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Presswatch
Media Matters’ Hacking Charade
When Rupert Murdoch humbly closed his News of the World tabloid over a hacking scandal, he showed a lot more class than certain media types on the Left.
Everybody hates hacking, no?
Well, no.
Peering electronically into the cyber business of others is, of course, merely the 21st-century version of that distasteful business cited by Establishment pillar Henry L. Stimson. Stimson, a legendary gentlemen’s gentleman, was so above-board he was summoned by presidents as wildly different as William Howard Taft, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman to serve as either Secretary of War (twice) or as Secretary of State.
The notion that anyone would deliberately open and read communications intended for someone else was utterly if not horrifyingly disgraceful to Stimson.
Times have changed.
Unless of course, you are Media Matters. Or, for that matter, just about anyone on the American Left — or for that matter the Left anywhere.
Amid all the hubbub about Media Matters having managed to obtain a tax-exempt status that tax experts say is a sham, we find a curious double-standard.
Media Matters, funded by left-wing gazillionaire George Soros, hates Fox News. (And all things conservative, but they love to hate Fox News especially. If your side was pumping out partisan gas disguised as news at places like the broadcast networks, CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times, the Washington Post — to name a few — unchallenged, for decades and decades…well, you’d hate Fox News and the Fair and Balanced crew too.) But it’s not possible for rabid lefties to hate Fox News without really hating Rupert Murdoch and the News Corporation. Murdoch, of course, is the media entrepreneur who will be forever regarded in America as the man who made it possible to break the liberal media monopoly.
The News Corporation, aside from being the parent company of Fox, is quite famously a global media company. Newspapers, television and radio networks, a movie studio, satellite and Internet ventures — a veritable candy store of media properties. All painstakingly — at considerable risk and with considerable skill — built from a platform that was one, just one, lonely newspaper in Adelaide, Australia.
Mr. Murdoch (as we discussed here some time ago when he was in a battle to own The Wall Street Journal) is where he is, to the fury of Media Matters and left-wingers around the globe, because he always “…had a crystal clear vision of where he was headed, had the guts to continually embrace change and risk, and worked tirelessly to understand the nitty-gritty of his business.”
As with any human life or enterprise there are bumps in the road — mistakes or errors — along the way. And a Murdoch publication in Britain — the 168-year-old tabloid News of the World — has just hit the wall in a 21st-century style. Long story short, the paper has been accused of hacking, and the charges are indeed serious. News stories on this side of the pond allege hacking by News of the World journalists or investigators working for the paper into voice mails of all manner of British citizens, including, says Reuters, “celebrities, politicians or people involved in major stories…The latest claim on Thursday alleged the paper hacked the phones of relatives of British soldiers killed in action in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Pretty bad. News Corporation has responded by pulling the plug on the paper completely, its last issue coming out this past Sunday. The paper, said James Murdoch (one of Rupert Murdoch’s two sons and a senior executive of News Corporation) has “been sullied by behavior that was wrong.” James Murdoch went on to say, according to The Washington Post, that the paper:
has a proud history of fighting crime, exposing wrong-doing and regularly setting the news agenda for the nation,” James Murdoch said. But those attributes “have been sullied by behavior that was wrong,” he said. “Indeed, if recent allegations are true, it was inhuman and has no place in our company. The News of the World is in the business of holding others to account. But it failed when it came to itself.”
Referring to the phone-hacking scandal, the younger Murdoch, deputy chief operating officer of his father’s News Corp., said the newspaper “failed to get to the bottom of repeated wrongdoing that occurred without conscience or legitimate purpose.” He added, “Wrongdoers turned a good newsroom bad and this was not fully understood or adequately pursued.” He pledged that “those who acted wrongly will have to face the consequences.”
But here’s what’s so…ahhhh…interesting. And most certainly going unnoticed.
About the Author
Jeffrey Lord is a former Reagan White House political director and author. He writes from Pennsylvania at jlpa1@aol.com.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (120) | Leave a comment
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northwoods| 7.12.11 @ 6:42AM
What a joke! The hacking scandal is much more than you claim. It includes intimidation, payoffs to police, political influence etc. The scandal is going to jump the pond and effect Fox, WSJ, and NYP. Les Hinton editor of WSJ will be subpoemed and hopefully indicted for his role in the hacking. Murdoch's empire is on life support and the scandal is just beginning. I bet Fox backs off on its attacks on Media Matters because of skelitons in its closet that will come out. The man that gave us the Tea Party via Fox is going down.
jothepro| 7.12.11 @ 7:58AM
Hey northwoods, reading the left wing blogs huh. Getting facts right is oh so foreign to a-holes like you. The tea party was started on CNBC you dolt. Learn how to spell and please spout your lies somewhere else !!!!!
