fitz – PLEASE!

Look, over there, something shiny!

just wanted to paste link before I got in to the post – back on the flip

FitzFridayFiling

Didn’t Bush address the nation on stem cells way back when? Isn’t that domestic policy?

It’s not yet fitzadelic, I guess.

The drums are starting to beat. Things are happening and I think it is more than Rove.

Report right now that Bush plans 6000 NG troops on the US Mex border. Can he even direct the guards or does he have to ask the respective states to put them there?

What time is the presidential address?

Good question, bionic.
Is this a prelude to martial law? (Yeah yeah, with what army). Still, he wants more and more precedents to use the military domestically.
One of these days he’s gonna storm the Knight-Ridder headquarters.

Folks, we don’t have much time before there is no America left.

From a Worldnetdaily opinion piece:

“Not only will it work, but one can easily estimate how long it would take. If it took the Germans less than four years to rid themselves of 6 million Jews, many of whom spoke German and were fully integrated into German society, it couldn’t possibly take more than eight years to deport 12 million illegal aliens, many of whom don’t speak English and are not integrated into American society.”

http://www.wnd.com/news/articl…..E_ID=50198

-GSD

The National Guard….ooooh, great idea. Let’s ignore the point of militarizing our border. How many Guardsmen does he think there are? With the commitment of Guard units to Iraq, there already aren’t enough to respond to natural disasters. How are we going to manage to send thousands of these people to Tx, NM, Az, and CA? Oh, and what happens if we do send the Guard? Are they supposed to start shooting unarmed people trying to run across? What a completely idiotic idea, the only point of which is to pander to the far right wingnuts.

Here’s an off the wall thought.. will he use this exercise as an excuse to bring the troops home from Iraq?

I don’t think this is new, but cbl tried to post it earlier so I am posting a proper link here.

Fitzgerald’s response to court inquiry about articles:

http://thenexthurrah.typepad.c…..sponse.pdf

Apropos of the previous thread, I think we should be asking every politician who has a Q&A session, townhall meeting, etc., “What information does Bush’s NSA have on you that you’re rubberstamping ____________? (Fill in the blank.)

Peter Daou wrote a column on the Jason Leopold article today. Seems to think no one questioned its authenticity. I remember quite a few people here, and even Jeralyn in her blog, expressing some skepticism. In fact, I can’t think of anyone who took it so seriously that they didn’t have doubts.

http://daoureport.salon.com/sy…..2d64485169

Ed N Sted – if you hit this thread – Robert O’ Harrow, Jr. has been writing for some time about identity theft, datamining by govt and corporations -

he’s a great read, but will just scare/sicken the crap out of everyone – but his worked convinced us to do things like switch to disposable phones, pay as you go credit cards – we were both self concious about it at first, like we were some militia family in Idaho or something, but we’ve been feeling pretty good about our choice for some time now -

. . .in the middle of a Big Love marathon – the pupster’s addicted, and I don’t feel he should watch without adult supervision – back in a bit

Christy asks what’s changed in the last few weeks?

I thought I heard Mexico just decided to legalize a bunch of substances that aren’t looked upon kindly this side of the Rio Grande.

Will there be riots in California when the Nat Guard trucks roll down the freeways toward the border? Things are getting seriously weird.

16 Blank – Fox vetoed.

The Presidential address will be at 8 pm ET, just FYI, for those who asked.

Didn’t Bush give an address on the domestic issue of “stem cell research” back in August 2001, when that was clearly the biggest issue facing America? I’ll check, but that’s what I seem to remember.

Actually, Froomkin states that this is the first *Oval Office* address on domestic policy. The stem cells speech (wasn’t that Bush’s first address to the nation of any kind – 6 months after taking office?) was delivered from the ranch during Bush’s famous August 2001 vacation.

What’s the exit strategy?

Have we learned nothing from Viet Nam and Iraq??

This is so pathetic that even their friends aren’t buying it. (Well, except for the moron I just heard on the radio comparing it to the way there is no problem with North Koreans flooding into South Korea because of all the troops there. I kid you not.)

Anybody wondering if a major news organization will say anything about Bush’s funding request for border patrol in the 2006 budget?

This isn’t principled disagreement by Republicans–it’s pathological. They’ve been taken for a ride as much as the public has, and now they have a thing they can legitamitely disagree with Dear Leader on. I imagine that’s why they’re pressing this seemingly irrelevant issue so hard.

Immigration/National Guard is easy – So people feel scared (that safety thing) – not that it will work, but that is the idea. It is most definitely not to reassure people, since, as you point out, nothing has exactly happened to make it an issue other than Chimpco wanting to make it a phony issue. I still say it goes no where, the safety theme is no longer available to them, and will just reinforce their ineptitude, incompetitence, tone deafness. The base, the base the base, I said – been there, done that.

Rover – Of course it is possible that Rover will be indicted and it will be sealed, or has been indicted and it is under seal. Sure, Fitz’ every move is watched, but still…. So it may be National Ponies for Everyone Day and no one will even know it (although they can speculate).

Lastly, until the Chimp makes whatever sounds chimps make, we don’t know what on earth he will talk about. It could be about what they claim – the burning issue of immigration. Then again, maybe he will resign (a Universe can dream).

PS – CNBC just had a clip of Rover, and he really didn’t look that good, kinda wane. Being/about to be indicted can do that to you though.

The only reason Immigration is currently an issue is because the powers that be in the GOP thought it would be a good way to rally the base for the upcoming midterm elections….

nothing stirs up the GOP base like a little overt RACISM!!!!

(Lord knows his domestic policies and the Iraq War have been disatrous for the GOP)

…..well it has blown up in their faces to say the least….(in part to Bush’s business first approach to immigration via the disatrous guest worker program)

Dont worry by November the GOP will ignore the issue

Also something else that is overlooked in Bush’s sppech tonite….

HIS 2004 BUDGET SCRAPPED THE ADDITION OF APPROX 9700 BORDER PATROL AGENTS FROM THE FEDERAL PAYROLL….now 2 years later he going to send 8-10000 National Guard to do the job ???

The American public deserves to know that this President is primarily responsible for the border agent crisis we currently face

here is the article:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/…..B837T1.DTL

Can we change the national anthem to the Theme from Hogan’s Heroes’ yet?

-GSD

GSD – Do you know the words?

GSD @ 1:33 pm (#9) – Yeah, sure, all we need to do is round up all the people who look like illegal immigrants, and then sort out the ones who aren’t. So, how long would it take to process 50 million people like that, assuming you actually have to keep them alive while you’re doing it? Or is that whole “keep them alive” thing an unnecessary complication only bleeding hearts worry about?

