Administration of the Flies

Forced to choose sides, John Podhoretz asserts that Karl Rove is butcher than Scotty McClellan.

Trust

Trust me when I lie to you: I never go back on a promise and I would never ask you to release me from your promise.

OREM -- A colleague of a New York Times reporter jailed for refusing to reveal a source's identity, said journalists regularly negotiate with anonymous sources about how to reference them in stories.

"In Washington, there are deals that are made at the outset to hearing information, which are very different than deals you make when you publish," said David T. Barstow, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Times reporter who spoke at Utah Valley State College on Wednesday.

Barstow sits in the Times newsroom next to Judith Miller, who was behind bars for 85 days. Barstow said he was not at all surprised when he learned Miller agreed to refer to Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who recently resigned as Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, as a "former (Capitol) Hill staffer."

....

Barstow said he believes that had Miller written a story, she would have renegotiated the way she would have referenced Libby.

"I know there is no way Judy would have used that attribution," he said.

And this is from a supporter.

Tom DeLay, The Matchmaker of Indian Affairs

Shouldn't Tom "Bugchaser" DeLay be forced to register as a lobbyist? Before he's convicted, that is.

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Tom DeLay's staff tried to help lobbyist Jack Abramoff win access to Interior Secretary Gale Norton, an effort that succeeded after Abramoff's Indian tribe clients began funneling a quarter-million dollars to an environmental group founded by Norton.

"Do you think you could call that friend and set up a meeting," then-DeLay staffer Tony Rudy wrote to fellow House aide Thomas Pyle in a Dec. 29, 2000, e-mail titled "Gale Norton-Interior Secretary." President Bush had nominated Norton to the post the day before.

Rudy wrote Abramoff that same day promising he had "good news" about securing a meeting with Norton, forwarding information about the environmental group Norton had founded, according to e-mails obtained by investigators and reviewed by The Associated Press. Rudy's message to Abramoff was sent from Congress' official e-mail system.

Within months, Abramoff clients donated heavily to the Norton-founded group and the lobbyist and one of the tribes he represented won face-to-face time with the secretary during a Sept. 24, 2001, dinner sponsored by the group she had founded.

...

Federal and congressional investigators obtained the DeLay staff e-mails from Abramoff's former lobbying firm as they try to determine whether officials in Congress or the Bush administration provided government assistance in exchange for the vast amounts of money Abramoff's clients donated to Republican causes.

The e-mails, however, weren't provided to Senate Indian Affairs Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain, whose committee held hearings Wednesday into Abramoff's dealings at the Interior department. It has drawn attention, however, among other government investigators examining whether any federal actions were taken in exchange for donations.

Did McCain's committee fail to subpoena these documents? Were they subpoenaed but withheld? Or does the committee have them but hasn't disclosed them, to spare DeLay embarassment or otherwise? How do the reporters know what the committee has and doesn't have?

This, however, is easily explicable.

DeLay's lawyer said this week his client likely didn't know about the assistance his aides gave Abramoff five years ago and does not believe his office would ever provide government assistance in exchange for political donations.

One word. Three letters.

Shortly after the e-mail exchanges, the two DeLay aides, Rudy and Pyle, left DeLay's office for private sector jobs (sic). Rudy went to work for Abramoff while Pyle went to work for the Koch pipeline company, Neither returned calls to their offices this week seeking comment.

Someone needs to put Privates Pyle and Rudy in a wringer and squeeze until the truth comes out.

More about Koch Industries here and here. There is no private sector with these people -- only crony socialism.

Play It As A Joke

Quotes from the WTF? corner:

"I don't mean to suggest that there is something inherently wrong with using one's own life in political writing. But one should use it honestly, rigorously, complicatedly, like critics such as Mary McCarthy, Rebecca West, Joan Didion, or Andrew Sullivan."

One stifles a laugh.

Welcome To The Suck

You know this piece sucks, just from the headline:

The Harry da Reid Code
By DAVID BROOKS

Tomorrow's Papers, Page B7

Brown Out

Who Said There Are No Second Acts?

Remember Norah Vincent, wingnut L.A. Times columnist and failed blogger? Let me refresh your memory. When last seen, Vincent was engaged in a ludicrous attack on Jim Capozzola of The Rittenhouse Review.

She also was, but no longer is, a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, in the heady company of Jeanne Kirkpatrick, Jack Kemp and Cliff May.

Sometime thereafter -- who cares when -- Vincent disappeared from public consciousness.

Vincent has resurfaced in the latest issue of Radar magazine. She has authored an article entitled "My Life As A Man," which is described by the magazine as follows: "Like most women, Norah Vincent wondered what life would be like as a guy. So for 18 months she became one. Scenes from an undercover journey."

