Ofcom, the television regulator, is currently examining whether Mr Murdoch and News Corporation are "fit and proper" persons to be in control of BSkyB, the company that runs Sky TV. News Corporation currently owns 39% of BSkyB.

Tom Watson MP, a member of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee that has been examining the phone-hacking scandal, has called for Ofcom to examine these new allegations in their assessment.

"Clearly allegations of TV hacking are far more serious than phone hacking," he said. "It seems inconceivable that they (Ofcom) would not want to look at these new allegations. Ofcom are now applying the fit and proper person test to Rupert and James Murdoch. It also seems inconceivable to me that if these allegations are true that Rupert Murdoch and James Murdoch will pass that test."

NDS declined to be interviewed for the programme

Chase Carey, News Corp's chief operating officer, issued a statement on Wednesday in which he condemned "the BBC's inaccurate claims".

"The BBC's Panorama programme was a gross misrepresentation of NDS's role as a high quality and leading provider of technology and services to the pay-TV industry," his statement said.

"Panorama presented manipulated and mischaracterised emails to produce unfair and baseless accusations. News Corporation is proud to have worked with NDS and to have supported them in their aggressive fight against piracy and copyright infringement."

'Legitimate'

Writing on Twitter, Rupert Murdoch took a clear swipe at the BBC, asserting "enemies many different agendas, but worst old toffs and right wingers who still want last century's status quo with their monopolies".

"Let's have it on! Choice, freedom of thought and markets, individual personal responsibility."

NDS's UK security unit was 50% funded by Sky. But the satellite broadcaster, chaired by James Murdoch, told the programme it had no involvement in how the unit was run.

Abe Peled - executive chairman of NDS, which manufactures smartcards for all News Corporations' pay-TV companies across the world, published a detailed letter to Panorama demanding that the programme retract its claims.

Mr Peled insisted the BBC had "seriously misconstrued legitimate activities".

A BBC spokeswoman said: "We stand by the Panorama investigation.

"We have received NDS's correspondence and are aware of News Corp's rejection of Panorama's revelations. However, the emails shown in the programme were not manipulated, as NDS claims, and nothing in the correspondence undermines the evidence presented in the programme."

ITV Digital was first launched as On Digital and was set up as a rival to News Corporation's Sky TV in 1998.

But the widespread availability of secret codes to reproduce the cards needed to access the service meant ITV Digital's services could be accessed for free by pirates.

The Carlton and Granada-owned company folded in 2002.

According to a new poll: The most trusted commentator on news is Bill O'Reilly. Hands down. lol

Fox is still number one and is burring the opposition.

A News Corporation company recruited a pay-TV "pirate" to post hacked details of a rival's secret codes online, BBC Panorama has found.

Lee Gibling set up a website in the late 1990s known as The House of Ill-Compute or Thoic.

He said NDS, a pay-TV smartcard maker, then funded expansion of the Thoic site and later had him distribute the set-top pay-TV codes of rival ITV Digital.

NDS denied this and said Thoic was only used to gather intelligence on hackers.

It says Lee Gibling worked as a consultant who was used legitimately to inform on hackers.

ITV Digital was first launched as "On Digital" and was set up as a rival to News Corporation's Sky TV in 1998.

But the widespread availability of the secret codes meant ITV Digital's services could be accessed for free by pirates. The company went bust in 2002.
'Killer blow'

ITV Digital's former chief technical officer, Simon Dore, told the programme that piracy was "the killer blow for the business, there is no question".

"The business had its issues aside from the piracy... but those issues I believe would have been solvable by careful and good management. The real killer, the hole beneath the water line, was the piracy. We couldn't recover from that."

Lee Gibling told Panorama the codes on the Thoic site originated from NDS.

"They delivered the actual software to be able to do this, with prior instructions that it should go to the widest possible community," he said.

The Phony Kony Baloney 2012 Propaganda 2.0 Explained – USA wants Africa!

http://powerpointparadise.com/blog/2012/03/the-phony-kony-2012-propaganda-2-0-explained-usa-wants-africa/

(V): So the Kony thing's a Phony thing?

Pink Floyd did try and warn us!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNDaOFQ6g2I&feature=related

Former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks has been arrested as part of the police inquiry into allegations of phone hacking.

Five other people were detained, including Mrs Brooks' husband, the racehorse trainer Charlie Brooks. The arrests took place in Oxfordshire, London, Hampshire and Hertfordshire. Police said one woman and five men were held on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, as part of the Operation Weeting hacking probe.

