John Ward at his blog, The Slog, salutes “the original Hackgate conscience“:
If I had a fiver for every hack and distant acquaintance who has told me over the last year what a nice bloke Sean Hoare was, I’d be a wealthy man – even given the state our currency is in.
__
I never met him. He only came to my attention at all because of his confession to the New York Times about endemic phone-hacking within Newscorp in general, and under the stewardship of Andy Coulson in particular. I remember very well that the venom with which Murdoch set a gaggle of legals on the NYT at the time made my nose for a scandal twitch. To be honest, I rather suspect that without Sean Hoare, the full Hackgate depravity might never have come out. Sean Hoare was a good man who did something – and he should be remembered for that.
__
Coulson, predictably, fired him. His version of the event is that Hoare was a hopeless office drunk and marching powder addict. What Handy Andy omits to mention is that it was he and others in the Newscorp cesspool who encouraged this essentially decent man to get coked up with celebs, the better to find out what skeletons rested uneasily in their mental cupboards…
__
Hoare eventually got himself clean, but the guilt about what he’d done drove him back to his best friend the bottle. He was found dead at his home today, and details so far are scant. The police say that there is no evidence of foul play. How sad it is that nobody in Britain will believe them.
lamh34
Dang, between this story and the story about the mysterious bag it’s like watching an episode of “Prime Suspect” but in real time!
Police examine bag found in bin near Rebekah Brooks’s home
ETA: I see A. Sully is back and he did post something about the scandal. I see he goes all in on Murdoch, but seems a little slower on Cameron stupididty…IMHO.
JC
Convenient timing, and the validation of this story blowing up for Hoare, still says that odds are foul play and murder rather than ‘unexplained death’.
But it could be otherwise.
It would be good to hear from a HOST of people who were around Hoare the last few days – assuming people aren’t cowed or bought off.
Considering that Scotland Yard itself is compromised, is this going to be another case of never really getting to the truth?
Violet
He was brave for being the first to come forward with the really big dirt. I hope his bravery didn’t cost him his life. I also hope his death is investigated as thoroughly as possible.
Culture of Truth
Because, unfortunately, Murdoch’s legacy is not simply gutter journalism, or overseeing rampant criminality in his media empire in the name of news coverage, but corruption of Britain’s police and its possibly political system, such that a ‘thorough official investigation’ has all the credibility of Voldemort being tasked with finding out whose been causing all recent explosions around Hogwarts…
John O
Shorter: He eventually got “clean, except for the booze.”
Damning with faint praise, or clueless about the implications of saying something so stupid?
General Stuck
Regardless of whether Mr. Hoare died of natural causes, or not, this story has deep deep roots, at least in GB. And I suspect strongly a few of those rhizomes spread to this country as well. A normal scandal would see rank and file cops resigning, not top dogs at Scotland Yard.
In news closer to home, say what you will about tweety, but sometimes he eats his spinach and plays real reporter. And chews up and spits out sniveling pond scum like Grover Norquist, just like he just finished doing.
Mike Kay (Chief of Staff)
Dead Men Tell No Tales.
This “suspicious” death has me reminiscing.
I brings to mind the mid 1970s, after Watergate, after the Zapruter film was finally released to the public, Congress started investigating JFK’s assassination.
And out of the blue, a whole bunch of witnesses started to have “accidental deaths”.
My favorite manufactured narrative was the arranged death of the number 3 man in the FBI, William Sullivan.
Sullivan was one of six FBI officials who died in a six-month period in 1977. What a coincidence!
arguingwithsignposts
@General Stuck:
Sadly, it has little effect on the treacherous bastard Grover Fucking Norquist. Ali Vishi on CNN pressed him hard the other day and Grover is simply impervious.
And besides, Grover Fucking Norquist probably considers it a badge of honor to take on Matthews.
scav
Guardian Puppeh pictures to combine BJ obsessions. NB: Bit out of the ordinary: they’re Victorian. (or at very least very old.)
