A zero for me, a full house for FDL! Fitz!!

Mornin sleepyheads, mid-afternoon here.

Birdies!

Christy, are you going to Perryman for the closings?

Dragged out of the comments section for Victoria Toensing’s rant about the Libby trial in the WaPo:

Stupid frauds wilson and plame/wilson should be chained and dragged behind pick-up!! Hows that you frickin phony elites? Traitors all. Welcome to flyover land.
By talktocarllewis | Feb 17, 2007 12:06:01 PM | Request Removal

I’m glad that the Repbulicans are restoring civility to public discourse.

I’m new. Read Libby liveblogging. Tried the IM that Rayne suggested and needed lessons from Halo on using windows.

Thank you, all of you. We can begin to get our country back.

Just read the end of a thread – someone reminding us to be humble.

This is a wonderful group of people.

Wow. Those line-ups seems like a pretty good continuation of the GOP Road to Nowhere.

Hope you aren’t freezing up in WVA Christy, it is vicious down here in Atlanta because of wind. Gonna take the little one to the Big Apple Circus this afternoon. Thank goodness the tent will be heated!

And I’m reading Marcy’s book. Marcy, if you’re out there, where did you get the courage?

wilson and plame/wilson should be chained and dragged behind pick-up!!

Actually, this time of year, being pulled by a pick-up is a ton of fun. Just be sure to bundle up, and that you’ve got a good solid sled as you fly through the snow! What a generous offer – I’m impressed – and up for a ride myself.

Good morning, Christy. Coffee?

It strikes me that Toensing et al really are the equivalent of web Trolls in the MSM and deserve their own label as such (besides the obvious “media whore” label). Any ideas? Trogs?

Victoria Toensing wikipedia

Morning all. First cuppa coffee in hand here. Crazy Horse — yes, I’ll be going back to DC tomorrow for summations on Tuesday. Jane, Marcy and I will be there, along with Pach and Sidney Blumenthal.

And no, I haven’t gotten to the Boris and Natasha article as yet. But I promise to try and get to it later if I can wake my tired rear-end up a little bit. The Peanut had nightmares on and off last night, and momma didn’t get much sleep as a result.

Geraldoes?

allan_in_upstate @
5

Dragged out of the comments section for Victoria Toensing’s rant about the Libby trial in the WaPo:

Stupid frauds wilson and plame/wilson should be chained and dragged behind pick-up!! Hows that you frickin phony elites? Traitors all. Welcome to flyover land.
By talktocarllewis | Feb 17, 2007 12:06:01 PM | Request Removal

I’m glad that the Repbulicans are restoring civility to public discourse.

you kind of wonder what such a person as would write that is like. the KKK mentality still lives and it’s enabled and encouraged by the Republican Party and especially people like Rove, Fuckwad and Cheney. fear and intimidation are the stripes right down the middle of their backs. it’s what they know how to do, what they understand.

I went to the same high school as George Will and our alumni newsletter recently featured one of his yearbook pictures, which looked even nerdier than you probably think it did. I can scan it in and send it along if anyone has a good use for it…

Christy, Is there a way to get to a post I tried to read yesterday about Cheney and his efforts concerning national security leaks? I got up early this morning to read it and it was gone.

Boston 1775 at 18 — It’s probably on a previous page, since I’m assuming you are talking about one of the articles on Murray Waas’ piece in the National Journal? If you go down to the very bottom of the front page, you should see a “previous page” button, and you can use that to scroll back through articles to find the one you were reading.

If you know the title and/or author, I can probably find it pretty quickly and give you a link.

Boston1775 @
6

I’m new. Read Libby liveblogging. Tried the IM that Rayne suggested and needed lessons from Halo on using windows.

Thank you, all of you. We can begin to get our country back.

Just read the end of a thread – someone reminding us to be humble.

This is a wonderful group of people.

welcome, Boston. we welcome anybody who doesn’t pee in the gene pool.

I love the color of the female cardinal. It’s a nice compliment to the bold statement of the red male. It’s a nice subtle compliment to make the two a beautiful pair.

Professor Foland @ 17

I went to the same high school as George Will and our alumni newsletter recently featured one of his yearbook pictures, which looked even nerdier than you probably think it did. I can scan it in and send it along if anyone has a good use for it…

oh. my. goodness.

sanctimonious nerdi.

