Fitz!

Finally!

That’s fucking funny - “Circle Jerk”. Heh.

I heard she is lobbying agains the production of new higher definition televisions because she’s afraid the craters on her cheeks will scare small children and give them psychological problems.

btw, I read “Killer Instinct” a while back and it is still the funniest non-fiction book I ever read.

This is by far the best “book review” regarding Plan of a Hack……
A MUST READ!!

WoodwardÂ’s Work
We were on to this guy’s act a long time ago. Here, a review of his book, “Plan of Attack,” from our June 7, 2004, issue.
By Robert Kuttner
Web Exclusive: 11.21.05

http://www.prospect.org/web/pa.....leId=10657

snippet:

Here is the formula: Woodward combines an official account of events with just enough titillating details of internecine spats, plus officially approved scoops of classified operations, to preserve his persona as an outsider. The disagreements he reports among the senior Bush team give the book its credibility — and give Bush himself a particular halo as the wise leader, discerning the best policy from all the contention. We learn, for instance, that Secretary of State Colin Powell called Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz’s cabal the “Gestapo office,” and that General Tommy Franks, the commander of the Iraq operation, said of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s arrogant and badly informed aide Douglas Feith, “I have to deal with the fucking stupidest guy on the face of the earth almost every day.” Inevitably, we learn more details of Powell’s doubts about the Iraq War that he shared with the president (and with Woodward). We learn that $700 million appropriated for anti-terrorism was diverted to Iraq, that the CIA spied on United Nations weapons inspector Hans Blix, and that Saudis promised to make up for any oil shortfall from an Iraq War. These were among the tidbits extracted by a breathless press when the book first appeared. Even the left press was so delighted to have the White House obsession with Iraq confirmed and some CIA skullduggery disclosed that it gave Woodward’s adulation of Bush a free pass.

One of the most revealing threads of the book is astonishingly extensive detail about just how the CIA runs operations, on the ground, inside hostile territory; how it pays off local sources with $100 bills; what kind of communications devices it uses; even the occupational identities of some of its foreign spies. Woodward got direct access to the CIA’s top operations people in Iraq. If, say, a retired intelligence agent had sought to publish this level of detail in a memoir, the government’s lawyers would have vetoed it. So one has to ask, what did the administration think it was buying when it compromised security and jeopardized confidential relationships to share this extraordinary level of operational detail with investigator Bob Woodward?

Fitzing away the evening noticing Andrea’s knickers in tatters from some Jane ass-whoopin’… again. Continued kudos to FDL for making sure the lame among the lamest get outed forthwith. I’d be insane to say it any differently. No more insane than Diebold telling the truth.

The Psychotic Patriot

Woodward’s book was ‘good’ enough to be recommended by the Bush/Cheney/Satan/2004 re-election campaign…

They did a damage assessment within the Whitehouse, looking at what this did that [former president] Bill Clinton’s dick [Little Willie] was sucked. And turned out it was quite minimal damage. They did not have to pull anyone out undercover abroad. They didn’t have to resettle anyone. There was no physical danger to anyone, and there was just some embarrassment. So people have kind of compared — somebody was saying this was Aldrich Ames or Bob Hanssen, big spies. This didn’t cause damage.

From Dan Froomklin’s column today:

Here is the text of the remarks Bush made yesterday in Arizona at a fundraising dinner for Jon Kyl’s Senate re-election campaign.

The remarks appear largely if not entirely unscripted. And Bush unscripted can be telling — not because he says anything new, but because of how he phrases things. His language reflects how, in his brain, the complicated, nuanced, carefully crafted talking points generated by his communications experts become a bit more simplified and abstract.

“The enemy has made Iraq a central front in this war on terror, so we must take it seriously,” he said. “We’re going to succeed in Iraq because our vision, and the vision of those in Iraq who believe in democracy, is positive and hopeful, as opposed to the vision of the suiciders and killers of the innocent. We’re going to succeed in Iraq because we’ve got a plan that will help the Iraqis not only develop a democracy, but a security force.

“Listen, the Iraqis want to defend themselves. They want to be capable of fighting off an enemy. And our job is to make sure they are capable. We will stay until the job is done, not a day longer. We will get the job done in Iraq. . . .

“And Jon Kyl understands that in this war on terror it’s important to have members of the United States Senate who understand mixed messages, and who understand that when we’ve got a kid in harm’s way, that soldier deserves all the very best that the federal government can give him in terms of equipment and training and support.”

And this…..at the same place….

Need To Know
Gerald Lechliter, the retired officer who traced BushÂ’s military record, has assigned himself a new task — deciphering the Plame investigation.
By Greg Sargent
Web Exclusive: 11.16.05

snippet:

The press — and Fitzgerald — has mostly focused on whether a criminal act occurred when one or more of these officials passed the info to reporters. But Lechliter argues that a perhaps more important question is this: Have the above officials violated federal rules by privately sharing classified information with each other? Lechliter argues, compellingly, that thereÂ’s little doubt that the above officials had no “need-to-know” this information. Therefore, he continues, one or more of them may have violated the executive order simply by passing the information on to a colleague without a “need-to-know” it.

“Clearance does not entitle a government employee to access to all [classified] information, but only to that material necessary to perform his or her valid government function,” Lechliter writes. “I cannot conceive of any plausible reason,” he continues, for these senior officials to “have a need to know the status of Mrs. Wilson.”

A violation of an executive order may not be a criminal act, Lechliter notes. But it is a violation of federal rules all the same. So what is supposed to be done about it? Federal regulations, he points out, require the Executive Office of the President to launch an internal inquiry and discipline any violators.

