The Fox News (News Corp.) of rating agencies

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Saturday August 13, 2011 · 9:27 AM PDT

2011/08/13 · 09:27

Jay Rosen noted in the heading of his widely-praised Guardian piece on News Corp. that the, “Phone hacking crisis shows News Corp is no ordinary news company. Rupert Murdoch's news organisations are not in the news business. What they crave is influence.”

I have read what seems like volumes of material on the Standard & Poor’s downgrade since the news came out Friday, and much of what I’ve read limits the scope of analysis to the rating agency itself, Standard & Poor’s. This is a mistake, imo.

Standard & Poor’s is just one segment of the huge conglomerate, McGraw-Hill, a corporation whose philosophy, leadership and conduct bear great resemblance to News Corp.’s, and who has similarly found itself in much controversy related to its reckless behavior and inordinate influence in recent years. I hope to show that Terry McGraw, McGraw-Hill’s Chairman and CEO, is using his corporation in a similar manner as Murdoch and to accomplish many of the same ends. I hope to show how Standard & Poor’s differs from the other major rating agencies, especially in terms of its much greater conflicts of interest as a subsidiary of a large conglomerate. Along the way, I have noted a possibly significant related event that has been largely ignored as far as I can see.

In the process of going through all this, I believe the capture by the free-market, low-tax, austerity purists of President Obama, as well as the leaders of other parts of the world who have seemingly gone even more all-in on austerity, will begin to make a lot more sense.

rollotomasi

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Friday July 15, 2011 · 5:19 AM PDT

2011/07/15 · 05:19

There has been a lot of conjecture and more in these parts as to whether Obama really means what he said about cutting Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid in exchange for Republican concessions on revenues. I don’t want to get too much into the fray about how Jane Hamsher expressed her frustration, except to note two things: (1) while it was not too far from the way Rahm Emanuel expressed his opinion of the “professional left,” it was unnecessary and misdirected, and (2) while the debate could use less of Hamsher's language, it could use a lot more of her skepticism. That being said, I think she is spot in her analysis that Obama is mad because his “Grand Bargain” is being undermined by the Tea Party, which at this point seemingly is refusing to go along with anything. A commenter in Hamsher’s piece, econobuzz, repeatedly hit the nail right on the head - a couple examples of his or her wisdom:

Comment 33:

He’s freaking out because it robs him of the “Grand Bargain” and his precious Medicare and SS cuts that show he’s “serious.” IMHO.

Comment 48:

In response to oldgold @ 40 [who said]: I think the McConnell deal presents Obama with fewer political problems than the “grand bargain.”
To Obama, the “Grand Bargain” is a key to winning in 2012. You may (correctly) see it as risky, but he doesn’t. That’s what all this has been about, for god’s sake. He’s the one who tied raising the debt ceiling to the “Grand Bargain.” It’s HIS strategy, no one else’s.

What makes me so certain about Obama’s intentions to cut Social Security and Medicare programs? The answer below the fold:

rollotomasi

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Tuesday December 07, 2010 · 9:07 PM PST

2010/12/07 · 21:07

Glenn Greenwald tweets: "The most intense passion Obama exhibits is when he gets to explain why the Left is so misguided: he really lights up; it's inspiring."

John Aravosis tweets: "Once again, the only moment Obama gets animated is when he's going after the left. None of that anger/passion against GOP."

There are plenty of very fine diaries here doing a very good job of discussing the ins and outs of policy and politics in regard to Obama’s latest ‘compromise’ with political forces who are generally opposed to the people’s best interest. Rather than presenting well-crafted, in-depth criticisms of Obama’s political mechanizations, this diary simply observes how differently Obama seems to treat certain political groups, in particular, progressives (many of us).

Poll

28 votes Show Results

Same as the poll linked above, if Obama finalizes this tax deal as it stands now, are you less likely to contribute (financially or with your time) to Obama's re-election in 2012?

28 votes Vote Now!

Same as the poll linked above, if Obama finalizes this tax deal as it stands now, are you less likely to contribute (financially or with your time) to Obama's re-election in 2012?

Yes

21 votes

7 votes

It takes two to tango

rollotomasi

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Tuesday December 15, 2009 · 10:49 AM PST

2009/12/15 · 10:49

Yes, Lieberman is a petty, slimy, two-bit double-crosser and always has been. Yes, Lieberman is doing the bidding of his insurance company financiers. Yes, Lieberman is a spiteful man bent on settling personal political scores who cares not a whit about his constituents. All that.