News International has confirmed that its head of security, Mark Hanna, is among the six people being held.

Former News of the World and Sun editor Mrs Brooks was arrested at her home in Oxfordshire. Her husband was also detained and they are now being held at separate police stations. Officers are searching addresses connected to the arrests.

As well as Mrs Brooks, 43, and Mr Brooks, 49, the other people arrested are a 39-year-old man from Hampshire, a 46-year-old man from west London, a 38-year-old man from Hertfordshire, and a 48-year-old man from east London.

The six are being interviewed at police stations in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and London.

"Washington isn't broken.... It's bought"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JlGcxsVNYBY#!

SL-Mark: pretty standard for any major public works going by low bids.

Bernice: LOL, yes but we have a far larger population than yours, so we are entitled to having more and bigger idiots!

The search was not hard, but limited choice! It would be a safe bet to say that any country hosting the olympics will go over budget and social injustices arising. Our original estimate was done on the back of a fag packet :)

SL-Mark: 193 million is a big difference to 9 billion....but then I guess it depends on how you view figures.

and who the hell is the wsws? you must have searched hard to find those articles

another thing....the world wasn't in such financial turmoil back then...well Australia still isn't really :)

"A "flying squad" of social workers will have first contact with the homeless and then rely on police to remove those unwilling to cooperate. Among homeless people, hostels and boarding houses throughout the Sydney metropolitan area have the reputation of being more dangerous than the streets, because of the increasing frequency of violent assaults, theft and food poisoning that occur there.

Sydney City Council Rangers and private security guards employed by various local and Olympics authorities have been handed new powers to remove "by reasonable force" anyone deemed a nuisance. "Offences" ranging from drinking alcohol to demonstrating, begging, or camping in The Rocks, Circular Quay, Darling Harbour and Olympics sites "

...... "First Contact" ... Sounds like Star Trek. Where's the Captain!!

Bernice: You say:
"if the country is this well off, there should be NO ONE on the dole...what a pack of idiots spending all that wasted cash when they have thousands and thousands of people starving and homeless :(
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/230849.html"

However, you seem to have forgotten about your own pack of idiots:

Sydney's homeless to be removed for Olympics:
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/feb2000/olymp-f03.shtml


Financial fiasco brewing in Australia over Sydney Olympic Games:
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/mar2000/olym-m03.shtml

if the country is this well off, there should be NO ONE on the dole...what a pack of idiots spending all that wasted cash when they have thousands and thousands of people starving and homeless :(

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/230849.html

Pope rallies visiting US bishops against gay marriage

"Pope Benedict XVI has denounced gay marriage in a speech to US bishops visiting Vatican City.

The Pope warned of "powerful political and cultural currents seeking to alter the legal definition of marriage".

He also urged the bishops to emphasise to their Church that premarital sex and cohabitation was "gravely sinful" and "damaging to the stability of society"."

More so than the hiding of paedophile clergy?

Coke and Pepsi alter recipe to avoid cancer warning.

"Coca-Cola and Pepsi are changing the recipes for their drinks to avoid being legally obliged to put a cancer warning label on the bottle.

The new recipe for caramel colouring in the drinks has less 4-methylimidazole (4-MEI) - a chemical which California has added to its list of carcinogens.

The change to the recipe has already been introduced in California but will be rolled out across the US.

Coca-Cola says there is no health risk to justify the change. "

Is it still safe to use on metal as a rust remover...??

Übergeek 바둑이: If the Republicans aren't careful, they may attack themselves for becoming an unstable theocracy, kinda ironic

The Col: It's likely some rejected it on premise as well. But since it's also illegal, it makes all arguments for and against moot.

I dare say that most Republicans would fail that test unless they are women. Men far out number women when it comes to watching porn. And like some GOP hopeful is gonna admit to a late nite date with a "special" google search.

rod03801:

> The pledge would require candidates to promise they have not had premarital sex, will be faithful to their spouses and will not watch pornography.

> The pledge endorsed by Laurens County Republicans last month also requires candidates to protect gun rights, oppose abortion under any circumstances, endorse balanced budgets and oppose same-sex marriage.

They forgot to promise to eat their greens and cut back on cholesterol!

