IF I have a new book out, say titled `HUBRIS of Investors' and I have a blog site, say `HappyCapitalist.com', you can bet I'll be hyping my new book like crazy!

Now for more blasting of David!

David: "...some partisans have seized on our Armitage scoop but have said nothing about the Valerie Wilson scoop."

We are waiting for further confirmations, presumable in HUBRIS, that although Ms. Plame was Oper. Chief (as you stated), she had NOT been posted overseas for the 5+ years prior to her `outing'! Also, inquiring minds want to know, since her last posting overseas, what was the cover name(s) she operated? Can't possilby be Mrs. Plame-Wilson or Ms. V. Plame, Right? I mean, what covert agent operate under their real names? Small but important details!!

Mr. David Corn,

Been catching up and am LOVING the posts!

Keep up the stellar work.

Thanks

Kirk

David,
Good to hear you are going to be on democracy now. Tell Amy that we promote her show on your site all the time.

"If sales go well, maybe I'll send a copy to Broder for free."
---------
No. Why should he get one free. This is what you do. Give one to a library and tell him you gave it to them in his name.

Capt,
Where have you been? It's been lonely here without you.

Here's the definition from the law:

The term “covert agent” means—
(A) a present or retired officer or employee of an intelligence agency or a present or retired member of the Armed Forces assigned to duty with an intelligence agency—
(i) whose identity as such an officer, employee, or member is classified information, and
(ii) who is serving outside the United States or has within the last five years served outside the United States; or

Read the piece from HUBRIS in The Nation. It clearly states she traveled overseas while JTFI chief of operations.

David: "....that show indisputably that Rove and Scooter Libby were fiercely trying to discredit Joe Wilson, who had criticized the Bush administration's case for war.

Politics being what it is, it's expected that Rove/Libby/whoever would seek to discredit Joe Wilson. Heck, between the Happy Conservatives and the Sour Liberals, that's what we do here on the Corn blog....discrediting (or spoofing) each other! If Joe didn't expect counterattacks, he is dumb as can be and nothing he says can be believed!

I would add: in the process of countering Wilson's lies on Niger, `outing' Ms. Plame was NOT a goal of Bushco. Why is it so hard to believe that Rove and Libby had the same general knowledge of Ms. Wilson-Plames as Armitage? She was in the CIA and was involved in Wilson's going to Niger....most certainly an important detail for Wilson's opening attack.

Lastly, you did have something in HUBRIS that chided Wilson for outing his wife, right?

#7
Politics being what it is, it's expected that Rove/Libby/whoever would seek to discredit Joe Wilson.
---------
It's called a smear, Happy and when did that become an ok thing to do? Look at the problems it has caused everybody. Quit trying to make that bahavior sound legit. It was wrong. An honest person can counterattack with facts to back up their side not destroying the career of the opponent's wife.

Full Text of Letter from Bill Clinton Lawyer to ABC Obtained

We've just obtained the full text of a blistering letter that Bill Clinton's attorney, Bruce Lindsey, has written to ABC chief Bob Iger protesting the network's decision to air the 9/11 docudrama, "The Path to 9/11." The letter demands that the network pull the miniseries unless it corrects all its errors: "The content of this drama is factually and incontrovertibly inaccurate and ABC has a duty to fully correct all errors or pull the drama entirely. It is unconscionable to mislead the American public about one of the most horrendous tragedies our country has ever known." The full text of the letter -- which was first written about in today's New York Post -- after the jump.
------------
Letter available at link site. Very long.

David:

Here's how Mr. Webster defines `covert'!

Cov.ert: adj. 1. Covered over. 2. Secret : clandestine

People's understanding is overwhelmingly similar to my understanding! I still say Ms. Plame was not `covert'! I could see perhaps her `work', not herself personally, was perhaps 1secret' or classified....My (common) sense tells me that IF she was carrying around her actual identity in her everyday life and her husband is free to be exceptionally `public', no fricking way she was Covert!

Anyway, I hope you sell mucho books and thanks for the blog!

"Some have complained this blog has turned into a promotional vehicle for HUBRIS. Well, what would you expect? I'll get back to the regular blogging soon. But now I have a book to sell. Which reminds me: please buy a copy."

