Laura Novak
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Girls On The Bus

7/24/2011

17 Comments

 
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Welcome back to Girls On The Bus, a series of short, but shrewd, analyses of Mrs. Todd P., Mickey B., and other assorted nut jobs causing weather disturbances here and abroad.

My partner in satirical and boldly biased analysis is wonder woman writer, feminist, and managing editor and columnist for Politicususa, Sarah Jones. 

LN: Speaking of abroad, Sarah, and no, I’m not saying “a broad” as in a tough lady (think: Maggie T.), I am saying abroad as in Europe, as in London, as in, how many ways are there to say “clinker” in British English?

SJ:  You must be talking about Rebekah Brooks, former chief of Rupert Murdoch’s media operations in Europe, who’s been arrested only days after resigning, as well as Sir Paul Stephensen, head of Scotland Yard who also just resigned.

LN: So many people, so little time. THIS NYTs LINK is a good way to keep all those illustrious players straight in our minds. 

SJ: After the select committee meeting it appears as if Rebekah Brooks will be taking the fall for the Murdochs. I’m still wonderig what was in the bag found in the rubbish bin outside of the flat she shares with her husband, who is good friends with the Prime Minister. I can’t make sense of how his bag ended up in the garbage bin and then taken to police. Was it a deliberate dump? Surely they would be smarter than to dump evidence in a bin near their flat. Or maybe there’s nothing in the computer bag….Who knows.

LN:  Well, we know there’s been the suspicious death of a key whistle blower in the case and now a pie throwing contest in Parliment. What troubles me most is not that someone tried to smear shaving cream all over Mr. Murdoch, but that his wife let loose the smackdown of all ages. Frankly, it’s one thing to leap up to protect your loved one, perhaps by  blocking a body or pushing away a pushy person.  It’s another to literally smack a man. What I saw was coiled rage.


SJ: I’m not clear on how someone carrying shaving cream on a plate got let into the meeting. If I were a more suspicious person, I would suspect this was a stunt pulled to garner sympathy for Rupert, which it certainly did. The commentary was all about how frail he appeared prior to that, and then the Right really got outraged over the incident. While I don’t support anyone accosting anyone, it was a shaving cream pie – he was never in harm’s way, and that’s not something he can say of his hacking victims. You’re right about his wife, I wondered about her reaction as well. I think it spoke volumes about how they deal with “opponents” instincitvely, and it was even more troubling the way pundits applauded what she did. Someone else had already stopped the guy.

LN:  England to me is the land of the RAF, Churchill, and Connan Doyle. Okay, and Daniel Craig, but I digress. The Brits are the ultimate sleuths, real men without guns, and yet they’ve gone and soiled the whole thing in my mind by taking freebies at spas and looking away while reporters stole a dead girl’s phone messages.  Yes, the tabloids over there have always been, well, so tabloidy but I didn’t think they’d all be in bed together. And now the PM tossing a tosser under the bus? Are there no fables left in our lifetime?

SJ: We’ve allowed media conglomerates to have such power that they have way too much control, access and power to our elected officials. We see that in Britian very clearly, but what remains to be seen is what was going on and is going on here. Until we see major changes to the regulations governing media conglomerates dominating an entire market, we have little chance of losing the inevitable cycncism that results from being lied to by the media (WMD). It’s so troubling and such a shame, that I had to make a list of hard-working, indpendent journalists in order to remind myself that there are still folks out there, doing the critical work that must be done to keep government in check. The Guardian UK and NYT deserve huge kudos for their work on the News Corp/News International hacking.

LN:  Well, this is giving me a headache. And you know what else gives me a headache? Mickey B’s migraines. It’s not that  Minnesota’s most famous migraine sufferer is to blame, it’s that Karl Rove is now calling for her full medical records so we can know if she’s fit to be president. Excuse me? So, we can now call for full disclosure on menopausal issues, yet a curiously conflicting account of a peri-menopausal pregnancy is off limits?  Sarah, explain to me how the wind blows in Roveland.

SJ: As if! There are no standards, it’s a matter of whom they support and whom they do not support. Bachmann is threatening their electable, viable candidates. The Daily Caller’s piece  on Bachmann’s “pill-popping” and “incapacitiated” state was so full of sexism it was gag-worthy, and believe me, I don’t relish defending Bachmann from sexism when she sells it every day.