Washington Post Editorial Board
Right now the best thing we can do is to not let the response to this scandal go too far.
Suffern ACE
That’s a pretty big implicit accusation as well. Were they telling him “don’t be such a square around the celebs?” Did he have a cocaine expense account? Doubtful…
13th Generation
Never underestimate the hopeless office drunk.
13th Generation
@ G-Stuck
wish I had seen that tweety evisceration. He’ll surprise you sometimes..
MTiffany
In glossy fashion rag accounting depts, these handwritten receipts were “flowers for the model.”
handsmile
“Ali Vishi [sic/Velshi] on CNN pressed him hard….”
I’ve now lived long enough to see that phrase in print. (courtesy of arguingwithsignposts #8 above) Somewhere little puppies and kittens are whimpering over the abuse of the English language. Unpossible!
But a serious question about usage; how did you manage to type ‘F**king’ without going into moderation? On a previous thread, I earned that privilege for typing ‘d*mned’, near as I can figure.
John O
Yeah, I know a LOT of people who would’ve jumped at a cocaine expense write-off, that’s for sure, way back in the day.
Never did much for me. I can stay awake if I’m having fun, and don’t want to if I’m not.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
It think the bigger story is being missed; Sure Murdock and company probably didn’t kill Hoare directly, but they were the the one’s who gleefully exploited Hoare’s self destructive behavior and wrecked his health for their own economic gain. Anyway which way you look at it Hoare’s blood is on their hands.
But they got to sell a few more news papers so I guess that’s what’s important.
Violet
@Washington Post Editorial Board:
From the UK Attorney General Dominic Grieve:
Ah, yes, a Period of Quiet. Does the Period of Quiet coincide with the time in which we are looking forward not backward or during which we just keep walking?
Jay C
@ Suffern Ace #10
(PS: John, WOFRB???)
“Doubtful”? I’m not sure what the payscale for Sun reporters was/is, but I’m guessing that “£1000 a month” for blow might strain the budget of your average working Joe – without some help from the under-the-table expense account.
General Stuck
yea, that was pretty much how Grover handled Tweety’s hammering, like a little kid covering his ears and repeating the same old tired wingnut talking points over and over.
MattR
@handsmile: FYI – Word Press spam words
Violet
@handsmile:
Nope, you can use those words. But don’t type “p3nis” the correctly spelled way. Or soshulist. Or shooz. Also, a certain number of links will send you to moderation. I think it’s three, but can never remember for sure.
Loneoak
MattR, that’s a very interesting list. I want to know the history of some of those now, such as “ottawavalleyag”. How the fuck did that become a common spam term?
Loneoak
Haha, lulz. I commented on the bizarre chain of events that would lead to one of those terms and got moderated. Not sure why Balloon Juice would need to moderate a post with “ottawa_valley_ag” in it, but there you go. I’m a big spammer today.
Cain
This ad for snorgi tees is embarassing to see.. definitely not “safe for work.. ” :(
arguingwithsignposts
@handsmile: You can read the Velshi transcript here.
Here’s a little snippet:
See Violet and MattR for the forbidden words. And Fucking is Grover’s middle name as far as I’m concerned. He’s actively working against the interests of the nation, and he holds no political office. There’s a word for what I think his actions are, but I hesitate to use it. I wish he were neutered of all political influence, but I don’t see it happening.
Violet
@Loneoak:
The worst is when your a comment just vanishes. You type it, press Submit, and it’s gone. No moderation, no warning, just nothing. Gone. I can never figure out what I did for that to happen. If I press Back and get the original text, it’s usually got a link in it. If I take out the link, it’ll sometimes post, but not always. But the link never has any unapproved words. It’s just weird.
MikeJ
Jay McInerney can be happy as the popularizer (maybe even coiner?) of the phrase, “Bolivian marching powder.” Nice to see a throwaway phrase from 1984 still in use.
The Sheriff's A Ni-
@MikeJ: It never ceases to amaze how many people have spent the last 48 years fulfilling Lee Harvey Oswald’s wish to get away with murder.
