Month: October 2005

The press conf. was on MSNBC… White House video and on C-SPAN. This is an OPEN THREAD!

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Cross Posted at Media In Trouble

When did you know it, and more importantly, why aren’t you telling any of your Democratic friends?  We are left on the sidelines, gleaning from press reports when one of our very own political operatives’ wife Mary Matalin was involved in the now implicated White House Iraq Group (a.k.a. WHIG).

Remember 2 years ago when HBO had that ill fated series K Street?  Where the luxurious and lustrous life of lobbyists was intermingled with actors playing out sub-plots?  I thought for sure George Clooney had a winner here.

Then around the 5th week or so, the leak investigation hit Carville and Matlin’s lobby firm.  Matlin was probed, then Carville, and the series took a turn towards less of the reality of politics, and more towards the lives of the fictional characters.

Either way the show got cancelled and little was ever portrayed regarding the Leak Case.  However, as of this week, it seems that the WHIG has come back into play here.  So the scrambled camera shots in the HBO series we know were totally real, and we know that their is information that perhaps James Carville can help us figure out from his very own involvement.

So Mr. Carville, I am sure you have discussed the issue with your wife, what is it that she knows from being on the inside?

Why aren’t you helping those of us here in Left Bloglandia uncover such things?  

If Matt Cooper can come clean I am sure you can do the same?

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This is the weekly summary of the Humanist Network News (HNN). The Humanist Network News (HNN) is published every Wednesday via e-mail and on the Institute for Humanist Studies (IHS) Web site. This diary is a slightly reformatted copy of the weekly email they send me, which I post here every Thursday (Yes, I have permission from the IHS). (CP @ MLW, BT, SP)

October 11, 2005
Humanist Network News
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

1. Death with Dignity: Making sense of conservative canons
2. Maine says no to abstinence
3. Silicon Valley Humanists now hiring
4. Gordinier vs. Rev. Stiles: on the Establishment Clause
5. Getting religion out of disaster relief
6. IHS in the News
7. Overfed and thankful
8. Sweet Reason, how can I talk to my daughter about lying sis?
9. Film Review
10. Letters to the Editor
11. Media Roundup
12. Cathartic Comics
13. Humanist Humor
14. Poll of the Week

Summaries and links across the break. As always, anyone and everyone is more than welcome to write a more in depth diary on any of the stories.

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Because of their less-than-forthright dealings with Judith Miller and her attorneys, Joseph Tate (Scooter Libby’s attorney) and Libby may find themselves accused of witness intimidation or tampering. Even if Patrick Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor in the CIA Leak case (aka Plamegate), does not press charges for witness intimidation, Tate may find himself the subject of a state or federal bar disciplinary investigation (depending on the jurisdiction).

Following Miller’s release, Floyd Abrams (the NYT/Miller 1st Amendment attorney) and Bob Bennett (Miller’s criminal attorney), appeared on Sept. 30 cable news shows. Both Abrams and Bennett emphatically said that Scooter Libby’s attorney did not give Judith full, unfettered permission — complaining constantly about the “coerced” waiver Libby was forced to sign by the government — UNTIL Libby sent Judy the now-infamous personal letter and called her at the jail. Both attorneys became testy about Tate’s comments after Miller’s release.

Abrams, who appeared Sept. 30 on his son’s MSNBC legal show, implied that Libby let Judith rot in jail until he finally did the decent thing. He snickered when his son Dan mentioned that Libby’s attorney expressed “surprised” that Miller took so long to agree because, Tate said, Libby had given her a green light.

It wouldn’t surprise me — based on my observations about Abrams’ anger with Tate, Libby’s attorney, and Murray Waas’s statements yesterday about Abrams — if Abrams himself contacted Patrick Fitzgerald to complain about the behavior of Joseph Tate.

It’s not a good thing when the nation’s most-respected First Amendment attorney complains about you to a special prosecutor and U.S. Attorney.

Bennett, with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Sept. 30, argued that Libby’s attorney did not call him until August 31, after Miller was in jail. Bennett edged towards anger, saying that Libby’s attorney and Libby knew where Judy was and how to reach her.

It’s also worth considering if Judith Miller and Bob Bennett — in reaction to the intimidation — “found” those additional notes that further implicate Libby, presented them to Fitzgerald, and testified again before the grand jury, after which she got her contempt charge lifted. (Fitzgerald, of course, may not have taken kindly to Miller’s 11th hour discovery of the notes, but is no doubt glad to get them and knows, from experience, what it takes to get Miiller’s cooperation. Smirk.)

Murray Waas, whose stories on the CIA Leak case have advanced our knowledge more than any other journalist’s, hinted at accusations of “witness intimidation/tampering” yesterday when he was interviewed yesterday on Democracy Now! by Amy Goodman.

MURRAY WAAS: Well, Judith Miller — there’s an issue that prosecutors are now looking and have been asking questions to Judith Miller, and that’s regarding whether Lewis Libby either directly or indirectly through her attorney attempted to discourage her to testify to the grand jury or cooperate in some other manner with Fitzgerald’s investigation.

Waas’s remarks continue below the fold.

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I’m sorry, PISSers, but you may have to wait just a teensy bit (LIKE WEEKS!) longer: “A source close to the Plame case is saying that Fitzgerald met alone with Judge Hogan yesterday, presumably to ask for an extension of the Grand Jury.” (FireDogLake via Crooks & Liars)

PISS = Pre-Indictment Stress Syndrome

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Original posted at DailyKos.

Straight from the Beeb and the Guardian:

Controversial British playwright and campaigner Harold Pinter has won the 2005 Nobel Prize for literature.

Pinter, 75, whose plays include The Birthday Party and Betrayal, was announced as the winner of the $1.3m (£723,000) cash prize on Thursday.

The Nobel academy said Pinter’s work “uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression’s closed rooms”.

The playwright is known for speaking out on issues like the war on Iraq.

Well, whaddaya know about dat…?

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