Friday, July 22, 2011

Murdoch Muck

So, it does seem there's a lot of scrutiny being placed on Murdoch's empire that wasn't there before, even though the empire was always evil. Anyway, better late than never?

Let's have a look at today's items. From Dependable Renegade:

The caption reads: I've had a bellyful of phone hacking.

Indeed, Murdoch's empire cares about the suffering Somalis a good deal just now. Whatever they can print to encourage people to look away from the empire's lack of clothing. Shame sometimes works. And aren't you ashamed to be talking about something so petty as phone hacking when there are starving people in the world?

[London] Police said they had received a letter on Friday from opposition lawmaker Tom Watson, who questioned whether Murdoch was involved in illegal efforts to cover up phone hacking.

Detectives investigating a phone hacking scandal centered on the Murdochs' now defunct News of the World tabloid were considering the letter, they said.

Raw Story

Yes, we know what they are considering. They are considering how to cover their own asses, because Murdoch’s empire has been bribing the police for years.

The [US] Justice Department is looking into allegations that News Corp's advertising unit hacked into computers of a competitor, NBC News reported on Thursday, citing the competitor's lawyer.

NBC said the Justice Department is seeking information on whether News Corp unit News America Marketing hacked into computers of New Jersey advertising firm Floorgraphics seven years ago.

Floorgraphics lawyer Bill Isaacson told NBC news that he had been contacted by two federal prosecutors and an FBI agent this week.

According to NBC, the allegations were first reported to the FBI in 2004.

Raw Story

They’re just now asking about it when they’ve known about it since 2004?? Does that sound a little like maybe the FBI is also entangled in Murdoch Muck. Much?

Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern sent a letter to Governor John Kasich on Wednesday asking him to give to charity the contributions he received from News Corporation.

Redfern noted that Kasich earned $265,000 in 2008 for a program he hosted on Fox News. The CEO of News Corp., Rupert Murdoch, also donated $10,000 to Kasich's campaign and said the two have a close friendship. Kasich appeared as a guest on Fox nearly thirty times to promote his candidacy for governor, even allowing him to solicit donations on air..

Raw Story

Yes, I bet there are a lot of politicians out there who are going to be scrambling to get out of the Murdoch Muck. This should be fun. Look at all the dirty little piggies trying to find that hole under the fence. And a lot of “opposition” politicians like Redfern scrambling to find out if their GOP counterparts took any Murdoch Money. Which, of course they did. This is going to be a great free-for-all. The Dems are just lucky it’s Murdoch Muck and not some faceless oil or drug company whose contributions are in question.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the US department of justice is "preparing subpoenas as part of preliminary investigations" into Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. The subpoenas relate to alleged foreign bribery – presumably News International's alleged payments to police in Britain, the subject of the Metropolitan police's Operation Elveden – and alleged hacking of the answerphone messages of 9/11 victims.

UK Guardian

And happy to have the diversion from its own outrages against US citizens. Besides, they better get out ahead of this a little if they want to cover their own undoubtedly Murdoch-pawned asses. If it’s not too late. No, it’s not. If I have faith in anything, it’s faith in the US government to cover its ass deeply, even if it’s only covered in its own shit.

A proposed Saudi anti-terrorism law threatens to strangle peaceful dissent in the kingdom, a leading human rights organisation says, calling on King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz to reconsider the changes.

Under the Draft Penal Law for Terrorism Crimes and Financing Terrorism, the authorities could detain people "potentially indefinitely" without charge or trial, Amnesty International said on Friday, adding it had obtained a leaked copy of the law.

alJazeera

Wow! Where’d they learn that one? Hey, if the US can get away with it…

And what does this have to do with Murdoch Muck?

[W]hile News Corp remains under heavy scrutiny in the UK, US, and the rest of the West, the launch of Abu Dhabi-based Arabic language news channel Sky News Arabia is still on track.

For someone interested in assisting in starting a television network with a planned initial reach of 50 million viewers across the Middle East, Murdoch has an interesting perspective on regional issues that affect the would-be consumers of the new Arabic channel.

"My own perspective is simple", Murdoch told the Anti-Defamation League on December 13, 2010. "We live in a world where there is an ongoing war against the Jews."

[...]

Billionaire Prince Walid bin Talal bin Abdelaziz Al-Saud, a nephew of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, has, according to Forbes magazine, a net worth estimated to be at least $19.6bn. This makes him [...] the richest man in Saudi Arabia.

He is also the second biggest shareholder (at seven per cent) in News Corporation, only behind Murdoch himself.

Dahr Jamail

Oh what a tangled web.

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