However, it takes two to tango.

Poll

23 votes Show Results

Should Congress even bother with a health care bill that has no robust public option or Medicare buy-in provision?

23 votes Vote Now!

Should Congress even bother with a health care bill that has no robust public option or Medicare buy-in provision?

Yes

7 votes

16 votes

If Tom Daschle needs to go, it shouldn't be because of taxes

rollotomasi

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Sunday February 01, 2009 · 6:31 AM PST

2009/02/01 · 06:31

Paleo, in his fine diary, Daschle needs to go, states:

It's not the first time he, and his lobbyist wife, have shown an insensitivity to public perception and a blind eye to ethical concerns. Daschle needs to go.

Although Paleo cites additional ethical concerns and brings Daschle’s wife into the matter (?), his links to NYT, Politico and ABC News focus mostly on his recent tax difficulties, along with the fact that approximately 5% of his income in the past two years came from health care-related entities.

There may be legitimate arguments against Daschle, and his financial and other ties to the health care industry need to be scrupulously reviewed and his view of his health care mandate and his willingness to carry it out need to be clearly articulated, but we are cheating ourselves out of a very important discussion of health care and other broader issues if we (and the Senate) make the confirmation process all about Daschle’s taxes.

Poll

55 votes Show Results

Should the Senate confirm Tom Daschle as Secretary of Health and Human Services?

55 votes Vote Now!

Should the Senate confirm Tom Daschle as Secretary of Health and Human Services?

Yes

22 votes

25 votes

Wait to see what the confirmation process reveals

8 votes

Palin is the product of her environment

rollotomasi

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Sunday September 14, 2008 · 8:19 AM PDT

2008/09/14 · 08:19

Much of the discussion has centered around whether Palin’s attempts to fire the librarian were unusual, which skews the discussion away from what I find the most unusual: the fact Palin had asked such questions of her librarian in the first place, right out of the chute. That indicated a sense of priority. Palin’s membership in a church, Assembly of God, which at the time of her election was taking aggressive stands on moral issues to include picketing of the Wasilla library, as well as her campaign’s highly unusual focus on many of these wedge issues (as opposed to the typical focus of local campaigns on government services), provide ample context for concern about a fundamentalist, authoritarian approach.

More focus needs to be placed on context: the local Matanuska-Susitna Valley culture and environment that allowed Palin to flourish politically.

Poll

40 votes Show Results

Why should we be concerned about Palin?

40 votes Vote Now!

Why should we be concerned about Palin?

Her lying.

1 vote

Her cultural divisiveness.

0 votes

Her extremism.

0 votes

Her authoritarianism.

1 vote

Her fundamentalism.

2 votes

Her corruption.

2 votes

Her cronyism.

0 votes

Her vindictiveness.

0 votes

Her premium on loyalty and secrecy.

0 votes

Her default â€oepit bullâ€ approach.

0 votes

Her complete incompetence on issues that matter most to us.

7 votes

Her real potential to make our country pay dearly for all the above weaknesses.

27 votes

Let’s help Charlie Gibson prepare for his interview with Gov. Palin

rollotomasi

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Monday September 08, 2008 · 6:04 AM PDT

2008/09/08 · 06:04

Since it has been announced that Charlie Gibson and ABC News have been made the chosen ones by the Republicans, Gibson and his staff surely are cramming for this much-anticipated meeting every bit as much as Governor American Idol is. Since Gibson and his staff surely have their hands full, we should help them out by suggesting questions they should ask, particularly ones related to the evidence that is bringing us to the realization that Palin is looking more and more like President Bush with each passing day. The evidence and questions that need to be asked are not hard to find.

Here’s the front page for ABC News-World News to leave comments and suggestions. If someone finds a better link, please leave it in comments. I will not be able to update the diary today.

rollotomasi

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Sunday August 24, 2008 · 2:48 PM PDT

2008/08/24 · 14:48

As most have likely read by now, one of the more damning aspects of all the different queries into just exactly how many houses the McCains did own is that it prompted another look at John's 2007 tax return, which revealed that he and Cindy McCain paid in excess of $273,000 for household help in 2007.

A further review of the candidates' returns raises several related tax, economic and class issues that need to be brought to light. The rest of the diary discusses these issues, ones that more clearly focus the relative wealth issue and bear on broader issues such as McCain's (and the Republicans') sincerity, openness, and economic/tax knowledge and policies.

