Douglas Caddy

Posted at 11:54 AM ET, 02/26/2012 Santorum says he ‘almost threw up’ after reading JFK speech on separation of church and state By Felicia Sonmez Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/post/santorum-says-he-almost-threw-up-after-reading-jfk-speech-on-separation-of-church-and-state/2012/02/26/gIQA91hubR_blog.html Former senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) on Sunday defended a statement he made last October in which he said that he “almost threw up” when he read John F. Kennedy’s 1960 Houston address on the role of religion in public life. The statement by Santorum marks the GOP contender’s latest defense of his long-held views on the separation of church and state, although in his Sunday appearance he doubled down on the colorful language he employed in his October speech at a New Hampshire college. In remarks last year at the College of Saint Mary Magdalen in Warner, N.H., Santorum had told the crowd of J.F.K.’s famous 1960 address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, “Earlier in my political career, I had the opportunity to read the speech, and I almost threw up. You should read the speech.” In the speech, Kennedy addressed the concerns of Protestant ministers who doubted whether he would make decisions as president independent of his Catholic faith. “I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell the president (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote; where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference; and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the president who might appoint him or the people who might elect him,” Kennedy said. On Sunday, ABC’s George Stephanopoulos asked Santorum whether he stood by his statement last year, noting that Santorum’s rival, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney ®, delivered an address on religion during the 2008 campaign that garnered comparisons to Kennedy’s address. Santorum defended his remarks, telling Stephanopoulos that “the first line, first substantive line in the speech, says, ‘I believe in America where the separation of church and state is absolute.’” “I don’t believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute,” Santorum said. “The idea that the church can have no influence or no involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical to the objectives and vision of our country.” He went on to note that the First Amendment “says the free exercise of religion — that means bringing everybody, people of faith and no faith, into the public square.” “Kennedy for the first time articulated the vision saying, ‘No, faith is not allowed in the public square. I will keep it separate.’ Go on and read the speech. ‘I will have nothing to do with faith. I won’t consult with people of faith.’ It was an absolutist doctrine that was abhorrent at the time of 1960.” Later in the interview, Stephanopoulos asked Santorum, “You think you wanted to throw up?” “Well, yes, absolutely,” Santorum replied. “To say that people of faith have no role in the public square? You bet that makes you throw up. What kind of country do we live that says only people of non-faith can come into the public square and make their case? That makes me throw up.”

http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16177012

Under the assumption that this particular topic will be transferred to the Robert Kennedy section, I am posting the following article about the subject that appears in today’s (Sunday) New York Times: February 25, 2012, 4:09 pm A Kennedy Is Arraigned Over a Dispute at a Westchester Hospital By MATT FLEGENHEIMER The New York Times Douglas Kennedy, the youngest son of Robert F. Kennedy, the senator from New York who was assassinated in 1968, has been arraigned on charges resulting from a confrontation that began as he tried to take his newborn son out of a Westchester County hospital. Two nurses said they were injured by Mr. Kennedy’s actions. A lawyer for Mr. Kennedy gave a different account of what happened and said his client would fight the charges, two counts of harassment as well as one of endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor. According to a complaint filed in Mount Kisco Village Court, Mr. Kennedy, 44, defied the nurses’ orders on Jan. 7 by trying to walk out of Northern Westchester Hospital with his son, who had been born two days earlier. During an ensuing argument, the complaint said, Mr. Kennedy twisted an arm of one of the nurses as she blocked a doorway, and kicked the other nurse. Mr. Kennedy was arrested. He was arraigned on Thursday. In a statement released with his wife, Molly, Mr. Kennedy, a Fox News reporter, denied any wrongdoing and said he had wanted only to take his newborn son, Bo, out “for fresh air” when a nurse attempted to “grab our child out of his father’s arms.” Mr. Kennedy’s lawyer, Robert C. Gottlieb, said Saturday that one nurse was “lunging to grab the child” during the scuffle. Mr. Kennedy, he said, was only trying to protect his son. “It wasn’t a kick,” Mr. Gottlieb said. “He lifts his knee, she runs into that knee, and it’s that contact that then propels her or throws her back.” Elliot H. Taub, who is representing the nurses, Anna Margaret Lane and Cari Maleman Luciano, denied that any lunging had occurred and said the nurses had been hurt as a result of Mr. Kennedy’s actions. Ms. Lane, he said, had pain in an arm and Ms. Luciano had pain in her pelvis and neck. Mr. Taub said his clients were “probably” going to pursue a civil case against Mr. Kennedy. Dr. Timothy Haydock, a friend of the Kennedy family and an emergency room physician at the hospital, said in a statement that he had been present during the confrontation and saw the nurses as “the only aggressors.” Before the episode, he said, other nurses had agreed that taking the baby outside for a brief time posed no safety risk. Mr. Taub said no one was allowed to remove newborns from the maternity unit without permission from a medical authority or a discharge order. “Neither one of those existed,” he said. The hospital confirmed only that an episode had occurred on Jan. 7 between a patient’s family member and members of the nursing staff.

I am requesting that the moderator(s) move this topic to the Robert Kennedy section to forestall further internal controversy in the forum. The reason I posted the article here originally is that while the JFK assassination drastically affected the U.S. and to an extent the whole world, it obviously traumatized the members of the Kennedy family and continues to do so. The family has had a seemingly endless number of personal problems and tragedies. This incident involving RFK's son kicking the nurse is the latest example, which ultimately, in my opinion, can be traced back to the killings in 1963 and 1968 that have left indelible scars on family members.

Come on Doug he claimed he was taking orders from Bush’s “replacement” as DCIA William J. Colby in the 1980s and early 90’s. The guy was either an inept hoaxer or hilarious satirist. In any case his own claims debunk themselves. Mother Jones? They're a little too serious for an obvious fraud like Tatum, perhaps Slate or Salon better yet if this program were revived http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_%26_Teller:_Bullxxxx! Lots of people believe in alien abduction too. After further investigation I have concluded that you are correct and that I made a mistake in giving any credibility to Tatum's claims based on Gunderson vouching for him. Perhaps my posting of the video interview and the subsequent replies here clarifying the record will have the salutary effect of alerting future viewers of video interview of the false and misleading statements made therein by Tatum.

