I Thought It Was A Comma, Rupert

Leave to the truly soulless one himself to trivialize the ultimate sacrifice paid in blood by the men and women of our military.

I recently finished reading John Cassidy’s article in The New Yorker about Rupert Murdoch (behind on this stuff, I know), and though you get a sense after reading it of just how astutely Murdoch senses political change in this country and elsewhere and how thoroughly he hedges his bets, you also come to know full well that, first and foremost, he hates organized labor and any type of advocacy that threatens his almighty profit margin.

You also come to understand after reading it to what extent the major political players on both sides grovel to him and curry his favor (including the Clintons, and indeed Murdoch’s papers have been giving Hillary more favorable press lately in her unofficial campaign for president).

As we know, Murdoch is chiefly responsible for all things Fox, which is a blight on humanity in its many wretched forms as far as I’m concerned. It is apparent (not just in reading Cassidy’s column but from other sources also) that Murdoch views us as nothing but commodities to be exploited for his own personal gain.

Only someone with that kind of a mentality could refer to the death toll in Iraq as “minute.”

And another pearl of Murdoch’s wisdom appears near the end of the India Times article.

"I think that one forgets that American foreign policy for the whole of the (20th) century saved the world from terrible things three times," he said, "for which they certainly got no thanks and for which they never had imperial ambitions at all."

Murdoch has obviously never read Noam Chomsky, and I realize that’s something he wouldn’t do anyway (I found this link that contains a detailed critique of our empire expansion under Bushco through what was probably the easiest Google search of my life, with this paragraph in particular).

The goal of an expanding American empire is seen by the administration not only as a strategy for establishing the United States permanently as the world’s paramount power, but also as a way out of the nation’s economic crisis that shows no signs at present of going away. The administration clearly believes it can stimulate the economy through military spending and increased arms exports. But enhanced military spending associated with a war may also contribute to economic problems, since it will undoubtedly cut further into spending for social programs that not only help people but also create the demand for consumer goods that business needs badly to stimulate economic growth. Historically, attempts to use imperial expansion as a way around needed economic and social changes at home have nearly always failed.

But of course Murdoch, ever the businessman, will have moved onto new markets for exploitation if the day ever comes when our economy is ruined at the hands of Bushco and the Repugs (and of course, while Murdoch steals from somewhere else, hopefully these heroes will be rewarded in another life for their “minute” sacrifice).