DaveD| 7.12.11 @ 7:59AM
Bah! It is easy enough to establish plausible deniability and hold out a hand full of well cared for sacrificial lambs for the slaughter. You know, the same trick liberal Dems have perfected over the years. Murdoch going down - only in your wet dreams.
Frekki| 7.12.11 @ 8:15AM
The only thing Murdoch is guilty of is delivering unbiased news, but to you that is a hanging offense.
Oh, and the lib trolls can post at 6 AM because they are still up from playing Xbox all night.
Ryan| 7.12.11 @ 8:27AM
No such thing as "unbiased news." Sorry. All reporting has some level of bias.
Jack London| 7.12.11 @ 11:22AM
'The only thing Murdoch is guilty of is delivering unbiased news, but to you that is a hanging offense.'
Ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha haHa ha ha ha ha haHa ha ha ha ha haHa ha ha ha ha haHa ha ha ha ha haHa ha ha ha ha haHa ha ha ha ha haHa ha ha ha ha haHa ha ha ha ha haHa ha ha ha ha haHa ha ha ha ha haHa ha ha ha ha ha
- stop it guy - you're killing me.
skip| 7.12.11 @ 3:35PM
That reminds me;
From yesterday's thread, you still have not responded to the inquiry from Skinner, asking why you use wikipedia as a source for your statement you claim is unbiased that 98% of scientists believe manmade global warming is real, when Skinner's school aged children have been informed by their teachers they will receive failing grades should they use wikipedia as a source for any schoolwork.
Also, from yesterday's thread, you still have not provided any of the one million five hundred forty two thousand eight hundred sixty three names and qualifications of any scientists representing the 98% of scientists who have peer reviewed and referenced research offering proof manmade global warming is real that you unbiasedly claim is unbiasedly real, in response to the thirty one thousand four hundred eighty seven names and qualifications of scientists representing the 2% of scientists who have peer reviewed and referenced research refuting manmade global warming I have provided you.
Jack London| 7.13.11 @ 6:07AM
There are only about 200 possible climate and environmental scientists on that very suspect petition. There are easily as many as 20,000 climate and environmental scientists contributing to the huge body of evidence for our contribution to global warming around the world.
skip| 7.13.11 @ 12:52PM
Yet, exactly like a pathetic, despicable, stupid liar, you fail to provide any of the thirty one thousand two hundred eighty seven or so suspect scientists at petitionproject.org, fail to provide any of the twenty thousand or so legitimate scientists, and fail to provide any of the huge body of evidence.
Idiot.
Occam's Tool| 7.13.11 @ 7:38PM
Dear Jack,
the Data was fudged. Sorry. I was taught that Data is sacred.
Redstateboy| 7.12.11 @ 9:21AM
Reading this stooges (northwoods) comment.. does one get that creepy feeling the Media Matters monitors the Net for postings of its name and immediately employs basement dwellers such as this Nimrod to issue a quick responce?
MM| 7.12.11 @ 10:47AM
Basement dwellers who can't spell and don't know who actually inspired the Tea Party (not at FOX).
Purpleguy| 7.12.11 @ 10:57AM
Interesting how much you know about deceit and underhanded tactics isn't it? I wonder if thou protests too much ?
canuckistani| 7.12.11 @ 11:22AM
Without a doubt.
Dirty tricks are the tools of the lazy and the inept - but soaked up like pancake syrup by the curious masses.
The stink on Cameron will stick, however, Brits have longer attention spans than us.
He will kneejerk press regulations, to his detriment. Murdoch is a savvy operator and will emerge unscathed.
Drunken Sailor| 7.12.11 @ 11:23AM
That's like blaming the abused spouse for knowing the signs of abuse. Project much? When you have been on the recieving end of deceit and underhanded tactics for decades the signs are pretty hard to miss.
Skinner| 7.12.11 @ 4:11PM
I pretty much equate your question with asking an innocent man if he's quit beating his wife.
Being able to recognize certain behaviors doesn't mean you practice those behaviors. If you have kids, you must only have one.
Dave | 7.12.11 @ 11:55AM
Dear, Mr. or Ms. Northwoods:
Apparently you wrote your post while wearing that $300 dollar t-shirt you received from another of those PBS "please send money" pledge drives. Can't be sure, but I suspect they sent you the wrong size and wearing it is pinching off a little oxygen to your brain.
Suggestion: Breeeethe. Just relax and ... breeeathe .
Seems to me that had Murdoch's first name been "Pinch" instead of "Rupert", this whole icky affair would have be relegated to a 4 second news blurb during another PBS re-run of -- Chimps and How They Communicate with Brian Williams.
