."

Want to Know What It's Like in a North Korean Gulag?

If you have five minutes to spare today, read Melanie Kirkpatrick's piece in today's Wall Street Journal on the harsh conditions in a North Korean "re-education camp."

Here are some excerpts:

North Koreans can end up in re-education camps for such crimes as listening to foreign radio broadcasts, secretly practicing a religion, or crossing the border to China in search of food. Inmates are subjected to forced labor and are required to memorize political tracts. They receive little food, no medical care and sometimes serve multiyear terms wearing the clothes in which they arrived at camp. I interviewed a woman who had been wearing high heels when she was arrested and had to bind her feet in rags when those wore out. Many prisoners die of abuse or malnutrition.

Political prisoners are held under even harsher conditions in kwan li so penal camps. The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea estimates the number of political prisoners at 200,000; the State Department puts it at between 150,000 and 200,000. Political offenses include such crimes as sitting on a newspaper that contains a picture of dictator Kim Jong Il. Punishment is often collective and can extend to three generations of the offender's entire family.

Shin Dong-Hyok may be the only person to have escaped from a kwan li so camp. Mr. Shin, now in his mid-20s and living in Seoul, was born and spent the first 22 years of his life in Camp No. 14, a so-called total control facility. In an interview at The Wall Street Journal's headquarters in New York last year, Mr. Shin spoke of growing up. His formal education was limited to the rudiments of reading and writing. Because political prisoners are usually incarcerated for life, the camps don't bother with political re-education; Mr. Shin said he didn't even know who Kim Jong Il was until after his escape. Nor did he understand the concept of money until, after his escape, he walked through a market and noticed bits of colored paper being exchanged for food.

At 12 or 13 -- he is unsure of the year in which he was born -- he was forced to watch the executions of his mother, who was hanged, and his brother, who was shot. They had attempted to escape. Hoping to pry information out of him -- Mr. Shin had none -- camp officials bound the boy's hands and feet, embedded a hook in his groin and dangled him over a fire. In the Journal's conference room, Mr. Shin pulled up a leg of his trousers to show me the scars.

Pyongyang Claims Journalists Admit They Entered North Korea Illegally

UPDATED, 10 a.m. Eastern, June 17: (adds China Daily information)
Take this for what it's worth.

The official Korean Central News Agency announced today that the two American journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling of Current TV, were detained in North Korean territory after crossing into the country illegally.

The women, tried in North Korea's highest court earlier this month, "admitted and accepted" their punishment of 12 years' hard labor for committing politically motivated "criminal acts," the report said.

"The accused admitted that what they did were criminal acts committed, prompted by the political motive to isolate and stifle the socialist system of the DPRK by faking up moving images aimed at falsifying its human rights performance and hurling slanders and calumnies at it," it said.

China Daily provided this account of the North Korean statement today:

The reporting team from Current TV crossed the frozen Tumen River dividing the DPRK and China three months ago and walked up the river bank - all the while recording their transgression, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

"We've just entered a North Korean (DPRK) courtyard without permission," the Korean translation of their narration on the videotape said, according to KCNA. One of them picked up and pocketed a stone as a memento of the illegal move, the report said.

Two women - reporter Laura Ling and editor Euna Lee - were arrested in Kangan-ri in North Hamgyong Province, the report said. A third person, Current TV executive producer Mitch Koss, and their Korean-Chinese guide managed to flee, KCNA said.

Last Monday, Lee and Ling were sentenced in the DPRK's top court to 12 years of hard labor for what KCNA called politically motivated crimes. They were accused of crossing into the DPRK to capture video for a "smear campaign" focused on human rights, the report said.

The DPRK refers to North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Chinese diplomats have said that the pair were on the Chinese side of the Tunan River, which forms the border, on March 17 when North Korean guards abducted them. The two were working on a story about the human trafficking of women by North Korea

Globe Management, Union Talks Last Through the Night, Will Resume Today

What started as an informational session turned into a negotiation as Boston Globe management and the Guild spent the evening bargaining over a proposed 23 percent wage cut.

Globe spokesman Robert Powers, as quoted by Robert Gavin in this morning's Boston Globe, described the discussions as substantive. Boston Newspaper Guild leaders expresed optimism that a deal could be reached.

"We discussed many issues during today's meeting with the Guild, but have not reached an agreement," Powers said early this morning.

"Talks are continuing," said Daniel Totten, president of the Boston Newspaper Guild.

The Guild came to the meeting with "offer of resolution" to management. That triggered an in-depth discussions over the $10 million in cuts demanded by The New York Times Co., which owns the newspaper.

About a week ago the Guild narrowly rejected a $10 million package of concessions. After the vote, management cut wages for the nearly 700 editorial, advertising, and business office employees represented by the Guild by 23 percent. Any new agreement must be ratified by the rank-and-file, but under Guild bylaws, the vote could not take place for at least 30 days.

Seattle Times Completes Sale of Maine Newspapers

The Seattle Times completed its sale yesterday of Blethen Maine Newspapers, a media holding firm that includes the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, to a company doing business as MaineToday Media Inc.