Of course, while we’re doing that 12 million more people will slip through the border, but who’s counting?

marky says: “Is this a prelude to martial law? (Yeah yeah, with what army).”
May 15th, 2006 at 1:31 pm

Exactly – with what army? You might want to look at this and some other pages on this site:

http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_mlaw.html

hurm

Because you’re a sharp cookie, you’re naivety is especially touching. Everyone knows (everyone else, that is) that, with the exception of the spring break week, shark season in Florida begins Memorial day and ends Labor day weekends. The rest of the year belongs to the gators.

If I were Fitzgerald, I’d demand to know if any communications emenating from (or to) my office have been intercepted. Or if any folks called before my grand jury have merited special attention. Of course, that’s not to say such an inquiry would receive an honest answer.

Is American jurisprudence is dead as as dodo? It’s sure beginning to look that way to me.

Brian Ross says that this is a tipping point and that more will come out now. (listening to Schultz)

Brian sounds dead serious and very worried…

ABC will broadcast the story tonite and will have it on the website per Brian Ross.

GSD at 26 — I prefer the whistling song from Bridge Over the River Kwai (which I’m sure has a name, I just can’t think of it at the moment…)

RE: The Worldnetdaily story in post 9.

Are we going to have to pack all the illegals into railroad cars with no room to breath and no sanitary facilities? Or are we going to take an extra year or so to make sure we conduct a “humane” program of ethnic cleansing?

I believe that Bush did give an address on his stem cell decision.

From the White House web site.

But that was not given from the Oval office…he was in Crawfish.

As for the Guard on the border, I really do not relish the idea of tired, stressed-out National Guardsmen, just home from Iraq, manning the next border patrol check point I have to pass through. Or driving up and down my road, which just happens to run into the trailhead of a major cross-boarder foot trail. Bad enough that there are cameras monitoring the road.

thanks xyz !

Digby – “privacy”
Digby
and Lib4 – haven’t heard a single bobblehead mention the 8700 Border Patrol cuts – anyone ?

Christy Hardin Smith @ 1:46 pm (#33) – It’s something like “Colonel Floogy March”. Maybe that will jog someone’s memory.

DooH doo, doo doo doo doo doo DOO, DooH doo, doo doo doo doo doo DOO…

-GSD

#34.

How do you say “Work Makes You Free” in Spanish?

-GSD

33 Christy Hardin Smith says:
May 15th, 2006 at 1:46 pm

Wasn’t it The Theme from the Bridge on the River Kwai? Since it doesn’t have any lyrics, will punaise be able to help? *g*

It’s another phoney issue meant to distract everybody from their actual agenda. The Bush legacy, the only things they actually excel at are public realations, damage control, smoke and mirrors and slight of hand.

Can’t wait to rush home from work and tune into something other than the president’s speech. Looks like Rove may have lost some of his baby fat judging from the picture of him over at Huffington Post. Think he is under a little bit of stress?

Speaking of whistling songs, the theme from Andy Griffith would be perfect as our new national anthem.

I think we may have to settle for a Russian funeral dirge.

-GSD

Libertad de trabajo

It’s the “Theme from The Bridge on the River Kwai”

Artist: (”March” by Jerry Fielding) Lyrics
Song: Hogan’s Heroes Lyrics
Heroes, heroes, husky men of war,
Sons of all the hreoes, of the war before.
We’re all heroes up to our ear o’s
You ask questions
We make suggestions
That’s what we’re heroes for.

All good heroes love a good, big fight
Open up the bomb bays and brighten up the night.
We applaud the people who laud us,
You pull the roses,
We punch the noses,
That’s what we’re heroes for.

What’s a hero do?
Well, we’re not gonna tell ya
Cause we wish we knew.
That’s why we heroes are so few.
We’ve got a slogan
From Colonel Hogan
And Colonel Hogan’s a hero too.

Never flinch, boys, never be afraid,
Heroes are not born, boys, heroes are made.
Ask not why, boys, never say die, boys,
Answer the call, remember we’ll all be heroes forever more.

GSD 44,yeah, “the Volga Boatmen,” good one.

I don’t know what the line is, but, it seems much more likely that if the guard is actually sent to patrol the boarder that American citizens wind up being either arrested (or killed) than any illegal aliens being rounded up (or killed). It’s as if they were up all night trying to think up something, anything, to distract the public from the real ills, but they don’t think about the consequences. Wait, where have I seen that before with these assholes? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

GSD @ 1:50 pm (#39) – How do you say “Work Makes You Free†in Spanish?

From AltaVista: El Trabajo Le hace Libre
From Google’s Language tools: El trabajo te hace libre

My guess is a human could make it sound more elegant.

angie 47, wow, what can’t this group accomplish?

How do you say “Work Makes You Free†in Spanish?

Mucho trabajo, poco dinero . . .

Someone asked about governors speaking out about putting the Guard on the border. Received…

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has urged Washington to toughen border security, said Friday he had misgivings about mobilizing state National Guard troops to help secure the nation’s southern boundary.
“Going the direction of the National Guard, I think, is maybe not the right way to go,” Schwarzenegger told reporters after a news conference on the state budget.

As part of a proposed overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws, President Bush is considering plans to shore up the border by using National Guard troops paid for by the federal government.

Schwarzenegger suggested that Guard troops returning from service in Iraq should be able to go back to their jobs, not head to the border.

“We should let them go to work,” he said.

mommybrain;

oh. hadn’t heard that part.

Yes, Vincente Fox vetoed the drug legalization bill, and this is the thanks he gets. There are many vibrant Spanish words to describe his current situation.

Or are we going to take an extra year or so to make sure we conduct a “humane†program of ethnic cleansing?

You seriously cannot be calling the deportation of illegal aliens “ethnic cleansing”. Do you know what the fuck ethnic cleansing is?

Hysterical bullshit like this will keep republicans in control in ‘06. Ethnic Cleansing? wtf. Goddamn you’re some kind of crazy.

Cujo 50, You wouldn’t use the familiar “te” on that. Usted?

I certainly don’t want to see any photo ops of Governor Arnold on a guard tower looking past barb-wire with a pair of binoculars.

-GSD

How is that a federally ordered posting of National Guard troops on U.S. soil does not run afoul of the Posse Comitatus law? According to section 1385 to Title 18 of the U.S. Code:

Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.

National Guard troops performing under state authority are exempted from the Posse Comitatus Act, and apparently the President may mobilize the National Gaurd to deal with a domestic insurrection or urgent security matter. This would not seem to qualify as either.

