This is not breaking news. Many of you will have seen the picture and even the video which is readily available on rawstory.com

The photo showing Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama neglecting to place his hand over his heart during the national anthem at Senator Tom Harkin's Steak Fry event on September 16 in Indianola, Iowa.

The implication is of cource that failing to display the proper hand-over-heart etiquette constitutes evidence that Barack Obama is unpatriotic and therefore unfit to hold the office

Cecil Bothwell has been fired from the Mountain Xpress, allegedly because he contributed to Elaine Lite's campaign .

Yes, the same Cecil Bothwell who won Mountain Xpress's "Best Local Reporter" for 2007 - has just been fired for political activity at Asheville's flag-ship alternative paper.

I'm shocked and disappointed. Not only is this a huge insult to the progressive community who have supported the Xpress through think and thin, but it also sends a warning to every person of conscience that fighting unrestrained development is a dangerous career move.

I find it hard to believe they fired Cecil for his political views alone. I suspect this move signifies the owners of the Mountain Xpress plan to sell the paper soon. When a media company gears up for sale, one of the first things they do is get rid of uppity employees who might be a problem for new owners. Furthermore, at the age of 57, he probably uses more health insurance than the average.

I'll be doing more reporting on this as the story develops. Stay tuned.

ON EDIT @ 04:45 PM EST: Jon Elliston, Managing Editor at the Xpress, just telephoned me to deny that Cecil was fired for supporting Lite. He also denies the paper is for sale. He says Cecil will continue working as a contributing writer.