LN:  What would I do without a good ride on the bus with you, Sarah.  I think you deserve a spot of tea for taking this time to talk with me and my readers today.

SJ: Thanks Laura, it’s always a pleasure chatting with you.

                                                                                                         * * * * * * 

((LN:  And now for something entirely different:  a few folks from the '70s, on their bus and havin' a ball. H/T dear reader who loves it when Sarah visits my blog)). 

17 Comments
ginny11
7/24/2011 08:30:28 pm

What does it say about me that I did not feel even a tiny twinge of sympathy for old man Murdoch? In fact, when I first heard that someone tried to pie him, I thought it was pretty hilarious, and well-deserved! I could not believe it when I heard that he was garnering ANY sympathy at all all! Good god people, I don't care how "frail" he looks, it was a damn shaving cream pie, not a gun, and this was a man whose greed and power has harmed people both directly and indirectly, both physically and mentally. No harm was ever going to come to him from the pie. I have to say, I think Sarah J. is onto something with her suspicions of a set-up. Wendy's over-the-top reaction was probably planned as well. Ugh.
Thanks ladies for another smart discussion!

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Brad Scharlott
7/24/2011 10:49:16 pm

The main justification for a free press is that it keeps government and big business honest by reporting on abuses of power. But what do you do if the press becomes a malefactor (as in the case of Murdoch) or is simply so complacent and inert that it has no interest in exposing abuses of power, as we've seen time and again in the United States?

A partial answer is the rise of blogger-journalists, such as our "Girls on the Bus," Laura and Sarah. But we need more than just citizen-journalist volunteers – we need a systemic change.

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Laura Novak link
7/25/2011 12:11:02 am

That's just one of the reasons why I like talking to Sarah Jones because I too never thought that the pie might have been staged. Just think about it: alll the times someone might have gotten close enough to the man to toss a pie his way, yet it had to happen this time with all eyes on him.

As I said to Sarah, it was Wendy's reax that horrified me. She wailed on the guy. It was more proactive than protective and it reeked of rage. I wonder if the Dowlers got to lunge at Rupert in rage in their living room.

And Brad, you are right. No longer a watch dog, the MSM is a course in stenography and a trumpet for those corporations with the most moolah.

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crystalwolfakacaligrl
7/25/2011 12:43:09 am

Oh Wendi aka "dragon lady" is probably pretty used to baring her claws and protecting her uh..."meal ticket" from other grifters out there, Palin comes to mind...Ah, I did think also,too...that Murdoch had this staged...of course we are talking the UK here were this is a "insult" in a funny way vs somewhere like AZ where he might of had a Glock shoved in his face, like Gabby Giffords did...
So yes I think it could of been staged to bring about sympathy...

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V ictoria link
7/25/2011 01:29:02 am

Well, think what others on the right have staged - either individually or collectively. Remember Ashley Todd and the backwards B? The videos that took down Acorn? The Death Panels? And - to get back to our favorite topic - a six-week pregnancy to give birth to a six pound baby?

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Viola-Alex
7/25/2011 01:41:48 am

I asked my London-based literary agent, Sarah, about Murdoch, thinking she would have plenty to say about the drama. She said that she found the whole thing boring and expected. So what, she said, he's a rich scumbag who runs tabloids. What do we expect? To her Murdoch himself is just more tabloid news.

My Sarah didn't know Fox News nor the Wall Street Journal, nor did she care particularly.

So is it just us (U.S.) that is placing political significance / hope on this episode?

And what is a free press? Has there ever been one?

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Ingrid Ricks link
7/25/2011 02:12:51 am

Interesting...so I'm wondering where Piers Morgan fits into all of this. Seems hard to believe that he wouldn't have known what was happening on his watch.