I don’t have a clear answer, I’m just curious as to how this is permissible, and haven’t seen the issue meaningfully addressed. A CNN.com article states, “Active-duty U.S. troops are barred from domestic law enforcement by a Reconstruction-era law known as Posse Comitatus, but National Guard troops under state control can perform some law enforcement functions.” But that doesn’t seem to address the lawfulness of Bush ordering Guardsmen to an occupation of U.S. territory. I’ve looked into this and haven’t seen a clear explanation of how this can be reconciled with the U.S. Code.

Rove you’re going down you beeee-ach!

I’m so excited . . . couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

That’s the Colonel Bogey March.

I prefer the theme from The Great Escape. Somewhat happier ending.

#39 “work makes you free” in spanish is: “Trabajar te hace libre”

the Preznit did that big speech from N.O. with the Cathedral in the background (all lit up!) about Katrina at night. He was sweating like a hog…

James Carville observed this afternoon that the Preznit is sending in the troops for a political task. I keep wondering if there’s an exit strategy – just how temporary is temporary?

op99 @ 1:57 pm (#37) – I’m sure you’re right, although in some languages using the familiar when you shouldn’t is a sign of disrespect.

“There is a whole lot of news swirling around today in all different directions…”

Kind of like the tendrils of a tornado just before it touches down. Sometimes they never quite come together, but once in a while they coalesce into an F5 twister.

A Fwistzer, you might say. (My apologies to punaise)

bush’s slogan is ‘crack macht frei’

If we end up with a whistling anthem, my vote is the mournful theme from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly…..

the Preznit is sending in the troops for a political task. I keep wondering if there’s an exit strategy – just how temporary is temporary?

The emergency will be over on the Wednesday after the November Election.

CN at 58 — I’ve been wondering that myself, and hoping we get some details on how they think they will get around the law during Bush’s speech. Should be interesting. (Any bets on whether Bush can even say “posse comitatas” without mangling it?)

Anyone know what the “More bad news for Libby” headline is about at rawstory?

As for the National Guard, here’s a question: If a Category 5 hurricane hits Miami, how many National Guardsman will be unable to respond, because they’re in Iraq, Afghanistan, or patrolling the Arizona-Mexico border?

cbl 36 – re: Border Patrol cuts – Ed Schultz is all over that today. He bets no one will mention it during the afterglow, either.

EPU’d, for jayt: G Palast cites (with quote).

Palast’s piece on ChoicePoint, The Spies who Shag Us

Amy Goodman interview this morning, talking about Iraq, oil politics, Hugo Chavez, Kenneth Lay, hijacked elections, & his upcoming book, Armed Madhouse.

Bob Novak:

“If only the CIA had told me that Valerie Wilson was a covert spy and her name should not be disclosed, I wouldn’t have reported her name.”

What a pud.

-GSD

Sigh, can’t get Bridge from the River Quai out of my brain. Shrill whistling begone!

I was wondering where the Nat Guard idea came from. Abu? Is this something Bush could think up on his own?

GSD says:
May 15th, 2006 at 2:07 pm

Where did you see that Bob Novak quote?

Really – “Karl Rove Indicted” (http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051306W.shtml/) and Fitz didn’t make a public announcement? Just “24 [business] hours” to get the creeps papers in order etc? WTF?! There’s some kind of deep game going on with this…

On the tone deafness. Imagine you are in the national guard, and now you get to spend your summer vacation in 110+ degree plus whether, in the middle of nowhere. Of course, maybe they will only patrol at night, or maybe only at few cities on the border between El Paso and San Diego, which would seemingly defeat any purpose other than a photo op, but…hey, maybe I’m on to something. There really isn’t much of anything but dirt and scrub for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles – you get the idea. I know that’s how I want to spend my summer vacation. Chimpco is about to piss off a lot of national guardsmen and their families. Let’em.

#76.

That was my make-up quote..sorry..I forgot my snark asterisk….That is his logic for running her name.

-GSD

This won’t end well.

peace,
jim

This was referred to in the last thread, it puts an interesting spin on some of the disclosures regarding the wiretapping/data-mining scandal, namely that the Bush Admin is deliberating telegraphing the ‘We’re watching you’ meme to the MSM to keep them in line, and to stay ahead of the torrent of internal leaks currently taking place.
Posted from http://nettertainment.blogspot…..anoia.html

…the USA Today story yesterday about the huge nationwide wiretapping effort was INTENTIONALLY leaked by the admin.
…
This is their last-ditch Hail-Mary attempt to stop the inside info being passed from insiders to the press (commonly referred to as leaks). As the Cheney Junta becomes vulnerable, the flow of sensitive & damaging info from patriotic whistleblowing insiders, disgruntled civil servants, and ax-grinding careerists has become a tidal wave that Cheney & Co can’t stop, and the info is becoming hugely damaging, both in scale and scope. (Forget about mere impeachment: we’re talking about treason & war crimes — hanging offenses and Hague/Nuremberg kind of stuff.)

Their only hope is to make sure everyone everywhere knows their communications are being tracked, and that every insider must consider the possibility that s/he can be tracked down, arrested, and disappeared. (PS: ask yourself: when’s the last time USA broke any kind of story that didn’t involve a celebrity or a rogue housepet.)

Man I hope that is only paranoia… I could certainly see it as intended to warn potential whistleblowers the additional danger of attempting to turn in their criminal ’superiors’.

I could certainly see this being used against the internal machinery of washington, rather than a threat directed against the MSM. The MSM are already a tool, albeit an often inept one.

Start telling your libertarian and conspiracy minded Republican friends that the troops on the border are to keep Americans IN!

-GSD

Take this:

http://home.comcast.net/~mille…..Patrol.mp3

I always thought the theme from “Young Proctologists in Love” was a snappy tune.

Frank Probst says:
May 15th, 2006 at 2:05 pm

I saw that headline about Scooter – still no link to a story when I saw it. What newspaper or cable news Web site might be most likely to be posting a story? Is the New York Times the most likely source?

Isikoff just replied to Tweety’s direct question about : any news about indictments this week? with a studied “no” after a half-beat pause…

The theme song to “Bridge over the River Kwai” was “Colonel Bogey March” written in 1914 by Lt. F J Ricketts, a bandmaster for the Royal Marines in Plymouth. Interestin’, that – I’d always assumed it was written by Sousa!

Hey, while we’re shitting on immigrants, they seem to be joining the military in record numbers. Why, you ask?

