The Dawn Comes Up Like... Well, Not Thunder, But Something Early

Spring forward! Clarice Feldman describes nuclear fall-out and "A Hack Too Far" in her weekly Pieces.

SO WEEDY WE BLAME ANAEROBIC RESPIRATION: In the course of describing Obama's disabilities with spelling and classic rock, The Hill also notes that the White House transcript has declined to memorialize the Big Guy's problem:

WH transcript scrubs Obama's botched 'respect' misspelling

By Justin Sink

The White House stenographer appears to have given President Obama a little too much "respect."

Introducing soul legend Aretha Franklin at a White House performance Thursday night, the president flubbed the spelling of her signature song.

"When Aretha first told us what R-S-P-E-C-T meant to her..." Obama said, prompting laughter from the crowd.

The president's face betrayed that he had misspelled the anthem, but he did not stop to correct himself...

Instant comedy gold which will live on YouTube but not elsewhere:

But anyone reading the official transcript of the event provided by the White House would have had no idea of the president's mistake. In that version, the president correctly spells out the word.

"When Aretha first told us what “R.E.S.P.E.C.T.” meant to her, she had no idea it would become a rallying cry for African Americans, and women, and then everyone who felt marginalized because of what they looked like or who they loved," the White House transcript reads.

It's not the first time the official White House transcript has edited presidential misstatements. During the state visit of French President François Hollande last month, Obama referred to French political scientist Alexis de Tocqueville as "Alex." But the White House transcript released shortly after used the Frenchman's correct first name.

OK, that's intereting. Pathetic, but interesting. However, in a bid for balance The Hill adds this:

Critics of the Bush administration accused the White House of altering a 2005 transcript of a briefing with former press secretary Scott McClellan, who was asked about whether Karl Rove and Scooter Libby, an adviser to former Vice President Dick Cheney, had conversations about former CIA officer Valerie Plame.

Independent transcription services Congressional Quarterly and Federal News Service transcribed McClellan as answering, "that's accurate," but the official White House transcript claimed the spokesman answered, "I don't think that's accurate.

Hmm. My recollection was that Scott McClellan was the White House press flack, not the President. Oh yes, The Hill remembers that too, since they mention "the Bush administration" rather than "the McClellan administration". So as examples of parallel behavior this already falls a bit short.

But is the example otherwise comparable? Not really - Scott McClellan was talking over, under or around a question from Dick David Gregory and there is a legitimate dispute (Think Progress 1, 2) as to whether the videotape caught all the audio. McClellan either said "That's accurate" or "No, I don't think that's accurate". The best coverage (or at least, the one I liked best) was here:

The official transcripts archived at the White House website tend to be relatively trustworthy representations of public speaking by President Bush and other officials. The transcribers apparently feel no compulsion to clean up the notorious disfluencies of the President (as with his recent substitution of "marriage" for "merits" when introducing Samuel Alito, or his frequent use of the singular copula with a plural noun phrase). But there's a controversy over the White House transcript of a press briefing by the President's mouthpiece, Scott McClellan, and it's not over some nitpicky grammatical point like subject-verb agreement. Rather, it's over a statement that could have serious legal implications in the ongoing CIA leak investigation.

Interesting that Bush's flubs apparently lived on. Anyway, the post author eventually posts in full the thoughts of a reader. The gist - the sound quality is uncertain, McClellan's lips may or may not have been moving prior to any sound being picked up (the idea that McClellan was a bit of a ventriliquist's dummy has an objective basis, as we watch him speak), the stenographer claims to have heard McClellan say "No, I don't think...", and most importantly, it is clear from the body language and subsequent back and forth that McClellan does not think its accurate and Dick Gregory does not think McClellan will acknowledge that it is accurate.

So, devoid of any context whatsoever, a listener might concluse that the White House transcript is wrong. Watching the tape and seeing the actual exchange, it is clear to me that the answer is not clear, but that whatever McClellan said (as he interrupted Gregory), what he was thinking was "No, I don't think that is not accurate".

