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October 7, 2006 Indictment Extravaganza Update
I hate to do this again, but due to new developments you might need to look back to the recently rebuilt
November, 2005 Slipstream.
Page down to nearly the bottom to November 1, 2005 and you will read my collection of smart-ass remarks re: the indictment of "Scooter" Libby on five, count
'em, five felony charges. The charges boil down to the prosecution's claim that he lied to the FBI in questioning about the Valerie Plame case. You know...where
somebody in the government leaked her name and identity as a CIA agent. Scooter says he learned about Plame from reporters, otherwise, how could he have
known about her at all? Hmmm...
As I recall, my only previous follow-up to that Slipstream were my comments on Ben Affleck's obvious retardation in April, 2006. (See "Movie Star Finds Work").
Ben wanted the President to be shot for treason over the Plame matter. Somebody tell Ben he is an actor and a not particularly good one and if he doesn't shut
up about everything, we will be forced to have another look at his stellar life-decisions to date. Know-it-all-comedian-politico-commentator Al Franken spoke up
with his position that no sitting President should actually be executed. Bold...and very funny.
So, anyway, Special Prosecutor Fitz, launched his assault on the lying bums in the government a year ago. Now as they all prepare for trial in January, it seems
that Scooter has already decided to take the stand in his own defense. His lawyers say so. In papers filed with the Court this week, they have made clear that
Scooter will testify on the subject of nine...NINE...matters of national security, under oath on the witness stand.
Keep it tuned here folks. You can count on me to clear this up for you.
If you haven't already guessed, these matters are classified as top secret and involve names and subjects of numerous foreign powers and various terrorist
organizations. You may or may not recall that Scooter's initial defense a year ago was the old Steve Martin routine, "I forgot." Scooter's attorneys intend to
present a plethora of classified information as direct evidence that Scooter was so busy that he forgot, and that is why it looks like he was fibbing to the FBI
when he really wasn't. Without being able to show the evidence that Scooter was really, really busy, it would be hard to explain how Scooter forgot.
I am not kidding about this. This is how the system works.
In our legal system, Scooter pretty much has the right to defend himself with this evidence. Even if the prosecution stipulates that, 'okay, Scooter was really,
really busy', Scooter still gets to show evidence about just how busy he was so the jury can also conclude on their own that he was really, really busy. Now,
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is forced into the delightful position of having to argue that Scooter shouldn't be able to testify as to these top secret
matters. The prosecution must try to limit evidence, not usually a good idea when you have the burden of proof. The judge will decide how much of this
information is allowed into testimony in his Court.
Let's just pretend for a minute that the judge says Scooter gets to say anything he wants on these matters...wait. There is another authority.
If the judge allows even some of the information into Court, the U.S. Intelligence agencies then get to review the "top secret" info and weigh in on whether or not
that info gets to be released to public view. Well, not exactly weight in. They get to actually decide if the info may be heard in Court. Here comes the punch line.
If they say that Scooter doesn't get to talk about the secret matters, the trial is toast. Finis. If the judge hasn't already prevented the testimony, what do you think
those agencies will say?
Why don't they check with me on these things?
I wrote a year ago that it seems to me that it is pretty important to some pretty important people that the Vice President's Chief of Staff not be convicted of perjury,
or any other assorted charges. Does anyone besides me wonder who it is so important to that the Vice President's Chief of Staff be prosecuted for lying to the
FBI? You don't think some of this was politically motivated, do you? But this is how the game is played. Liberals are screaming at their computer screens..."But,
but, but - WHITEWATER and IMPEACHMENT!!!!"
Ain't politics grand? Any chance we could plug a little statesmanship into the overall scenario?
I am pretty sure this prosecution hasn't quite cost us taxpayers as much as the war in Iraq has cost, but could we have saved a little money here and tried
something practical for a change?
I can't wait to vote next month. I am writing in "None of the above."
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October 1, 2006 www Mission Statement Exam
One year ago yesterday, we began this www experiment of torture and ridiculous waste of time. It has turned out to be exactly what I expected it to be. That
summation in the opening sentence is exactly what it is.