That, of course, appears not to have happened. And that, Lechliter argues, is where Fitzgerald comes in. HereÂ’s how: Lechliter points to a now well-known February 6, 2004 letter to Fitzgerald from Deputy Attorney General James Comey, in which Comey defines the special counselÂ’s authority. The letter says that FitzgeraldÂ’s authority is “plenary and includes the authority” to investigate “violations of any federal laws.” But it also says something that’s gone pretty much unnoticed: that Fitzgerald has the authority to “pursue administrative remedies and civil sanctions … that are within the Attorney GeneralÂ’s authority to impose or pursue.”

That sentence is the key, Lechliter argues. Because it very clearly states that Fitzgerald, who for all practical purposes has been granted the powers of the attorney general, can do more than just prosecute criminal acts. He can also pursue “administrative remedies” within the attorney generalÂ’s authority. In this case, Lechliter says, the administrative violations Fitzgerald could recommend “remedies” for include the improper — though not illegal — sharing of classified information.

http://www.prospect.org/web/pa.....leId=10625

Jane - A late comment to your earlier piece on blogging: What I get from fdl in particular is a) top notch political and legal analysis, backed up by b) a massive, real-time research team c) with high-level, interactive analysis povided by the same, leading to d) unusually detailed and accurate information, IMO, about current events (way ahead of the MSM.)

Saying it simply: fdl is a marvelous system for distilling the “wisdom of crowds.”

Well done!

And, you’ve like seen it, but in case not, Ms. Huffington connects the dots on Woodward:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....11363.html

Peace,
UL

I keep coming back to Porter Goss as a player in the Plame leak and a/the possible source for Woodward (including the “no damage done” statement).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porter_J._Goss

—[snip from above]—The Herald Tribune reported his take on the Valerie Plame leak in October 2003: “Somebody sends me a blue dress and some DNA, I’ll have an investigation” (a sarcastic reference to the Monica Lewinsky scandal). Goss said he has no evidence that the controversy is more than a product of “wild and unsubstantiated allegations, which are being obviously piled on by partisan politics during an election year.” Goss’s current spokesperson at CIA in 2005 is Jennifer Millerwise, who is believed to have been questioned by the Grand Jury regarding the events about the Plame leak that resulted in charges against I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby.. —–

Oh, Woodward and Goss were both members of Book and Snake SS at Yale, FWIW- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_and_Snake
-

Would someone mind explaining something to me? Besides T Rex, what is a trex? Thank you in advance.

A couple of threads late, but I love this place. I am in a place off the beaten path and it helps me to feel connected…with reality.

You take three little dinky days and go out of town, and catching up becomes a full-time occupation with overtime! Whew!

Tweety is starting to sneak sips of kool aid again. He is like a reformed smoker — they are the worst anti-smokers around. As a former dem, he can’t trash the dems enough, like trashing them will hide his shame for having been one. Plus, he sees himself in President Clusterfuck in so many ways, so when he defends him, he is defending himself, against his own self-criticisms. Right there is public view, too. Gotta love it.

Jane

A real ‘tip of the hat/ and grand sweeping bow’ to your ‘Money can’t buy you love” post.

It gets to the heart of the current thread here about MSM credibilty. I truly think the MSM paradigm is over. Historically dead.

Blogs abilities to arrive at a proximation of the “Truth” is light years ahead of the old MSM top down, centralized model of ‘News”.

Blogs seem closely related to Open Source Software. If you post code, you will get peer reviewed so fast your ‘ones n’ zeroes’ will spin.

Good code surprises and rises, bad code stinks and sinks.

(Sorry for that touch of Johnnie Cochran)

A few ground rules and sensible moderation seem to be the only caveats to blogs functioning far better in pursue of honest answers than the MSM ‘Pressitude A Palooza’

lol

No, I won’t do it. I won’t make any circle jerk jokes.

I’m taking the high road.

But this one time, at band camp. . .

[quote]Mrs. K8: no problem.
And there are no dumb questions.
Just dumb voters.
Pachacutec |11.29.05-4:27 pm| #[/quote]

or, if diebold gets its way, PARALYZED voters.

diebold machines can be changed in 90 seconds by a high school student.

their tabulators, which add up all the votes including absentee, can also be easily reprogrammed. so diebold employees decide who is elected. this is democracy??

states must decide by january 1 if they will purchase diebold voting machines to get federal $.

please….everyone….contact yr secretary of state and urge them NOT to allow diebold voting machines to corrupt our system.

california is trying to have a test of the machines, diebold insists the results be kept secret until, you guessed it, after jan 1.

ohio referendum results were vastly different from the polls. yes polls can be wrong, but by 40%? [tinfoil hat on] did diebold machines provide the margin of victory in ohio for bush, even tho the polls said kerry would win? [hat off]

i am naive enough to believe that we people should elect our leaders without interference from this egregiously evil company.

This highlights the problem with Cable “news” (sic).

These “journalists” don’t write this major scoop in their respective papers or print media. With the current uproar amongst ombudsmen about anonymous sources, they would have to tell an editor who the scooped info to them or at least convince their editors that its reliable.

Cable “news” (sic) or “news analysis” has no editorial oversight and these journalists can say what they want entirely unsourced for their own political or personal interests. Especially if they know that the truth is so deeply classified there’s no way they’ll ever be proven wrong.

