Hey, Who's That Under That Bus?

Josh Marshall analyzes an article in today's Los Angeles Times that details Scooter Libby's obsession with Joe Wilson. Here's what Marshall has to say:

But if you read the LAT story closely you see that the authors were able to interview multiple White House staffers (seemingly all or most former ones) and were apparently provided with a sheaf of documents illustrating Libby's near-obsessive Wilson-monitoring.

[snip]

So, a lot of access to former White House staffers in on key meetings and actual documentary evidence of what Scooter was up to, what his efforts produced. That sort of access ain't easy to come by and it's seldom accidental.

This certainly seems like an attempt to pin this whole thing on Libby.

Leaks like that won't affect Fitzgerald; they're not intended to. They're aimed at shaping perceptions of indictments if they come down. If Libby and Rove are indicted, then, yes Rove got caught up in it. And it shouldn't have happened. But the whole unfortunate mess was spawned by the bitter Libby-Wilson antagonsim. It wasn't something that involved the whole White House team, not something characteristic of how it functions.

And I, for one, an inclined to agree: it's already out there that Scooter is going to be indicted and there's little chance he won't. But folks don't write books about Scooter Libby. He may be the Sith Lord's apprentice but he's expendable.

But we shall see...

Coalition of the Now Less-Than-Willing

You have to love it now that the movement Conservatives have turned on Bush. LOVE IT. They now openly talk about how he isn't one of them (never was apparently) and they're not down with his agenda. So much for the 'monolith' that helped him get into office. Basically these folks are now in a position to get what they want and are realizing that those things might not be a compatible as they were lead to believe. I'm also guessing these folks are going to be a lot more careful the next time they back a candidate.

I am as giddy as a schoolgirl.

Take a listen to NPR's story so you can hear these folks in their own words.

Smug

Ugh, look at how smug this wanker is... and this is his MUGSHOT! The ARROGANCE. GRRRRR.

Where are the numbers? This looks like his official House photo, I want NUMBERS! And where is his enormous American Flag Pin? Doesn't Hottub Tom love America anymore? So disappointed in this whole thing.

When 'Tinfoil Hat Stuff' Stuff Isn't

Wait, there are f@#king dots in my printouts that the government can use to track them?? Are you f@#king kidding me?

It sounds like a conspiracy theory, but it isn't. The pages coming out of your color printer may contain hidden information that could be used to track you down if you ever cross the U.S. government.

And THAT is from the bloody WASHINGTON POST!!! First line!

Last year, an article in PC World magazine pointed out that printouts from many color laser printers contained yellow dots scattered across the page, viewable only with a special kind of flashlight. The article quoted a senior researcher at Xerox Corp. as saying the dots contain information useful to law-enforcement authorities, a secret digital "license tag" for tracking down criminals.

>whew< criminals. Right. Feel better, 'cuz for a second I thought it was for something more insidious...

The content of the coded information was supposed to be a secret, available only to agencies looking for counterfeiters who use color printers.

The U.S. Secret Service acknowledged yesterday that the markings, which are not visible to the human eye, are there, but it played down the use for invading privacy.

uh, wait... I'm not so sure about that part. Slippery slope?

"It's strictly a countermeasure to prevent illegal activity specific to counterfeiting," agency spokesman Eric Zahren said. "It's to protect our currency and to protect people's hard-earned money."

It's unclear whether the yellow-dot codes have ever been used to make an arrest. And no one would say how long the codes have been in use. But Seth Schoen, the EFF technologist who led the organization's research, said he had seen the coding on documents produced by printers that were at least 10 years old.

"It seems like someone in the government has managed to have a lot of influence in printing technology," he said.

Yes, yes it does doesn't it.

Wanna see the dots in action? Sure you do.

Cheney Cabal

'Cheney cabal hijacked US foreign policy'

I'll have to check with Brando, but I'm pretty sure Cheney Cabal was on the 2nd stage at Ozzfest this year...