The article's not online, fortunately. In it, Vincent apparently dressed as a man to write a book. During that time, she worked selling phone cards and those Entertainment coupon books. And that's about it. The article was more pointless than that MoDo excerpt in the NYT Magazine.

At least Vincent's moved up in the world.

Grand Old Police Blotter: Fox News Edition

Another Republican convict and self-pitying creep:

HONOLULU - A top Republican lawmaker said Monday he will resign from the Hawaii Legislature on Dec. 1 because he was convicted of fondling a woman on a flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu.

Rep. Galen Fox, former House minority leader, said he had been living with the consequences of his arrest, which went unreported for more than 10 months, and believes the people of his district should be represented by someone "unclouded by a conviction such as the one I now carry."

Fox's decision to resign came after a meeting Monday afternoon with fellow Republican, Gov. Linda Lingle.

"It is your decision to make," the governor told Fox, according to her spokesman, Russell Pang. He said she added: "But I think it would be appropriate if you resigned. But again it is your decision to make."

Fox, first elected to the House in 1996 to represent Waikiki and nearby neighborhoods, was convicted Oct. 20 in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles for groping a woman as she slept on a United Airlines flight on Dec. 18 last year. The 27-year-old woman said she awoke to Fox fondling her crotch under her blanket.

Fox appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Margaret Nagle in January. He was convicted in a non-jury trial of abusive sexual conduct, a misdemeanor offense that carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail.

"The woman testified that she was asleep, and she woke up and Mr. Fox's hand was in between her legs and the zipper of her pants was down, and that's essentially the gist of the case," said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the Assistant U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles.

...

"She said things about what I did that were just absolutely untrue. And I said, you know, what I thought had happened. And the judge ruled in her favor," Fox told television station KITV.

...

"I lost. From now on in my personal life, I will have to bear the consequences of that loss," Fox said.

...

Lingle said in a statement that she felt badly for Fox and all the parties involved.

Other parties, Linda? Do you mean the victim? How caring of you.

It's nice to see Lingle apply the Bush standard for criminality and public office: Would you like to resign because of your crimes? It's really up to you. And please don't let me rush you; you've already been through enough.

Let's hope the consequences that Mr. Fox has to live with include six months' imprisonment. For a start.

Sucknblow

TBogg links to an interesting expose of Jay Sucknblow, Messianic mouthpiece and Fat Tony Scalia's personal flight attendant. The most interesting bit involves Sucknblow's former practice:

A review of publicly available tax and court documents, as well as interviews with several former employees, paints a stark portrait of Sekulow as a hard-charging man who emerged from bankruptcy and allegations of securities fraud in the late 1980s to build a complex network of personal, business, and nonprofit entities. At times, those financial dealings have alienated employees and been criticized in court.

Sekulow, 49, has always been an oddity on the evangelical landscape. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., to Jewish parents, Sekulow still describes himself as a "Messianic Jew," meaning he believes Jesus Christ is the Messiah. He says his Jewish faith never caused him trouble among Christian evangelicals.

...

It was in that capacity that Sekulow argued his first case before the Supreme Court, a 1987 dispute involving the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners, which tried to stop Jews for Jesus adherents from distributing leaflets at LAX. Sekulow said he was nervous when his name was called....

At the time of his successful Supreme Court debut, Sekulow was also dealing with a trial of another sort. His private practice, which focused on creating tax shelters and financial deals for the renovation of historic buildings in Atlanta, collapsed when investors sued him for securities violations related to the renovation deals. He and his firm filed for bankruptcy protection in 1987, and more than a dozen creditors filed suit. A later story in the Atlanta Constitution said he left a trail of angry investors and employees. "God brought Jay to his knees then," a former employee told Legal Times.

But Sekulow bounced back up, in part by creating a new nonprofit, Christian Advocates Serving Evangelism (CASE), which still exists today and serves as an important conduit for funds that finance Sekulow's activities. "I almost feel like God raised me back from the dead," Sekulow told the Atlanta paper in 1991. "It was a spiritual rebirth."

According to the article, Sucknblow is now living high on the hog. And off the suckers who fund his non-profits.

One wonders if Sekulow has followed Matthew 5:42 with respect to the creditors, investors and employees his firm screwed over.

God also brought Jay to his knees in the service of Fat Tony Scalia:

In 1998, Sekulow's high-flying ways brought him in close contact with Justice Scalia, who was scheduled to give an address at Regent University in Virginia Beach on the occasion of its 20th anniversary.

Sekulow offered Scalia the chance to travel from Washington to the event on a jet then owned by CASE. Was it appropriate to give a free ride to a Supreme Court justice before whom Sekulow and the ACLJ regularly argued? Sekulow says the jet was leased to Regent University, the host of the event, for that trip as well as for other occasions -- a fact he says was made clear to Scalia. Sekulow, however, declined to provide a copy of the lease document.

