Free Republic

This law predated Terry, it was signed into law by Gov. George W. Bush as I recall.

Does anyone think it's strange that these guys weren't held for questioning?

Strangest story ever, one not be parnoid to wonder why something so sensitive was posted publicly.

Thank God, they've dragged this thing out too long as it is. The Iranian people can't wait for us to get in there and save them.

It's good for us, they look like fools for pounding this when it was so obviously an accident. Cheney's number's will go up.

Typical bias, there have to be twice that many Republicans running.

If the objective is to "starve the beast" to achieve cuts the House should have the courage to cut the programs at the same time as taxes are cut. As it is this is irresponsible.

Ross Perot is looking like a genius at this point. His crazy aunt in the attic is screaming bloody murder.

Why don't these people stop waiting for the government to baby them and just take care of themselves?

He's still smarting at the GOP for not backing him up when the Democrats came after his Majority Leader job (but he has no such anger to spare for the Democrats who engineered his ouster). Maybe as a former Democrat, he's sleeping with the enemy again.

He got what he expected from the Rats, he, rightfully or not, believes his own betrayed him. With that perspective, he just can't be trusted by anyone.

It looks like there isn't going to be an investigation after all:

Senator Seeks to Defer Probe of CIA Prison Leak

The chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence told Senate leaders yesterday that Congress should hold off on a probe of the disclosure of classified information on secret prisons to The Washington Post until the Justice Department completes its own inquiry.

Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) said he will "respectfully" request that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) back off a strongly worded request that a bicameral investigation into the disclosure be convened immediately. Frist spokeswoman Amy Call said the majority leader had not decided how to respond. "He always takes what his chairmen say into consideration," she said.

Frist and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) surprised both Roberts and House intelligence committee Chairman Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.) with a joint letter demanding a House-Senate inquiry after the Nov. 2 publication of a Post article detailing a web of secret prisons in Eastern Europe and elsewhere, maintained by the CIA to detain suspected terrorists.

The CIA general counsel's office also has notified the Justice Department that a release of classified information took place in connection with The Post's report. After the CIA details what it sees as the damage done by the article, Justice prosecutors will determine whether a criminal investigation is warranted.

Asked how long that could take, Roberts joked, "Decades," indicating he is in no rush to convene his own inquiry. Hoekstra said he has not decided how to proceed.

After months of partisan charges over the White House release of CIA operative Valerie Plame's name and false information on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, disclosure of classified information has become an issue among Republicans.

Hoekstra said some Republican lawmakers were livid when a top administration intelligence officer inadvertently released the annual budget for U.S. intelligence operations, a figure that is classified and closely held by lawmakers who draft the budget.

At an intelligence conference last week in San Antonio, Mary Margaret Graham, deputy director of national intelligence, said the annual intelligence budget is $44 billion, a slip witnessed and recounted by a U.S. News & World Report writer.

Keeping the figure secret was a contentious issue as Congress retooled the intelligence structure after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, said Hoekstra, who battled to maintain the budget figure's classification.

Some lawmakers want to see disciplinary action against Graham. Hoekstra said he personally raised concerns with Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/09/AR2005110901976_pf.html

Libby should insist on an immediate trial. It would pull the rug out of this whole sham indictment. Without a real crime Fitzgerald will be the one who is outed, the irony will be perfect!

We need a good fight right now, this will be fun.

Fitzgerald indicted something like 60 people before he got to Governor Ryan in Illinois. In light of that example it would be very surprising if this were Fitzgerald's last stop in this investigation, particularly since he made it clear that Libby's "obstruction" prevented him from determining the motive of the release of the supposedly secret information.

Where will the US find the troops and treasure to get it done? It may be a last resort because it is impossible, China may not loan us the money for another war.

What of the info about the Niger trip that Wilson leaked to the press, and then wrote about under his own byline? Was the other source(s) of Cooper and Miller (neither Libby nor Rove) the target? That just goes to the NYT as the paper of record for terrorists.

She looks good for a woman her age.

To display my ignorance, are judges elected in partisan elections in Texas?

Let me put it this way. If Miller (or any non-Government employee) knew of Plames employment through an outside source, it wouldn't be illegal to disclose it. The statute states that there are only limited people that are covered under the law. It is kind of like my profession. I read medical charts everyday, and if I found out you were pregnant because I had read it in your chart, and I told someone else, it would be illegal (HIPAA Laws), but if I saw you in the grocery store, and you told me you were pregnant and told me not to tell anyone, I could tell the whole world without legal repercussions. It would be immoral for me to do so, but not illegal, because I had not gotten the information during my course of employment.

Not quite the same, Rove and maybe Libby had an affirmative duty to deny she was a covert operative, even if the fact had been published. You have no corresponding duty as far as the knowledge you learn from the medical records.

DeLay's prosecution is political, but I don't think the mess Frist finds himself in could be political.

He declared the emergency early, that put FEMA in charge. You don't hear about that work he accomplished while on vacation, do you?


For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary August 27, 2005
Statement on Federal Emergency Assistance for Louisiana

The President today declared an emergency exists in the State of Louisiana and ordered Federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts in the parishes located in the path of Hurricane Katrina beginning on August 26, 2005, and continuing.

The President's action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives, protect property and public health and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in the parishes of Allen, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Caldwell, Claiborne, Catahoula, Concordia, De Soto, East Baton Rouge, East Carroll, East Feliciana, Evangeline, Franklin, Grant, Jackson, LaSalle, Lincoln, Livingston, Madison, Morehouse, Natchitoches, Pointe Coupee, Ouachita, Rapides, Red River, Richland, Sabine, St. Helena, St. Landry, Tensas, Union, Vernon, Webster, West Carroll, West Feliciana, and Winn. Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency.

Debris removal and emergency protective measures, including direct Federal assistance, will be provided at 75 percent Federal funding.

Representing FEMA, Michael D. Brown, Under Secretary for Emergency Preparedness and Response, Department of Homeland Security, named William Lokey as the Federal Coordinating Officer for Federal recovery operations in the affected area.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: FEMA (202) 646-4600.


http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050827-1.html