"It’s not clear if the qualification panel would have been put in place in time to keep the sheriff off the ballot. Laurens County Republican Party Chairman Bobby Smith didn’t return messages seeking comment Tuesday. He did issue a statement Monday saying the county party would not keep anyone from the GOP ballot in the June primary, but retained the right to vet candidates on its own.

Smith got into a public fight with one of the county’s chief Republicans last summer, when Sheriff Ricky Chastain admitted to having a two-and-a-half year affair with a subordinate at the sheriff’s office. The woman sued him for sexual harassment, accusing the sheriff of driving her to get an abortion in a county-owned car. That lawsuit is still pending.

Smith called for Chastain to resign. He refused, and the issue appeared to have died down until the pledge was passed Feb. 28.

Chastain, who plans to run for a fourth term, was worried the pledge was intended to keep him off the ballot. Chastain said it should be up to the voters in Laurens County to decide whether he returns to office.

“A small group shouldn’t decide who is best to represent Republicans in this county. It should be all Republicans,” Chastain said.

Retired state trooper Don Reynolds announced his bid to get the Republican nomination for sheriff last fall. He said he wasn’t consulted about the pledge. He supports its ideas, but has no plans to make Chastain’s indiscretions a part of his campaign because everyone in the county already knows about them.

“I don’t know how you can lack ethics in yourself and expect to be able to lead people,” Reynolds said."

By Associated Press, Updated: Tuesday, March 6, 8:33 PM

>>>> Seems like the proposal had nothing to do with ethics, just who's to be the next sheriff.

The Col: By the fall in ratings of the likes of the Limbaugh, especially in advertisers 'golden zone' of 25-54.... getting bored of it.

'Talk Radio' steady listeners are the oldies... 60+. Those most exposed to the 'us and them' mentality that is messing up America.

Disney's purity ring all over again!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1DSjV16ORU

South park song ... all sing along now

... the point in the episode, the ring just made those wearing it think about premarital sex more.

rod03801: I suppose it is noble standing up for what you believe in regardless of electability.I just wonder what moderate Republicans are thinking these days

The Col: Whatever works, I guess.

rod03801: So it was rejected on the grounds of legallity, not premis

The Col: Of course, don't mention the follow up :


SC GOP rejects Laurens Republicans purity pledge

LAURENS, S.C. (AP) The South Carolina Republican Party is rejecting a proposal by the Laurens County GOP to require candidates to sign a pledge on conservative values.

The pledge would require candidates to promise they have not had premarital sex, will be faithful to their spouses and will not watch pornography.

The pledge endorsed by Laurens County Republicans last month also requires candidates to protect gun rights, oppose abortion under any circumstances, endorse balanced budgets and oppose same-sex marriage.

State Republican Party executive director Matt Moore says it would be illegal for the Laurens County party to deny ballot access to candidates who refuse to sign the pledge.

Laurens GOP Chairman Bobby Smith says the party will not do that, but hopes the pledge will encourage good values by Republican candidates.

According to new rules just adopted by the Laurens County GOP, no candidate will wind up on the primary ballot who hasn't passed a purity test.

Among the new requirements to run as a Republican in this county in the June 12 legislative primary, according to The Clinton Chronicle, are that aspiring candidates must have abstained from sex before marriage.

And once they ace THAT test, they must take a pledge that "You cannot now, from the moment you sign this pledge, look at pornography."

Other required Republican pledges include:

"You must oppose abortion, in any circumstances.
"You must uphold the right to have guns, all kinds of guns.

"You must endorse the idea of a balanced state and federal budget, whatever it takes, even if your primary responsibility is to be sure the county budget is balanced.

"You must be faithful to your spouse. Your spouse cannot be a person of the same gender, and you are not allowed to favor any government action that would allow for civil unions of people of the same sex.

"You must have:

"A compassionate and moral approach to Teen Pregnancy;

"A commitment to Peace Through Strength in Foreign Policy; and

"A high regard for Unites States Sovereignty."

I had a look at these once a month pills... some seem to be effectively an early abortion pill.

ie the pill Mifepristone.

Only 4 bucks?

