Jailed publisher blogging for Web site

CHICAGO, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- Imprisoned former press baron Conrad Black has offered his thoughts on the 2008 presidential election with a blog posting in The Daily Beast.

Black, in an essay published Wednesday, slams Republican presidential nominee John McCain for not taking charge of the federal financial bailout and negotiating a deal more favorable to taxpayers, the Chicago Tribune reported Thursday.

Black, 64, convicted of defrauding the Chicago Sun-Times and his company's other newspapers, is in residence at the low-security Coleman Federal Correctional Complex near Orlando, Fla.

The Daily Beast, run by editor Tina Brown, would not comment on how Black came to write for the site, the Tribune reported, noting some prisons allow inmates e-mail access but do not allow them to profit financially from it.