Incidentally, maybe they'll exchange that $300 t-shirt for a used c.d. of Yani's Recycled Song. It could happen.
But don't thank me, I'm just here to help.
skip| 7.12.11 @ 12:55PM
Did you catch the PBS special on the song, that is responsible for the actions of Charles Manson and others, because of the brainwashing with conservative unfair and unbalanced propaganda when played backward, 'Heliton Skeliton'?
Skinner| 7.12.11 @ 4:13PM
You owe me a new monitor!
Grape juice doesn't come off easy.
Alan Brooks| 7.12.11 @ 3:24PM
I wish northwoods were right, but Murdoch and all his higher-ups have Pull.
The Cheneys high up are untouchable, the Scooter Libbys down below get slapped on the wrist-- nothing more.
Whether it's OJ, Polanski, or whomever, they always walk.
that's what connections are for.
Oldefarte| 7.12.11 @ 4:00PM
No moron, what's GOING DOWN are you loons of the left with next year's election. You leftist excrements came out of your pre November 2008 closets and exposed yourselves for the filth of which you truly are, and now this country's public has finally seen the light of day in truth concerning liberalism, aka domestic terrorism. Conservative media outlets were created due to the public's demand for truth, as opposed to the lies disguised as 'news' from your typical socialistic rags historically. These alternative news outlets have grown and increased because this country is center-right in its political viewpoints, so be prepared for the eventual destruction of your favored gutter-hacks of the MSM!!!!!!!!!
Alan Brooks| 7.12.11 @ 4:57PM
Center-right?
There is no center, America is thoroughly polarized. That is why I think China, and everyone else who isn't massively in debt, will end up owning us-- if they already do not.
Alan Brooks| 7.12.11 @ 4:58PM
if they do not already.
Alan Brooks| 7.12.11 @ 5:03PM
I care because it will be so boring to hear months and months of RINOism.
Republicans are the dreariest people in America, their red white and blue bunting has more character than they do..
Oldefarte| 7.13.11 @ 2:25PM
Yeah, it's sole because of you moronic liberal Democrat sympathisers that China is overtaking us. Your favored labor unions have driven US companies to export jobs/manufacturing overseas to China; your socialists labor unions have overtaken our public schools that now crank out morons like yourself who can't think for themselves and depend upon the El Chosen Ones of the DNC to do your thinking for you; your corrupt liberals in Hollywood are destroying our childrens' minds with their produced filth; etc. Go ahead moron and vote for El Chosen One and continue the destuction and watch China sweep us down the drain because of same!!!!!!!!!
Tina B| 7.12.11 @ 7:42AM
And if there is a big hole in the media where Conservative Fox used to be. . .not to worry. the hole will be filled. The fans are middle Americans, patriots who are sick of the MSM hypocracy, we will get our news from the internet, until another group of Conservative millionaires put another Fox network together.
Don't get too excited northwoods You can try to get rid of Rupert, but the rest of us anti-libs aren't going away. And what's more, I have read the end of the book, and the good guys DO win.
Purpleguy| 7.12.11 @ 10:59AM
You don't see the irony in your statement "until another group of Conservative millionaires put another Fox network together." ? Hmmm, wonder what a millionaire's agenda is? Middle class jobs, education of the masses, care for the sick or the elderly? How blind can you be?
Conservative Bob| 7.12.11 @ 11:20AM
Current TV much or Air America or MSNBC or ABC or NBC or CBS...
Purple love to read your posts like reading science fiction...
you daily demonstrate that high quality drugs are still available on the streets ... party on dude.
Purpleguy| 7.12.11 @ 11:47AM
Something I fear you know all too well about...
Drunken Sailor| 7.12.11 @ 11:24AM
Wonder what a Billionaires agenda is? How blind can YOU be?
Purpleguy| 7.12.11 @ 11:47AM
Your point is?
Drunken Sailor| 7.12.11 @ 12:08PM
To obvious for you apparently.
Purpleguy| 7.12.11 @ 12:22PM
Guess you don't know either .. Ha
Alan Brooks| 7.12.11 @ 3:29PM
Purpleguy,
just you watch how these bunglers run another political abortion next year. RINO Express leaving the station about a year from now.
Drunken Sailor| 7.12.11 @ 3:40PM
Why should you care? Your already stated your not going to vote or vote for Obama.
