No sooner had The Washington Post confirmed that Mark Felt, the FBI’s former No. 2, was its secret Water gate informant nicknamed “Deep Throat” than the frenzy began. Now it’s time for everyone — Felt and his family included — to start cashing in.

Bob Woodward just so happens to have been working on a book about Deep Throat — which is now going to be rushed into print, it was announced yesterday. (Last year, he and Carl Bernstein sold their Watergate papers to the University of Texas-Austin for $5 million.)

And the Felt family admits that the road to their father’s decision to come clean about his role — after years of denials — began with their thought that there was money to be made.

According to Vanity Fair, which first disclosed his Watergate role, Felt’s daughter Joan complained that “Bob Woodward’s going to get all the glory from this, but we could make at least enough money to pay some bills.”

So the decision to end the 30-year-old mystery appears to have less to do with history than with scoring quick cash.

No real suprises there. The idea that they could cash in is possibly one reason why felt didn’t go to the authorities or investigate himself what went on at the Watergate Hotel, and instead went to the press. Everyone cashes in.

The same liberals who are now hailing Mark Felt as a principled citizen who did his duty at the risk of his career were far less charitable back in 1981, when Ronald Reagan — in the first such act of his presidency — pardoned Felt, who’d been convicted of approving illegal FBI break-ins during the hunt for radical Weather Underground fugitives.

Many compared the pardon to the controversial one that Gerald Ford had given to Richard Nixon. The New York Times declared that prosecuting Felt — the highest-ranking FBI man to be convicted of a crime — was “a potent deterrent to officials who may be tempted, even by patriotic zeal, to break the law.”

Well, it’s funny the Post should mention that. A quick search on Google turns up this rant about Bill Cinton pardoning everyone under the sun. In it, Felt, specifically, is mentioned. Mind you, this is the same heroic Felt they’re talking about today. The only difference is that today he took down Nixon:

W. Mark Felt and Edward Miller by the Great Freaking Communicator, Ronald Reagan, 1981; clemency for authorizing FBI agents to break into Vietnam protesters’ offices without warrants. This was under J. Edgar Hoover’s 48 year reign where little things like the rights of the accused — and anyone else for that matter — did not mean a thing.

That’s typical of the people who hated Mark Felt previously and who love him now… He was a criminal who operated outside the law according to them. He overstepped his bounds and his authority according to them. I had never heard of Mark Felt up until two days ago, and Googling his name has been an amazingly enlightening experience, namely in the contrasting opinions before they knew he took down Nixon and after… Anyway, back to the story at hand:

Felt himself, when denying he was “Deep Throat,” used to say that whoever leaked the information had been disloysal — and he was right.

If he was so disturbed by the direction the FBI had begun to take after the death of J. Edgar Hoover — and mindful that he’d been passed over as his successor — Mark Felt should have resigned. And then, if so motivated, he would have been justified in speaking out publicly.

But if he was aware of specific crimes being committed by top White House officials — as surely he was — then Felt had an obligation to share his information with prosecutors who were building the cases against them. Or even, like James McCord, with Judge Sirica.

Instead, he chose to confide only in Bob Woodward and The Washington Post.

That doesn’t strike us as particularly courageous — or heroic.

Felt’s actions do not ring true to anyone who believes in standing up for anything. I’ve said before and I’ll say again it took no courage to run to the press as an anonymous source. Anyone could have done that. It took no risk. No courage. Nothing. In fact, it was a weasly way out. He waited until most of the people involved were dead, decided he could cash in without consequence, and then came out.

Now, let’s roll back a few months.

Remember “the Whistleblowers?” The darlings of the american media for months on end? The two analysts from the FBI who continuously tried to blow the doors off the american intelligence system? The ones who Time wrote article after article about telling us how wonderful and patriotic they were for what they were doing? Surely you do.

