Bush Administration: Krugman chimes in with waggy dog stories, where he once again tries to play the little boy who refuses to delude himself into seeing the emporer’s clothes. Column draws the explicit parallels from the Bushinations to Wag the Dog.
FCC: Next week, despite protests from small towns to media entrepreneurs, the FCC will vote to remove many of the current restrictions, thin as they already are, on the five giants that control most all the American media outlets. Rep. W.J. “Billy” Tauzin, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, called loosening media ownership caps an important step toward bolstering freedom of speech. “It is now time for the commission to act,” the Louisiana Republican said. “In a highly competitive, diverse 21st century marketplace, the idea of the federal government trying to regulate media ownership should be as offensive to Americans as trying to regulate free speech itself.” Not surprisingly, the Heritage Foundation is glad to provide ideological cover for this action.
PATRIOT Act: There are aspects of this bill beyond what anyone was already worked up about and are only just now coming to light. The Feds are now able to seize disputed funds held by foreign banks because most of these banks have to have funds in America to facilitate their business; with a court order in hand, the funds–even though they have no direct connection to the monies being attacked other than being held by the same bank–are taken. And even though the PATRIOT Act was supposed to be about combating terrorism, this part has little or nothing to do with that threat. For instance, someone (an American in this case) scams money from Americans and flees to a banana republic where bribes and such can protect him from extradition. However, he does allegedly deposit money in a local bank which has funds in New York and–voila–the Feds can sieze it.
BillSaysThis 