Maggie,
Trexing is a process introduced to fdl by blogger Thethaurus Rex, (quickly dubbed trexing) in which a troll’s abusive post is modified or ammended by the blog owner in a deliberately embarrassing manner, with the original poster’s name left intact. It’s been effective in discouraging posts by those of the trollish persuasion. An amateur example:

AND I’D WHUP YOU ALL TO KINGDOM COME WITH ONE HAND TIED BEHIND MY BACK, IF THEY’D JUST GIVE ME BACK MY POINTY SCISSORS, DAMN WHO STOLE MY CRAYONS…?

all anyone has to do is point to the fact that brewster jinnings and associates had to close sho due to the exposure

why hasn’t anyone asked woodie about brewster jennings?

Re: Anatomy of a Circle Jerk.

Nice work.

Which also cremates the Bonfire to HIS Vanities ridiculously contrived by Nora Ephron that Woody wasn’t (deliberately) lying on LKL etc. or that Spun Bob Smearpants dissing Fitzgerald while obstructing Fitzgerald’s investigation was merely Beltway royalty showing an Irish serf his place.

andrea.mitchell@nbc.com

JANE, ME and others– an invitation from E&P that seems designed for you/ us and way too good an opportunity to pass up–

http://www.editorandpublisher......1001572260

TUESDAY’S LETTERS: Nominations for the ‘Absurd Political Journalism’ Award

NEW YORK Today’s letters [snip] and one reader addresses what he views as a lack of substance in political reporting. If you have your own nominations for the “Absurd Political Journalism Award,” send them to letters@editorandpublisher.com.

This appears to be the letter E&P is referencing re: lack of substance in political reporting–

—Explaining Woodward
(Letter) So, the current spin of this story is that Woodward is part of the problem? Well, duh. When are you guys going to call him/the Mainstream media on it? Mistakes were maid (sic) is not going to cut it anymore.—-
-

Thanks, percy. I had a feeling it was something like that. I read a weird post belittling the Plame outing that had something about jackbooted thugs in it that just didn’t fit. My suspicion index went up on that!

I like it. And since I am no troll, I don’t have to worry about it happening to me. I like that.

Peace.

me to me to me
woodie thinks brewster and jennings is a high end cooking supply store

on the trexing subject
i am assuming the ip addresses of posters are determinable by the haloscan admins - i cannot see anything
right?
(i think it’s better that way)

Jane,

Thank you for continuing to slap Andrea Mitchell around for her well-documented bullshit. I’m so tired of these tacitly well-connected, pompous frauds urinating all over the truth.

Blogs don’t have to worry about etiquette, they aren’t beholden to corporate masters and they provide a brilliant and dynamic virtual Town Hall where everyone is welcome to sound off, unfiltered.

If newspapers disappeared tomorrow I’d miss their portability and the ink on my fingers…other than that, blogs win in a landslide.

Regarding the Cairo Peace talks, anyone know why Dr. Rice didn’t go?

snip
A major conference held in Cairo this weekend provided the spectrum of IraqÂ’s political class with an opportunity to engage in a give-and-take about a negotiated end to the war in Iraq. snip
and,
The significance of the meeting is that it brought together Shiite and Kurdish officials with leaders of various Sunni factions, including some of those with close ties to the Iraqi resistance. Waiting in the wings were people representing a spectrum of groups currently battling the U.S. occupation. According to Aiham al-Sammarae, who served in Iraq’s 2003-2004 interim government, several leaders of insurgent groups went to Cairo to participate on the fringes of the meeting. Opposition from Iraq’s main Shiite parties made it impossible for them to attend the conference itself, but that may be the next step. In a surprising statement after the conference, the attendees condemned terrorism but added that “resistance is a legitimate right of all peoples.” The conferees clearly intended to marginalize the forces associated with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s Al Qaeda in Iraq while encouraging opposition forces led by Iraqi nationalists, Baathists, and former military officers to join the talks.

The conference drew strong support from Russia, from the European Union, whose chief foreign affairs official, Javier Solana, helped organize it, and from the United Nations. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan also helped organize the meeting and sent Ashraf Qazi, his special representative, to the conference itself. The broad support from virtually all of the international community made the cool reception from the United States even more glaring.

In his AEI speech yesterday, Cheney did not even mention the Arab League conference.

https://www.democrats.org/page/contribute/schmidtbillboard

This is good. It’s time to put your money where your mouth is. I am in for $25

Gotta Love it, this is a national campaign… But it starts rolling here.

Gezz, these experts like Mrs. Greenspan and Woody are so cock-sure no damage was done cuz somebody in the WH told them so (and, again, hate to bring this up, but what the hell was that report that Woody had in his pocket on Larry’s show the night before Fitzmas that he claimed showed no damage was done??)…. but meanwhile, according to that newspaper of high integrity, the NY Post, Val Wilson’s leaving the CIA after her 20 years with her pension because her career was destroyed by BushCo as payback for her husband daring to ruffle Cheney’s feathers: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....11384.html

The letter says that Fitzgerald’s authority is “plenary and includes the authority” to investigate “violations of any federal laws.”

that word — PLENARY — is pregnant with power, that turns the bringer of Fitzmas into a 21st century Untouchable.

As in — Patrick Fitzgerald has the power of the Office of Attorney General, and can’t be fired by anyone.

from TheLawEncyclopedia.com:

adj. full, complete, covering all matters, usually referring to an order, hearing or trial.

from Dictionary.com:

1. Full in all respects; complete; absolute; as, plenary authority.
2. Fully attended by all qualified members.

Judges like to quote a 1936 Supreme Court opinion that spoke of “the very delicate, plenary and exclusive power of the President as the sole organ of the Federal Government in the field of international relations.”

