May 2007

Another Wingnut myth busted:

An unclassified summary of outed CIA officer Valerie Plame's employment history at the spy agency, disclosed for the first time today in a court filing by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, indicates that Plame was "covert" when her name became public in July 2003.

The summary is part of an attachment to Fitzgerald's memorandum to the court supporting his recommendation that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's former top aide, spend 2-1/2 to 3 years in prison for obstructing the CIA leak investigation.

The nature of Plame's CIA employment never came up in Libby's perjury and obstruction of justice trial.

So will all the Malkins and Reynolds out there correct their past statements that Plame wasn't covert, or are they happy with attacking people who spend their lives trying to defend our nation?

I will be out of town until Memorial Day, taking a much needed vacation. I will be doing very limited posting during that time (from the beach).

Here in Butler County, Ohio, we are plagued with GOP scandals also. Just today we had this happen:

A Butler County official pleaded guilty Thursday to a misdemeanor crime.

Former county treasurer Carole Mosketti avoided jail time for her conviction on a conflict-of-interest charge, a judge fined her $1,000 and ordered her to pay $3,800 in restitution.

Mosketti was also ordered to resign from her elected position, which she did.

She has been under investigation by the state since last summer, when she hired her granddaughter to work for her.

Her position has not yet been filled.

Mosketti is a Republican and you can still view her profile on the county treasurer's website.

I know other towns have the same problems with Democrats and Republicans alike, but things have been really bad here. There has been a lot of shake up lately in our Republican controlled county, with numerous officials resigning or being fired. It should also be worth mentioning that this county is also the home to the House Minority Leader, John Boehner.

I wanted to post about his last night, but right after the GOP debate ended on FOX we had a massive storm move through, which left me without internet for most of the day.

So - during last night's debate Ron Paul was discussing our foreign policy and how it helped lead to 9/11:

"Have you ever read about the reasons they attacked us? They attack us because we've been over there. We've been bombing Iraq for 10 years," he [Ron Paul] said.

Asked by a moderator if he was suggesting the United States invited the attacks, Paul said: "I'm suggesting we listen to the people who attacked us and the reason they did it. And they are delighted that we're over there because Osama bin Laden has said: I am glad you're over on our sand because we can target you so much easier."

To which Giuliani responded:

That's an extraordinary statement, as someone who lived through the attack of September 11, that we invited the attack because we were attacking Iraq," said Giuliani, who leads national polls in the Republican race.

"I don't think I've ever heard that before, and I've heard some pretty absurd explanations for Sept. 11th," Giuliani said to wild applause, asking Paul to withdraw the comment.

And received mass applause. You can check the whole thing out at Crooks and Liars.