Mighty christian of ya Karl.
We hope that medicine you’ve been dishing out all these years still tastes good.
“a long-time Texas political writer here in Austin who says that Rove is absolutely having an affair with Karen Johnson. Rove is married and has a teenaged son. According to this writer, Rove’s wife is a hardcore liberal. “I don’t know how he and his wife get along,” he said.
JfJ.
Our favorite Director Jim Jarmusch (well, maybe tied with Kubrick) has a new flick coming out!
And look at this cast!
“We can’t have leaks of classified information. It’s not in our nation’s interest.” – President George W. Bush, 10/9/01
How ironic that what some see as Bush’s best attribute could be his Achilles heel. Will loyalty induced standards of convenience be the downfall of this President?
Think Progress – 10/5/01: Bush Pulls Security Clearances From 92 Senators
By Matt Alexander.
Oh Matt, you so silly.
Senate Intelligence Committee chairman, Senator Pat Roberts, Republican of Kansas, said on the CNN program “Late Edition”:
“I must say from a common-sense standpoint, driving back and forth to work to the C.I.A. headquarters, I don’t know if that really qualifies as being, you know, covert,”
Most likely the next quote from RNC chairman Mehlman:
“Well, you see Tim, every day she dressed for exterior exposure – dress, shoes, coat and hat on winter days, etc. She would open her door and cross her physical being from her interior environment across the threshold to the “outside” world exposing herself to the elements of the exterior world and thus, therefore, she was factually “outing” herself on a daily basis. Seriously Tim, I don’t see how this is even an issue.”
hat tip: C&L, AmericaBlog
Senate Panel to Examine Use of Cover by U.S. Spies – New York Times
Perusing the weekend editorial programming found us watching the notorious Journal Editorial Report: The program that Bush plant PBS chairman Kenneth Tomlinson unilaterally installed to “counter” the left weighted programming on PBS. If you haven’t seen it, it features rabid Repubs led by Paul Gigot slamming everything lib with no left counter of any sort.
This week their was a discussion centering around the upcoming energy bill. Needless to say it was very pro oil and there was the usual bashing of alternative/renewable sources of energy as impossible to solve any of our future problems. So, it was no surprise that as the show ended we were treated to the obligatory “sponsored in part by” commercial by none other than Shell Oil. The kicker was that the Shell spot wasn’t about oil, it was a plug for their solar energy initiatives. This was one instance where Big Oil and the right wing propaganda machine were NOT colluding. Where’s Cheney when ya need him? Which brings up a good question – when things are going poorly for the White House they usually trot out Cheney from his bunker for some “last throes” wisdom. Guess it’s hard to pull your feet out when your knee deep in the shit pile.
One other thing about the Journal Ed Report. On their website they are sporting a user poll that asks if Roberts is a good replacement for O’Connor? The results at this point are 20% yes 79% no. They can’t even get Righties to go to their website!
Corn:
“perhaps the most powerful rebuttal of and rebuke to the rightwingers who have been pushing disinformation about the Valerie Wilson case.”
Marcinkowski:
“What has suffered perhaps irreversible damage is the credibility of our case officers when they try to convince our overseas contact that their safety is of primary importance to us. How are our case officers supposed to build and maintain that confidence when their own government cannot even guarantee the personal protection of the home team? While the loss of secrets in the world of espionage may be damaging, the stealing of the credibility of our CIA officers is unforgivable….
And so we are left with only one fundamental truth, the U.S. government exposed the identity of a covert operative. I am not convinced that the toothpaste can be put back into the tube. Great damage has been done and that damage has been increasing every single day for more than two years. The problem of the refusal to accept responsibility by senior government officials is ongoing and causing greater damage to our national security and our ability to collect human intelligence. But the problem lies not only with government officials but also with the media, commentators and other apologists who have no clue as to the workings of the intelligence community.”
David Corn via Crooks and Liars: James Marcinkowski, former CIA case officer testifies.
Long ago Tampa had a thriving Mafia. Led by the Trafficante family it involved hundreds of corrupt Police, drugs, loan sharking, prostitution, and murder.
Well there no longer is a Tampa mafia but we’ve been saying for years, “who needs a Mafia when you have local Government.” And boy do we have a local government! This story, centered around our local judiciary, has been evolving for some time and local blogger extraordinaire, Michael H., puts the hit on for ya…
“What I’m curious about is Detective Bartoszak’s implication of “arranged suicide” in his affidavit. State Attorney Harry Lee Coe III committed suicide July, 2000. Coe had run up a six-figure gambling debt. He has been accused of disrupting a police investigation into the Tampa lingerie modeling industry.”
Rove and Libby joined at the hip doing their best tweedle dee and tweedle dumb. Ari “I thought I got out in time” Fleischer. Surprise, surprise, Karen Hughes, who’s due to be confirmed for her new “Chief Foreign Operative in Charge of Propaganda” position. And to top it off… Chief Dick in Charge of Being a Dick… Bolton.
The Times finally lets loose with a pretty comprehensive article and it even looks like they did some actual scoop like reporting.
This is getting good.
For Two Aides in Leak Case, 2nd Issue Rises – New York Times
“The works are produced through a CNC laser etching process that removes the top portion of the wood. The darker the image is a any particular point, the more wood is removed by the laser at that point. The result is a photographic relief that can be touched as well as seen.”
This will be our one post on the Roberts nomination and we think is speaks volumes…
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor:
“A state of war is not a blank check for the president when it comes to the rights of the nation’s citizens.”
VERSUS
Judge John Roberts, joining opinion of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld:
“Under the Constitution, the President ‘has a degree of independent authority to act’ in foreign affairs, and for this reason and others, his construction and application of treaty provisions is entitled to ‘great weight.’”
Think Progress – The Difference Between O’Connor and Roberts
It’s a slow news day. No new leaked documents and we’re not falling for the old “nominate a judge / Rove is invisible” slight of hand trick. Although it will be interesting to see if the press can pat their heads and rub their bellies at the same time. Anyway, with all the blog tech, rss, xml, etc. it’s good to see a good old analog way to look at the week in review.
AmericaBlog points out that Bush is really getting tough when he says that if someone is behind bars they can no longer work in the White House.
Q: If Rove falls into a persistent vegetative state would he still be able to work in the White House?
Guess that would be up to Frist.
BTW… Will someone please ask Fitzgerald if he actually instructed the White House to keep quiet.
Since Cooper is talking a blue streak it’s most likely he did not. We’re trying to remember if Scotty actually named Fitz as the one who instructed them to keep quiet. We think Scotty said Fitzgerald’s wife’s husband told them and therefore it wouldn’t be a lie.
