The spectacle of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation being rapidly engulfed in scandal is almost like an eclipse of the sun.  You don't see things like this very often, but when you do, they're absolutely amazing.

The interesting thing about the whole scandal is that everyone in the world has known for decades that Murdoch has practiced the most unscrupulous journalism from his first Australian tabloids up to the present.  And there've been rumors of News Corp. vultures disguised as journalists breaking into telephone and other electronic traffic of the Royals (Prince Charles and Lady Diana).  But it took the death of a 13 year old English girl to get the full fledged wrath of the British public, arousing them enough to get the legal movement together in Parliament and criminal procedures rolling against the Fleet Street commanders of News of the World.

And now Jay Rockefeller, among others is calling for a Congressional investigation.  Eric Holder, Attorney General of the Justice Department is launching a probe of Murdoch and News Corps' hinky-dinking of 9/11 victims.  Where will it end? Who knows? The only thing is, that this is a small, delicious ray of sunshine in anotherwise gloomy world.

However, we should not be deceived. Just as Brittany Spears or Charlie Sheen is eye candy for the mainstream media prostitution machine, so can we regard Rupert Murdoch's morality play as merely a small diversion from the things that need more close attention --

the Arab Spring and the death of the Republican Party.