Corn, I must confess I have taken a few sarcastic jabs at your unrelenting promotion for your new book. But they are just that "sarcastic jabs". I figure you own a popular blog, co-wrote an important book (that's getting alot of press). You certianly have the right to promote it. I look forward to reading it.

8
It's called a smear, Happy and when did that become an ok thing to do? Look at the problems it has caused everybody. Quit trying to make that bahavior sound legit. It was wrong. An honest person can counterattack with facts to back up their side not destroying the career of the opponent's wife.
Posted by: Jeanne at September 7, 2006 10:43 PM
================================================
Oh, Pleazzzzzzz:

Far more credible folks/commissions have said Wilson lied, which you call `smear'!

I live, operate, invest, raise kids in the real world! BTW, have you ever said spoofing is wrong? didn't think so! Good night!

Scholastic's Decision to Pull Their Material on ABC's Docucrap

While it is commendable that Scholastic decided to pull the material, something stands out in their official press release:

"After a thorough review of the original guide that we offered online to about 25,000 high school teachers, we determined that the materials did not meet our high standards for dealing with controversial issues," said Dick Robinson, Chairman, President and CEO of Scholastic.

What is interesting is that Scholastic chose to do this "thorough review" after they already published it. For a corporation that is so active in the education of our children, shouldn’¥ all their material demand a "through review" prior to release?

Now the final question remains - Will ABC to pull their two-night miniseries political ad, or will they do their part to divide our already fractured nation even more?

BTW,
I was listening to Minnesota Public Radio today. They had a woman on who has been working with the family members of the 911 victims. One person asked if New Yorkers like to know that people are still thinking about them and that the tragedy hadn't been forgotten and she said definately yes.

Five Years After and We Still Don’t Know

The scientists, engineers, and professors who pose the tough questions about 9/11 are not people who spend their lives making sense of their experience by constructing conspiracy theories. Scientists and scholars look to facts and evidence. They are concerned with the paucity of evidence in behalf of the official explanation. They stress that the official explanation is inconsistent with known laws of physics, and that the numerous security failures, when combined together, are a statistical improbability.

The call by 9/11 skeptics for an independent investigation by an international panel of experts is not a conspiracy theory. In principle there is nothing wrong with such an investigation. In practice, it might be difficult to create a truly independent panel. How many physicists, for example, have careers independent of government grants, and how many engineering firms would risk being branded "unpatriotic" and lose business by coming down on the "wrong" side of the issue?

Nowhere is there a surfeit of brave men.

I do not know what happened on 9/11, and I don’t expect to ever find out. Neither government nor media show any interest in providing us with anything except a political commission’s report.

More HERE

*****end of clip*****

PCR always telling it like it is, eh?

capt

6
The term `overt agent' means-
(i) whose identity as such an officer, employee, or member is classified information, and
(ii) who is serving outside the United States or has within the last five years served outside the United States; or

Posted by: David Corn at September 7, 2006 10:31 PM

It seems Happy maybe right. Plame-Wilson was not a covert agent under the definition Mr. Corn just cited! There is that little word "and" between (i) and (ii) that deserves attention.

Transcript of Special Counsel Fitzgerald's Press Conference

Courtesy of FDCH e-MEDIA
Friday, October 28, 2005; 3:57 PM

FITZGERALD: Good afternoon. I'm Pat Fitzgerald. I'm the United States attorney in Chicago, but I'm appearing before you today as the Department of Justice special counsel in the CIA leak investigation.

A few hours ago, a federal grand jury sitting in the District of Columbia returned a five-count indictment against I. Lewis Libby, also known as Scooter Libby, the vice president's chief of staff.

The grand jury's indictment charges that Mr. Libby committed five crimes. The indictment charges one count of obstruction of justice of the federal grand jury, two counts of perjury and two counts of false statements.

Before I talk about those charges and what the indictment alleges, I'd like to put the investigation into a little context.

Valerie Wilson was a CIA officer. In July 2003, the fact that Valerie Wilson was a CIA officer was classified. Not only was it classified, but it was NOT widely known outside the intelligence community.