If you were a regular reader of the Political Conspiracies section of the Forum, you would be aware that for over a year and a half I have been reading the British newspapers several times a day to post breaking news articles in the “Rupert Murdoch and the Corruption of the British Media” topic. Since September 2010 I have posted over 750 articles that have been viewed over 47,000 times by readers around the globe, many of whom, as John Simkin has observed, are not even Forum members but are vitally interested in Murdoch's criminal activities. The Murdoch hacking scandal is not dying down but is actually escalating with criminal prosecutions of prominent persons on the horizon in both the U.K. and the U.S. It is a story of media, political, and police corruption that has tremendous historical implications. Among the papers that I read regularly is the Daily Mail, which carried the article on RFK’s son in its Saturday’s edition. I don’t think that I “breathlessly” rushed to post the RFK son article. I did so because I ran across it as I perused the British press on Murdoch. You should note that I also posted Murdoch articles from Saturday’s Guardian and Independent papers in the Political Conspiracies section. I don’t think that I need to apologize for posting articles of relevance to Forum section. Other Forum members have posted articles about RFK in the JFK Assassination topic frequently in the past.

RFK's son arrested after he 'kicked nurse in the crotch and fell to floor holding two-day-old baby while wrestling hospital staff who stopped him taking newborn outside' Douglas Kennedy, 44,fought with nurses at suburban New York hospital Charged with harassment and endangering the welfare of a child but strongly refutes 'absurb' allegations By Hugo Gye Last updated at 1:45 PM on 25th February 2012 Daily Mail (U.K.) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2106227/Douglas-Kennedy-arrested-kicked-nurse-crotch-fell-holding-2-day-old-baby.html The son of Robert F. Kennedy has been arrested for allegedly attacking two nurses who tried to stop him removing his newborn baby from hospital. Douglas Kennedy, a journalist, is charged with harassment and endangering the welfare of a child following the altercation, which happened last month. He is alleged to have twisted the arm of one nurse and kicked another in the crotch as they tried to make sure his two-day-old son Boru was not being treated roughly. Mr Kennedy strongly refutes the charges, and told NBC New York the claims were 'absurd'. The accusations date from January 7, when Mr Kennedy, 44, was visiting his wife Molly and their newborn son - the couple's fourth - in Northern Westchester Hospital in New York. Mr and Mrs Kennedy then started to take the baby for a walk outside, but were stopped by nurses concerned for the boy's safety. They asked him to return the newborn to the emergency room, but he refused - encouraged by Dr Timothy Haydock, a family friend who works at the hospital. When Mr Kennedy ignored them and walked in to the elevator, nurses triggered a 'code pink', which alerts staff that someone is trying to abduct a baby. Police said that one nurse, Anna Margaret Lane, stood in Mr Kennedy's way, so he grabbed her wrist and twisted it to move her out of the way. A police statement continued that the baby's head started to 'move from side to side, and in an attempt to stabilize the baby's head, nurse Cari Maleman Luciano reached toward the infant's head.' Ms Luciano told authorities: 'Instinctively as a nurse, I raised both my arms toward the neck of the baby to steady the violent shaking of the baby's head and neck.' But Mr Kennedy then allegedly kicked her in the pelvis and caused her to fall over. In security footage of the incident, a figure can be seen to fall backwards away from the elevator. Mr Kennedy then fell on the floor, still holding his son, and jumped up to run downstairs, according to the police report, but was 'stopped by security and escorted back to the infant's room'. He was charged with the alleged offences on Thursday. The Kennedys deny any wrongdoing, and said in a statement: 'The nurse had no right to attempt to grab our child out of his father's arms and I, Douglas, was shocked and appalled when she did so.' The family's lawyer told the Daily News: 'This is nothing more than a money grab.' Dr Haydock has supported the couple's story and claimed that 'the nurses were the only aggressors'. Mr Kennedy is a reporter and occasional presenter for Fox News, having started his career with the New York Post. He is the tenth son of Bobby Kennedy, the U.S. senator, Attorney General and presidential candidate who was assassinated in 1968, five years after the death of his brother JFK. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2106227/Douglas-Kennedy-arrested-kicked-nurse-crotch-fell-holding-2-day-old-baby.html#ixzz1nQaVtQID

Sun on Sunday rises under Rupert Murdoch's watchful eye Media chief launches female-friendly tabloid to replace News of the World as phone-hacking and corruption probes continue By Dan Sabbagh guardian.co.uk, Saturday 25 February 2012 14.48 EST Rupert Murdoch's Sun on Sunday is launched on S with a manifesto that attempts to set out a fresh agenda for the tabloid replacing the News of the World, which was closed by the media mogul last July. Murdoch spent Saturday afternoon at the Sun's London headquarters as the newspaper before he headed off to see more than 3 million copies come off his printing presses just north of London. Murdoch wants the title, edited by Dominic Mohan, to adopt a less strident, more female-friendly tone, as he hopes to regain market leadership on Sunday with a sale of at least 2 million – and preferably at or around 3 million. The Sun's six-day sale average is 2.75 million He has also been closely involved in a seven-figure marketing campaign, pledging the Sunday newspaper to hold its reduced 50p price point to at least the end of the year. The News of the World cost £1, as did the Sunday Mirror and Daily Star Sunday before this weekend. But as the new title arrived, there were allegations that former Sun editor Rebekah Brooks received details of the original failed phone-hacking investigation into the News of the World from a senior Metropolitan Police officer. There is no suggestion that the officer was paid or that Brooks is implicated in the investigation, being conducted by the IPCC police watchdog. A spokesman for Brooks – also a former chief executive of News International and close Murdoch ally – declined to comment. At the same time, one of the Sunday Sun's columnists, Toby Young, author of How To Lose Friends & Alienate People, was embroiled in a Twitter controversy after writing about the hacking of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler – the revelation by the Guardian, which added to pressure to close the News of the World. "That murdered girl thing? Check the Guardian story. Turned out to be balls. Get off your high horse," he tweeted, in an online spat with Graham Linehan, writer of Channel 4's The IT Crowd. The Guardian report that the then missing Milly Dowler's mobile was hacked by the News of the World has not been disputed. What the paper did correct was its report that the News of the World had been responsible for deleting voicemail messages left for her, giving her parents hope she was still alive. Linehan responded that Young had an "amazing take on the Milly Dowler story. I guess you tell yourself that so you can go to sleep," and that Young should, "go away and start lying for the Sun. A marriage made in heaven". Meanwhile, the Leveson inquiry is due to hear evidence from detective assistant commissioner Sue Akers about developments in the Elveden police inquiry into corrupt payments made to public officials by journalists, which has seen 10 Sun journalists arrested since last November. Leveson will also hear from long-time Murdoch critic and former deputy prime minister John Prescott and former senior Met officer Brian Paddick. Both are expected to question the relationship between the Met – which had previously failed to investigate allegations of phone hacking comprehensively – and News International. Meanwhile, Murdoch is spending freely on marketing the Sunday edition of a title he took over in 1969 and described this month as "part of me", on his return to the UK to announce the long-predicted launch. News International aired "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow" adverts during every major ITV programme on Saturday night, and was fighting to hold off rival tabloid publishers by taking the 60-second spot just before ITV's evening news. Columnists signed up in addition to Young include Katie Price, the model formerly known as Jordan, who said, "I'm writing to show people I'm not just boobs, lashes and fake tan"; the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu; Nancy Dell'Olio on fashion, and Jose Mourinho, the Real Madrid boss who will write on today's Carling Cup final. But Murdoch is wary of promoting too heavily. Cardiff City are playing Liverpool, and memories of the Sun's coverage of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster may lead to a protest at the match

