Plame's Name: Was it Cheney or a State Department Official?

KeyzerSzoze@aol.com - wrote:

Plame's Name: Was it Cheney or a State Department Official?

I'm having trouble reconciling this sentence from a WashPost _piece_
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/28/AR2005102800153_pf.html)
on the Plame case:
According to the indictment, Libby learned Plame's identity from a senior
State Department official in June 2003 and was told by Cheney that she worked
in the CIA's Counterproliferation Division.
With this one:
Although the focus has been on Rove and Libby, Cheney himself has been
publicly implicated in recent days in the chain of events that led to the exposure
of Plame. The New York Times reported Monday that Fitzgerald possesses notes
taken by Libby showing that he learned about Plame from the vice president
[on June 12, 2003] a month before she was identified by Novak. The White House
did not dispute the report.
Where did Libby first hear of Plame? From a State Department official or
from Dick Cheney? What difference does it make? Maybe none, but one thing
doesn't make sense in all this: Libby evidently lied to try to protect Cheney, by
saying he had learned of Plame's identity from journalists. Why didn't he just
say he was first told by a State Department official? Wouldn't that have
mitigated Cheney's risk in being involved?
Posted by _Michael Young_ (http://www.reason.com/) at _05:46 PM_
(http://www.reason.com/hitandrun/2005/10/plames_name_was.shtml#011512) | _Comments
(15)_ (http://www.reason.com/hitandrun/2005/10/plames_name_was.shtml#comments)

Blackface Beyond the Pale

Over at Ragged Thots, occasional Reason _contributor_
(http://www.reason.com/hod/rag090805.shtml) Robert A. George lays into blogger Steve Gilliard who
posted a ...ed-up, Photoshopped _blackface shot_
(http://stevegilliard.blogspot.com/2005/10/simple-sambo-wants-to-move-to-big.html) of Maryland Lt. Gov
Michael Steele. Steele, who is African American, recently announced his
candidacy for a US Senate seat. Gilliard, who is also African American, declaims
Steele as a "Sambo" because the pol refused to condemn Gov. Robert Ehrlich's
appearance as a golf club that up to that point never accepted a black member.
George's first post on the matter is _here_
(http://raggedthots.blogspot.com/2005/10/why-i-am-not-democrat-part-2.html) . A snippet:
Yes, I know that Steve Gilliard is black (this isn't the first time that we
have sparred over racial language; this post has links to some of our
previous exchanges). That doesn't change the fact that, in my view, he was happily
trading in racist imagery as an attack against Michael Steele. Rather than try
to even consider Steele on issues, it is far easier to mock and denounce his
very existence as a black man who chooses to be Republican.
And here's an _update_
(http://raggedthots.blogspot.com/2005/10/steve-gs-kaine-kos-kontroversy.html) from George:
1) The real-life political world is very different from the blogosphere; 2)
the across-the-line offensiveness of Steve's words and imagery were
objectively apparent -- and politically self-destructive. Explaining to most people
that they were created by a black person criticizing another black person just
doesn't cut it. Certain things are, ahem, "beyond the pale".
More _here_
(http://raggedthots.blogspot.com/2005/10/steve-gs-kaine-kos-kontroversy.html) .
Posted by _Nick Gillespie_ (mailto:gillespie@reason.com) at _05:28 PM_
(http://www.reason.com/hitandrun/2005/10/blackface_beyon.shtml#011511) |
_Comments (8)_
(http://www.reason.com/hitandrun/2005/10/blackface_beyon.shtml#comments)

More Than Half a Million Drug War Prisoners

Based on the latest _figures_ (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/p04.pdf)
from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the Drug War Chronicle _estimates_
(http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/409/toohigh.shtml) that more than 530,000
people were behind bars for drug offenses in the U.S. at the end of last
year. Drug offenders accounted for about 25 percent of jail inmates, 21 percent
of state prison inmates, and 55 percent of federal prison inmates. The total
number of people behind bars was about 2.3 million, an all-time record, giving
the U.S. an incarceration rate of 724 per 100,000--the highest in the world,
according to the Chronicle, which says we even beat out China this time.
Posted by _Jacob Sullum_ (http://www.reason.com/) at _03:32 PM_
(http://www.reason.com/hitandrun/2005/10/more_than_half.shtml#011508) | _Comments (105)_
(http://www.reason.com/hitandrun/2005/10/more_than_half.shtml#comments)

