The Feminist Majority Foundation has objected to the U.S. Department of State's decision to award part of a $10 million grant to an anti-feminist group, the Independent Women's Forum for "leadership training, democracy education and coalition building assistance" to women in Iraq. The IWF, which was created initially to defend Clarence Thomas against charges of sexual harassment during his U.S.

MarketingSherpa, a weblog for PR professionals, has posted a job announcement from the NettResults PR firm, which operates throughout the Middle East as well as in Africa, Asia and East Europe. The company is seeking someone to "serve as one of the three key contact for the Multi-National Corps - Iraq (MNC-I) media team promoting development and aid news/events in-country to the Iraqi population. ... Ideal candidate speaks Arabic and has 8-10 yrs exper.

Markos Moulitsas of the Daily Kos weblog has written an insightful article about how bloggers helped turn the perception of first election debate in favor of John Kerry. "Bloggers, thinktanks, the Kerry campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) all worked to fact-check Bush and point out his bizarre behaviour," he writes. "The flow of information flowed two ways, as the party establishment and allied organisations worked hand-in-hand with the blogs to gather ammunition, then blast it out to the world.