The beginning of the end

It all evens out in the end.

JW, I don't see how you can compare...

Anyway, regarding the CIA leaks:

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usleak0216,0,2896504.story?coll=ny-top-headlines

Reporters must testify in CIA leak probe




BY TOM BRUNE
WASHINGTON BUREAU

February 16, 2005

WASHINGTON -- A U.S. appeals court ruled Tuesday that two reporters must testify before a federal grand jury about their confidential sources in a probe trying to determine who in the Bush administration leaked the identity of a covert CIA officer.

In an expected ruling, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld a lower court ruling that held in contempt Matthew Cooper of Time magazine and Judith Miller of The New York Times for refusing to testify.

Time and the Times Tuesday said they would appeal the decision to the full circuit and possibly the Supreme Court, and would seek a stay to keep the reporters out of jail.

The publications had tried to quash the subpoenas based on the First Amendment and reporters' privilege to protect confidential sources under federal common law, which is based on practice than on statutes. In October, District Judge Thomas Hogan ruled against them.

"We agree with the District Court that there is no First Amendment privilege protecting the evidence sought," Circuit Judge David B. Sentelle wrote in the majority opinion. "We further conclude that if any such common law privilege exists, it is not absolute" he wrote.

The decision prompted calls from Floyd Abrams, attorney for both reporters, and groups such as Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, for Congress to enact a federal shield law to permit reporters to protect confidential sources.

Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. Attorney in Chicago, has made the fight to force testimony from the reporters a well-publicized step in his otherwise secretive 14-month investigation.

"We look forward to resuming our progress in this investigation and bringing it to a prompt conclusion," he said.

The investigation seeks to determine who leaked the identity of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame to columnist Robert Novak in an apparent attempt to discredit her husband. Disclosing the identity of a covert intelligence official is a crime.

Plame's husband, Joseph C. Wilson IV, had written that there was no basis to the president's claim that Iraq had sought to buy uranium from Niger and that act was a reason to attack Iraq.

Cooper, a White House correspondent, contributed to two articles in July 2003 about the leak. He agreed to limited testimony for one subpoena, but balked at a second, broader one.

"In the United States, no journalist should have to go to jail simply for doing his or her job," said Norman Pearlstine, Time's editor-in-chief.

Miller, an investigative reporter, reported but never published a story about the leak.

"If Judy is sent to jail for not revealing her confidential sources for an article that was never published, it would create a dangerous precedent that would erode the freedom of the press," said Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr.

In a concurring opinion, Judge David S. Tatel wrote that reporters enjoy a common law privilege but that Fitzgerald had overcome it in secret filings with Hogan to support the case he needs the testimony.

"While requiring Cooper to testify may discourage future leaks, discouraging leaks of this kind is precisely what the public interest requires," he wrote.
Copyright © 2005, Newsday, Inc.

Of course you don't. You'd have to resign your charter membership in the "Blame America First" club in order to see it.

I won't hold my breath LOL.

original reply JW, how long did it take to think it up?

I'm confused. Is JustWonders suggesting that Helen Thomas is a gay hooker?




If so, then PLEASE don't copy-and-paste those pictures.

I love it when the neocons have no defense to actions taken by their leaders! Forcing them to post silly, meaningless cut & past pics is hilarious to watch. Haven't seen any reasonable defense offered all week!

I thought you quit A2K?

Can anyone explain to me how Novak seems to be skating while other reporters may be about to go to jail?

If memory serves, he's the one who "outed" Ms. Plame...

I think the reporters are called to testify, I don't believe that they are charged with a crime unless they don't testify. But it's not over yet.

squinney:-

Hardly hilarious.More tiresome I would have said.

It's wonderful how easily we can get steered off topic.

No kidding.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/user-posts?id=113711

Read some of his posts over at Freeperville. Scary stuff. Here's an example that I know you'll love:



Here's another juicy one:





He's got his fingers in a lot of pies.

Cycloptichorn

Recycled from another thread but this obviously proves that recycling has great value.

H.L. Mencken: "The most common of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It's the chief occupation of humankind."

Could a quote be anymore dead on when it comes to Republicans and GWB OR Faux News and its loyal listeners?

The collective mind of the neoconservative movement has been further demonstrated by the likes of JW. Of course, this is no surprise whatsoever. Reaching doesn't even come close to describing the lunacy of JW and his insistence on posting nonsense in the face of Bush administration BS.

These fascists are unraveled. It is truly the beginning of the end.

Speaking of lunacy, here's Charlie Jarvis trying to explain this:



http://movies.ziaspace.com/Inside%20Politics--3.wmv

Truly unbelievable.

Too bad the Cato institute is totally in Bush's pocket regarding his destruction of SS. But at least they recognize sleazy campaign tactics when they see them. Let's see how honest these boneheads can be.

Who's gonna be the next shill installed at the WH; Bill O'Lielly, Ann can't seem to get her facts right Coulter, or maybe Rush Bombast Limbaugh?

Breaking news ... this just in from the White House - Scott McClellan said in an address just minutes ago that though their minor league "journalist" had been sent to the bush leagues, they would definitely hold a seat for him while he goes back to finish his journalism degree.

When told of the incredible speed that Jeff/Jim studies [a weekend in two or so years] and that he should be done, sometime in the next century, McClellan replied; "That's just fine. If that's what it takes to keep the White House press corp at its finest, then so be it.

In other news, Bobby Eberle has closed down his Talon News but has just announced the formation of the New Conservative/Republican School of Hackery.

Nah, they're all too famous, have too much visibility. A shill has to be someone that nobody knows, someone who looks like a legitimate journalist from a legitimate medium, e.g. a wire service. O'Reilly or Coulter would be expected to ask the idiotic things and nobody would pay any attention. You need someone who looks like he might be a stringer for the Podunk Daily Promulgator.