Month: October 2005

Washington, DC (Rotters) – In a stunning, yet possibly calculated move, the President’s personal attorney Harriet Miers withdrew her name for consideration for a position on the US Supreme Court. At approximately 8:30 this morning she submitted to President Bush personally a one page letter requesting that she be removed from consideration for the nomination. White House sources stated that this was a completely personal decision, but it comes amid the controversy of her very recommendation by the President as well as the highly likely indictments of administration officials I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby and Karl Rove as early as tomorrow morning in regards to the Valerie Plame affair.

(4 more Tales from the Oiligarchy after the fold!)
Cross posted at UNCONFIRMED SOURCES

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Dutch Torture Robots!

Calm down, calm down – the robots weren’t being used to torture people.  People were torturing the robots – or thought they were…

In a recent “scientific” study, some Dutch researchers repeated Stanley Milgram’s famous 1963 “obedience to authority” experiment, but this time using Lego robots as the victims.

More below.

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(This is a reprint of the first blog entry at http://blog.bruderly06.com, please feel free to stop by, and by our homepage, http://www.bruderly06.com. We need your support to help take back the House!)

We the People, in order to form a more perfect union…

Welcome to the campaign blog for Dave Bruderly for Congress. Dave has an outstanding website about himself and his campaign. Please take a look at it! I have great faith in Dave’s belief that the Florida Sixth District, along with every other Congressional district in the country, needs a new voice. Less than 30 percent of Americans are happy with the way Congress is running the country, clearly, it is time for a change.

I believe Dave will help provide that change.

This blog will be a frequently updated outlet for readers to learn more about the campaign from the guy who will set the day-to-day course of the campaign. Until Dave is sick of me, I will be helping him guide our effort to unseat the incumbent, Cliff Stearns, and I will describe that effort here.

I’ll also throw in a few of my own observations. This first post will be a manifesto of sorts, hopefully defining why I am working for this campaign, rather than as the reporter I trained for a decade to become.

I asked my younger cousin, in Jacksonville, who he was voting for in 2004 and he said, “Bush, because I hate Democrats.”

I was pretty sure he didn’t hate me, but that incident clarified what I had known for a while. Something MUST be done to make people realize our government is not about parties, it is about people. Dave is going to be a new voice, but the more important promise is that he will represent REAL people.

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The tireless John Amato at Crooks & Liars has scored yet another interview! He spoke with U.S. Senate candidate Paul Hackett, about his upcoming race in Ohio. (It’s also available in Podcast format.)

I’m interested in Sherrod Brown’s primary candidacy as well, and would like to know more about both candidates. Brown represents Ohio’s 13th District in Congress.

I’ve seen posts here about both. What do you all know about these two candidates, and which are you more inclined to support? (I’m assuming we’ll support whoever wins the primary, right?)

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by Larry C. Johnson

Today on Wolf Blitzer’s show, The Situation Room, correspondent David Ensor brought up the criticism that has been circulated by folks like Cliff May saying that Valerie Plame compromised her cover by marrying a high profile diplomat like Joe Wilson.

I called David afterwards and had a pleasant conversation to clarify that this is a red herring. As I told David, I know of several CIA undercover officers who are married to so-called high profile people. The reality is that their identity is not known to the public and could only be made known to the public if they revealed their identity or someone else familiar with them did. One of these people is a friend of mine, happily married, and serving the United States as a spymaster overseas.

There is another reason to shoot down the silly and specious claim that Val essentially outed herself by marrying Joe. At no point prior to Bob Novak’s column is there a public reference to Valerie as a CIA officer. Moreover, Joe Wilson did not advertise the fact that he had done contracting work for the CIA (i.e., he had been sent on previous missions overseas). Val’s cover, while not heavily backstopped, was adequate to allow her to work overseas on sensitive missions.

It is slowly dawning on the American people that the Bush Administration attack on Valerie and Joe Wilson was part of a broader conspiracy to hide the fact that our political leaders fabricated a case for war in Iraq. Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby, and Karl Rove, among others, apparently preferred to destroy a valuable intelligence asset rather than expose the truth the United States went to war in Iraq based on misinformation and deception. That is a crime deserving the most serious punishment.

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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.

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