Tbogg politely discusses the contributions of Bill Kristol and his ilk, Libby apologists all, to the national discourse. His conclusion sums it up:
If there was a shred of decency or an ounce of courage in any one of them, take your pick, they would each be making an appointment with Mr. Heavy Rope and Mr. Stout Overhead Beam, and their last act on earth would be to pin a note to their shirt that simply states: “I’m sorry. I was wrong.”.
I’ve been spending a little quality time reading the Libby Letters. You can download the full text here at the Smoking Gun, where they’ve also posted them in order of despicableness, starting with Donald Rumsfeld, Henry Kissinger, and Paul Wolfowitz and John Bolton. With friends like those…
I loved Wolfowitz’s opening:
I am currently serving, until June 30th of this year, as President of the World Bank.
You don’t say.
It should be noted here that Dick Cheney, who would certainly have had pride of place in the Raw Story parade of odiousness, chose to stay silent in his lair.
Among the more bizarre features of these letters is the fact that in at least two of them the writers praised Libby’s sex with animals (or was it sex between two animal species, I forget) novel.
What comes across most spectacularly is the refusal of the Beltway nobility to wrap their minds around the fact that the law really does apply to them too. There is virtually no recognition in these letters that Libby did anything wrong. In fact, in many, there is an out and out rejection of the jury verdict, despite the massive evidence against him. Others make the implicit claim that what Libby did doesn’t matter, because he was working on the side of truth and justice. Others support his “memory” defense. Not a single one of his supporters acknowledges the harm he helped cause to Plame or the fact that he has essentially acted as a firewall for Cheney. There is an implied consensus among them: the little people have no right to know what’s going on in their government, and the rules don’t apply to the big people.
You can see why these letters didn’t appear to have much affect on the judge, who said during sentencing that “Evidence in this case overwhelmingly indicated Mr. Libby’s culpability“.
It’s hard to believe that the judge could have been impressed by pleas from the privileged that explicitly or implicitly rejected that judgment. A little less hubris might have helped.
The judge indicated that Libby will do time pending appeal. Whatever the Beltway types may think, the judge obviously thinks that Libby needs to do time, and he’s not about to let Libby run out the clock until November of 2008. Here’s hoping he sticks to his guns on that point.
It seems like you can’t go away for even a few days. If you do, you miss something good.
Take this weekend, when folks in Connecticut discovered that Senate Minority Leader Louis Deluca (R-Naturally) was arrested and has now pled guilty to misdemeanor threatening charges. I was in Maine, and missed the unfolding story, an Oscar winner if ever there was one.
Lou goes hat in hand to James Galante. Can Galante help him save his innocent granddaughter from the abusive man with whom she is entangled?
Sounds like a movie you’ve already seen, doesn’t it?
Melancholy notes on a trumpet open ”The Godfather,” along with an undertaker’s emotional insistence that ”I believe in America.” He is talking to a man in shadow, seeking revenge against the punks who brutalized his daughter. The man, of course, is Don Vito Corleone. Why didn’t you come to me in friendship, he asks? And not until the undertaker kisses his hand and calls him Godfather does he grant his request.
Later on, the undertaker repays his debt, but he’s got nothing on Lou:
DeLuca told the undercover operative that “anytime [Galante] needs anything, within my power, that I can do, I will do.” Later in the conversation, DeLuca said he was “shocked” when Galante was indicted because “he is not a careless guy.” When the undercover operative suggested that Galante got indicted because someone “spilled something,” DeLuca replied that “it had to be some bastard, but, you know, he’s not a careless man.”
Believing that the undercover operative was a Galante employee, DeLuca left instructions on how to arrange future meetings “if you guys need me anymore.” The best way to make contact, DeLuca said, was through a third party because his “relationship” with Galante was a secret.
DeLuca met the undercover operative a second time, on September 7. He promised that “I’ll keep my eyes open.”
“And understand that anything that could hurt [Galante], I’ll try to blunt it as best I can.” He promised to be helpful in killing legislation or state regulations that could adversely affect Galante’s business interests. “I can’t influence it at this point, because it’s out of my hands,” DeLuca told the undercover operative, “but if it gets to the point where I have appointments, I can influence it that way. You know … if it’s a commission … generally I get an appointment.”
Of course, this being Connecticut, things have to be more comic than tragic. It turns out that Galante never really delivered for DeLuca, he just told him he did.
