Reading for the Weekend

Daily Kos has a nice summary of the Rove/Plame case, and if you missed the Congressional hearing on leaked intelligence on C-SPAN today co-chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman of California and Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, here's a brief summary. Chimpie is earning the wrath he deserves from the intelligence service he has betrayed, and I've got to say, it's not wise to double-cross spies.

Or special prosecutors. Check out this piece in the Washington Post and another in the Los Angeles Times. Here's to another sleepless night for Karl and Scooter.

Here in the mountains of the southwest, the monsoons have at last arrived, complete with light and sound extravaganzas of lightning and thunder, which scares the shit out of my two dogs who follow my every step around the house. Makes me feel truly needed, you know?

Does This Constitute Treason?

In the New York Times today, there is a piece on Rove and Libby's role not only in the Plame case but also with regard to George Tenet's remarks when he was head of the CIA. Here, buried in the body of the text, is the most chilling text:

The effort was striking because to an unusual degree, the circle of officials involved included those from the White House's political and national security operations, which are often separately run. Both arms were drawn into the effort to defend the administration during the period.

Got that? They were not combining efforts to defend the country, mind you, but the administration, during a time of war.

The diehard Republican fantasists who still defend these motherfuckers are hopeless. Are you Bush-lickers still ready to go to the mat for this corrupt and stupid, stupid, stupid administration? Because they'd sell your ass out in a second to maintain power or to avoid the ugly truth. This administration is more dangerous to our security than any external threat. Get 'em out, indict, convict, imprision, and let's get some national leadership that actually cares about real national security above all else.

Why Karl Rove and Scooter Libby Are Hugging and Crying in the White House Coat Closet

Aside from certain Jeff Gannon/James Guckert-related reasons for Rove's being in the closet, what I'm talking about here is pretty simple. There's leaking classified information and then there's lying to the FBI about leaking classified information. And, in case you aren't already buried deep enough, you can then lie to a grand jury convened to investigate the CIA's belief that the leaking constituted a criminal offense.

Let's review: leak, lie to FBI, lie to grand jury. Oh, and have the career officers at the CIA pissed at you.

And the special prosecutor is Patrick Fitzgerald, a young man, an energetic man, a dedicated man who has an impeccable reputation as a prosecutor.

Karl and Scooter have never before been in a position like this, I would guess. It's a position not controlled by them any longer, nor to be helped by their influential friends, nor the cronies of the fathers of their influential friends, and they don't have any damaging material to leak about Fitzgerald. And, of course, even a sleazebag like Rove must realize the idiocy of trying to smear a special prosecutor once he's got the goods on you. About all that's left is to bitch yourself into the kneeling position and beg for mercy.

I'm so happy this morning. Yes, I know it's schadenfreude, but don't you think that this will be some real justice done for a change? If you were a CIA operative in the field, or a foreign asset working with our CIA, how would you feel about a White House official leaking classified information in time of war? And Chimpie's next, by golly. And Cheney. Chimpie and Cheney, just a hair's breadth from indictment city, baby. Yeah!

Go to Bloomberg and read all about it.

Dum-da-dum-dum (Dragnet Theme)

Another step closer to Club Fed for Karl "Pillsbury Doughboy" Rove, it seems from a front page story in the Washington Post today.

A classified State Department memorandum central to a federal leak investigation contained information about CIA officer Valerie Plame in a paragraph marked "(S)" for secret, a clear indication that any Bush administration official who read it should have been aware the information was classified, according to current and former government officials.

Now another piece of the puzzle snaps into place, although others are still being fitted. For one, did Karl Rove see that memo when he was on Air Force One on the Bush trip to Africa with Colin Powell, Chimpie, and Ari Fleischer, among others? If Rove did read the memo, who would know he did? And, finally, has special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald asked the necessary questions of one of those who might have witnessed Rove's perusal of the memo?