And to go so far beyond the point that only physicists have a hope of saving us, McClellan was right in asserting that Gregory was wrong. From the earlier linked article we glean this:

McClellan would not say if he misspoke, but told NEWSWEEK he "disagreed" with Gregory's statement that Fitzgerald had described Plame as a "covert officer."]

This takes us back in time, but my strong recollection is that McClellan was correct at that point. Prior to and during the trial Fitzgerald did all he could to keep the question of Ms. Plame's status out of the discussion, insisting that this was a trial on perjury, not any kind of Intelligence Identities Protection Act case (for reasons to vexing to rehash, but this post represents a notion unearthed nowhere else).

This Feb 2007 article by Byron York ("What the CIA Leak Case Is About") summarized the state of play several years after McClellan disagreed with Gregory, or didn't:

From the first day, [Judge] Walton has said that jurors will not be allowed to know, or even ask, about the status -- covert, classified or otherwise -- of Valerie Plame Wilson, the woman at the heart of the CIA leak case. "You must not consider these matters in your deliberations or speculate or guess about them," he told jurors in his opening instructions.

A few days later, on Jan. 29, Walton told everyone in the courtroom that the jurors are not the only ones in the dark about Mrs. Wilson's status. "I don't know, based on what has been presented to me in this case, what her status was," Walton said. Two days later, he added, "I to this day don't know what her actual status was."

Walton's reasoning is this: The trial is about whether Libby lied to the grand jury in the CIA leak investigation. Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald never charged anyone with leaking the identity of a covert or classified agent. Libby isn't on trial for that, so jurors -- and judge -- don't need to know.

It was only in the post-trial sentencing memorandum that Fitzgerald claimed Ms. Plame had 'covert" status, which is a phrase with nuanced meanings. The CIA mainatins that "covert" is synonomous with "classified", so any agent with classified status is covert. The IIPA, on the other hand, has a more detailed definition, which Ms. Plame almost surely did not meet, or what was Fitzgerald so coy?

This bush was circled many times in subsequent Congressional hearings hosted by Waxman. I summarize my case for aggressive agnosticism here.

I will let Walter Pincus and Richard Leiby of the WaPo summarize the dispute:

Some news stories created initial confusion over Plame's status by suggesting that disclosure of her name and employment may have violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982. That law, passed in response to disclosure of the names of CIA officers serving overseas by former CIA employee Philip Agee, made it a crime to disclose the names of "covert agents," which the act narrowly defined as those serving overseas or who had served as such in the previous five years.

"Covert agent" is not a label actually used within the agency for its employees, according to former senior CIA officials. Plame, who joined the agency right out of Pennsylvania State University, underwent rigorous spycraft training to become an officer in the Directorate of Operations. (The term "agent" in the CIA is only applied to foreign nationals recruited to spy in support of U.S. interests.)

Regardless of the terminology, the Identities Act proved irrelevant in the indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Fitzgerald prosecuted Vice President Cheney's chief of staff for perjury and obstruction of justice based on answers about the case that Libby gave to the FBI and the grand jury. Nonetheless, some of Libby's supporters have invoked "covert" as if it were central to his indictment and conviction.

Well, leaking classified information unwittingly to a reporter and fellow American is a very difficult crime to charge under the Espionage Act or other statutes and there was an idea that Fitzgerald ought to have been investigating an underlying crime. But if people made false statements to the FBI during an investigation that had almost no chance of leading to an indictment, well, indict 'em anyway, right? For getting bad legal advice, if nothing else.

Comments

[narciso]

From th last thread;

http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/03/well_ill_cry_tomorrow_medea_debo_get_no_rspect.html

[narciso]

Cheney will be on Face the Nation, tazing Schieffer's mind to the breaking point

[Jane]

Loved loved loved today's Pieces!

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

Here's the ad I get at JOM. I wonder what tea party issues our Virginia "blue dog" Democrat Mark Warner disagrees with - follow the Constitution? Less taxes? Stop govt. waste?
Which of those things is Mark Warner opposed to & why?

