Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Songs from the Site Meter: Visits over Ted Stevens


Site Meter--Quite a few hits on the meter over this, one from Washington D.C., then they went off to DCPhonelist to check if in fact the number is there for ASRC. Hint: it is, but I have the phone number (301-957-1234). An SS# was also included. Want it? ;0)

It's entertaining knowing you're costing scoundrels thousands-of-dollars in legal and investigative expenses.


This other number was also provided by Verizon: 301-837-5500


Domain Name
verizon.net ? (Network)
IP Address
138.88.114.# (Verizon Internet Services)
ISP
Verizon Internet Services
Location
Continent : North America
Country : United States (Facts)
State : District of Columbia
City : Washington
Lat/Long : 38.9097, -77.0231 (Map)
Language
English (U.S.)
en-us
Operating System
Microsoft WinXP
Browser
Internet Explorer 6.0
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.04506.30; InfoPath.1)
Javascript
version 1.3
Monitor
Resolution : 1280 x 800
Color Depth : 32 bits
Time of Visit
Jul 31 2008 4:48:00 am
Last Page View
Jul 31 2008 4:49:10 am
Visit Length
1 minute 10 seconds
Page Views
3
Referring URL

Visit Entry Page
http://chickasawpick...iful-world-gops.html
Visit Exit Page
http://chickasawpick...re-fucking-abba.html
Out Click
DC Phone List search those records & publish your findings, it's legal!
http://www.dcphonelist.com/
Time Zone
UTC-5:00
Visitor's Time
Jul 30 2008 4:48:00 pm
Visit Number
39,325


And someone who appears to have been flying around with their laptop...




Domain Name
gci.net ? (Network)
IP Address
206.174.90.# (GCI Communications)
ISP
GCI Communications
Location
Continent : North America
Country : United States (Facts)
State : Alaska
City : Juneau
Lat/Long : 58.5813, -134.7698 (Map)
Language
English (U.S.)
en-us
Operating System
Microsoft WinXP
Browser
Internet Explorer 6.0
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)
Javascript
version 1.3
Monitor
Resolution : 1024 x 768
Color Depth : 32 bits
Time of Visit
Jul 31 2008 12:11:04 am
Last Page View
Jul 31 2008 12:35:57 am
Visit Length
24 minutes 53 seconds
Page Views
4
Referring URL

Visit Entry Page
http://chickasawpick...iful-world-gops.html
Visit Exit Page
http://chickasawpick...iful-world-gops.html
Out Click
http://dwb.adn.com/news/alaska/story/7242777p-7154791c.html
http://dwb.adn.com/n...42777p-7154791c.html
Time Zone
UTC-9:00
Visitor's Time
Jul 30 2008 8:11:04 am

And later...

Domain Name
dillinghamairport.com ? (Commercial)
IP Address
209.165.183.# (GCI Communications)
ISP
GCI Communications
Location
Continent : North America
Country : United States (Facts)
State : Alaska
City : Anchorage
Lat/Long : 61.1692, -149.8443 (Map)
Language
English (U.S.)
en-us
Operating System
Microsoft WinXP
Browser
Firefox
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.16) Gecko/20080702 Firefox/2.0.0.16
Javascript
version 1.5
Monitor
Resolution : 1920 x 1200
Color Depth : 32 bits
Time of Visit
Jul 31 2008 12:13:46 am
Last Page View
Jul 31 2008 12:13:46 am
Visit Length
0 seconds
Page Views
1
Referring URL

Visit Entry Page
http://chickasawpick...iful-world-gops.html
Visit Exit Page
http://chickasawpick...iful-world-gops.html
Out Click

Time Zone
UTC-9:00
Visitor's Time
Jul 30 2008 8:13:46 am
Visit Number
39,314



Obama invokes the late, great Wild Bill Hickok as an ancestor


Springfield, Missouri--Obama's claim of descent to James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok (where he engaged in a duel, possibly during the Civil War) today is an interesting one.

The Democratic presidential candidate came to this town on the edge of the old West on Wednesday and laid down a challenge for his GOP rival.

"If Sen. McCain wants a debate on taxes in this campaign, I'm ready," Obama said, noting that Hickok is said to have fought a duel here. "I'm ready to duel John McCain on taxes right here, quick draw," Obama said before closing the loop with Hickok.

"The family legend is that he is a distant cousin of mine. I don't know if it's true but I'm going to research it." ("Political Play: Obama claims link to the Wild West," AP, 07.30.2008)

He doesn't need to, a noted genealogist named Chris Child has confirmed it. Never mind that-- 25% of everyone roaming the Wild West was Black (it's true). Obama went to the heart of the matter, to one of the legends, Wild Bill.

And he's correct: he is descended from Wild Bill, a distant cousin. But does he really want to make a comparison? Perhaps. But his challenge of a dueling debate over taxes in Springfield with John McCain doesn't bode well when you look at how Wild Bill ended his days, but people settle their differences in other ways nowadays. Nonetheless, there's an even more intriguing fact about the Hickok family that few will recognize:

Wild Bill Hickok James Butler Hickok in Troy Grove, Illinois on May 27, 1837 to was born William Alonzo Hickok and Polly Butler Hickok. Bill had four brothers and two sisters and his parents were God-fearing Baptists who expected Bill to keep up his chores on the farm and to attend church every Sunday. Bill's parents also operated a station along the Underground Railroad, where they smuggled slaves out of the South. It was during this time that the lean and wiry young man got his first taste of hostile gunfire when he and his father were chased by law officers who suspected them of carrying more than just hay in their wagon. ("Wild Bill Hickok and the dead man's hand," LegendsofAmerica.com)
And so, James Butler Hickok came from very upstanding Americans, from people who saw Black Americans as human beings when few bothered to care. On top of this, they risked their lives, and so did Bill. He was a real man. But then, we should remember that there's that other side of America, where Republicans and sell-out Democrats dwell. It's the domain of the Coward Jack McCall, the world of the back-stabbing scoundrel and the yellow-belly.

