By The Way

Condi's missile defense system not only Still. Doesn't. Work.

It's almost laughable (if it didn't cost so darn much).

Theme For Today: Weird Wingnut World

Atrios ... Twice.

Duncan is taking a riff from this:

Republican support is contracting to a base of about 25 per cent of the population whose views are getting more extreme, not merely because moderate conservatives are peeling off to become Independents, but also because of the party’s success in constructing a parallel universe of news sources, thinktanks, blogs, pseudo-scientists and so on, which has led to the core becoming more tightly committed to an extremist ideology.

The increasing extremism (think: cornered animal) is reflected in rank and file GOP lawmakers seeing no upside in continuing Bush's free ride against a tide of public opinion:

"We have toed the line enough for the president, and we have gotten no thanks or gratitude. By and large, Republicans are sick of defending an ungrateful president"

Due in no small part because the legal eagles doing such a heckuvajob advising White House policy are graduates of Pat Robertson's law school:

"they are shocking, because they are unprofessional, they are sophomoric, they are snide, they're sarcastic.

Which has naturally has resulted in Bush becoming Kryptonite to his own party:

"In half a century, I have not seen a president so isolated ..."

As the 2006 wave becomes a 2008 tsuanami, you could conclude that not only do elections have consequences, but consequences have consequences.

Democrats looking to extend their narrow majority in the United States Senate, races in states previously assumed to be not even possibly competitive continue to crop up -- a bad sign, no doubt, for the Republicans, who already sound quite bearish on their chances in 2008.

So I have to ask, why all the White Whale references this morning?

Oh Politico

You silly, silly people. Haven't you had enough embarrassment?

First, you get openly mocked by the the Decider, and when the Smirking Chimp himself decides that yer kinda funny, you've pretty much jumped the shark. Not even Jeff Gannon rated "a little blurb" by POTUS.

Think Progress documents your atrocities:

• calling the 2nd most important issue to voters (health care) too boring to bother with;
  
  
• predicting Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty would resign (he didn't);
  
  
• spectacularly scooping everybody with the news that John Edwards would be suspending his campaign (wrong again);
  
  
• announcing that citizens will be able -- for the first time -- to submit questions to candidates during their upcoming debate using the internet (except that we could use the Toobz to ask candidates questions at that oh, so boring health-care debate Politico.com thought unworthy of anyone's time).

So now what are these amazing political analysts up to?

Sampson Testimony May Be Key To Gonzales Flap: "Friends say D. Kyle Sampson believes that bureaucratic bungling is at the root of controversy over U.S. attorney firings."

Ah, now that's some hot-shot reporting. The fired reassigned fall-guy former Chief of Staff is going to tell Congress that the Attorney Purge was all just one big mistake -- some kind of overblown personnel matter -- cuz after all, we know that the U.S. Justice Department is staffed by the Keystone Kops.

Nothing to see here. Just some goofy civil servants mucking up. Invoking Executive Privilege doesn't mean anybody has anything to hide, right Trent? Nobody should be afraid of any criminal jeopardy when they testify before Congress on the U.S. Attorney purges, so ... um, pay no attention to the, er ... nice lady pleading the fifth or anything. No deals needed or alibis offered.

Yes, indeed. The Politico.com has put our minds at ease once and for all. Nobody did anything wrong at the Justice Department, ever. Now go back to your previously scheduled Anna Nicole ghoul fest.

Besides, don't you know that the Democrats will only hurt themselves by doing exactly what the people want them to do -- by a 3 to 1 margin.

Where exactly is Oceania again? I could have sworn it was on the same map as Eastasia.

However, this Politico.com sourced info on a young, hawkish Hillary trying to get into the Marines, is weird enough to be spot on.

Mr. Wolcott? Can't We Poke Her With A Stick A Bit Longer?

Please, James? It's great sport.

Wadda ya mean, "Tosh!?"

I'm open to any Democratic candidate, though I lean more towards Edwards than anyone else, but I don't think Hillary's merits and qualities should be minimized.

"Tosh" yourself. We were just starting to have fun.

It doesn't have to be a pointed stick.

Wind power plan for lake gains speed

You might have Ohio's worst Congress Critter representing you, but mine, Marcy Kaptur, is one of the best. Just look what she's doing for us.

toledoblade.com --
Wind power plan for lake gains speed;
efforts totaling over $1M seek to win new industry:



Last time I saw Congresswoman Kaptur, she was introducing John Edwards at the Seagate Tower in Toledo. Definitely two people on the same page.

