Admin Note - Comment Spam & Privacy Policy

post from All Spin Zone on 08 February 2007 10:43:00 AM. © All Spin Zone

I’ve received a few emails about comments not being immediately posted, and just wanted to assure everyone that all legit comments (whether we agree with them or not) are being posted, at least eventually. Blog comment and trackback spam has become the bane of blogmasters everywhere. In fact, it’s gotten so bad that [...]

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Admin Note - Comment Spam

post from All Spin Zone on 08 February 2007 10:43:00 AM. © All Spin Zone

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No Defense Secretary Has Testified Before Budget
Panel Since Iraq War Began

post from Think Progress on 08 February 2007 10:39:00 AM. © Think Progress

No Defense Secretary has testified before the Senate Budget Committee since the war in Iraq began nearly four years and $400 billion dollars ago. Prior to being sworn in, Secretary Robert Gates pledged to Budget Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) that he would appear before the committee. But after agreeing to testify next Thursday, Gates abruptly [...]

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http://thinkprogress.org/2007/02/08/budget-iraq/

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Who To Root For

post from Eschaton on 08 February 2007 10:33:00 AM. © Eschaton

Russert's being pretty slippery for someone who's supposed to be a Superhuman Truthteller.

...Jane writes in, as their site is focused on the liveblogging:

Russert is now saying that he did not disclose the Eckenrode FBI conversation because it was confidential. Yet in the letter from Fitzgerald limiting Russert's testimony under oath, it says:

"It is the understanding that while the Office of special Counsel requests that Mr. Russert keep his testimony confidential. Mr. Russert will have the same rights or disclose publicly what took place in the Deposition as he would if he had testified in the grand jury."

I can actually see why Eckenrode might not have wanted Russert to talk openly at the time so that they could get Libby on the hook, but once Libby was indicted Russert had absolutely no reason not to report on the Eckenrode conversation. To claim that it was a "confidential conversation" because Eckenrode was giving HIM information is incredibly dishonest. What, Eckenrode is now a source?

Further, Russert now says he didn't want to appear before the grand jury because he didn't want Fitzgerald to go on a fishing expedition, but Russert is admitting that he knew (because he signed an afidavit) that Fitzgerald had agreed to limit his questioning to the July 10, 2003 conversation. Russert says it would have a "chilling effect" on his ability to report if his sources think he would compromise them in such a fashion, but Fitzgerald admitted he did not want to ask about any of Russert's sources.

From Russert's affidavit to Judge Hogan (related to the Motion to Quash):

I understand, on information and belief, that the Special Procecutor is investigating the leak that disclosed to journalists, and then to the public, that Valerie Plame, the wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, worked for the CIA. I further understand that, through his subpoena to me, the Special Prosecutor seeks to compel me to testify that I communicated with a special Executive Branch official on or about July 10, 2003, and to disclose the contents of any such communications. I cannot provide such testimony without violating the understanding that I share with my sources that our communications, including the fact that we have communicated at all, will be held i confidence. As a result, I can neither confirm that I had any substantive communications with the public official at issue during the relevant time period nor can I describe the nature or any discussions that we may have had. I can, however, state unequivocally that I was not the recipient of a leak of Ms. Plame's identity or her status as a CIA operative.

He is sweating and swinging.

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http://atrios.blogspot.com/2007_02_04_atrios_archive.html#117094891873174223

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Condi: State Does What We Can in Iraq

post from TPMmuckraker on 08 February 2007 10:30:16 AM. © TPMmuckraker

The papers today are full of the spat between the State and Defense Departments over civilian posts in Iraq. The Washington Post quotes a State official saying "Everybody just wants to pretend this never happened." That might be the position...

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http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002507.php

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Gay marriage bills proposed in Vermont and
California!!!

post from Capitol Talk - Front Page on 08 February 2007 10:30:00 AM. © Capitol Talk - Front Page

While I'm for the most part opposed to "same sex civil unions" on grounds that they are likable to "separate but equal" laws, they are at the very least one step in the right direction, and Vermont is proving it!! Legislation has been proposed that would replace Vermont's civil union law with same sex marriage.