Not much is known about McCall except that he was stupid, cock-eyed, a braggart, and a drunk who had once run with some buffalo hunters, possibly in the Wyoming territory. Kind of sounds like the current president, doesn't it? McCall was from Kentucky while Hickok was from Illinois, but both men wrestled with the beast within. Hickok was a lawman with an itchy trigger-finger. We'll never know how many people Hickok killed, and it's positive we never will with McCall either.

But you know a man by his actions, and we only remember McCall because of one of his last ones when he shot Wild Bill Hickok in the back of the head for beating him at cards.
On August 1, 1876 Wild Bill was playing cards in Nuttall and Mann’s No. 10 Saloon when one of the players dropped out and bystander Jack McCall took his place. McCall kept losing and at the end of the evening was broke. Hickok gave him money with which to buy dinner. The next day, on August 2, Hickok returned to the No. 10 and joined in a game of cards. A few hours later Jack McCall entered the bar and stopped a few paces behind Hickok. He pointed his gun at Hickok’s head, pulled the trigger and shouted, “Damn you, take that!” The gunshot instantly killed Wild Bill. McCall ran out of the saloon and attempted to escape on a horse that was tethered nearby, but the saddle had been loosened, and he fell to the ground. McCall ran down the street and hid in a butcher’s shop where he was captured by a large crowd. ("Deadwood History-JackMcCall," AdamsMuseumandHouse.org)
How is this different from John McCain dropping bombs on innocent North Vietnamese civilians over forty-years-ago, then being captured? Can someone like Obama--coming from the Chicago political machine--embody the morality of what was good about James Butler Hickok and America, or will he unleash the spirit of Jack McCall, John Rockefeller Sr., the Vanderbilts, Andrew Carneige, and the Pinkertons on the world as Commander in Chief?

Will he be a backstabbing assassin like the man who murdered his distant cousin, or will he side with the robber barons, the mine owners, and railroad men of our times? The signs aren't good, but one can hope, since that's all we're left with voting within the two party system. Will Obama be the man from Illinois (Lincoln/Hickok) or the malcontent, booze-swilling long-knife from Kentucky (McCall)?

When a candidate evokes the memory of the Old West in America, it's an important event that carries the responsibility of getting the history right. Yes, it makes him look and sound "tough," but does it make him a hero (McCain isn't one either), a man who can enter his home justified? If Senator Obama decides to stand on the side of the law, he's going to have a lot of cleaning-up to do from the last president. This is mandatory. It should be a part and parcel of his own agenda, because no nation can survive lawlessness for very long.

Just 100-years-ago, Pat Garrett was murdered along a lonely road in New Mexico.

He'd been shot in the back of the head and in the chest. Long before we were arguing over which angle JFK was shot from in Dealy Plaza, parties were arguing the same over Pat's murder. They say a big time rancher named W.W. Cox wanted him dead, and that he wasn't alone. Rich "coyotes" smuggling Chinese immigrants across the Mexican-American border might have wanted to bring them through his Bear Canyon ranch. Had they murdered him for money and power? What side of history is Obama on? We already know about John McCain.

"Political Play: Obama claims link to the Wild West," AP, 07.30.2008: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gyXVIfZ2F2CTuuxH3_93vuTP-ywwD928D6QO0

"Wild Bill Hickok and the dead man's hand," LegendsofAmerica.com: http://www.legendsofamerica.com/WE-BillHickok.html

On the Coward Jack McCall:http://www.adamsmuseumandhouse.org/answers/jackmccall.html

"Surprising New Information on Pat Garrett's Death: Details from the Fornoff Report," by Chuck Hornung, WesternOutlaw.com: http://www.westernoutlaw.com/stories/files/NewInfoPatGarrett.pdf

South Bend's WSBT conducts a poll: What's your greatest expense for your children's return to school?


South Bend, Indiana--Ammunition, definitely. Lots of drive-bys here.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

It's a sad and beautiful world: GOP's longest serving senator, Ted Stevens, indicted on 7 counts of making false statements to feds


Washington D.C.--One has to wonder why this took so long. Federal investigators searched Stevens' home exactly one year ago. Perhaps there were factors preventing the investigations to proceed?

Preserving their ability to filibuster--as opposed to past threats of ending the procedure--in the Senate was one obvious motive for a GOP that still controls the Justice Department via the Bush administration, but then there's protecting the president and his administration, that paramount goal.

But doing so is really about protecting the GOP from the fallout of another Watergate. Well, actually an ocean of them.

The GOP has a lot of practice protecting such formerly upstanding lawbreakers and perjurers such as Sen. David Vitter (La.), Randy "Top Gun" Cunningham, and even Mark Foley (the former GOP representative from Florida). The actual list is much longer, resembling a Republican cha-cha line, thankfully out of the halls of the Capitol building, forever. That they had never been there would be preferable, but we'll take them leaving. Stevens is just one in a long line of abjectly corrupt Republican politicians, and we can be assured there will be more, many more, in the future.