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/arti…..IRVTN1.DTL

A snip:
The reasons Latinos are drawn to the military vary, Asch said.
Carlos Montes, an organizer with Latinos Against the War in Los Angeles, cites a variety of reasons: aggressive recruiters who prey on youth; the enticement of skipping the usual five years that legal permanent residents must wait before applying for citizenship; the immigrant’s desire to assimilate.
“When you’re young and naive you see a guy show up on campus, all dressed up, promising things you don’t have,” Montes said. “That kind of influence, especially in the barrio, can be greater than even a parent’s words.”
Curtis Gilroy, director of accession policy for the office of the secretary of defense, said that in a national youth poll conducted last year, Latinos ages 18-24 simply showed a “higher propensity to serve” than other ethnic groups.
Gilroy said a full 25 percent of Latino respondents answered the question, “How likely is it that you’ll be serving in the military in the next few years?” by marking the box “definitely” or “probably likely.” Meanwhile, only 16 percent of African Americans and just 11 percent of whites showed the same interest.
“We just don’t know why that is,” Gilroy said. “We don’t try and get behind the numbers too much.”
###

Won’t this deplete further troop levels needed to invade Iran? Maybe they plan on re-instating the draft. I’d love to see the blowback on that one.

They’ve bitten the hand they didn’t know was feeding them with this spy-onna-press shit. They’re too stupid to know when to lay off IMHO.

Cujo359

I was skeptical, thus why I didn’t post anything on it this weekend.

I just have to sigh and get ready for work. It disgusts me the MSM outlets are doing everything they can, short of running GOP talking point commercials, to help get this WH’s ratings up.

Today has a nasty “Empire strikes Back” feel to it. Thanks, Lou Dobbs, for distracting half of America from important shit like subversion of the Constitution.

God, I hope the jury comes back with the death penalty in the Enron case.

MSNBC online poll on the deploying the Guard to the border. Right now, 69% pro, b/c, “it is not large deployment, and will stop illegal immigration.” Does anyone think that Morin wrote the questions? I do.

Go vote.

the first “U.S.” death in Iraq was a young Guatemalan in the American military … el trabajo hará la libertad

http://www.editorandpublisher……1002502624
Not new news, but I hadn’t seen details of the ABC comments.

===[]”Our reports on the CIA’s secret prisons in Romania and Poland were known to have upset CIA officials. People questioned by the FBI about leaks of intelligence information say the CIA was also disturbed by ABC News reports that revealed the use of CIA predator missiles inside Pakistan.

“Under Bush Administration guidelines, it is not considered illegal for the government to keep track of numbers dialed by phone customers.===

So King George is going to have a show on tv tonight on border security. Actually, I’d feel a whole lot safer building a big fence to keep him and his diabolical family out of this country.

in Germany in 1933 the giant Socialist and Communist Parties did not unite against the Nazis thus leading to the grabbing of power by Hitler. The disunity shown in 2000 by the Greens against the Democrats may be likely damned in the same fashion by future historians…

Boy, isn’t this nation in a world of shit because Bush keeps talking to his “base”.

-GSD

Damn Edsall, I can’t stand the suspense! I guess his response suggests that the press has been notified of something?!? I’ve already got a nice steak to celebrate and the waiting is killing me.

Matt O.- ? which comment are you referring to in your ~#90?

“We just don’t know why that is,†Gilroy said. “We don’t try and get behind the numbers too much.â€

Don’t you bloody believe it. You just know they test and retest their message to find out just how to increase the sign up rate of desirable recruits (kids who’d just end up gang members anyway) and undesirable recruits ( kids who contribute far more tap tap tapping at their keyboards and signing up for courses at the Leadership Institute).

oh my goodness! I accidently discovered some ‘trigger words’ — I now have a comment awaiting moderation. a computerized ‘Godwin’s Law’? who woulda thunk it?

It’s being called the war on Fitzmas. What should be one of the most meaningful and spiritual times of the year is ever cheapened and ever deadened by a load of mass net commercialism run amok.
Then there’s the lawyers – each year there are more lawyers in government. For every lawyer that takes a seat in your government that is one less farmer – one less preacher, one less soldier. And does Christmas ever smell like Almonds to you?
Hal Phillip Walker’s replacement party are on an orange alert for your vote and only Hal can stop the war on Fitzmas. For a Fitzlicity Shagwell in every garage band vote one – replacement party.
President Walkers secret plan to stop the war on Fitzmas must be supported by every sensible Amerkin. Thank you for your time here this morning and God bless Nashville!

VG @ 2:08 pm

The national guard on the border plan sounds like a Karl play to me. The immigration issue has been bubbling up for the past year and a half at least. Several people including Digby and Orcinus have indicated that it was going to be a big part of the mid-term election, long before we really started to witness the current push.

Unfortunately, for Rove and Bush, it didn’t quite play out as they had planned (ie it pissed off everyone, the liberals, the hispanics, the xenophobes).

Placing troops on the border is an attempt to salvage their mid-term strategy. The one thing that everyone seemed to agree on was that we should prevent more illegal immigrants from coming in.

I think this plan was hatched to try to salvage their mid-terms scheme, and distract from the plethora of bad news that’s demanding the media’s attention. And like everything else Rove does it’s 100% reactionary.

To a certain extent it is working. Wolf’s countdown to the big speech, etc are effectively leaving little room for reports on the latest NSA revelations. But some diehard wingnuts are not biting.

In perhaps what is an eery vision or premonition into the future of world events.

Bear eats chimp.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/…..ETVO0.html

-GSD

Verizon stock dips after company is hit with a $50 billion lawsuit for turning over customer records to the NSA.

EPU @ 2:21pm

Doncha just love simple solutions?

Now I know why prezdentin’ is so hard. It’s that catapultin’ of the propaganda. It builds better biceps than brush clearing.

So is WorldNutDaily trying to break Godwin’s Law or something? I mean, how can comparing someone to Hitler be out of bounds now that they’ve explicitly proposed using Hitler as a model?

These guys have to go and ruin everything…

Oklahoma kiddo says:
May 15th, 2006 at 2:28 pm

How about a fence around them to keep them in one place inside the country? Eight feet of chain link with four strands of barbed wire on top: okay with you?

Christy, Gov. Richardson said that, since 3,500 of his 4,000 National Guardsmen are currently working on the Iraq thingie, he really needs the rest of them available to fight forest fires this summer (we had NO rain or snow this winter, so it ought to be a doozy of a season). Wish I could link, but the ABQ Journal is not linkable.

I think I read that Ahhnuld is against it too.

Digby points us to a great new blog;

http://gregsargent.blogspot.co…..itics.html

It was in response to #14

Here are some common lyrics for Col Bogey march:

Göring has only got one ball
Hitler’s [are] so very small
Himmler’s so very similar
And Goebbels has noballs at all!

sanitas- ah– a Rove play– that makes sense. Knew that this was rolled out as a political ploy. I just didn’t connect the dots! Thanks.