Please, Ms. Katrina– kick his butt yet again this morning!

G’mornin all.

Thanks fahrender. Only happens if I sneeze

Christy, I think you wrote it.

angie! Long time no see. How are ya?

hi twolf1– i am just fine and have missed all y’all a lot!

;)

Boston — Here’s my take on the Waas piece, and here is Scarecrow’s analysis as well. Let me know if these are not the ones, and I’ll go back a bit further.

OfT Trial in Error

Currently, there are seventeen pages of comments over at the WaPo on Barbara Comstock’s Victoria Toensing’s latest “atrocity.” They planned this to hit directly at the jury and their friends on the weekend before deliberations. Surprisingly, a high percentage of the comments are from seriously uninformed wing nuts (sorry about the redundancy).

Here’s an example of Comstock’s Victoria’s searing legal analysis:

THIS GRAND JURY CHARGES PATRICK J. FITZERALD with ignoring the fact that there was no basis for a criminal investigation from the day he was appointed, with handling some witnesses with kid gloves and banging on others with a mallet, with engaging in past contretemps with certain individuals that might have influenced his pursuit of their liberty, and with misleading the public in a news conference because . . . well, just because.

Bold is mine. According to Comstock, Victoria, the WH can surreptitiously leak all the classified information it wants. If anyone has time, I invite you to leave a comment for Comstock and Victoria.

angie! Was just talking the other day about how I hadn’t seen you around. Hope everything has been okay? Good to see your typing. :)

Thanks Christy

allan_in_upstate @
5

Dragged out of the comments section for Victoria Toensing’s rant about the Libby trial in the WaPo:

Stupid frauds wilson and plame/wilson should be chained and dragged behind pick-up!! Hows that you frickin phony elites? Traitors all. Welcome to flyover land.
By talktocarllewis | Feb 17, 2007 12:06:01 PM | Request Removal

I’m glad that the Repbulicans are restoring civility to public discourse.

Great catch. If that were from anywhere except the right, the WaPo’s Jim Church Lady Brady would have ripped it down as a another example of the bad manners of the fever swamps of the left.

Ditto what twolf1 said, angie.

thanks, Christy!

everything’s alright– got my family and my friends…

next up is world peace and justice…..

hey, John Casper!

Velvet voiced Tony Snow on MTP this morning.

“New” face, same old song.

It’s like shooting fish in a barrel. “No basis for a criminal investigation”?

The basis is the CIA’s referral to the Justice Department, requesting an investigation into and prosecution of the parties that made public Valerie Plame’s association with the CIA.

Do these people even think about the words before they spout them?

good morning, people…

as ever, a quick browse thru the news of the week gives one more than pause…

I read where a 22-yr-old man from N.J. threatened Elie Wiesel… 22 years old?…where does someone like that get the impression that by assaulting a 78 year old Nobel Peace Prize winner that he is doing something ‘good’? and if he does it knowing full well it is evil… well, therein lies the ‘more than pause’…

which of course only magnifies the comment from the chap who encourages pick-up dragging…

think either of them have Michelle Malkin posters on their parent’s basement bedroom walls?

Thanks for the great cardinal picture. Just the thing to bring a smile this morning. Thanks for all you do. This is the best place I have ever been.

Do people actually watch this crap? Joseph Biden? Has he been on 50 weeks in a row? I swear he has been on more than George Will. Donna Brazile? On and on.

Surely, the networks don’t get ratings from this garbage, do they?

Newsweeks Michael Isikoff has an interesting article up about Novakulas source, Richard Hohlt:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17…..from/RS.4/

Do you think that Fitz has any other bombshells to drop? I was wondering about the sealed vs sealed, Jencks material, that Marcy spoke of on her website.

Trust us, says Tony Snow to Russert this morning. We’re a kinder, gentler, softer Bushco, but still determined to bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb bomb Iran. And don’t confuse us with trivial details like General Pace’s statements or the Boston Globe editorial that says Iran’s a minor influence in the violence in Iraq compared to Saudi/Jordan arms pipelines. Inconsistencies? What inconsistencies?
[paraphrase mine]

beth meacham @ 35

It’s like shooting fish in a barrel. “No basis for a criminal investigation”?