One sweet detail in the memo is that it puts forth the State Department's case for why they believed Iraq was NOT seeking uranium from Niger, the very thing Ambassador Joe Wilson made known from his trip there. So, if Rove read a classified state department memo that supported Wilson's claim and also contained the identity of his wife flagged as "Secret," and if Rove used that information in his attempt to discredit Wilson, Rove is then guilty of violating, at minimum, his own signed non-disclosure agreement, and at maximum the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982. If it's the latter, he could be facing ten years in a federal penitentiary. Given the venal, malicious, and dangerous manner in which this was done plus the fact that he withheld information on the case for over two years in an attempt to hide what he had done, there may be obstruction of justice charges and perjury thrown in as well. A "law and order" judge might decide to make an example of such a person in a time of war, wouldn't you think?

And here's a little bit of circumstantial evidence that does not bode well for Karl's other explanations of things:

The memo was delivered to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell on July 7, 2003, as he headed to Africa for a trip with President Bush aboard Air Force One. Plame was unmasked in a syndicated column by Robert D. Novak seven days later.

"How convenient," Church Lady might have said.

And then there's the possibility of conspiracy charges piling up. Who knew what when? Who was in on the disclosure and smear of Wilson before the fact? Who knew later? Who among those who were on Air Force One that day have known about the illegal disclosure of Valerie Wilson's identity and know that Rove read that memo but have failed to come forth?

Two words to Karl and any other members of the pre- or post-crime conspiracy: Fresh Meat!

Hey! Look Over There!

That's about all it takes to distract the mainstream kneepad press to get them to let go of a story. Okay, so Chimpie nominates John Roberts to the Supreme Court. We already know that the Democrats will cave and pass him, quietly wishing that the Republicans will be nice to them now, sort of like pathetic beaten dogs. The press, meanwhile, has shifted its short but broad attention to Roberts such that it is possible to switch to all operating cable and broadcast news channels and see Bush and Roberts displayed on every single one of them. If a station switches focus, it's only to cover the missing white girl in Aruba, unless it's FOX, in which case they'll devote a whole hour to it.

But meanwhile, the Rove/Plame story is oozing like a swollen yellow suppurating sore, pus dripping out and revealing the rottenness of this administration to more and more Americans, illustrating that the decay and corruption run all the way through Torture Boy Gonzalez, Scooter Libby, Flabsack Rove and up to the alleged president, Chimpie McChimperson, criminal-in-chief.

Drip, drip, drip. Someone has rolled on this White House (Ari? Colin?), and the indictments are going to be stunning and brutally damaging. Chimpie may hold on to the last, hoping, as usual, that Daddy's friends will bail him out, but this time he's going to face his well-deserved fate all alone, because even a power-mad fanatic like Karl Rove will recognize when it's time to cover his own ass so he won't be having it traded to other inmates for cigarettes.

So let the press slaver over Roberts, ignoring the real story. In a few days, unless Roberts is revealed to be in the KKK or buried some kids in his basement, this Supreme Court gassing will expire because nothing much will really happen (if anything at all) until hearings begin next month or in September. Roberts is a desperate and temporary ploy by Bush to try to get the press to run away from the Rove story. But Patrick Fitzgerald isn't running away.

And that means that Rove is itching his scabs with even more nervousness. When the spark comes, the whole rotten gasbag that is this administration is going to explode.

A Momentary Summer Vacation?

It feels like I should take one, even though it's been less than two months since Berlin and Prague. It's too hot to work, even here in the mountains where we're really spoiled by dry air and cool nights.

The Rove/Plame scandal continues to build, with the White House clearly panicking as Bush starts answering questions about it and even schedules a Supreme Court nomination tonight in prime time, perhaps because yet another shoe is about to drop. Oh, how I hope it involves Jeff Gannon/James Guckert, Ari Fleisher, two chickens, some Astralube, and an illegal prescription for Cialis. And Chimpie and Laura watching while Uncle Dick engages in some auto-erotic asphyxiation in the coat closet.

Ugh. I just creeped myself out.

Actually, the auto-erotic asphyxiation seems to be more Bush's thing--remember the pretzel incident? That was a coverup for what he was really doing. Doesn't that bastard look oxygen-starved to you? Yeah, too much choking the chicken while choking the Chimpie.

Yes, I'm well past the border of bad taste, but commenting on the news seems sort of pointless today. Bear with me.