Oldefarte| 7.13.11 @ 2:33PM
The STUPIDS of the world complaining about alternative networks that counter the MSM bullexcrement spewed by their liberal/Communists-Socialists anchor persons to their lemming audiences [ie Purple & Alan]. Liberals are sickly stupid, in that they believe hook, line and sinker the crap that these charleton political manipulators [aka Democrat politicians, Hollywood, academia, etc] spit out 24-7. These liberals are so stupid that they follow these dictatorial propagandists to the edge of the cliff before being pushed over. As Forrest correctly said, STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES [translation=Democrats]!!!!!!!!
skip| 7.12.11 @ 12:27PM
You nailed it Stoopledupe:
Simply stand on principle in support of the dithering idiot liar in chief who will not allow the half of Americans who do not pay any taxes to bear the burden of the other half of Americans who aren't paying their fair share of taxes while the dithering idiot liar in chief demands this fair share of taxes be increased in response to the dithering idiot liar in chief's demand the debt ceiling be increased.
And exercise your constitutional right to hysteria if any Murdoch owned entity points out this absurdity.
Liberals, you can't kill them.
Oldefarte| 7.12.11 @ 4:05PM
Purple, obviously you're a speech writer for the your president!!!!!!!!
Purpleguy| 7.12.11 @ 5:55PM
What a very nice compliment - thank you. Probably not what you intended, but oh so welcome.
Oldefarte| 7.13.11 @ 2:36PM
No, as any intelligent person would obviously realize [but you're the exception to same no doubt]!!!!!
Occam's Tool| 7.13.11 @ 7:41PM
Yes, PurpleGuy. And the interesting thing about Obama's speeches is the semantic nullity they bring to any argument.
Redstateboy| 7.12.11 @ 5:03PM
Perp..? Millionaires and Billionaires abound in the Democrat Plantation.. Nazi Pelosi? Net worth 55 Million $, John Kerry? Net worth 264 Million, Diane Feinstein? Net worth 46 Million, Jay Rockefeller? Net worth 64 Million dollars and of course.. being a fruitcake Liber-ul you'll ignore this inconsistency in Slave Party rhetoric or make some stupid snarky comment but NEVER will face the Hypocrisy and utter stupidity of your belief system... You'll still stumble forward blabbering the Republicans are the Party if the Rich.
Purpleguy| 7.12.11 @ 5:56PM
Oh, don't even start with which side has the most rich b*'s and b*tards ... people in glass houses ... ya know?
TrueBlue| 7.13.11 @ 2:27PM
The difference Purple is that none of the people you're talking about try to make it look like they're doing anything but make money. Whereas the Libs you seem to love so much shout and holler about how they're for the little guy, and how evil corporations and those wicked CEOs are, all the while being that same group of people!
TrueBlue| 7.13.11 @ 2:25PM
You say it likes it's a bad thing that someone wants to make money...
Occam's Tool| 7.13.11 @ 7:40PM
I dunno, Purpleguy. Seems that Mark Dayton has a ViewPoint EXACTLY like yours, and he's a Multimillionaire. Too Liberal for me, but...Project Much?
Anthony| 7.12.11 @ 7:59AM
Who wakes these trolls up and tells them it's time to blog on TAS, eh, northwoods?
President Reagan was indeed correct; being a leftist means you are free to commit any act, defy any law, and say almost anything, no matter how breathtaking the hyprocrisy, because it's all for the cause.
If only Mr. Assange and the New York Times had the same sense of honor and did themselves in. But as we know, leftists have no shame and no honor.
Oh well, all good things in due time. Tick tock......tick tock.....
Purpleguy| 7.12.11 @ 11:01AM
You really don't see the acts of cruelty, law-breaking and contempt for civilization on the right, do you? Timothy McVeigh ring a bell? Tiller the Baby Killer ring a bell? Helloooo ...
canuckistani| 7.12.11 @ 11:23AM
And Junior.
Anthony| 7.12.11 @ 12:04PM
Yes moron, We do indeed see acts of cruelty, law -breaking, and contempt for civilization, especially when Obozo and Holder used some $50M in stimulus money to allow ATF to purchase guns for Mexican drug runners, so that Holder and Obozo could then blame it on the 2nd Amendment and those" right-wing, gun tot'en extremists".
Oh, yes, and two American border security guards were killed by these very weapons.
This "contempt for civilization" goes right to the White House. Impeach the Muslim Marxist, get rid of Holder, and let them take their trolls with them. Yes, that means you Purpleguy.
Purpleguy| 7.12.11 @ 12:35PM
Dittohead parrots again
Anthony| 7.12.11 @ 12:40PM
.....And Moron can't refute what's true.
Purpleguy| 7.12.11 @ 1:03PM
Sure you can - try haaaarrrrdddeerrr
TrueBlue| 7.13.11 @ 2:31PM
McVeigh was an extremist and a terrorist and he was put to death for his crimes. Isn't there a group like that being held somewhere nearby that the Libs think should be let go? Who and where was that again? Oh right, Guantanemo and all those extremists there...