Untouchable — I like that; I like that a lot . . .

heh . . .

percy — I’m using that one. Gimme a troll!!

http://www.democrats.org/page/.....tbillboard

You can help get the message out by writing a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. You’ll get writing tips and talking points on the hot issue or agenda item of your choice to help get you started: http://www.democrats.org/lte

http://fusioner.proboards60.co.....1131129004

[quote]re: DIEBOLD . . .
CA sos, a gopper, is ready to re-certify diebold in CA but has agreed to let a hacker try to break into a machine . . .
should not too difficult!!!
iheartjane! | 11.29.05 - 6:27 pm |

…………ya…….except for this one little thing. ca secretary of state and diebold have not yet agreed in their negotiations about how to conduct the test. diebold wants to provide the (new, one and only honest) machine for the test.

worse, diebold is insisting that the results of the test be kept SECRET until…….after january 1, which is the national deadline for states to make a decision on buying voting machines with federal money.

ironically this is under HAVA, help america vote act, which was passed after suspected 2000 vote fraud.

please, all…..contact yr secretary of state and urge them not to buy diebold machines. failing that, insist there be a test for their integrity. or, finally, ask congress to postpone this jan 1 deadline.

i am naive, i think that WE should elect our leaders, not the employees of diebold.

Jane - I was serious. I can’t find my damn crayons…

[quote]”Seems to me a good form of political judo would be to post hacking instructions all over the internet. Maybe invite reporters to come visit. Spread a little sunshine on a shadowy topic, and put the validity of these systems into well-deserved severe doubt.”

percy, what a great idea. The hacking instructions should be prominently included in every letter to congress and state authorities that we write to on this issue.
Shez | 11.29.05 - 6:05 pm | #
[/quote]

percy is my new hero. let’s post the instructions of how to hack the diebold voting machines. jan 1 deadline for states……save the vote!!!

percy,

if you help publish how to hack into diebold voting machines and thereby save our democracy, i will buy you a new set of crayons. yes, the box with 128.

maggie, to see the latest brilliant trexin’, you can find it in the ‘Money Can’t Buy Love’ thread posted by Anonymous | 11.29.05 - 12:59 pm, the first paragraph is original, the second one all the fun.

Here: http://www.haloscan.com/commen.....39/#176895

LOL Jane, too funny. Yea, get her another troll.

It’s all about the management of public perception by the MSM, at this point.

Nobody knows what cards Fitzgerald has, or might soon have, and they’re heavily in the damage control/plausible deniability mode.

At least we now know definitively who the water bearers (Woodward, Miller, Nora O’Donnell etc.) are.

Nothing like a little sunshine.

Thanks Fitz.

Jane, I am blown away by your brilliance and that of Redd Hedd. The abilty to both understand and yes even enjoy the Treasongate scandal has been elevated immeasurably by fdl. It’s a fair statement to say the whole thing would not have been nearly as fascinating without fdl out in front.

The only thing that I don’t get is that you always seem to expect more than what we get, have got, or will ever get from numbskull msms hacks like the bizarre and heavily medicated Andrea Mitchell. Why on earth would you mention “credibility” in the same post as this hideous lying bitch? Does someone as savvy as you honestly expect that from her? Newsflash: she has none.

I’ve always thought Arianna’s “Russert watch” was a monumental waste of good blogging space for the very same reason: the guy is a total disinformation agent, far more concerned with playing ball to keep his access than dealing in any kind of truth. As far as I’m concerned, the lying bastard badly needs a nice stay in Gitmo or Abu Ghraib.

But if I may, for Jane Hamsher and fdl to waste precious space and effort on the incoherent mumblings of the reanimated zombie infowhore known as Andrea Mitchell is even worse. Fuck her. Of course, just as long as it’s not me!

just saw excerpts of today’s Rumsfeld PC on Anderson Cooper. they talk about whether GW is nuts, but Rumsfeld’s much further gone. The old guy looked liked someone had poked him with a cattle prod when that poor military cospokesman standing next to him suggested that it was standing military policy for soldiers to by god put an end to mistreatment of Irqis if they saw it. No, no, no says Rummy, they’re just supposed to report it down some rathole of a bureaucratic rathole never to be heard from again.

What is it about torture that so turns on the Rumsfeld, Cheney types? Turns em on! Even Cooper was shaking his head at Rumsfeld’s deranged performance.

is GW nuts? I’d say THEY ALL NUTS.

egregious - Wish I had more information. A Finnish programmer named Harri Hursti wrote a program which quickly hacks Diebold’s system. A report written by him is here:
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/BBVreport.pdf

It’s worth noting that while Diebold is the most notorious of the four companies which provide the US with voting machines and tablulating software, NONE of the systems provides transparency, nor a truly recountable paper trail. They are all vulnerable to undetectable hacking.

The story has been virtually ignored by the MSM, largely, I think, because it’s about statistics and programs, not people i.e. it’s complex and not sexy. It’s also been dismissed as tin-hat fantasy by many. The Harri Hursti demo may change that. It’s visual and can be worked into a 3 minute news story.

Thanks for hammering the chattering classes on this no damage claim. It’s one of many talking points that just ticks me off.

This on your earlier post about what we get from blogging. i get the satisfaction of knowing it’s making them all crazy trying to keep up with us. Tee hee hee!!

They know we are watching them and not giving any of them any wiggle room to spin the BS. All of them, the politicians and the MSM.

The thing that really drives em’ nuts is that they know we are smarter than they are and they can’t hide under their respective rocks anymore!!

Here is my toast to you…..clink!