The basis is the CIA’s referral to the Justice Department, requesting an investigation into and prosecution of the parties that made public Valerie Plame’s association with the CIA.

Do these people even think about the words before they spout them?

Just skimmed through that crap. What’s this lady’s thing? Must have been the Alberto Gonzales type if she worked in the Reagan DOJ.

Hagel sez we tried a monarchy once and it didn’t work very well. Unless he is talking about now and King Spoiled George, what is he talking about?

Victoria Toensing’s evidence that Joe Wilson was lying: Joe Wilson said that Cheney must have received a report of his trip to Niger, but Cheney denied it.

So which one has a history of lying?

Let’s see–
Joe Wilson – Dick Cheney
Joe Wilson – Dick Cheney
Joe Wilson – Dick Cheney

I’m going to watch The Sun Also Rises instead of the heads. You guys watch it so I don’t have to.

No birds this morning. It is absolutely freezing this morning. Even my pet squirrel is nowhere to be found. I wonder where they all go.

Riesz Fischer @ 43

Victoria Toensing’s evidence that Joe Wilson was lying: Joe Wilson said that Cheney must have received a report of his trip to Niger, but Cheney denied it.

Everyone stipulated that OVP got the report on Joe Wilson’s trip. The fact that the report didn’t name the Ambassador is irrelevant to the fact of the report.

Cheney keeps saying “I didn’t send Joe Wilson”. Well yeah, he didn’t. He didn’t finance the trip, and he didn’t pick the investigator. So what? The semantic parsing these people indulge in beggars the imagination.

beth meacham @ 46

Riesz Fischer @ 43

Victoria Toensing’s evidence that Joe Wilson was lying: Joe Wilson said that Cheney must have received a report of his trip to Niger, but Cheney denied it.

The semantic parsing these people indulge in beggars the imagination.

It depends on what the definition of is is. These people have nothing but sympathy for the devil.

When will the networks shun these shills from the airwaves?

Instead of watching the tepid (at best) Sunday Talking Heads, perhaps have a look @ these articles from WaPo & L.A. Times on treatment of our war wounded:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..01172.html

http://www.latimes.com/news/na…..?track=rss

OT. Isikoff in Newsweek has an article on Novak’s good friend Hohlt whom we heard about during Novak’s testimony.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17…../newsweek/

My [used-to-be-beloved] Boston Globe has a nice little ‘uppitty’ smear of our new Governor:
[we have Barbara Anderson in lieu of Natasha]

http://www.boston.com/news/loc…..bjections/

The Globe’s ‘reporter’ email is included at end of article. I dashed off a quick note saying nice Chuck Berry refernce but if you want uppitty, do it right, including a quote from this:
http://www.time.com/time/print…..87,00.html

And a link to the Tubes:
http://www.thetubes.com/lyrics/life.htm

Then, I asked if the car in question is tomato-red (ala the Time article on Ali) or pink?

Finally I said ’shame on you and your editor’. And mentioned that now I know who not to read for information about Beacon Hill politics. [He quoted a state rep from Southie even saying there’s no story.] And another quote at the end saying the same thing. Also, except for quote from Anderson, and a little from famed ‘centrist’ analyst David Gergen, he uses the ’some say’ canard. Sheesh.

Christy: Did you read the comment thread from Pach’s late night last evening? Bush is opening up his very own think tank next door to his presidential library. Rumor has it that it will be a drive-thru…

snip

Bush’s grasp of history may have been a little shaky, but there is no doubting the force of his conviction. Bush wants his legacy to be the long-term defeat of Islamic extremism. Indeed, senior officials close to Bush who did not wish to be identified discussing private conversations with the president tell NEWSWEEK that Bush’s plan after he leaves the White House is to continue to promote the spread of democracy in the Middle East by inviting world leaders to his own policy institute, to be built alongside his presidential library.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16…../newsweek/

Israel, U.S. may shun Palestinian gov’t

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200…..tinians_us

yep, we are definately on the road to world peace…

NOT.