Teaghan| 7.12.11 @ 8:13AM
Oh Anthony, I wouldn't hold my breath on that shame and honor thing. It will never happen. They have been poisoned by the liberal virus and there is no cure except for very few.
MM| 7.12.11 @ 10:50AM
And amazingly they are only 20% of our society.
Your right about the virus, Teaghan. There IS no cure - even for the ones who can no longer live off mom and dad - they just go on to live off US.
Redstateboy| 7.12.11 @ 8:32AM
Thank GOD for FOX News and Talk Radio.. Can you even imagine where we'd be if they didn't exist?!!?
Purpleguy| 7.12.11 @ 11:02AM
We wouldn't be in the mess were in that's for sure. You really are a shill or should I say troll for Fixed News ain't ya?
William| 7.12.11 @ 12:01PM
Do you really mean this? Accepting that Fox has an anti-liberal point of view, why would eliminating this view (and any others like it) avoid the "mess we're in."? Because the public would no longer have access to any view except a moderate to extreme liberal view? And because these views contain all the received wisdom of the world, leaving no legitimate room for any other views?
I'm not defending all the views of Fox news, but people like you reveal the depth of their self-conceit and their closed-minded intolerance for opposing views by their rabid hate of Fox and Murdoch.
Redstateboy| 7.12.11 @ 5:28PM
William....? trying to logically debate with the likes of Purpleguy with hopes of encouraging it to abandon its lunatic philosophy is like teach Pigs to Sing... It'll frustrate you and irriate the Pig.
TrueBlue| 7.13.11 @ 2:34PM
Yea, evil Fox News... have to keep pointing at them as the problem don't you? Ignore the whole "Fair and Balanced" spiel, and what do you have? Freedom of Speech... but you want to shut that down because they don't agree with your view.
I could care less what the Libs say, it's what they do that I think they should be punished for. If it's illegal, it's illegal. End of story, go directly to jail, do not pass Go. Same with anyone else, regardless of which "side" of the politicial spectrum you're on.
If you think that CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NPR, The New York Times, etc are unbiased while Fox is evil I think maybe you might need to seek some psychiatric help.
David W| 7.12.11 @ 8:33AM
Imagine if someone "leaked" a video of President Obama performing a muslim prayer in the oval office. I bet Media Matters would try to hush that up...
TrueBlue| 7.13.11 @ 2:36PM
Who cares if he performed a Muslim prayer, or any prayer, in the Oval Office? Freedom of Religion isn't illegal (not yet anyway). He can practice whatever religion he wants so long as he doesn't sacrifice people for it.
Which btw, is what tends to happen any time classified information gets out. Good people die because some idiot thought that keeping any secrets was wrong, and damn the consequences.
Brian Mc| 7.12.11 @ 8:48AM
Talk about names to nauseate. If you'd only thrown in Chuck Schumer, Al Sharpton or Nancy Pelosi, I would have truly vomited to start the day.
Purpleguy| 7.12.11 @ 11:03AM
Chuck Schumer, Al Sharpton, Nancy Pelosi - okay, go ahead, make my day.
Drunken Sailor| 7.12.11 @ 12:04PM
Your Holy Trinity?
Purpleguy| 7.12.11 @ 12:35PM
No - Yours?
Drunken Sailor| 7.12.11 @ 3:56PM
More like Un-holy Trinity. But I would have placed them in the order of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, President Obama. close runner ups would go to Chuck Schumer, Dick Durbin, Ted Kennedy, Alan Grayson, and of course, Anthony Weiner.
Brian Mc| 7.12.11 @ 6:59PM
There...it took me all day, but I just vomited!
Tenn Slim| 7.12.11 @ 9:17AM
The Credo " the ends justify the means " applies
Circa 1919, Lenin.
We reap what we have sown.
end
Semper Fi
Purpleguy| 7.12.11 @ 11:48AM
And so will read the Murdoch epitaph ...
TrueBlue| 7.13.11 @ 2:39PM
The people responsible will be tried, but blaming the guy that happens to own the company, after he did the right thing and fired said individuals and shut down the company, is just plain stupid. No matter how much you try to rationalize it there is no way that the owner of a multi-national corporation should be expected to know EVERYTHING that goes on at all times.
Now if they actually find PROOF (I know, it's an annoying word to Libs) that he was involved, or knew about it, sure bring the guy up on charges and take him to court. I don't personally care where someone stands politically, morally, or religiously; an illegal act is an illegal act.
Oldefarte| 7.13.11 @ 2:40PM
I'd worry about MSNBC if I were you [if its CEO ever stops kissing El Chosen's rear end]!!!!!
