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Tonight’s guest: NBC Dateline‘s Stone Phillips.
Show Description: What The Daily Show with Jon Stewart is to evening news, The Colbert Report is to personality-driven pundit shows. Colbert brings his sarcastic charm to a half-hour report, tackling the important issues of the day and telling his guests why their opinions are just plain wrong.
by Larry C. Johnson
Despite claims to the contrary, the Identity Protection Act spells trouble for White House officials. Republican talking points have achieved some success in muddying the waters by insisting that Robert Novak’s outing of CIA clandestine officer, Valerie Plame, was not a violation of the law. The typical presentation of this red herring was bandied about most recently in an October 10, 2005 article by Washington Times reporter, Joseph Curl.
Biography:
Larry C. Johnson is CEO and co-founder of BERG Associates, LLC, an international business-consulting firm that helps corporations and governments manage threats posed by terrorism and money laundering. Mr. Johnson, who worked previously with the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism (as a Deputy Director), is a recognized expert in the fields of terrorism, aviation security, crisis and risk management. Mr. Johnson has analyzed terrorist incidents for a variety of media including the Jim Lehrer News Hour, National Public Radio, ABC’s Nightline, NBC’s Today Show, the New York Times, CNN, Fox News, and the BBC. Mr. Johnson has authored several articles for publications, including Security Management Magazine, the New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times. He has lectured on terrorism and aviation security around the world. Further bio details. |
Curl wrote:
“There is not one fact that I have seen that there could be a violation of the agent identity act,” said Victoria Toensing, a lawyer who helped draft the 1982 act.
The Intelligence Identities Protection Act outlaws intentional disclosure of any information identifying a covert agent. The penalty for violating the law is imprisonment for up to 10 years.
But according to the law, Mrs. Plame was not a “covert agent” at the time that at least two senior Bush administration officials discussed her with reporters.
Ms. Toensing is wrong. Let us pray that Ms. Toensing is not practicing law these days because, if her comments in this article reflect her abilities as an attorney, clients could be in serious trouble. Valerie Plame was a “covert agent” as defined by the law. In her cover position as a consultant to Brewster-Jennings, Ms. Plame served overseas on clandestine missions. Just because she did not live overseas full time does not mean she did not work overseas using her status as a non-official cover officer.
Unfortunately, the organized plot by White House officials to expose Valerie Plame also permanently ended her ability to ever serve overseas in an official cover position. At a minimum, U.S. tax payers invested at least $250,000 (that is in 1985 dollars) in training Valerie as a case officer. Karl Rove, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, and others not yet revealed destroyed by their reckless acts her career, a CIA front company, and a network of intelligence assets.
The law to “protect the identities of undercover officers, agents, and sources” is only one possible source of jeopardy for the White House gang. … Continued BELOW:
[cross-posted at European Tribune]
I am extremely disappointed by the tone of the debate over at Eurotrib with regard to nuclear power, that resulted from the thread about the Nobel Peace Prize going to the IAEA.
It was largely promulgated by those who are gung-ho for nuclear power. Branding those with serious concerns as `extremists’ is 1) pathetic and 2) right up there with framing tricks used by the neoconservatives. Blegh. Oh yeah – and total bullshit.
No, I don’t agree with Greenpeace’s rather ridiculous criticism of the IAEA. I am not a fan of Greenpeace in general, and think they have rather lost their way – although I am not of a mind to throw out their many earlier achievements just because the organisation now raises serious concerns for many.
That notwithstanding, what a ridiculous straw man, to use the fact that Greenpeace is against nuclear power to dismiss all other concerns about a proliferation of nuclear power as a process; and worse, to dismiss serious questions about whether nuclear power can actually contribute significantly enough to reducing greenhouse emissions to be worth pursuing.
Let’s go through some actual facts shall we?
Read MoreA review of a pile from Liberal Street Fighter
I just watched Last Best Chance on HBO, and I can’t decide whether to be disgusted, outraged or laughing my ass off.
A sanctimonious pile of poorly written, poorly acted agitprop, Last Best Chance is yet another instance of the rightwing in this country turning history and real problems on their heads in order to score political points and scare the shit out of people.
Read MoreIvor Tossell of the Globe and Mail thinks that once a blogger starts posting pictures of cats, their blog has jumped the shark. In defense of all cats everywhere and the people who love them, I respectfully disagree.
Apparently, “posting the cat” is the last resort of a desperate blogger who has run out of content and has nothing better to post. That’s insulting to cats and bloggers alike. We post our kitties because we worship them not because we have nothing better to do!
There’s a stereotype that goes like this: When somebody running a website has run out of useful things to say, they post a picture of their cat. When they don’t feel like writing one thousand words on their blog, there’s always the option of posting Fluffy and pretending that she’s somehow of interest to anybody. When the boiler of thought is out of steam, out wheezes a kitten.
Perhaps the stereotype was undeserved, but it stuck. In a gently self-mocking way, putting up pictures of cats has become the quintessential blogging gesture. And the cat, for its part, became the patron saint of tired websites.
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