This is crazy to deploy troops– why couln’t they just fund the border patrol properly? What happens when the hurricanes start hitting– I read today that at least 3 major ones were forecast. They’ll then use active duty back from Iraq/Afghanistan and there goes posse comitatus and we’re under martial law.

judging from the chitchat on cablenews, the GOP is going for broke on the 2006 midterms – fuck the longterm Latino-coalition building projects! Rove is going for the hardcore nativist GOP base even if it means alienating Latino and other decent voters…

If the Media can’t report the truth, then what the Media reports on in regards to politics, is a self serving lie.

No different than the Snowblow job by the Administration.

I go Hmmmmmmmmmmmm over the fact that we have, as of 5-13, two different lawsuits where the President’s lawyers (DOJ) have filed to intervene and to have the lawsuits dismissed as implicating State Secrets. EFF v. AT&T and the el-Masri kidnapping, torture, rendition case. To me this is HUGE and has barely received a yawn. How often has there been activity to intervene in suits based on State Secrets (not much) and of those how many sought dismissal of the underlying suits (many fewer) and of those – how many involved keeping illegal activity and lawbreaking by the Govt covered up (where would our numeric system be without a -0-?)

Now we have TWO pending, and the memorandum in the EFF suit I saw basically says: We don’t admit breaking the law, but even if we were, it’s ok, and it’s ok bc of national security and state secrets implications – but we can’t go into what those are, EVEN in camera, bc judges can’t see secret stuff. Cuz it’s secret. You know, like, when you break the law, you HAVE to keep it secret or else, like, you could be in trouble, you know? OK – that last sentence may be taking paraphrasing license to the edge – but still.

Government lawbreaking is a “state secret� Since when?

Militarizing the Mexican border is definitely nothing but a midterm elections PR stunt. It allows Bush and other GOP candidates to pose with the troops without having news stories about how they had to fly into Baghdad or Afghanistan at night without telling anyone.

When you combine it with the failure to fund the border patrol and the fact that there are no known cases of terrorists coming across the Mexican border, it’s easy to see that it’s being done for politics, not policy. I just hope that people may have wised up enough to see that. (It does seem odd that this fall “marketing campaign” is being started so early, though.)

Incidentally, while we’re waiting for Rove to be indicted, can some of these reporters ask why an advisor whose sole job now is getting Republicans elected is still on the federal payroll and has a security clearance?

Oh,

And in regards to the suspicion of Rover’s indictment; How long has this Presidential Address to the Nation been scheduled for?

And hasn’t anyone thought of, how disturbing the Bush’s plan to FINALLY address the Nation on Domestic affairs, would get the president into a tizzy if it were trumpted by news about his Rover?

OT: Skype just announced free SkypeOut calls anywhere in the US and Canada. That means you can call from your computer to an actual telephone for nothing! Do you think they’re maybe trying to get a little mileage out of the NSA revelations ;)

angie says:
May 15th, 2006 at 2:37 pm

Please refer to CN’s 1:58 post about the Posse Comitatus Act and to my 1:45 post.

David Shuster is the man!!! Here’s part of his latest report:

“As for Scooter Libby, he has argued in his perjury case that he had no reason to lie about conversations with reporters because the disclosure about Plame was innocent and caused no damage.

But the latest prosecution pleading says that on the day columnist Robert Novak’s column first disclosed Valerie Wilson’s identity, a quote “CIA official discussed in the defendant’s presence the dangers posed by disclosure of the CIA affiliation of one of its employees as had occurred in the Novak column. This evidence directly contradicts the defense position that the defendant had no motive to lie. Instead, the evidence about the conversation concerning the Novak column provides a strong motive for the defendant to provide false information and testimony about his disclosures to reporters.

Presidential advisor Karl Rove remains under investigation 19 days after his last grand jury testimony in the case. Rove’s legal team says the focus is on Rove’s claim of a bad memory regarding a conversation with Time’s Matt Cooper. Legal experts say that while Vice President Cheney’s note about the Wilson’s seem to damage Libby, the evidence could damage Rove as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT FREDERICKSEN, former federal prosecutor: “It shows Fitzgerald believes that this was a planned event, from the highest sources, starting with the Vice President. And if that’s the case, I think he is unlikely to believe this was a matter that slipped from the memory of Mr. Rove, just like he doesn’t believe that was the case for Mr. Libby.”

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SHUSTER ON-CAMERA: At a speech today, Karl Rove was asked about the CIA leak case and refused to comment. A spokesman for Rove says the Presidential advisor expects to find out any time if he will face charges in the investigation, an investigation that keeps referring to Vice President Cheney. I’m David Shuster, for Hardball, in Washington.

PJ Evans #108…

Sure. That’d work.

Should be “se hace” instead of “te hace,” I believe.

And now the Colonel Bogey March is running through my head, complete with the made-up lyrics from my childhood (a paean to Comet cleanser).

Let’s do some quick math. The Berlin Wall had 116 guard-towers covering its 160 km length. Using this same proportion, we would need 2248 towers to cover the 3100 km from Brownsville to San Diego (or is it from Stettin to Trieste?). Two National Guardmen per tower plus some supervisory personnel and desk jockeys gives you the 5000 figure I saw mentioned. (Now the East Germans had those automatic machine gun emplacements so that might skew the figures a bit.)

Think Bush will give the Guardsmen shoot to kill orders? That’s about the only thing that will placate the Minuteman types.

BTW Norm Orstein was on Al Franken after seeing Rove speak at the AEI today. Norm thought Karl was on top of his game, though surprisingly thin. In other words he didn’t seem wrought with worry (except possibly with the loss of weight.)

cbl @ 1:36pm

Acknowledged and thanks. I try to be a long term optimist. But lately though, I’ve noticed a certain snarkyness to my optimism…

The Colonel Bogey March is what some of the cruise ships that I’ve been on play when the wait staff marches out of the galley with flaming baked alaska. ( for what ever tht is worth ) Makes me hungry.

Redshift #118

THE GOVERNMENT IS PAYING SOMEONE TO HAVE REPUBLICANS ELECTED.

That’s not a Republic Democracy.
That’s an Totalitarian Dictatorship.

Posse WHAT?

It might help the nation were Vice President Dan Quayle help spell that one out for us. Mr Vice President? Dan?

I have tried several times to find (again) an article I read- so frustrating, bec. it was so revealing. Maybe from 3-4 years ago. GA senator (R) was proposing some kind of immigration bill, but was pressured by farm owners in the area with ties to Bushco. to back off bec. they needed the cheap labor of undocumented workers. I’m sure I don’t have the details correct, but the gist of it was “we corps need cheap workers” so, Bushco plays the issue one way or the other, according to political winds.