From Seymour Hersh in THE NEW YORKER back in 2003:

…. The intelligence report was quickly stovepiped to those officials who had an intense interest in building the case against Iraq, including Vice-President Dick Cheney. “The Vice-President saw a piece of intelligence reporting that Niger was attempting to buy uranium,” Cathie Martin, the spokeswoman for Cheney, told me. Sometime after he first saw it, Cheney brought it up at his regularly scheduled daily briefing from the C.I.A., Martin said. “He asked the briefer a question. The briefer came back a day or two later and said, ‘We do have a report, but there’s a lack of details.’ ” The Vice-President was further told that it was known that Iraq had acquired uranium ore from Niger in the early nineteen-eighties but that that material had been placed in secure storage by the I.A.E.A., which was monitoring it. “End of story,” Martin added. “That’s all we know.” According to a former high-level C.I.A. official, however, Cheney was dissatisfied with the initial response, and asked the agency to review the matter once again. It was the beginning of what turned out to be a year-long tug-of-war between the C.I.A. and the Vice-President’s office … .

Marie Roget @ 47, the corporate media should be devoting their reporting to the tragic circumstances our wounded military are encountering when they return to the States badly in need of help with their medical and personal problems. Instead we get ANS and that type of story ad nauseum.

Another special “special” for KO.

Rice paid a surprise! visit to Iraq….

Although Rice used her visit to publicly praise the Iraqi government’s role in a new security crackdown in Baghdad, an Iraqi official said she was more critical in private.

“Some do not think that this was the right war to fight, and others think that we in the administration haven’t fought this war quite right,” but still support U.S. forces and others in harm’s way.

“I keep hearing and reading the American people don’t want to fight this war anymore. I don’t think that’s right. The American people want to know that we can succeed,” Rice said.

The Bush administration so far has spent more than $350 billion on the war and reconstruction. More than 3,100 U.S. troops have died in the conflict. Bush’s approval

ME: the sentence above is never completed in the article…it just goes to the next paragraph…
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/s…..CTION=HOME

Jane, Marcy and I will be there, along with Pach and Sidney Blumenthal.

. . . tonight’s Special Guest Sidney Blumenthal in the role of Brian Epstein

Mornin’ Dogs

I wonder how much of that $350 billion went into building pipelines and all?

Richard Engel, ME Bureau Chief for NBC News on MTP this morning, talking about his four years’ reporting on Iraq and the toll it’s taken on himself, friends amid the war.

His documentary will air on March 21. Sounds like must-see TV. Engel is a profile in media courage for clear-eyed reporting and personal sacrifice.

Would FDL conversations with people like Engel in months to come be of interest? Maybe a new weekly or occasional/regular feature a la Book Salon?

Just a question for the group: If leaking classified information is such a crime, why is it acceptable when done by the New York Times?

ccmask @ 56

I wonder how much of that $350 billion went into building pipelines and all?

me too…

wondering…

Michael Smith @ 59

Just a question for the group: If leaking classified information is such a crime, why is it acceptable when done by the New York Times?

According to Vice President Cheney, it is never acceptable, and the management of the New York Times should be prosecuted for treason.

Kurtz hammering the WH on the so-called evidence about Iran’s involvement.

ccmask @ 54:

“I keep hearing and reading the American people don’t want to fight this war anymore. I don’t think that’s right. The American people want to know that we can succeed,” Rice said.

Our local paper–slanted conservative in red state Fargo, ND–polled people at the two major local shopping centers yesterday on the war. 90% said it’s time to bring the troops home. 90%

Richard Engel also said on MTP that the Bush admin and the Iraqi admin will be playing the success card heavily in the next year.

fahrender @
20

Boston1775 @
6

I’m new. Read Libby liveblogging. Tried the IM that Rayne suggested and needed lessons from Halo on using windows.

Thank you, all of you. We can begin to get our country back.

Just read the end of a thread – someone reminding us to be humble.

This is a wonderful group of people.

welcome, Boston. we welcome anybody who doesn’t pee in the gene pool.

…and tossing in a Tootsie Roll as a joke can get mixed reactions too…

(employing controversial emoticon as usual) –> :-D

Welcome to the lake

Tony Snwojob has to be getting dizzy with all of his spin

Just a question for the group: If leaking classified information is such a crime, why is it acceptable when done by the New York Times?

The prior question is, why does the WH engage in it? Where do you think Robert Novak and Mike Issikopf get all the information for their articles?

I swear I was just thinking of you, Prairie. Did you go to the snow-angel jamboree in Bismark?

