XPost: alt.flame.right-wing-conservatives, alt.christnet.second-   
   oming.real-soon-now   
   From: GlennR@teranews.com   
      
   I like that gutless right wing cocksuckers part,   
      
   call them what they are   
   "Real American" wrote in message   
   news:Xns9F27CAB655B05fdas@194.177.98.144...   
   : Even the right wing National Post agrees.   
   :   
   : Concerns about News Corp's dark practices look likely to spread to the   
   : U.S.   
   :   
   : Araminta Wordsworth Jul 19, 2011 - 3:00 PM ET | Last Updated: Jul 19,   
   : 2011 4:55 PM ET   
   :   
   : Full Comment's Araminta Wordsworth brings you a daily round-up of quality   
   : punditry from across the globe. Today: Rupert Murdoch and his companies   
   : are under the gun on both sides of the Atlantic.   
   :   
   : Initially, calls to probe the News of the World phone-hacking scandal came   
   : from outraged citizens and politicians in Britain. Hence today's grilling   
   : of the media mogul, his son James and chief henchperson Rebekah Brooks by   
   : MPs in London.   
   :   
   : But because the Murdochs' business is headquartered in New York and thus   
   : subject to U.S. regulations - which have far more teeth than any British   
   : body - they are also likely to face increased scrutiny this side of the   
   : Atlantic, as well as in Rupert's native Australia.   
   :   
   : The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Justice Department and the   
   : Securities & Exchange Commission are among those reportedly starting   
   : inquiries.   
   :   
   : Even if no criminal charges are filed, Murdoch could face problems over   
   : his TV stations. Owners are supposed to be of "good character." CNN   
   : provides a primer to the rapidly expanding scope of probes into the   
   : Murdochs' business practices.   
   :   
   : The scandal is spreading, and American authorities are probing two   
   : separate lines of inquiry - one into whether Murdoch journalists   
   : hacked the phones of September 11, 2001, victims, and one into whether   
   : the company broke U.S. law by bribing foreign officials. The Federal   
   : Bureau of Investigation is looking into the 9/11 claim, first floated   
   : by the Daily Mirror newspaper, a competitor to Murdoch's Sun in   
   : Britain. The Justice Department, meanwhile, is coming under pressure   
   : from American lawmakers to probe whether the company violated the   
   : Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by paying British police officers for   
   : information. Australia - where Murdoch was born and still owns   
   : newspapers - is also considering an investigation. Even if the company   
   : is not found to have broken laws, the scandal is shaking all of News   
   : Corp, holdings of which spans the globe.   
   :   
   : At The New York Times, Peter J. Henning details the long list of laws that   
   : might have been broken.   
   :   
   : There is no clearer sign of the seriousness of the company's potential   
   : exposure to criminal prosecution than its hiring of Brendan V.   
   : Sullivan Jr. of Williams & Connolly, one of the most aggressive   
   : criminal defense lawyers in the country . If telephone records were   
   : accessed [by News of the World reporters], that could be a violation   
   : of the Telephone Records & Privacy Protection Act, . which prohibits   
   : making false or fraudulent statements to obtain another person's   
   : telephone records. Information has come out that News Corp paid   
   : officials at Scotland Yard to obtain telephone numbers of various   
   : individuals as part of the phone hacking program, including members of   
   : the royal family. The payment of a bribe to a foreign official by an   
   : American company - News Corp is incorporated in Delaware - can be a   
   : violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act. Both the Justice   
   : Department and the Securities & Exchange Commission can investigate   
   : potential violations . And federal investigations may not be the only   
   : ones the company faces. Many states have their own privacy laws, so do   
   : not be surprised if a state attorney general announces an   
   : investigation into News Corp's conduct if a resident was involved.   
   :   
   : Among those leading the charge for prosecution stateside is Eliot Spitzer,   
   : the former New York governor whose sexual shenanigans were gleefully   
   : exposed by New York's ferocious tabloids, one of which is owned by Rupert   
   : - a chip off the British block. Opining in Slate, he calls on Washington   
   : to go after Murdoch's company for corrupt practices and yank its   
   : television licence if it's found guilty.   
   :   
   : First, it is hard to believe that the misbehavior in Murdoch's media   
   : empire stopped at the water's edge. Given the frequency with which he   
   : shuttled his senior executives and editors across the various oceans -   
   : Pacific as well as Atlantic - it is unlikely that the shoddy ethics   
   : were limited to Great Britain. Much more importantly, the facts   
   : already pretty well established in Britain indicate violations of   
   : American law, in particular a law called the Foreign Corrupt Practices   
   : Act. The Justice Department has been going out of its way to undertake   
   : FCPA prosecutions and investigations in recent years, and the News   
   : Corp case presents a pretty simple test for Attorney General Eric   
   : Holder: If the department fails to open an immediate investigation   
   : into News Corp.'s violations of the FCPA, there will have been a major   
   : breach of enforcement at Justice. Having failed to pursue Wall Street   
   : with any apparent vigor, this is an opportunity for the Justice   
   : Department to show it can flex its muscles at the right moment.   
   :   
   : At the AllGov website, Noel Brinkerhoff wonders what's behind News Corp's   
   : cozying up to a powerful U.S. business group.   
   :   
   : The Center for American Progress called attention to a $1-million   
   : donation last summer from News Corp to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce,   
   : which almost immediately began work to amend the Foreign Corrupt   
   : Practices Act (FCPA). Lobbyists say the law is hurting American   
   : business competitiveness and needs to be changed. FCPA bars companies   
   : with U.S. ties from bribing foreign officials to get or retain   
   : business. News Corp, which faces allegations of having bribed British   
   : police, was originally incorporated in South Australia, but   
   : re-incorporated in Delaware in 2004. The center also began circulating   
   : a petition demanding that the Department of Justice and the Securities   
   : & Exchange Commission investigate Murdoch's company to determine if   
   : officials violated the FCPA. Three Democratic U.S. senators echoed the   
   : center's call by requesting that Attorney General Eric Holder Jr.   
   : conduct a probe of News Corp.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)   
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