"I know gay. You can't tell me this man isn't gay. And fabulous."

And I know hate and this post implies some underlying issues with homosexuals. RT- you're the one who usually chastises peoiple for homophobic posts. Rt?

Are you saying he's not fabulous? I'm cool with Justice Robert's sexual orientation; he's the one in denial.

I thought you'd respond by saying you like when RT chastises you.

I ordered the code red
 

In other news, Cynthia McKinney apologized for her officer-slapping

I ordered the code red
 

I guess a grand jury can cause some to be contrite.

Whoa
 

Nice use of hyperbole.

"Vice President Dick Cheney's former top aide told prosecutors President Bush authorized the leak of sensitive intelligence information about Iraq, according to court papers filed by prosecutors in the CIA leak case"

By no one's estimation - no fucking one - was the "naming" of Valerie Plame a leak of "sensitive information about Iraq"

Give me a fucking break.

Whoa
 

If you were to click on the Yahoo! story RT linked to, you would see that it suggests that the "sensitive intelligence information about Iraq" referenced was *not* Valerie Plame's identity.

I think we need more details on this. Can't throw out a teaser like that and then not expect to elaborate.

At least he got something right......
 

I saw Delay being intervied last night and he said the cause of illegal immigration was the pathetic Mexican economy and that the only way to truly fix the problem was to improve the standard of living in Mexico. He also said NAFTA was the right move in that direction.

It almost made me feel bad for raising all that money to unseat him. Almost.

Whoa
 

What was it then?

Of course, the Yahoo article offers nothing. Just a bold, smearing statement.

My god, you don't think it was Bush that leaked the "Feds are wiretapping terrorists?" story to the NYTimes?

Hurricane Rita.

Whoa
 

The court filing is here.

Whoa
 

Since he was talking to Judy Miller, it was probably WMD-related. From the slightly more detailed AP story on the NYT's website:

• The authorization involving intelligence information came as the Bush administration faced mounting criticism about its failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the main reason the president and his aides had given for going to war.
  
  Libby's participation in a critical conversation with Miller on July 8, 2003 ''occurred only after the vice president advised defendant that the president specifically had authorized defendant to disclose certain information in the National Intelligence Estimate,'' the papers by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald stated. The filing did not specify the ''certain information.''
  
  ''Defendant testified that the circumstances of his conversation with reporter Miller -- getting approval from the president through the vice president to discuss material that would be classified but for that approval -- were unique in his recollection,'' the papers added.

Whoa
 

so they leaked "intelligence" at a time when they knew it was wrong. And the harm in leaking intelligence at a time when they knew it was wrong is.............?

Whoa
 

So the claim is that they declassified information to refute all the bullshit being spouted by "Lyin" Joe Wilson.

Again - there is no story here.

Whoa
 

Not sure I follow you, Hank.

In other news..
 

Jesus authorized Judas to disclose information to the Romans:Bummer about the suicide, man. I always liked you best in Jesus Christ Superstar.

Whoa
 

Respectfully disagree. Not as to the main point you are making (Bush had nothing to do with outing Plame, and she wasn't really "outed," and anyway her husband is a political hack who was just trying to make Bush look bad), but there *is* a story here. It is (more sections of the AP story:

• But the disclosure in documents filed Wednesday means that the president and the vice president put Libby in play as a secret provider of information to reporters about prewar intelligence on Iraq.
  
  ********
  
  Libby's testimony also puts the president and the vice president in the awkward position of authorizing leaks -- a practice both men have long said they abhor, so much so that the administration has put in motion criminal investigations to hunt down leakers.

Whoa
 

The "claim" is that Libby perjured himself. I confess I don't understand how this declassification stuff relates to the claim.

The "story" is that Bush, while on the one hand complaining about leaks, is on the other hand declassifying national-security information in order to feed it to sympathetic journalists. It both exposes the way his admininistration is abusing the classification of sensitive information, and (again) reflects the sort of deception that got us into the war.

Whoa
 

the leaked info was about WMD- I presume tending to indicate it was in Iraq. When it was not found they leaked information that had caused them to think it would be there- what value was that information then? it was wrong. other than possibly the source shouldn't it have been declassified?