The CIA has not conducted a formal damage assessment, as is routinely done in cases of espionage and after any legal proceedings have been exhausted.
(snip)
Intelligence officials said they would never reveal the true extent of her contacts to protect the agency and its work.

OK, so is it that the legal proceedings are ongoing, or is it that the damage is so bad, and the extent of it is still under damage control?

I wouldn’t be surprised if someone in the CIA is sitting on a damning internal damage assessment that Porter Goss is working to make sure never sees the light of day. The leaks are on the assumption that this report will never be seen.

Diebold has been all over slashdot for at least a couple years
for the unfamiliar, slashdot is THE precursor of the ‘modern blog’ where various people post links to interesting items and discuss
it is rather blown and bloated by now, but once upon a time it truly was:
News for Nerds
Stuff That Matters

still worth a gander from time to time

By the way - anyone who thinks the CIA is going to *publish* a damage assessment of covert operations disclosure has got to be nuts.
If any such document was published, how would you judge it’s validity anyway?
Wingnut clue: covert = *secret*

Don’t forget that two stars have been added to the plaque that (anonymously) honors those who have been killed in the line at the CIA, since Valerie Plame was outed. We will never know who, or why.

I find it inconceivable that the CIA didn’t do some sort of assessment about the damage done by the betrayal of one of their agents. Fitz himself said he wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole. So I just don’t buy the whole Washington Post article.

Next, there’s the question of whether you believe Mitchell/Woodward/Carlson’s assertion that no damage was done. The answer to that, of course, is no. If there was really no damage from the Plame leak, the CIA would have declassified this information. Portor Goss would have just flat-out said that no damage was done. So I don’t buy this story, either.

So we’re still waiting for the truth.

Ed Caccia — Kathi is right. Because it makes them crazy. Nary a Hardball goes by without them bitching about bloggers who call them on their shit. With all the Imus embarassment Mitchell has suffered of late, we can only hope that she will be a little less efficient in shoveling all Karl Rove’s press releases onto the public.

http://www.democrats.org/a/nat....._of_power/

The corruption files :)

Loved the new Woodward moniker ‘Spun Bob Smear Pants’.

Do ya think the Postal Service would issue a commemorative stamp series for “MainStreamMedia” bimbos and bimbeaus.

I’ve got a few visuals but they’re too scary to share.

All the talk and writing by people like Mitchell, Woodward and their ilk about how the disclosure of Plame’s status did minimal damage is totally irrelevant to the question whether a crime was committed under the terms of Section 421, the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. The act itself makes no mention of a damagement assessment being needed to ascertain guilt.

The law is broken when someone who has access to classified information knows or learns that an agent has covert status, and then intentionally discloses that information to someone who is not cleared to receive that information. Even if the recipient has security clearance, there must be a need to know on the part of the recipient.

Here is a link to the text of the IIPA Act.

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/.....ection_Act

Look, if I rob a bank and get caught, I will still have to stand trial for bank robbery whether I made of with $50,000 or $2 and change. A crime is a crime. How come these nitwits don’t understand that?

so again, andrea mitchell…. ooooh wouldn’t it be nice if she read these posts… can somebody send them to her?
and tell her 2: fuck you andreahhhhh

this is off topic but a must read — up on the guardian unlimited website: a painful, scathing new indictment of the iraq debacle by someone who knows what he’s talking about. This report is linked to the article it cites.

percy, thanks for that PDF on the security issues with Diebold machines. I skimmed through it after saving a copy, some interesting links in the ‘Footnotes’ on pgs 23-24.

I’d sure love to see what kind of a letter Me could come up with on this, I’m sure he already has one on voting machines, but I would like to see some actual detailed hacking points and links included.

Four kidnapped in Iraq
http://english.aljazeera.net/N.....CFACF8.htm

saw a a local news item on WGN-Chicago tonight
THe Christian Peacemakers group has an office on the near South Side of Chicago (16th & California)
The whole story seemed peculiar
First - the offices are in a very working class, largely hispanic neighborhood
the woman interviewed would not show her face “for security reasons”
the whole thing seemed very strange - not quite right

letters@msnbc.com
andrea.mitchell@nbc.com
Hardball@msnbc.com
viewerservices@msnbc.com

I can’t do it _all_ by myself… Her addy is right there, I already posted it once!!!

http://fusioner.proboards60.co.....1131129004

She has been on the list for awhile now. SEND LETTERS PEOPLE!!!

Jane –

You and ReddHedd go right on holding their feet to the fire! Go go go! And we back you up by writing insistent letters to them, demanding they account for their “inconsistencies.” It should at least make them nervous to know that a good slice of their audience is on to them.

In spite of having written to Mrs. Turtle Greenspan before regarding other outrages (and getting no reply), it will give me great pleasure to needle her about providing her “sourcing” for this fantasy report she claims to know about.

I think we ALL should send her a little note — each one individually written, so that she never gets to think it’s the same sort of goofy astroturf the fascisti send out on command from the Gauleiter.

Maybe you might include an update to the thread, suggesting just such a little homework assignment for all FDL regulars? What a hoot to think of her inbox filling with urgent pleas for her to put the minds of citizens everywhere at ease with a confirmation of her bold reporting on the state of our national security!