JimH| 7.12.11 @ 9:27AM
There is no doubt of the hypocrisy of the Left. But, rightly or wrongly most people will regard the illegal intrusion in the private grief and misfortunes of people as a far worse act than revealing the dubious secrets of a government. As far as closing The News of the World, you may credit Murdoch with doing the honorable thing but it looks to a more jaundiced eye that it is being sacrificed in order to maintain a chance at obtaining BskyB.
Jeffrey Lord| 7.12.11 @ 9:59AM
Jim....
The law is the law...and whether you regard government secrets as "dubious"...a proposition I would regard as dubious....they, like private communications, are protected legally. Sympathy for one "hackee" over another is a non-starter legally. What if News of the World had not been the hacker...but instead some disgruntled family "friend" with no profit motive...just some twisted notion of a personal vendetta? Still illegal. Here in the US some dopey liberal kid successfully hacked Sarah Palin's e-mail...a federal crime. He is now finishing up a sentence of a year and a day at a federal prison. This isn't stuff to be celebrated. The Pentagon yesterday, Wikileaks today - and you tomorrow. It isn't good - and it ain't legal.
JimH| 7.12.11 @ 10:42AM
So you would consider anything any government apparatchik stamps as secret legitimately out of bounds to inquiry? Obviously, revealing secrets which put people in danger ought to be prosecuted fully. At the same time the state makes classified far more then it ought. We need fewer but better kept secrets.
Jeffrey Lord| 7.12.11 @ 10:55AM
Jim..."So you would consider anything any government apparatchik stamps as secret legitimately out of bounds to inquiry?"
Certainly not. That's why we have a Constitutionally elected House and Senate and they are quite legally empowered to investigate.
You and I...and the New York Times...have no legal right to hack legally protected secrets. Period. No one elected a few editors in a closed room in New York to decide what is or is not legitimate to reveal.
We know who those people are...liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans who are elected by their constituents and sit on committees like Intelligence, Armed Services, Foreign Relations etc etc. I'm no John Kerry fan....but he is the duly elected Senator from his state and Chairman of the Foreign Realations Committee. He gets to know. I don't......whether somebody is handing me an illegal packet of Xeroxed secrets or they downloaded them and e-mailed to me while listening to Lady Gaga.
JimH| 7.12.11 @ 11:29AM
So if some disgruntled White House employee gave you a classified copy of a certain Kenyan birth certificate you would refuse to take it and forthwith drop a dime on the person giving it to you? You are a man of high principles indeed, more so than most of your fellow ink stained wretches. I may have been unclear in my original post. I did not mean that all government secrets were dubious. I meant that the motives for making some things secret are.
Oldefarte| 7.12.11 @ 4:20PM
In other words, the END justifies the MEANS??????????
Jeffrey Lord| 7.12.11 @ 7:27PM
Jim...
You say:
"So if some disgruntled White House employee gave you a classified copy of a certain Kenyan birth certificate you would refuse to take it and forthwith drop a dime on the person giving it to you?"
Birth certificates aren't classified. We're talking about private info. Heck, I don't even tell my left hand what the right hand is doing.....
Oldefarte| 7.13.11 @ 2:42PM
Jeffrey, the president's BC was CLASSIFIED [as are his college papers, tuition loan documents etc]until Trump forced him to reveal it!!!!!!
TrueBlue| 7.13.11 @ 2:41PM
Except that birth certificates aren't classified, and are not on the legally established list of documents to be classified. It's certainly private information, but not classified.
Sotto Voce| 7.19.11 @ 12:01PM
Birth certificates are not classified or private; they're public records.
Sotto Voce| 7.19.11 @ 12:04PM
Birth certificates are not classified or private; they're public records.
ghd australia | 7.12.11 @ 9:45AM
http://www.ghdoutletshop-au.com
Occam's Tool| 7.12.11 @ 10:43AM
Dear Jeffrey,
of course the News Corp responded, and correctly. Lying and treasonous behaviors are reserved for the New York Times, The Palestinian Authority, Dennis Kucinich (and those who vote with him on a constant basis), and Paul Krugman.
Or to use set theory: (with apologies and an exception made for my second- favorite California Lawyer) not all scum are Liberals, but all Liberals are scum.
crookedwren| 7.12.11 @ 10:57AM
Mr. Tool --
First paragraph: spot on!!! Wish I had said that!
Second paragraph: there are a few exceptions aside from your second-favorite CA lawyer -- are there not?
Can we except a few more liberals? Remember not all liberals are progressives or socialists. Some are anti-Communists and some are out there vociferously protesting 'smart meters' and Agenda 21.
And some leftists have been indoctrinated to be so and haven't yet awakened -- haven't yet been "mugged by reality." But they'll be awakening soon, I'm afraid, to find they are living in the nightmare created by their indoctrinators.