The chief executive officer of MainToday announced no immediate changes, at least for now.

"There are no immediate changes with the exception that I am guessing somewhere in the next week we will be adding back some news space. Exactly how much I don’t know,” said Richard L. Connor, chief executive officer of MaineToday Media Inc.

Connor will become editor and publisher of the Press Herald and Sunday Telegram, as well as the Kennebec Journal in Augusta and the Morning Sentinel in Waterville. Included in the sale is The MaineToday websites and niche print publications.

This is a turnaround from last week when Connor said the organization might cut 100 jobs when the sale is completed.

Albany Times Union Workers Reject Bid to Allow Outsourcing

Albany (N.Y.) Times Union workers today voted down by 125 to 35 a contract offer that would have allowed management to outsource any and all jobs and lay off employees regardless of tenure.

Publisher George Hearst had pushed for the vote. The Guild's website reported the union's reaction:

“Had the membership approved the company’s proposal, we would have respected their decision and been bound by it,” said Guild President Tim O’Brien. “The publisher sought this vote, told members how important it was to him that they vote and he needs to respect their decision. Our members were quite clear on what they found unacceptable in the company’s offer and they have been telling us what changes would make it acceptable. We intend to seek new bargaining dates and to go forward with a renewed spirit of flexibility.”

The publisher should take a renewed look at the proposal, listen to the concerns of his employees and come back to the table ready to compromise. [the Guild urged on its website.]

“As a sign of our good faith, the Guild is suspending its advertising campaign so that we can go forward with a new spirit of collaboration,” O’Brien said. “We look forward to returning to the table, and we believe the parties can and should come together in a compromise that will reflect both the perilous nature of our times as well as the need to continue to produce a quality newspaper staffed by local employees.”

One Protester Shot Dead in Tehran

At least one person is dead after militia fired into a crowd of protesters in Tehran today.

An Associated Press photographer saw one person shot dead and several others who appear seriously wounded in Tehran's Azadi Square. The shooting came from a compound for volunteer militia linked to Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard.

The gunfire Monday came after more than 100,000 opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad streamed through Tehran. They were not challenged by security forces despite an earlier ban on rallies for reformist leader Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Disputes over alleged vote rigging in last week's elections have touched off days of rioting in Tehran.

Sunday News Show Highlights for June 14

For all those too busy watching Mets and Yankees today, here is a condensed version of the offerings on today's Sunday News Shows.

Biden Doubts If Iran Election Was Legitimate; Protests Grow in Iran Over Results

There is still confusion over the election results in Iran, some of it coming from the United States.

Officially, the United States is recognizing the election results. Unofficially, Vice President Joe Biden didn't get the memo.

Biden said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" that he had doubts about whether Iran's presidential election was free and fair, though the United States must accept Teheran's claim that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won a resounding re-election.

U.S. officials are trying to understand whether the vote accurately reflected Iranians' response to President Barack Obama's effort to open a dialogue after a nearly 30-year diplomatic freeze, Biden said. "That's the question," Biden said, adding: "Is this the result of the Iranian people's wishes? The hope is that the Iranian people all their votes have been counted, they've been counted fairly. But look, we just don't know enough" since Friday's vote.

While Ahmadinejad insisted the results showing his landslide victory were fair and legitimate, Biden simply said, "You know I have doubts."

"It sure looks like the way they're suppressing speech, the way they're suppressing crowds, the way in which people are being treated, that there's some real doubt about that," Biden said.

Despite the fact that the vice president said the United States for now recognizes the election results, Major Garrett, reporting for FOX News, reports that an administration official, who did not want to be named, is more cautious:

A senior official, speaking without attribution, said the Obama administration would not describe the announced outcome of the Iranian election as legitimate or illegitimate.

It would also not describe a victory by Mir Hossein Mousavi as necessarily better than a victory - now claimed and endorsed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - by reigning Iranian President Mahmoud Ahamdinejad.

"We're not going to characterize what would have been a better or worse scenario," the official said. "We will deal with this as it is, not as we wish it to be. We have very serious foreign policy and national security issues at play here. That was the case yesterday. It is the case today."

The official said the White House and State Department will "follow closely" reports of voting irregularities and called the public statement by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on irregularities a "straight-forward" signal to the world about US concerns.

"We are continuing to follow and monitor developments, but we are not going to get ahead of the facts."

The senior official said there was legitimate reason to study complaints from Mousavi's camp that the former prime minister even lost in his own political base to Ahmadinejad, that cell phones and text messaging appeared to have been blocked, and that shortages in ballots may have denied millions a chance to vote.

Andrew Sullivan, writing on The Daily Dish for The Atlantic, reports that one ayatollah is protesting the results.

Grand Ayatollah Sanei in Iran has declared Ahmadinejad's presidency illegitimate and cooperating with his government against Islam. There are strong rumors that his house and office are surrounded by the police and his website is filtered. He had previously issued a fatwa, against rigging of the elections in any form or shape, calling it a mortal sin.