The first Diebold voting machines had no print function.
ANY half-assed accountant can tell you that any system must have an audit trail… some way to verify repeatable results.
Electronic storage is modifiable and unstable.
The hard drive crashes and thousands of votes are lost - the equivilent of a fire in a paper balot storage area - except far more probable.
Print should not be an option, but a requirement.
The salient point to me is not whether the machines can be compromised, but whether you would:
a. know that a compromise occured
b. be able to quantify the compromise
c. be able to remediate the compromise

Without afirmative answers to all 3 questions, electronic voting is , at best, a more expensive alternative, and at worst more expensive and less reliable.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....11414.html

Excellent post on HuffPo. Bush’s mental health being questioned hard. Read the comments.

I agree with Frank Probst post above. It would be inconceivable for the CIA not to have done, at a minimum, a prelininary damage assessment–it would be derelict to await the end of all legal proceedings because obviously that would be potentially jeopardizing lives, and methods, in the interim.

And, of course, the extent of any damage is where the rubber meets the road in this situation, because if there was truly real damage done (and I don’t know the answer to the question), then it makes the actions of Libby, Rove et. al. that much more reprehensible, and actionable under criminal law.

I suggest Redd and Jane actually delve into this issue in more detail. Contact Andrea Mitchell and see what she bases her statements. It is actually quite critical in all this to try and uncover the actual level and degree of damage.

Also, wouldn’t you think this is something that Fitz would be looking into? How can he make the necessary value judgments about whether to bring criminal indictments unless he has an appreciation of the actual harm. He must know something about this therefore. I think the answer to this question of actual damage is crucial.

suntzu –

You make a most excellent and fundamental point. And if I’m not mistaken, the same point can be made about prosecution by means of the Espionage Act.

Nor do perjury, obstruction of justice, or false statements become crimes only if the CIA certifies there was damage done.

“a bunch of blabby right wing journalists”. God I love it!
The Hedd, the Hamsher and the Huff, natural born killers, all. And so, so, positively, productively, seductively, constructively, cleverly and vitriolicy too.

Does it get any better? Yes… everyday it do.

Shez: ” I would like to see some actual detailed hacking points and links included.”

So would I. I followed this story closely after the last presidential election, but found no definitive, clear, well organized information… Lots of tantalizing bits and pieces spread out all over the place. But nothing like what we have here on Plamegate & related matters.

If I’m not mistaken, there was a gentleman who came up with an electronic voting system which was virtually hack-proof and which provided a paper trail and a paper receipt to each voter.

I forget the poor man’s name. I say “poor man” because, *oddly enough*, on his way to bid for consideration of his voting system, he was in a tragic automobile accident (if I’m remembering correctly, he was hit by an 18 wheeler).

Sadly, the man was the owner and operator of the company, and it appears that his company died with him. Too bad. You’d think there’d be some way to *resurrect* his company, so to speak, or at least the idea behind his basic system. I’d love to know what his family thinks about all this.

Jane: keep firing cannon shots to her bow.

Maybe nobody wanted to take on crater cheeks
until now out of deference to hubby who
kept the economic ship of state going swell
for the rich Repugs who have thrived with his
bubbles, encouraging obscene deficits etc…..
General Electric just loved her because she
shared the same bed as the Fed Oracle.
Andrea as corporate red light worker. Well
hubby is retiring and Andrea now looses her
access pass. Maybe she will sell tupperware.

Jane and REddHedd - I am recovering from fdl withdrawal over the holiday weekend. Was at a hotel 600 miles from home without my laptop - what a mistake. The computer my hotel made available for public use blocked your website because of “adult/mature” content - WTF! I am still trying to catch up and lovin every minute. Keep up the great work.

Frank Probst: I find it inconceivable that the CIA didn’t do some sort of assessment about the damage done by the betrayal of one of their agents.

The probablity that the CIA did a damage assessment soon after learning about the Plame leak approaches 100% for the simple reason that they had to make an audit of all the intelligence assets that could be affected by the leak. However, because the assessment itself involves classified information, the probablity of a public release approaches 0%.

When Fitzgerald applied to the court to force Miller to testify, his justification included 8 pages of redacted information which very likely included some kind of damage statement from the CIA. The judges were impressed enough to let Fitz force Miller’s hand, who then decided to become a martyr (in her eyes) to the first amendment. This phase of the investigation alone suggests that the judges thought there was enough damage to challenge Miller’s first amendment rights.

The Libby defense strategy may include trying to force Fitz’s hand by demanding a release of the damage assessment in order to prove that hey folk’s it was just a school yard prank, no harm done. Whether the Libby team succeeds in this is another matter, but they have to be careful because an assessment of severe damage could boomerang on them.

Fitz made it quite clear in the indictment that the charges of perjury and obstruction, bypasses the question of the underlying crime, which he admitted is harder to uncover because of the obstruction and lying. Fitz may also have been quite cagey in avoiding (for now) using the IIPA or Espionage act, which would have guaranteed a much more complex discovery and trial. He also explicitly stated that a charge of perjury and obstruction per se obviates the need for the release of much if any classified information. All he needs to prove is that Scooter lied.

Not to carry on and on, but the supreme irony is that I am just another unpaid gooney bird pecking on my keyboard, and I know all this shit, and all those millionaire pundits don’t have a clue. Or, if they have clue they are lying through their teeth, which is worse and more shameful than being dumb.

A good example of a voting machine with a receipt is a lotto machine. Basically you are voting on a particular set of numbers. Each state has the available infrastructure and it wouldn’t cost a nickel. Voters could go to any
7-11 on Election Day, circle their choices and have the attendant run it through…….and instead of an Iheartvoted sticker, we could be given a slurpee! That would bring ‘em in!

So today the prez tours border crossing facilities in TX and never leaves his car? Spose he was too loaded to walk in public?