I think the jury is still out on who was Chip Tatum and what did he know. Someone needs to do in depth research on him and write an article. Mother Jones would be the type of publication that might be interested in publishing such a story -- pro or con by letting the chips fall where they may. The numerous entries on Google reveal that a lot of people believe in what he was saying. In the above interview with Ted Gunderson he talks in great detail about a criminal court case (different from the one in which he was later convicted) in which he was involved as a defendant at the time of the interview and how he had received a favorable ruling from the federal judge that released him from prison and allowed him to talk about what he had done at the behest of the U.S. Government over the years. If most of what he says in the video interview is true, then his days for staying alive were numbered. He acknowledged that in the interview. There have been any number of whistleblowers who have been targeted for retaliation and destruction by the U.S. Government once they made public what they knew. Julian Assange is a current victim. I, myself, suffered from retaliation from George H. W Bush when I filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission while he was president about an illegal and secret $10 million campaign fund that had been set up by him in Houston for use in the 1984 Reagan-Bush presidential campaign that was clandestinely administered by a close ally of Bush (who was from Houston). The Republican ally was Bob Eckels, County Judge for Harris County (Houston). Eckels died suddenly and mysteriously of a heart attack in the sauna at his ranch in the midst of the investigation by the Federal Election Commission. In its decision the Federal Election Commission ruled despite being prevented from interviewing Eckels due to his death that there was still sufficient "reason to believe" that the illegal and secret $10 million fund had existed. I had been tipped off about the Bush illegal fund by a contract employee for the Internal Revenue Service, who in turn had been informed about the secret fund by an IRS Criminal Intellegence Agent. The IRS subsequently tried to cover up its discovery of the fund. It should be noted that the head of the Houston office of the IRS suddenly resigned the day after Clinton defeated Bush for the presidency in 1992. At one point in time I was inteviewed by the FBI about the complaint that I had filed with the Federal Election Commission. The FBI showed no interest in pursuing the existence of the illegal fund. Its inquiry dealt solely with the subject of the contract employee of the IRS who had originally informed me about the fund.

Senior police officer 'gave NI executive details of phone-hacking inquiry' The Independent By Martin Hickman and Paul Peachey Saturday, 25 February 2012 Rupert Murdoch's former chief executive, Rebekah Brooks, is at the centre of a new inquiry into whether a senior Scotland Yard officer gave her inside information about the progress of the original failed phone-hacking investigation, The Independent understands. Two days before the launch of Mr Murdoch's new Sun on Sunday, the Independent Police Complaints Commission was examining the nature of an apparent link between the senior Metropolitan Police officer and an executive at News International. The unnamed senior officer worked in 2006 on the original phone-hacking inquiry, which failed to follow-up evidence of widespread wrongdoing at NI's now-closed Sunday tabloid, the News of the World. The NI executive was not named by investigators but is understood to be Ms Brooks, who resigned as chief executive last July in the wake of revulsion at the NOTW's hacking of the mobile phone of the missing schoolgirl Milly Dowler. there is no suggestion that Ms Brooks is implicated in the investigation, other than as a witness. The Independent has been unable to reach Ms Brooks to confirm or deny the allegations. There is no suggestion at this stage that the officer was paid. Ms Brooks is being treated as a witness and a statement is expected to be taken. Next week, the Leveson Inquiry into press standards will start to examine the entangled relationship between News International and London's police force, whose senior officers enjoyed close relationships with NI executives. Fresh evidence emerged yesterdayof the extensive cover-up mounted by News International's executives to frustrate civil court cases against the company that suspected phone-hacking victims have brought forward. Court papers show that NI began planning a mass deletion of emails in November 2009, three years after the Met raided the newspaper's royal editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire. It accelerated months after the revelation that News International had authorised a £700,000 hush payment to a phone-hacking victim, Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association. In November 2009, NI agreed a policy to "eliminate in a consistent manner across NI (subject to compliance with legal and regulatory requirements) emails that could be unhelpful in the context of future litigation in which an NI company is a defendant". In an email dated 4 August 2010 – as the civil court actions mounted – a "senior executive" at NI emailed to explain "everyone needs to know that anything before January 2010 will not be kept". The papers were released this week by a High Court judge, Mr Justice Vos, following the settlement of a civil case brought against NI by the singer Charlotte Church. That settlement saw off the last of the current round of "test cases" against NI – which would have resulted in NI's cover-up being picked over in the High Court next week. Tomorrow Mr Murdoch will launch The Sun on Sunday, the NOTW's replacement, despite the recent arrests of 10 senior Sun staffers on suspicion of corruption. The staff deny the allegations. The IPCC began its latest investigation after receiving a referral from Operation Elveden, the Met inquiry into the corruption of public officials. It had received the information from the Management Standards Committee, which is checking back through records at Wapping for evidence of wrongdoing on behalf of News Corp, NI's US-based parent company. The information is believed to have been passed to the NI executive after Goodman and Mulcaire were arrested in August 2006. The IPCC will be seeking to establish whether the information was "legitimately" in the public domain, whether the officer committed a crime, or if he should face a charge of misconduct. "At this stage there is no evidence to suggest any inappropriate payment, of any sort, having been made to the senior MPS officer," the IPCC said. The officer has not been suspended from work within the Met's specialist operations section, which deals with counter-terrorism and protection for royalty and other public figures, but that is being kept under review. A Scotland Yard spokesman said the officer was not a member of operations Elveden, Weeting or Tuleta, which are respectively investigating inappropriate payments to officers, phone hacking and computer hacking. Two days after her resignation last July, Ms Brooks was arrested by the Met on suspicion of phone hacking. She has denied the allegations. Ms Brooks' spokesman was unavailable for comment last night. *Two men, aged 50 and 51, were arrested yesterday by officers from Scotland Yard's Operation Tuleta, the inquiry into computer hacking. The arrests in Hertfordshire and Surrey were not directly linked to any news organisation or the activities of journalists, police said. Police officers to appear before Leveson Two senior Scotland Yard officers who resigned over the phone- hacking scandal will give evidence to the Leveson inquiry into press ethics next week. The former Commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, and Assistant Commissioner John Yates will feature on Thursday as the inquiry begins a new phase this week looking at relations between police and the press. The pair quit amid criticism of the way the force dealt with original allegations of hacking and failed to unearth the scale of wrongdoing. Mr Yates is expected to give evidence by video-link from Bahrain where he is helping to overhaul policing following its brutal crackdown against anti-regime protesters last year.

