Free Republic

Edra Denise Blixseth, age 55, is tiny, barely 5 feet 3, but she is at the center of a huge financial mess. According to personal bankruptcy papers her lawyer filed in March, she owes $500 million to $1 billion and has assets of barely half that, almost none of them liquid. Earlier this month, the court approved the sale of one of her most prized possessions - the private ski resort in Big Sky, Mont., known as the Yellowstone Club - to the private-equity firm of one of its members for $115 million. Just a year ago, that same buyer,...

...five well-known Hollywood Democrats -- David Geffen, Bob Iger, Peter Chernin, Haim Saban, and Ari Emanuel -- are hosting a November 4 fundraiser for Ari's brother Rahm Emanuel in his bid to become Chicago's next mayor. Rahm, a former Democratic U.S. Representative from Illinois' 5th Congressional District (2003-2009), resigned as President Obama's White House Chief Of Staff on October 1 to throw his hat into the mayoral race following the retirement of Richard M. Daley whose last name more or less owned that political office the way most families would takeover the dining table. The Hollywood fundraiser will be held...

...The bitter battle has all the hallmarks of a classic family drama. It pits the toddler children of Mr. Murdoch and Ms. Deng, a Chinese-born woman in her mid-30s, against Mr. Murdoch's children from his first two marriages. One of the key debates: Who should inherit the family's $6 billion fortune and Mr. Murdoch's control of News Corp.... But despite his job title, one of the few businesses Lachlan had a free hand in managing was one of News Corp.'s smallest, the New York Post, a tabloid paper that was one of his father's first acquisitions after he moved to...

Peter Chernin, President and CEO of Fox Studios, listed with a Beverly Hills address is recorded on Fundrace.org as giving Kerry $2000. His wife another 2000. But Peter Chernin listed at another address, this one in Santa Monica, whose occupation is "News Corporation President" is a $25,000 donor to the DNC. Are there two Peter Chernins who are News Presidents, or is the head of Fox News a giant DNC contributor?Fundrace record of Peter Chernin

According to the Kerry for President campaign, News Corp. President and chief operating officer Peter Chernin has endorsed the Democratic presidential candidate. News Corp. owns Fox News Channel. That would put Chernin in the ranks of some other Kerry-supporting media executives, including Barry Diller, Kirk Kerkorian (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.) and Harvey and Robert Weinstein, who backed the release of Michael Moore's controversial anti-Bush documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11. The Chernin endorsement was among that of 200 business leaders announced Wendesday, with Chernin attending a Wall Street to Main Street summit held by Kerry in Iowa. The move didn't appear to surprise News Corp....

-News Corp. President Peter Chernin has broken ranks with his Bush-backing boss, Rupert Murdoch, by endorsing John Kerry. Chernin even went on Fox News to trumpet his support for the Democratic candidate. A source close to Murdoch insists the right-wing media mogul "isn't troubled" by Chernin's politics. "Rupert has lots of Democrats working for him." -Bear Stearns President Warren Spector can only wish his boss were so tolerant. CEO James Cayne has sent out a memo to his 10,500 employees blasting Spector for giving the impression the company was endorsing Kerry. "His views were his own," wrote Cayne, who has...

...And here’s a shocker. Peter Chernin, president and COO of News Corp. and chairman and CEO of Fox Group is on the list. That’s right — the same News Corp. run by the evil Australian reactionary Rupert Murdoch, and the same Fox whose cable news channel stole the 2000 Florida election from Al Gore (according to Michael Moore). Kerry’s press release even quotes Chernin at length. He sounds like a fire hose spouting pro-Kerry feel-good platitudes: The Kerry-Edwards plan for America is exactly what is needed to jumpstart businesses and get America working again. It will lower healthcare costs and...

Fresh from his latest win in Maine, the favourite to challenge George Bush for the US presidency has secured the financial support of some of the most powerful media moguls in the world. As John Kerry's campaign to secure the Democrat nomination - and with it a crack at the White House - continues to gather pace, it has emerged that it is being bankrolled by key executives from News Corporation, MTV-owner Viacom and Sony. The victory in Maine, Mr Kerry's 10th out of the 12 primaries in the opening weeks of the Democrat selection campaign, confirmed his position as...

ASPEN, Colo.--The president of media giant News Corp. warns that the Internet has become a "moral-free zone," with the medium's future threatened by pornography, spam and rampant piracy. Speaking Tuesday at an annual conference organized by the Progress & Freedom Foundation, Peter Chernin decried the "enormous amount" of worthless content online. He also predicted that without new laws to stave off illicit copying, News Corp.'s vast library of movies may never be made available in digital form. "The vast potential of broadband has so far benefited nobody as clearly as it's benefited downloaders of pornography and pirates of digital content,"...