2 Baghdad car bombs kill 56, injure 127

Two car bombs exploded in an outdoor market in Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 56 people and injuring scores in the deadliest attack since U.S. and Iraqi forces began a major security push around the capital last week.

And Hagel proudly noted on MTP that he’s voted 100% with the prez on 30 key votes, strongest supporter the prez has in the Senate is the “senior senator from Nebraska.”

Yep, I get the early bird airing of MTP here.

Now to refill the feeders to lure in our cardinal couple. Happy Sunday, pups.

ccmask @ 65

I swear I was just thinking of you, Prairie. Did you go to the snow-angel jamboree in Bismark?

Bismarck’s a four-hour drive away. Saving my snow angels for the lake country…gotta get Franken all the voters we can!

Christy Hardin Smith @ 27

Boston — Here’s my take on the Waas piece, and here is Scarecrow’s analysis as well. Let me know if these are not the ones, and I’ll go back a bit further.

Morning All!

Boston, welcome to the Lake! Another tip for you to find posts quickly:

Use the calendar up in the left sidebar. Hover over any day to see the titles listed, and then click on the day wanted, a window will open with all of that day’s posts showing. *Note at the bottom, once again, if there is a ‘Previous entries’ in case there were some that didn’t all fit on that page since they go last to first. Hope this helps.

from ccmask@50

Christy: Did you read the comment thread from Pach’s late night last evening? Bush is opening up his very own think tank next door to his presidential library. Rumor has it that it will be a drive-thru…

Might as well make that a fast lane – nothing to learn here

Bush wants his legacy to be the long-term defeat of Islamic extremism.

If the IslamoFascists (not my term) indeed take over the world it will be filled with statues of DumbYa, the man who made it all possible.

Nobody can remember when we (or you, the USA) tried a monarchy, eh? I don’t know what “Mister Senator that agreed with the Bush Administration the most in the last Congress” meant with that statement. Relax Chuck about Cheney almost breaking Ronnie Raygun’s rule and speaking ill of a ReThug just for you. To be in Cheney’s bad books is a GOOD thing – though possibly dangerous, especially if he is armed or has a military at his disposal.

Michael Smith @ 58

Just a question for the group: If leaking classified information is such a crime, why is it acceptable when done by the New York Times?

“Leaking classified information” implies that the leaker had a security clearance to have access to the information. “The New York Times” is not a person who can have a security clearance– it is an organization. If they published classified information then the person who leaked it to them should be charged– not the paper that published it.

So Michael, are you saying that leaking classified info should not be a crime? What is the point of classifying it then?

Newsweeks Michael Isikoff has an interesting article up about Novakulas source, Richard Hohlt

go to last week’s FDL coverage of Novakula’s “testimony” and watch Marcy’s face when Hohlt’s name comes up -

really, just go

Michael Smith at 58 — That’s actually a complicated question, to be honest. What sort of leak is it: a whistleblowing leak to put illegal governmental actions in front of the public eye so that there can be some measure of oversight forced? Or is it a politically timed leak to damage a political opponant? The Times, and any other newspaper or news outlet, is often used as a vessel for political infighting in the form of leaks — the Bush Administration has leaked information favorable to itself (i.e. the selected portions of the NIE that made them look good, as opposed to the portions that did not support their case for war in Iraq), just as CIA and Congressional folks have used leaks for various political purposes (Sen. Richard Shelby, for example, himself or someone from his officeleaked information to the NYTimes and the WaPo just after 9/11 to make the case for the war on terror that exposed sources and methods information that should never, ever have seen the light of day).

The newspapers should be held accountable in some respects — if someone is using a reporter to commit a crime, anonymity granted to that source should not be sustained. Just as Fitzgerald got reporters to testify about their sources in the Plame investigation because the reporters were, essentially being used as a tool to comit a crime. The same is true for other leaks of the same sort as well.

But the analytical line gets drawn in trying to determine what is or is not a leak for political and/or illegal purposes or revenge, and what is a leak for the public’s good. There is often a LOT of debate on what is or is not included on either side of that. Mark Felt, for example, who was the Deep Threat leaker for Watergate — was he operating out of a sense of public duty? Or was it payback for having been passed over for a promotion and it just turned out that the revelations were a public good in the end? Who gets to make those determinations? None of these are easy questions, and they are ones that need a LOT more public discussion and debate.

