The Drip Begins?

Is Murdoch finally in trouble in the U.S.?

Jay Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate committee on commerce, science and transportation, has written to Lord Justice Leveson, who leads the British judicial inquiry into media ethics, asking if he has uncovered any evidence relating questionable practices in the US.

"I would like to know whether any of the evidence you are reviewing suggests that these unethical and sometimes illegal business practices occurred in the United States or involved US citizens," Rockefeller writesin a letter released on Wednesday.

The development adds to the potential dangers facing News Corp, a publicly-traded company with its headquarters in New York. Rockefeller has taken a close interest in the unfolding phone-hacking saga, but it is the first time that a Senate committee member has acted in his official capacity.

...

The commerce committee covers all means of communications in the US – including telecommunications, free-to-air broadcasting and cable TV. It also has oversight over the Federal Communications Commission, the regulatory body that has final say on the issuing of broadcast licences, including the 27 licences issued to the Fox TV network that is the jewel in Murdoch's crown.

Will the UK investigation start opening the floodgates here in the U.S.?

Media Bias

What a surprise -- Fox News fabricates an Obama quote. Expect a real retraction? Not likely. And the way it works is that Fox lies, other news organizations pick it up as truth, and by the time the lie gets halfway around cable TV news, the truth isn't even out of make-up.

Meanwhile, for Mitt: more favorable news coverage than Obama.

Has Fox News done enough groundwork over the past four years to color ALL news coverage of the best President in my lifetime and swing the election?

Wild Monday Roundup

Amanda Knox should never have been tried in the first place, and the prosecution's allegation of motive was Medieval and misogynistic, literally something out of a 14th Century witch trial. I'm sure it must be as hard to believe that she's finally free after nearly four years - 20% of her life -- but the relief must be epic as well. Great thanks to the Italian legal system, where the appeal is something more of a do-over than here in the U.S. Of course, in Rick Perry's Texas, she'd be executed already:

As one of the prosecutors in the case, Manuela Comodi, no friend of Knox, implied last week in his remarks: were Knox being tried in the United States, she might well be on her way to an execution. The case of Troy Davis, killed by the state of Georgia last month despite the fact that most of the witnesses in his case later recanted their testimony, should linger as the Knox saga is reviewed.

Speaking of Gov. Perry, I don't think the news about the name of the ranch leased by his family means that he's a racist. As our President would say, it's a distracting sideshow. But it does reinforce my prediction that an Obama-Perry duel would look very much like the aged battle for Abolition, and would expect to see rhetoric surrounding the candidates on all sides that mirrored that. I do like the discussion of language that's sprung up around this, like a rather unusual and admirably frank discussion today on The View.

What I do think is that he's a mindless corporatist who, like Bush from Texas before him, thinks the government treasuries are meant for the rich. Which takes us to Wall Street where a very articulate young man, Jesse LaGreca, makes the #occupywallstreet viral video of the day as he takes down Fox News to its face and lays out the real issues:

For example, the ultra-Right Koch Brothers seem to be getting away with having violated the Iran trading embargo. Because they can? Isn't that...treason?

And want to see the opposite of the guy in the above video? Isn't rich, aggrieved, entitled Hank Williams, Jr., born lucky like the Koch Bros albeit with less talent, just the Id of their rightwing Super-Ego:

Ha ha ha his theme song was cut from Monday Night Football tonight and hopefully forever.

Turn, tide, turn.

How Dangerous is Stupid?

Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) in their words, not mine:

“He’s like Bush only without the brains,” cracked one former Republican governor who knows Perry, repeating a joke that has made the rounds.

Interesting that the intelligence question is making the rounds, from Politico to Fox News, the latter of which is happy to leave the question open as not particularly germane to the Presidency. After all, they are dedicated to removing President Obama from office, and everyone know he's smart. Or don't they:

On his program tonight, Sean Hannity tried to turn the tables on those who would question Perry, asking his panel whether the media were missing the point that President Obama was the stupid one.

Jackboot Hannity at it again. Somebody give that fascist a uniform.

The fact is that the last time America leaned towards on quote-unquote common sense over intelligence in electing a President, the winner was George W. Bush and the loser was the United States, with ruinous tax cuts, a collapsed economy and over $1.242 trillion in war costs, let alone potentially hundreds of billions in waste and fraud.

I hate to smear the entire rightwing in this country, but as they say on Fox News when confronted with the truth, "You're confusing our viewers."

Ignorance is death.

The Broken Clock

is correct twice a day. Or so I heard before digital.

