Delay Dirty Laundry Ad
I just got an email from Clean Up Congress.org.
If you click on that link you will see their new ad.
It works for me.
If nothing else maybe it will wash that evil booking grin off his face.
Read MoreMonth: October 2005
Biased Headlines on UN’s Hariri Assassination Report
On October 20, 2005, the United Nations released its report to date about its investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri which occured February 14, 2005. The report implicates Syrian and Lebanese officials, yet several original MSM headlines in the American press, along with TV coverage by CNN, only mention the Syrian connection.
Notably:
Washington Post (Robin Wright and Colum Lynch)
: U.N. Report Sees Syrian Involvement in Hariri’s Death
New York Times (John Kifner and Warren Hoge): Top Syrian Seen as Prime Suspect in Assassination
Bloomberg News: UN Probe of Rafiq Hariri’s Murder Implicates Syrian Military
Los Angeles Times (Maggie Farley): the headline was originally “Report Implicates Syrian, Lebanese Officials in Hariri Slaying” but the online version has now been changed to read U.N. Links Syria to Lebanon Slayings.
CNN: U.N. probe links Syria to Hariri killing
On the other hand, the Associated Press ran with this headline: U.N.: Syria, Lebanon Involved in Slaying
FOX (via AP as well): U.N. Probe Questions Lebanese President
more…
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Delay / Bomb Threat / OPEN THREAD
Enjoy! Tom is holding his press conf. now (8am PT)
Update [2005-10-21 12:4:41 by susanhu]: Oh, for pete’s sake, not another “suspicious package.” See CNN. So these two men park their car and then tell the police that there’s a bomb in the car? Huh? (I hope my scarcasm is warranted.)
ATinNM reports that, via FireDogLake, the car is parked close to the GJ building. And Susan T in Michigan just e-mailed me — cracked me up — “Maybe it’s Rove and Libby. After all, desperate times require desperate measures.” ATinNM also thinks this is a “nutcase.” That fits too. This has now MORPHED into an OPEN THREAD.
Update [2005-10-21 13:13:57 by susanhu]: HOLD YOUR BREATH! The police will “disrupt” the device in minutes!
Fitz’s Targets: They Who Reveal National Security Secrets
Most egegriously — beyond the collusion of Scooter and Karl to smear Valerie Plame — and the selling of the Iraq war by the WHIGs — the entire Bush administration has failed to play by the rules it’s enforced on everybody else.
The Friday edition of the Wall Street Journal reveals that:
[Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald] may be piecing together a case that White House White House officials conspired to leak various types of classified material in conversations with reporters — including Ms. Plame’s identity but also other secrets related to national security.
The WSJ story — “CIA Leak Queries Look at Disclosure Of Classified Data” — reports that Fitzgerald is now looking beyond his “initial mission” of finding out “if the leaking of Valerie Plame’s name violated a 1982 act that bars the intentional disclosure of an undercover intelligence operative’s identity.”
It’s key to note that the WSJ wrongly describes (and thereby attempts to minimize?) Fitzgerald’s mission:
… Fitzgerald was given broad authority [GAO PDF] to investigate leaks of Plame’s identity. He was not restricted to investigating possible violations of the IIPA, and he is reportedly considering a number of possible charges. According to an October 12 Washington Post article: “Numerous lawyers involved in the 22-month investigation said they are bracing for Fitzgerald to bring criminal charges against administration officials. … based on his questions, he may be focused on charges of false statements, obstruction of justice or violations of the Espionage Act involving the release of classified government information to unauthorized persons.” (Media Matters, Oct. 13, 2005)
The WSJ asserts that “[b]uilding a case on leaking classified intelligence likely would require a lower burden of proof than proving the 1982 law was violated” — for example, “[a] current investigation into the leaking of classified Pentagon information to the Israeli lobbying group, American Israel Public Affairs Committee, has resulted in three indictments.”
Be careful what you wish for, you egomaniacal numbskulls. The Bush administration — hellbent on politicizing national security — has promoted “concern about national-security leaks” and “promised to make more use of civil sanctions to punish leaking.”
Too many TV cable pundits — particularly the ‘wingers — have focused on the 1982 Intelligence Identities Protection Act, the act that Victoria Toensing proudly (and unceasingy) claims as her Rosemary’s Baby:
[But, on the October 12 edition of MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews], Toensing misleadingly claimed that Fitzgerald’s investigation was limited to possible violations of one statute in particular and recycled a number of falsehoods about Plame’s husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV. […]
… Toensing distorted the scope of Fitzgerald’s investigation by narrowing it to a single law. … (Media Matters, Oct. 13, 2005)
But Vicky Toensing had better bone up on “the 1917 Espionage Act, which more widely prohibits disclosure of ‘information relating to the national defense’.”
Update [2005-10-21 17:20:9 by susanhu]: The LeftCoaster also reports on the WSJ story: “As Fitzgerald Sets Up His Own Website, Wall Street Journal Says Conspiracy Case Seems To Be His Emphasis.”
Marty Aussenberg of the weekly Memphis Flyer has handicapped the “Plame Game.” The 1982 act is a “longshot,” but he gives “better than even” odds that the 1917 Espionate Act will be used.
The 1917 statute, notes the WSJ, “is broader, and would set a lower legal burden for proving a defendant’s intent …” Adds Aussenberg:
