Update - 10/30/05 Scoop has it now!
I need it for a project I'm working on this afternoon and tomorrow.
I know it's gotta be out there. ...:-) lisa@lisarein.com
And yes, I am pretty happy right about now. Thanks for asking.
Hopefully, this trial will be many other facts to light about how this administration has been operating.
More on this in a jiffy! (unless I get sidetracked :-)
This is from October 21, 2005.
Patrick Fitzgerald has a nice website containing documents about the case now, too!
Cover-Up Issue Is Seen as Focus in Leak Inquiry
By David Johnston for the NY Times.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 - As he weighs whether to bring criminal charges in the C.I.A. leak case, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the special counsel, is focusing on whether Karl Rove, the senior White House adviser, and I. Lewis Libby Jr., chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, sought to conceal their actions and mislead prosecutors, lawyers involved in the case said Thursday.Among the charges that Mr. Fitzgerald is considering are perjury, obstruction of justice and false statement - counts that suggest the prosecutor may believe the evidence presented in a 22-month grand jury inquiry shows that the two White House aides sought to cover up their actions, the lawyers said.
Mr. Rove and Mr. Libby have been advised that they may be in serious legal jeopardy, the lawyers said, but only this week has Mr. Fitzgerald begun to narrow the possible charges. The prosecutor has said he will not make up his mind about any charges until next week, government officials say.
With the term of the grand jury expiring in one week, though, some lawyers in the case said they were persuaded that Mr. Fitzgerald had all but made up his mind to seek indictments. None of the lawyers would speak on the record, citing the prosecutor's requests not to talk about the case...
Mr. Wilson had become an irritant to the administration in the late spring and early summer of 2003 even before he went public as a critic of the war in Iraq by writing a July 6, 2003 Op-Ed article in The New York Times.
In that article he wrote that he had traveled to Africa in 2002 to explore the accuracy of intelligence reports that suggested Iraq might have tried to purchase uranium ore from Niger. Mr. Wilson said that he had been sent on the trip by the C.I.A. after Mr. Cheney's office raised questions about one such report, but that he found it unlikely that any sale had taken place...
Mr. Rove did not tell the grand jury about his phone conversation with Mr. Cooper until months into the leak investigation, long after he had testified about his conversation with Mr. Novak, the lawyers said. Later, Mr. Rove said he had not recalled the conversation with Mr. Cooper until the discovery of an e-mail message about it that he sent to Stephen J. Hadley, then the deputy national security adviser. But Mr. Fitzgerald has remained skeptical about the omission, the lawyers said.
In Mr. Libby's case, Mr. Fitzgerald has focused on his statements about how he first learned of Ms. Wilson's identity, the lawyers said. Mr. Libby has said that he learned of Ms. Wilson from reporters. But Mr. Fitzgerald may have doubts about his account because the journalists who have been publicly identified as having talked to Mr. Libby have said that they did not provide the name, that they could not recall what had been said or that they had discussed unrelated subjects.
Here is the full text of the article in case the link goes bad:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/21/politics/21leak.html?ei=5094&en=e9e43780001cbcef&hp=&ex=1129953600&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1130191562-XfK2v+tnLb3O3SW/nZgFqw
Cover-Up Issue Is Seen as Focus in Leak Inquiry
By DAVID JOHNSTON
Published: October 21, 2005
WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 - As he weighs whether to bring criminal charges in the C.I.A. leak case, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the special counsel, is focusing on whether Karl Rove, the senior White House adviser, and I. Lewis Libby Jr., chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, sought to conceal their actions and mislead prosecutors, lawyers involved in the case said Thursday.
Among the charges that Mr. Fitzgerald is considering are perjury, obstruction of justice and false statement - counts that suggest the prosecutor may believe the evidence presented in a 22-month grand jury inquiry shows that the two White House aides sought to cover up their actions, the lawyers said.
Skip to next paragraph
Doug Mills/The New York Times
Karl Rove, senior adviser to President Bush, leaving the courthouse in Washington on Oct. 14. At left is Mr. Rove's lawyer, Robert D. Luskin.
Shawn Thew/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
I. Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, testifying before a House committee in 2001.
Mr. Rove and Mr. Libby have been advised that they may be in serious legal jeopardy, the lawyers said, but only this week has Mr. Fitzgerald begun to narrow the possible charges. The prosecutor has said he will not make up his mind about any charges until next week, government officials say.
With the term of the grand jury expiring in one week, though, some lawyers in the case said they were persuaded that Mr. Fitzgerald had all but made up his mind to seek indictments. None of the lawyers would speak on the record, citing the prosecutor's requests not to talk about the case.
