Libertarian Leanings

Press reliability

The press itself has once again become the news because of their abysmal job covering Katrina.  The L.A. Times recently carried a story under the headline, Katrina Takes a Toll on Truth, News Accuracy.

Rumors supplanted accurate information and media magnified the problem. Rapes, violence and estimates of the dead were wrong.

In a feeding frenzy of rumor, MSM reported as fact, everything they picked up that could conceivably cast the Bush Administration in a negative light.  Unfortunately, this meant there were stories of hard work and dedication that didn't make the news.  Here's one of them.

A busload of reporters on its way to New Orleans to cover the devastation from Katrina tragically collided with a freight train at an unmarked crossing in southern Louisiana. With most of the State Police and National Guard already deployed to New Orleans, responsibility for this emergency fell to State Police Auxiliary and volunteers. Power and communications were out in large areas of the state, and as a result a State Police Major was forced to wait for a verbal report on the accident when the ranking Police Auxiliary officer returned from the scene.

“OK, sit down and tell me about it. How bad?” said the Major.

“Sir, it was awful. The bus was crumpled up like a wad of waste paper. There were bodies strewn down the track for almost a mile. All of our ambulances spent the whole day just getting all the bodies to the morgue. We finally got ‘em all on slabs.”

“On slabs? My God! You mean there weren’t any left alive?”

“Well, some of ‘em said they were, but sir, these are reporters we’re talking about. You can’t believe them lying bastards.”

Miller agrees to testify - so soon!

In a surprise move, New York Times reporter Judith Miller has agreed to testify to the grand jury investigating the supposed leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity.

New York Times reporter Judith Miller was released from jail late yesterday and is scheduled to testify this morning before a federal grand jury investigating whether any government officials illegally leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame to the media, according to lawyers involved in the case.

Miller, 57, has been jailed for contempt of court since July 6 for refusing to testify about conversations with news sources. She was released from the Alexandria Detention Center shortly after 4 p.m. yesterday after her attorney Robert S. Bennett reached an agreement on her testimony with special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald, according to two lawyers familiar with the case.

Miller had refused to testify about information she received from confidential sources. But she said she changed her mind after I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, chief of staff for Vice President Cheney, assured her in a telephone call last week that a waiver he gave prosecutors authorizing them to question reporters about their conversations with him was not coerced.

There’s one thing about this that had always puzzled me. Why didn’t Scooter Libby ever just call her up to assure her that his waiver of confidentiality was voluntary. Here the poor thing’s been in the slammer for months now, and all because the guy wouldn’t call her up and say it would be OK to talk. Why didn’t they just have that conversation? Did he not want her to talk? Was he hiding behind her? Or is it something else?

Apparently, lawyers for both Libby and Miller confirmed that their clients wouldn’t be accused of obstruction of justice, before allowing the conversation to take place. 

Tate said that he and Bennett then asked Fitzgerald whether their clients could talk without fear of being accused of obstructing the investigation, and were assured that Fitzgerald would not oppose them doing so. After the phone call from Libby on Sept. 19 or 20, Tate said, the lawyers wrote a letter to Fitzgerald indicating Miller accepted Libby's representation that the waiver was voluntary.

That might explain why that conversation waited so long to happen.  Even after LIbby's lawyers told Millers lawyers that Libby's waiver was given voluntarily, Miller still demanded to hear it directly from Libby.  Gee.  How sad she had to spend time behind bars and isn’t it wonderful she’s free now? Or not.  How about, how clever that she could refuse to testify without personal assurances given directly by someone who was barred from giving them to her?  How about, how inconvenient that her is cover now blown?  I wonder if that’s what they’re thinking at the Times.

It was Bennett, Miller’s lawyer, who called Tate, Libby’s lawyer to initiate this conversation – not the other way around. Why now? Was it the threat of criminal contempt, which looms larger as the grand jury closing date looms nearer?  Then there’s this wrinkle. Miller and Fitzgerald have tangled before.

The case began in late 2001, when federal agents were investigating two Islamic foundations for alleged ties to terrorists. On Dec. 3, 2001, Times reporter Judith Miller telephoned officials with the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, a Texas-based charity accused of being a front for Palestinian terrorists, and asked for a comment about what she said was the government's probable crackdown on the group.

U.S. officials said this conversation and Miller's article on the subject in the Times on Dec. 4 increased the likelihood that the foundation destroyed or hid records before a hastily organized raid by agents that day.

Part of Miller’s deal to testify in the Plame case is the assurance from Fitzgerald that questions to her will be strictly limited to the conversations she had with Libby. I wonder what things might otherwise come up.

And as to why she has suddenly agreed to testify now, when Libby's lawyers told her lawyers that the waiver was voluntary a year ago?  I have to admit I just don't know.  But then, as Tom Maguire suggests, “Maybe a month as First Amendment hero was plenty.”

We have a Chief Justice

From the New York Times.

The Senate confirmed Judge Roberts by a vote of 78 to 22, with unanimous support from Republicans and with many Democrats voting for him as well. Judge Roberts was to be sworn in by Mr. Bush at the White House this afternoon amid expectations that the president will announce his next choice for the court very soon.