With that in mind and the vision of a shared America on Independence Day, the most holy day of the American year for all the right reasons, the anniversary of a document, not a battle, not a war, although it sparked one. An anniversary of a ideal that used to be the common knowledge of most folks, not a referendum on a divided country, as it feels in places like Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, Florida, and the House of Representatives.

I get David Brooks and why he makes sense as the conservative columnist at The New York Times, but what I've liked since 2008 is that he gets Obama, who has met with him and discussed ideas. But I can't say I've ever agreed so fully with one of his columns as today's on the unholy intransigence of the 2012 Republican Party:

If the Republican Party were a normal party, it would take advantage of this amazing moment. It is being offered the deal of the century: trillions of dollars in spending cuts in exchange for a few hundred million dollars of revenue increases.

A normal Republican Party would seize the opportunity to put a long-term limit on the growth of government. It would seize the opportunity to put the country on a sound fiscal footing. It would seize the opportunity to do these things without putting any real crimp in economic growth.

The party is not being asked to raise marginal tax rates in a way that might pervert incentives. On the contrary, Republicans are merely being asked to close loopholes and eliminate tax expenditures that are themselves distortionary.

This, as I say, is the mother of all no-brainers.

But we can have no confidence that the Republicans will seize this opportunity. That’s because the Republican Party may no longer be a normal party. Over the past few years, it has been infected by a faction that is more of a psychological protest than a practical, governing alternative.

The members of this movement do not accept the logic of compromise, no matter how sweet the terms. If you ask them to raise taxes by an inch in order to cut government by a foot, they will say no. If you ask them to raise taxes by an inch to cut government by a yard, they will still say no.

The members of this movement do not accept the legitimacy of scholars and intellectual authorities. A thousand impartial experts may tell them that a default on the debt would have calamitous effects, far worse than raising tax revenues a bit. But the members of this movement refuse to believe it.

The members of this movement have no sense of moral decency. A nation makes a sacred pledge to pay the money back when it borrows money. But the members of this movement talk blandly of default and are willing to stain their nation’s honor.

The members of this movement have no economic theory worthy of the name. Economists have identified many factors that contribute to economic growth, ranging from the productivity of the work force to the share of private savings that is available for private investment. Tax levels matter, but they are far from the only or even the most important factor.

But to members of this movement, tax levels are everything. Members of this tendency have taken a small piece of economic policy and turned it into a sacred fixation. They are willing to cut education and research to preserve tax expenditures. Manufacturing employment is cratering even as output rises, but members of this movement somehow believe such problems can be addressed so long as they continue to worship their idol.

Praise the Lord and pay the insurance.

The President hasn't been so healthy on the Fox Twitter handle. Is this a warning sign to anybody besides me?

I spent Independence Day on the beach at at a Dodgers game (they lost to the Mets, so I had mixed emotions) with fireworks at the end. The last song was Ray Charles' "America, the Beautiful" in the bluesy genius he discovered in it. I'm a patriot and I teach my children to be patriots as well. I don't think it should be owned by some political party just because it says lower taxes = true patriotism. That's a lie.

We all want clean water and air, we all want meaningful work and the chance to build a life for ourselves and our descendants. We want our nation protected adequately. We want the state to preserve the peace, while providing opportunities. And no matter how you prioritize all that, some taxes must be paid if the people want them. Because government, when not corrupted by it, is the last check on complete corporate feudalism.

Like when the markets fail.

Fox News Exec Started a Big Lie

During the 2008 presidential campaign one Fox News executive repeatedly tried to smear Barack Obama with charges of "socialism."

Liberal watchdog group Media Matters has uncovered audio that indicates Fox News Washington managing editor Bill Sammon was just engaging in what he called "mischievous speculation."

In 2009, Sammon told an audience aboard Mediterranean cruise sponsored by a right-wing college that his 2008 attempt to link Obama to socialism was "a premise that privately I found rather far-fetched."

"Last year, candidate Barack Obama stood on a sidewalk in Toledo, Ohio, and first let it slip to Joe the Plumber that he wanted to quote, 'spread the wealth around,'" Sammon said. "At that time, I have to admit, that I went on TV on Fox News and publicly engaged in what I guess was some rather mischievous speculation about whether Barack Obama really advocated socialism, a premise that privately I found rather far-fetched."

During the 2008 campaign, the then-Washington deputy managing editor repeatedly suggested that Obama had socialist tendencies.

The lie is admitted and do you think for a second he'll be fired?

As would happen (oh the Conservative outcry) were the situation reversed and he was on NPR?