[centralcal]

Good morning. My first hatred of government came quite young over their messing with time and sleep.

Enjoyed Pieces enormously even though I am grouchy about the time change.

Did TM call in the psycho squad to bundle up the weird, crazy person muttering to himself on every thread and take him away?

Very sick and disturbed, that troll - hope it gets help.

[Stephanie VIP shhhhh its fight club]

I love daylight savings time. The transition to getting used to the time changes not so much.

Another few weeks and I will be able to get in a quick nine at six pm and finish before dark. My favorite time to play.

[James D.]

Fantastic Pieces (as usual), Clarice.

I do have a question, though. We all know about Debo what's-his-name here, and we can read about him in Clarice's column...

But why isn't the RNC running national ads? Or the "shadowy" Koch Brothers? Why aren't people seeing this message every night during the local 6 PM news or "Wheel of Fortune" - that Zero nominated a guy who cheerleads for a cop-killing terrorist to be the #2 man at the Department of Justice?

Or, how about just running a "blooper reel" of Zero's greatest gaffes as a 60-second ad: corpse-man, 57 states, bitter clingers, r-s-p-e-c-t, etc.? No political comment, no issue messages. Just Zero being the ignorant ass he is, repeated ad nauseum.

[jimmyk on iPad]

I've noticed attitudes toward DST are somewhat related to which end of the time zone you're in, or whether you're in a rural or urban area. It's less needed in the western part, and farm animals for some reason don't change their clocks. But as one in the urban east coast I like it. I once knew a guy from rural eastern Indiana who just hated it.

The nonsense of extending it from mid-March to early November was ridiculous, though. Even on the east coast it's dark when kids go to school by late October.

[polly]

I agree with jimmyk--Daylight time is all right, but the months that they have it is ridiculous! I live in the south.

[Miss Marple]

Good morning!

I am in Indiana, where we didn't have DST until Mitch Daniels got it passed through the legislature for business reasons. Apparently it was a big pain in the neck that we didn't go along with it, if you were involved in shipping or transportation.

I liked not having it. Half the year we were on Chicago time and half the year we were on New York time.

The REAL problem in Indiana, though, is that we should be in the Central Time zone.
There's a guy who brings this up in every legislature, but I doubt we ever go back to CST, where we were in the early 50's.

[jimmyk on iPad]

Miss M, I thought Indiana was split down the middle. Or at least some western counties are in the Central zone.

[narciso]

She's hot but clueless, seems to be a pattern;

http://hotair.com/headlines/archives/2014/03/09/i-think-that-whole-bridgegate-stuff-is-just-another-diversion-that-the-democrats-try-to-pull/

Lileks had a great riff on National Review where Maddow is all excited over 'the Film
a Bridge too Far' while real events spiral out of control.

[centralcal]

My dislike is not about DST. I just wish "they" would pick ONE for the year - standard time or DST - and be done with it.

[henry]

I'm seeing tweets that the Vietnamese found debris -- floating doors and tail section. Pics online somewhere.

[MaryD]

Cross post: Vietnamese plane reporting finding suspected Malaysian plane fragments in the ocean.

[narciso]

Her boss, Weiner, who seems to have the basis df the doomed congressman, came to Mayor Kane's defense

[Miss Marple]

jimmyk, We actually had THREE time zones before 2006. Here is a map which shows the areas prior to the change. We had CST which also practiced DST, EST with NO DST, and EST WITH DST.

http://brisray.com/th/intimed.gif

After 2006, the map looked like this:

http://www.morrowrealestate.net/images/indiana_fallwinter_lowres_ygaa.jpg

Now, all of the state is on Eastern whatever year-round, except for 6 counties up around Chicago and 5 counties down in the "toe" of Indiana, which went to Central year-round.

[The Mettle Kingdom.]

Uh, oh, somebody's pissed off China.

[More cha, danke.]

Heh, Meddle Kingdom.

[Jeff Dobbs]

heh. heh heh. heh heh heh.