Asked about the ride, Scalia said through a spokeswoman that "I honestly cannot remember" the episode. Pat Robertson also said he could not recall the details but added that it is "common" for the university to share transportation resources with related organizations like the ACLJ and CASE.

Another Fat Tony conflict of interest -- what a surprise. At least Nino has learned from Scooter Libby's experience.

This is also interesting: Sucknblow's "other son, Logan, has a late-night comedy show that airs on Christian television networks and is sponsored by CASE." For those who care, Logan's dream car is a "Deloreon" and he's a fan of Hanson.

This Just In

Joel Hinrichs III is still not a terrorist, a Muslim or an "Islamofascist."

More Republican Sleaze

Tom DeLay's pal and favorite racist lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, is again the subject of Senate Indian Affairs Committee investigation into Republican corruption and criminality.

At the hearing, the panel is expected to release copies of emails between Mr. Abramoff and his clients and administration officials. According to people who have read them, the emails document that the lobbyist sought to have his American Indian clients make donations to Ms. Norton's former organization in an attempt to influence the Interior Department. The emails are said to show how the current head of the organization -- the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy -- relayed information about decision-making on the proposed casino between Mr. Abramoff and senior Interior Department officials. The council is a business-backed Republican group that works on conservative solutions to environmental issues. The council once launched a pricey campaign to defeat legislation offered by Mr. McCain to reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses.

...

To help persuade the Interior Department, Mr. Abramoff asked the Coushatta tribe to make donations to the council, which Ms. Norton, a conservative activist and former attorney general of Colorado, helped organize in 1997. The Coushatta tribe gave the group a total of $150,000, according to Jimmy R. Faircloth Jr., a lawyer for the tribe.

After initially siding with Mr. Abramoff's client in 2002, the Interior Department reversed course in December 2003 to endorse the new casino. Last year, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco blocked the rival casino because she is opposed to expanding gambling in Louisiana.

Jack Abramoff's e-mails: The gift that keeps on giving.

Meanwhile, the FBI has a new top four for its Most Wanted List.

Crush The Predator: A Rogertorial

At least three of the four Schwarzenegger propositions (Propositions 74 through 77) are likely to lose. But that's not enough.

Momentum is important. Radical rightism with a botched facelift must go. These initiatives must be crushed, so that Schwarzenegger, Mike Murphy and their corporate paymasters are driven out of Sacramento for good.

The anti-choice Proposition 73, which would deface the California Constitution, should be rejected as well. Why follow the example of the Land of the Miserable Failure.

Frist Is Pissed ... Upon

The United States Senate has been hijacked by the Democratic leadership," said a livid Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.). "They have no convictions [....]"

We're Winning

Are There No Warehouse Stores?

The Bush Labor Department charged WalMart with violating child labor laws for using children under 18 to operate dangerous machinery in its stores. On 85 occasions.

Bush Labor then cut a deal with WalMart -- to give WalMart 15 days notice before inspecting stores for further violations.

The Labor Department's inspector general strongly criticized department officials yesterday for "serious breakdowns" in procedures involving an agreement promising Wal-Mart Stores 15 days' notice before labor investigators would inspect its stores for child labor violations.

The report by the inspector general faulted department officials for making "significant concessions" to Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer, without obtaining anything in return. The report also criticized department officials for letting Wal-Mart lawyers write substantial parts of the settlement and for leaving the department's own legal division out of the settlement process.

The report said that in granting Wal-Mart the 15-day notice, the Wage and Hour Division violated its own handbook. It added that agreeing to let Wal-Mart jointly develop news releases about the settlement with the department violated Labor Department policies.

...

Wal-Mart settled the investigation by agreeing to pay $135,540, but it continued to deny any wrongdoing.

In addition to allowing the 15-day notice, the agreement lets Wal-Mart avoid civil citations and fines if it brings a store into compliance within 10 days of when the department notifies it of a violation.

...

Department officials say that giving 15 days' notice helps to ensure that Wal-Mart will come into compliance.

Call it the Leave No Child Unexploited Act.

Waiting For Hell To Freeze

E.J. Dionne writes:

The Fitzgerald indictment makes perfectly clear that the White House misled the public as to its involvement in sliming Wilson and talking about Plame.

Bush needs to tell the public -- yes, the old phrase still applies -- what he knew about the operation to discredit Wilson and when he knew it. And he shouldn't hide behind those "legalisms" that Republicans were so eager to condemn in the Clinton years.

Dionne is living in fantasyland if he thinks Bush will do anything like that.

Instead of waiting for hell to freeze over, Dionne should encourage his employer to find out what Bush knew and what steps he took to cover it up.