Herr Buchanan is getting ready to dust off his jack-boots and riding crop. He loves to the whole immigration, “invasion of America” debate.

-GSD

http://www.whitehouse.gov/dept…..sect3.html
Securing our nation’s air, land, and sea borders is a difficult yet critical task. The United States has 5,525 miles of border with Canada and 1,989 miles with Mexico. Our maritime border includes 95,000 miles of shoreline, and a 3.4 million square mile exclusive economic zone. Each year, more than 500 million people cross the borders into the United States, some 330 million of whom are non-citizens.

Hmm., let’s see. 2000 mile border with Mexico,6000 National Guard troops,6 divided by 2=3.So, 3 national Guard troops PER mile.Yep, makes sense to me. Heckofajob Karl.

Redd: (#33)

The Theme from “Bridge Over The River Kwai”

is “Colonel Bogey March” by Alford.

It predated the film by several decades although I don’t know exactly how many.

2666 total coalition casualties in Iraq to date.

2444 US troops.

-GSD

No one at MSM or the blogosphere ever did any follow-up about the Blackwater mercenaries in NOLA just after Katrina.

Except briefly, about 3 weeks ago on DU that bush was still using mercs in NOLA and that bush was trying to replace the regular police force with his mercs paid for with our money but no news on how extensive it was yet or JUST HOW MANY MERCENARIES ARE IN THE GULF STATES.

There is another merc organization which the bush crime family has used for some time for their own protection in addition to the govt. security agents provided to jr. senior and jeb.

re: Skype- I’ve checked out when others linked. I don’t get the “free” aspect of it. Someone must be footing the bill. That’s what I’d like to know before joining up. Thx.

Geedub has only got one ball,
Rover has two, but they are small,
Cheney’s are mighty teeny,
But Condi has no balls at all!

Here’s a link to the full Schuster story on the latest Libby news. It is concise and damning:

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2….._0515.html

AP article, dated today:

As the grand jury prepares to meet again on Wednesday, the waiting game for Rove continues.

A few of his friends say they think the investigation has taken an emotional toll on him.

“Because Karl is committed to this republic … and has lived his life in its politics, nothing could hurt him more than being indicted under its laws,” said Bill Israel, a former teaching colleague at the University of Texas at Austin.

“Karl’s used to turning tables on opponents, in a political setting,” Israel said. “But being brought before a grand jury himself — this is a new venue, and one that has rocked him.”

Brings a tear to my eye.

“OT: Skype just announced free SkypeOut calls anywhere in the US and Canada. That means you can call from your computer to an actual telephone for nothing! Do you think they’re maybe trying to get a little mileage out of the NSA revelations ;)”

I just got that email also. It’s free for the rest of the year (2006), after that???

thanks, Stephen Parrish, CPA!

Did you ever think you would see this in print? By way of Raw Story: http://www.rawstory.com/showar…..D%2521news

Robertson speaks to teens
By ELISA A. GLUSHEFSKI
eglushefski@potomacnews.com
Sunday, May 14, 2006

The Rev. Pat Robertson, a noted Republican famous for lambasting leftist groups, turned his criticism to the Republican Party in his speech at the Third Annual Virginia Federation of Teenage Republicans Convention on Saturday afternoon.

The founder of the Christian Broadcast Network charged the Republican Congress as “abandoning” fiscal responsibility, noting among other things the $223 million for the construction of a bridge connecting Alaska’s Gravina Island to Ketchikan (also dubbed “the Bridge to Nowhere”).

“This is our government at work, and unfortunately it is run by Republicans,” he said.

Robertson was among several Republican figures who spoke to a group of about 40 people at the convention held at the Prince William County Government Center.

In light of the NSA wire-tapping revelation, which he called a “tool of oppression,” Robertson admonished the Bush administration for “encroaching on” Americans’ personal liberties.

(snip)

I think it is to bloggers and commentors’ credit that we have not made a big issue of the Truthout story about Rove’s possible indictment. After all, it is possible that Chris Matthews droppeded that little “GJ meeting tomorrow” comment on Thursday to get us hyped up, and the leak to Leopold was a Rovian plant, so that the White House could call us a bunch of flaming liberals when the story turned out to be untrue — ala Dan Rather.

the Duke rape indictments, which are national news why exactly?

Supports the new Republican talking point of out of control prosecutors.

“No one at MSM or the blogosphere ever did any follow-up about the Blackwater mercenaries in NOLA just after Katrina.”

I noticed that too, but wasn’t very surprised…

A friend of mine working “security” around NOLA just after Katrina told me about the Merc’s he saw go in and “pacify” the remaining people of NO.. the one’s with guns were simply shot on sight and blown out of thier boat from impressive distances….

1. just what makes anybody think that the Skype encryption is unbreakable by the plantation of crypto-computers at N.S.A. ?

2. During the 25 year life of the Berlin Wall, approx. 800 people died trying to cross that border. From 1998 to 2004 alone, approx. 2000 people died trying to cross the US-Mexico border.

new thread

News from Talk Left:

Luskin Denies Truth of Leopold Article on Karl Rove Indictment
Robert Luskin, Karl Rove’s attorney, has officially denied the allegations in Jason Leopold’s article reporting Rove has been indicted and that there was a Fitzgerald-Luskin meeting on Friday.

I received the denial directly from Robert Luskin this afternoon.

1. Luskin stands by his April 26 statement in its entirety.

2. Karl Rove’s status has not changed. They remain confident Fitzgerald will decline to bring any charges.

3. There is “no truth whatsoever” to any of Jason Leopold’s recent stories about Karl Rove’s resignation, the alleged meeting in his office or the Indictment. The denial he gave me Saturday night was iand was intended to be “all purpose.”

4. As far as he knows, Patrick Fitzgerald was in Chicago on Friday.

5. People should not interpret their “unwillingness to comment on every wild and malicious rumor as a change in position.”

As background, Saturday night I reported on my dismally failed attempt to get Robert Luskin to discuss Jason Leopold’s article.

Sunday night I reported the details of my phone call with Jason in which Jason expressed confidence his report was correct and confirmed that he would out his sources if it turned out they provided false information.

This morning I reported on my telephone conversation with Rove media strategist Mark Corallo and his full and complete denial of the accuracy of Jason’s article.

After that call this morning, I e-mailed Mr. Luskin to properly introduce myself, thank him for connecting me to Mark Carballo and apologize again for calling him so late Saturday night. He responded favorably. Just over an hour ago, he sent me another e-mail with the above denials. He also said his cat is better now.

