Friday, July 01, 2005
Fractious Friday Morning
The Outing of Valerie Plame - Perhaps the Guilty Party/Parties are too High to Tackle
Novak: 'I will reveal all'
When I read the headline I thought "well, finally, Robert Novak has decided to come clean". Nope. The headline was deceptive--like some of the ads by car dealers. Novak continues to stonewall. The mystery about the special prosecutor remains alive. Why is Novak being treated with kid gloves?
Judith Miller of The NY Times
Timesonline.UK reports that Judith Miller of The NY Times is facing time in prison because of her refusal to divulge sources who provided material for reports about Valerie Plame.
"Ms Miller insisted that she was ready to go to prison. She said: “Journalists simply cannot do their jobs without being able to commit to sources that they won’t be identified.”
On the face of it, Ms. Miller's willingness to defend the Fourth Amendment appears praiseworthy. Ms. Miller's background, however, makes me question her position. This reporter, with access to Ahmed Chalabi during his stay in the US, authored many reports about Iraq's WMD program. Although they later turned out to be without any basis, the reports helped to spread fear about the non-existent weapons and garnered support for the unjustified war against Iraq. Whether she was a dupe or willing partner of Chalabi is not known.
Chalabi and his group received a lot of money from our government. He was later appointed Oil Minister in the new Iraqi government!
Governor Bush persecuting Michael Schiavo
Dead, autopsied, buried but the holy rollers won't let her rest. Governor Jeb Bush asked the state attorney of Pinellas-Pasco County to dig into records about Michael Schiavo's call to 911 after Terri Schiavo collapsed on Feb.25, 1990.
The fact that the details have been looked at, checked, double-checked, analyzed under a microscope means nothing to the governor. With an eye on the White House, he is out to earn brownie points from his conservative supporters. Jeb Bush believes he can get some traction out of it. A recent poll showed that a large majority of Florida residents were against the governor's action.
It might backfire as it did on Senator Frist and Congressman DeLay who had postured in front of cameras about the late Ms. Schiavo's condition--that she was alive and aware when there was conclusive medical evidence to the contrary. Once the contents of the autopsy report became public, President Bush made a strategic retreat; there was no more political capital to made from the hapless woman. Apparently, his valiant brother does not agree.
Selling of American workers' rights
The Administration that says one thing and does another - U.S. Blocked Release of CAFTA Reports by Larry Margasak, Associated Press Writer
"In practice, labor laws on the books in Central America are not sufficient to deter employers from violations, as actual sanctions for violations of the law are weak or nonexistent," the contractor, the International Labor Rights Fund, wrote in one of the reports.
Corrected July 14,2005
