The secret - and very incriminating - recordings of Rupert Murdoch leaked to the press earlier this week came as little surprise to one of Murdoch's former lieutenants. In a riveting blog post, Rodney E. Lever, a long-time former employee of Murdoch in Australia, says the recordings were further proof of exactly what he has thought. (Hat tip reader Noel)

There are two sides to Murdoch: the megalomaniac-narcissist who considers himself above the law, and the nice guy who can hand out wads of  shareholders money to people whose lives he has severely damaged and then bitterly complain about these same people in private afterwards.

The nice guy who makes amends and then bitterly complains later is a perfect description of Murdoch's behavior in the secret recordings made during his meeting with the Sun staff. After having portrayed himself as a picture of contrition about the phone hacking scandal he supposedly knew nothing about, Murdoch blamed the authorities for singling his company out for behavior he now argued everybody engages in.

But wait, there's more. In addition to tales of jaw-dropping stinginess and arrogance, Lever tells an anecdote that has (rightly) haunted him for decades: A long-time, devoted employee, Keith Barrow, had been spotted struggling his way up four flights of stairs during a time there was no elevator in the building. Lever writes:

Rupert bounded past him and flew up the steps to the office before Keith was even halfway. He saw Keith’s deputy and told him:

“Keith is too fucking old for this job. Sack him. You take over!”  

An hour later, Keith came to see me in my office across the road. “I’ve been sacked,” he said and burst into tears.

 A week later, Lever said, Barrow had died of a heart attack.

I believe this is just the beginning of what will be a stream of damning information that will now come forth about Murdoch now that he has tried to pin his legal problems on a host of other people. Plus, there's a potentially juicy divorce proceeding from Trophy Wife and Serial Home Wrecker, Wendi Deng. Or, to paraphrase Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Murdoch's chickens are coming home to roost.