On Wednesday, July 2, with the national news cycle threatening to slouch into a summer lull, a promising story suddenly popped up from an unlikely spot, several thousand miles south of Barack Obama’s cute daughters in Chicago and equally far removed from Christie Brinkley’s messy divorce in the Hamptons.

According to the wire services, a team of Colombian special forces, disguised as humanitarian workers, had pulled off a daring rescue, tricking armed Marxist-inspired rebels, known as FARC, into turning over 15 longtime hostages. Among the freed captives: French-Colombian activist politician Ingrid Betancourt and three American contractors, all of whom had been held against their will in the jungle for more than five years.  read more »

The Media Mob has learned that conservative radio and television host Glenn Beck has just finished signing a huge new two-book deal with Simon & Schuster imprint Threshold Editions. According to a source with knowledge of the deal, the agreement will net Mr. Beck, the host of Headline News' "Glenn Beck," approximately $3 million. The initial print run will be a whopping 750,000 copies.

This past fall, Threshold Editions published Mr. Beck's "An Inconvenient Book," which immediately debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.  read more »

"An Inconvenient Book", the recently published tome by CNN's Glenn Beck, will soon premier as the # 1 nonfiction hardback on the New York Times Best Seller list, TV Newser reports today.

According to a Media Mob source, Mr. Beck learned of the good news yesterday evening.

At the time, Mr. Beck was at his Headline News studio taping an interview. In between segments, staffers rushed on set to put him on the phone with a messenger bearing the news of his forthcoming #1 ranking. Cue much hugging and backslapping.

Afterwards, according to our source, Mr. Beck (a former alcoholic who has been sober for many years) called his wife, said he'd be home soon, and told her they'd celebrate by drinking water out of champagne glasses.