Bad Deeds for 11-27-2007

Karl Rove Says “Congress Pushed Bush to War in Iraq Prematurely” – According to Karl Rove on the Charlie Rose show on PBS, the Bush Administration did not want Congress to vote on the Iraq War resolution in the fall of 2002, because they thought it should not be done within the context of an election. Rove says he did not think the war vote should be “political”. Moreover, according to Rove, that “premature vote” led to many of the problems that cropped up in the Iraq War. Had Congress not pushed, he says, Bush could have spent more time assembling a coalition, and provided more time to the inspectors. (Has Karl Rove completely lost his memory? -JLV) More from Huffington Post

News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch said he maintains editorial control over which political party his U.K. newspapers support in U.K. general elections – Murdoch’s comments came in an interview with the U.K.’s House of Lords Communications Committee, which traveled to New York on Sept. 17 as part of its inquiry into media ownership and the news. In addition to Murdoch, the committee met privately with officials from U.S. papers such as The New York Times and TV stations such as Fox News, CNN, ABC, NBC and CBS. On Friday, the committee issued minutes of its discussions in New York. News Corp.’s assets in the U.S. include the Fox cable business, the 20th Century Fox film studio and the New York Post. It also owns the MySpace social networking site and has agreed to acquire Dow Jones & Co. (DJ), owner of The Wall Street Journal, for about $5 billion.

Another Bogus ‘Press Conference’ Revealed, This Time at Homeland Security – The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s fake October news conference wasn’t a first. A Homeland Security public affairs official acted like a reporter asking questions during a briefing in San Antonio in January 2006. A Homeland Security Department investigation found that an official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement asked a question during that news conference.

Facebook Violating Privacy – When you buy a book, movie, or gift online, do you want that information automatically shared with everyone you know? Last week, the social networking site Facebook began doing just that. Private purchases made by Facebook users on other sites were posted on Facebook for people’s co-workers, friends, and random acquaintances to see.1 Why? To benefit corporate advertisers. Other sites are looking at Facebook’s example to see if they can get away with similar privacy breaches.

Regards,

Jim