Afterthought:  The headline on this story is "Roberts Overwhelmingly Approved as Next Chief Justice". At first I thought, how bizarre they would call it overwhelming approval when 22 Senators voted against.  When Justice Ginsburg was confirmed by a 96 to 3 vote, opposition by 22 Senators would have been considered extraordinary.  But in the context of the Times' position on Supreme Court appointments, the headline makes sense.  With Republicans in the majority, the Times hopes to impose a new standard for Supreme Court confirmation battles.  With Republicans in the majority they'd like such opposition to be considered normal, making it easier for moderate Senators to vote no.

Michelle Malkin has the list of Democrats who voted for and against confirmation.

Reality in Iraq

From Omar Fadhil at Iraq the Model, the transition of security responsibility from U.S. forces to Iraqi army and police in the city of Kerbala went largely unreported.

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Today, American forces in the city of Kerbala officially handed over security responsibilities to Iraqi army and police units in the city.  This makes Kerbala the second Iraqi province that undergoes this transition of power after a similar step was taken in Najaf nearly two months ago.  The event which was attended by military and civil officials from both parties also included a parade for the Iraqi units that are going to assume responsibility for peace keeping tasks in Kerbala.  Unfortunately no web links are available at the moment as the only source that reported the news was Al-Hurra TV.

For whatever reason, the U.S. press is unwilling to report events like this one.  So far, in a less than exhaustive search, I've found only one article and that's from a Chinese news service.   Here's the text:

BEIJING, Sept. 29 -- The U.S. Army handed over its base in Karbala, south of Baghdad on Wednesday, giving Iraqis full control of the holy Shiite city.

Karbala is the second city where security responsibilities have been transferred to the Iraqis, following a handover of another Shiite stronghold, Najaf, less than a month ago.

The U.S. commander Lieutenant Colonel James Oliver, handed an Iraqi flag to the Iraqi police commander to mark the handover.

"the Ceremony today signifies the turning over of responsibility for security operations in Karbala province."

Occupying U.S. forces have relocated to another base outside the city so as to be available to assist in a major security crisis.

The U.S.-led coalition plans gradually to hand over control of other cities to the Iraqis, thus reducing its security profile.

The holy city of Karbala was the scene of heavy fighting last year between the U.S. Army and the militia of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

The fighting ended following a truce mediated by the city's Shiite clerical hierarchy, which wields considerable power behind the scenes in the current Shiite-dominated national government.

Isn't it unfortunate that this stuff just doesn't fit the reality U.S. media would like to create.

Down and out in D.C.

Today's Washington Post and New York Times both carry articles on the troubles facing the GOP.  Under the Post headline Troubled Year Gets Worse for the GOP Dan Balz claims,

On almost every front, Republicans see trouble. Bush is at the low point of his presidency, with Iraq, hurricane relief, rising gasoline prices and another Supreme Court vacancy all problems to be solved. Congressional Republicans have seen their approval ratings slide throughout the spring and summer; a Washington Post-ABC News poll in August found that just 37 percent of Americans approve of the way Congress is doing its job, the lowest rating in eight years.

And at the grey lady, For G.O.P., DeLay Indictment Adds to a Sea of Troubles.

In the House, Mr. DeLay's indictment removes, even if temporarily, a powerful leader who managed to eke out, again and again, narrow majorities on some difficult votes. In the Senate, Republican ranks have been roiled this week by an investigation of Senator Bill Frist, the majority leader, who is under scrutiny for his stock dealings from a blind trust.

The trigger for this latest spate of wishful thinking on the part of our fourth estate is the indictment of House Majority Leader Tom Delay for alleged violations of campaign finance laws.  But the Post lead editorial has this to say.

Nonetheless, at least on the evidence presented so far, the indictment of Mr. DeLay by a state prosecutor in Texas gives us pause. The charge concerns the activities of Texans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC), a political action committee created by Mr. DeLay and his aides to orchestrate the GOP's takeover of the Texas legislature in 2002. The issue is whether Mr. DeLay and his political aides illegally used the group to evade the state's ban on corporate contributions to candidates. The indictment alleges that TRMPAC took $155,000 in corporate contributions and then sent a check for $190,000 to the national Republican Party's "soft money" arm. The national committee then wrote $190,000 in checks from its noncorporate accounts to seven Texas candidates. Perhaps most damning, TRMPAC dictated the precise amount and recipients of those donations.

This was an obvious end run around the corporate contribution rule. The more difficult question is whether it was an illegal end run -- or, to be more precise, one so blatantly illegal that it amounts to a criminal felony rather than a civil violation. For Mr. DeLay to be convicted, prosecutors will have to show not only that he took part in the dodge but also that he knew it amounted to a violation of state law -- rather than the kind of clever money-trade that election lawyers engineer all the time.

Delay's crime is that he's been an effective leader. 

In the meantime, as required by party rules, Mr. DeLay has stepped aside as majority leader. Whatever happens in the criminal case, perhaps this latest controversy will cause his colleagues to rethink whether he is, in fact, the person they really want as their leader.

Perhaps if the Republicans were to seek someone less effective. 