The bill is sponsored by Rep. Mark Larson (D) and has 32 house members and 10 senators as co-sponsors.
"After seven years of civil unions, this is simply the right thing to do," Larson said in introducing the legislation.
The legislation, Larson said, would do three things. First, it would give same-sex couples the right to marry. Secondly, it would allow clergy to refuse to perform a same-sex marriage if it violated their religious beliefs. Thirdly it would convert civil unions already performed into marriages.

Meanwhile, a bill to allow gay marriages has also been submitted to the California legislature, where similar legislation passed in 2005 but was vetoed by ~~bigot~~ Governor Schwarrzenegger. In New York, Governor Elliot Spitzer is expected to propose a same-sex marriage bill sometime this year!

Same sex marriage is expected to be ruled upon by both the California, and Maryland Supreme Courts in the near future.

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Barbara's Daily BuzzFlash Minute for February 8,
2007

post from BuzzFlash - Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash on 08 February 2007 10:15:32 AM. © BuzzFlash - Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash

BARBARA'S DAILY BUZZFLASH MINUTE

"Former White House official I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby told a grand jury in 2004 that Vice President Dick Cheney was upset by an ambassador's public questioning of the Iraq war and that President Bush, Cheney and Libby were involved in a plan - kept secret from other senior White House officials - to leak previously classified intelligence to reporters to counter the criticism. ... As Libby sat silently in the courtroom, jurors heard his recorded voice describe how he was instructed to leak intelligence secrets to select reporters, even as other White House officials were expressing concern over the leaks and debating whether the administration should formally declassify intelligence reports on Iraq to combat criticism of the case for war." There you have it -- essentially a confession! And then the question becomes, how in hell do you forget something like that????

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http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/dailybuzz/250

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7 Republican Senators flip flop on Iraq debate,
again

post from Capitol Talk - Front Page on 08 February 2007 10:15:00 AM. © Capitol Talk - Front Page

This is getting insane. John Warner gets more and more senile, and less and less fit to serve in the United States Senate with each passing ~~day~~ minute. First, Warner proposed what amounts to a do nothing resolution aimed at "sending a message" to fall upon deaf ears at the White House, then, he snubbed his own damn bill, followed by a pathetic excuse as to why. Chuck Hagel, on the other hand - we're still trying to figure out what type of drugs he's using, pretending to actually care, and be willing to take action, and then voting to hold up debate on Iraq.

Continue reading after the jump.
Last night we learned that the two fellow incompetent Senators joined five other Republican degenerates in the Senate (Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, Norm Coleman, Gordon Smith, and George V. Voinovich) who helped block deliberations on the resolution, and all sent around a letter yesterday threatening to attach their resolution to any bill sent to the floor in the coming weeks.

Noting that the war is the "most pressing issue of our time," the senators declared: "We will explore all of our options under the Senate procedures and practices to ensure a full and open debate."
The letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was not more specific about the Republican senators' strategy for reviving the war debate. But under the chamber's rules, senators have wide latitude in slowing the progress of legislation and in offering amendments, regardless of whether they have anything to do with the bill.

The letter stated that the "Senate should be allowed to work its will on our resolution as well as the concepts being brought forward by other senators."

So uh, tell me again why these fools voted against the debate in the first place? Or is that still an unknown as is why anyone ever elected them in the first place?

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http://www.capitoltalk.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=78

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Halliburton Contract Lost and Found... and Lost
Again

Never underestimate the power of public shaming. After yesterday's House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform hearing into military contracting in Iraq, the Army has decided to shelve a contract worth $19.6 million to Halliburton. The defense titan, it turns...

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http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002505.php

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CNNplease wake up. Lieberman is not a (D)

Joe seems to think it's not necessary to plan any further ahead than his escalation plans.Lieberman: I just — I'm going to do everything I can to support it and I hope it does work and that we won't have to think about what's next.Way to be a big time thinker. I'm sure the troops [...]

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http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/02/08/cnn-please-wake-up-lieberman-is-not-a-d/

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