Well, it’s no secret that I wasn’t exactly on their side because after reading their stories, I didn’t see anything in it that was more than hindsight. However, what they did was courageous, honorable, and even in some minds heroic.

They risked everything coming out in public. They risked their careers, their pensions, going to jail, everything. Why? Because they felt they had a need to get the story out. They believed their superiors, who they went to first, weren’t listening to them.

The contrast between the two approaches couldn’t be more stark. On one hand you have the FBI’s number two, who felt he had his hands tied on what he could do so he worked in the shadows to save his own skin, coming out only when there was a buck to be made. On the other hand you have two lowly analysts who were able to bring a scandalous story to the front of the american consciousness, become posterchildren for intelligence reform, and did so at great personal risk to themselves.

The whistleblower ladies were courageous. Mark Felt is an opportunist of the highest order, who despite being a “law and order” guy did nothing to further law and order.

Pardon me if I don’t get in line to kiss Saint Mark’s feet.

‘Disposition’ Emerges as Issue at Brooklyn College
BY JACOB GERSHMAN – Staff Reporter of the Sun
May 31, 2005

Brooklyn College’s School of Education has begun to base evaluations of aspiring teachers in part on their commitment to social justice, raising fears that the college is screening students for their political views.

The School of Education at the CUNY campus initiated last fall a new method of judging teacher candidates based on their “dispositions,” a vogue in teacher training across the country that focuses on evaluating teachers’ values, apart from their classroom performance.

Social justice!? Oy vey…

Brooklyn College’s School of Education, which is the only academic unit at the college with the status of school, is among dozens of education schools across the country that incorporate the notion of “social justice” in their guiding principles. At Brooklyn, “social justice” is one of the four main principles in its conceptual framework. The school’s conceptual framework states that it develops in its students “a deeper understanding of the quest for social justice.” In its explanation of that mission, the school states: “We educate teacher candidates and other school personnel about issues of social injustice such as institutionalized racism, sexism, classism, and heterosexism.”

So if you don’t believe every system is inherently sexist, racist, heteronormative, and so on, you need not apply. Forget that you’re there to get an education on education, you must also receive a thorough brainwashing.

Source: The NY Sun

You live, you learn.

Source: Spoons

Green is the color of nature. It symbolizes growth,
harmony, and freshness. Green has strong
emotional correspondence with safety. Green is
also commonly associated with wealth and
happiness, so someone with a green lightsaber
like yourself is a fortunate soul.

What Colored Lightsaber Would You Have?
brought to you by Quizilla
]]> http://vincenzof.wordpress.com/2005/06/01/my-schwartz-is-green/feed/ 0 vincenzof http://vincenzof.wordpress.com/2005/06/01/harry-reid-hypocrite/ http://vincenzof.wordpress.com/2005/06/01/harry-reid-hypocrite/#comments Wed, 01 Jun 2005 12:02:30 +0000 Vincent Ferrari http://www.insignificantthoughts.com/?p=1399 ]]> Harry Reid has a real raging one for Tom Delay, as does the rest of the Democrat party. Guess that’s a penalty you pay for being good at what you do; the Democrats will hate you.

But while the media is all over Delay for “violations” of ethics that will soon be shown to have been committed by every single person in Congress, there are some ethical transgressions by one member of the Senate that far outweigh anything that Delay is accused of. In fact, it’s quite obvious that the media has bias issues after reading this because if they don’t, why are Delay’s ethics issues daily news, but Reid’s not worth discussing?

This piece, from June of 2003 by the LA Times (mentioned on Rush’s show about 2 months ago) has received little-to-no mention in the current context of ethics and their importance. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that until Tom Daschle got the boot out of the Senate on his obstructionist butt, most of you probably didn’t even know who Harry Reid was.

Ponder the littany of ethics violations and possible criminal behavior. Then ask yourself… Why is the majority leader of the Senate being lynched publicly while the minority leader is getting a pass?

Normally dismissed as right-wing paranoia, that argument has been falling on deaf ears.