The problem for the press and the Democrats is, that 2006 is too far away.  Poll numbers for Bush are not extraordinarily low for second term presidents at this stage of their administrations.  The controversies surrounding Delay, Frist, and Katrina are non-stories to begin with, and will no doubt disappear altogether by the time the campaign season begins.  The Democratic leadership is far too pathetic to gain on the strength of these minor annoyances.  I'm fully confident they'll shoot themselves in the proverbial foot over the next Supreme Court confirmation.

Rick Moran has a good take on it over at RightWing NutHouse.

A New Hampshire joke

A guy from Maine, a guy from New Hampshire, a guy from Massachusetts, and a guy from Vermont began a trip across the country together in a car.

They were driving for a few hours when the guy from Maine rolled the car window down and started tossing potatoes out the window. The guy from Massachusetts looked at him and asked, “What are you doing that for?” The Maine guy replied “In my state we have so many of these I just have to get rid of some of them.”

After driving for a while longer, the guy from Vermont opened the car window and started tossing cheese out, explaining, “In my state we have so much cheese I just have to get rid of some of it.”

This gets the guy from New Hampshire thinking. After considering for a moment he opened the car door and booted out the guy from Massachusetts.

Apologies to all my friends in Massachusetts.  I really don't mind if you move into New Hampshire.  Well, a few of you.  Actually...

Transparency

According to Newsmax, Bill Clinton's charitable foundation could be a bit more forthcoming with disclosure of its financial reports.

Clinton Foundation Found At Fault

Former President Bill Clinton’s charitable foundation failed to meet at least six of 19 accountability standards established by the Better Business Bureau...

...nonprofit organizations that solicit money on the Internet should post detailed financial reports online.

"One would have hoped to have seen an organization like this, a charity like this, living up to the highest standards of disclosure,” said Marion Fremont-Smith, a senior research fellow at Harvard University’s Center for Nonprofit Organizations.

Come on Marion, this is Bill Clinton we're talking about here.  You remember?  This is the guy whose national security advisor was just sentenced for lifting classified documents from the National Archives?  Not that he was trying to hide anything.  Oh, no.

Showdown coming

Howard Dean and the folks at the Washington Post are trying to make the case that a conservative political viewpoint justifies filibustering next Supreme Court nominee.

In an interview, Dean said Democratic unity is essential in the upcoming battle and that the party "absolutely" should be prepared to filibuster -- holding unlimited debate and preventing an up-or-down vote -- Bush's next high court nominee, if he taps someone they find unacceptably ideological. He cited appellate court judges Priscilla R. Owen and Janice Rogers Brown as two who would be likely to trigger such opposition.

"Those people are clearly not qualified to sit on the Supreme Court, and we're going to do everything we can to make sure they don't," he said. "If we lose, better to go down fighting and standing for what we believe in, because we will not win an election if the public doesn't think we'll stand up for what we believe in."

An ideologue is someone who is conservative in the parlance of the Democrats.  Harry Reid, for example, considers John Roberts an extreme ideologue.

"A nominee more extreme than Judge Roberts would be unacceptable to the Democratic caucus," said Reid spokesman Jim Manley, who added later: "You could expect a major fight on the Senate floor."

Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.), a member of the Gang of 14 who plans to vote for Roberts, said a filibuster will be warranted if "the president appoints someone who brings a right-wing ideology and is going to use the court to advance their views."

In an interview yesterday, Salazar said: "From my personal point of view, anyone who is going to be an ideologue, who is going to have right-wing views, falls within that category of extraordinary circumstances." He said that although he would attempt to defeat such a nominee by enlisting opposition among moderate Republicans, "a filibuster has to remain a procedural possibility."

Fox News is considered right-wing.  I'm definitely right-wing.  More than half the country hold right-wing views.  I support the upcoming showdown.  I think we should have it.

Missing persons

I got these pictures in an email that said,

"This crocodile was found in New Orleans swimming down the street. 21 FT long, 4,500 lbs, around 80 years old minimum. Specialists said that he was looking to eat humans because he was too old to catch animals. This crocodile was killed by the army last Sunday at 3:00 pm, currently he is in the freezer at the Azur hotel."

Plans are to look in his stomach to see who they might find.

Update: Drat! I thought we might be able to account for the vast disparity between the estimated Katrina death toll of 10,000 and the actual death toll. For crying out loud, all we needed were a measley 9200 bodies, all of which could easily have been packed into the intestinal track of this baby. Commenter David spoils all the fun by pointing out that these pictures have been around for a couple of years.

A cruel wind

Byron York's piece in National Review on the anti-war rally that went off in D.C. over the weekend, describes this gem by Cynthia McKinney, as she attempted to use hurricane Katrina in metaphor. 

And Katrina wasn't even the only weather phenomenon used to criticize George W. Bush. When Georgia Democratic Rep. Cynthia McKinney spoke to the crowd, she began by declaring that "a cruel wind blows across America." By that, she meant not a hurricane, but a wind that began "in Texas and Montana" — an apparent reference to George W. Bush's home state of Texas and Dick Cheney's home state of...well, his home state is Wyoming, but McKinney was fairly close.