Vikings: I'm ready to move on. It's all pointless anyway.

were going to have to move on unless the edgy language stops

Ed Schultz called Laura Ingraham a "talk slut" and Laura Ingraham didn't receive a Presidential phone call. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann was called a "bitch" by way of Fishbone's "Lyin' Ass Bitch" intro song on Jimmy Fallon's show and didn't receive a Presidential phone call. Michelle Malkin was called a "mashed-up bag of meat" by Keith Olbermann and she didn't receive a Presidental phone call. Sarah Palin was called a "c*nt" by Bill Maher and she didn't receive a Presidential phone call. Countless other conservative women, like myself, have over the past several days been threatened with death and rape on Twitter and in email if we ask why we should pay for another woman's contraception. We didn't get Presidential phone calls. Why? Because Barack Obama can't use us to make an argument for birth control to hide his attack on the First Amendment.

lizrising: It's your own personal interpretation that Rush suggested he "owned" Fluke. That is laughable. You're making this up as you go. The real standard of a liberal is the double standard.


And liz, you originally said unacceptable, NOT completely.

Something that is unacceptable can also be bad form. I have the better view: equally bad. Equally unacceptable. Equal! You're still making excuses.

lizrising: Oh, so now you're going to measure the offense by the words of the apology? More hypocrisy.

Carbonite stock approaches 52-week low since dropping sponsorship of Rush Limbaugh show
While Carbonite decides to drop it’s sponsorship of the Rush Limbaugh show over their faux outrage over the whole Sandra Fluke situation, while continuing to sponsor misogynist Ed Schultz is dropping like a rock. As of the closing bell on Monday, March 5th, 2012, Carbonite’s stock dropped to $9.15 per share. They actually hit their 52 week (or one year) low during trading of $9.09 per share. Oh, and the 52 week high for Carbonite stock was $21.10. Seems like they have quite a business model running there huh?

Rush's apology:
"For over 20 years, I have illustrated the absurd with absurdity, three hours a day, five days a week. In this instance, I chose the wrong words in my analogy of the situation. I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke.

I think it is absolutely absurd that during these very serious political times, we are discussing personal sexual recreational activities before members of Congress. I personally do not agree that American citizens should pay for these social activities. What happened to personal responsibility and accountability? Where do we draw the line? If this is accepted as the norm, what will follow? Will we be debating if taxpayers should pay for new sneakers for all students that are interested in running to keep fit?In my monologue, I posited that it is not our business whatsoever to know what is going on in anyone's bedroom nor do I think it is a topic that should reach a Presidential level.

My choice of words was not the best, and in the attempt to be humorous, I created a national stir. I sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke for the insulting word choices."



Ed's apology:
"On my radio show yesterday, I used vile and inappropriate language when talking about talk show host Laura Ingraham. I am deeply sorry, and I apologize. It was wrong, uncalled for and I recognize the severity of what I said. I apologize to you, Laura and ask for your forgiveness. It doesn't matter what the circumstances were. It doesn't matter that it was on radio and I was ad libbing. none of that matters. none of that matters. What matters is what I said was terribly vile and not of the standards that I or any other person should adhere to. I want all of you to know tonight that I did call Laura Ingraham today and did not make contact with her and I will apologize to her as i did in the message that I left her today. I also met with management here at MSNBC, and understanding the severity of the situation and what I said on the radio and how it reflected terribly on this company, I have offered to take myself off the air for an indefinite period of time with no pay. I want to apologize to Laura Ingraham. I want to apologize to my family, my wife. I have embarrassed my family. I have embarrassed this company. And I have been in this business since 1978, and I have made a lot of mistakes. This is the lowest of low for me. I stand before you tonight in front of this camera in this studio in an environment that I absolutely love. I love working here. I love communicating with all of you on the radio and the communication that I have with you when I go out and do town hall meetings and meet the people that actually watch. I stand before you tonight to take full responsibility for what I said and how I said it, and I am deeply sorry,"

Artful Dodger: Calling someone a name is not equal to demanding something of someone as though you own them. Somehow you turned "completely unacceptable" into "bad form." Stop turning my words around.

lizrising: So calling a woman a slut is just bad form but asking for sex tapes is pure evil? You can't be serious? That is a huge double standard! Both are equally wrong. Maybe it's just that Rush is a conservative and that's your biggest beef.

Artful Dodger: I was referring to Rush asking to see sex tapes. Ed did not do that.

I am not the complete liberal apologist you think I am. I am critical of everyone in the media. Actually, sometimes I even agree with the things you post here.

lizrising: "The name calling by Ed Schultz and whoever else is also unacceptable, but what Limbaugh said is pure evil."

nonsense

I've already explained to you what real evil looks like. Don't cheapen it. And your statement above is clearly minimizing the name calling by Schultz. So it's not so bad, according to you, to call a woman a slut. Just inappropriate (like farting in public). Come on!