He sounded like another bullsh*t artist to me...especially his "military background" I concede that Tatum is a controversial character as are the stories of his life that he tells. There are numerous entries on Google for him. Here are three, one of which is a photostat of his military discharge document that lists his military background. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.darkgovernment.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/MENA/TATUM/DD214.GIF&imgrefurl=http://www.darkgovernment.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/MENA/TATUM/tatum.html&h=1650&w=1271&sz=65&tbnid=g4BcNWKuiek18M:&tbnh=90&tbnw=69&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dchip%2Btatum%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=chip+tatum&docid=bBeXCpRw70OBLM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=DBJIT-_KEo2DsAKk-YTrCA&ved=0CD4Q9QEwBDgK&dur=5180 http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/138/1344/473971/ http://www.amazon.com/Joining-Club-Fed-Nancy-Tatum/dp/0964010445

Greg, So, that's it, huh? Looks like the tip of the proverbial iceberg. No wonder Scott Kaiser can't locate his father's testimony. The rest of it's probably locked up for another hundred years or so. Thanks anyway, --Tommy The link provided is only for the House Judiciary Committee. The Senate Watergate Committee conducted its own hearings, which were the ones that sealed the fate of President Nixon. Which Committee hearings for the dates indicated are you interested in? http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/docset/getList.do?docSetId=1922

UK media scandal: 2 new computer hacking arrests By RAPHAEL SATTER Associated Press Feb 24, 2:00 PM EST LONDON (AP) -- Britain's media ethics scandal flared again just ahead of Rupert Murdoch's launch of The Sun on Sunday, with two men arrested on suspicion of computer hacking Friday and a senior police officer placed under investigation for allegedly leaking information to the Australian tycoon's U.K. newspaper company. Police said that the latest arrests were carried out in Hertfordshire and Surrey, two English counties just outside the capital, under the aegis of Operation Tuleta, which is investigating allegations that journalists broke into computer systems to steal information. But in a statement the force said that "these arrests are not directly linked to any news organization or the activities of journalists." The force refused to say whether that meant that the suspects arrested on suspicion of computer hacking were police officers or private investigators. A spokeswoman said police wouldn't go any further than the statement. She demanded that her name be kept out of print, citing policy. Operation Tuleta is one of three parallel investigations spawned by the tabloid phone hacking scandal, which grew out of revelations that journalists at the now-defunct News of the World tabloid routinely hacked into the cell phones of those in the public eye to score scoops. Dozens have been arrested or been pushed to resign because of the scandal, include two of Britain's top police officers, who were accused of not doing enough to get to grips with the tabloid's wrongdoing. The latest arrests follow news announced Friday morning that a senior London police officer is being investigated for allegedly making an "inappropriate disclosure of information" to the paper's publisher during the initial inquiry into phone hacking in 2006. That investigation, now discredited, found little evidence to support claims that journalists at the News of the World tabloid illegally intercepted voice mails. Critics cite the failed inquiry as evidence that police deliberately helped the Murdoch paper cover up its crimes. The News of the World was closed in July, but Murdoch is in London to oversee the launch of its successor, The Sun on Sunday, this weekend

http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Ready-Reference/JFK-Miscellaneous-Information/Voting-Record-and-Stands-on-Issues.aspx

Phone hacking: News of the World bosses ordered emails to be deleted By Gordon Rayner and Mark Hughes Daily Telegraph 9:30PM GMT 23 Feb 2012 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/phone-hacking/9102231/Phone-hacking-News-of-the-World-bosses-ordered-emails-to-be-deleted.html New evidence of a cover-up of phone hacking at the News of the World has been disclosed in court documents, which show the company created a policy to delete emails which could be used against it in legal proceedings. The documents, released to The Daily Telegraph by a High Court judge, says the policy’s stated aim was “to eliminate in a consistent manner” emails that “could be unhelpful in the context of future litigation in which a News International company is a defendant”. Hundreds of thousands of emails were deleted “on nine separate occasions”, computers were destroyed and one senior executive told an underling to remove seven boxes of paper records relating to them from the company’s storage facility. Clive Goodman, the royal reporter who was jailed for phone hacking in 2007, claimed during an internal employment hearing that "all of the stories" he wrote in his final two years at the News of the World "were based on phone hacking”, the court papers state. The court document was created by lawyers for a series of phone hacking victims and is based on information they have been provided by News International’s Management and Standards Committee. It would have been used in any High Court trials had News Group Newspapers, publisher of the now defunct News of the World, not spent millions settling cases out of court. It includes detailed information about admissions that NGN would have made had the cases gone to trial. The documents were released following a hearing before Mr Justice Vos at which lawyers for News Group said they were adopting a "neutral" position on whether the papers could be released, but did not raise any objections. For the first time, it can be disclosed that one reporter, named as Journalist E, carried on intercepting voicemail messages even after the arrest in 2006 of Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator who was later jailed. The reporter was one of at least six News of the World journalists who hacked phones themselves. However it is details surrounding the cover-up which are the most damning. The papers state that from 2008 on, the News of the World had a legal obligation to “preserve all relevant evidence” of phone hacking because it had been notified of civil claims that were pending. But in Nov 2009 it created the “Email Deletion Policy” to “eliminate in a consistent manner across News International (subject to compliance with legal and regulatory requirements) emails that could be unhelpful in the context of future litigation in which an NI company is a defendant”. The document includes emails sent from a senior executive which says that all emails prior to January 2010 would be deleted. A further email to a lawyer at News International asks “how are we doing with the…email deletion policy?” The lawyer sent the email to a member of News International’s IT department asking: “Should I go and see them now and get fired – would be a shame for you to go so soon?!!!…Do you reckon you could add some telling IT arguments to back up my legal ones?” The document alleges that the need for email deletion intensified following a legal claim by Sienna Miller on September 6, 2011. The claim demands that documents be preserved. But an email from a News International IT employee three days later states: “There is a senior NI management requirement to delete this data as quickly as possible.” The court document also cites a statement from Paul Cheesbrough, News International’s chief information officer, in which he admits that, in January last year, all emails on News International’s archive system up to September 31 2007 were deleted. Mr Cheesbrough previously worked at The Daily Telegraph. One journalist, described as Mulcaire’s “primary point of contact” until July 2005, instructed him to intercept voicemail messages on “at least” 1,453 occasions. Despite settling more than 50 claims from hacking victims over the past two months, NGN could still face up to five High Court trials over phone-hacking, it emerged yesterday. On Monday a judge will be told that several litigants have been unable to reach agreements with the company, including Ryan Giggs, the footballer, and Paul Burrell, the former butler to Diana, Princess of Wales. Charlotte Church, the singer whose hacking case had been expected to go to trial on Monday, has now settled her case, details of which will be made public next week, her solicitor said. A News International spokeswoman was unavailable for comment.