Associates of Mr. Rove and Mr. Libby continued to express hope that the prosecutor would conclude that the evidence was too fragmentary and that it would be difficult to prove Mr. Rove or Mr. Libby had a clear-cut intention to misinform the grand jury. Lawyers for the two men declined to comment on their legal status.
The case has cast a cloud over the White House, as has the Congressional criticism over the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet E. Miers. On Thursday, responding to a reporter's question, Mr. Bush said: "There's some background noise here, a lot of chatter, a lot of speculation and opining. But the American people expect me to do my job, and I'm going to."
The possible violations under consideration by Mr. Fitzgerald are peripheral to the issue he was appointed in December 2003 to investigate: whether anyone in the administration broke a federal law that makes it a crime, under certain circumstances, to reveal the identity of a covert intelligence officer.
But Mr. Rove and Mr. Libby may not be the only people at risk. There may be others in the government who could be charged for violations of the disclosure law or of other statutes, like the espionage act, which makes it a crime to transmit classified information to people not authorized to receive it.
It is still not publicly known who first told the columnist Robert D. Novak the identity of the C.I.A. officer, Valerie Wilson. Mr. Novak identified her in a column on July 14, 2003, using her maiden name, Valerie Plame. Mr. Fitzgerald knows the identity of this source, a person who is not believed to work at the White House, the lawyers said.
The accounts given by Mr. Rove and Mr. Libby about their conversations with reporters have been under investigation almost from the start. According to lawyers in the case, the prosecutor has examined how each man learned of Ms. Wilson, and questioned them in grand jury appearances about their conversations with reporters, how they learned Ms. Wilson's name and her C.I.A. employment and whether the discussions were part of an effort to undermine the credibility of her husband, a former ambassador, Joseph C. Wilson IV.
Mr. Wilson had become an irritant to the administration in the late spring and early summer of 2003 even before he went public as a critic of the war in Iraq by writing a July 6, 2003 Op-Ed article in The New York Times.
In that article he wrote that he had traveled to Africa in 2002 to explore the accuracy of intelligence reports that suggested Iraq might have tried to purchase uranium ore from Niger. Mr. Wilson said that he had been sent on the trip by the C.I.A. after Mr. Cheney's office raised questions about one such report, but that he found it unlikely that any sale had taken place.
In Mr. Rove's case, the prosecutor appears to have focused on two conversations with reporters. The first was a July 9, 2003, discussion with Mr. Novak in which, Mr. Rove has said, he first heard Ms. Wilson's name. The second conversation took place on July 11, 2003 with a Time magazine reporter, Matthew Cooper, who later wrote that Mr. Rove had not named Ms. Wilson but had told him that she worked at the C.I.A. and that she had been responsible for her husband being sent to Africa.
Mr. Rove did not tell the grand jury about his phone conversation with Mr. Cooper until months into the leak investigation, long after he had testified about his conversation with Mr. Novak, the lawyers said. Later, Mr. Rove said he had not recalled the conversation with Mr. Cooper until the discovery of an e-mail message about it that he sent to Stephen J. Hadley, then the deputy national security adviser. But Mr. Fitzgerald has remained skeptical about the omission, the lawyers said.
In Mr. Libby's case, Mr. Fitzgerald has focused on his statements about how he first learned of Ms. Wilson's identity, the lawyers said. Mr. Libby has said that he learned of Ms. Wilson from reporters. But Mr. Fitzgerald may have doubts about his account because the journalists who have been publicly identified as having talked to Mr. Libby have said that they did not provide the name, that they could not recall what had been said or that they had discussed unrelated subjects.
This is from May 22, 2005.
Video - Howard Dean On Meet The Press - Parts 1-6
Audio - Howard Dean On Meet The Press - Parts 1-6
Hey kids! Now you can practice abstinence and get pregnant too!
Just ask
Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes!
Here is the full text of the article in case the link goes bad:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/movies/2002542752_holmes06.html
Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes expecting
People has reported that Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise are expecting a baby. The two became engaged in June.
NEW YORK — Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise are expecting a baby.
Holmes' pregnancy was reported yesterday by People magazine. The two became engaged in June.
"Tom and Katie are very excited, and the entire family is very excited," Lee Anne DeVette, Cruise's spokeswoman, told People.
It would be Holmes' first child. No wedding date for the couple has been set and no details about the gender of the baby or the due date were available.
Cruise adopted two children, Connor, 10, and Isabella, 12, during his marriage to actress Nicole Kidman. That marriage ended in 2001.
Twice-married Cruise, 43, and Holmes, 26, began dating in mid-April but far from keeping their relationship low-key, Cruise became the butt of jokes in May after he jumped around on a couch in a manic appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and declared his passion for his new girlfriend.
