summer snowballs & serving up justice

For the first time all summer, I don't have to start working at the god-forsaken hour of 6am. Instead, I start around midday and work through close. In celebration of this near-miracle, thought it's about time to give LCP some more love.

The nefarious Murdoch/Newscorp. scandal snowballs on. Recently I've lacked the wherewithal to stay up-to-date on US political or international news, but this media transgression is too ground-breakingly sinister, and involves too many major players, to keep my head in the sand much longer. Here's a quick recap: News of the World, owned by Rupert Murdoch (the insanely wealthy and powerful Australian media tycoon) has been aggressively hacking British phones and voicemails to dredge up even juicier stories. Obviously, this is criminal, a serious breach of privacy and totally unbecoming of a global media brand.

There is more. It has now come to light that the relationship between English police and News International (the parent company) also warrants further investigation, with the admission that "10 other former News International employees work in the media relations office of the Metropolitan police service, out of a total of 45 people who work in the office."


Murdoch's media empire, as well as the man himself, once seemed an impenetrable, ever-expanding force. With this scandal, that too has changed. Murdoch's iron-fisted control of the company is now being questioned by the newspaper's board of directors. Turns out having such a power-hungry, highly politicized, media baron running the show isn't quite in the interests of freedom of press. Or conducive to turning profits for a newspaper whose image is at an all-time low and boasts a well-documented streak of aggressiveness.

Now, the biggest question is how far with the fallout spread. Who knew what, and when? The investigation and future court proceedings will be a textbook exercise in the plausible deniability strategy. Nevertheless, with resignations from English police and News of the World management pouring in, it's only a matter of time before the blowback ensnares more culprits. I can only hope that Britain takes a harder line towards the perpetrators of these type of white collar crimes than the US has in the wake of the housing crisis and Wall Street scandal.

7/11 = Free Slurpie Day

After a 5 week hiatus from blogging, stemming in from one part laziness and another part Arsenal-induced gloom, here we are. It's July, things are starting to pick up: Summer is in full swing in Central, OR and pre-season Euro soccer is gearing up. On the Arsenal side of things, there's not a ton of good news to report. The Cesc and Nasri circle jerk remains in full swing, with lots of speculation that one or both will leave before the transfer window closes in late August. Arsene did, however, finally manage to bring in some new blood by the name of Gervihno. He is supposed to be a raw but talented winger, explosive and powerful, as well as prone to missing some sitters. The Nutter tweeted an interesting statistical comparison between Gerby & Nasri: Gervinho and Nasri: same age, same position. League stats last 2yrs: Gervinho - 28 goals, 14 assists. Nasri - 12 goals, 5 assists.

The Ivorian looks a great addition to the side. Only time will tell. Anyway, with the transfer vultures of European soccer circling around Cesc & Nasri, it's somehow comforting to know that the show and club will always go on. New players will always come in and current players will inevitably move on sometime. What endures is the club and the club's values. My fandom is about supporting the club through its highs and lows, not idolizing individual players. Gracias por todo Cesc. Que sera, sera. Nasri, you're not worth 115,000 pounds a weak of real, normal money, let alone 185k/week of dirty oil dollars. 

Alright, I'm off.