A free press, and robust oversight is a good thing. But exposing nationl security secrets that open wide a lot of our sources and methods, at a time when human intel is at a premium due to increased security threats — well, that’s something that I think we can all agree needs to be done with a substantial amount of care. The questions arise as to where the line ought to be drawn before it is crossed — and there aren’t any hard and fast answers on that, I’m afraid. It’s a very good question though.

Pumpkinhead refuses to ask Snowblower any appropriate follow-up to his bullsh*t.

Scooter trial coming up in next segment (CST) on the usually unreliable Howard Kurtz’s RELIABLE SOURCES.

ccmask @ 54:

“I keep hearing and reading the American people don’t want to fight this war anymore. I don’t think that’s right. The American people want to know that we can succeed,” Rice said.

then Prairie Sunshine:
Our local paper–slanted conservative in red state Fargo, ND–polled people at the two major local shopping centers yesterday on the war. 90% said it’s time to bring the troops home. 90%

* * *

Good Morning all.

I called He/her Wilson’s office last week before s/he had a chance to triangulate on teh house vote. They said they were getting a “lot of calls.” I asked how the calls were running. “About 50/50,” said Goofy. Defies the truth of course. I mean, 90% ccmask? 50/50 my ass.

Times?Michael Smith @ 58

Just a question for the group: If leaking classified information is such a crime, why is it acceptable when done by the New York Times?

It’s a judgment call in each individual situation based on specific circumstances. If the right to know and necessity of the public’s safety or well being outweighs the damage, then it might be considered. If information is classified to avoid legal accountability then it might be considered.

Here’s a question. What difference is there between discussing information that is in open source and is also classified but the public is unaware of that classification?

“Deep Threat leaker”

Mwahahaha Christy, love that slip. We have Shooter and Scooter, which I’m now calling Schooter-gate, and Deep Threat fits it perfectly. Thanks for the spew!

from Christy re: leaks at 73

A free press, and robust oversight is a good thing. But exposing nationl security secrets that open wide a lot of our sources and methods, at a time when human intel is at a premium due to increased security threats

And not to mention that our military was driving out all the Arabic language speakers at the same time, many of whom did not “ask or tell.”

bg: They make it up as they go along. After Rice’s mushroom cloud, how can you believe anything…especially since we now know she knew the info was false. Scaremonger.

And Boston1775, welcome to the lake.

uhh–comment #76 is mine and I have no idea how it came up under that name.

mods- any clue to this glitch?

ccmask: Rice and mushrooms. Just sounds good, eh?

Thanks Shez @ 69 and rumi @ 63.
I have so much to learn from you guys.
Just watched Tony Snow try to make smiling small talk with Tim after MTP interview.

Lots of paper shuffling from Tim.

As far as the leaking, Novak was told not to do it, wasn’t he? He did it anyway. Was this right of him or wrong? When does a story trumm national security? I think Novak is paying dearly for his leak. He is now a running joke/bloak.

Let’s see how hard Timmeh is on Sen Hagel.

bg, methinks Condi was consuming mass quanities of psilocyban mushrooms. How else to explain their delusions?

Michael at 76 — I think that goes back to the response that Riesz gave at 71. If the person or persons discussing the matter publicly have a security clearance, they have an obligtion under their SF-312 agreements to determine whether the information is classified or not before discussing it further. The classification and the “need to know” requirements are not obviated merely because someone claims the information is in the “public domain.” If you are talking about a newspaper or tv news organization, I think most of them have internal standards on checking information with appropriate quthorities prior to publication — as in, giving a heads up to the NSA or the CIA or what-have-you with some types of stories to be certain that they are not damaging something so badly that it would compromise a whole slew of issues — and yet weighing that potential for compromise against the public’s right to know when there is a question of governmental lawbreaking (Dana Priest’s series on the black ops sites comes to mind here — there had to have been some weighing and checking on that, and also pressure from competing news organizations who might also have been working on similar stories — all of that should be factored into the decision, I should think, on publication or not.)

cc- I think that even in that situation the different leaks of classified information can be seen in different light.

If the goal was to rebuke Wilson’s claims, then the leak of classified information, which was also available in open source, is far different than revealing the identity of a covert employee.