By TOM HENRY
BLADE STAFF WRITER

More than $1 million could be spent in the coming months pursuing offshore wind power in Lake Erie, even though the region just lost out on a bid to have East Toledo host the nation’s first testing laboratory for offshore wind turbine blades.

A $250,000 wildlife study, funded by a grant the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority obtained from U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo), recently began along the western Lake Erie shoreline.

The goal of that study is to get the region’s clean energy and wildlife proponents on the same page over the risks posed to birds and bats.

The next phase would involve putting two or three wind turbines along the western Lake Erie shoreline as early as the summer of 2008 to see just how lethal the devices might be.

Sites have not been selected, but they likely would be between Toledo and Lorain, Ohio.

The turbines themselves would cost several more million dollars, said Steve Watts, wind programs manager for Green Energy Ohio, a nonprofit group coordinating the study.

Called the Northwest Ohio Coastal Wind Initiative, the study looms big for a region looking toward renewable energy for jobs.

Marcie: headed into the wind! We sit in the path of migratory birds (who have more sense than us and go on vacation when the snow flies up here).

The study Representative Kaptur is funding will coordinate our renewable energy folks with the wildlife conservationists who would prefer our wind turbines don't create diced squab.

One word: Outstanding!

Miss Kaptur, who was in Washington, said during a telephone interview that northwest Ohio’s wildlife issue will be researched adequately by the port authority study.

The region is “absolutely headed into the wind,” she said.

“We have a massive industry to give birth to here,” she said. “God gave us the resource. We just have to capture it.”

The Toledo Zoo is one of several new sites under negotiation for installation of tower gauges to help measure the region’s wind velocity, Mr. Watts said.

The upcoming research is in addition to a $1 million grant Miss Kaptur secured last year for the wind-wildlife issue to be studied at Bowling Green State University’s Firelands campus in Huron, Ohio, via the construction of one or two wind turbines.

For some true inside baseball stuff, read Today's OpEd by Marci Kaptur herself.

She's right in the middle of the Walter Reed investigation and when the Republicans chide us about the "pork" in the defense bill, note what kind of pork Kaptur included:

Just in this defense bill, I was successful in arguing for over $800 million dollars in support of serious brain injury, PTSD, and neuro-psychiatric care for our returning veterans.

This state could really use some more Kapturs and less Jean Schmits and John Boehners. Don't you agree?

John And Elizabeth Edwards, Too Fucking Tough

When the going gets tough, I want John and Elizabeth Edwards in my corner:

The Rude One, VIA My Left Wing: "John Edwards Will Fuck Your Shit UP"

Phil from Michigan for Edwards, live blogged the press conference, has already typed up a transcript, and has some pretty good conversation going in the comments at this recommended KOS diary.

I'm more inspired than ever by such courage.

Distilling Truthiness

Steve Young pens an exceptionally snarky primer on how one actually can survive on the "fact-like" material spewed forth from Fox New -- which to the casual observer lacks any nutritional (let alone informational) value whatsoever.

Digesting Fox News, Bill O'Reilly and Dick Morris:
"One day during the last presidential campaign Bill O'Reilly said that he would not bring partisans on to The Factor to discuss the election because they would only be spinning the same ol' same ol' and just rehashing their side's nothing-new and biased talking points.

'We learn nothing new and that's not what we're about,' reminded the always blunt, looking-out-for-you host. That same night on O'Reilly Factor on Fox, not grasping the screaming comic irony, Bill brought on Newt Gingrich and Dick Morris to discuss John Kerry.

Young provides a needed a bit of mental reinforcement to combat the constant barrage of noise and subterfuge coming from the wingnut wankers, explaining just how their crap can be ingested, sifted for rare factoids, and excreted with little or no harm to your sensibilities.

In that, um ... spirit, Matt Stoller removes the curtain from Sean Hannity's feeble spin (actually, outright lie) that he is just too awesome for any real liberal to debate, and that we all cower before his manliness.

The Faux Noise mavens will never lack for an audience of frothing cult members willing to plunge the whole damn planet into the abyss rather than listen to reason or believe or an instant that they don't possess exclusive rights to the real truth. Without doubt, the Limbaughs and Coulters have sole proprietorship of the most paranoid and conspiracy minded mental cases in the country.