Occam's Tool| 7.13.11 @ 7:43PM
Sorry. Still looking for the Liberal "Honest Man."
Purpleguy| 7.12.11 @ 11:08AM
You sir are wound so tight you whistle when you pass wind.
Oldefarte| 7.12.11 @ 4:25PM
Passing wind is related only to the excrement of liberalism!!!!!!!!
Occam's Tool| 7.13.11 @ 7:57PM
I'm a lousy whistler. Perhaps I know the reason now...
Purpleguy| 7.12.11 @ 11:07AM
Are you serious? Mr. Tabloid Murdoch himself promotes salacious, prurient sensationalism as news and you defend this turd? Whether it's dirty tricks in the U.S. associated with Fixed News or actual law-breaking in Britain, the Murdoch Empire is teetering. I know they say want you want to hear, but they intersperse so much misinformation and downright lies, I find it amazing you never check up on their facts and find out the truth and bare the propaganda for what it is.
Conservative Bob| 7.12.11 @ 11:28AM
Paid by the word or the post?
Purpleguy| 7.12.11 @ 11:49AM
Oh, if it were only so ...
canuckistani| 7.12.11 @ 11:34AM
Don't provoke them.
Faux has been strangely silent on the bloviating front after Wallace's "flake" quip, Faux's snafu in Britain and the Marriage Pledge slavery equation screwup by Santorum and Bachmann.
Iowa has confirmed what we already knew - the GOP has been possessed by the freaks once again. Faux has pandered to them for too long and they have morphed into an uncontrollable leviathan that will absorb all of the oxygen in the room.
Ailes may be rethinking strategy.
skip| 7.12.11 @ 3:57PM
Where, pray tell, do you get your news, from a source or sources with the most unbiased objectivity, and the least biased subjectivity?
Which television news outlets provide more unbiased objectivity than fox news?
Drunken Sailor| 7.12.11 @ 4:37PM
My guess is CBC-TV, CBC Radio and CBC Newsworld
Oldefarte| 7.12.11 @ 4:27PM
It's not 'lies' just because it is opposite of what's reported within the MSM, but is in fact the TRUTH!!!!!!!!
skip| 7.12.11 @ 5:00PM
Stupledupe,
Look at this salacious prurient sensationalism I found on a Murdoch owned entity today:
"Can we just enjoy Obama for a moment? Before the policy choices have to be weighed and the hard decisions have to be made, can we just take a month or two to contemplate him the way we might contemplate a painting by Vermeer or a guitar lick by the early-seventies Rolling Stones or a Peyton Manning pass or any other astounding, ecstatic human achievement? Because twenty years from now, we're going to look back on this time as a glorious idyll in American politics, with a confident, intelligent, fascinating president riding the surge of his prodigious talents from triumph to triumph. Whatever happens this fall or next, the summer of 2011 is the summer of Obama."
Oldefarte| 7.13.11 @ 2:50PM
His empire is not crumbling, as you liberals desire, but is only under attack by the MSM due to their fear of corporate takeover by him. The British MSM fears for its life if Murdoch gains control of them, and rightfully so. This situation is a microcasm of what's occurring in this country, with alternatives threatening the news empire of the traditional MSM [which has bullexcremented the public for my entire lifetime according to their liberal agenda]. The alternative are exposing the TRUTH and the MSM's don't like it. This contrived hacking scandal is ludicrous, and will fade quickly. The alternatives are slowely gaining readers/viewers popular attention and the MSM's are slowely dying. When the NYT have to resort to charging internet readers because of their declining advertising revenues, the end is in sight for them!!!!!!
DaveS| 7.12.11 @ 11:24AM
If the NYT can divulge the existence of CIA interrogation centers overseas, contrary to American interests and without paying any penalty, then methinks this is a tempest in a teapot. It also takes two to tango.
canuckistani| 7.12.11 @ 11:36AM
You are suggesting the divulging of CIA prisons was NOT in American's interest to know?
Doubleplus ungood?
DaveS| 7.12.11 @ 10:04PM
Being the origins of the KSM info on Osama's courier, the answer to you is an emphatic yes. There's more violence at soccer games in Europe than in any of the CIA prisons that ran there. You see red when the term is presented - never mind what happened there.
Occam's Tool| 7.13.11 @ 7:55PM
Don't know which FOREIGN National scumbag from WHICH Muddle East Battlefield was having sweetmeats to go with his crushed Nuts.
You get captured in scumbackistan fighting American soldiers and you aren't in Uniform or some Garb identifying you as a regular Combatant (even armbands have been used), then you are an unlawful Combatant. I'm not sure what "rights" Unlawful Combatants who are targeting Civilians and not soldiers should be entitled to, either.