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curiouser
7/25/2011 02:55:39 am

Finally! It takes the girls on the bus to bring perspective to Wende Deng and her purely retaliatory swipe at Pie Man. Reading all the media reports of her tiger-like reflexes left me wondering if my eyes deceived me. Not a peep in the news as to the identity of the woman in grey whom I saw as the one quickest to her feet, positioning herself between Murdoch and the pie bearer. Nothing about Wende knocking her to the ground. And I wouldn't be surprised to learn the whole thing was staged. Could anything have better represented Murdoch's 'most humble day of my life' than literally being forced to eat humble pie?

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Laura Novak link
7/25/2011 03:03:33 am

Deng's reaction horrified me. She had no right to hit that man so hard. And notice the way the son sat and stared for so long. Never saw him get up, leap over the table and defend his dad.

V-A, horrid to think that someone can be so inured to Murdoch. Yet your story reminds me of the lack of awareness so many people profess about Palin and the 6-week miracle birth. And also too, Rove. Getting to the bottom of migraines is critical, but no one made such a call in order to solve or thwart the hoax rumors.

Remember what author Geoffrey Dunn said: he went up there hoping to put the Trig story to rest. And he could not.

Perhaps Rove would like to. But he cannot.

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suzanne
7/25/2011 04:18:01 am

it makes sense that the pie contents got in there under the cover of Murdoch people- their business was founded on manipulation of the news. How can we believe anything!

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FrostyAK
7/25/2011 05:47:11 am

IMO, the reason for the lack of interest in the Murdoch story is that the 'sleeping giant' is in a drug induced slumber, not to awaken before it is too late.

Has the pace of bringing home the bacon been systematically advanced to the point that most humans have no time for the 'trivial details' such as the demise of the free press? That they have no time to actually vet a presidential candidate (or VP) before voting for a horror show such as $P?

Yes, the pace of life has quickened, and it is more difficult to support a family. Who is responsible for that? Can we say corpora-terrorists? But, IMO, people just want to be entertained instead of dealing with the HUGE problems that are shaking their world.

I expect Murdoch to be lightly tapped on the wrist while his flunkies take the fall. Such a shame... the corpora-terrorists win another round.

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CA Guy
7/25/2011 06:06:14 am

This is a test. This is only a test. The leaking of the hacking and parade of ever so innocent Murdochs: it's a test of credulity. Of course it was staged !!!!

They always let pie carriers into select committee meetings, dontcha know.

The established order got a messy comeuppance with this dead girl thing. Let's hold a meeting, parade out the feeble, innocent old Murdoch and then quietly let it die if possible. Move along.

With so many monied interests working so hard to make this go away, investigative journalism doesn't stand a chance.

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Bobcat Logic
7/25/2011 06:22:00 am

Rove could almost certainly bring down Palin on the babygate issue if he chose to do so, but it would cause so much collateral damage to people who are important to the GOP, including several potential GOP candidates.

I think this was a thinly veiled "warning shot" to Palin and her faction, or maybe it's the beginning of a process of outing her slowly with an attempt at damage control.

The Murdoch scandal is not going way, though the pie throwing was a clear, deliberate attempt at diversion.

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phantomimic link
7/25/2011 10:33:27 am

Murdoch and his empire have corrupted journalism. I think that he deserved that pie (which, may I add, was not very well delivered), and probably it will be all that he will get anyway. But pieing has a long and honorable history in our societies. This was sent to me by Barbara Alfaro.

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/07/rupert_murdoch_pie_social_history.php

In the video the pythons address pieing around 1:40 minutes.

Regards.

Phanto

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V ictoria link
7/25/2011 10:18:24 pm

I have looked several times at the top picture and I still don't know what it is. Could someone fill me in?

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V ictoria link
7/26/2011 12:58:06 am

Some things become clear later - obviously a whisk whipping cream. Tja, bin ich manchmal dumm!

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Barbara Alfaro link
7/26/2011 01:26:04 am

Thanks for this insightful and witty piece about some very unfunny realities. Laura, you had me laughing out loud with the nonsense about the "call for full disclosure on menopausal issues." The more I think about the suggestion by Sarah Jones that the pie throwing incident may have been staged, the more I think it was staged. The blonde newscasters on Fox TV News, and the reporting? that everything negative in the U.S. -- according to Fox News -- is President Obama's fault -- is also stagy. How about a video of the Girls on a Bus and the bus is called "Political Satire and Calling It As It Actually Is!"

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