Maha wrote over the weekend about the the noise machine's unending ability to Say Anything and their capacity to exert influence over people with "the critical thinking skills of moth larvae." Isn't it interesting that it's Keith Olberman, Jon Stewart, John Edwareds and others on the left are the recipients of white powder mailings, and not the O'Reilly and Malkins of the world -- or have we forgotten that there have indeed been terror attacks on our soil since 9/11.

For some reason the U.S. has always had a disproportionate number of whackjobs among its citizens; that ain’t new. And the whackjobs have had political influence at various times in the past, also. What’s different is that mass media and the Internet are allowing them to live in their own self-made Crazy World on a mass scale. And the Republicans are heavily invested in keeping them crazy.

When you see this poll, you understand the critical importance of these propaganda outlets to the GOP.

"Fox News viewers supported George Bush over John Kerry by 88% to 7%. No demographic segment, other than Republicans, was as united in supporting Bush. Conservatives, white evangelical Christians, gun owners, and supporters of the Iraq war all gave Bush fewer votes than did regular Fox News viewers." [Political Wire]

Shrinking this allegiance is certainly desired, but even more important (because it is doable) is denying this beast any legitimacy

Barack Obama freezing out Fox, and John Edwards leading the way to cancel Fox's Nevada Democratic Debates were outstanding first strikes at the heart of their Orwellian manipulation of the body politic. The beast must be starved, weakened, hunted down and finally slain once and for all.

That's why it is so disturbing to see Democrats adopting Republican frames, whether it's Obama admitting that Edwards is "kinda cute," or Harry Reid's initial willingness to have Fox host the debates because the can reach out to a whole new demographic.

88% Harry.

88% to 7% are unheard of odds, even in Vegas, Harry. What WERE you thinking? You don't win over such people. They are lost and prefer their dementia to facing the responsibility for the problems they cause. Ignoring them is a start, marginalizing and silencing them is better. You certainly don't cater to them, give them ammunition or a platform. They are spoiled children and you do not give spoiled children attention. You punish them and ignore them until they stop or go away.

Progressive Blogtopia has been keeping track of the Congressional Black Caucus courting Fox News as a debate sponsor as well. As risky as this might seem, I think it would show real leadership and backbone for Barack Obama to denounce this as even a remote possibility and declare, well in advance of the event even being put on the schedule, that he will not attend no matter how much they suck up to him.

Shame on Harold Ford Jr., too. I really, really like that guy. I can't believe he can't find a better place to keep his face in the public eye (where it should be, because he does indeed deserve a platform) than becoming a Fox News Regular. I would hold out hope that Ford going on Fox might mark some kind of transformation at the unofficial propaganda wing of the republican party -- except that the very reasonable and frighteningly smart Ford is paired with Rick Santorum -- a victim of hypnosis gone bad if ever there was one.

Stop it Harold! Please. You won't see any changes at Fox until Hannity, O'Reilly and Roger Ailes are gone. Putting a random centrist Democrat on that channel to be vilified as a true liberal is bad enough, but it also moves the center further and further to the right no matter how well Ford comports himself.

And Harold, for future reference, when your principle talking point is that we should get all the facts on the table -- as it was when you were discussing the U.S. Attorney Purge -- it will help if you get a firmer grasp on the facts that are available yourself.

You could have blown Little Ricky away when he gave the example of U.S. Attorneys should be fired if they for instance, don't follow an anti-child-pornography initiative the President orders. For one of the fired attorneys, Charlton, the opposite was the reality -- and I wish Ford had known that. Charlton was fired for being more, not less inclined to use his finite resources to go after child obscenity cases instead of being unwilling to take good cases like porn suppliers sending smut across state lines that did NOT contain any underage victims.

Update: Chris Bowers hit's the nail right on the head.

Bush Just Told Congress: "Bring It On"

"Show Trials?!?"

Screw this megalomaniac. And screw the Democrats if they don't take the President up on his dare.

I'm still keeping a bit of my powder dry. Let's do the DoJ testimony, and even the secret interviews of Rove and Meirs behind the water tower at dawn, or whatever undisclosed location they do it.

But if I don't see Gonzo's head rolling down Pennsylvania Ave., or a battery of subpoenas within the next ten days (and that is more than enough time). I'm going rogue and demanding the heads of the Democratic Party too. If Reid and Pelosi don't have enough balls to stand up to this feeble-minded bully living in the White House, they have no business pulling a pay check.