Charlotte Church ready to settle hacking claim for 'up to £500,000' Singer in line for substantial payout as Murdoch seeks to reach deal on last of civil cases The Independent By Cahal Milmo, James Cusick Wednesday, 22 February 2012 The singer Charlotte Church was last night on the verge of settling her phone-hacking claim against the News of the World in a deal which would allow News International to avoid an embarrassing trial exposing the details of voicemail interception at the defunct Sunday tabloid. The basis of an agreement between the singer, who along with her parents is suing the NOTW over 33 articles allegedly based on illegally obtained information, and Rupert Murdoch's media empire is understood to have been thrashed out over the weekend, along with a "substantial" six-figure payment reported to be as much as £500,000 including damages. The settlement would mean that a High Court trial of Ms Church's case, which is due to start next Monday, will not go ahead, sparing NI further negative headlines the day after Mr Murdoch launches the first Sunday edition of The Sun this weekend in a high-profile attempt to draw a commercial line under the hacking scandal and claw back some of the lost market share caused by the closure of the NOTW. Ms Church, 26, and her parents, James and Maria, were the last remaining litigants with viable cases in the first wave of 60 civil claimants seeking damages after their phone messages were accessed. The case, which would have required the airing of detailed evidence about the methods used by the NOTW and its private investigator Glenn Mulcaire to access voicemails, was intended to help the courts set benchmarks for the damages that future claimants could expect. A legal source with knowledge of the case said the impending settlement meant it was "back to square one" as a second wave of victims, who include the singer James Blunt and politician Nigel Farage, start their claims. Ms Church's case threatened to be particularly damaging to News International's already battered image. The complaint included a story about her father's private life which, it was alleged, had led to her mother trying to kill herself. It was reported last night that News Group Newspapers, the NI subsidiary which published the NOTW, has agreed to pay between £380,000 and £500,000 in damages and legal costs to the family. The Financial Times said the damages element of the figure was around £180,000. Ms Church's lawyer did not return requests for a comment. News International declined to comment.

The Blairs and the Murdochs: a special relationship Daily Telegraph 4:55PM GMT 22 Feb 2012 Cherie Blair's decision to sue Rupert Murdoch's News International over alleged phone hacking follows a close relationship between the former Prime Minister and the newspaper owner. Tony Blair is godfather to Rupert Murdoch's youngest daughter, Chloe. He shares the honour with Lachlan Murdoch, the media baron's eldest son and the actors Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. Mr Blair was present in March 2010 when Murdoch's two daughters by his third wife, Wendi, were baptised on the banks of the Jordan. The former Prime Minister was said to be "garbed in white" at the event, hosted by Queen Rania. Tony Blair attended the baptism of Rupert Murdoch's wife Wendi. Murdoch's papers had been heavily critical of Neil Kinnock in the 1992 election. But things changed when Mr Blair flew to Hayman Island, Australia, while opposition leader in 1995 to address News Corp executives. Mr Blair later said in his memoirs: "The country's most powerful newspaper proprietor, whose publications have hitherto been rancorous in their opposition to the Labour party, invites us into the lion's den. You go, don't you?" Mr Blair said of Murdoch: "He was hard, no doubt. He was rightwing. I did not share or like his attitudes on Europe, social policy or on issues like gay rights, but there were two points of connection: he was an outsider and he had balls." In 1997 the daily tabloid announced: "The Sun Backs Blair - give chance a chance." In 2005, ahead of Gordon Brown's election bid, it swung back to the Tories, saying: "Labour's Lost It." Mr Blair would address the annual gathering in California again in 2006. During his time in office Mr Blair did little to change the regulation of newspapers or BSkyB. The News International titles supported the war in Iraq, and former Number 10 staff credit Murdoch for discouraging Blair from holding a referendum on euro entry. "I think if there hadn't been Murdoch there, he would have felt braver and more able to follow his instincts. It was certainly under consideration for early in the second term. The fact that there wasn't one is a credit to Rupert Murdoch rather than to anyone else," recalled Lance Prince, a former Blair press secretary. Alastair Campbell, Mr Blair's press secretary, attended News International chief executive Rebekah Wade's wedding to Charlie Brooks - as did David Cameron and Mr Murdoch. Rebekah Brooks is a friend of both Tony and Cherie Blair He later defended the relationship. "For any political leader who's been operating in Britain in the last 30 or 40 years, the power of the media is such that you can't but have a relationship with people who are major and powerful media people. "By the way, that's not limited to News International. There's this slight sense in the UK where it's all about Rupert Murdoch and News International. That's true of any of the major media outlets