They could have achieved the first goal, if that was the only goal, with far less damage to people’s lives and natl security.

Howdy to Boston1775!

Reliable Sources on “Beltway Bedpartners Buddies: Too cosy?…”–the topic of a brief segment with Linda Douglass, Steve Roberts and a ChiTrib reporter [missed name]. Consensus that the relationships between partisan spinners and journalists have become too cosy, yes. Roberts [yes, Mr. Cokie] teaches journalistic ethics and argues for greater transparency.

Douglass really excelled in this conversation. Smackdown of Russert and others who begin conversations assuming it’s off the record. Learning lessons on “on background” and “off the record.”

Hmmm, maybe Douglass would be another candidate for conversation with media voices? She was credentialed as “former ABC…” ABC’s loss–FDL’s opportunity?

And another topic, courtesy Mr. Sunshine: why isn’t there any criticism about the ten cowards who didn’t show up for yesterday’s Senate vote?

rumi — we switched out the name on the first post for you. No idea why it would have done that. But I’ve sent a note to our tech folks to see if this is some weird WordPress glitch.

CHS @ 86 – That was my post at 76 and some glitch put it under M Smith’s name. I think maybe if 2 comments hit the server at the same time it might explain it. I’ve seen times where comments other than mine have the edit button …lol…but I never take advantage of that offer.

(edit – add)
aha – I now see your comment, thanks

Historic tradition of leaks, said Linda Douglass, was to elicit information from relucant/fearful/whistleblowers. Now it’s a complicit relationship for partisans to spin their agenda. [paraphrased by PS].

Shez @ 77

“Deep Threat leaker”

just as long as we know whose guts are on fire

Shell @
38

Do people actually watch this crap? Joseph Biden? Has he been on 50 weeks in a row? I swear he has been on more than George Will. Donna Brazile? On and on.

Surely, the networks don’t get ratings from this garbage, do they?

Morning everyone! Gorgeous cardinal! We had 6(!) of them trying to “share” a feeder earlier in heavy snow. Got along together better than repugs & dems in Congress, most of the time, but you can tell our days – dreary and cold as they are – are lengthening, cause the males are starting to resent seeing other red feathered things *g*

Speaking of bright (colored) feathered things, yes, I do believe it’s true. If it’s Sunday, it must be Biden. And ’spose TonyS is gonna try playing a sympathy card? or discard another ace? Surely they’ve got him all stoked up with talking points as he heads out into the Sunday morn. wilderness. zzzzzzzzzzz

Biden & Snow alone hint strongly to me that media’s put the lights & telly on a timer to keep the booboo’s away from the door, & mentally left for the weekend.

If they’d put Levin and vanden Heuvel on together, I’d turn on the infernal machine to watch.

Today, it makes more sense to feed our own hungry cardinals, get some other little jobs done around the house, pick up where I left off in that Anatomy book, and play with the cat.

Is Biden a paid pundit?

ccmask @ 94

Is Biden a paid pundit?

I think they give him special credit card deals and offers.

:-)

Was Hillary a no show yesterday on the vote?

Boston – there’s a group of us who get together upon occasion – interested in meeting up? firstname daht ar eye eff kay eye enn at comcast

You Just Don’t Need That Many Words

tony snow and brit hume on the sunday talking retreads – how great is it to see the twin offspring of Fred Gwynne and Margaret Thatcher spew their wacko right wingnuttery – watch Tony’s eyes go gazinga as he tries to pass off his no problems so far in Iraq and wacko Hume say the democrats are gambiling on defeat. My God what has Ruppert foisted on us. STOP!!!!!!!!!!

Jeb Bush’s fave candidate, Mitt Romney, tells Snuffalong he’s not sure if Bush’s Iraq strategy will work but it’s absolutely the right thing to do. Ducks judging Bush’s CEO/management skills.

Boston 1775 Welcome!

It might help you to take a slow cruise around the edges of the webpage here. The whizkids who put this site together have been very helpful.

Scrolling down the left margin, you’ll find a list of recent articles, under that a calendar. Click on any day on the calendar, & you’ll be taken to the articles posted on that day. Need something earlier? – no problem, if you note the hint at the bottom of the calendar.