Iranian smuggling ring busted near Mex border
Feds believe man brought 60 from terrorist state into U.S.
Posted: June 1, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern

A smuggling ring specializing in bringing Iranians into the U.S. over the Mexico border has been broken up in an FBI sting operation.

A 39-year-old Iranian with permanent legal residency status who is suspected of having smuggled 60 other Iranians into the U.S. was arrested Thursday in Mesa, Ariz., according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Now, let’s just put aside the fact of the size of what this man has been doing, although 60 people is quite a large number. The 9/11 hijackings were committed by 19 people. Keep that in mind. This guy has smuggled 3 times as many Iranians into the country as committed those acts.

The FBI began investigating Malhamdary after a source told immigration officials that Malhamdary had sought help getting false Mexican visas so he could bring Iranians into Mexico and then across the border into Arizona.

The source also told investigators that Malhamdary had asked for help bringing his sister into the United States. According to the probable cause statement by FBI Agent Aaron Kellerman, the source didn’t help him, but the sister did arrive in Arizona.

Federal prosecutors say Malhamdary had previously smuggled about 60 Iranians into the United States.

Malhamdary flew to Tehran, Iran, in March, allegedly to get the passports of the Iranians he planned to smuggle into the United States through Mexico, Kellerman said in the statement.

Using fake Mexican visas he would bring the Iranians to Mexico, and then they could just hop across the border into the US along with the thousands of other mexicans the Fox government is giving tips on how to cross the border to, and we’re providing water in the desert for.

At some point, we’re going to have to wake up. It takes little or no effort to sneak across the border. It’s understaffed and underprotected. Apparently everyone around the world knows this. How many people will have to die in a terrorist attack from people smuggled across the border from a terrorist supporting and funding state (like Iran, for example) before we do something real about it?

And why the hell aren’t the responsible journalists at news agencies all over this story? In fact, on Google News, it’s barely a blip.

“I went back and reread the whole New Testament the other day. Nowhere in the three-year ministry of Jesus Christ did I find a suggestion at all, ever, anywhere, in any way whatsover, that you ought to take the money from the poor, the opportunities from the poor and give them to the rich people,” Kerry said.

He went back the other day and read the whole New Testament?

Either he’s the fastest reader on the planet, or a disgusting patronizing liar.

I have my opinions.

Source: Newsmax

If Deep Throat was such a “hero” and such a “law and order” guy, who wasn’t just bitter because he was passed up for a few promotions, why didn’t he pursue some kind of criminal action? He was the #2 guy in the FBI.

Instead, he ran to the press.

Now we know who Deep Throat is, and while I’m not exactly shedding a tear that Nixon resigned, there’s no changing the fact that this guy with his walker and his 90+ year old grin at his front door is quite the backstabbing weasel. Law and order does not happen on the pages of a newspaper, it happens in the court of law. The #2 guy in the FBI should know that.

On Saturday, President Bush’s clout was growing…

Newsview: Bush’s Global Clout Seen Growing
By TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writer Sat May 28, 7:15 PM ET

WASHINGTON – In the rarified club of world leaders, President Bush has taken his share of lumps. Critics have railed against his handling of Iraq, his perceived disdain for the United Nations and what they say is a swaggering approach to foreign policy.

But Bush probably would not want to trade places with any other head of state.

Nearly all his fellow leaders of the world’s big industrial democracies have stumbled. It has left them vulnerable at home and weakener on the world stage.

The president, through it all, is riding what he sees as a strong re-election mandate to trumpet his goal of spreading democracy.

Today, however, there were “questions” about his clout and he was shrugging them off:

Bush Shrugs Off Setbacks, Vows Agenda Push
By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 6 minutes ago

WASHINGTON -President Bush, faced with a string of setbacks on Capitol Hill, shrugged off questions about his political clout and promised Tuesday to keep pushing the Republican-led Congress for a Social Security overhaul.