Valerie Wilson's friends, neighbors, college classmates had no idea she had another life.

The fact that she was a CIA officer was not well-known, for her protection or for the benefit of all us. It's important that a CIA officer's identity be protected, that it be protected not just for the officer, but for the NATION'S SECURITY.

Valerie Wilson's cover was blown in July 2003. The first sign of that cover being blown was when Mr. Novak published a column on July 14th, 2003.

But Mr. Novak was not the first reporter to be told that Wilson's wife, Valerie Wilson, Ambassador Wilson's wife Valerie, worked at the CIA. SEVERAL other reporters were told.

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

Main Entry: 1 covert
Pronunciation: 'kO-(")v&rt, kO-'; 'k&-v&rt
Function: adjective

Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, past participle of coverir to cover

1 : not openly shown, engaged in, or avowed : VEILED

2 : covered over : SHELTERED
synonym see SECRET
- covert adverb
- covertness noun

Main Entry: 2 covert

Pronunciation: 'k&-v&rt, 'kO-v&rt also 'k&-v&r
Function: noun

1 a : hiding place : SHELTER
b : a thicket affording cover for game
c : a masking or concealing device

2 : a feather covering the bases of the quills of the wings and tail of a bird -- see WING illustration

3 : a firm durable twilled sometimes waterproofed cloth usually of mixed-color yarns

More HERE

*****end of clip*****

Webster said what?

"He is indebted to his memory for his jests and to his imagination for his facts." ~ Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751 - 1816)

As always.

capt

Webster does not define "covert agent" there is a definition for each word. Look it up.

The word you've entered isn't in the dictionary. Click on a spelling suggestion below or try again using the search box to the right.

Suggestions for covert agent:

1. cover charge
2. covered wagon
3. coverlets
4. covered smut
5. copresident
6. covered bridge
7. cavalrymen
8. Copenhagen
9. Cape Verdean
10. cavalryman

Maybe there is a different Websters for trolls?

Maybe the troll could provide a link or reference? Naw, nevermind. Too technical for some I guess. Facts really are stupid things . . . to some people.

capt

Returning Home Alive

All is not okay or right for those of us who return home alive and supposedly well. What looks like normalcy and readjustment is only an illusion to be revealed by time and torment. Some soldiers come home missing limbs and other parts of their bodies. Still others will live with permanent scars from horrific events that no one other than those who served will ever understand.

- Douglas Barber, 2005

Armitage has a long resume of experience with national security matters. How can it be that someone with that experience would expose or risk exposing a CIA operative in "chit-chat" or "gossip" as he has stated? I worked in an area involving national security matters for 30 years. I never would have done that, nor did I know anyone who would do this. It doesn't pass muster.

Armitage knew better than most that there would be a reasonable chance a CIA employee would have covert status, and that disclosing someone's employment there to a journalist would carry huge risks. His behaviour was careless and reckless. I hope the SOB gets included in the civil suit.

'Read the piece from HUBRIS in The Nation. It clearly states she traveled overseas while JTFI chief of operations.'

Which is not what the law requires. 'Travel' isn't enough, she has to be actually stationed overseas. All the evidence says she was stationed at Langley since 1997.

Also, your book didn't scoop Armitage's role. I read that months ago at Tom Maguire's blog. Another blogger simply took a document produced by Patrick Fitzgerald for Libby's defense team that had Novak's name redacted with a Magic Marker. The blogger simply started trying out names to see which one fit the best in the space available. The only one that was nearly perfect was Armitage.

Another thing; yesterday on the Diane Rehm program Isikoff twice made a claim that the forged documents were the source of the '16 words' in the 2003 SOTU speech. That is absolutely NOT TRUE.

The documents showed an actual sale, and Bush only said that Iraq had been 'seeking' uranium. Not that it had actually bought some.

He clearly identified his source; British Intelligence. And, they have clearly stated, and still stand by, that they had multiple sources. Among them that Iraqis had traveled to Niger to talk about uranium with that country's leaders.

Keep promoting your book. I for one am looking forward to receiving it, soon.