But I don't lose much sleep in what is done to extract information from an unlawful Combatant who has targeted Civilians and who has been condemned to Death in the time between sentencing and terminating.
Further, unlawful Combatants who are not yet Convicted---there's nothing in the Genevas about keeping them out of secret Prisons, I believe.
shipley130| 7.12.11 @ 1:09PM
I support some of the phone hacking. We have to uncover what these thug politicians are doing. However, I don't support hacking victims of crimes and families of war dead.
Flee| 7.12.11 @ 2:43PM
How about hacking into Palin's email account? I remember how outraged the Left was at that. Oh that's right they weren't outraged. Big surprise there.
Oldefarte| 7.12.11 @ 4:35PM
Murdoch did the honorable thing by closing this newspaper due to its fraudent activities, whereas liberal rags would never do likewise. That's the difference between liberalism and conservatism, with the latter based upon the morality of right and wrong, whereas the former is based upon the bullexcrement of their decrepit, deceitful immorality. Liberals take pride is their gutter-filth of propagandized garbage disguised as MSM NEWS!!!!!!!!!
Jack London| 7.13.11 @ 2:50AM
'Murdoch did the honorable thing'
Are you mad, Oldefarte? This is an organization that hacked the cellphone of a kidnapped girl and deleted her voicemails giving hope to her parents she was alive. Looks like they hacked 9/11 victims too. And now they are 'honorable? The only reason he closed that paper was all the advertisers pulled out and public opinion was against this 'honorable' man.
Oldefarte| 7.13.11 @ 10:51AM
So what? Did anyone die or was anyone murdered by this hacking? The one/only reason you morons are upset is because it was Murdock and his conservative newpaper. If it would have been Ted Turner's CNN etc you'd be singing their praises. Get off of your politially partisaned bandwagon. You don't give a rat's end about any victims of this situation and you're a lying sack of excrement by proclaiming otherwise!!!!!!!!
Joe Redfield| 7.12.11 @ 8:07PM
I seem to recall a lot of anguish on the Left two years ago when the CRU climate emails went public; as usual, their outrage was selective.
damian| 7.12.11 @ 10:52PM
Oh wow liberals are hypocritical c*nts. Big News flash. And Obama tells the truth, lol
POST American| 7.12.11 @ 11:30PM
---'90's Show' DIS-traction op ALERT!---
Media Matters, aside from the FACT that
George Soros should be facing life in prison,
really couldn't matter less.
FAKE opposition fronts like Media Matters
are the mirroring delusion of the FAKE
American (really Globalist front) FOX 'News'.
BTW ---Murdoch might join Soros as he's
unquestionably STILL on his personal
Fabian bandwagon, despite his protestations
to the contrary.
FACT IS ---our sources inform us Murdoch's
people have been deeply embedded in the
'perception management' (ie propaganda)
ministry of the RED Chinese government.
----------Small world.
Hideously small.
charles794| 7.13.11 @ 3:54AM
A divorce while there is lotsa money in the kitty?
nunya| 7.13.11 @ 12:47PM
There's a difference between *stealing* information by means of wiretapping (eg, voicemail hacking), and leaking information for the purpose of exposing fraud, corruption, etc (aka, whistleblowing.)
You might have to squint harder to see the difference between the two. I realize your right-wing brain damage makes it hard for you to discern reality.
TrueBlue| 7.13.11 @ 2:51PM
Difference between whistleblowing and revealing information that gets people killed by its exposure.
If our government was working in secret with a militant group in another country to take down a murdering tyrant, do you think that information should be made available to the public? Would be country to the purpose, and would get a bunch of good people killed. It's the same whenever some moron reveals classified information regarding an undercover op because they don't think the government should have any secrets, or they just wanted to profit off of it.
The Libs' problem is that they can't see what is and is not legal as being any different. Expose a government secret? They'll cheer you on. Hack someone's personal information? You and anyone even slightly involved with you is evil!! They're both illegal, and should be treated as such.
Sotto Voce| 7.19.11 @ 12:37PM
Mr. Lord, thank you for pointing out the MSM's hypocrisy in their coverage of this story. The NYT's printing of Wikileaks' hacked emails provides such a glaring recent example that it seems commentators and media outlets would find it easy to connect the dots. While it's not surprising the Left avoids pointing out their double standards because it would make them look bad, you'd think Conservative media would be quick to trumpet the absurdity of the MSM's self-righteous outcry against Murdoch. I'm glad you did.
Micheal Morgan| 8.11.11 @ 10:19AM
Liberals should remember the "double standard" system once resulted in the Guilotine.