Home of the ReBirTheRs
Murtha doesn’t actually represent Altoona; he represents nearby Johnstown...
If you’re looking for Gil Smart’s “Smart Remarks’’ column on B1 today, it’s not there.
For those of you who find Mr. Smart hard to take, don’t start planning a statue in my honor. You would be taking too much for granite.
And to fans of Mr. Smart, don’t get upset and break out your “Free Gil’’ signs as you’ve promised to do if he is among the missing.
Mr. Smart’s column now resides on the first page of the Perspective section. On the left side of the page.
"I'd like to say to the good citizens of Dover: If there is a disaster in your area, don't turn to God. You just rejected him from your city," Robertson said on the Christian Broadcasting Network's "700 Club."
"And don't wonder why He hasn't helped you when problems begin, if they begin. I'm not saying they will, but if they do, just remember, you just voted God out of your city. And if that's the case, don't ask for His help because he might not be there," he said.
Source
Start with Joe Wilson, retired diplomat turned consultant. On July 6 he writes a column telling the world that he has done some consulting for the CIA. That might reasonably be expected to attract the attention of the spychasers of various foreign intelligence services.
As these spychasers study Joe Wilson, what do they learn? A few minutes on the internet would have turned up his on-line bio with his wife's maiden name; a check of FEC records for campaign donations would have revealed that his wife, as "Valerie Wilson", listed "Brewster-Jennings & Associates" as her employer. Elapsed time - ten minutes?
What would our spychasers learn about Brewster-Jennings? Within a week of the Bob Novak article mentioning Brewster-Jennings, the Boston Globe had done some research, sent a person to the Brewster-Jennings office in Boston, and reported that "Apparent CIA front didn't offer much cover".
There were no employees, the building managers knew nothing of the company, and typical state and local records had not been filed. Does that sound like a legitimate enterprise, or a possible front company? Might suspicions have been aroused?
WASHINGTON -- On the same day in 1999 that retired diplomat Joseph Wilson was returned $1,000 of $2,000 he contributed to Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore a month earlier because it exceeded the federal limit, his CIA-employee wife gave $1,000 to Gore using a fictitious identification for herself.
In making her April 22, 1999, contribution, Valerie E. Wilson identified herself as an "analyst" with "Brewster-Jennings & Associates." No such firm is listed anywhere, but the late Brewster Jennings was president of Socony-Vacuum oil company a half-century ago. Any CIA employee working under "non-official cover" always is listed with a real firm, but never an imaginary one.
Let me make clear there was nothing wrong with government officials discussing Valerie Wilson or Mr. Wilson or his wife and imparting the information to Mr. Libby.
A federal judge in Chicago accused Leakgate Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald of prosecutorial misconduct earlier this year and launched an investigation into what he said a misuse of grand jury materials - before Fitzgerald had the probe shut down by a higher court.
In January 2005, U.S. District Judge James F. Holderman accused Fitzgerald's U.S. Attorney's office in Chicago of turning grand jury materials over to a plaintiff's lawyer in a hospital-fraud case, the Associated Press reported at the time.
In addition to threatening to hold one of Fitzgerald's prosecutors in criminal contempt of court, Judge Holderman ordered a misconduct investigation of Fitzgerald and three of his assistants by the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The federal judge asked that Fitzgerald be investigated for "misstating the law and other offenses" by the OPR, the arm of the Justice Department that investigates allegations of wrongdoing by prosecutors.
Fitzgerald took the case to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and argued that his office had done nothing illegal.
A three judge panel agreed, ruling that Judge Holderman didn't have jurisdiction to launch a probe of a U.S. attorney.
According to the AP, however, Fitzgerald did acknowledged that his prosecutor should have notified defense attorneys before turning over confidential grand jury materials to the plaintiff's side in the hospital fraud case.
It's not clear whether the Justice Department took any action against Fitzgerald based on Judge Holderman's complaint.
The United States Senate confirmed his nomination by unanimous consent and President Bush signed his commission on October 29, 2001.