Update: Some verbatim quotes from Bob Luskin, reprinted with permission:

The cat’s fine, thanks. Her stool sample shows no evidence of harmful parasites, which is one of the big differences between my cat’s stools and this case. i do, occasionally, take a day (or, if i can, an evening) off.

On his belief that Fitzgerald was in Chicago Friday,

To paraphrase ‘my cousin vinnie,’ even in this investigation, the laws of physics apply.

Arcturus says:
May 15th, 2006 at 2:06 pm

Thanks for the link. I’m such a loser, technically.

Um – make that technologically.

Um – I can barely drive this here computer.

Yeah, that’s it.

Leslie in CA says:
May 15th, 2006 at 2:48 pm
…
And now the Colonel Bogey March is running through my head, complete with the made-up lyrics from my childhood (a paean to Comet cleanser).

The one I keep getting is for Malt-o-Meal (’Winners warm up with’). Earworm!

Given that parts of the border with Mexico are fairly mountainous, they might want more than three-guards-per-mile, assuming they really want to do something more effective than photo-ops (which I doubt).

Sonoma 31

I’ve posted on FDL about just what you mentioned and never got much notice. Maybe things are a bit different now. No one here seems to take seriously that the WH et Al might have intercepted Fitz’s communication. The concensus here seems to be he’s too sharp to let that happen. I think that is very wishful thinking. Fitz’s staff can’t possibly ever match the talent at the NSA. No way, no how.

The NSA is very good at picking your pocket without you knowing it. You also brought up the point that if not Fitz’s opertion itself, maybe the individual GJ members and/or their extented families or court support staff.

People here have said it would be madness to wiretap a federal prosecutor. Really??

The Bushit Crime Family would never do something that risky. Really??

I’d love to hear from some of the folks who put this idea down several months ago when I brought it up.

Any takers?

PJ – LOL

I had to keep from asking if he was referring to the Comet song.

On Rove’s confidence: This is another play in his book. Everything from his PR rep denying any of the JL’s claims in his latest article, to him stating he believe’s 60% of the population approve of Bush personally, to his trying to convince everyone that California was in play in 2000 is all a confidence game. People are talking like he believes what he’s saying. Of course he doesn’t. If he believed it it wouldn’t need to be said.

While it’s likely that JL’s story is not 100% true, there’s a good chance that it’s indicitive of some major play going on that story. I think that Fitz has given Rove an ultimatum, and there is still room to weasel out, therefore Rove has no problem sending his PR guy out to deny the story. Notice it’s not his laywer doing the denial. I think there are more legal limitations placed on the laywer than the PR man, so if any deal falls through the PR guy will lose some credibility, but not be disbarred as the laywer might.

My main point is that you cannot look at Rove’s demeanor and derive anything from it either way.

OT but in reference to Valley Girl @ 130

I did some missionary work in my university days, and spent time with a religious order that serves migrant labor communities in Florida, and elsewhere.
I recall one day being in the field picking tomatoes, suddenly one afternoon, a large group of the migrant workers were gathered quickly in a van and driven off.

One of the older ‘legal’ workers there in the field explained that the farmers would often get anonymous calls tipping off inspections by ‘l’emigre’ and would have some time to move the workers for the day, sometimes to another farm, sometimes back into the work camps they lived in.

He later explained that some of the farmers had discovered it was actually INS calling ‘anonymously’.
The general interpretation was that this policy had been in place for years, since the agricultural economy was very dependant on the cheap illegal migrant labor force.

I like the idea of Stupid Headline of the Day. Then we can contact the newspaper or whoever and ask why they think this is news, when so much important stuff goes unreported.

http://tinyurl.com/a6erq

sanitas #153

If Jason Leopold is correct about this you can strap a saddle on me and call me Nelly. Leopold is usually so far off the mark in his “reporting” that I sometimes think he’s totally bananas. It’s like he just makes stuff up out of whole cloth. I just don’t see any reason why Fitz would give the Rove camp one to four days “heads up”. I believe he told Scooter’s lawyers that Scoot was indicted the same day as he announced it in the presser. I still think Rove will be indicted- I just think Leopold is either full of shit or is being led around by the nose.

Here’s a possible border scenario. At Rove’s direction, Bush sends National Guard troops to the border, as part of a scheme to cut Repub losses in November. Only days later, Rove is indicted and has to resign from the White House staff. He is then consumed with helping his lawyers prepare his defense, and is effectively out of the picture. Then things turn to shit on the border. Guardsmen shoot and kill Mexicans attempting to immigrate, or immigrants kill guardsmen, or Fox calls out his militia–some kind of trouble. The Minutemen are in the middle of it all. Even larger demonstrations by Hispanics and sympathizers erupt in U.S. cities. Everything is FUBAR, the MSM jumps on it, Lou Dobbs has a fit, and it’s a PR disaster for Bush. Rove is unable to manage the crisis. Thw whole thing blows up in Bush’s chimpface.

Wasn’t Bush’s the lights are on for me in New Orleans thingy an address about national policy issues (lies) too.

Living 3 hrs from the border which will be the new war front, this is personal. We are going to have our poor national guard who have seen 2-4 tours in Iraq sitting out on our AZ border in 100+ heat. It was 105 yesterday. But that is ok, those guys are used to hot, dusty places with little water & sanitation!

About building a fense, there are two sides to that fense, one to keep “them” out and one to keep US in. It is also known as a prison!

Arizona was granted to the US in 1846 in the Texas land grant and hispanics were granted American citizenship at that time. How are they going to tell a 9th generation American-Hispanic from an immigrant?

What is going to occur when some battle weary troop mows down a immigrant family just because they did not stop?

This is a mess here, people who performed humanitarian medical evacuation are being charged with felonies and threatened with 15 yrs prison.
http://www.nomoredeaths.org/

I have two adopted children from Korea, are they going to be rounded up as part of the illegal sweap? What about all the adoptive families who have children from Mexico & South America, are they not afraid for their children? What worries me is the threat that my future grandchildren could be denied birth right citizenship by some ReThug legislation in their attack on “Anker Babies”.

There are a few state and local primaries tomorrow. Perhaps Fitzgerald is being careful to avoid having even the slightest immediate effect on a primary that revealing an indictment of Rove might have.

Meanwhile, over at The Next Hurrah, DHinMI throws the next punch in the Leopold affair…

http://thenexthurrah.typepad.c…..old_s.html

What, exactly, has changed so much about immigration issues… ?

