Media Matters - Myths and falsehoods about the purported link between affordable housing initiatives and the financial crisis {...} Conservative and other media figures -- echoing a reported strategy on the part of Republicans -- have attempted to lay blame for the financial crisis on proponents of the expansion of affordable housing. Those attacks are premised on several myths and falsehoods. {...}

Media Matters - Ambinder reported Judy Black's PowerPoint linking Dems and Fannie and Freddie, but not her husband's link {...} The Atlantic 's Marc Ambinder reported that Judy Black, whom he identified as "a policy director (read: lead lobbyist) for Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck's DC arm" and "the wife of McCain strategist Charlie Black," forwarded a PowerPoint presentation on the "campaign contributions that Fannie and Freddie provided to leading Democratic members of Congress." But Ambinder did not point out that Charlie Black has lobbied for Freddie Mac. {...}

Shadow Cabinet confused with Bill Clinton, Hugh Hefner and John Wayne - Telegraph {...} It's not a Shadow Cabinet, it's a posse, led by the young John Wayne, and with a fair chance of riding into scandal since it teams Bill Clinton with Rita Hayworth and Playboy's Hugh Hefner with Dirty Den from EastEnders. {...}

Miracle at St. Anna : Review : Rolling Stone {...} Critics are raining down hard on Spike Lee's first war epic. And it's not like I don't have objectio... {...}

Pinhole skull-camera - Boing Boing {...}

Media Matters - CNN contributor West misled on Raines' and Johnson's purported roles in Obama campaign {...} On CNN, Diana West claimed that former Fannie Mae CEO Franklin Raines was among Sen. Barack Obama's "most trusted campaign advisers ... deeply implicated in the mess at Fannie and Freddie [Mac]." However, both Raines and the Obama campaign have denied that Raines is an adviser. Further, West did not note that Sen. John McCain's own "most trusted campaign advisers" have served as lobbyists for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or both. {...}

Media Matters - CBS' Reid aired McCain attacking Obama for purportedly being in the "Washington culture of lobbying" without noting McCain's own lobbying ties {...} On the CBS Evening News , Chip Reid uncritically aired video of Sen. John McCain claiming that the "crisis on Wall Street, my friends, started in the Washington culture of lobbying and influence-peddling, and [Sen. Barack Obama] was right square in the middle of it." However, Reid did not mention McCain's own ties to the "Washington culture of lobbying." According to a Mother Jones report, "at least 83" McCain aides, policy advisers, or fundraisers "have in recent years lobbied for the financial industry McCain now attacks." {...}