[jimmyk on iPad]

"Dick Gregory"? In a piece about misstatements? :)

There ought to be a name for that phenomenon, like the inevitable grammatical error in posts commenting on someone else's error.

[Ignatz]

This is the worst sort of gossip and shouldn't be funny but is so of course I'm posting it;
52 Famous People Who (probably) Have Herpes.
Only made it through the first 11 or so, but I note with a good deal of humor that 5 of the 11 were reportedly infected by Derek Jeter.
I'd say he is probably number one on that Yankees list.

[Captain Hate]

Santorum has acted like an idiot on the FNS panel.

[Miss Marple]

Could you give specifics, Captain Hate? I want to know if watching it later today is going to cause me to sin.

[narciso]

He defended Cummings, from some accounts,

[clarice]

Thanks, Tom.

[Ignatz]

The left is at war with the rest of us whether we acknowledge it or not.
Why can't DC Reps understand there is a difference between fighting a war ethically and fighting it politely?
If you catch somebody in the act of a home invasion you aren't polite.

[Captain Hate]

Jane Harman was and is a partisan hack who will never criticize a democrat.

[Captain Hate]

Miss Marple, he was out of his depth in discussing what's going on in Ukraine, pretty embarrassingly so. And he defended what Gaylord Focker has recently done.

The entire panel with the exception of Will were on the side of Cummings. Thanks again, Ailes.

[Bela1]

Great Pieces today, Clarice.
Sunday mornings keep getting better and better. :D

Have a great week, everyone!

[Jeff Dobbs]

Throwing an update filled with Libby/Plame stuff is like rubbing salt in the wound.

Well played, TM. Well played.

[Miss Marple]

Elijah Cummings has built a force-field around himself due to his participation in the early struggle for civil rights. As far as I am concerned, his immunity to criticism has expired.

If the panel didn't see that the entire thing was a set-up to embarrass Issa and make Lerner look like a persecuted victim, they are either afraid of looking bad by criticizing Cummings, or they are as dumb as a box of rocks.

Santorum is really not bright, and I don't think he has paid attention to foreign policy since he left office. I dislike him and see that he was beaten by Huckabee in a poll in Iowa this week. Of course, I shudder at the thought of Huckabee running again, but as I said yesterday, given my age and lack of influence, no one is going to pay any attention to what I think.

[Account Deleted]

"The left is at war with the rest of us whether we acknowledge it or not."

Ignatz,

The Russians and Egyptians are handling the world wide parasite infestation in an interesting manner. They appear to have examined the progressive fascist flash mob by tweet phenomenon carefully and are willing to take rather stern measures to avoid the Venezuelan outcome. The people of Wisconsin were able to use the vote to reject the "this is democracy" lie involving the flash mob effort there but the Russians and Egyptians appear to be taking a more proactive approach towards eradication at the root rather than just clipping off stems. The Russian response may have something to do with KGB experience in fomenting the type of activity they are now repressing.

[He and Fitzgerald dwell in the same cell.]

I still remember Joe Wilson's Op-Ed in the LATimes on Feb. 6, 2003, in which he argued that we should not invade Iraq for fear that Saddam would use his Weapons of Mass Destruction on our forces.

[Miss Marple]

Rick,

I saw Sisi went to Russia a week or two ago. I STILL want to know what was in all of the documents that the pro-Sisi crowd took when they overran the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters right before Morsi was kicked out. An AP reporter reported that they gave the furniture to poor local people, but they carried out boxes and file cabinets full of documents.

[Circling that Bush]

Yeah, the scales hadn't fallen off yet, but he had to watched closely as a team player.

"We should do everything possible to avoid the understandable temptation to send American troops to fight a war of "liberation" that can be waged only by the Iraqis themselves. The projection of power need not equate with the projection of force?

[henry]

Hit, a timely reminder that spring cleaning is to start an hour earlier while it is still winter (granted the accumulation of snow and ice surrounding me will catastrophically melt over the next few weeks).

[Jane]

There were interviews today on the Sunday shows of Paul, Cruz, Cheney, Gates and James Baker.