Meanwhile, the right side of the Connecticut blogosphere, that pathetic rump, overflows with sympathy for poor Lou. After all, it’s totally undestandable that a guy would turn to a mobster to beat the crap out of someone that the cops wouldn’t even arrest. I refuse to link to this, but take my word that Chris Healy really wrote this:
Senate Republican Leader Louis DeLuca’s arrest yesterday on charges of threatening to assault is a misdemeanor accusation prompted by his frustration over physical abuse heaped on his granddaughter by her boyfriend. Many people in this area will tell you, one of the great mysteries of domestic abuse, is the inability to provide protection to the abused when they don’t prosecute their tormentors. 

From this endless doubt and uncertainty of what would happen to his granddaughter, Sen. DeLuca sought out help from someone he shouldn’t have – James Galante, a reputed mobster and trash hauler from Danbury who is under federal indictment for racketeering.
It should be noted that at the time DeLuca sought Galante’s help in “talking” to the abuser, Galante was not under indictment nor were his mob ties validated by the prosecutors.
…
We are all fallible, this writer included. We all make mistakes in life and try to make amends for them if we are ready to ask forgiveness. Lou has asked for forgiveness and he is entitled to it. This is a personal matter. The undercover FBI agent who had infiltrated the Galante empire, tried to offer DeLuca a bribe and the senator refused. And while some of DeLuca’s comments in the affidavit raise questions, no one has accused DeLuca of doing anything other than try and protect his family.Lou DeLuca is a gentleman, a good father, grandfather, civic volunteer, political leader and friend to all. He has always been there for people who need him and loyal to a fault. We should all pray for him and hope the best for him and his family who he loves so much and tried to protect.
Absolutely, Chris. We all couldn’t agree more, knowing as we do that you’d extend the same loving sympathy to a Democrat who sought help from an as yet un-indicted mobster. And lest we forget, DeLuca was charged with a mere misdemeanor only because the state police prevented an actual assault by Galante’s thugs. Had Deluca gotten what he wanted, he’d be facing felony charges.
P.S. Lest anyone read any ethnic slurs into the above, rich as it is with Italian surnames, I claim immunity, as my mother’s family hearkens from Sicilia. Family legend has it, in fact, that my grandfather came here to avoid killing a man at the Mafia’s behest. I do not vouch for the truth of the story, by the way.
Yesterday I posted a link where you can donate to Tom Allen. It’s a perfectly good link, but for those of us who would like to take vengeance, as petty as it may be, this is a better place to go. Tom is trying to capitalize on Lieberman’s perfidy to raise money:
There was a political interlude during the reunion festivities at Bowdoin, one that made me rather proud of my Alma Mater. On Saturday we attended a forum given by Tom Allen ’67, Laurence Everett Pope, ’67 and Dunbar Lockwood ’82 on Resolving Conflict: Three Approaches to Peace. Allen is presently a Congressman from Maine’s First District, and has just announced his (Ned Lamont endorsed) candidacy to run against Lieberman’s best (girl) ((She takes second place to his best buddy John McCain on the male side))friend, Susan Collins. Tom has voted right from the start on the Iraq War (you can donate here). He gave Pope a lot of credit for his vote. Pope is former Ambassador to Chad, and has held a number of posts in the State Department, most of them involved with Mid-East policy. Pope has the high honor of having had an ambassadorial nomination blocked by Jesse Helms. Allen consulted with Pope prior to the vote, and Pope told him the war would be a disaster. Lockwood is an expert on nuclear proliferation, who talked about Iran’s development of nuclear weapons.
That’s Allen below, with Pope below him.
Fred Hill ’62, another State Department veteran, was on hand in the audience, and he added to the conversation. What made me proud was the fact that all of these guys are on the side of the angels. To them, we Bowdoinites can add George Mitchell and former Congressman and anti-war activist Tom Andrews. A few more such and we will have done full penance for Franklin Pierce.
Unfortunately I couldn’t take notes (eerily like my entire college career), so this is rather impressionistic. In many ways Pope was the most interesting. The subtext of what he had to say was that the State Department has been ruined by the same sort of politicization that we’ve been hearing about at Justice, and that it’s not going to be easy to put it back together again. Nothing earth shaking there I know, but it was interesting to hear it coming from someone with inside information, so to speak. Everything we’ve heard about an Administration that acts solely on the basis of ideology appears to be true.
At one point, someone asked Allen what the Democrats would do if they managed to get enough Republicans to sign on to a veto-proof end the war measure and Bush tried to nullify it with a signing statement. Allen’s answer disappointed me, because he seemed to say that Bush wouldn’t do it, because signing statements only work when no one notices them. I talked to him afterwards, and told him that I thought his answer was illustrative of a problem the Democrats have-that they still don’t quite understand how lawless and arrogant Bush is. I told him I think Bush would do it if it suited his purposes, and that if they didn’t plan for it, they would be caught back on their heels yet again. It’s right in character for a guy who has claimed the right to break the law, and has gotten a supine Congress to legitimize his criminality. Allen told me that he probably should have said that if Bush did it there’d be a political storm, and that I was probably right.
