...that keep me in the game.

I remember coiming to DU for the first time (could it be?) seven years ago (almost to the day; my first post was 5/21/01).

One super-hot topic of conversation way back then, back when we were using boulders as mouse-clickers and nobody had been forced just yet to realize that, yeah, it is that bad now...

...we on DU really really REALLY were wrapped up in re-establishing the Fairness Doctrine regarding media ownership.

Seven years later, I find this random link on the AP wire:

Senate votes to roll back media ownership rule
By JOHN DUNBAR, Associated Press Writer
17 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The Senate Thursday night voted to nullify a Federal Communications Commission rule that allows media companies to own a newspaper and a television station in the same market. The unusual "resolution of disapproval," sponsored by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and 26 other senators, was approved by a voice vote. The measures sponsors include both Democratic candidates for president, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois.

Republican FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has described the agency's action as a "relatively minor loosening" of broadcast media ownership restrictions. The rule was approved by the FCC on a 3-2 party-line vote in December with both Democrats dissenting. The FCC decision allows one company to own a newspaper and a broadcast station in the nation's 20 largest metropolitan areas. The TV station may not be among the top four in the market, and post-transaction, at least eight independent media voices must remain. The rule replaced an outright ban on cross-ownership.

Dorgan said the FCC action opened a "gaping loophole for more mergers of newspapers and television stations across the country." Martin has said any exception to the media ownership rule would face a "very high hurdle."The House is also considering a nullification of the ownership rule, but even if supporters are successful, the measure would likely be rejected by President Bush.

Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said he was "disappointed with the Senate's action" and would recommend to the president that he veto the bill. "The FCC's approach modernizes a 30-year-old rule in a way that im the financial viability of the newspaper industry, which faces an increasingly competitive media market," he said. The FCC's media ownership decision has been met with opposition on both sides. The newspaper industry has complained that the FCC did not go far enough, while activists who want to keep big media companies from getting bigger said the agency went too far.

Commerce Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, opposed the FCC's action. In recent years, we have seen an increase in coarse and violent programming, coupled with a decrease in local news and hard-hitting journalism," Inouye said Thursday night. "To say these trends are not in the best interest of the American people, and especially our youngest citizens, is clearly an understatement."

Obama issued a statement supporting the vote.

More: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080516/ap_on_...



Yeah, the sneaky bastards actually pulled this off (pending successful veto override)...

While everyone was watching the California gay marriage development (I'd be impressed if I wasn't from Massachusetts... ), these bastards passed legislation that will (if it survives) help to keep our scary media ownership caste from using the 224 channels they own to inculcate (via subtle broadcast noise) people with the unswerving belief that all gayness makes the Baby Jesus cry, ergo gayness must be exterminated...turn to channel 9 if you're confused.

Hm...spook the Jesus freaks with bi-penis/quad-ball weddings, and then pass monolithic free-info legislation while everyone is looking the other way.

Heh. I love it when the good guys manage to pull off a good old-fashioned bait-and-switch.

***HEY LOOK, MARRIED HOMOS!!!***

(p.s. your TV news now has 0.0007% less outrageous bullshit in it)

(p.p.s. and that 0.0007% willl save seven or more lives, maybe, if we all keep pushing)