• by John Gaffney , May 9, 2003

Other People's Riffs For The Week of May 5.

Rupert Goes To Washington #1: According to Reuters, News Corp. Ltd. Chairman Rupert Murdoch on Thursday parried criticism from Democratic lawmakers of his company's bid to buy U.S. satellite provider DirecTV and basked in praise from Republicans enamored with his conservative cable news channel. A few of the Democrats complained about the conservative tone of News Corp.'s Fox News Channel, the No. 1 cable news network, and accused it of being a 'cheerleader' for the Bush administration. "Maybe we should make a lot more noise than we're making," California Democrat Maxine Waters told Murdoch. "You scare the hell out of me."

Rupert Goes To Washington #2: "If my wife doesn't get a good dose of Fox News every morning, she gets pretty grumpy," said Judiciary committee chairman James Sensenbrenner, a Republican from Wisconsin.

Hey, Man This Magazine Is Tha Shhhhhhh:The New York Daily News reported that Radar editor, Maer Roshan, was left speechless yesterday when a package of human excrement was delivered to his office with the return address of rapper Suge Knight - but Knight says it was the work of a prankster. "The package came by regular mail, was addressed to Maer and labeled 'personal and confidential.' The return address indicated it was from Suge Knight, so everyone was a little scared - they thought it was a threat letter," said the paper's source. Marion "Suge" Knight, founder of Death Row records, had been named one of the magazine's "monsters" and "most hated people" in its debut issue.

Does Touring With Pete Rate Extreme History?: On the verge of upfront, the History Channel has unveiled its new fall-season programming, including a new series Extreme History with Roger Daltry, which focuses on different extreme historical events and how individuals survived them, and is hosted by the Who's former vocalist-guitarist.