Frank Probst, Robin — I have no doubt that the CIA knows what damage came as a result of the Plame outing, and the WaPo article says as much:

[A]fter Plame’s name appeared in Robert D. Novak’s column, the CIA informed the Justice Department in a simple questionnaire that the damage was serious enough to warrant an investigation, officials said.

However, they make the point that they haven’t done a formal damage assessment, which “is routinely donoe after any legal proceedings have been exhausted.”

Fitz is not done. The article makes it quite clear that no official report has been generated and circulated. The shilldom of all the above remains unchallenged.

Me: thanks for the HuffPo link, but I have a beef with that guy.

To say anyone shows behaviors consistent with symptoms of a whole range of disorders is an irresponsible dodge. Why? Because we all do.

Diagnoses are made of of a set of symptom behaviors, usually a list of, for example, seven. To meet the criteria for a diagnosis, a person must show, according to the criteria, perhaps five of those seven for a sufficient duration of time and of sufficient severity, also according to the criteria.

Every psych grad student, when fist learning the manual, looks at themsleves and everyone around them and suddenly sees “symptoms” everywhere. The truth is, we all show some of the symptoms all over the book, but not all of us do so with sufficient severity, duration and multiplicity for any one criterion to be diagnosable.

That guy is an M. D. and he is selling a book, but he’s being unprofessional and unethical making armchair diagnoses and claims based on no actual examination of the subject. He’s at least as bad as Bill Frist with his Schiavo diagnosis.

I have entertained hypotheses without making expert claims of fact about Bush’s mental health. I have answered people’s questions here about mental health topics. But this guy has gone over the line, and I have no respect for him.

If we are going to excoriate media shills for selling out, then this guy deserves at least as much condemnation, because he is part of a profession with serious codes of conduct, and journalists lack those kinds of enforceable codes.

For more on the issue of codes and how they define professions, and how this relates to journalism (hint: it’s not really a “profession”), then see my old article here:

http://scoop.epluribusmedia.or.....02454/9736

Addendum: However, I will give the guy credit for this: he has some marketing sense. The “Bush is Fucking Nuts” meme is taking off, as I discussed in a comment earlier today, and so he’s flogging his book, which has become a bit stale, to take advantage of the wave.

On the Diebold issue–

ccmask-
I like the idea of voting at 7-11. Why aren’t the voting machines as secure as the lotto machines?

I posted this thought on one of the threads a few days ago,when Diebold came up. Why not boycott them? Don’t just raise a stink about their voting machines. Raise a stink about their ATMs, too. Don’t use their ATMs. If your bank uses them, complain to the bank. Go protest at an ATM industry trade show. (There’s an ATM trade show in Orlando in February).

The shilldom of all the above remains unchallenged.

Not after my email ;)

Me: thanks for the HuffPo link, but I have a beef with that guy.

I never claimed he was the man from glad. I noted the post because it is the first time I have seen (outside small time blog comments) somebody posting directly that mental illness and psychosis are an issue with this presidency. It’s been hinted, never directly said in a place you can get to just one click off Yahoo.

blythetdm, yea, WTF? Did they mean adult language, or just liberal blogs were blocked? lol Did you try any other sites?

And, I must give an appreciative thank you to whomever came up with the ‘Spun Bob Smearpants’, that’s hilarious!

Andrea and Hillary at the KOOL AID Fountain

Could someone tell Hillary to go tag along with
hubby Bill and keep his heart from clogging
up again. Her war-mongering support for
the Iraq war and the need to honorably finish
it makes me want to gag. Hope her political
future goes no further than New York State.
Whose votes is she trying to get-Republican
moderates and chicken hawk democrats?
I don’t want to become a Hillary basher
and yet the Democrats are not going to win
with her. Maybe she and Andrea drink the
same kool-aid but different flavors.

Me: I wasn’t saying you should not link to it, and I hear what you are saying. It’s perfectly consistent with my argument/observation that the “Bush is Fucking Nuts” meme is taking off.

But as the de facto resident psych guy, I wanted to lay down some (what I felt was needed) smackdown. We’re on the same team.

And by the way, I think a few layers below the surface. the CIA is pushing this “Bush is Fucking Nuts” (BIFN) meme. I think the guy at the Daily News has CIA sources, and I’m pretty sure Sy Hersh knows people who at least know people. . . know what I mean?

Fineman was on MSNBC tonight - I forget which show - talking about how the CIA is refusing to take the hit for the war and is fighting back, but he gave no specifics.

I have very mixed feelings about the CIA engineering the covert discrediting/downfall of a president, even this president, but if it’s in the service of truth, then I cxan swallow it.

Mrs K6

If I’m not mistaken, I’ll bet they all watch these blogs very carefully. Like CNN has their little,”Let’s see what the Bloggers are saying,” segment every day on the Situation Room. They act like,”OOOO isn’t this fun, were all in this together , Kissy,kissy!”

Be real interesting to be a mouse in the corner and hear what they really say about us. heh heh heh!

Probably wring our necks if they could catch us!

Pach, I have to commend you for your principled stand on professionalism.

I too share the commitment to “serious codes of conduct” for my own profession. I sense that Frank, though his heart may be in the right place, is going out on a limb with his attempts at pop psychology.

Pacachoo,
A lot of people think that Bush’s weird jaw movements look like someone who is on anti-psychotics. That was actually my first thought when I saw him doing that a year ago. Any comment, professional or otherwise? :)

green lantern: thanks. now I’m off to bed!

I can rant again tomorrow.