Josh Marshall — “Just as the orange terror alerts in NYC and Washington amazingly disappeared after November 2004. The National Guard is being called in to deal with a political emergency.”

The “War on Terrizm” and “Border Securitay” are Repuppetcan red herrings that, at their respective cores, have a basic similarity: xenophobia.

You don’t see imagies of Timothy McVeigh when Bushco talks about terrorists or bombs. You see Arabs and Persians holding up signs and guns. Moreover, why is it NOW all of the sudden a big deal that our Southern border be protected? Um, wasn’t Dumbya a two-term Governor of Texas? The issue is just now coming to the forefront during his fifth year in office? Again, we see brown people sneaking into the U.S. and threatening “our” way of life.

My maternal great-grandfather came over to the United States from Ireland penniless with only a revolver in his pocket. I don’t see a huge difference between him and the Central Americans who sacrifice life and limb to make a life in the greatest country to ever grace the face of the Earth.

Christy wrote “is anyone else thinking fubar?”

I used to, but he never posts at needlenose any more.

1. A dkos member met Joe Wilson this weekend and spoke to him for 20 min. About 4 min was about Fitz and Plame. Since it was off the record, he didn’t provide details. But he wrote (as a comment in one of the diaries) Wilson said in effect something big (implying Rove) is going to come down in the next few days and something really really big (implying Mr BigTime) in the next few weeks.

2. Larry Johnson confirmed to Jeralyn that he was the one that wrote the commnet in DU endorsing Leopold’s report and that he heard samething from Wilson. (Active guy, that Wilson).

3. Wayne Madsen (WMR) reports that he staked out at the court house on Fri and he saw a procession of SUV’s that came to the court.
He thought that was AG Gonzo, taking a brief from the court (prosecutor or judge, not clear) that Rove was going to be indicted.
This report by itself didn’t make sense, but Madsen says same thing happened with Libby.
On a Fri in Oct, Gonzo went to courthouse, got the brief on Libby, the following wednesday Libby was indicted, on that Fri Fitz held the press conf.

4. Now I have settled in with my own Conventional Wisdom. Real indictment (vs Leopold’s indictment) comes this Wed, Fitz stays in DC on Thurs to prepare for presser, Fitz sees the judge on Fri AM to brief on the indictment, calls the presser with a couple of hrs notice, announce the indictment and do some Q&A with press, and then goes home, watching himself on CNN at DC Reagan airport along the way.

Beautiful, ecoast, beautiful.

I now have hope about my hope. Thanks, ecoast.

Everything is on schedule for Karl Rove’s republican reichwing; this racist issue is their ace in the hole. The Germany in the 30’s playbook. The enemy is truely within. Pardon’s await.

RE: Leopold’s story about Rove.

I find it helpful to analyze this type of problem by sorting the available information into two categories: What we know and what we don’t know.

We Know:

Rove lied to the FBI in October, 2003, when he told them that the first time he heard about Valerie Plame was after Robert Novak’s article appeared on 7/14/2003. In fact, Rove was one of Novak’s two sources for the story and they spoke on 7/8/2003. Libby was Novak’s other source during a phone conversation two days later. Rove (and Libby again) were Matt Cooper’s sources upon which he relied in writing his article for Time. In his account of his grand jury testimony, Cooper said he testified that he called Rove on July 11th to interview him about Wilson’s story in the New York Times. After insisting that Cooper not reveal his name, Rove identified Valerie Plame as Wilson’s wife who worked at the CIA on WMDs. Keeping in mind that Rove and Libby also were working on a statement in which George Tenet was going to fall on his sword for the infamous sixteen words in Bush’s SOTU address, it’s reasonably apparent that both men were engaged in a major effort to protect Bush by getting Tenet and the CIA to accept responsibility for not flagging and removing those words from Bush’s speech and they also wanted to retaliate against Wilson for blowing the whistle on the lie in the SOTU address. Libby and Cheney had known about Plame’s covert status since at least June 10th, when Marc Grossman at the State Department faxed him classified information about her job at the CIA. As we’ve learned from a recent Fitzgerald filing in Libby’s case, a CIA official spelled out her status after Novak’s article outed Plame. I can’t think of any reason why Libby and Rove would not have been sharing information about Plame and coordinating their effort to start a rumor and fan it into a firestorm. That Rove’s email to Hadley, purporting to memorialize his conversation with Cooper, did not mention Plame confirms that Rove knew that she was a covert operative because, if he was ignorant of her covert status, he would not have had a reason not to mention her. Rove perjured himself at the grand jury when he claimed that he forgot about speaking to Cooper and he obviously perjured himself if he denied knowing about Plame and her covert status before Novak’s article was published. Fitzgerald’s case against Rove for lying to the FBI and committing perjury at the grand jury is rock solid.

What we don’t know:

We don’t know the identities of Leopold’s sources, and we don’t know what, if anything they told him.

Nevertheless, we have no reason to believe that Fitzgerald has decided against indicting Rove. Fitzgerald is patient and not in any particular hurry, so he can afford to let Luskin and Rove go into their hurry-up defense one more time. He’ll check out what they have to offer, let Rove sweat, and get back to them when it bests suits his purpose. Leopold’s story could have been 100% accurate when he published it, but the timetable could have been messed up, if Luskin contacted Fitzgerald over the weekend and proposed more discussions. We’ve seen Rove cough up something new at the last minute and so has Fitzgerald, obviously. Why wouldn’t he assume that he’s likely to see that ploy again and again until Rove has nothing more to offer? Since Fitzgerald is smart and experienced, as well as patient, why wouldn’t he decide to play along with their game until he wrings every useful nugget of information out of Rove?

If his case against Rove is as formidable as I believe it is, Fitzgerald has most of the power in this situation. Rove’s bargaining power depends on what he knows and what he’s willing to disclose. Given the secretive grand jury process, he can only guess at what Fitzgerald knows and doesn’t know. Their primitive mating ritual in search of a mutually acceptable plea agreement likely will take awhile. Then again, I think that they’ve been at it awhile, so maybe we will hear something later this week.

Bottom Line: Since I believe that Rove and Fitzgerald are involved in ongoing plea negotiations that probably get a bit stormy at times, given the gamesmanship that likely is going on and the stakes involved, we need to relax, breathe, and become masters of zen and the art of Plamegate maintenance.

Leopold probably got it right, until a phone call from Luskin to Fitzgerald altered the game plan. I don’t believe that sufficient evidence exists to accuse Leopold of concocting his story and I think that it’s a waste of time to go down that road.

Keep your eyes on the action in the ring and remember: relax. Fitzgerald is in control, just as a spider is to the buzzing fly attempting to escape from its sticky web.