The key is taking them down earlier, catching them when they begin in their extralegal activities like cruising congressional pages, taking gifts, soliciting prostitutes for coveted government contracts through earmarks, and all the sundry forms of the kickback, the bribe, and the honey deal. And the feds have promised that Ted can come in on his own, they won't make him do the frog march.

What are friends for? This:

Prosecutors said Stevens received more than $250,000 in gifts and services from VECO Corp., a powerful oil services contractor, and its executives. From May 1999 to August 2007, prosecutors said, the 84-year-old senator concealed "his continuing receipt of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of things of value from a private corporation."

The indictment unsealed Tuesday says the items included home improvements to his vacation home in Alaska, including a new first floor, garage, wraparound deck, plumbing and electrical wiring, as well as a Viking gas grill, furniture and tools. He also was accused of failing to report swapping an old Ford for a new Land Rover to be driven by one of his children. ("Ted Stevens indicted, longest-serving GOP senator," AP, 06.29.2008)

Yet we've known this for about one year. But there might be more to the puzzle in other corrupt firms and contractors besides VECO Corp. who are close to the Republican senator and his son Ben.

During my general research for the defense of Deborah Jeane Palfrey (aka "The DC Madam"), an interesting name turned-up in the subpoenaed Verizon phones records we were working on way back in January. I'm certain others working on the "defense team" (as Palfrey referred to us) have copies of these records, and may have findings of their own.

Granted, the information was provided without any real context from Palfrey's then attorney, the inimitable Montgomery Blair Sibley. It's hard to comment on their veracity. I question Palfrey's own credibility and mental state at the time, though it might not affect the information in them--she and Sibley rarely seemed to know what she had on her hands. By all appearances, her final lawyer Preston Burton had no interest in such leads and went for a purely technical defense.

Again, in January of this year, I received a template file that had the information of who held a number found in the phone records, and when, while another was created by myself to hold the findings. We were given no real coherent instructions in our research except to confirm if the calls might be clients. Initially, we were told to "find big names" by Palfrey, and directly.

As in the case of a CD-ROM I had been sent by Sibley, the information provided to me was contradictory and confused. There was very little context given at all. Some names on the list were tantalizing, but many were false positives...or were they? It was never even conveyed to myself how the information had been organized, or what its original form was. One name was even a phony identity, taken from a Nigerian 419 scam. They didn't appear to have their shit together at all.

Currently, attorney Sibley has been claiming that he has somewhere between 815-855 names of more clients. This is factually untrue based on the false positives, but I understand from my own and the experiences of others that keeping track of paperwork and the details isn't exactly his forte. The names we found? There are a few of interest.

Of course, many of the names are dead-ends, escorts, "testers" who screened prospective escorts as to how "game" they were for sex, and the rest is a mystery that would require further investigation. Could be, maybe. But there are a lot of entities and personalities in there that do fit Sibley's description that clients are in there, it's just not anywhere near the number 800. I'm assuming the advocate knows full well that I and other possess these records. We'll leave it at that.

"What the hell does this have to do with Ted Stevens?" you ask? On line-11 of these apparently deeper Verizon records is ASRC Constructors Inc., also connected to Sen. Stevens and his lobbyist son Ben. The call is from February 5, 1999, at 5:46 PM EST, just a few months before the acts of accepting bribes Stevens is alleged to commit occurred. But the Verizon record claims the account was activated on October of 2007. Others might be able to verify this number, but perhaps we don't want to know. Welcome to the world of corporate disclosure.

The call itself might not have anything to do with Stevens, so why not rule it out? Our Republic doesn't want to have to keep relying on the likes of a Larry Flynt, a Wayne Madsen, or a Montgomery Blair Sibley.

All that aside: isn't Stevens more important than some little bribes-investigation? He's in a peculiar context with the high price of oil right now. For as long as anyone can remember, the Republicans have been crowing to get the oil-rigs into the Alaskan tundra. He's important, especially when considering the GOP's and the White House's recent Leninist chanting, over-and over again of: America needs to be drilling in Alaska's ANWAR for more oil because it's going to bring the price of gasoline down. Economists unconnected to Big oil and the GOP tend to suggest otherwise.

Stevens, the GOP, their masters the oil conglomerates, and the Native American-owned ASRC have been working hard over the years to use the minority company's federal status to nudge their way into ANWAR, as recently as 2005:

Barrow-based ASRC received exclusive subsurface rights in the Arctic refuge's coastal plain under a 1983 land trade. The deal relieved the company from the usual revenue-sharing rules that govern Native corporation resources.

The dispute threatened to erupt last month at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention in Fairbanks. Many delegates said they were surprised to learn that ASRC was the only corporation likely to earn big money from oil and gas development in the refuge. ...


The 7(i) settlement rules assumed land exchanges of equal value, Sealaska said. In the ANWR exchange, ASRC gave up land worth about $6 million and receiving subsurface rights at that time worth more than $395 million, according to a 1989 review by the Government Accounting Office.

The land deal was made in secret, without public review, and deliberately undercut one of the basic tenets of the land claims act, Sealaska said in response to ASRC. ("Disputes rise over sharing ANWAR's wealth," Anchorage Daily News, 11.28.2005)

Was Ted a senator from Alaska in 1983? Yes. Was a Republican in the White House at the time? Yes. Will Democratic leaders take this as far as it should go? Probably not, and pardons of Stevens and his son from the Bush White House in its last days won't surprise anyone.

