CMoore.com

Karl Rove Indicted on Charges of Perjury, Lying to Investigators

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald spent more than half a day Friday at the offices of Patton Boggs, the law firm representing Karl Rove.

During the course of that meeting, Fitzgerald served attorneys for former Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove with an indictment charging the embattled White House official with perjury and lying to investigators related to his role in the CIA leak case, and instructed one of the attorneys to tell Rove that he has 24 hours to get his affairs in order, high level sources with direct knowledge of the meeting said Saturday morning.

Update: looks like Jason Leopold is not the most trustworthy of sources, so grains of salt. As it has now been two full business days in the week since this report came out, let’s just say it’s veracity is in doubt. For my part, I think it highly likely that Rove will be indicted in the near future. There are very few other possible explanations for Fitzgerald’s actions.

The besotted blathering idiot goes and puts a hit piece on Juan Cole on Slate (AKA the new TNR, AKA Joe Lieberman Daily). Well, Juan Cole brings out the whuppin stick. Not that a bleary-eyed, whiskey-soaked Hitchens will be able to read anything besides the label on the scotch his RNC/AEI handlers are currently feeding him along with his hit pieces. What a waste of a formerly formidable mind.

Here’s Hitch:

Aaaaand here’s Juan:

Christopher Hitchens owes me a big apology.

I belong to a private email discussion group called Gulf2000. It has academics, journalists and policy makers on it. It has a strict rule that messages appearing there will not be forwarded off the list. It is run, edited and moderated by former National Security Council staffer for Carter and Reagan, Gary Sick, now a political scientist at Columbia University. The “no-forwarding” rule is his, and is intended to allow the participants to converse about controversial matters without worrying about being in trouble. Also, in an informal email discussion, ideas evolve, you make mistakes and they get corrected, etc. It is a rough, rough draft.

Hitchens somehow hacked into the site, or joined and lurked, or had a crony pass him things. And he has now made my private email messages the subject of an attack on me in Slate. (I am not linking to the article because it is highly unethical and Slate does not deserve any direct traffic from my site for it.) Moreover, he did not even have the decency to quote the final outcome of the discussions.

Republican Culture of Corruption

The Wall Street Journal reported today that indicted former California Congressman Randall “Duke” Cunningham may not have limited his good times to partying on a rented yacht. It turns out the FBI is currently investigating two defense contractors who allegedly provided Cunningham with free limousine service, free stays at hotel suites at the Watergate and the Westin Grand, and free prostitutes.

The two defense contractors who allegedly paid most of the bills, said the Journal, were Brent Wilkes, the founder of ADCS Inc., and Mitchell Wade, the founder of MZM Inc.; both firms profited greatly from their connections with Cunningham. The Journal also suggested that other lawmakers might be implicated. I’ve learned from a well-connected source that those under intense scrutiny by the FBI are current and former lawmakers on Defense and Intelligence comittees—including one person who now holds a powerful intelligence post. I’ve also been able to learn the name of the limousine service that was used to ferry the guests and other attendees to the parties: Shirlington Limousine and Transportation of Arlington, Virginia. Wilkes, I’ve learned, even hired Shirlington as his personal limousine service.

I shall dub thee Watergategate. The person who “now holds a powerful intelligence post” is Porter Goss, the head of the CIA, btw.

Some unintended consequences of the Bush administration’s incompetence, lack of care, and mendacity – thousands of kids suffering from PTSD post-Katrina:

Some 1.2 million children under 18 were living in counties rendered disaster zones by Katrina. As many as 8 percent, or 100,000, are expected to develop post-traumatic stress disorder, according to one assessment.

Most experts say the toll is likely far higher. Of the first 1,000 children screened by the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, 27 percent displayed symptoms of trauma, including nightmares, flashbacks, heightened anxiety and bedwetting, says Dr. Joy Osofsky, a professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at LSU’s Harris Center for Infant Mental Health.