Just the facts, sir.
Loneoak
Here’s a link to Tweety v. Grover. Sounds like a Sesame St. cagematch, actually.
MattR
@Violet: I think it may have something to do with using the name of a banned commenter. I ran into that problem at some point trying to use mc’s full name. Word Press ate three different comments of varying lengths and with different sentences that conveyed the same idea, but it finally let one through when I abbreviated her nickname to “mc” (EDIT: And with links my guess is that there is be a banned word hidden in the meta-data for that link)
arguingwithsignposts
@Violet:
That only happens if you use the name of a banned commenter, afaik. Perhaps you typed in m_c’s name, or mc_laren or something. I had that happen a few times.
ETA: or what MattR said. Unfortunately, there’s no list of banned commenter names, so you may have accidentally mentioned one.
aimai
@ Violet – July 18, 2011 | 6:02 pm · Link
A period of quiet? That’s just adorable.
Still, the entire of the British ruling class must be hysterical. The resignations of the two top police guys is really a sign that every person touched by this scandal is now facing a kind of prisoner’s choice–go before you are pushed? or push the guy ahead of you? And that’s as true for the politicians as it is for the police. I just bet a whole lot of people would like a kind of political “bank holiday” in which everyone important could just kind of sit tight and try to figure out whether they will have to confess or whether they can just shtum.
aimai
MikeJ
@The Sheriff’s A Ni-: That was Mike Kay, not J.
Ed Marshall
all The Sun’s email was stolen today, and is due to be dumped tomorrow. That should be interesting.
RalfW
In the spectrum of harm reduction, that’s a big step ~ booze plus pills plus coke is a fast track to a cold slab. But booze does kill, given time.
The Sheriff's A Ni-
@MikeJ: Argh, there are too many Mikes around here and not enough reply buttons. Sorry about that!
MattR
@arguingwithsignposts: I’ve always thought it would be fun to create a new user called “The” and then act like an ass so that user gets banned.
arguingwithsignposts
@Ed Marshall: The Guardian has a screen cap of the hack. Lulzsec apparently has not disbanded.
arguingwithsignposts
@MattR: I think there’s already a “The” commenter. But that’s a wicked evil thought. :)
scav
Cue up the Faux I told you so meltdown. HA!
Ed Marshall
@arguingwithsignposts:
They got more than the webserver :D
http://twitter.com/#!/anonymouSabu/status/93062692327264256
The Moar You Know
Violet: Shorter Grieve: “I’m in this thing up to my eyeballs. Please stop right now before my ass lands in jail.”
PeakVT
@Ed Marshall: Linky no worky for me.
Ed Marshall
Maybe this will work better.
RalfW
The bag-drop thing is like a bad LeCarre’ novel.
Suspicious bag-drop of a laptop and documents into a trash can. And phrases like “The suggestion is…”. I read that as “The lie we’re advancing is…”
Keystone cops moment. Wow.
arguingwithsignposts
@Ed Marshall: While I am somewhat interested in what comes out of the e-mails, I shudder that Lulzsec/Anonymous has gotten into this to push the Sun/NoTW into any sort of sympathetic role.
Violet
@The Moar You Know:
I don’t know if he’s up to his eyeballs in it, but he’s covering for Cameron. The next paragraph was:
Uh huh. Why would anyone say such a thing if the prime minister’s position were secure? Methinks he doth protest too much.
The hacking of The Sun’s website. Oh, man. This thing just gets crazier and crazier.
Ed Marshall
@arguingwithsignposts:
You really think anyone is going to care if the tables get turned on the Murdoch papers? Maybe, I don’t see it.
arguingwithsignposts
@Ed Marshall: Dunno, it’s just a comment on the optics. Remember that FOX was spinning that line of bullshit just the other day. I guess it’s sort of the “don’t get in the way of your enemy while he’s digging his grave” outlook.