As a matter of general principle, I believe there can be no doubt that criticism in time of war is essential to the maintenance of any kind of democratic government … too many people desire to suppress criticism simply because they think that it will give some comfort to the enemy to know that there is such criticism. If that comfort makes the enemy feel better for a few moments, they are welcome to it as far as I am concerned, because the maintenance of the right of criticism in the long run will do the country maintaining it a great deal more good than it will do the enemy, and will prevent mistakes which might otherwise occur.
–1941, Taft

These baseless attacks,” Bush said, “send the wrong signal to our troops and to an enemy that is questioning America’s will.” In other words, criticizing my case for the war is giving comfort to the enemy.
–2005, Veteran’s Day, Bush

had to work late tonight - just caught up with all the great posts ….

a few tidbits:

Mack - I missed the story on local news but the Christian Peacemakers are legit and pretty awesome - they are one of the groups that trains in nonviolence and then goes into hyper violent situations and “stands in the way” - here’s a link to their about page: http://www.cpt.org/publications/history.php

(for some amazing writing about work like this but from a slightly different perspective (happy grin - a perspective I personally connect with a lot more) see Starhawk’s accounts of her experience in Palestine - http://www.starhawk.org/activi.....stine.html - and completely OT, her info on Reclaiming’s bioremediation work in New Orleans is very worth checking out at the same site)

Puzzled - thanks for mentioning the CNN bit on Rummy - you may have missed the very last bit - the military guy was Gen. Pace, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and when Rummy said that soldiers should simply report it if they saw someone mistreating a detainee, Gen. Pace said “sorry sir, if they are physically present they should physically stop them.” It was quite a moment.

last tidbit but the most fun - on Diebold and hacking - perhaps showing the MSM the following 30 second video might help:
http://www.bbvdocs.org/videos/baxterVPR.mov

since Diebold says no human can hack their machines, the Bev Harris Black Box Voting crew show Baxter the chimp doing it in this video

and

http://www.bbvforums.org/cgi-b...../2368.html

has a link to the Slashdot discussion of the chimp

before the election, I saw Bev Harris show Howard Dean how to do it in 2 minutes on the Tina Brown show (CNBC) and it’s a piece of cake.

Sadly, they also have footage of Joe Andrews, former DNC chair, telling voters in OH that Diebold et al are great … that video is at

http://www.bbvforums.org/cgi-b.....14271.html

and they have lots more - plus good info.

OK, here’s a little more light on the damage assessment issue. It appears that there was a damage assessment but not a “formal” one. How the formal damage assessment differs from the questionnaire (see below) is something you will have to guess at. Suffice to say that the damage was enough to cause the CIA to request that the DOJ conduct an investigation. Emphasis in extract below is mine. My guess would also be that some of the initial assessment made it into the eight redacted pages, that convinced the judges to rule in favor of Fitz against Miller.

But after Plame’s name appeared in Robert D. Novak’s column, the CIA informed the Justice Department in a simple questionnaire that the damage was serious enough to warrant an investigation, officials said.

The CIA has not conducted a formal damage assessment, as is routinely done in cases of espionage and after any legal proceedings have been exhausted.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....01988.html

If Fitz is convinced the damage is real, tangible, and serious—and it would be great to know, as SunTzu suggest, if the submission to the Court and the redacted pages in the Court’s opinion is substantiation of that fact, then this case is far from over.

Fitz is a careful and responsible guy—any prosecutor worth his salt must take the extent of damage into account in making his indictment decisions, even if such damage is not technically required as an element of any crime (even if the crime is perjury or obstruction.)

Jane, it seems the CIA simply completing a DOJ questionnaire stating the damage was serious enough would not be enough to satisfy Fitz. Keep digging! Doesn’t Larry Johnson (the former CIA guy)have some leaks on this issue?

Robin — Larry Johnson said that he has spoken with people at the CIA who claim that there was damage. Again not likely to fall into the lap of Andrea Mitchell.

Ya… I don’t see anything stopping his slide into negative poll numbers.

I was reading my local paper at dinner and the banner editorial was talking about the war and the speech tomorrow… They basically gave it a thumbs down without ever having heard it.

They read their mail. Their mail is telling them that backing the low poll numbers, people are angry. They consulted with some expert in political science and he said that there is no hope for any turnaround in public opinion no matter what the preznot says. So the paper basically said the only political option available to the WH was rapid withdrawal of the troops (a position they do not 100% agree with)… But they cover themselves saying it is political suicide given the national sentiment to do anything but.

The title was “Mission Impossible”

marky: I doubt it would be anti-psycholotics, but jaw grinding is a tic that can occur without medication or as a side effect for some other, milder psychiatric drugs, such as anti-depressants or anti-anxiety meds.

Antipsychotic drugs are another class and are reserved for those who are diagnosed as borderline psychotic or who are, for example, schizophrenic.

I guarantee you Bush is not taking any of those, because if he were to be diagnosed with any syndrome sufficient to merit the meds, that would be unequivocal 25th Amendment territory. And whatever he is, he’s not schizophrenic. We can tell that from the history we know and the behavior we observe: no way a schizophrenic could have his career, such as it has been.

He could be taking an antidepressant, such as an SSRI, or could be taking an anti-anxiety medication. But I even doubt that. He is not one to seek or to trust any mental health professional or M. D. sufficiently to accept, let alone comply with, any treatment, including pharmacological treatment.

No, he just thinks he’s right and the rest of the world is wrong. This is more like a paranoid cognitive or personality style, which nevertheless does not rise to the level of clinical paranoia.

And by the way, full blown paranoid personality disorders tend not to appear with alcoholism, thought