Being I had my British friends here over the past week, I had to listen to the old Limey (Terry is Gordon's age) kvetch about the phone hacking scandal all week.
With almost daily revelations surfacing on the News Of The World/News International/Newscorp/Rupert Murdoch scandal, there is still very little being said in our own mainstream media regarding what could very well become the potential takedown of a government. No big surprise there.
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Of course nobody (with the exception of Chris Hayes and Rachel last night) is talking about this because the Village Idiots take care of their own (there are too many examples of other networks giving Fox cover), but the British people are up in arms.
Terry is a Tory (conservative), and likes Cameron, but he has little use for Fox/Murdoch. Fortunately, unlike here, there will be a huge (and public) investigation and heads will roll.
That said, conservatives in England are about the same as Democrats here. Labour are the "nutty left" and after hearing about some of the laws Labour has passed, I'd have to agree (they are also known as "the party of patronage"). Also, unlike here, the government (and one political party) hasn't been captured by big business. Things there, generally, are done for the good of Great Britain (by all the parties) with the best interests of the people of the Kingdom at heart.
As I explained the revolving door of government employees to the private sector and back, our campaign finance laws, and the way the interests of the rich are looked after before the average man, Terry was incredulous. He couldn't believe we'd let ourselves go so far down that line. His quote was: "We all used to look at you with awe, as if you could do anything you wanted, better than anyone. Since Bush, we in Europe see you as a laughingstock. We no longer look to America for leadership or innovation."
Unfortunately, he's correct. We have lost the high ground and unless we get it back soon, we will just be left behind. As Terry said: "We know about the fall of Empires, you will too."
Update:
More from Fez.
3 comments:
The phone hacking deal is huge over there. The Brits, unlike us, actually DO have a history of heads on pikes and they want blood over this. We can still learn a thing or two from them.
The picture at Fez is well worth going to see.
You know Murdoch is up to his neck in it after he decided to suddenly close his cash cow in England, News of the World. Betcha the shredders are working overtime.
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