clap clap blog: we have moved


Tuesday, May 13, 2003
Well, it's one of those depressing news days on the front page of the NYT. First off, the bombings in Saudi Arabia and Bush's response: "they will learn the meaning of American justice." (I'll allow myself one cheap shot here: what, that we loves to kill black people?)

Second, Sharon Sets Hard Line on Settlements Policy. Good call there, Ari.

Mr. Sharon dismissed as not "on the horizon" any talk of changing Israel's settlement policy, and he dismissed suggestions that the Bush administration was pressing him to dismantle settlements.

During a visit here over the weekend, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said that he raised the issue of settlements with Mr. Sharon, and that President Bush would pursue the matter when he sees Mr. Sharon on May 20.

In an interview with Israeli television, Mr. Powell said he told Mr. Sharon that settlements were "a problem," and he said the president would speak to the prime minister "in very open, straightforward, honest, candid terms about settlement activity."

A new American-backed peace plan, known as the road map, calls on Israel to dismantle all settlement outposts built since March 2001, at the same time that the Palestinian Authority cracks down on terrorism. It also calls for a freeze on Israeli settlements. Mr. Sharon insists that the Palestinians must end incitement and dismantle all terrorist organizations before Israel can begin to make concessions.


Finally, and I know this might not be as depressing to everyone else as it is to me, the FCC looks like it's going to do some more deregulatin', which is weird, since the current deregulation seems to have pretty much fucked everything up, and a lot of people agree on that.

The government proposed the most significant overhaul of its media ownership rules in a generation today, including a change that would allow television networks to own enough local stations to reach 90 percent of the nation's viewers.

That change — a result of increasing the cap on ownership and simultaneously preserving a 1980's formula that discounts the reach of UHF stations — is part of the package of proposals that officials said appeared to have the support of the Republican majority of the Federal Communications Commission.


Yeah, I bet it does. *sigh* 90%. Seriously, guys, can we all agree this is not a fucking "economic" issue now?