He proposed to Holmes in June at the Eiffel Tower in Paris and announced their engagement the next day at a news conference.
The high jinks prompted suspicion that their relationship was a publicity stunt to promote their summer films: "War of the Worlds" for Cruise and "Batman Begins" for Holmes.
Holmes made her name on the TV show "Dawson's Creek." She ended a five-year relationship with "American Pie" actor Chris Klein in early 2005.
Cruise's first marriage, to actress Mimi Rogers, ended in divorce in 1990. After his divorce from Kidman, he had a two-year relationship with Spanish actress Penélope Cruz.
These are from the October 7, 2005 performance at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, CA.
Stephen Kent is a very talented diggery doo artist who also plays a ton of other cool percussion and wind instruments. Paul Horn is a jazz flute player who dabbles in a host of other genres.
These are little 30 second clips taken with my little Casio EX-S3. All I was trying to do was capture the essence of what it sounded like to hear a diggery doo in Grace Cathedral. I was amazed at the quality of the sound.
Stephen Kent At Grace Cathedral
Stephen Kent and Paul Horn together at Grace Cathedral
So this is the first day I've had in months to try to get organized, and man, oh man, is my stuff all over the place.
As a result, I'm going to be posting a bit of "backlog" today -- stuff from the last 6 months I never got around to linking to, even though I had already uploaded it. (Doh!)
Please let me know if any links don't work, etc.
thanks!
Well it's time for another family purchase, and, as always, I'm depending on you to help me make the right decision.
We need something with either firewire and rca outputs, if possible -- so they can hook it in through their VCR or download to a computer.
Good sound is important too -- of course :-)
thanks in advance for the usual great advice!
remember my email is:
lisa@lisarein.com
Hey I've been asked for the 400th time if I have Stewart's post-911 speech. I don't have it, but I would sure love to have it in my library.
Let me know if you have it or know where I can find it.
thanks!
I just uploaded a new Songs From The Commons podcast.
Lots of great music and some basic information on Creative Commons Licenses.
Enjoy!
This is from the October 6, 2005 program.
Daily Show On The Avian Flu (10 MB)
MP3 - Daily Show On The Avian Flu
The Daily Show (The best news on television.)
I saw a show on Bill Moyers' Wide Angle a few months back that made me take notice of the Avian Flu virus. As Moyers made clear in his show (sorry I didn't tape it), our biggest problem right now is that if there was a pandemic, and we had a cure for it, there is currently no adequate system of distributing such an antedote or vaccine to the large numbers of people that will be in need of it.
Here's the scoop. Note #4 of the Quick Facts. I got all my information from the World Health Organization and the Center for Disease Control.
Quick Facts: 1) We're talking about the: "H5N1 avian influenza virus" per the who's update here:
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2005_09_29/en/index.html
some cases of H7 too: per:
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/avian_influenza/en/
2) Why is the World Health Organization so concerned?
This is the closest we've been to a pandemic since 1968. All the prerequisites for a pandemic have now been met EXCEPT ONE: "The establishment of efficient human-to-human transmission." The virus is morphing, and has expanded its geographical range. Every new human case is another chance for the virus to adjust its structure to be more susceptible to humans. The trouble is, since this is a "Bird Flu," the carriers are literally flying all over the place spreading virus infected bird shit -- whether they appear to be sick or not. (I fear this is going to be bad news for birdies...)
3) What could cause efficient human-to-human transmission to take place?
Two ways: a "reassortment event" or an "adaptive mutation."
A "Reassortment Event," where genetic material is exchanged between human and avian viruses during co-infection of a human or pig, or an "adaptive mutation," a more gradual process, where the capability of these viruses to bind to human cells takes place gradually, advancing with every new infection.
The reassortment even scenario is pretty bleak. The WHO is hoping for an "adaptive mutation," a mutation that happens gradually over time, that might give everyone more time to prepare.
4) Who's getting it so far? So far, according to the WHO's instructions, "the vast majority of human cases have occurred in rural areas." So farmers, basically. One of the main problems seems to be that governments will not compensate farmers for lost birds that are killed after being reported. This makes farmers not want to report outbreaks. Also it's been tough getting the word out to farmers and/or getting medicine and assistance to them.
5) What can be done? Currently, there is no worldwide mass anti-viral drug distribution system. The WHO document suggests that this needs to be created immediately. It seems to me from the documents that antiviral drugs can help cure the disease, but it's unclear which ones or how well they work. It also *seems to me* that we can't create a vaccine until we have the exact virus that we're trying to stop, which hasn't been created yet due to #3 not happening yet. We hope that #3 never does happen, but we need to be ready for it so we can spring into action the moment it does -- because it's probably going to happen at some point with some disease.