Maybe there's something to the ASRC phone record, and maybe not. Numerous defense contractors are represented in the subpoenaed Verizon records, and many of them could be false positives. It could be one too. The calls--and other substances--were flying from 1993-2006 for Palfrey, and one could safely assume that there were a lot of wrong numbers and every other permutation of legitimate phone call in the phone records of Palfrey's Pamela Martin & Associates. But what is this list from Verizon? So far, nobody can (or will) tell me for reasons one can only describe as self-serving, forget the historical record.

Even Palfrey's former condo manager was making-the-rounds of the media on talk radio and television news magazine shortly after her self-inflicted demise.

Perhaps Sibley is going to come clean on the context of what was forwarded to myself and a co-researcher, and maybe not. Lately--when he's wearing pants--he's talking about a 150-page manuscript that Palfrey left behind, though it's likely to be a lot of self-serving crap by the deceased. I myself possess around 29-pages of an early-draft of it, and that's exactly what it is.

Others close to the case have confided to me that the 2,700 emails between Sibley and Palfrey (which would likely include myself in some of them) are likely to illustrate a sad and simple truth: that Palfrey was not in her right mind, and that she separated with Sibley believing she had received poor counsel. Sibley had to be officially removed from her case by court action. In missives sent directly to this writer, Palfrey herself referred to advocate Sibley as "crazy" and that he'd wasted a great deal of precious time with his legal tactic of multiple-filings and arcane legal points. That was Jeane's opinion, the defendant.

It's possible that Sibley is working on a book and film deal with the Marianne Strong agency, as it's known that they also have a manuscript by Palfrey in their possession. Or is it the same one? One would assume so, yet one could imagine another example of dueling lawsuits. Right now, Sibley's representing a party trying to lay claim to the Goldeneye diamond, making Sibley the Peter Lorre to his client's Fat Man. He's made some rather bald claims lately regarding the legacy of the late DC Madam:

“She left me 150 pages,” said former Palfrey attorney Blair Montgomery Sibley. “I am pulling that together with 2,700 e-mails that I have between Jeane and I to attempt a cogent narrative of the events that led up to her unfortunate demise.

“She also left me a substantial amount of recorded material that will supplement the written information,” Sibley told Yeas & Nays. “We are still in the process of transcribing all of that.

“Like any book, there is a story to tell that people are interested in,” Sibley said. “I am the sole processor of her story at this time, now that Jeane is dead. The story is going to be about her ordeal from October of 2006 until her death in May of 2008.” ("Yeas & Nays-Attorney: Palfrey Left Me 150 Pages of Book," The Examiner.com, 07.28.2008)

Poorly-put, that. What to expect from this? A garbled collection of tantalizing possibilities that aren't going to make anymore sense of what was a mess his client was. Palfrey was off-the-hook, and it was generally her way or the highway.

That's understandable for a defendant facing as much as six years (not the 55 reported, sentencing isn't literal, like contracts) in prison and the loss of all of her assets, and issues that are even more complicated than that. Jeane had been given some very good plea offers--one she conveyed in a June 2007 phone interview with myself. Some of us tried to save her, but she was doomed from-the-start.

It's possible that Palfrey made some very loud pronouncements to her counsel prior even to Sibley's representation that began around March of last year, and ended as early as middle-December. Sibley was gone after late-January of this year from her case. Yeah kids, it's a sad and a beautiful world, but that married couple with their cute kids at the supermarket and that attractive waitress make it bearable.

It's a sad and beautiful world. That it is. If only people could control themselves more often, it might be happier. Yes, there should be a law for that...oh wait, there is? If only Ted had behaved. If only Jeane had behaved. If only Blair could, but he needs the dough, and kilts fit him better in the crotch. Don't we all need to behave better? An indicted Republican senator, a dead hooker, and a fallen aristocrat lawyer--what's the common denominator? The sad truth is, greed, that mockery of life.

"Yeas & Nays-Attorney: Palfrey Left Me 150 Pages of Book," The Examiner.com, 07.28.2008: http://www.examiner.com/blogs-73-Yeas_and_Nays~y2008m7d28-Attorney-Palfrey-left-me-150-pages-of-book

"Ted Stevens indicted, longest-serving GOP senator," AP, 06.29.2008: http://enews.earthlink.net/article/top?guid=20080729/488e95c0_3ca6_1552620080729744234029

"Disputes rise over sharing ANWAR's wealth," Anchorage Daily News, 11.28.2005: http://dwb.adn.com/news/alaska/story/7242777p-7154791c.html

Monday, July 28, 2008

Songs from the Site Meter: The Legendary Briggs & Stratton (nuff said)


Site Meter--You gotta love this--they came, they saw, and they read. And they didn't have to read something bad about themselves. Do I treasure this? You bet. My late-grandfather swore--literally--by the famed, mythic Briggs & Stratton motors, the ones on most lawnmowers these days and in days past.

Additionally, I had a high school buddy named Tom who swore--him too--by them as being virtually indestructible...well, they never knew Mr. Walendowski. I'd bet the motor is still intact. What a world, what a life, but these kinds of things make it worth living--the bizarre coincidences in this human condition are infinite, and very entertaining. Yes, like Repo Man.