Two hard drive failures on my personal computers moved my www experience from the 'pain in the butt' category of activity fully into the 'total butt whipping' area.
In each instance, the fixers told me there was nothing I could do or could have done to prevent these failures. The pain for this was big. Apparently, we all have
to live with the danger of computer failure. It feels like I had more than my share this year. This was in a year that I chose to depend on the computer far more
than any other year of my life. Ouch.
As I look over a few of the little missives written throughout the year, the main disappointment is that I failed to follow through on my promise to get this
woman to play at Bunny's birthday this summer. I just plain forgot. If you did not click on the blue words that say "this woman", go back and do it now. It is
not porn! If you are on dial-up, bag it. It would take forever.
Once the first hard drive failure occurred, it was easy to forget such things because I never really recovered all the pics and links that were lost. However, in
celebration of one year on the www, I am finally rebuilding the last two missing months from the first hard drive failure. November and October of 2005 held
some material that actually made me chuckle when I reread it this week. Since that was and still is the only criteria for material to appear here, I was pleased to
find that some of the material still held up to that high measure. Bwah-ha-ha. Give me another week and you will be able to click on October and November
2005 over there on the left and see what I mean.
If my next effort toward writing a book ever comes to fruition, you may see the bit about Sol and Bernie (Oct. 2005) make an appearance in that story. It was a
funny scene in Chicago's O'Hare Airport last fall. I have re-set it and adapted it into a new story. We'll see.
My interest level in photography has grown over the last year. Taking a good photo is more difficult than I had previously believed. Maybe that is why I
occasionally now simply post some of my photos rather than write some silliness. Photo taking requires some skill, unlike some of the other junk that I do
here. So I get some satisfaction out of learning enough to take a decent photograph. I say decent as if I have taken one. In that area, I believe I have acquired a
more critical eye in the past year. That may be true about writing as well, but in no way does that mean I am good at either pursuit. Like most people, I tend to
place more value on the things I do not know than on the things I do know. Newness cannot be overrated when it comes to learning new stuff.
As with many new things which yield results from enthusiastic efforts, this website got updated more often in the beginning. Once my own routine ironed out, it
appears that five times a month is a pretty good pace for me. The wind got snarfed out of my sails in about April when our friend died. For a while thereafter, it
took some effort to update at all. But life goes on for the rest of us. Margaret is still missed by many people, including me.
If you look over the opening of this website one year ago, I said some pretty derogatory things about the www. With the little knowledge gained over the last year,
it is now clear that I was being way, way too kind. The www is a quagmire of sin and filth. I fit right in.
Surely the end of the world is near and the www is the sign.
I furnish you my email address on every edition and page of the website, but there is no place for you to put comments as there is on a commercial blog format.
That doesn't mean I don't want to hear from you. That means I don't really care for the software the bloggers use. It is either too difficult for me to learn or too
limiting in what it will allow me to do. I have achieved a balance with this Yahoo software. It has quirks, but all software does. Email me if you like something or
if you don't. Chances are good I will ignore it either way. That has absolutely nothing to do with you. Chances are good I will dissolve another hard drive soon.
It has surprised me how few of you click on the LIVE ericluck.net WEBCAM. Yeah, I can tell how many do. Bunny says I don't make it prominent enough, so
nobody notices it. Well, it is usually the first thing you see at the top of the page, but okay.
We will be in Lahaina for Halloween again. Should be a few photos out of the deal again so watch for that. Hard for me to believe it will live up to last year's
photo ops.
I have been very busy lately going to school to retain my Certified Financial Planner certificate and painting the outside of the house. Yep, I am your renaissance
man. There are very few new pictures on Flickr and updates to this site have been a little skinny. Thanks for sticking with me and pretending to be interested.
If you bought my book, thanks, whether you liked it or not. I may write another, whether you want me to or not, because, after all, it is all about me.
Happy www-ing.
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