On the streets, protests are continuing. Here is recent video of riot cops riding motorcycles directly into a crowd of protesters.



When asked about reports of arrests and the detention of opposition leaders, including that of his challenger Mir Hussein Moussavi, Ahmadinejad gave a cryptic response during a news conference. Here is CNN's translation:

"The situation in the country is in a very good condition. Iran is the most stable country in the world, and there's the rule of law in this country, and all the people are equal before the law. And the presidential election has witnessed people's massive turnout. As I said, even in a soccer match, people may become excited and that may lead to a confrontation between them and the police force. This is something natural. A person coming out of a stadium may violate the traffic regulations. He will be fined by the police no matter who he is, an ordinary person or even a minister.

"So these are not problems for the people of Iran. 40 million people have participated in the election and these 40 million people will safeguard the elections, based on the Iranian culture. There is no partisanship based on the Western concept. In fact, the people are friends with one another, and they're going to cast their votes in favor of any candidate they like, and of course, such a voting process will not lead to any hostility among the people. And you go to the streets you see that people are friends with one another, and in Iran, no one asks the other whom you're going to vote for.

"The situation is very good, and Iran is on the threshold of making considerable progress. And definitely in the next four years, the status of Iran in the world will be further promoted.

Here is video of the CNN's Christian Amanpour pressing Ahamdinejad for answers concerning the challenger's safety:

Oil Demand Is Down, Supplies Are Up; So Why Are Gas Prices Climbing?

Toss everything you learned in Econ 101. There is plenty of oil available, and demand for gasoline is slipping. Traditionally, you would think that mixture would push the the price of gas at the pump downward. We all know that is not the case, but why? Well, there a new factors in play that did not exist six months ago.

1. Investors and oil-producing countries are hoarding the world supplies of oil as they are placing their bets on a global economic recovery later this year.

It didn't really get much media play last week, but OPEC decided last Thursday during the cartel's meeting in Vienna that it would to maintain output at current levels instead of priming the world pump with increased supplies in order to ease the price at the pump. For a change, demand is not king of the price structure. According to the International Energy Agency, global oil demand is currently projected at 83.3 million barrels a day, down 2.9 percent compared with the demand this time in 2008.

What OPEC is doing is placing its bet that instead of selling a barrel of oil now for $72, it will in a few months be able to sell the same barrel for $90 or more. It's probably a safe bet because ...

2. The dollar is weak in comparison to other major currencies, and by piling on debt we're shooting ourselves in the foot.

So, Mr. or Mrs. Investor. You own a barrel of oil. Would you sell it for a weak American dollars now? Or would you wait and bide your time and buy futures?

Vivienne Walt, writing for Time from Paris, has the answer:

Over the past two months, investors have plowed billions of dollars into oil futures. If the U.S. and other major industrial economies rebound, oil supplies could be depleted because the recession has prompted producer nations to freeze hundreds of projects to open new oil wells or upgrade existing ones. In the oil-rich Niger Delta, a major Nigerian government offensive against rebels has seriously disrupted production for several weeks. Venezuela's Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said in Vienna that his country could not afford to invest in major new oil exploration unless prices rise further. "We need a level of at least $70 [a barrel] to recuperate investment," he said on Thursday. Muhammad-Ali Zainy, senior energy analyst at the Center for Global Energy Studies in London, says oil demand could increase quickly once the recession ends, especially as China has begun to build up its strategic oil reserves. "We think the price is going to go up gradually," says Zainy.

Fueling that speculation is our $11.3 trillion debt (that's roughly $37,667 per American). Such high debt increases either the risk of devaluation of the dollar (as we print more dollars to pay interest) or the risk of inflation. At the same time, it can spark a challenge to dollar's role as the world's reserve currency. Currently, most of our debt is owned by China.

If another currency replaced the dollar as the reserve currency, the United States would face higher interest rates to attract capital, reducing economic growth for the long term.

The Economist wrote in May 2009:

The same old dilemma will eventually occur. Having spent a fortune bailing out their banks, Western governments will have to pay a price in terms of higher taxes to meet the interest on that debt. In the case of countries (like Britain and America) that have trade as well as budget deficits, those higher taxes will be needed to meet the claims of foreign creditors. Given the political implications of such austerity, the temptation will be to default by stealth, by letting their currencies depreciate. Investors are increasingly alive to this danger; ten-year Treasury bond yields are around a percentage point higher than they were at the start of the year.

Creditor nations tend to set the rules and the new global monetary system will be unable to operate without the approval of China, a creditor country that has capital controls and a managed currency. It has been assumed that China will have to move towards the Western model. But why not the other way round? Western countries adopted free capital markets, as the British adopted free trade in the 19th century, because it suited them. Will China now be able to call the shots? Uncomfortable as it might be for the West, the next monetary order is more likely to be made in Beijing than in New Hampshire.

All this means is that when you are filling up your pump at $3 a gallon, you're using weaker dollars to pay for not only future supplies, but you're paying the price of bailing out banks, and ironically, the auto industry. And right now, there are no pressures to halt this gradual increase.