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Gaggle – Newsbusters.org
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CIA Leak Case Watch: Woodward Claim on CIA Leak Disputes Charge
I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, walks to the U.S. District Court in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2005, accompanied by his attorney Theodore V. Wells Jr., at rear. Libby, who is charged with lying to the FBI and a grand jury about his conversations with reporters in the CIA leak investigation, was at the courthouse to research documents related to his case.The ASSociated Press has Woodward Claim on CIA Leak Disputes Charge
Bob Woodward’s version of when and where he learned the identity of a CIA operative contradicts a special prosecutor’s contention that Vice President Dick Cheney’s top aide was the first to make the disclosure to reporters.
Attorneys for the aide, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, described Wednesday’s statement by the Washington Post’s assistant managing editor as helpful for their defense, although Libby is charged with lying to a grand jury and the FBI, not with disclosing the CIA official’s name.
Previosuly on Flap:
CIA Leak Case Watch: Charges Don’t Directly Address CIA Leak
CIA Leak Case Watch: Lack-Of-Memory Defense for Libby?“Hopefully, as information is obtained from reporters like Bob Woodward, the real facts will come out,” lawyer Ted Wells said Wednesday.
Woodward, a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter, said he had not told his bosses until last month that he had learned about Valerie Plame’s identity and her work at the CIA more than two years ago from a high- level Bush administration official.
When Woodward learned Plame’s name, he told The Associated Press Wednesday, he was in the middle of finishing a book about the administration’s decision to go to war in Iraq, and didn’t want to be subpoenaed to testify.
“The grand jury was going and reporters were being jailed, and I hunkered down more than I usually do,” Woodward said, explaining why he waited so long to tell Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. what he knew about the Plame matter.
Because his source in the leak case has refused to be identified publicly, Woodward said his hands are tied. “We can’t tell the whole story. I would like to. It’s one that will be told some day,” he said.
This late in the case revelation deeply hurts the Special Prosecutors case.
Fitzpatrick should drop the charges or offer some lesser misdemeanor plea before the government is embarassed in court.
Great waste of taxpayer funds………..
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Dentistry Today: ORAL SEX Linked to Mouth Cancer
Courtesy of the University of Iowa
AFP has Oral sex linked to mouth cancer: Swedish study
Certain cases of mouth cancer appear to be caused by a virus that can be contracted during oral sex, media reported, quoting a new Swedish study.
People who contract a high-risk variety of the human papilloma virus, HPV, during oral sex are more likely to fall ill with mouth cancer, according to a study conducted at the Malmo University Faculty of Odontology in southern Sweden.
Hummmmmm reminds me of the old quote from Clinton about not “having sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.”
But seriously……….
“You should avoid having oral sex,” dentist and researcher Kerstin Rosenquist, who headed the study, told Swedish news agency TT.
HPV is a wart virus that causes many cervical cancers, including endometrial cancer (in the uterus).
Comparing 132 patients with mouth cancer with a control group of 320 healthy people, Rosenquist found that 36 percent of the cancer patients were carriers of HPV while only one percent of the control group had the virus.
The main factors that contribute to mouth cancer, most commonly contracted by middle aged and older men, are smoking and drinking alcohol, scientists agree.
“But in recent years the illness has been on the rise among young individuals and we don’t know why. But one could speculate that this virus (HPV) is one of the factors,” Rosenquist said.
A word to the wise……..
And see your dentist for oral cancer screening regularly.
Flap knows you will be glad you did.
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Iraq War Watch: Bill Clinton Says Iraq Invasion “BIG MISTAKE”
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, acknowledges the students of the American University Dubai, during his visit to mark the 10 anniversary celebration of AUD, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2005.The ASSociated Press has Clinton says Iraq invasion was a big mistake
The United States made a “big mistake” when it invaded Iraq, former President Bill Clinton said Wednesday, citing the lack of planning for what would happen after dictator Saddam Hussein was overthrown.
“Saddam is gone. It’s a good thing, but I don’t agree with what was done, ” Clinton told students at the American University of Dubai.
“It was a big mistake. The American government made several errors … one of which is how easy it would be to get rid of Saddam and how hard it would be to unite the country.”
Clinton did however say that the United States had done some good things in Iraq: the removal of Saddam, the ratification of a new constitution, and the holding of parliamentary elections.
Clinton’s statements and the resolution yesterday in the United States Senate is the continuing breakage of America’s political will for the Iraq War.
“The mistake that they made is that when they kicked out Saddam, they decided to dismantle the whole authority structure of Iraq. … We never sent enough troops and didn’t have enough troops to control or seal the borders,” Clinton said.
