Quote by TriSec:
Morning, comrades.

Got BBC World Service on; there was a headline regarding a "Recall of Parliament" that's supposed to happen Wednesday. I don't know what that means in terms of British Politics, but I expect to be filled in further later in the hour.

Is the current British Government in danger of falling over this?

Quote by Raine:
I'm amazed frankly at this line of attack from News Corp. -- I don;t know if it will take the company down, but I think the brand is finally thoroughly in the shitter.

When a major newspaper allows something like that editorial to be printed -- Going after the DOJ, The Police and others for things that they did-- it's just stunning.

The complaint summed up the ethos of News America nicely, saying it had "illegally accessed plaintiff's computer system and obtained proprietary information" and "disseminated false, misleading and malicious information about the plaintiff."

The complaint stated that the breach was traced to an I.P. address registered to News America and that after the break-in, Floorgraphics lost contracts from Safeway, Winn-Dixie and Piggly Wiggly.

Much of the lawsuit was based on the testimony of Robert Emmel, a former News America executive who had become a whistle-blower. After a few days of testimony, the News Corporation had heard enough. It settled with Floorgraphics for $29.5 million and then, days later, bought it, even though it reportedly had sales of less than $1 million.

But the problems continued, and keeping a lid on News America turned out to be a busy and expensive exercise. At the beginning of this year, it paid out $125 million to Insignia Systems to settle allegations of anticompetitive behavior and violations of antitrust laws. And in the most costly payout, it spent half a billion dollars in 2010 on another settlement, just days before the case was scheduled to go to trial. The plaintiff, Valassis Communications, had already won a $300 million verdict in Michigan, but dropped the lawsuit in exchange for $500 million and an agreement to cooperate on certain ventures going forward.

The News Corporation is a very large, well-capitalized company, but that single payout to Valassis represented one-fifth of the company's net income in 2010 and matched the earnings of the entire newspaper and information division that News America was a part of.

Because consumers (and journalists) don't much care who owns the coupon machine in the snack aisle, the cases have not received much attention. But that doesn't mean that they aren't a useful window into the broader culture at the News Corporation.

Quote by wickedpam:
Did Charlie say he owned the Herald?

Quote by Raine:
Does Murdoch own any papers in Boston?

Quote by wickedpam:
oh lord, tea party crazy

Quote by Raine:

Quote by wickedpam:
oh lord, tea party crazy

Yeah, I am not really feeling this. John is trying to debate honestly with someone who set up a strawman as his debate position.

Quote by trojanrabbit:
Morning all

I just don't see this News Corp stuff going far here, at least I'm not getting my hopes up. The right people will be bought off and there's still Rethug control in the House and Judicial. The same bad feeling that tells me Roger Clemens' trial was deliberately botched.

Anyway, another addition to the Rabbit's Electronics Fail Of The Week. Last week was my laptop. Yesterday was my DVD recorder's DVD drive (I think). Says every DVD I put in is "dirty". Tried vacuuming it out and of course Sophie was trying to replace what I vacuum out by rubbing the side of the case. I'll try cleaning the DVD burner lens before I start scouring eBay. Or try an old slower DVD-RW disc that I know works.

Just ordered a work laptop, so maybe I'll have that in a couple of days. Need it for when I do my little trips to Andover.

For proof that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is growing fast, one need look no further than the elevator lobby at the front of their office space in a nondescript building in downtown Washington.

That's where the new agency, days away from opening its doors on July 21, has taken to holding its all-hands-on-deck staff meetings. The DC office holds the majority of the agency's 400 hires, and they could no longer fit in the conference room.

The person heading those meetings is not the agency's director.

But Elizabeth Warren, the de facto head of the agency as a special advisor to the president, is not deterred by the absence. For her, seeing the CFPB, which she thought up years ago, come into its own is plenty satisfying.
"Seeing it in reality is much better than the dream ever was," she told The Hill in a phone interview.

Quote by Scoopster:
Mornin' all & happy Mondee!

In under-the-radar news, Obama has tapped former OH AG Cordray to be the first head of the CFPB

Quote by Raine:
I cannot believe that the TEABAGGER GOP is saying they want a constitutional amendment in return for a deal on the debt ceiling.

FLUCKING insanity.

Quote by Raine:
I cannot believe that the TEABAGGER GOP is saying they want a constitutional amendment in return for a deal on the debt ceiling.

FLUCKING insanity.

Quote by Raine:
I cannot believe that the TEABAGGER GOP is saying they want a constitutional amendment in return for a deal on the debt ceiling.

FLUCKING insanity.

Quote by TriSec:

Quote by wickedpam:

Does anything think a Super Majority could be reached?

Dr. Maddow already has that answer...if either side proposed to pass a bill that Puppies are cute, and cake is delicious, there would be significant oppositions and press conferences. Boehner may cry.

Quote by Raine:


This is getting wierd. News of the World phone-hacking whistleblower found dead
Death of Sean Hoare – who was first named journalist to allege Andy Coulson knew of hacking – not being treated as suspicious