Cherie Blair files lawsuit against News Corp over phone hacking Daily Telegraph 4:55PM GMT 22 Feb 2012 Cherie Blair is to sue News Corp and a private investigator over claims that the News of the World hacked her phone. Mrs Blair launched proceedings against News Group Newspapers Ltd. and Glenn Mulcaire at the High Court in London yesterday. The court case is likely to prove uncomforable for Tony Blair, the former Prime Minsiter, who is godfather to Rupert Murdoch's youngest daughter, Chloe. Mr Blair was present in March 2010 when Murdoch's two daughters by his third wife, Wendi, were baptised on the banks of the Jordan. A court case comes at a particularly sensitive timed for Murdoch, who announced on Monday that the first edition of a Sunday edition of the Sun would appear this weekend. The latest development comes after it emereged that Charlotte Church, the singer, was expected to settle her phone-hacking case against the News of the World this week, meaning its publisher could avoid any High Court trials over the scandal. Miss Church and her parents had until now refused to accept an offer of damages and costs from News Group Newspapers, which owned the now-defunct tabloid, and the case had been due to be heard on Monday. But sources close to the case said yesterday that Miss Church was “close to settling” her case after NGN made an offer of between £380,000 and £500,000 to pay the family damages and legal costs. Miss Church and her parents were the only plaintiffs not to have settled their claims out of an initial batch of 60 who sued NGN for breach of privacy. The damages element of the settlement is understood to be more than £180,000, which would average £60,000 for each of the three claimants, making it one of the higher awards agreed this year. Miss Church, 26, her mother, Maria, and her stepfather, James, had complained that the News of the World published distressing stories about them that had originated from voicemail messages hacked by Glenn Mulcaire, the private detective jailed for phone hacking in 2007. More than 800 hacking victims have been identified by the Metropolitan Police in the year since Operation Weeting, the investigation into the practice, was launched. Last month 37 victims were given out of court settlements by News International ranging from £25,000 to £130,000. However many more cases are likely to be brought against the company.

I found the diverse comments of 50 readers appended at the end of Morley's article to be fascinating and informative. Whatever one may think of Alford's book (I believe her), the controversy that it engendered has served to focus the public's attention on aspects of JFK's administration and assassination that need to be studied and discussed. My guess is that only about 30 percent of Americans living today were alive when the assassination took place in 1963. The overwhelming majority of Americans at the present time believe a conspiracy was behind JFK being killed but their knowledge of what occurred beyond that general conclusion is severely limited. For a young person who had heard about Alford's book and by chance read Morley's article, the article and the comments of its readers opened up a whole new world as to what really happened in Dallas. The detailed knowledge possessed and expressed by members of this forum on a regular basis ensures that that while the killers of JFK may have gloated at their success, they failed to foresee that the admiration and love John Kennedy around the globe would only grow over the succeeding years. This must have proven to be most frustrating and upsetting to the conspirators, especially to key figures such as LBJ and J. Edgar Hoover.

Why the Sun on Sunday Is Murdoch's Last Hurrah By Alexander WaltersFinancial Times digital product manager, journalist Posted: 02/21/2012 10:02 am http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alexander-walters/rupert-murdoch-sun-on-sunday_b_1288401.html In the closing days of 1968, a little-known Australian newspaper proprietor flew to London with the intention of taking a gamble. By the fifth day of 1969 he had mortgaged his entire business to purchase The News of the World, then a bloated and barely-profitable behemoth of a paper. Forty years on and Keith Rupert Murdoch has flown into London again, with one last gamble on his mind. In pushing ahead with the launch of the Sun on Sunday, Murdoch has sent out a message of defiance to his critics. He is under pressure from News Corporation shareholders in the US, who feel that the phone hacking scandal has cost them enough already. He is also under pressure from his own staff in the UK, who feel betrayed by his lack of support. This time last week he faced two options: cut ties and sell up or gamble on a fightback. True to form he chose the latter. The challenge Murdoch now faces is twofold. In order to save his British operation he must reassure Sun staff and guide the paper through its current crisis without losing any of the advertisers that have so far stayed loyal. He must also make the Sun on Sunday a commercial and critical success. Only by achieving both of these feats will he placate News Corporation, an organization that sees print as minor indulgence in a digital media age. But why does Murdoch want to do this at all? He could quite easily sell The Sun and, as Michael Wolff suggested, even preserve his beloved but eternally loss-making Times. The Sun already has keen suitors -- Express Newspapers owner Richard Desmond has long been an admirer. It's possible to argue that the paper is a financial asset but by News Corp standards its revenues are small and are used partly to offset the losses incurred by The Times. The Sun's success thus has the twofold benefit of leaving Murdoch in charge of the most influential tabloid and broadsheet papers in the UK. Yet the phone hacking scandal has left the influence of News International titles significantly bruised. Politicians and spin doctors who played nice with NI under duress during their time in office have now come out to lambaste the organization's influence and tactics. Even David Cameron, the old boy's old boy, looks shy after his indiscretion with Andy Coulson. But there is one thing that motivates Rupert Murdoch more than money, power or prestige. It's the thrill of a challenge. This is a man who built his British empire by taking gambles. After the NotW purchase came the purchase of The Sun and the controversial launch of page 3. In the early 80s came the skillful avoidance of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission in his acquisition of Times Newspapers. Shortly afterwards he revolutionized printing methods and neutered the rampant print unions. In the 90s he battered rivals with price wars and by the turn of the millennium his domination of the British press was complete. At 81, however, Mr. Murdoch finds himself confronted with a digital age that he doesn't understand and a scandal of cataclysmic proportions enveloping him. He has been forced to close the paper that kick-started his whole career. The British establishment that he hated and so effectively subverted and dominated is laughing at him once again. This, to a man like Murdoch, is a humiliation. After the MySpace debacle and the underwhelming launch of The Daily iPad app, the Sun on Sunday is Murdoch's last chance to shine in the inky-fingered industry that he loves so much. The entire project is fraught with risk but it is this very risk that will spur him on, just as it did in every great gamble of his career. In years gone by the prize was prestige and power. Now the prize is pride and the success of the Sun on Sunday would be a delicious two fingers to those who have written him off. Yet Mr. Murdoch, contrary to popular belief, is human like the rest of us and there is a grim, human reality lurking in this story. There is likely a tacit understanding at News Corporation that the big man can have one last roll of the print industry dice for the twilight years of his career. The British papers, unless blessed with vast increases in digital revenue, will be News Corporation assets only so long as Mr. Murdoch has breath in him. Richard Desmond will be watching the rise and fall of Mr. Murdoch's chest with Machiavellian interest.

This mindblowing interview of Gene "Chip" Tatum rewrites history as the public knows it. Its twists and turns and classified information keeps one on the edge of one's seat the whole time. Not to be missed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TAHBcWS1d4&feature=player_embedded This video presents one of the most provocative interviews ever conducted by Ted Gunderson, a retired FBI Senior Special Agent in Charge. It is with Gene "Chip" Tatum, a former CIA black ops assassin who is/was also an Iran-Contra and OSG2 NWO insider. In this video, you'll hear Chip discuss his involvement in Operation Red Rock, Task Force 160 and OSG2. You'll hear him reveal the names of high profile officials who were integrally involved in these CIA covert killing sprees and narco-trafficking: Oliver "Ollie" North, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. You'll learn from an "insider" about outrageous U.S. government felony crime and corruption and the impending New World Order destruction of America. You'll hear his amazing insight concerning the Nixon Administration and the dirty politics of the Vietnam War. This is the last interview prior to his sudden disappearance in the winter of 1998. Chip's tortured body washed up on a beach in Panama in early 2007.