As the borders were unsealed, “the terrorists came in,” he said.
Clinton said it would have been better if the United States had left Iraq’s “fundamental military and social and police structure intact.”
“Monday Morning Quarterbacking” by Clinton.
And Hillary is a United States Senator where is her critique?
The President will repond……
Stay tuned………..
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County of Ventura Watch: Supervisors Cap Increases for Managers at 9 Percent
Ventura County District Attorney Greg Totten who stands for relection in June 2006 and who received a $15,000 per year raise yesterday.The Ventura County Star has County officials’ pay hikes get pared
The Ventura County Board of Supervisors balked Tuesday at giving double-digit raises to several managers, lowering the maximum anyone could receive in a single year to 9 percent.
County Executive Officer Johnny Johnston had recommended the raises after a salary survey showed seven managers were paid at least 10 percent less than the average for their counterparts in other California counties.
If the board had approved the recommendation, District Attorney Greg Totten could have accepted a 14.4 percent raise and Treasurer-Tax Collector Larry Matheney 12.4 percent.
Totten is paid $166,641 but would have earned about $24,000 more had the raise been approved. Instead, he will get a raise of about $15,000, effective in mid-December.Totten, who is seeking a second term in June, declined to comment afterward.
Matheney’s salary of $131,259 will go up by about $12,000 under the cap, about $4,000 less than the original raise.
Your county bureaucracy at work…….
The cost of the raises is estimated at $2.8 million this year and $5.7 million next year.
Although supervisors capped the increases for any one person, they allowed Johnston to increase the top of the pay range by the full amount for recruiting of management talent.
These monies might actually buy some county services and please don’t remind Flap of the comparative salaries program that California local governments use to shame elected officials into unwarranted and unjustified pay/ benefit increases.
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Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Playing the China Card
Understatement of the week from Dan Walters of the Sacramento Bee:
“It’s no wonder that President Bush and Govs. Schwarzenegger and [Minnesota Governor Tim] Pawlenty are traipsing through China this week. These days, the Chinese are much friendlier than their own voters.”
Think the President and Governor will find the time for a joint appearance?
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger gives a speech at a reception in Beijing November 16, 2005. -
LA Times Watch: Bob Sipchen Leaves “Current” for Web Project
L.A. Observed has the poop on Bob Sipchen and the Los Angeles Times:
To: The Staff
From: Dean BaquetI’m pleased to announce that Bob Sipchen, one of our most creative writers and editors, will be returning to the newsroom to take on an enterprise project that we’ll announce early next year. When Bob left last year to remake Sunday Opinion, I told him privately that I would likely try to lure him back. I have done so.
Bob has worked across the paper. After winning the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing with Alex Raksin in 2002, he moved to Features, where he created the Outdoors section, which I still maintain was one of the most inventive feature sections around.
Bob has a range of interests, which will figure in his next project. Most intriguingly, he has thoughts about two parts of the paper that will figure prominently in our near future — the web site and California.
One of the bright stars of the Times, Flap met him last April at LA Press Club event with Hugh Hewitt and Roger Simon.
Flap wishes him well in his new and challenging projects with the LA Times.
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Dentistry Today: Tooth Decay Vaccine
AFP has Vaccine against tooth decay successful in animal tests: researchers
Portuguese scientists said they had developed an experimental vaccine against tooth decay which was successful in laboratory tests on rats and could pave the way for a version that works for humans.
“What we found is that the animals which were vaccinated with this protein developed much smaller lesions than the control group which had not been vaccinated,” said Paula Ferreira, one of three Oporto University researchers who worked on the vaccine.
Dentistry has been waiting years for this development.
And about time……..
Will this mean LESS need for dentists?
Probably not in the short term but a dental caries vaccine will definitely change the profession away from the “ol’ drill and fill model.”
“There is still a long road to travel (for a human version). Before that experimental models which are closer to man need to be tested, namely in monkeys, and for that financing is needed,” she told Lisbon-based TSF radio.
Rats were used to test the experimental vaccine because the type of tooth decay they develop is similar to that which occurs in humans, she added.
The three scientists have already patented the vaccine in Portugal and are working on doing so in the United States where they are also seeking funding to further their research, Ferreira said.
A rat makes its way through a pipe. Portuguese scientists said they had developed an experimental vaccine against tooth decay which was successful in laboratory tests on rats and could pave the way for a version that works for humans.Stay tuned……..
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Day By Day by Chris Muir