I ignored all the commentary.

[Miss Marple]

Jane,

That seems a wise decision. I need to try that. Plus, it would save time as I could turn off the TV before the panels appear!

[Captain Hate]

Am I the only person who when I'm watching Gates being interviewed thinks he's always playing two sides against each other?

[Captain Hate]

Online comment about soccer being very popular among young people: Shocking young millenials would like a sport where most of them can hide from doing anything remotely skillful.

[Jane]

Miss Marple,

What is your twitter handle?

[Jane]

I usually like the commentary Miss Marple, but the little I heard today was stupid.

[Miss Marple]

@MissMarple2

[Miss Marple]

Jane, I don't comment on there as much as I used to. When I do, it is usually in the morning unless Fournier or someone gets me so riled up I can't hold my tongue.

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

I totally disagree with that comment about soccer.

[Account Deleted]

Miss Marple,

I'd rather have a peek at the file kept by Kerry's KGB handler or the tapes from the meetings between Assad and the Progressive Fascist Democrats during the run up to Iraq. Sisi's problem is paying for food (wheat). He and Putin may have discussed the advisability of exploiting the power vacuum in Libya through annexation with Egypt. There is currently a tremendous opportunity for realpolitik and the redrawing of maps while the EUnuchs and BOzo the Clown are contemplating further acts of submission. China, Iran and India are all watching with great interest.

[Miss Marple]

Rick, Good point.

Meanwhile, Rupert Murdoch was on Twitter this morning suggesting that the rise of terrorism in China as indicated by the missing plane should make us good partners with China against Russia's bullying.

I don't think Wendi is going to be much impressed, and I think he missed the part where China backed Russia over the Ukraine (since they are dealing with areas that want independence themselves).

Egypt taking Libya would give them a source of income and perhaps Sisi could get a handle on the radicals there, since Libya's military isn't as strong or professional as Egypt's. (This paragraph is generalization from my impressions, since I obviously don't have much detailed knowledge).

[Danube on iPad]

Delightful, Clarice.

[Danube on iPad]

"Even on the east coast it's dark when kids go to school by late October."

Why don't the schools open an hour later for a few weeks?

[Don't you want decentralized gubmint?]

Anarchy has been maligned as chaos, but it decries the huge bureaucracy of centralized government.

It becomes a critical mass of corruption because it is consolidated into a mass of evil.

“Not only are super-structures wasteful and inefficient, but they also require that we mortgage our ideals and affinities. By definition, coalitions seek to create and enforce agendas. These are not merely agendas for a particular meeting but larger priorities for what type of work is important. Within non-anarchist groups, this prioritization often leads to an organizational hierarchy to ensure that all members of the group promote the overall agenda.”

http://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/curious-george-brigade-the-end-of-arrogance-decentralization-and-anarchist-organizing

It takes a village.

[clarice]

Thanks.

I hate DST. Don't see the point of it.

[Ignatz]

Single payer anarchy. Hmmmm

I guess guys who think a negative plus a negative equals a positive don't notice when things don't add up.

[jimmyk]

Why don't the schools open an hour later for a few weeks?

That would have ripple effects their after-school schedules, parents' and care providers' schedules, etc.

Extending DST into November was based on a harebrained idea that it would save energy. It also messed up coordination with other countries, airline schedules, etc.

[jimmyk]

"After-school schedules" only if it meant school ended later too, which is how I first read the comment.

[Jane]

Miss Marple,

I tweet between 5 and 6PM, mostly about Bob Beckel.

[Captain Hate]

Extending DST into November was based on a harebrained idea that it would save energy. It also messed up coordination with other countries, airline schedules, etc.

It also meant trick or treat started while it was still light out. Thank you federal overlords.

[mad jack]

As someone mentioned earlier I think ones appreciation of DST depends on where you live. Living on the eastern side of the EST zone I can say that the benefits of early darkness are over-rated. Yeah DST. Now if we can just get the temperature over 32 I might be able to play nine after work.
Nice job, Clarice!