6) How many people have died/been infected?
Around 100 people have been infected -- about half of them have died. The last person to die was only 27 years old.
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2005_09_29/en/index.html
Resources
1) The World Health Organization's PDF of Instructions about what to do. Available in six different languages:
"Responding to the avian influenza pandemic threat. Recommended strategic actions"
This document sets out activities that can be undertaken by individual countries, the international community and WHO to prepare the world for the next influenza pandemic and mitigate its impact once international spread has begun.
2. World Health Organization - Avian Flu - Fact Sheet
"http://www.who.int/csr/don/2004_01_15/en/
3. World Health Organization - CSR Page - Avian influenza (CSR = Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response)
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/en/
4. Avian influenza – situation in Indonesia – update 32 29 September 2005
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2005_09_29/en/index.html
5. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US Department of Health and Human Services) Avian Influenza (Bird Flu) http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/
Glossary:
I'm not trying to insult anyone's intelligence. But I like to play fair with my blog posts. If I felt the need to look up a word during the course of my research, it is included here.
1. pathogenic: path·o·gen·ic ( P ) Pronunciation Key (pth-jnk) also path·o·ge·net·ic (-j-ntk) adj.
1. Capable of causing disease. 2. Originating or producing disease. 3. Of or relating to pathogenesis.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=pathogenic
2. endemic:
en·dem·ic ( P ) Pronunciation Key (n-dmk) adj. 1. Prevalent in or peculiar to a particular locality, region, or people: diseases endemic to the tropics. See Synonyms at native. 2. Ecology. Native to or confined to a certain region. n. Ecology An endemic plant or animal.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=endemic
This is from September 22, 2005. I was interviewed on
Junket 415 -- another of Mondoglobo.net's cool podcast shows.
Here's a
direct link to the show. (My interview starts at 14:23.)
I'm getting the feeling that I don't have as many XML Dev peeps as I used to reading my blog -- because I didn't get any suggestions from my last post.
I did locate the W3C XHTML Validator page, and I'm brushing up on the Web Accessibility Initiative tools, as I want my apps to be accessible to all.
I remember there were some really cool CSS tools popping up a while back, so perhaps you could point me to those.
Anyway, I am putting out another call to please send me your favorite tools. I'm a gonna need 'em. -- lisa@lisarein.com is my email.
Thanks!
My cc mixter page is up now.
I've uploaded my first track, Maybe We Can All Do Something, which features Craig Newmark and Fourstones. It's from my last podcast for Mondoglobo.net.
I've been getting a lot of stuff for my show from cc mixter. It's just a great site!
I know this is short notice, but it looks like there's a cool panel tonight on community wireless with Lawrence Lessig and other goodies.
http://www.media-alliance.org/calendar_event.php?eid=20050929140103620Monday, October 10 2005 @ 07:00 PM PDT - 10:00PM
Where: 111 Minna Gallery
111 Minna Street
between 2nd and New Montgomery
San Francisco
Description:Join Media Alliance for this dynamic panel discussion on
creating universal, affordable Internet access through municipal
broadband utilities. Featuring a presentation by Professor Lawrence
Lessig and a panel of local community Internet experts, the evening
will include Q&A with the audience.After years of avdocacy by MA and other groups, Mayor Newsom announced
earlier this year his goal of free wireless Internet access for all San
Franciscans. Cities across the country are implementing municipal
projects, though with varying degrees of commitment to bridging the
digital divide.This evening will explore the significant opportunities for city-run
projects to expand Internet access and usage by under-served
communities, and improve cost, service and consumer choice for
everyone.The talk will be followed at 9pm by music from DJ's Kid Kameleon and
Ripley.Cost: $5, Free for Media Alliance and EFF members
7-9 pm Discussion: Lessig, Panel, Q&A
9-10pm DJ's Kid Kameleon and Ripley
Hey! My new
Songs From The Commons podcast is up.
Please check it out :-)
I'm pre-releasing my first mix single that I've created from CC-licensed stuff.
This clip mixes "My Name Is Geoff" by Fourstones with Craig Newmark's Creative Commons Launch Speech.
I'm calling it
"Maybe We Can All Do Something."
It will be released under an Attribution-Non-commercial-Sharealike license when it's released. (So consider this version under that license for now.)
Bear in mind that this isn't Craig's speech as it was originally delivered. I've edited it together into versus and a chorus so it sounds cool with the music, but I don't believe I changed the meaning of what he was saying in the slightest.
Hope you like it. Let me know how the mix plays back on your various devices. I might remix before release if it's necessary. It's mixed now for my next
Songs From The Commons podcast, which goes up in the am.
