Far from being a Hercules prepared to clean the soiled Augean stables in Congress of corruption, Rep. John Murtha, Nancy Pelosi’s choice for Majority Leader of the House, appears to be one of the contented Beltway cows, according to a recent story in the Washington Post, not known as a neo-con newspaper. Even the Hartford Courant saw fit to print a discouraging word. True, Colin McEnroe has not yet weighed in on the new culture of corruption in Washington DC, but then he has not yet fully recovered from his obsession with the inoffensive Joe Lieberman -- Independent Democrat CT.
Powell, Pesci Substack The Journal Inquirer (JI), one of the last independent newspapers in Connecticut, is now a part of the Hearst Media chain. Hearst has been growing by leaps and bounds in the state during the last decade. At the same time, many newspapers in Connecticut have shrunk in size, the result, some people seem to think, of ad revenue smaller newspapers have lost to internet sites and a declining newspaper reading public. Surviving papers are now seeking to recover the lost revenue by erecting “pay walls.” Like most besieged businesses, newspapers also are attempting to recoup lost revenue through staff reductions, reductions in the size of the product – both candy bars and newspapers are much smaller than they had been in the past – and sell-offs to larger chains that operate according to the social Darwinian principles of monopolistic “red in tooth and claw” giant corporations. The first principle of the successful mega-firm is: Buy out your predator before he swallows
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