Source for both articles: The AP.

This is the kind of thing that just requires no comment.

Lately, however, we’re also seeing the story of how a newspaper can be irresponsible with information, much to the detriment of society.

By SCOTT SHANE, STEPHEN GREY and MARGOT WILLIAMS
Published: May 31, 2005

This article was reported by Scott Shane, Stephen Grey and Margot Williams and written by Mr. Shane.

SMITHFIELD, N.C. – The airplanes of Aero Contractors Ltd. take off from Johnston County Airport here, then disappear over the scrub pines and fields of tobacco and sweet potatoes. Nothing about the sleepy Southern setting hints of foreign intrigue. Nothing gives away the fact that Aero’s pilots are the discreet bus drivers of the battle against terrorism, routinely sent on secret missions to Baghdad, Cairo, Tashkent and Kabul.

When the Central Intelligence Agency wants to grab a suspected member of Al Qaeda overseas and deliver him to interrogators in another country, an Aero Contractors plane often does the job. If agency experts need to fly overseas in a hurry after the capture of a prized prisoner, a plane will depart Johnston County and stop at Dulles Airport outside Washington to pick up the C.I.A. team on the way.

Aero Contractors’ planes dropped C.I.A. paramilitary officers into Afghanistan in 2001; carried an American team to Karachi, Pakistan, right after the United States Consulate there was bombed in 2002; and flew from Libya to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, the day before an American-held prisoner said he was questioned by Libyan intelligence agents last year, according to flight data and other records.

While posing as a private charter outfit – “aircraft rental with pilot” is the listing in Dun and Bradstreet – Aero Contractors is in fact a major domestic hub of the Central Intelligence Agency’s secret air service. The company was founded in 1979 by a legendary C.I.A. officer and chief pilot for Air America, the agency’s Vietnam-era air company, and it appears to be controlled by the agency, according to former employees.

This is in the New York Times. Plain as day for the world to read. I’m all for investigative journalism. I’m all for exposing the truth. But let’s ponder, for a minute, what the press has done to undermine our war against the radical fundamentalists that are trying to smite us from the face of the earth in the name of Allah.

During the war in Afghanistan, while Osama was still making calls with his satellite phone and the CIA was tracking him, our illustrious press printed numerous stories about how Osama’s own cell phone use was going to mean his demise because the CIA was onto him. Shortly thereafter, all communications stopped and Osama was gone.

When Air Marshalls were increasingly being added to planes, they were being done so undercover. The impression created was that there would be Air Marshalls on every plane. The idea that you would be on a plane with a guy with a gun looking after you seemed like a great idea, and a great deterrent. Enter the mainstream media to point out to every terrorist reading that there would only be a limited number of Air Marshalls on certain flights to certain destinations. Got that? If the plan was to leave them guessing, the media stopped that dead in its tracks and proved to the terrorists that, while our defenses are being fortified, they have good odds of not being on a plane with an Air Marshall.

Now, a CIA operation has been exposed. One that was shuttling people in and out of hot zones under the guise of being a charter airline. The NY Times has blown the doors off the story and has now eliminated this as an area of attack, undermining, yet again, our efforts to stop those trying to kill us.

Oddly enough, this was done by a paper that was righteously outraged over the leaking of Valerie Plame’s name. I’m not a typical rightwinger, and if you’ve read this site for more than one day, you know I often take positions contrary to the White House and common right-wing wisdom. I have a very sharp bs detector and I don’t tolerate it from my side or the other.

But at what point does freedom of the press have an obligation to take a backseat to national security? We’re not talking about vague “this is bad for Bush so it effects national security” type stuff that most right wingers indulge in. We’re talking about direct contraventions of national security initiatives undertaken to keep us safe by people who are charged with a public trust.

I’m sorry, but it just doesn’t sit right with me. What say you? Read the article and the level of detail exposed before you answer.

Source: NY Times