Maybe it’s because they were self selected, but there didn’t seem to be any Bush fans in the audience, and believe me, Bowdoin grads are not necessarily rabid left wingers.
All in all the consensus of all three (Lockwood still works for the feds, so he was a bit muted) plus Hill was that the Bush administration has been a foreign policy disaster. Again, nothing new there, but all very interesting.
A few pictures from Brunswick, Maine. We went to an art gallery/cafe in an old mill on the former site of Fort Andross, where we saw this piece/installation, whatever:
A view of the Androscoggin from Fort Andross:
Finally, a lion at the art museum.
As promised (or threatened), a few pictures from Maine, taken on the trip up to Brunswick to attend my reunion. Our pattern is to leave home early, get to Maine as fast as we can, and then get off the highway and poke around on Route 1. Perkins Cove in Ogunquit has become one of our favorite places, and these pictures were taken there. You can click on any of them for a larger photo.
Nothing great. What with reunion activities, etc., there’s not much time for taking pictures.
I’m writing this from the Captain Daniel Stone Inn in Brunswick, where they have excellent wireless in each room, but no furnishings (would a tiny desk be asking too much?) with which to comfortably use a computer. Right now I’m kneeling in front of my computer, which rests on a dresser, the only flat surface available. Not really great for blogging.
What with all the activity, I’m blissfully ignorant of events in the wider world.
Early tomorrow we’ll be leaving Connecticut for the Northern regions of Sweet New England, mainly the great state of Maine. We’ll be wending our way to Brunswick, seat of Bowdoin college, where we’ll be attending my 35th college reunion.
Ah, those were the days. When I graduated, Richard Nixon was president, but it was beginning to look like George McGovern was actually going to get nominated. We didn’t know then how the Democratic establishment would stab him in the back, preferring four more years of Nixon to backing a guy who was backed by us dirty hippies.
Back then, we thought Nixon was as bad as a president could get.
How little we knew.
Anyway, I will definitely not be live-blogging the reunion. I’m hoping to put up some pictures of beautiful Maine.
George Bush has just announced yet another non-binding environmental initiative.
US President George W. Bush said Thursday he would urge major industrialized nations at a summit next week to join a new global framework for fighting climate change after the Kyoto Protocol lapses.
Environmental groups immediately criticized the plan as vague and based on non-binding limits on the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, but Britain and Germany hailed the move as an important, if symbolic, step forward.
“The United States will work with other nations to establish a new framework on greenhouse gas emissions for when the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012,” Bush said in a speech laying out his agenda for the June 6-8 G8 summit in Germany.
See, the idea is that we will set long range “goals” that no one is required to meet. Why:
“It’s important to assure that we get results,” said Bush, who made the initiative a key goal of his talks next week with leaders from Europe, where critics have accused Washington of dragging its feet on climate change.
Obviously, requiring anyone to actually do anything meaningful would pervert the free market. No, that sort of government intervention should be restricted to more important issues, like this one:
The Bush administration said Tuesday it will fight to keep meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease.
The Agriculture Department tests fewer than 1 percent of slaughtered cows for the disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. A beef producer in the western state of Kansas, Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, wants to test all of its cows.
Larger meat companies feared that move because, if Creekstone should test its meat and advertised it as safe, they might have to perform the expensive tests on their larger herds as well.
You see, if Creekstone tests all its beef, it will advertise that fact to consumers, who might choose to pay premium prices for its beef. That might force its competitors in the mass beef killing industry to follow suit, and that would cut into their profit margins. We can’t have that, so we need to set a binding goal that we test up to 1% of our beef, and no more.
I’m still waiting for the Bush people to do one good thing. It’s simply against the laws of chance that they can go eight years with a perfect record.
During my nightly newsreader lightning round I came across this post at Pharyngula, which linked to this post at a blog called Making Light.
The ultimate subject is a blog, or former blog, called Embryoyo, only the name of which appears to have been original. The blog is no longer available for viewing, or wasn’t when I tried to go there, but it apparently consisted solely of posts stolen word for word (unattributed) from other blogs. That’s not quite fair, apparently sometimes the fellow changed the titles.
It is really mystifying. What would be the point of doing something like that? There’s not even any money in it. One advantage, I guess, is that it’s easier to repackage other people’s stuff than write your own, but that begs the question. Why write at all, if all you can do is copy?
If nothing else, the guy seemed to have reasonably good taste-he plagiarized some decent stuff. Not great taste though. As near as I can tell he copied nothing from me.