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Politics : Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and the New World Order -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SOROS who wrote (112)	9/2/2003 11:49:14 PM
From: MSI	Respond to of 512

Mr. Grasso was successful in meeting w. the FARC Columbian drug lords back in '99, so of course he deserves a taste of those billions in recycled cocain profits. You may have seen this "The Ultimate New Business Cold Call " scoop.co.nz

To: SOROS who wrote (112)	9/3/2003 7:05:24 PM
From: Sidney Reilly	Respond to of 512

New FCC Media ownership rules are almost a reality. Media giants are pushing hard for the changes. Bush is for the changes so we know who benefits. September 3, 2003 6:04 p.m. EDT MEDIA Court Temporarily Blocks New Media-Ownership Rules A WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE NEWS ROUNDUP PHILADELPHIA – A federal appeals court temporarily blocked controversial new media-ownership rules from taking effect as scheduled on Thursday. In a setback to the Federal Communications Commission, a three-judge panel of the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday granted a Washington-based public-interest law firm's request for an emergency stay of the new rules, which make it easier for companies to snap up more media outlets. The order prevents the rules from going into effect until a court rules on their legality. The law firm, the Media Access Project, is one of a wide range of consumer and advocacy groups challenging the rules, which were set to take effect Thursday. At issue is the FCC's bitterly contested June 2 vote significantly relaxing the nation's long-held media-ownership rules. Voting along party lines, the powerful agency approved a thicket of new regulations that will make it easier for media companies to buy more newspapers, TV stations and radio outlets. The FCC, backed by most of the country's biggest media concerns, has defended the move as necessary to reflect a changing media marketplace where Americans get increasing amounts of entertainment and news from cable companies and the Internet. But a wide array of consumer groups and advocacy organizations, ranging from the National Rifle Association to the National Organization of Women, have said the rules will unleash a wave of consolidation and stifle diversity. The fight has become a potent political issue. In July, the House surprised many observers by overwhelmingly approving a spending provision barring the FCC from putting the new rules into place. The Senate Appropriations Committee, which is led by Alaska Republican Sen. Ted Stevens, a vocal critic of the FCC action, will take up a similar provision Thursday. The measure is expected to pass the panel and the full Senate easily, setting up a showdown with the White House, which is threatening a veto. Andrew Schwartzman, president of Media Access Project, told the appeals court earlier Wednesday that the rules would begin "an irreversible process that will result in a wholesale restructuring" of the nation's media industries and that time was of the essence for the court to decide whether to grant the stay. "Once the floodgates are opened, they really can't be closed," Mr. Schwartzman told the court, citing pending television-station acquisitions in Shreveport, La., and other cities that wouldn't have been allowed under the older rules. If the rules do take effect, the FCC could begin granting mergers under the new policy on Sept. 14. But lawyers for the FCC and three of the four major U.S. broadcast networks contended the rules were crafted at the direction of Congress and the courts, which have struck down several of the regulations in recent years, and warned that staying them would throw the industry into disarray. "This amounts to a grab bag of potshots at the agency's decision," FCC lawyer Jacob Lewis told the judges. Henk Brands, a lawyer for the networks, added that a delay would harm his clients because media deals "don't come along every day." --Yochi J. Dreazen contributed to this article