So Much for Journalist Shields

The whole case against Scooter Libby turns on his conversations with Tim
Russert, Matt Cooper and Judith Miller; most of the juiciest evidence against
him appears to have come from Miller. I think Kevin Drum is right when he
_says_ (http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_10/007442.php) :
"Apparently Libby figured he'd never be caught out because the reporters
would stay mum and go to jail on his behalf. He lost that bet."
Now, journalist-shield laws usually have some exemption for conversations
that in and of themselves constitute a crime. But Libby's conversations with
reporters (so far, at least) are not the criminal events; it was his lying to
the FBI and under oath about the content of those conversations which was
illegal. His only protection was promises of confidentiality by journalists he
lied about under oath.
All of which to say is, whatever political oxygen was pumping up the idea of
a federal shield law certainly got deflated today. Not only is there the
reporter-friendly outcome of a key White House aide being charged with multiple
felonies, but all indications point to a powerful sleazebag trying to launder
his lies with journalism traditions exercised by despised reporters.
Speaking of which, I wonder if Judy still considers Scooter a "good-faith
source," in light of his weasel-words in this _Sept. 15 letter_
(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/politics/2005_LEAKTIMELINE_GRAPHIC/050915_libby-mill
er.pdf) to her in jail: "[T]he public report of every other reporter's
testimony makes clear that they did not discuss Ms. Plame's name or identity with
me."
Posted by _Matt Welch_ (mailto:mwelch@reason.com) at _03:18 PM_
(http://www.reason.com/hitandrun/2005/10/so_much_for_jou.shtml#011507) | _Comments (25)_
(http://www.reason.com/hitandrun/2005/10/so_much_for_jou.shtml#comments)

Is It the THC That Makes It Mellower?

A staple of anti-pot propaganda in recent years has been the _implication_
(http://www.mediacampaign.org/mg/print/ad_ashtray.html) that marijuana poses
more of a cancer risk than tobacco because a joint contains more carcinogens
than a cigarette. One problem with this scare tactic is that it ignores
patterns of use: The typical pot smoker lights up far less often than the typical
cigarette smoker. Another problem is that epidemiological research has not
verified an elevated cancer risk among people who smoke only marijuana. A
research _review_ (http://www.harmreductionjournal.com/content/2/1/21) in the
October 18 issue of Harm Reduction Journal _suggests_
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051026/hl_nm/pot_cancer_dc) one possible reason for this (aside from
dosage): THC, marijuana's main psychoactive ingredient, seems to reduce the effect
of carcinogens in pot smoke, whereas nicotine seems to enhance the effect of
carcinogens in tobacco smoke.
Posted by _Jacob Sullum_ (http://www.reason.com/) at _02:50 PM_
(http://www.reason.com/hitandrun/2005/10/is_it_the_thc_t.shtml#011506) | _Comments (44)_
(http://www.reason.com/hitandrun/2005/10/is_it_the_thc_t.shtml#comments)

The Price of Publicity?

At National Review Online, Radley Balko _notes_
(http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/balko200510240837.asp) that Florida pain patient Richard Paey, who
is serving a 25-year _sentence_ (http://www.reason.com/sullum/042304.shtml)
for drug trafficking even though he never trafficked in drugs, seems to have
been punished for seeking media attention. After he gave an interview to New
York Times columnist John Tierney, he was transferred to a prison farther
from his family and threatened with loss of the pain treatment he is receiving
through a morphine pump. Paey's supporters are hoping publicity will pressure
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to _pardon_
(http://www.reason.com/hitandrun/2005/09/free_richard_paey.shtml) him.
Posted by _Jacob Sullum_ (http://www.reason.com/) at _02:10 PM_
(http://www.reason.com/hitandrun/2005/10/the_price_of_pu.shtml#011505) | _Comments (14)_
(http://www.reason.com/hitandrun/2005/10/the_price_of_pu.shtml#comments)

New at Reason

Where could a jury be found fit to try _the peerless Tim Cavanaugh_
(http://www.reason.com/0511/co.tc.rant.shtml) ?
Posted by _Julian Sanchez_ (http://reason.com/) at _01:52 PM_
(http://www.reason.com/hitandrun/2005/10/new_at_reason_831.shtml#011504) | _Comments (37)_
(http://www.reason.com/hitandrun/2005/10/new_at_reason_831.shtml#comments)

Skippy on the Dock

Michael Kinsley _reviews_
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/27/AR2005102701857.html) the Plamegate show.
Posted by _Jesse Walker_ (http://www.reason.com/) at _01:04 PM_
(http://www.reason.com/hitandrun/2005/10/skippy_on_the_d.shtml#011503) | _Comments (19)_
(http://www.reason.com/hitandrun/2005/10/skippy_on_the_d.shtml#comments)

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