You betcha

George W. Bush’s presidency appears headed for colossal historical disgrace. Barring a cataclysmic event on the order of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, after which the public might rally around the White House once again, there seems to be little the administration can do to avoid being ranked on the lowest tier of U.S. presidents. And that may be the best-case scenario. Many historians are now wondering whether Bush, in fact, will be remembered as the very worst president in all of American history.

is also the culture of lies.

Howard Kaloogian is a GOP candidate running for office in California. He put up this bit picture on his website showing a photo from his “trip to Iraq” of “downtown Baghdad,” purporting to show how peaceful the whole thing is and how the MSM just wasn’t showing all the good news coming out of Iraq (JMM’s original post):

One problem: it wasn’t a picture of Iraq. It was a picture of Bakirkoy, a suburb of Istanbul. That’s Turkey to members of the reality based community.

Once again, we have a perfect example of today’s GOP in action: there is no self-serving action that is not worth lying, cheating, stealing, slandering, libelling, or breaking the rules for.

Update: more on Kaloogian and who exactly has their hands shoved up his mannequin hole. Short answer: Move America Forward

Shocking no one, it’s the cowards, milk monitors, tattletails, and whiners who turn into conservatives when they grow up. Rules-based, unimaginative, rigid thinkers become close-minded bigots. But don’t believe me or your lyin’ eyes… now it’s been scientifically proven!

Remember the whiny, insecure kid in nursery school, the one who always thought everyone was out to get him, and was always running to the teacher with complaints? Chances are he grew up to be a conservative.

At least, he did if he was one of 95 kids from the Berkeley area that social scientists have been tracking for the last 20 years. The confident, resilient, self-reliant kids mostly grew up to be liberals.

Which explains the conservative fixation on restraints, bondage, and man-on-dog sex. If you’re self-reliant, you don’t need the dog or the dog collar.

For, lo! they have offended his favorite child

Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson, criticized by some evangelicals for comments about Venezuela’s president and Israel’s prime minister, lost a bid for re-election to the National Religious Broadcasters’ board of directors.

That sure seems like a plausible explanation for the 12 hour stonewall, blocking of questioning of the VP by sherriffs by the secret service, and the spike attempt.

Interesting how some animals are more equal than others.

I would blog about these things…

George Deutsch, and how he is the perfect characterization of the Bush administration. An ignorant, fundamentalist, lying zealot who harms the nation. And Deutsch is just a pimple on the right’s ass.

The American Taliban strikes again, this time the geezers at the Superbowl Halftime.

Bush’s close relationship with Jackoff Abraham.

The reanimated Egyptian zombie/waste of space Kate O’Beirne’s pearl clutching on Hardball over the politicization of Coretta Scott King’s funeral.

How McCain is a scary, crazy wanker, and how the media wants to suck his cock anyway. Obama’s our hope and McCain’s already trying to take him down… and Lieberman is helping him. More than help, actually. Lieberman not only sold Obama down the river, he sold tour packages for the ride.

Time, Inc.s aiding and abetting the furtherance of a criminal conspiracy from the White House, just as much as the NYT, WaPo, and Novakula did.

… and about 30 other things.

Oh, and I’m totally jonezing for some baseball right now.

In this case, a Tom Toles cartoon

Tom Toles editorial cartoon published in The Washington Post on Monday and on its Web site has drawn a very rare and very strong protest letter to the editors from all six members of The Joint Chiefs of Staff, E&P has learned.

The letter, not yet published by the Post, charges that the six military leaders “believe you and Mr. Toles have done a disservice to your readers and your paper’s reputation by using such a callous depiction of those who have volunteered to defend this nation, and as a result, have suffered traumatic and life-altering wounds. … As the Joint Chiefs, it is rare that we all put our hand to one letter, but we cannot let this reprehensible cartoon go unanswered.”

Right, why should we be worried about a military promoting “freedom” abroad while attempting to stifle free speech at home? An institution that funds and organizes fake pro-war marches, plans to wage war on the information sharing system it created, and illegally spies on war protestors, peace activists, and vegans in the United States? I don’t see the danger in this at all.

