​James O'Keefe, the same Republican operative/twerp/'investigative journalist' behind such secret stings as the undercover ACORN videos (yeah, the pimp costume guy) and the attempted tapping of U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu's phones went at it again today with a new video project. This time, O'Keefe got NPR executive Ron Schiller to say disparaging things about the Tea Party and Republicans by pretending to be from a group of radical Muslims with money to donate. But O'Keefe's latest stunt, in turn, got Republicans to speak badly of Muslims. Everyone wins! (Loses?) More inside Press Clips, our daily media round-up.

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​That's the idea put forward in David Carr's Media Equation column on Monday, titled "The Fading Power of Beck's Alarms." Beyond being a very fair look at Beck, six months after his "Restoring Honor" rally peak, Carr also gets to be the first big voice to tease a break-up between Beck, the "conservative Jeremiah and talk-radio phenomenon," and the biggest cable network doing it, as the host's contract approaches its end in December. Sure that's nine months away, but the speculation is a conversation starter, especially considering that Beck "has lost over a third of his audience on Fox" since last summer and as a result, Fox is "contemplating life without" him. But this is how bargaining works and both of these sides want to make money.

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• The Wisconsin state Assembly has passed a Republican bill that would remove collective bargaining rights from most public workers -- a/k/a, take away union rights. The bill now has to pass the state Senate. Watch the incredible reaction on the floor of the Assembly as the vote passes. [CNN]

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​Keith Olbermann, recently departed host of MSNBC's Countdown, is coming back to the 8 p.m. slot just three days after he signed off. Despite talk in this morning's New York Times of a gag order, in which Olbermann can not speak about his departure, he has promised a dispatch tonight on his newly MSNBC-free Twitter. What could it be?

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Olbs at the ballgame

​MSNBC blowhard Keith Olbermann appears not once, but twice in this weekend's New York Times Book Review, most notably assessing Jane Leavy's The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood, but most interestingly in a small article about his Yankees fandom. Olbermann is the perfect person to review the Mantle book, the editors write, because, "Well into his 20s, Keith Olbermann was an 'insatiable' Yankees fan." He even threw his radio out the window.

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​• Governor Paterson expects to spend 29 hours vetoing spending in 6,899 budget amendments added by legislators this week. He has 10 days to do it. [NYP]

• Violent crime is up in New York City -- murders are up 11 percent, rapes 13 percent, and there have been 7 percent more shootings. The good news? Grand larcenies are down by 7 percent. [NYDN]

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​According to the Times, Barack Obama thinks he's "African-American," he's actually "Black," and "some older blacks" anachronistically think he's a "Negro." What we know for sure, because a White House spokesman confirmed it on Friday, is that the President checked "Black, African Am., or Negro" on his census form.

That could be seen as a significant choice on Obama's part, since there's been some controversy over the way the Census handles racial identification. But that's not why the Times thinks it's significant:

It is official: Barack Obama is the nation's first black president.

I'm sure some of you suspected, but it's good to know for sure.

If there's still any ambiguity, I'm sure a census taker will go in and clear it up. Unlike CNN's latest hire, Obama's unlikely to meet them at the door with a shotgun.

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​Snarly mainstream media hater, mainstream media pundit Andrew Breitbart -- the guy formerly known Matt Drudge's water boy -- has been making quite the ruckus lately! Most recently, he yelled at people who yelled at him at the conservative power powwow CPAC, because -- obviously -- political thinkers = political screamers. He was hailed as a hero especially by himself. Awesome. Now, he's talking more smack as The Atlantic's given him a space to share his favorite reads with the world.

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​If you work somewhere with a sales "team," this is the kind of thing they'd refer to as "added value": if purposed health care reform measures pass, Rush Limbaugh will leave America. Presumably, for more than just a vacation.

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