Schumer said it right, and he better not change his tune.

(And that's right, there are no links in this post. Use Google, that's what it's there for. Boy am I pissed.)

UPDATE: Okay, here's your stupid link. Bush is going the Nixon route and made a preemptive accusation of partisanship by the Dems if they have the temerity to issue subpoenas. Please, Mr. Conyers and Mr. Leahy, go for the jugular. Call this pugnatious little man on his bluff.

This has been the most partisan, politically motivated administration in living memory, and that little bully has the stones to tell the representatives of the American People to Bring It On??

Hey George, this ain't some dirtwater banana republic you're talking to or some madman in an Afghan cave. You just called out the United States Congress. It's on baby!

UPDATE 2: Richard Blair at All Spin Zone nails how I feel:

Still, my biggest concern is that there’s not enough time left in the Bush regime’s tenure to track this through the courts for years. And I think Bush is counting on that mindset within congress. So, perhaps a deal will be made between the regime and Leader Reid and Speaker Pelosi.

And if so, Democratic activists everywhere will head for the exits. Count on it.

I'm furious at even the thought that Congress, the United By F'ing God States Congress would back down on this.

THIS IS WHY YOU WERE ELECTED, DEMOCRATS!!!!!

Gonzales: Cue The Fat Lady

The orchestra is certaily tuning up in anticipation of Alberto Gonzales' resignation with names being floated for his replacement according to McClatchy Newspapers. I wouldn't bet against Jeb being tapped, absurd as that might sound. It's really just a matter of days or hours now since MSNBC just said that Bush gave Gonzo a Heckuvajob phone call this morning.

McClatchy has been all over this, and the article that notes replacements being vetted (Hat Tip Ara) says both abu Gitmo AND Deputy A.G. Paul McNulty are all but out. Interestingly, the by-line is not the two reporters who were originally covering this, Margaret Talev and Marisa Taylor. Now there's a two man team on it as well.

I do agree with Rose that Paul McNulty is history. He pissed off Gonzo so either way he's gone. Kyle Sampson (who already resigned but is itching to spill his guts) may have been the one who suborned perjury, but McNulty made Gonzo look bad by contradicting what he told Congress, AND for this kind of fun:

The American Spectator has learned that members of McNulty's staff are supporting the possible nomination to one of the vacant U.S. Attorney slots of a former government lawyer who had an affair with a colleague and now resides with not one, but two women in what some in the DAG's office have termed a "tri-sexual" relationship.

"That residential situation would be adjusted if the name was put forward," says someone familiar with the thinking in McNulty's office.

Don't forget (how could we ever forget) that it becomes a serious matter if blow jobs are involved. Bad prosecuting means not going after enough adult book stores at the expense of child obscenity cases...at least according to the Department's Porn Czar, the man who would shut down all theose girls going wild videos.

The DoJ has come to a complete halt because they have completely stopped communicating, fearing anything they say (or especially write) will be used against them as it gets turned over to Congress. This has crippled the entire department simply because (as usual) the Rovavellian politicalization of absolutely everything in this administration puts power, politics and ideology above serving the people.

My Plame Questions Weren't Answered

But there was much that I really, really enjoyed at Henry Waxman's Hearing last Friday which featured the testimony of Valerie Plame. There was no mention of what Brewster-Jennings had been doing, and why that particular outfit might have been the actual target of Plame's exposure.

Key info on the Right Wing Talking Point about "covert" status -- Val said she has been on foreign assignment during the last 5 years, which is what Vicky Toestink hung her red wig on.

File that one under debunked**. (See below the fold if you run into a delusional dunderhead who still refuses to understand that Libby obstructed the investigation of a very real, very dangerous crime -- or would rather take the word of the second most outrageously dressed woman at the hearing.)

Not to mention the fact that you only look at what the legislators intended when a statute is ambiguous (the IIPA isn't) and you look at the intent of the lawmakers themselves, not their staff's fantasies.

She's a stupid hack trying to stretch out her 15 minutes of fame.

Valerie Plame, wow! Is she the female version of Chuck Norris -- women want to be her, men want to be with her?

I actually pittied Knodell, the guy who should have been investigating this right along, but apparently didn't do much except fill space and collect a paycheck while in charge of making sure nobody in the White House leaks classified information.

But the REAL disclosure is the the one all the remaining Bush apologists (both of them) can point to as granting them absolution -- the Wilson's are (gasp) Democrats. Off With Their Heads!