Along the right margin of the page is a long list of categories. Every article posted at FDL is cross-referenced, usually to several of those categories (as noted at the end of each article just before comments start). So that’s another way of making a stab at finding something.

Another good way to search is just to give a holler out to the dawgs & see if anyone knows the whereabouts of what you’re seeking.
Happy reading!

If you have Link TV They are going to air “The End of Oil” with Peter Coyote at 11am. I saw part last night and its wonderful. Surely better than talking heads

bg @ 96

Was Hillary a no show yesterday on the vote?

dunno but FWIW, supposedly McCain didn’t plan to show, heh…..

googled Boston 1775 and found this diary of a Brit:
http://memory.loc.gov/learn/fe…..cribe.html

Tuesday 15th Novr [1774] Yesterday, in compliance with the request of the Select Men, Genl. Gage orderd that no Soldier in future shoud appear in the Streets with his side Arms. Query, Is this not encouraging the Inhabitants in their licentious and riotous disposition? Also orders are issued for the Guards to seize all military Men found engaged in any disturbance, whether Agressors or not; and to secure them, till the matter is enquired into. By Whom? By Villains that wou’d not censure one of their own Vagrants, even if He attempted the life of a Soldier; whereas if a Soldier errs in the least, who is more ready to accuse than Tommy? His negligence on the other hand has been too conspicuous in the affair of Cn. Maginis to require a further comment. . . .

Sunday, 20th. Hard frost continues. A day or two ago the Comr. in Chief applied to the Select Men for the use of Faneuil Hall as a place for the Troops to attend Divine Service. They most Graciously refused to comply with his Request, as a grateful return for his singular compliance with all their desires. Was it for this he gave a protection of an Officers Guard to their Brick-kilns, to secure them from the Labourers who had not been paid for their work? and after affording such Protection asking to become a Purchaser of the Bricks, and receiving for answer No, they were to be appropriated to other purposes than accommodating the King’s Troops. Was it because he disarmed the Troops to please them that the Select think it incumbent on them, to oppose him in every thing? But his . . . deserves it. Is it not astonishing that the daily instances of the opposition of the People shoud tend to make him more earnestly attentive to them? . . .

Friday, 16th. [December 1774] The Regt. march’d into the Country to give the Men a little exercise; this has been practised several days past by the Corps off duty; as they march with Knapsacks and Colours the People of the Country were allarm’d the first day; think those troops were sent out to seize some of the disaffected People; finding that is not the case they are since grown very insolent.

A little updating, and it looks like it oould be Bagdhad 2007 to me.

Hello from the wild west of the lower Pioneer Valley, Boston1775!

Fresh thread for you all.

bg@78

And not to mention that our military was driving out all the Arabic language speakers at the same time, many of whom did not “ask or tell.”

I’m old enough to remember the “China Policy” of the early cold war and the days of Joe McCarthy. Everyone who understood China was driven out of the state department so that for 20 or 30 years they could pretend that China was that little Island off shore (now Taiwan). Even as a child I could detect the insanity of this, since they hadn’t censored globes, I knew there was that other place with the wall and the millions of people. I could never understand how pretending it wasn’t there accomplished anything. Will the United States ever learn that manufactured “truth” doesn’t cut it or work?

Boston1775 – you still here?

Here are a couple of links to helpful hints about how to navigate in the Lake. I just bookmarked them a long time ago, and still use them as reminders. Again, if you get stuck on something, just give a holler, & some kind soul will surely jump in to help.

http://www.firedoglake.com/200…../#comments

http://www.firedoglake.com/200…..en-thread/

This ongoing social experiment of predominant Patriarchal Governance (War,Destruction,Death), Male Dominance (War,destruction,death), and Paternal Religions (War, destruction,death in HIS name), has proven to be a cataclysmic failure. History is the repetitive destructive behaviours of the Y chromosome.

Christy, Marcy, Jane, Pach, Sidney, & Fitz all together on Tuesday?

Honey! Clear our schedule! I’m gonna be tied up at the ‘puter all day, Tues. – yeehaw!

{{{{{{Safe trip all}}}}}}

Just came across this interesting nugget. Don’t know if it is accurate, but here it is:

http://www.tmsinternational.co…..?catid=115

I mean, honestly, that was, on the whole, an exercise in futility.

By George, she’s got it! :-)