Domain Name
(Unknown)
IP Address
199.101.6.# (Briggs & Stratton Corporation)
ISP
Briggs & Stratton Corporation
Location
Continent : North America
Country : United States (Facts)
State : Wisconsin
City : Milwaukee
Lat/Long : 43.0522, -87.965 (Map)
Language
English (U.S.)
en-us
Operating System
Microsoft WinXP
Browser
Internet Explorer 6.0
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET CLR 2.0.50727)
Javascript
version 1.3
Monitor
Resolution : 1280 x 960
Color Depth : 32 bits
Time of Visit
Jul 28 2008 11:10:04 pm
Last Page View
Jul 28 2008 11:12:38 pm
Visit Length
2 minutes 34 seconds
Page Views
2
Referring URL

Visit Entry Page
http://chickasawpick...or-not-starting.html
Visit Exit Page
http://chickasawpick...or-not-starting.html
Out Click
http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/25902654.html
http://www.todaystmj.../local/25902654.html
Time Zone
UTC-6:00
Visitor's Time
Jul 28 2008 10:10:04 am
Visit Number
39,190


President Jonah claims another victim: Robert Novak


"Who knows what other disasters are in store for us thanks to the curse he is under? As the sailors fed the original Jonah to a whale, thus lifting the storm that was about to drown them, perhaps we the people can persuade President Jonah to retire to his other Eden in Crawford, Texas, taking his jinx with him. We deserve a rest. Plainly, so does he. Look at Nixon's radiant features after his resignation!" --Gore Vidal, "President Jonah," 01.25.2006

Washington D.C.--Just a few years ago, the legendary Gore Vidal observed that the Bush administration was cursed, and that George W. Bush and those surrounding him couldn't do anything right and that they were a plague upon wherever they went and whatever they touched. Of course, if you touch people you've kidnapped from another country too hard, it's a war crime and a human rights violation.

Today, we have the news that partisan journalist--usually referred to as a "columnist"--Robert Novak has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. If only this were some indication that we live in a meaningful and just universe, but it isn't, and we don't. Has Novak served the Fourth Estate or a "Fifth Column"? History is likely to record the latter as his master.

For a long time, Novak has written a blustery column of business-politico propaganda for The Chicago Sun-Times (and in syndication), echoing the glory days of the barking apparatchik in the Soviet Union. From 1980-2005, Novak was a co-host of CNN's "Crossfire." He was the argument for the right-wing on a decidedly right-wing news network, contrary to the assertions of Ted Turner and his admirers...all three of them.

Novak's leaving for Fox News as a sometime contributor wasn't much of a change. But it does raise suspicions that he was part of a propaganda campaign to promote the war, and one that was very mainstream. He has hardly been alone in his tacit support and bias for the war on terrorism, the invasion of Iraq, and essentially the entire GOP/Bush agenda. So why call him a "journalist" at all? Why call stenographers to power "journalists" at all? To serve the fix, the boys currently holding power illegitimately.

Take it from someone involved in the DC Madam story:
when you're part of a story you're not necessarily a journalist. You're a participant-of-sorts, a chronicler, but not a journalist.

Tha
nkfully, this isn't the end of the world for anyone, especially considering the profession of journalism is about as popular as Congress at this particular historical moment. On July 14th, 2003, Novak illegally revealed the identity of an acting CIA officer Valerie Plame in a Washington Post piece:
[Former US ambassador Joseph C.] Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration officials told me that Wilson's wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate the Italian report. The CIA says its counterproliferation officials selected Wilson and asked his wife to contact him. "I will not answer any question about my wife," Wilson told me. ("Mission to Niger," The Washington Post, 07.14.2003)
That's not acting as a journalist, however, but as a mercenary for the White House, a Republican one. By writing these lines in the Post, Novak was aiding and abetting the Bush administration by exposing the covert identity of the former US ambassador who went to Niger to examine the evidence of whether Saddam Hussein had been attempting to procure uranium-ore from the African nation for a nuclear program. His sources were not "whistle-blowers," but the kind of politicians who often beg to be exposed for their abuse of office. Et tu, Judith Miller.

Like all of the experts on nuclear proliferation were saying back in 2002-2003, former ambassador Wilson didn't find any credible evidence of Iraqi attempts at a nuclear program. This didn't support the already eroding pretext for invading Iraq--namely WMDs pointed at the United States--and Wilson suddenly became a target of the Imperial Vice President's office. Novak was very consciously helping the White House in discrediting Wilson's very credible conclusions that Iraq had never attempted seriously to obtain the "yellow-cake" from Niger. This was done to salvage the pretext for the war in Iraq and punish and silence critics of the invasion .

There are worse things than being a journalist these days, and Novak embodies it, just as the late Tim Russert. However, it's even money that Novak is going to be enshrined as "one of the greats" of journalism soon. He's not.

Knowingly disclosing the identity of an undercover intelligence agent can bring a federal prison term of up to 10 years under the 1982 Intelligence Identities Protection Act.

Novak wrote Tuesday that none of his sources have been indicted.

The Libby indictment stated that Rove, identified as "Official A," had discussed Plame's identity with Novak. But Rove's lawyer Robert Luskin said in June that Rove had been informed that he would not face charges in connection with the probe.

Novak said a third source, CIA spokesman Bill Harlow, confirmed Plame's identity.