In a scathing attack on the record of President George W. Bush, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff to Mr Powell until last January, said: “What I saw was a cabal between the vice-president of the United States, Richard Cheney, and the secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, on critical issues that made decisions that the bureaucracy did not know were being made.

"Now it is paying the consequences of making those decisions in secret, but far more telling to me is America is paying the consequences."

Mr Wilkerson said such secret decision-making was responsible for mistakes such as the long refusal to engage with North Korea or to back European efforts on Iran.

Hmmm, maybe they were too busy for Ozzfest... CABAL! CABAL! WOOOO! OZZY RULES!

Scott "My Scotty" McClellan: Just Asking For It

Ho Ho, much hilarity:

Question: Is it true that the president slapped Karl Rove upside the head a couple of years ago over the CIA leak?

McClellan: Are you referring to, what, a New York Daily News report? Two things: One, we're not commenting on an ongoing investigation; two, and I would challenge the overall accuracy of that news account ...

Question: So what facts are you challenging?

McClellan: Again, I'm not going to comment on an ongoing investigation.

Question: You can't say you're challenging the facts and then not say which ones you're challenging.

McClellan: Yes, I can. I just did...

Oooh, the press isn't gonna take that much longer 'My Scotty,' and I want to be there when the knives come out for you doughboy.

Bingo!

Oh Wonkette, just when I think I'm free of your charms (read: dirty talk) you come up with "Indictment Bingo" and I'm yours again.

Now we can all play along! Who knew high treason had such an upside???

The Man Tells It Like It Is...

Oh Bill Maher, why is it that only you Jon Stewart can speak the truth in this crazy society of ours? Whatever the reason, thank the sweet baby Jesus he does:

What are you, Harriet? We need to know. We don't trust Bush anymore, so we're not going to play, "It's Pat" with you. Because there are only three possibilities if you've never married or had kids by 60. She's either an asexual figure, sort of like Clay Aiken without all the estrogen. You know, androgynous, like the way we thought about Michael Jackson back when we still liked his records. But this sort of barrenness is threatening to the Republican base because they're generally people who hate sex and are bad at it. So they fear that their own population will dwindle because there won't be enough Republicans willing to f*** each other.

Harriet Miers isn't using the equipment God gave her for making babies, and that's just wrong. It's like God giving you a beautiful garden and you not strip mining it for coal.

Now, possibility two is that Harriet Miers is a practicing lesbian, which is sinful if done correctly. But here's where it gets thorny, because if she's not a lesbian and she's not a virgin, well, then she must be a slut!

Makes sense to me...

Special Election Voter Guide

It's a PDF, but worth reading. Don't have the time? Then a quick recap:
73 - NO
74 - NO
75 - NO
76 - NO
77 - NO

79 - YES
80 - YES

Let's make sure Arnold has a bad day.

Maria's Staff

Hmmm...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's ballot call for California to live within its means is triggering questions about whether his own administration is living within its means -- especially when it comes to his wife, Maria Shriver.

Shriver doesn't hold elected office, but records show she does command a half-million-dollar-a-year staff -- which, depending on how you cut it, is anywhere from $60,000 to $180,000 more than what her predecessor, Sharon Davis, had.

Recently, Daniel Zingale -- a Democratic gay rights advocate who had been working on Controller Steve Westly's gubernatorial campaign -- was appointed Shriver's $123,255 chief of staff. When he takes over Nov. 1, he will be earning about $30,000 more than Davis' top aide, Trish Fontana, was paid.

[snip]

Then there's Shriver's $100,000-a-year press secretary and events coordinator, Terri Carbaugh. Her position, we're told, didn't exist during the Davis years.

Back then, media duties for the first lady were handled on an as-needed basis by the governor's press office.

Even critics concede that the demands on Shriver -- an ex-network TV journalist and wife of a Hollywood celebrity -- exceed those of former first ladies.

"But don't tell everyone else to live within their means when you can't do it yourself,'' said Steve Maviglio, press aide under former Gov. Gray Davis and now a spokesman for the Democratic labor coalition fighting the governor's November initiatives.

Amazing.