Lynn Westmoreland bitched twice that he didn't have enough time to interview the witness, stuck around only for Plame, and with the little time he had only wanted to know which party she belonged to. Wanker of the week at least. What a tool. But when your a brazen hack, party affiliation of the people who risk their lives for this nation is all you need to know.

BTW -- the Code Pink Impeachment Queen in the background was hilareous. She actually got a bigger segment on CNN's Headline News than Plame. Gotta give cudoes for that stunt.

The following is from an exchange at the Queen's joint:

Tim, I don't want to reason with the unreasonable. Far from it.

I much prefer to single them out for abuse and ridicule and hold them up as an example for others who needlessly parrot other people's partisan talking points geared towards the low information/easily influenced lurkers. Sadly, Brian lacks the requisite expertise to understand that he has no clue what he is talking about -- let alone his complete failure to know the actual testimony well enough for himself in either the Libby case or Plame's SWORN statements before Waxman's committee -- from which he and others can form their own opinions.

I watched every minute of the hearing and have read much of the live-blogged testimony from the Libby trial and come to very different conclusions than Brian. I'd like to know exactly what testimony in the Libby case he's referring to because I confess I haven't got through it all.

Brian must have missed Plame's testimony that there is a memo, a paper trail Waxman said he would be requesting which backs up Plame's testimony and that contemporaneously debunks the nepotism charge inserted into the Senate's report by three GOP partisans -- whose version of events have been denied by Plame's CIA superiors as well.

At least I figured Brian read NRO. If a good conservative can't trust Buckley's outfit, who can they trust:

At the hearing, Waxman said that he had spoken with CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden, who approved a statement Waxman read to the committee. “During her employment at the CIA, Ms. Wilson was undercover,” Waxman said. “Her employment status with the CIA was classified information…At the time of the publication of Robert Novak’s column on July 14, 2003, Ms. Wilson’s CIA employment status was covert. This was classified information.” A CIA spokesman later told National Review Online that Waxman’s characterization of the matter was “entirely correct.” [my emphasis]

There's only part of her email which was sent to the Senate, which was explained as something she was directed to compose to document the decision to send her husband, her account of being asked, but not initiating the question of whether he would be a good choice to send, a memo documenting this which was withheld from the Senate by the CIA, AND the fact that the Senate intel committee STILL hasn't finished their job and finalized Phase II of the 9/11 report dealing with who screwed up, how and why. There's some silence you can make suppositions about here too.

Brian fails to appreciate that unlike many of the "Bushie" U.S. Attorneys who might have ignored blatant perjury by a high government official, he also refused to go on an endless Ken Starr-like witch-hunt. Fitzgerald has never once backed off his insistence that Plame was indeed, "covert." But unfortunately, when some members of a conspiracy sit pat and refuse to name names and point fingers -- willing instead to take the rap (especially those with intricate knowledge of the pardon process like Libby does) -- it is difficult if not impossible to sucessfully prosecute the people thus protected.

Brian also fails to understand the differences of the basic English definitions of "couldn't" and "didn't," or "any" and "enough;" as in Fitz "didn't" offer "enough" evidence to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that someone violated IIPA -- in a trial where he was under so obligation to do so.

One of the "revelations" that Brian and any pundit relying on Vicky Toesing's legal opinions fails to take into account was that during the 5 years prior to her exposure, Plame TESTIFIED that she did have some foreign assignments. That fact alone (easily verifiable or debunkable for those who believe Plame committed perjury) qualifies her for protection under IIPA, and that her exposure (if intent can be proved) is a crime.

Get this Brian my friend. IIPA requires proof of intent to violate the statute. Recklessness isn't enough and proof of intent is the most difficult thing one can do in a court of law -- especially when those in a position to testify as to intent choose instead to lie to grand jury and the FBI. (And if you are going to try and defend Libby and say he didn't lie, just remember he had a very expensive attorney who couldn't get that job done -- so don't even go there. Get over it. He lied.)

Can you imagine what a drunken first year law student could do in defense of Rove or Cheney for IIPA violations when your prime witness as to their intent is Libby? One look at his GJ testimony flip-flops, and just the hint to a jury that he cut a deal for a lighter sentence in order to finger the other guys, and whomever would have been charged would walk in a heart-beat. Libby's prevarications made him useless as a witness for the prosecution in any other matter.