Comrade Luke
Can’t wait to see the guest list for this Sunday’s Meet the Press.
gelfling545
@Violet: Did he just put Parliament in “time out”?
MikeJ
@arguingwithsignposts: It’s interesting that the same people who complain that a competitor newspaper dug all this up are the same ones that tell us free market competition will solve all problems and keep everyone honest.
I knew I never believed it when they said it, now we know they didn’t believe it either.
No one of Importance
Good old Anne Laurie, showing that terribly classless Angry Black Lady how nice white ladies write up sensational news developments in moderate, patrician tones.
Do you sit there watching the BJ feed so if ABL posts, you can make sure you post *immediately* afterwards? I swear, it happens so often, it can hardly be an accident.
You two need to meet and pull each other’s hair out good and properly. Get the hate right out of your systems.
pete
Can’t a guy get any work done nowadays? I fail to refresh for an hour or two and the world blows up. Again. Popcorn supplies are running low.
arguingwithsignposts
@No one of Importance:
Meh. There’s so much thread-stomping on this blog you have to squint really hard to find an AL/ABL conspiracy. More likely victim is Kay, who is consistently thread-stomped. Like clockwork.
Joel
I’m convinced that DougJ doesn’t read this blog, save for his own posts.
Hewer of Wood, Drawer of Water
No one of Importance
2 hours later is immediately?
The Sailor
Riiiight, because the intimidation of UK (and US) politicians has nothing to do with Mohrdoch et al cheering on the Iraq war and enabling Bush & Blair to do the same.
Pitchforks, guillotines and lots and lots of tar & feathers are warranted. Rhetorical, of course.
Corner Stone
@No one of Importance: Well if she doesn’t I’ll consider paying her by the hour to do such and so forth, forthwith.
Arundel
I for one appreciate the account of the good whistleblowing work Sean Hoare did, at Anne Laurie’s link. Respectful of what it took to take on that Murdoch operation. The guy clearly was troubled by addictions, as he freely admitted, and for all we know may have been the death of him. He did some good, he’s someone’s family member, who is suddenly dead.
So I appreciate this post for not having exclamation marks and a gleeful tone, I appreciate there’s no lingering on “his coke-snorting, booze-swilling lifestyle”, nor comparisons to Lindsay Lohan that would have been stale in 2009. I like that it gives the man not “dude” credit for coming forward, without declaring murder and unsemly grabbing of the popcorn. I also appreciate that this post doesn’t presume I haven’t read the news of Hoare’s death that’s been all over the Internet since 12 hours ago.
Anne Laurie is pointing us to a thoughtful blog post. She is stepping on nothing, and I quite mean that.
GregB
I believe the term Peruvian Marching Powder predates 1984, as it was used in a Saturday Night Live sketch in the 70’s.
The Sailor
IRT to the money aspect; I was offered $40k back in the 80’s by Nat’l Enquirer for Polaroids of a Xmas party that had a couple of stars at it.
I asked one of the people involved, who spoke for both of them, if I could do it and he said no. I was making $35k per annum at the time.
So I didn’t do it.
because now we’d just being arguing over price.
Joel
Here come the hackers.
Apparently lulzsec is going to leak Sun emails (including those of Brooks).
Nutella
The editorial on the hacking scandal in the Australian says it’s all down to jealousy of successful papers by two-bit nobodies at the Guardian and the contempt of the upper classes for the fine salt-of-the-earth types who like to read NotW.
Why yes, the Australian is a Murdoch paper. Why do you ask?
via @jayrosen_nyu
Brain Hertz
There’s been so much stuff happening in the last 24 hours that one rather important item seems to have been largely ignored:
Theresa May, the British Home Secretary, has set up an inquiry of the Metropolitan Police to be conducted by the Home Office’s “Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary”. That is to say, a non-police body run by civil servants.
Bring popcorn.
Steeplejack
@handsmile:
Fucking damned.
ETA: That worked for me. It was something else in your previous post, either some mention of a gambling word or some word inadvertently containing the name of the drug Cialis, e.g., socialism.