Harlow was not available for public comment on Novak's latest account. But a former intelligence official said Harlow did not know what Plame's position at the CIA was at first and that he tried to talk Novak out of publishing her name when he did find out, making it clear the disclosure could be damaging. ("Novak: Rove confirmed Plame's identity," CNN.com, 07.11.2006)


They broke the law, and Robert Novak kept his mouth shut for them until he knew there would be no convictions and that he was in-the-clear. This is because he was compromised early-on by his illegal participation in the propaganda campaign. He furthered this compromise by publishing Plame's identity as an acting CIA officer. Yet, despite this fact, an increasingly irrelevant mainstream media is going to prop-up Robert Novak just as they did Tim Russert. That's OK, the internet is now here to counter the lies.

Like Congress, political creatures like Novak compromised themselves to the Bush administration and are still her captives--enter former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, the other option. While McClellan served the Bush administration back when the candidate was still the governor of Texas and it was merely a campaign, he was never completely an "insider"--not nearly as much as the GOP's commissar Novak who was told much more and involved in much more. Success has its price.

An October 1, 2003 press conference on the then-expanding Plame investigation underscores how in-the-dark the White House press secretary was being kept:

Q Scott, this is not hypothetical at all. You say the issue is leaking classified information. So my question is did Karl Rove or any others in the White House talk with reporters, not leak classified information, but talk with reporters about Mr. Wilson's wife and her CIA status after the initial report by Robert Novak?

MR. McCLELLAN: After his initial report? Again, you're -- now the issue is changing. The issue was --

Q No --

MR. McCLELLAN: The issue is, did someone leak classified information. That's a serious matter.

Q Right. But if someone --

MR. McCLELLAN: That's being investigated. Do people talk about what's in the news? That's a whole a different -- that's on a different --

Q There is talk about a woman who's still undercover.

MR. McCLELLAN: And I just made clear --

Q I believe --

MR. McCLELLAN: I just made clear that -- well, was it reported that, one, was that what was reported in the article?

Q I'm just asking, did --

MR. McCLELLAN: Was that what was reported in the article?

Q She was an undercover operative.

MR. McCLELLAN: In the original article?

Q Yes.

Q Yes.

MR. McCLELLAN: I think it was reported "operative" in the Novak column.

Q Operative by definition --

MR. McCLELLAN: I think it was reported -- and he said, you shouldn't use the word "operative." I think the word was "operative." So, I don't know that it said -- I don't --

Q My question is pretty straightforward. Did Karl Rove or others have conversations with reporters about Mrs. Wilson?

MR. McCLELLAN: In what way?

Q And her CIA status.

MR. McCLELLAN: There's an investigation going on in asking everybody to preserve any information they would have related to some of the issues you bring up. I'm not -- there's been no information brought to our attention to suggest that anyone leaked classified information [Ed. My emphasis.], and the President certainly doesn't condone the leaking, or the tactics you're suggesting.

Q You seem to be suggesting that perhaps they had conversations, but weren't leaking classified information.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, there's an investigation going on to pull together all the information. But the issue is, did someone leak classified information? That's a serious issue. And I just made it -- I made it clear early, you brought up Karl's name. Let's be very clear. I thought -- I said it was a ridiculous suggestion, I said it's simply not true that he was involved in leaking classified information, and -- nor, did he condone that kind of activity. This has been answered, and now we're trying to get in a whole bunch of issues, separate and apart from that. ("Press briefing by Scott McClellan," Whitehouse.gov, 10.01.2003)

But Rove lied to the Press Secretary, as did "Scooter" Libby, the Vice President's Chief of Staff and right-hand man. McClellan was a Sphinx (and still is)--you had to be paying very close attention to his wording. He was telling us all-along that all he could tell the public is what he was being told. That's bad. His employers were keeping him in the dark too, but he was covering his own posterior. That was wise, but it doesn't make him a hero. But compared to the Robert Novaks or the Judith Millers, he is one.

According to pundits in the GOP, the mainstream media (including the unethically biased Novak himself), McClellan is simply "bitter," but this doesn't wash: When individuals like Novak stand down and recuse themselves of checking power, you know a fix is on and that the game is rigged. When they chime in that some former associate is "bitter," it's best to see where the strings coming out their backs lead to. That's right, follow the money.

These kinds of American "apparatchiki" aren't a new phenomena at all, they've been with us the entire, short, run of our history. Why do these creatures yearn to be slaves so badly? Foolishness and delusions of adequacy. If you have any sense at all, you don't miss people like this when they're gone, let alone admire them. Without a blanket rollback of Bush policies and precedents, the war on terror's curse will hold long after Jonah has left us.

Candidate Obama is already showing troubling signs that he's going to play the same game as this administration. It isn't about George W. Bush in the end, and never was, but the mess we're allowing our world to become. There's a cancer on the presidency...and the press, and the public.

Robert Novak is diagnosed with a brain tumor:http://enews.earthlink.net/article/ent?guid=20080728/488d4440_3426_1335020080728-1071750391

"Mission to Niger," The Washington Post, 07.14.2003: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/20/AR2005102000874.html

"Novak: Rove confirmed Plame's identity," CNN.com, 07.11.2006: http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/07/11/cia.leak/index.html

"Press briefing by Scott McClellan," Whitehouse.gov, 10.01.2003: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/10/20031001-6.html

"President Jonah," by Gore Vidal, 01.25. 2006: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060206/vidal

Saturday, July 26, 2008

"Man shoots lawn mower for not starting," a cultural observation


Milwaukee, Wisconsin--How does one write an ode to a lawnmower? In these tortured times, it's not hard to believe someone would snap and do this. What with the high price of gas, and the fact that most lawnmowers won't start if they aren't Briggs & Stratton, let's face it--and I'm not even being paid to write this.