[narciso]

There seems to coordination, between Volodya,
Abdullah and Asisi, they all seem to going after the Brotherhood, Santorum was exceedingly dense today.

[Miss Marple]

MB is a destabilizing force wherever it exists, including our own government.

[Jeff Dobbs]

(heh)

[narciso]

Mo Dowd seems to be in her Michael Douglas trapper keeper mode, today, or the Brittany fan,

[Miss Marple]

Even if DST saves a modicum of energy, how much is lost from putting the entire country on jet lag?

[Account Deleted]

"since Libya's military isn't as strong or professional as Egypt's"

Miss Marple,

Libya is currently enjoying all the blessings promised by anarchy. It is defenseless, lacking command and control over the bands of AliBabas determined to steal anything of value while the opportunity exists. They aren't nearly as organized as the progressive fascist thieves in Venezuela or even the Ukraine.

Libya is low hanging fruit, ready for picking.

[Jim Eagle]

I just learned today, thanks to Tom Maguire that Dick Gregory is responsible for al the contortions and confusions as to what McClellan actually said.

He's always made me laugh.

[Threadkiller]

When elected President my first action will be to adjust all clocks by 1/2 an hour and never touch them again.

[Ignatz]

I always thought that Dick Gregory, while utterly insane, was one of the funniest guys on the planet.

David Gregory OTOH is only funny in the way the monkeys in the zoo are; inadvertently by being their simian selves.

[Ignatz]

Wasn't it Sylvia of Lithium who thought H&R and TM were the same person?

[DrJ]

(heh. heh heh. heh heh heh.)

[Ignatz]

--Debo Adegbile--

Are there already youtube blooper reels of news anchors trying to say this dude's name?
As an aside how do you say it?

[Threadkiller]

This is the first flub I found corrected in the transcript, TM:

Maybe this is why Obama isn't shooting point on religious kerfuffles:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2qulerCQ78

Iniquities, inequities, let's call the whole thing off.

Posted by: Threadkiller | February 07, 2012 at 10:37 PM

****************

It is correct in the transcript:

"In the words of the book Isaiah: “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”

He must have been wing'n it.

http://m.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/04/19/remarks-president-easter-prayer-breakfast

Posted by: Threadkiller | February 07, 2012 at 10:48 PM

Dunce or speaking from the heart? I suggest both. The lady in the video nailed it.

[NKonIPad]

Lying to the FBI or a grand jury are clear reason to indict, even in the absence of an underlying crime. See Bill Clinton impeachment and his settlement with the SpecialCounsel. Lie under oath, you assume the risk.

[Bori]

Clarice,
Excellent as always, hopefully a sign of things to come.

RB and Miss Marple,

Egypt does not need to annex the whole of Libya just the western part, that is where most of the oil is. Coincidentally, that is the part that the current government has lost control of.

[narciso]

Cyrenaica, has always been a tough region for the Libyan, it's where the heart of the resistance to Itallian rule was located

[JoJo]

Janet, Mark Warner is mostly worried that through the work of Ted Cruz the public will see Democratic obstructionism, so he's trying to deflect that. That's what it's really all about.

[narciso]

as they told Lisa Simpson, don't you ever tire of being wrong?

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2014/03/flashback-obama-pushed-ukraine-to-destroy-15000-tons-of-ammo-400000-firearms-and-1000-anti-aircraft-missiles-left-them-defenseless/

[jimmyk]

As an aside how do you say [Debo Adegbile]?

I believe it is pronounced "Race-pimping scumbag."

[narciso]

Meanwhile back at the ranch;

http://www.interpretermag.com/ukraine-liveblog-day-20-a-military-standoff/

[Bori]

I guess unicorns and rainbows are not a strong enough deterrent.

Ciso, did you read this, about the rationing in Venezuela and how they are tracking it?

http://weaselzippers.us/178625-rationing-in-venezuela-brings-eerie-brandings-on-peoples-arms/

[narciso]

tears your heart out, even in the midst of the 'special period' they didn't resort to this,

[Ignatz]

Whaddya know jimmy? I was saying it right all along.

