Fish Stinks from the Head. Bye Bye Rupert Murdoch

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In Naples they say "fish stinks from the head". In the case of, Rupert Murdoch, the saying could not be more true.  This morning, a powerful, parliamentary committee in London announced  that Rupert Murdoch, was " unfit to run a major international company."  At last-- somebody has noticed that the Emperor is naked! It's about time.....

 The 85 page report went on to say, among other things,

"News International and its parent News Corporation exhibited willful blindness, for which the companies' directors -including Rupert Murdoch and James Murdoch - should ultimately take responsibility," 

and

"Their instinct throughout, until it was too late, was to cover up rather than seek out wrongdoing and discipline the perpetrators,"

 For all  the details and a complete rundown, Read the entire Reuters article here

 If you hate the fear-mongering of Fox News and the influence peddling and disinformation that epitomizes Murdoch's American holdings as much as I do, you will feel a sense of relief that finally the truth is on the table and justice will probably be done. Cliches are cliches because they contain a germ of truth. Fish stinks from the head.  It really does-- and that applies to media empires as well as individuals.

There's another old saw I'm rather fond of.  It's the one that goes " What goes around, comes around"
The Brits have a particular fetish about fair play,or at least the appearance of it (stiff upper lip and all that )   There will be no Latin shrug of the shoulders or pragmatic American handshake over this mess in London, and that is fine with me.  To quote another old saying: " The Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton." Not for nothing did the Brits rule an empire the sun never set on.

 In an oh-so-civilized ( oops I mean civilised) court system, Rupert Murdoch, and the horse he rode in on ,are gonna be toast.  I can hardly wait.

Pass the popcorn  folks, the show is about to begin and it is gonna be good.

Murdoch Mea Culpa Too Little Too Late

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Friday was a busy day for both Rupert Murdoch and News Corp.  My hunch is that Murdoch finally realized just how much trouble he was in and changed course from " how dare you"  to " I'm sorry", taking out full page ads in newspapers all over the UK to issue a formal mea culpa.  The ad said in part:

"I realise that simply apologising is not enough. Our business was founded on the idea that a free and open press should be a positive force in society. We need to live up to this.

Yah, sure.  I bet that apology was damage control engineered by Murdoch's newly hired PR and lobbying firm, Edelman.  I bet the same is true of his sudden willingness to appear before Parliament on Tuesday, his  apology to the Dowler family  and the sudden resignations of his right and left hands, News of the World CEO, Rebekah Brooks  and Dow Jones and Wall Street Journal chief, Les Hinton.

Oh, how the mighty are fallen. It is nice to see Rupert writhe, but I am not buying it.  Edelman does good work, but the last thing Murdoch is, is "sorry"

Follow the Money

News Corp is an American corporation, registered in Delaware. It can be prosecuted under United States law.  Furthermore, Murdoch is the owner of Fox News,Twentieth Century Fox, Dow Jones, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post among many other things here in the USA.  The extent of his political and financial power is only beginning to be seen.

  A bit of history quoted here from MSNBC's Powerwall blog and well worth reading in full:

News Corp. is “well into the upper echelon of entities” trying to influence the federal government, says Dave Levinthal, editor of OpenSecrets.org, a Web site that catalogues special interest spending. Its biggest weapon? Lobbying, by far. The company has dispensed more than $42 million since 2001 ..."

and some details from the same source

 The vast majority of Murdoch's money, however, goes to Republican candidates and causes. In 2010, as the GOP was trying to retake the House, Senate and several state houses, News. Corp. donated an eye-popping $1.25 million to the Republican Governors Association and $1 million to the Chamber of Commerce.

 The move angered some shareholders, who demanded more transparency from the company. As the News of the World imbroglio grows, more attention is being paid to that second seven-figure gift because the chamber has been advocating for reforming Foreign Corrupt Practices Act—the very law the Justice Department could use to pursue News Corp. executives for the phone hacking scandal.

 No forgiveness for Rupert in sight..  He is going down.  He's sacrificing the people closest to him as well as a couple of profitable businesses in a last ditch effort to save his image., but now he has NewsCorp shareholders, Scotland Yard, and the FBI on his case. I'm betting his next sacrifice will be his son-- hmmmm maybe he really does think he's God after all.

Mea culpa, my foot.  Rupert Murdoch is as full of hubris as ever and THAT, as the ancient Greeks knew, will be his downfall.

Rupert Murdoch is the Anti-Christ

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I'm not much on apocalyptic visions, the Book of Revelations or even the prophecies of Nostradamus.  And maybe calling Rupert Murdoch the Anti-Christ is a bit much, but his downfall has been a long time coming and nobody could be happier than I to see the House of Murdoch  begin to fall.  I'm thinking that this is just the beginning and I am definitely licking my chops.  I've watched the shameful shenanigans of Fox News for years and I was sick when Murdoch acquired The Wall Street Journal after what I watched him to to The New York Post.  You would be amazed at what that man owns and the media power he wields world-wide.

Shutting down  The News of the World and  jettisoning  the Skye TV deal in the UK are  Murdoch;s attempts to stave off the inevitable, but I have a feeling that as Scotland Yard's  full scale investigation proceeds and the real scope of Murdoch's power becomes obvious, outrage is going to grow around the world.

The Brits have a thing about fair play  ( all that stuff about the Battle of Waterloo being won on the playing fields of Eton dontchaknow) and they are on a roll now.  We yanks are less about  " how you play the game".  We think winning is the only thing and we don't  like losers.  On the other hand, we don't like cheaters either so now that Several U.S. Senators, including New Jersey's Menendez are howling for an investigation into Murdoch's States-side activities, particularly those relating to bereaved 9/11 families,  things are going to get interesting in the USA too. The FBI is nosing around this one too.,

The Tea Party types who worship at the Fox News shrine are already making excuses for Murdoch. But even they are going to be shocked at how they have been duped. Like they used to  say on the streets of , Brooklyn " Fish stinks from the head" and Rupert Murdoch has instituted a corporate culture of  secrets and lies along with a total disregard for the rights of the little guy that I think will  insure his downfall....and who knows, maybe he really is the Anti-Christ after all.  That will definitely surprise the worshippers at the Fox News shrine.