Poll

39 votes Show Results

What should the Democrats do if the Republicans step up the attacks about Rezko and Ayres?

39 votes Vote Now!

What should the Democrats do if the Republicans step up the attacks about Rezko and Ayres?

Immediately apologize back off any attacks on McCain since it has worked out so well for us in the past.

3 votes

Go after them even harder since the facts are on our side and we cannot afford any other option.

36 votes

John McCain is correct about Obama getting more coverage - from Republican/Right-wing media

rollotomasi

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Sunday July 27, 2008 · 7:07 AM PDT

2008/07/27 · 07:07

John McCain has been crying foul a lot lately about Barack Obama being the media favorite, that McCain is getting the short end of media coverage. Greg Sargent at TPM Election Central:

The coverage also feeds into concerns in Mr. McCain's campaign, and among Republicans in general, that the news media are imbalanced in their coverage of the candidates ...

Before going after the media on imbalance of coverage, McCain may want to first make sure his own house is in order, as the cliché goes, and look at his own media allies. I took a tour of six of the most prominent Republican/Right-wing websites and was taken aback that the six sights were all rife with imbalanced coverage of the two presidential candidates - in favor of Obama! McCain is being ignored at his own websites!

Poll

52 votes Show Results

Which presidential candidate is being favored by the media?

52 votes Vote Now!

Which presidential candidate is being favored by the media?

No candidate is being favored - media is being fair and balanced like Fox News

2 votes

Barack Obama

5 votes

John McCain

27 votes

Bob Barr

0 votes

Ralph Nader

0 votes

Barack Obama / no candidate - until Right-wing noise machine screams loud enough

0 votes

John McCain - even more after Right-wing noise machine screams loud enough

18 votes

Maybe "Fun" Should Be Had Elsewhere?

rollotomasi

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Tuesday May 06, 2008 · 5:47 AM PDT

2008/05/06 · 05:47

In her recent diary, CindyMax asked the question Can Indiana Primary be Swayed by Republicans? The likely answer is "Very much," to the extent that Pazuzu's projection of a 12-point Clinton lead over Barack Obama is probably pretty close to the mark, if not underestimating Clinton's victory margin.

CindyMax is 100% correct in calling out Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels for his smirking remarks on NPR (at about the 3:40 mark of the clip), as follows:

rollotomasi

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Sunday March 04, 2007 · 5:04 PM PST

2007/03/04 · 17:04

Glenn Greenwald, who just keeps getting better and better, has somewhat gone back to his roots today with an outstanding piece, Confrontational investigations, subpoenas, and hearings are the priority. I became a regular reader of Glenn’s during the time of the NSA warrantless wiretapping revelations in late 2005-early 2006, and at first wondered why, with Glenn’s obvious legal talents, why he began spending so much time with the reactionary pundits. I used to think you just ignore them and they will go away - that it was a waste of time, and certainly not worthy of Glenn’s time, to debunk obviously unreasoned and unreasonable views, but soon realized that taking on the massive right wing propaganda machine is a necessary and extraordinarily difficult part of separating these dangerous ideologues from the powers they continue to seek.

rollotomasi

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Saturday December 16, 2006 · 12:01 PM PST

2006/12/16 · 12:01

Seesdifferent’s important diary describes one of the Bush administration’s latest attacks on information and the public’s right to know, once again sacrificing the public’s welfare in favor of their own political power, and that of their favored special interests, or just simply hiding their incompetence or dishonesty. This time they are gutting EPA’s libraries housing a vast amount of, as one commenter to the diary who uses the information regularly in his Ohio EPA work put it, "decades of institutional knowledge." When demanded to cease this activity by the incoming House Democratic committee chairs, the EPA de-linked thousands of documents from its website containing information on pollution and toxic substances the next day. The consequences of their actions to human health and the environment once again are not a concern to the Bush administration.

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The Fox News (News Corp.) of rating agencies

Obama's real intentions

A compromise, as it were

It takes two to tango

If Tom Daschle needs to go, it shouldn't be because of taxes

Palin is the product of her environment

Let’s help Charlie Gibson prepare for his interview with Gov. Palin

It's not just about the elitism: McCains' returns and lifestyle raise many other important issues

John McCain is correct about Obama getting more coverage - from Republican/Right-wing media

Maybe "Fun" Should Be Had Elsewhere?

Triangles, Pentagons and Octagons - Daou, Lind and Greenwald

The Republican Attack on Information