APOCALYPSE THEATER: THE HIDDEN NUCLEAR POWERS February 20, 2012 By Joseph P. Farrell http://gizadeathstar.com/2012/02/apocalypse-theater-the-hidden-nuclear-powers/ With all the talk lately of “despicable Iran” and its nuclear program in the press lately, it’s worth pausing and taking stock of the little-known probable nuclear powers that we never hear about. First, let’s begin with this article, and then note certain details it contains quite closely: Europe’s Five “Undeclared Nuclear Weapons States” As the article notes, the recognized nations with nuclear weapons are the USA, Russia – these two powers having by far and away the most built-up nuclear and thermonuclear stockpiles – France, the United Kingdom, and China (these nations also having significant thermonuclear stockpiles, and Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea. These last three nations are known to have nuclear weapons, that is, the atom bomb, but not thermonuclear weapons (the much larger and more destructive hydrogen bomb), though in India’s case a thermonuclear weapon would be possible and attainable. Now, consider the position this puts Iran in: a thermonuclear power to the north (Russia), nuclear powers to the east (India, Pakistan, and China), and a nuclear power to the West (Israel). Now, with that in mind, consider the heart of this article, with respect to the five undeclared nuclear states: “While Iran’s nuclear weapons capabilities are unconfirmed, the nuclear weapons capabilities of these five countries including delivery procedures are formally acknowledged. “The US has supplied some 480 B61 thermonuclear bombs to five so-called “non-nuclear states”, including Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey. Casually disregarded by the Vienna based UN Nuclear Watchdog (IAEA), the US has actively contributed to the proliferation of nuclear weapons in Western Europe. “As part of this European stockpiling, Turkey, which is a partner of the US-led coalition against Iran along with Israel, possesses some 90 thermonuclear B61 bunker buster bombs at the Incirlik nuclear air base. (National Resources Defense Council, Nuclear Weapons in Europe , February 2005) By the recognised definition, these five countries are “undeclared nuclear weapons states’.” Yes, you read that correctly, the USA has supplied thermonuclear bunker busting warheads – that’s hydrogen bombs – to Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Turkey. But there is one power in this mix that should raise one’s attention. I have long argued in my books and on various interviews, that of all the suspected “nuclear” powers, Germany has been front and center. It has clearly developed, and sold, on the international market, uranium enrichment technologies, and was suspected of being the hidden partner behind South Africa’s and Israel’s development of nuclear weapons (see the 1980s New York Times book, The Nuclear Axis). Note carefully what this article states: “Among the five “undeclared nuclear states”, “Germany remains the most heavily nuclearized country with three nuclear bases (two of which are fully operational) and may store as many as 150 [b61 bunker buster ] bombs” (Ibid). In accordance with “NATO strike plans” (mentioned above) these tactical nuclear weapons are also targeted at the Middle East. “While Germany is not categorized officially as a nuclear power, it produces nuclear warheads for the French Navy. It stockpiles nuclear warheads (made in America) and it has the capabilities of delivering nuclear weapons. Moreover, The European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company – EADS , a Franco-German-Spanish joint venture, controlled by Deutsche Aerospace and the powerful Daimler Group is Europe’s second largest military producer, supplying France’s M51 nuclear missile. “(Emphasis added) Yup, you read that right: Germany builds nuclear warheads for France, including its M51 missile. What’s an M51 missile, you might ask? Well, it’s a submarine-launched ICBM with a range of 9000 kilometers, according to this article: French Sub-Launched M51 Missile Test-Fired A submarine-launched ICBM, and Germany is building it for France. How convenient for France and Germany. And the world is worried about whatever nuclear popgun Iran might produce? Each of the named European nations has the ability to deliver their stockpiles of American tactical nukes, but more importantly, Germany produces nuclear warheads, and an ICBM, for France. The handwriting is on the wall, folks: Germany is an implicit thermonuclear power, with an implicit ability to deliver strategic thermonuclear weapons via ICBMs. That puts those remarks by German Defense Minister Thomas de Maziere, and his warning to Israel that I spoke about in last week’s News and Views from the Nefarium, into a very interesting light indeed. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not worried about Germany raining down thermonuclear destruction on anyone, nor about the French, Dutch, Belgians, Italians, or even the Turks doing so. But by the same token, I’m not all that worried about Iran doing so either, for the lesson is clear: if it tried, any one of these European powers could retaliate, and do so in overwhelming fashion. So let’s everyone take a deep breath, and take a step back from the Apocalypse Theater.