What more do you liberals need to read to realize that it's the LEFT that is vile and filthy???

Rush is singled out because he's a conservative. What he said was wrong but all of you who are "offended" by his words have been totally silent about these other incidents. Why? Those women were conservatives.

Hypocritical!

It's ALL wrong! Just say it and stop making excuses. (pay attention Jules)

Let’s see how they react when one of their own savages women in ways Limbaugh would never dream of doing.

Everyone remembers Ed Schultz calling Laura Ingraham a “slut” on his radio show.
MSNBC suspended him for a week, but none of Schultz’s advertisers dropped his show under media pressure. There was no pressure. Some of the same sponsors now pulling out of Rush’s show still support Schultz.

What Schultz said is nothing compared to his colleagues.

Fellow talk show host Mike Malloy hoped Sarah Palin “drives herself into madness” and insisted Michele Bachmann is an “evil bitch from Hell” who would have gladly supervised the Holocaust.

Montel Williams rooted on Air America for Bachmann to slit her own wrist or throat.

Randi Rhodes insisted that teenage boys weren’t safe from Palin’s advances if they stayed over at her house. There’s no news coverage or “war on women” narrative when the mud-covered women are conservatives.

Then consider the case study of Bill Maher, who’s welcomed all over TV news shows.
A year ago on his HBO show, he called Sarah Palin a “dumb twat.”
He followed up days later in a Dallas stand-up routine by calling Palin the C-word.
Last July on HBO, he said Palin was “a bully who sells patriotism like a pimp, and the leader of a strange family of inbred weirdos.”
Last September on his show, Maher said Palin would have sex with Rick Perry if he was black.

Days after he called Palin the T-word, he appeared with then-CNN host Eliot Spitzer, where Spitzer concluded, “Your show is brilliant. I love watching it.”

On Sunday, Democratic Party chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz huffed on “Meet the Press” that "I don't know any woman in America that thinks that being called a slut is funny." But two months ago, she accepted an invitation to sit on the set with the man who called Palin a “c---.”

President Obama placed a tender phone call to Sandra Fluke Friday to express sympathy for Limbaugh’s harsh words. He never called Ingraham, or Palin. But his super PAC did cash that $1 million check from Maher.

Some outrage

A couple of years ago, “comedian” Louis CK “joked” on the Opie and Anthony radio show about Palin coming to the Republican convention “holding a baby that just came out of her f-ing, disgusting [C-word], her f-ing retard-making [C-word]. I hate her more than anybody,” he said.
On Twitter, this “comedian” attacked Palin in 2011 as a “f—ing jackoff [C-word]-face jazzy wondergirl” who “has a family of Chinese poor people living in her [C-word] hole.”
Guess which event this same fellow is headlining in June? -- The Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner.
“We’re very excited about having Louis C.K. at the dinner,” said Jay McMichael of CNN, who chairs the Radio and Television Correspondents Associations’s executive committee. “This is an evening you’ll want to experience. We’re shaking things up, showcasing the unexpected, and delivering lots of laughs.”

lizrising: Liz, you said Ed was inappropriate but that Rush was pure evil. You minimized what Ed said. That's dishonest.

"Protecting the left when they do the same thing (as you did with Ed of MSNBC) while vilifying the right is hypocritical"

I did no such thing. I don't care for Ed Schultz and have no reason to protect him.

lizrising: BTW, you inferred it. You are projecting that he implied what you are saying. And clearly Rush was being sarcastic and trying to be over the top. He certainly wasn't being serious.

I wish liberals would just be honest about this topic. Protecting the left when they do the same thing (as you did with Ed of MSNBC) while vilifying the right is hypocritical. Read this: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/03/04/rush-limbaugh-s-apology-liberal-men-need-to-follow-suit.html

She's a well known liberal and about the only liberal that is making any sense in this matter.

No one said one pill a month. You made that up. That's because you like to to obfuscate a problem with extraneous information. Your MO. BTW, there are once a month birth controls out there. But that's not what's even being discussed. Clearly it was sarcasm. You'd have to be pretty sexually active to be spending $1000 per year.

Seems you are still unclear about basic economics and clearly you are unaware of the availability of once a month contraception.

"Maybe the word "slut" I don't find really that bad."

So you're ok with women being called sluts. Good to know.

Like so many liberal thinkers, that is hypocritical.