Intro

Regarding Torture:

First, is there a more evil SIN than torture? Not too many are there .....??

Second, the Bush/Cheney Administration likes to push the argument that our warriors-on-terror can't be limited by quaint rules when trying to save America from destruction by WMD. OK, let's say there actually is a one in a billion case of a suspected terrorist who knows the location of a "ticking" nuclear bomb in one of our large cities. In the event that such a thing happens, the CIA agent on the spot is going to do "whatever" is needed, rules be damned - forgiveness later IF the facts are there as stated.
For this, we do NOT need or want a law. This must be a judgement call. It should not be the basis for a law of the land. The only American Law must be that torture is never legal. And, if the occassional hero has to go out on a legal limb (beyond the law) to save all of humanity - don't expect this situation to be covered by a bureaucrats statute. James Bond knew the difference - Cheney does not.

LEAK to PUNISH:
Does it matter that Bob Woodward may have been told about Valerie Plame before Libby blabbed to Novak? No, not really. Just because the covert identity of a CIA operative had first been revealed to Woodward, a former member of the press (now more of a White House hanger-on), this does NOT give a federal official carte blanche to spread the leak around even further. A truly patriotic official would have at least attempted to undertake damage control to limit the exposure.

RE-WRITE:
You thought that the protagonist in George Orwell's 1984 was pure fiction, with his job of re-writing history to fit present government policy. Well, the Administration is insisting that Scott McClellan's recent press conference response (to a reporter's damning summary of the CIA-Leak affair) of "That's accurate" be changed in the official transcript to "[I don't think] that's accurate" -- based on absolutely nothing in the audio-visual record. I listened to (and watched) this many times using various software players at the highest volume settings - and there is absolutely NOTHING said by McClellan before his phrase "that's accurate". Video link to follow.......

MIERS:
Even now, what a strange choice Harriet Miers was! However, based on reports from the Washington Times and Drudge, GWB (following recently perceived betrayals) is now on speaking terms with only four people total (all women): Laura, his Mom Barabara, Condi and Karen Hughes. Given that both Condi and Karen Hughes travel abroad frequently and Mom lives in Houston, that leaves only Laura for in-person company. So, was Harriet the 6th member of the inner (sewing) circle, and thus had the very inside track to the SC nomination?

PRO-SEMITIC?
On AntiWar.org, Justin Raimondo recently raised the possibility of the Neocons using an anti-semitism argument in defense of Irving Lewis Libby (said to be Jewish) and his prosecution by Patrick Fitzgerald (said to be Irish-Catholic). In addition to Jewish people, doesn't the term "semitic" also refer to people of Arab origin (as in most of the population of Iraq?). And, wasn't one of the pre-war Iraqi sources on WMD named "al-Libbi"? Not sure where all of this is leading, but isn't "cabal" a word from Jewish mysticism? So far, this is all just unrelated trivia. Maybe one day it will make more sense -- maybe less.