Sun on Sunday: Rivals likely to take the biggest hit this weekend Expect Murdoch's new edition to sell about 2.5m and for the Sunday Mirror, People and Daily Star Sunday to forfeit readers By Dan Sabbagh guardian.co.uk, Monday 20 February 2012 11.15 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/feb/20/sun-on-sunday-sales Rupert Murdoch's Sun on Sunday marks the rebirth of one newspaper. But that impact will it have on others in a shrunken Sunday tabloid market? Seven months after the News of the World published for the final time, it is arguably Rupert Murdoch's rivals that look vulnerable. A quick glance at the figures shows that the News of the World's demise appeared to weaken the market overall. Of the News of the World's 2.67m sales (figure June 2011, source ABC), 1.3m simply disappeared. Half the rest went to the Sunday Mirror; the rest were split between the Daily Star Sunday and the People. Initial gains by the Mail on Sunday were rubbed out, although the Sunday Express made a little progress. Sunday paper sales compared So what's the Sun on Sunday going to sell? We don't yet know what the price is going to be of course, but Murdoch likes to play down low. The Sunday Mirror is at a benchmark £1, as is the People and you would have to bet on the Sun on Sunday coming in under that. Murdoch can't afford a flop, so if you wanted to bet...well, 50p sounds plausible. Market share matters right now when you have advertiser-friendly events including the end of the Premiership, Euro 2012 and of course the Olympics all coming in a matter of months. Saturday's Sun sets a high-water mark of about 2.85m; the average sale for the daily is 2.75m. Curiosity will help, although it will still be quite an achievement if the first week is above 3m. But Enders Research reckons that the News of the World, had it still been around, would have been reduced to about 2.5m in January, because newspaper sales just keep on falling. More to the point, though, is whether the Sun on Sunday can bring the lapsed NoW buyers back; some of them would have been middle class types too hung over for a broadsheet, or double buyers who liked some entertainment with their Sunday Times. This is the bigger unknown, which suggests that the settle down figure for the Sun on Sunday will be in the 2m to 2.5m range. That would still give Murdoch all important market leadership back. What then of the rest? British newspaper buyers are a pretty conservative lot, and market shares only move incrementally in normal times. But this is a shake up moment. Can the Sunday Mirror stay above 1m? Will the perennially written-off People hold over 400,000? Sly Bailey, the Trinity Mirror chief executive, hasn't exactly been communicating optimism with no obvious extra marketing in either title and a just announced plan to cut yet more jobs. Richard Desmond, meanwhile, has to protect new found gains at the Daily Star Sunday. The mogul is not shy of cutting prices though while Trinity Mirror almost always refuses to play that game. It's only a hunch, but few would be surprised if the Daily Star Sunday hung on to a few more readers compared to the People come the weekend. In all this, the great unknown is the lurking giant of Associated Newspapers. In one sense, the Mail on Sunday looks a little vulnerable. Priced at £1.50 and having gained nothing from the interregnum, the MoS looks set to lose some sales ground as well as the number one spot. Of course it was Associated that thought about launching a "red-top" and concluded it did not need to do so because it thought the market was all going middle-brow. But an initial spike upwards in sales vanished, which makes the temptation to launch a Derry Street spoiler all the greater today. As for Murdoch himself, he too has skin in the game. The mood music around the launch announcement has been relatively upbeat, with an acceptance on Fleet Street that the Sun on Sunday is not just a rebadged News of the World. Buyers may see it differently though, and any settle-down sales figure closer to 2m than 2.5m will be considered as something of a disappointment. There are also risks from the ongoing police investigation into alleged corrupt payments to public officials that has seen 10 Sun journalists arrested, as well as the News of the World phone-hacking inquiry. You'd have to assume that Murdoch thinks there is not much worse to come on the corrupt payments front, while phone hacking is associated with a masthead that no longer exists. Those kind of assumptions may turn out to be correct, but as anybody who has followed this drama over the past two and half years will know, predictions (and particularly those about the future) are not that easy to make

Watson queries whether Murdoch can lift suspensions of arrested Sun staff Labour MP's letter to Met police says he believes bail conditions ban arrested journalists from making contact with each other By Lisa O'Carroll guardian.co.uk, Monday 20 February 2012 10.17 EST Labour MP Tom Watson has written to the head of the Metropolitan police questioning whether Rupert Murdoch is legally entitled to lift the suspensions of Sun staff arrested in relation to alleged payments to public officials. Watson says it has been "known for many years" that Murdoch's company has "destroyed and obstructed police and parliamentary inquiries into corrupt and illegal practices" and asks the Met commissioner, Bernard Hogan Howe, whether he is "satisfied vital evidence is secure as a result of Mr Murdoch's actions". The media mogul announced on Friday that any of the 10 staff who were arrested in relation to alleged bribery could return to work and five of them have already done so, with the remaining five expected to return in the next week. Watson's intervention comes as the Sun prepares to launch its first Sunday edition this weekend. Watson, who has been at the vanguard of the parliamentary investigation into phone hacking at the News of the World, believes the bail conditions ban any of those arrested from making contact with each other, which would suggest that it could be problematic for them to work together. Scotland Yard has refused to comment but sources at News International have indicated that a "no contact" condition does not apply to the 10 Sun staff. In his letter to Hogan-Howe, Watson says: "It seems remarkable that the people being investigated of such serious crimes should be put in a position that makes it impossible to determine whether bail terms have been breached." In addition to this clarification, Watson asks Hogan Howe to "confirm that you have secured computer and paper filing systems" relevant to the investigation into police payments. "The public will think it odd that the circumstances that lead to the bail of a number of high profile individuals will allow them to be in the proximity of evidence that can be tampered with." In January police launched a raid of the Sun headquarters in Wapping and are believed to have taken away computers, notepads and other material. Watson's letter comes just weeks after News International was accused by a high court judge of destroying evidence that could have helped in the investigations into phone hacking. In January News Group Newspapers, the part of News International that owned the News of the World, was ordered to search its computer databases for evidence of an alleged cover-up. Mr Justice Vos, who is presiding over civil actions against News International said he had seen evidence that raised "compelling questions about whether [NGN] concealed, told lies, actively tried to get off scot free". In that same hearing, it was alleged that in 2010 computers used by eight News of the World journalists implicated in phone hacking were "physically destroyed" by the company.

Buccaneer Murdoch does it again by striking back to save the empire By Roy Greenslade Sunday 19 February 2012 19.18 EST guardian.co.uk http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2012/feb/20/sun-rupert-murdoch When Rupert Murdoch began his counter-attack on Friday I quoted a wise old Sun staffer who said: "He's done it again." Well, he has done it yet again - surprising everyone by deciding to launch the Sun on Sunday next week. The wily old media tycoon has a habit of being at his best when he is at bay. I thought he had lost the plot when he appeared before the Commons select committee last year, especially after his sorry performance in the week following the Milly Dowler disclosure in July. Clearly, I was wrong because this gambit smacks of the Rupert of old. It will surely have his rivals gasping, leaving them little time to prepare. Undoubtedly, there will be more shocks along the way. Expect the first issue to be very cheaply priced indeed. Expect him to flood the market. Most of all, expect him to stay the course because this is about him rescuing his tarnished reputation. He knows that the arrests of 10 staff have not damaged the Sun in the eyes of the paper's 2.7m buyers nor has it prompted any revolt among advertisers. The Sun brand therefore remains a saleable item. The Sunday version will therefore be unlikely to look anything like the News of the World. It will draw on the Sun itself, using the same logo and design in order to reinforce the "distance" from the paper he was forced to close. Mind you, the Sun on Sunday will surely get to be known by its initials, SoS. That's apt, given that it is something of mayday rescue. The fact that Murdoch feels he can pull it off also shows the strength of buccaneers running papers rather than corporations. He might have to answer to shareholders in the States, but this is a backyard pastime as far as they are concerned. So he can do as he wishes. This astonishing initative is all about one angry man, having suffered a setback that looked as if it might end in him sacrificing his British media interests, striking back to save his empire. It's personal, not corporate. He wants to show his staff, the politicians, the rest of Fleet Street, the readers, News Corp's investors - indeed, the world - that he will not go quietly. Love him or hate him, you have to admire the chutzpah. What a guy!