Here’s the cartoon they don’t want you to see:

They’re destroying photographic evidence. Too bad Jackoff has a bunch and is willing to sell, huh.

In his press conference today, President Bush suggested that the existence of photographs of himself and Jack Abramoff are no big deal and generally pooh-poohed the press’s focus on the story. But our reporting suggests that the White House is actively involved in covering up and possibly destroying photographic evidence of the two men together.

Earlier this month, we were alerted to the existence of a series Abramoff photos at the website of Reflections Photography, a studio that does photo shoots for many Republican political events and sells copies to the individuals who attended the events and other members of the public through an online photo database. Reflections was an official photographer for Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign events and for the 2005 inauguration.

One of those photos was of Abramoff and Ralph Reed at a party for the launch of Reed’s Century Strategies DC office in 2003. We contacted Reflections Photography and purchased the rights to publish that photograph and did so on January 11th.

Things weren’t so simple with the late 2003 photograph of Jack Abramoff and President Bush.

Major earthquake hits off Indonesian coast

A magnitude-7.7 undersea earthquake rocked eastern Indonesia early Saturday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. There was no danger of a tsunami.

The earthquake occurred in the Banda Sea about 120 miles south of Ambon city, the USGS said. It occurred at a depth of 212 miles.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said no destructive tsunami threat existed.

I don’t remember, was it that they don’t cane homosexuals hard enough or was it the ceding of land for peace? So hard to keep a pulse on Patria Pat’s whims.

Those were the days. Our Dear Leader may have set a new low today. Yes indeedy, a new low in the style, coherence, authoritarianism, inappropriateness, and whathefu? categories. It was a remarkable performance, even if the Russian judge only gave him a 5.4.

A 7-year-old boy’s question — “How can people help on the war on terror?” — gave Bush an opening to score some political points against his critics and try to keep Democrats from using Iraq as an issue in this year’s midterm elections.

“It’s one thing to have a philosophical difference — and I can understand people being abhorrent about war. War is terrible,” Bush said. “But one way people can help as we’re coming down the pike in the 2006 elections is remember the effect that rhetoric can have on our troops in harm’s way, and the effect that rhetoric can have in emboldening or weakening an enemy.”

A 7 year old boy asked the question! 7 years old! And to this plant kid, Bush said… uh…. hmm. Wait. I can’t figure out what he said because my massive IQ is not infinite and thus does not loop into the negative value territories required to parse this fucktard’s “engrish.” I think he’s trying to say clap! Clap louder! Dissent is treason! Shut up! You just shut up! Shut up shut up shut up! I am the King and I say we invade England! Call me Little Boots! Mars, bitches!

… I should really quit posting when I’m fatigued. Next, time I’m likely to start talking about Bush’s well-known-in-whisper-circuits unquenchable fetish for sea mammals and rice cookers.

Let me try again. Shorter Bush: you really have to keep your eye on the ball, or the ball may attack!

Anyway, let’s just say that, Like a Virgin, Bush’s stupidity hurt me just like the very first time today.

Also, in case anyone still cares at this point, he never answered the question.

(Alternate title: when the blogosphere makes a mountain out of a molehill and collectively goes apeshit)

I don’t get it. Why does Congress insist on creating, passing, and signing into law things that are clearly unconstitutional? Does no one pay attention to the minutiae of the tomes they are toting around? Is all politics grandstanding and demagoguery?

Last Thursday, President Bush signed into law a prohibition on posting annoying Web messages or sending annoying e-mail messages without disclosing your true identity.

Note: I think the linked article largely misses the point as does most of the blogosphere echo chamber that is pushing the parade of horrors around on this one. There’s very little smoke here and almost no fire.

At its worst, this law would mean no flame wars, no trolls, no anonymous political activism, … no anonymous communication at all, really. The worst-case is overstating the danger, according to my reading, but the entire sticking point here can be boiled down to a single clause in a single sentence. This sentence prohibits activities intended to “annoy” the recipient.

Read the law for yourself and see what you think: Read more…