But what gives: he's being charged with shooting the mower. But the majority of Lawn Boys out there have Briggs & Stratton motors! Outsourcing, that must be it.

Sometimes, I forget that I'm in the American Midwest, but stories like this remind me in their own very special way. Of course, this could have happened in Austria, Canada, Germany, and hell, even in the UK. Well, OK, he's not technically charged with shooting the mower, but the possession of the shotgun and his disorderly firing of it:
Keith Walendowski [Ed.-He's 56-years-old.] was charged with felony possession of a short-barreled shotgun or rifle and misdemeanor disorderly conduct while armed.According to the criminal complaint, Walendowski said he was angry because his Lawn Boy wouldn't start Wednesday morning. He told police quote, "I can do that, it's my lawn mower and my yard so I can shoot it if I want." ("Man shoots lawn mower, AP, 07.25.2008)
If the late Frank Zappa were alive today, he'd be writing a song about this man and the incident. Maybe it's not the most obvious social indicator, but Walendowski's comments that it was his mower and his property are uniquely American. We think we can do whatever we want on our land, regardless of existing statutes.

Here then, are the dying-remnants of the frontier and the Old West, acted out by a Polish-American while attempting to cut his lawn, possibly drunk. If you want a more obvious image of the Old West, think of a penniless drunken desperado wallowing in a manure-laden mud-puddle of the main strip of a corrupt mining town.


That's the frontier--and along with shooting the defenseless in the back after running them off of their land for the railroads and other developers-- that's the Old West. Cooler heads have prevailed over what exactly Walendowski's in trouble for:
Witnesses told police Walendowski was drinking before the incident. The criminal complaint indicates police observed him to be intoxicated.Neighbors in the 3500 block of S. Austin Street heard the gunfire. "Well it seems strange - but he's a strange guy with his drinking," said Donna Kadow who lives next-door.Walendowski is 56-years-old. Court records show he does not have a criminal record. ("Milwaukee Man Shoots Lawn Mower," AP, 07.26.2008)
And so, in addition to exercising his American birthright of discharging a high-powered firearm, Mr. Walendowski was drinking. The problem is, there is no more frontier, and he was living within the city limits of that peculiar place known as Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Spirits have a way of making one forget. It's hoped that Mr. Walendowski is treated lightly in the whole affair, he's never shown a tendency towards violence and crime before. We can all be assured that the lawn mowers of Milwaukee can sleep safely tonight.

Human beings tend to anthropomorphize everything! Granted, the land must be tamed, and drinking beforehand while brandishing a sawed-off shotgun isn't necessary anymore. The art of satire is officially dead, and so is conservative and libertarian ideology. Time to bury the walking dead.


The other shot heard around the world, AP, 07.25.2008: http://www.cbs58.com/index.php?aid=3656

"Milwaukee Man Shoots Lawn Mower," AP, 07.26.2008: http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/25902654.html

Monday, July 21, 2008

CBS's 2004 obscenity fine for Janet Jackson nipple-shot reversed, and other yucks


Philadelphia, Pennsylvania--In the city that began the persecution of the late Lenny Bruce, we have a victory. Also headquartered in the city is the telecommunications giant Comcast,™ a "teleconglomerate" who's had difficulties with the current FCC chair from the GOP dominion of North Carolina.

The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the FCC deviated from a longstanding policy of 30+ years regarding obscenity without giving any cause or explanation.

Therefore, the fine is moot:

"Like any agency, the FCC may change its policies without judicial second-guessing," the court said. "But it cannot change a well-established course of action without supplying notice of and a reasoned explanation for its policy departure."

The 3rd Circuit judges - Chief Judge Anthony J. Scirica, Judge Marjorie O. Rendell and Judge Julio M. Fuentes - also ruled that the FCC deviated from its long-held approach of applying identical standards to words and images when reviewing complaints of indecency.("Federal appeals court tosses out fine against CBS for Jackson 'wardrobe malfunction,' " AP, 07.21.2008)

This shores-up the First amendment protections for freedom of expression. In other words, it's possible that the original ruling by the FCC will have inadvertently expanded artistic and expressive freedoms on the airwaves. It probably won't be a lot, but that's not the point.

The point is that those who want to rollback these and other rights aren't getting their way. But the corporations almost always do, ideology-be-damned, and Martin has serviced them well. Servicing concentrated capital and "free markets" is all that matters, not the religious right. They never really did, except when it was convenient in dividing-up the fickle and apathetic electorate.

We know it's not going to end here--it never does--but for those who value one of the most exceptional aspects of American democracy, it's a victory.

Remember back to early-2004: it was a time when the Bush administration and the GOP still retained some reasonably high approval ratings, though they were in-decline thanks to the beginnings of the Plame scandal, the subsequent ongoing investigation (which still is "ongoing"), and troubling signs in Iraq as we all witnessed the rise of the insurgency.

Katrina and the revelations of the existence of numerous other White House scandals hadn't even happened yet.

At that time, the congressional GOP and the White House were still running almost completely amok, and the FCC appointee wasn't going to miss out on all the fun. Orders are orders, but things don't always go according to plans.

A federal appeals court has tossed out the Federal Communications Commission’s $550,000 indecency fine against CBS for the infamous Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction” at the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show.