Whoa
 

From the thingy that Gatti linked to: "The Fitzgerald filing also notes that Libby told grand jurors that he conferred with David Addington, Cheney's counsel, about the leak directive and that Addington told him 'that Presidential authorization to publicly disclose a document amounted to a declassification of the document.' "

From the actual court filing: "[Libby] further testified that he at first advised the Vice President that he could not have this conversation with reporter Miller because of the classified nature of the NIE. Defendant [i.e., Libby] testified that the Vice President later advised him that the President had authorized defendant to disclose the relevant portions of the NIE. Defendant also testified that he spoke to David Addington, then Counsel to the Vice President, whom defendant considered to be a legal expert in national security law, and Mr. Addington opined that Presidential authorization to publicly disclose a document amounted to a declassification of the document."

Does unwritten, third-hand notification of the President's authorizing release of information cause it to be declassified?

ETA here is a link to the relevant portion of the filing: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0406061libby6.html because I can't figure out how to cut and paste and the paragraph after the link is interesting as to the questions of (a) whether this method of declassification works and (b) whether disclosing to Miller and only Miller was really "public."

The Return of the Plumbers.
 

Ah, gotcha.

Yeah, I don't think that it was wrong in that sense. I see it as a big "so-what?" substantively. It's news (but not Big News) in that it shows a certain level of hypocrisy. There was, according to Libby's testimony, direct authorization by the president and vice president of a leak of an NIE to a sympathetic reporter -- by an administration in which leaks were verboten.

Whoa
 

Let me get this straight:

You think it's a good thing if Bush authorized a leak of sensitive intelligence information about Iraq, as long as he did not authorize a leak of Plame's identity?

Huh.

Is that because the part about her identity was at least true?

Whoa
 

did you see the photo of the "cyclops" kitten on Foxnews.com? it's gross.

Whoa
 

I'm losing track. Hank says they knew the info was wrong. You say they leaked it to refute Wilson. And Wilson was lying about what? That he went to Niger on vacation to sip sweet tea at poolside, or the whole selling uranium to Iraq thing?

The Return of the Plumbers.
 

As one lefty to another, I say: Who fucking cares about the hypocrisy? The issue is the way they manipulate public information and debate about vital matters of national security. So they're saying one thing, and doing another: The bigger problem is what they do, not what they say.

The Return of the Plumbers.
 

this sounds like something you could use to win an election if you can convince people it was accurate.

Whoa
 

I think that Libby and his attorneys were trying to get to classified information for his defense, and I think this new information about the authorization to leak to the press came out in the government's brief arguing that Libby doesn't need the classified information in order to adequately defend himself on the perjury claims.

Whoa
 

I think that that's right.

Anyway, here's a new NYT article that lays out what appears to have happened.

Spanky goes to Washington
 

From Wonkette

• Overheard by a reader who was enjoying free Wi-Fi at Open City last night:
  
  Some former Navy officer (a very Aryan looking one I might add) was just talking about Chile at the table next to me. He said:
  “When you look at Chile, it’s a very economically stable country. That’s thanks to Pinochet. Sure a lot of people died, but they were all Communists. The U.S. Congress could learn a thing or two from Pinochet.”

Whoa
 

This issue was touched on back in Feburary, when Cheney was interviewed by Brit Hume after Cheney shot a man in the face. Apparently there was an allusion to what came out today in earlier briefs, but it referred to Libby's "superiors," but not by name. The question was whether or not Cheney could declassify information.

There's an NPR interview from around that time regarding an executive orders to classify or declassify. The attorney they interviewed suggests that declassification can only happen by the person who originally classified the information, the successor in the office of the person who originally classified the information or the supervisor of the person who classified.

Whoa
 

Does declassification happen without anything in writing? And once it's declassified, shouldn't it be declassified as to everyone? Meaning, other people (such as, say, Congress) shouldn't be told that a document is actually classified?

Whoa
 

It also doesn't seem to help him.

While I've been known to read articles incompletely (hi Balt!), Libby argued he didn't tell Miller anything about Plame because it was classified. Miller's account differs. So, now it is shown that he could have been talking to her about now-declassified information, so his explanation for for his (incorrect or perjurious) recollection is also wrong.

Whoa
 

Oh. Oh. Oh. Pick me! Pick me! I know this one!

Treason?

Whoa
 

Better notify a prosecutor. as an officer of the Court you've a duty to report crimes. But my point is, since you guys have already proven that Bush lied us into a war to increase oil profits, and then completely ruined our expectations of privacy by listening to phone calls- really how much more jail time will he get for this new thing.

Whoa
 

I think the Dems should run with this now - before the mid-term elections.

Impeachment too.

Whoa
 

Well, it wasn't the blow job or the break-in that precipitated past impeachment processes. It was the cover up.

Whoa
 

I know, I know, no one gives a shit.

Whoa
 

Couldn't this be a warning shot towards the admin?