Wonkette

The FCC this afternoon approved easing restrictions on media ownership in the 20 largest cities and grandfathered in 42 current and pending exemptions to their rules on owning a print and broadcast outlet in the same market. Congress is threatening to do something about it, sorta like they threatened to do something about the war, and about tax breaks for oil companies, and about cleaning up Washington, so, all hail our corporate media overlords! [Yahoo News]

Ah, how quickly they forget the rules when there is free food! Last week, the Federal Communications Bar Association held their annual FCC Chairman’s Dinner to roast and then listen to the incredibly young-looking Kevin Martin (sample one-liner: “Kevin looks so young even Mark Foley would throw him back”). But what Kevin probably didn’t know is that some of the companies sponsoring the event were playing a little fast and loose with the ethics rules that night.

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Because the dignified president and vice president are obscenity-spewing feces, wealthy fucktards like “socialite Nicole Richie” can F-bomb away on live teevee. MORE »

* Easter holiday for President Bush and Congress begins with volley of zingers over Iraq war funding bill. [WP, NYT]
* Mitt Romney’s cult is just naturally good at raising money, knocking on doors in short sleeved dress shirts. [WP, WP, NYT]
* McCain’s merry band of psychos, not so much. [NYT]
* FCC: yes, it still blows. [WP]
* Gonzales aide Monica Goodling refuses to answer the question of what questions she refuses to answer. [WP, NYT]
* Loud-mouth truck-stop managers really love readin’ bout politiks on the internets. [WSJ]

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* Send a Valentine to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. It’s the least you can do after he went A2M with all those lobbyists for you. [Free Press]
* The Iranian weapons doing all the blowing up in Iraq? Yeah, not so much. [Informed Comment]
* ExxonMobil executives too hacky to be funny. [My DD]
* The Divine Mrs. C … [Sweetness & Light]
* … Gets her MySpace page deleted by Rupert Murdoch. [Passport]
* Dan Finkelstein doesn’t read Noam Chomsky so you have to. [Comment Central]
* Political bloggers are boring. This is a fact of the universe. [Althouse]

• Lou Dobbs doesn’t know shit about the Middle East, but neither do you. [CNN]

• Potential government jurisdiction clusterfuck over Bush’s s-bomb drop. [Fishbowl DC]
• Apparently, firing a missile at someone isn’t smack talk enough, as “your mamma” jokes now getting written on Lebanon bound rockets. [AP]
• A picture of Putin as a small boy just yearning for some tummy-kissing-man-love. [Iran Defense]
• Rush Limbaugh’s “Viagra-fueled boners” convince him to cite a lady blogger whose statistics seem to come from, “out of her anal cavity.” [James Wolcott]

Gary Ackerman (D-NY), seen here penning erotic Buffy fanfic, gave an impassioned speech on the floor of the House decrying the bill that boosted indecency fines tenfold for TV networks. It even ended with the classic legislative sendoff, “Mr. Speaker, I for one will be voting against this bill.” The only problem: He voted for it. MORE »

Fuck! We sure are glad we don’t work in radio or TV. MORE »

• FBI and Justice Department officials, including Alberto Gonzales, defend search of Rep. William Jefferson’s (D-La.) office; Speaker Hastert talks to Bush. [WP, NYT, LAT]
• Gen. Michael Hayden wins over the Senate intelligence committee; full Senate could confirm his nomination to lead the CIA by Thursday. [WP, NYT, LAT, USAT]
• Chertoff contends the U.S. is prepared for hurricane season but skepticism remains. [WP]
• Reaching a compromise over immigration will be a challenge for the House and Senate; Bush urged to apply his “full energy into the effort.” [WP, LAT]
• Veterans Affairs Department waited two weeks before alerting authorities about data loss. [NYT, USAT]
• Critics see recent spending bill for Iraq and Katrina “as a monumental example of earmarking taken to extremes.” [WP]

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