It's not whether someone committed a crime -- they did -- it's whether the prosecutor can prove the case that matters when asking for an indictment. More than likely, Libby is practically an essential witness against anyone else in this caper, and he's useless because he's a perjurer.

Moreover, since it would seem much of the exposure seems to have been at the direction of the Vice President, he would have to be impeached prior to being subject to a criminal indictment since he enjoys sovereign immunity while still in office. That is a challenge above Fitz's pay grade at present.

To borrow some "wisdom" from Rumsfeld, there is much unknown and unknowable about Plame's status and Wilson's findings since there is grand jury testimony that has not been released, information at CIA that has not been disclosed, and only 14 pages of the "insta-declassified" 93 page NIE report are in the public domain regarding Wilson's trip.

What we DO know is that executive order 12958 regarding classified information abuse was violated, yet never even investigated -- which by operation of that order's inclusion of a statutory referral to the criminal code made the disclosure criminal in nature regardless of the IIPA requirements.

Now, one last thing Brian, regarding your presumption that "silence tends to argue the other way." Since by your logic, we are free to ignore the spirit of the 5th Amendment -- Libby's failure to testify on his own behalf, as well as his failure to put Cheney on the stand as promised, is more damning than any of the silent spooks you must be talking about. Or didn't you understand that the reason Toesing was called -- as the minority's witness -- was to make (badly) your points for you.

I don't recall hearing Congressman Davis whining that he was denied the opportunity to subpoena those witnesses you seem convinced could "prove" Plame wasn't covert, thus no underlying crime. That is the essence of your delusion, right? That there was no underlying crime so Libby should never have been made to endure that kangaroo court, right?

That's really pathetic Brian, but thanks for the opportunity to set the record straight for the lurkers out there who might have been the least bit influenced by your ignorance of the law and facts of the affair.

The fact, according to CIA Director Hayden, is that she was, "covert." It's not like this expert with an AK47 earned her paycheck fetching coffee and answering phones.

Ms. Wilson served at various times overseas for the CIA. Without discussing the specifics of Ms. W'ilson's classified work, it is accurate to say that she worked on the prevention of the development and use of weapons of mass destruction against the United States.

Pretty important stuff, don't ya think? Seems to me that anyone who blew her cover is on the wrong side of the war on terror. Personally, I have another theory as to why she, and more importantly her cover operation, Brewster-Jennings, was outed. They were too good at their job. I was disappointed that this didn't come up in the hearing. I'd like to know a lot more about the anti-proliferation operations that stopped WMD's from getting into Iraq, just in time to prevent their later "discovery" by the folks Judy Miller was embedded with.

But anyway, under the statute, Plame likewise qualified as "covert." This wasn't necessary to convince a jury that Libby obstructed justice, lied to investigators and committed perjury. But evidently it is necessary to satisfy Brian that justice was served:

(4) The term “covert agent” means:
(A) a present or retired officer or employee of an intelligence agency or a present or retired member of the Armed Forces assigned to duty with an intelligence agency—

***
(i) whose identity as such an officer, employee, or member is classified information, and

(ii) who is serving outside the United States or has within the last five years served outside the United States; or

(B) a United States citizen whose intelligence relationship to the United States is classified information, and—
(i) who resides and acts outside the United States as an agent of, or informant or source of operational assistance to, an intelligence agency, or
(ii) who is at the time of the disclosure acting as an agent of, or informant to, the foreign counterintelligence or foreign counterterrorism components of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; or
(C) an individual, other than a United States citizen, whose past or present intelligence relationship to the United States is classified information and who is a present or former agent of, or a present or former informant or source of operational assistance to, an intelligence agency.

Too much legaleese for you? How about this, in plain English:

After the hearing, Mr Waxman sent a letter to Joshua Bolten, Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff, which said that the evidence presented at the hearing had “described breach after breach of national security requirements at the White House”. In the letter, Mr Waxman asked for a complete account of action taken by the White House “to investigate how the leak occurred, to review the security clearances of the White House officials implicated in the leak, to impose administrative or disciplinary sanctions on the officials involved in the leak, and to review and revise existing White House security procedures to prevent future breaches of national security.”

There are serious criminal offences attending the disclosure of Ms Wilson’s identity; they relate to Executive Order 12958, the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, the Espionage Act, Title 18 Section 641, conspiracy to impede or injure officers and the Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement.

Ahhhh. the sweet smell of oversight in the morning. How refreshing, like the coming of a long awaited spring.