Digging The Trib. Again.

I'll try to make this quick.

From the Op-Ed page at today's Tribune-Review we read:

FCC rejection of a planned satellite/wireless network that interferes with GPS frequencies is welcome recognition that technological realities trump crony capitalism.

The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday moved toward revoking a waiver that required LightSquared to show the interference problem could be solved. The Hill's Hillicon Valley blog reports the head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration told the FCC "there are no mitigation strategies that ... solve the interference issues ... ."

That's good news for GPS-reliant commercial aviation safety and military operations -- and bad news for big Obama donors backing LightSquared and for the president, who invested $50,000 in 2005.

Hedge fund operator Phil Falcone put $2 billion-plus into LightSquared. A major Obama donor, he now says he's a Republican who didn't try to influence the FCC process.

Too bad those last two paragraph are riddled with factual holes.  They want you to think one thing (it's all "Democrat crony capitalism") when the facts paint a far different picture.

First about President Obama's invenstment, here's Fox News:

Falcone says he is a registered Republican and has never met Obama. In 2005, then-Sen. Barack Obama invested nearly $90,000 in Skyterra, the company that later changed its name to LightSquared, along with $9,000 in a biotech company. Obama sold the stocks eight months later for a net loss of $13,000, according to The New York Times.

Funny Scaife's braintrust didn't see fit to tell you that.  Or about how this "major Obama donor" has never donated to the Obama campaign.  Or how while he has given tens of thousands to the DSCC, he's also given tens of thousands to the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Republican National Committee.

Funny that Scaife's braintrust didn't see fit to tell you any of that, either.

Then there's this:

Yet an Air Force Space Command general and the national GPS office director have said the White House pressured them to play down LightSquared concerns before Congress. (And that aspect of this case still requires a full investigation.)

The Washington Post reported in September:

The White House denied trying to influence Shelton’s testimony. Col. Kathleen Cook, a spokeswoman for Shelton, also denied there was any improper influence. She said the White House, the Office of Management and Budget and the Defense Department routinely review congressional testimony and can weigh in with their own ideas to ensure consistency in policy across agencies.

And, even so, “I can assure you Gen. Shelton’s testimony was his own, supported by and focused purely on documented tested results,” she said.

Funny they didn't see fit to tell you that.

Nor did they tell you that a great deal of this research comes from something called the National Legal and Policy Center.  Take a look:

Allegations that we first made in February about White House political favors for a company called LightSquared are starting to get the attention they deserve.

Guess who heavily backs the NLPC?

That's right, Tribune-Review owner, Richard Mellon Scaife - about $1.4 million over the years from his Carthage and Sarah Scaife foundations.

It's always interesting to see what Scaife's braintrust decides to leave out of an op-ed. Funny how its inclusion would change the entire tone of the piece.

Yea, funny that.