http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/…..vs_gr.html

I found Froomkin for the first time when looking for a real breifing, sure, and (mis)typing “whitehouse briefing.”

It only took me a second to realize that this wasn’t the real briefing, but that I liked it. I imagine that the drum roll is coming from folks who made the same mistake, but DIDN’T like it.

I think the WaPo is crazy if they give up top page rank just because some other folks demand it. I mean geez, when you’ve got top google rank, you run with it.

Dig that first comment by cinnamonape. I think the entire establishment media has a credibility problem; they fail to see their position from the perspective of the public or from that of the court as public informers. NOT WHITEHOUSE MOUTHPIECES.

cinnamonape is right to point back to the Appellate Court decision — but we, the public, should read that decision more carefully. Judge Tatel put one helluva lot of effort into documenting his concurrence. There’s surely a substantive reason for this. Perhaps a revisit of the decision is anticipated in the near future.

In any case, I especially dig this bit from Tatel (emphasis mine on my favorite bits):

IV.
I conclude, as I began, with the tensions at work in this
case. Here, two reporters and a news magazine, informants to
the public, seek to keep a grand jury uninformed. Representing
two equally fundamental principles—rule of law and free
speech—the special counsel and the reporters both aim to
facilitate fully informed and accurate decision-making by those
they serve: the grand jury and the electorate. To this court falls
the task of balancing the two sidesÂ’ concerns.

As James Madison explained, “[A] people who mean to be
their own Governors must arm themselves with the power which
knowledge gives.” See In re Lindsey, 148 F.3d 1100, 1109
(D.C. Cir. 1998) (quoting Letter from James Madison to W.T.
Barry (Aug. 4, 1822), in 9 The Writings of James Madison 103
(Gaillard Hunt ed., 1910)). Consistent with that maxim, “[a]
free press is indispensable to the workings of our democratic
society,” Associated Press v. United States, 326 U.S. 1, 28
(1945) (Frankfurter, J., concurring), and because confidential
sources are essential to the workings of the press—a practical
reality that virtually all states and the federal government now
acknowledge—I believe that “reason and experience” compel
recognition of a privilege for reportersÂ’ sources. That said,
because “[l]iberty can only be exercised in a system of law
which safeguards order,” Cox v. Louisiana, 379 U.S. 559, 574
(1965), the privilege must give way to imperatives of law
enforcement in exceptional cases.

Were the leak at issue in this case less harmful to national
security or more vital to public debate, or had the special
counsel failed to demonstrate the grand juryÂ’s need for the
reportersÂ’ evidence, I might have supported the motion to quash.
Because identifying appellantsÂ’ sources instead appears essential
to remedying a serious breach of public trust, I join in affirming
the district courtÂ’s orders compelling their testimony.

Yeah, baby. The establishment press continues to mess with both the public’s need for the truth; certain members are very nearly accessories to the crime or crimes. If obstruction continues by way of the press, if a deliberate breach of the public continues, there is a point at which the press will be unable to escape both prosecution and its own irrelevance.

Le press sont mort, vive le blog!

Ah, the DREGs sounds like a marvelous group. Not even necessary to know the meaning of the acronym — the name evokes a pleasant combination of the bohemian and the street-wise…

Thanks for your apocalyptic hospitality! When I met Mr. K8 (I took a job at the company where he worked) he was known throughout the place as the “Electro-Mechanical Whiz.” Got a special citation for building prototypes that wowed ‘em.

He’s saved us a ton of money by being able to repair just about anything. A genius in the spatial, geometric, right-brained universe.

Me? I’m the linguistically oriented one, analytic, very left-brained. Put the two of us together and we make one amazing brain. Each of us, alone, is terribly lop-sided. So we’ll arrive at base camp together, a complementary set — ready to help out!!!

Sounds like you had fun tonight. Good for you!

Moose Munch Matalin?

Lemon Libby Sorbet?

Yummy, let’s eat ‘em all!

Sad news about Du upthread, condolences requested.

Okay, now I must stop.

Rummy Raisin. Mmmmm.