The decision - the second recent blow to FCC chairman Kevin J. Martin’s crackdown on broadcast indecency - said the agency acted “arbitrarily and capriciously” in levying the fine. ("Court tosses FCC Super Bowl fine-Says org acted 'arbitrarily and capriciously,' " Variety, 07.21.2008)

No, it didn't work out like they thought it would, even after dragging the process out for an excruciating four years. One has to ponder if CBS will qualify for a reimbursement of court costs from the federal government. Heckuva job, Marty, you clean up those airwaves. Just remember that the public still technically owns them and that we're watching you hand-out all kinds of perks to telecommunications companies and conglomerates.

That's "special interests" in the jargon of the politicians who appoint people like Martin. Yet, he's also been a mixed-bag for his handlers.

Martin has done some interesting things for a partisan hack, and made some attempts at deregulation of the cable industry in some peculiar directions, though namely to curb access to violent and sexual programming. Martin's approach is interesting, and could have some unforeseen consequences:

Martin says the nation's cable problems could be solved by requiring Comcast and other providers to sell cable channels individually, or a la carte. This form of sales could reduce cable bills by allowing customers to buy just the channels they truly like and watch.

Customers who found some cable entertainment distasteful would not have to subsidize the offensive channels that come in 200-channel packages.

Cable companies say the pay-per-channel model actually would cost more and would hurt small entertainment programmers. ("FCC chief Martin: The nation's indecency czar," The Philadelphia Enquirer, 07.03.2008)

But rather than servicing moral and cultural conservatives of the religious right, Martin has obtained a result in the CBS case that goes in another, more liberal direction. What's also strange is that if cable channels were prorated/a la carte for consumers, many of them would opt-out on such right-wing outlets as Fox News, which was actually forced on most cable systems in previous packaging formats.

If Martin has proven anything, it's that crusading FCC chairs face serious limitations not only from the public, but from the political environment and the telecommunications industry. An evangelical agenda is likely to get lost in the details and rival agendas. Business trumps religion, in other words, and promises for a conservative social agenda aren't likely to materialize.

Or is there a difference between business and religious orthodoxy? Martin has argued for "more competition," but that's not traditionally what regulators do in the reflexively protectionist Washington. Confused? The FCC chairman has felt and acted the same. Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it, and the modern world is a labyrinth.

One thing's certain: Martin's time is running out at the FCC under the essentially lame duck Bush administration--well, "lame duck" if you leave-out funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and immunity for the warrantless surveillance program.

"Unbundling" cable channels into an a la carte system isn't likely to happen under his stewardship as the youngest FCC chair with just over five months left to the one of the most unpopular presidencies in American history. The most unpopular Congress has even less time left, and November is coming sooner rather than later.

It should be remembered that Martin was a mere 35-years-old at his swearing as FCC commissioner on July 3, 2001.

He was reappointed in 2006 by the current president, and his term is set to expire in June of 2011, though it's expected that he'll be replaced with a Democratic appointee by Barack Obama if he's victorious in his bid for the White House. It's likely that he would be retained by a McCain administration. GOP candidate John McCain has come out in support of the a la carte/unbundling agenda.

That's not the real issue, however--Martin has been running agendas through the FCC's decision-making process, namely in deregulating ownership of various forms of media by telecommunications corporations, and easing their ability to work with municipal governments.

The investigation comes on the heels of a previous inquiry by the committee regarding what Dingell called "a breakdown of proper procedure at the FCC." The inquiry was sent in regards to the FCC's Dec. 18th vote on relaxing restrictions on media consolidation in individual markets.

Consumer advocates, media watchdogs, and even several of Martin's fellow commissioners criticized him for rushing the vote, limiting public discussion and comment, and scheduling meetings with little notice or warning.

The speed with which Martin pushed to pass the vote led members of the Senate to introduce legislation specifically to block the new rules until more examination of their effects could be made. ("House Committee To Probe FCC," Consumer Affairs, 01.08.2008)

Yes, even the "bought" Senate had misgivings over Martin's bureaucratic behaviors. It should be noted that Martin worked under special partisan prosecutor Kenneth Starr, who investigated allegations into the affair between former President Bill Clinton and White House staffer Monica Lewinsky. This directly benefited the Bush campaign in the 2000 elections.

Chairman Martin was also a former staffer at Wiley, Rein, and Fielding, the law and lobbying firm currently representing Senator David Vitter in his bid to pay for legal costs in the DC Madam scandal from campaign funds. It's good having friends like this considering that Martin is being investigated by the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee on several serious issues. And this is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

FCC chairman Kevin J. Martin's loss in court this week is just one-of-many problems he's facing, and his days of agenda-making are coming to an end. Whomever takes the chair, it's all about business and the rights of so-called "corporate citizens." This was never about a woman's nipples. Strange, that.

"Federal appeals court tosses out fine against CBS for Jackson 'wardrobe malfunction,' " AP, 07.21.2008: http://enews.earthlink.net/article/bus?guid=20080721/488409c0_3421_1334520080721-1071313454

"Court tosses FCC Super Bowl fine-Says org acted 'arbitrarily and capriciously,' " Variety, 07.21.2008: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117989249.html?categoryid=16&cs=1

"FCC chief Martin: The nation's indecency czar," The Philadelphia Enquirer, 07.03.2008: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20080703_FCC_chief_Martin__The_nation_s_indecency_czar.html

"House Committee To Probe FCC," Consumer Affairs, 01.08.2008: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2008/01/fcc_house.html