Harry Reid somehow rose to be the Senate Majority Leader! Reid recently used the descriptor "negro" when talking about President Obama. It made no sense. He has now apologized. Especially because he realized he's losing his office on it.

A new show in CBS' fall lineup, Kid Nation, which took a bunch of kids and stuck them in the desert in New Mexico to live on their own for 40 days, is currently embroiled in controversy because the network made parents sign a 22-page waiver so their children could participate on the show. Basically, it seems like CBS took advantage of parents who were either willfully ignorant or saw the show as their kids' ticket to fame. Or maybe both! The financial rewards were laughable—$5,000 for participation, with a possible $20,000 bonus—and the penalties were severe: $5 million if parents or kids broke the confidentiality agreement. Ouch. Oh, and also? CBS owns the rights to the children's life stories in perpetuity and throughout the universe.

If you're heading to Vegas to cover BlogWorld & New Media Expo—"the world's first, industry-wide blogging tradeshow"—be sure you're properly credentialed. "Press credentials are open only to accredited members of the professional media and will require submission of articles and verification that you intend to write for a publication on the conference." Good idea! You don't want those untrustworthy, parasitic bloggers covering the event, would you? [Information Week, via]