That's nearly as unlikely -- like hell reaching the low 40s.

Maybe Dionne should get off his ass and do it himself.

Scalito's Way

Eggfucker Matt Drudge is claiming that "Before Judge Samuel Alito was even officially announced as President Bush's next Supreme Court nominee, he met a wave of racial discrimination from numerous corners of the mainstream media and the Democrat Party." How? They've referred to Alito as Scalito, in light of his Scaliaesque judicial philosophy.

Let's recall what racist turds Drudge's fans are.

(Sorry, no link to the eggfucker.)

Overkill

Day Three after the announcement of the first Traitorgate indictment, and Howie the Putz is already bored.

Over 100,000 men, women and children killed and wounded in Iraq. Howie calls it overkill because he's over it already.

It's due out in March 2006, so the 'Cracker still has five months to write slap together his cut-and-paste job.

The cover is here and here:

It would seem that the artist has confused Goliath with Gulliver, unless those white lines are intended to illustrate Glenn's commitment to his Second Amendment right to assassainate his ideological enemies. (The absence of a head shot suggests such is not the case.) Although Glenn certainly qualifies as a Li'lputzian.

Restoration Comedy

A mysterious note on the front page of Crazy Davy's FrontPageMag reads:

Restoration Weekend Cancelled.
Rescheduling Information Available Shortly.

No explanation is posted.

What happened? Why did the October 27-30 meeting of the damned not go off as planned?

It can't be Davy's health -- I should say his physical health -- since Davy was posting this on his blog on the 28th:

Scooter Libby was obviously trying to protect his president from a rogue CIA operation which, in conjunction with the French and Saddam were attempting to sabotage America's war effort and restore the fascist Ba'ath Party and its Islamic terrorist allies to power.

Obviously.

So what happened? Weren't appearances Big Pharma, John Ashcroft, Joe Scarborough and Tammy Bruce incentive enough to fleece the sheep this year?

Anyone have the scoop on the death of Restoration Weekend?

A Kaus Hackula Halloween

SoCal's tiniest media critic demonstrates his inferior NYT bashing skills:

"Doubts have been expressed about the big front page NYT scoop of yesterday -- the one that said George Tenet told Cheney about Plame's status, and that Cheney then told Libby. Obvious Problem #1: If Tenet was such a key figure, wouldn't he have testified before the actual grand jury? Obvious problem #2: Would Libby really have been dumb enough to contradict his own notes (which the prosecutor has had from the start) under oath? ... If the Times story falls apart, will reporters Johnston, Stevenson and Jehl get fired like so many people think Judtih Miller should be fired (given that her WMD stories fell apart)? What if Jehl's big front-page Able Danger scoop turns out to be a crock too? That would be two big strikes against Jehl! Hey,what do you have to do to get fired at the New York Times? ... This principle of actually holding reporters accountable for the accuracy of their stories could get out of hand. ..." (Links from original; some links omitted.)

Doubts have been expressed -- if I may use the passive-aggressive voice -- about Kaus's ability to read.

Kaus misstates the Times story to make his point. You're just as shocked as I am, I know.

The authors of the Times piece don't claim that "George Tenet told Cheney about Plame's status." They wrote that sources told them that Libby produced allegedly contemporaneous notes which reflect that Cheney told Libby that Cheney got that information from Tenet. There's a big difference, as even a dolt would understand.

And Kaus's link at "prosecutor has had from the start" does not state that Fitzgerald has had this particular note, or all of Libby's notes, from the start. It doesn't address the subject. (Does Kaus really believe that the assertion "They [grand jurors] have sifted through the day planners of White House aides" confirms that Fitzgerald had all of Libby's documents from the start?) The Times article says that Libby's notes are "now in Mr. Fitzgerald's possession." (Emphasis added.)

As to whether the Times account of the note is accurate, read paragraph 9 of the indictment. It states that on June 12, 2003, Cheney told Libby he got the information on Plame from the CIA. Since Libby testified he didn't get the information from Biggus Dickus, according to the indictment, that means Fitzgerald got the information from either (1) Libby's notes of the meeting or (2) Cheney himself, during the unsworn interview. So the Times report is consistent with the allegations of the indictment.

No wonder Kaus is terrified by the concepts of accountability and accuracy. The real question is, what do you have to do to keep your job at Slate?

Miserable Failure

Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president? Do you approve/disapprove strongly or somewhat?

10/29/05

Approve

NET -- 39
Strongly -- 22
Somewhat -- 17

Disapprove

NET -- 58
Strongly -- 45
Somewhat -- 13

No opinion -- 3

Nearly half of the respondents -- 45 percent -- think that Bush is a miserable failure. Who am I to argue with the wisdom of the American people?