The Supreme Court Veers Right

The Skinny is Joel Roberts' take on the top news of the day and the best of the Internet.

According to USA Today, the court's "revamped conservative majority flexed its muscle" in three 5-4 rulings that "reflected how President Bush's appointees, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, have begun to move the court toward the right."

The most important of those decisions, all the major morning papers agreed, was a ruling that loosened a key provision in the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law to allow groups to air so-called "issue" ads in the days before an election.

That decision, said the Los Angeles Times, "will allow corporate and union money to play a bigger role in political campaigns."

While it's not clear which of the presidential candidates will benefit the most from the ruling, which was cheered by conservatives, The New York Times said Sen. John McCain, who co-wrote the campaign finance law, "may suffer the most in the short term."

While the court argued that advocacy groups have a constitutional right to air their views, the Washington Post said "it took a different view of First Amendment protections" in a case involving student free speech rights. The court ruled that a high school principal was justified in tearing down a student banner reading "Bong Hits 4 Jesus," because it violated the school's anti-drug policies.

Finally, the court also limited the rights of taxpayers to challenge President Bush's "faith-based initiative" in the courts. The president hailed that decision as a "win for the thousands of community and faith-based nonprofits all across the country."

Murdoch In China

The New York Times continues its multipart profile of media titan Rupert Murdoch with a look at Murdoch's considerable and controversial business dealings with China.

The Times says Murdoch – who is seeking to buy the one of The Times' chief rivals, the Wall Street Journal – has been "ardent and unrelenting" in his efforts to break into the Chinese market over the past two decades.

The conservative Murdoch has "flattered Communist Party leaders and done business with their children," helped China's top state broadcaster build a news Web site, and "joined hands with the Communist Youth League… in a risky television venture."

The Times says Murdoch "cooperates closely with China's censors and state broadcasters" and often "supports the policies of Chinese leaders and attacks their critics" in speeches and interviews.

All of that has made him "the Chinese leadership's favorite foreign media baron."

What does Rupert Murdoch think of these charges? Not much. In a statement published by The Times, Murdoch's News Corp. blasted the series as "blatantly designed to further the Times's commercial self interests," and accused The Times of "using its news pages to advance its own corporate business agenda."

United States: Internet Slow Poke

How fast is your Internet connection? If you're like most Americans, it's a lot slower than those of Web users in other industrialized nations.

According to a study cited in USA Today, Amercans are far behind other countries in high-speed Internet access and "may never catch up unless quick action is taken by public-policy makers."

The report, by the Communications Workers of America, finds that the median U.S. download speed is 1.97 megabits per second – a veritable crawl compared with speedy nations like Japan (61 megabits), South Korea (45 megabits), France (17 megabits) and Canada (7 megabits).

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