Sends a clear message.
From the BBC:
NoW phone-hacking whistle-blower Sean Hoare found dead.When you murder someone who is maybe gonna rat you out, you do it to protect yourself from what they have on you.
A former News of the World journalist who made phone-hacking allegations against the paper has been found dead.
Sean Hoare had told the New York Times the practice was far more extensive than the paper acknowledged when police first investigated hacking claims.
Hertfordshire Police said the body of a man was found at a property in Langley Road, Watford, on Monday morning.
A police spokesman said the death was currently being treated as unexplained, but was not thought to be suspicious.
...
When you murder someone who has already ratted you out, you do it to protect yourself by sending a clear message in 60-foot-high Railroad font to everyone else who carries your poisonous secrets: "Look what happens to rats."
Of course that's just harmless theoretical chit-chat, because it would be irresponsible to suggest that just because Rupert Murdoch is one of the most powerful criminals on Earth...just because his criminal empire is worth hundreds of billions of dollars and and is a global power-broker with more clout than most countries...just because he commands a private army of amoral goons who do his loathsome bidding for money...just because he has politicians and cops and newspapers and most of the British government and half the GOP in his pocket...he -- or one of his ferociously ambitious flunkies or proteges --
would ever consider protecting all of that by knocking off one, lowly nobody to scare everyone else into silence.
Terribly, terribly irresponsible.
11 comments:
The death will remain "not suspicious."
Legislation will be passed to give News Corp retro-active immunity for emulating the US and UK government electronic spying activities. This will include lucrative contract offers to News Corp to embark on some "projects" that the existing stableful of democracy-snuffing, corporate toads are having trouble with.
On his 2012 re-election campaign trail, Obama will first insist that he will veto the bill but then will quietly return to Washington to sign it in the summer.
John Puma
"This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Paramount Pictures Corporation"
~:(
I'm sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Peggy Noonan would disagree with you on that point about that responsibility thingy.
[The Church Lady]How con-veeen-ient![/TCL]
Well at least we now know what Glenn Beck is doing.
In all the coverage I happened to watch, no one even went as far as you just did to wonder about the coincidence of Hoare's demise. Rather, the stories all ended with the phrase "not thought suspicious" or whatever. This is down-right bizarre--except it's been bizarre so long it seems simply to be the way things are now.
Drifty,
Much as I hate to let the truth get in the way of a good story, may I draw your attention to this:
Nick Davies : Sean Hoare knew how destructive the News of the World could be
from the desk of the Guardian journalist who largely broke the phone hacking story (and spent 2 years being told it would never stick, but that's a story for another time).
Basically this guy was *the* celebrity reporter for the NOTW, but Gilly would have respected the way he came up - he did it the old-fashioned way, through local press to the nationals, doggedly chasing stories, doing the legwork when others couldn't be bothered and turning in quality copy at the end of it.
When he got the showbusiness gig at NOTW, he used precisely the same tactics, only now the legwork consisted of gaining the trust of rockstars, models and actors - which usually meant hanging out and staying up all night, keeping up with them shot-for-shot and line-for-line, then turning in copy for the next morning's turnaround.
Admittedly this sounds like a pretty sweet gig, until you realise that he was doing it every day for the best part of two decades, and what this eventually meant in real terms was a £3,000 a week cocaine habit, plus a taste for cigarettes and booze that would have even Keith Richards wondering whether he should turn in. Even HST's insane benders would be followed by weeks or even months of recuperation in Colorado - not so for Sean Hoare.
When the health problems began to surface a few years ago, his doctor basically said that he should have been dead already. Unable to work to his previous standards, his boss (Andy Coulson) did the Murdoch thing and fired him immediately - that's when he came clean about phone-hacking. He never pretended to be an angel, he'd clearly taken advantage of those services - but they were not his preferred methods. The sad thing is that if they had been he may well still be alive today.
Silencing him would have served no purpose, because everything he's said is already a matter of public record - and it's a little too late "pour encourager les autres", because the dirt is already out there.
So in my opinion - for all that's worth - there are probably better places to go hunting for smoking guns
yeah, his health was shot from the booze and drugs. I'm sure his death at this time was strictly a coincidence. I'm also sure his death will be adequately investigated by the same police force who's integrity has been called seriously into question by this scandal, especially since the government of the day in Britain has absolutely nothing to lose by getting to the bottom of the whole mess.
I'm also sure if I leave a tooth under my pillow, there will be diamond there in the morning and that somewhere under this pile I'll find that pony.
Rev. Paperboy:
I suppose I should point out at this juncture that I'm a limey myself, and I've been living with the corrosive effect that the Murdoch media has on our political and societal dialogue since I was what I guess you'd call kindergarten age. I saw him extend the life of a moribund Conservative government by nearly 5 years, giving them a chance to royally screw up the education system, the NHS and the railways. I saw him corrupt the leadership of the party I'm inclined by nature to support - and shoot down via Sun and Times editorials almost every progressive policy they came up with. Believe me, I know of few people who would rejoice at the thorough dismantling of his empire more than I would.
That said, I think in all these cases where there's a long, hard slog ahead, we need to be wary of "easy" answers and "sexy" stories. We need to get him on what we can prove and plug away at the unexciting stuff that proves it - not get bogged down trying to prove that he had a hand in the sudden death of an old employee (who happened to be very sick).
Just as Al Capone (bootlegger, extortioner, murderer) was put away for the relatively non-sexy crime of evading income tax, the best path to taking down News International is, in my opinion, following the police bribery charges, because the evidence is there and can be made to stick. In fact what we're looking at here is a reverse Eliot Ness strategy - It was decided to put Capone behind bars because his illegal activities were causing havoc in Chicago, but it was through his legitimate business that he was nailed. With News International it's the legitimate business that's been corrupting the commonwealth for thirty years - so we have to prove that they did something illegal.
If you want to look at an *actual* murder case with ties to corrupt former police, private investigators and Murdoch's papers, I suggest you look here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Morgan_%28private_investigator%29
I had same 1st reaction to hearing-repeatedly; right outta the body bag-there was NOTHING suspicious about this death. NOTHING to see here. Move along, folks.
Then I realized it doesn't matter. Seeing Rupert Murdoch before Parliament, sounding for all the big wide world like a High-IQ Jabba the Hut, means that SOME THING from this Rhinestoned Turd is going to stick.
Do check out Keith Olbermann at his new roost Current TV:
< http://current.com/shows/countdown/blog/when-murdoch-gate-met-climate-gate >
Un-fracking-believable: Ties Rupie and Cluster Fux::Fox::NOTW et. al to Scotland Yard moles, Scotland Yard corruption PLUS Climate Change Deniers and the Climate-Gate email scandal at East Anglia Science Center. ('member that?)
All intersect thru one single swinging dick name of Neil Wallis.
This is just beginning to get interesting. Lotsa room for false leads and don't-pan-out theories. Plenty of scum to go around.
my main complaint is that this is being immediately written off as "not suspicious" and that explanation seems to be universally accepted by the major media outlets. Hoare is apparently the second Murdoch whistleblower to meet an untimely end http://yesbuthowever.com/source-murdoch-bugged-late-night-show-green-room-5000931/
I'm not sure I care what they get on him, as long as they can make something stick. This guy is a Bond movie-class villian. He makes the world a nastier place for his own enrichment.
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