[narciso]

it's pronounced 'Throat Warbler Mangrove'

[Ignatz]

--Lying to the FBI or a grand jury are clear reason to indict, even in the absence of an underlying crime.--

OK, but re what?
BTW, is it a crime when the FBI lies to us?

[NKonIPad]

The tragic suffering of the Venezuelan people, imposed on them by socialist kleptocrats has to be made a campaign issue this autumn. Crony socialism will do the same thing to america, if the Dems aren't blown out of the Congrss this year and the WH in '16.

[Danube on iPad]

DAY-bo Uh-DEG-be-lay.

Terps hanging tough with Cavs.

[Bori]

NK,

The problem is that people will not believe that it can happen here unless it is a Right-leaning government. Up is down, down is up, NUTS.

[NKonIPad]

Re what? Schtuping fat interns in the pantry,or talking to reporters about unclassified issues.... Matters not. FBI lies? Fire the liars, revoke their pensions, make their political bosses accountable politically.

[jimmyk]

Always trust your instincts, Iggy.

[narciso]

Speaking of which,

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/07/what-s-inside-cia-s-black-site-database-and-were-senate-staffers-allowed-to-see.html

[narciso]

this was the very silly piece at Carlos Slim's from yesterday;

http://hotair.com/headlines/archives/2014/03/09/it-seems-the-whole-logic-here-is-almost-entirely-the-product-of-one-particular-mind/

[Jane]

Who is Lena Dunham? Everytime I hear that name I think people are talking about Obama's mother (for some reason). Apparently she is not liked by many.

[jimmyk]

Ha, from narc's 1:44, this should be on every foreign policy so-called expert's list of lame excuses to explain a completely wrong prediction:

“We shouldn’t assume there was a grand plan,” said Mark Galeotti, an expert on Russia’s security forces from New York University who is in Moscow and regularly meets with security officials. “They seem to be making things up as they go along.”

[Account Deleted]

"Fire the liars, revoke their pensions, make their political bosses accountable politically."

I agree completely. Right after the FBI liars who enabled the malicious prosecution of Stevens by DoJ scum in Alaska in furtherance of the theft of a Senate seat are prosecuted and jailed next to the DoJ scum, we should take lying to liars very seriously.

Until then, lying to liars is a minor venial sin of derisory importance and pretense concerning the integrity of any of the scum infesting the DoJ is laughable.

[jimmyk]

Lena Dunham is the prototype Lackwitz sister who makes a TV show (HBO) about her incredibly boring and meaningless life.

[narciso]

it's aversion therapy disguised as melodrama,

[Bori]

Jimmy K,

When they predict things wrong is not their fault. How about when they themselves created the problem?

"“Only in Washington could asking the bottom of the middle class to finance health care for the poorest families be seen as reducing inequality,” said the report from Unite Here. “Without smart fixes, the ACA threatens the middle class with higher premiums, loss of hours, and a shift to part-time work and less comprehensive coverage,” said the report, titled, “The Irony of Obamacare: Making Inequality Worse.”

http://washingtonexaminer.com/big-labor-obamacare-death-spiral-to-worker-pay-insurance-coverage/article/2545310

[jimmyk]

Lena Dunham = Sandra Fluke plus tattoos and cellulite and minus the law school education.

[jimmyk]

“The Irony of Obamacare: Making Inequality Worse.”

A feature, not a bug. The worse inequality gets, the more they can bang away at raising taxes on the wealthy, increasing the minimum wage to benefit unions, and generally divide the country.

[Ignatz]

This is NOT Lena Dunham;

There are many pictures of many other women who are NOT Lena Dunham which I will be glad to post on request.

[Ignatz]

BTW, I was skimming past, I believe, the Sundance Channel the other day and noticed a movie with the delightful and quirky Lena Dunham as the lead. I watched a little of it.

When I woke up in the ER they finished bandaging my head and told me if I was a better shot I might not have made it.