RatcliffeBlog - Mitch Thinking Out Loud

When Safire argues for regulation

When Safire argues for regulation

It is either a sign of the Apocalypse or that the Bush Administration has gone totally overboard, but New York Times columnist William Safire is arguing that the Federal Communications Commission should be reigned in from its rush to deregulate the airwaves. My money is on the fact the Bushies have gone out of their minds with power. Key passages:

The Federal Communications Commission — in business to protect the public's interest in our nation's airwaves — has by a 3-to-2 vote opened the floodgates to a wave of media mergers that will further crush local diversity and concentrate the power to mold public opinion in the hands of ever-fewer giant corporations.

Forgive the inside baseball (this is beginning to read like a Bob Novak column), but the legislative intricacy shows how a power grab engineered by a seemingly unstoppable lobby has at least a chance of being stymied by an aroused public resentful of media manipulation.

You should find your Senator's email address here and send messages demanding the 750,000 public comments, which were overwhelmingly against the ruling, be respected and addressed by the Senate Commerce Committee.