I was just reading a whole bunch of stuff about the News of the World phone-hack scandal when a certain stumpy-tailed cat started meowing at me. That can only mean one thing: Ms. Manx has some goodies for us! Lead on, MacStump…
First off, Ms. Manx thinks that the Nation asks some damn good questions about the larger implications of this tabloid scandal in which the conduct of the tabloid, not the content, IS the scandal. Privacy invasion and press dishonesty are two of the major issues at play. Ms. Manx wishes to express her shock and disgust that even families of the victims of the London subway bombers were subjected to these dirty hacks. Is nobody’s privacy sacred? Quite possibly, no…unless better phone-security measures are put in place, and stricter anti-privacy-invasion crackdowns back them up. But what are the odds? Especially in the ultra-capitalist US, where Murdoch’s own FUX Snooze is the crapaganda pace-setter for the media? The fact that Rupert Murdoch clammed up when asked if FUX is also hacking phones on this side of the Big Pond speaks volumes, saith the Manx…
Meanwhile, the UK Telegraph reports that the tabloid has also hacked the phones of families of soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. This may explain why veterans’ groups were among the most prominent supporters of the paper to pull their ads. It also makes Ms. Manx queasy to think of the necrophilia of it all.
Oh, and here’s something interesting from Marxist.com: Andy Coulson, the editor under whom the hacking took place, resigned just before the shit hit the fan and became the UK Tories’ mouthpiece! Ms. Manx doubts that his resignation will do anything to get the stench off the party, though; after all, they all benefited, however indirectly, from Rupee Murdoch’s graft and self-righteous sleaze.
And finally, singer George Michael’s tweets pretty much sum the whole thing up. Ms. Manx takes it that Mr. Michael used to be a major whipping-post for the scandal-sheet, and wishes him well (and good gloating, sir).