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2005:10:29:15:28. Saturday. CONFIDENTIALITY BY I have to echo what Atrios says here:
Russert explains himself thoroughly here and I think this is quite important.
Tim Russert: We were subpoenaed at NBC, and myself, in May of 2004. We fought the subpoena and lost. There you are. Just because some important person calls a journalist on the phone does not mean that the important person is a source or that the journalist has promised them confidentiality. Similarly, just because journalist and important person are chatting at the bar, at a dinner party, or anywhere else does not mean that the important person is a source that the journalist has promised confidentiality. Indeed, it turns out that subpeona Russert and NBC fought against required him to, of all things, reveal to the Grand Jury that Libby had called to complain about an MSNBC program. What? The NBC Customer Care Hotline is strictly confidential now? I guess it's good to know that if I call to complain that The West Wing makes absolutely no sense these days, my concerns will not be revealed without NBC putting up a fight. So, Atrios is right that we've kind of gone through the looking glass on what "source confidentiality" means (and "anonymous sourcing," too, for that matter). All conversations in Washington are considered absolutely confidential, no matter how innocuous or trivial, and all sources are to be considered anonymous. But Li'l Russ didn't just sin by hiding information that shouldn't have been considered confidential or germane to any kind of journalist-source relationship, his attempt to hide this information essentially helped keep confidential the fact that Libby was lying through his teeth about how he learned of the status of "Wilson's wife." There is no reason for Russert to keep his MSNBC quality control conversation unless he felt a responsibility to not out Libby as a liar -- to keep confidential the implied true nature of his conversations with other reporters. The Washington press corps has gone native, and unfortunately, no one who's particularly concerned is in any position to bring them back.
2005:10:28:15:22. Friday. 39 MONTHS LEFT. One year ago today:
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2005:10:25:15:29. Tuesday. FITZMAS EVE. That's a heckuva naughty list.
3PM ET, tomorrow.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2005:10:24:09:05. Monday. I'M DREAMING OF A WEDNESDAY FITZMAS. My man on the inside says indictments come down Wednesday. Get your party supplies now!
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2005:10:22:14:05. Saturday. AH, CRAP. Last night's New Pornographers show at the Barrymore Theatre got "postponed" right at the last minute.
I am very sorry to report but after last nights show in Chicago for the New Pornographers, John Collins, the bass player, suffered from an appendix attack. He ended up having to have it taken out and the band will be canceling their last two shows in Madison tonight and Minneapolis tomorrow.
The band has been racking their brain to figure out a way that they can play without him but they have exhausted all possibilities. This is a postponement. The date will be replayed as soon as possible. Ticket holders should hold on to their tickets. Tickets can not be refunded until a rescheduled date has been announced. Check our website (www.barrymorelive.com) over the next few days for more information and updates as they become available. We apologize for any inconvenience, and hope to see you at the rescheduled show. Along with last summer's Head Automatica "postponement," due to an attack of Crohn's, that's two shows I really wanted to see that are probably lost to the ages; presumably there's a third coming.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2005:10:14:15:11. Friday. THE NEXT LOGICAL STEP. I spent the early part of this week trashing the idea of a video iPod (or "ViPod," because heaven forbid we not have a cutesy name for this shit) to anyone who would listen. I am an Apple partisan -- I love my iPod Photo and Titanium PowerBook (that is to say, my "TiBook") more than any of my other gadgets -- but something about this video iPod idea just struck me wrong. All the speculation felt like it was based on the assumption that this was where the iPod, as a device and as a brand, ought to go, but not based so much on whether or not there was any place for such a device. What Apple announced on Wednesday is, for the most part, less terrible than what I was envisioning, but I still think it's a move that will not be successful without some major retooling. posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2005:10:10:23:39. Monday. PREACHER/MONEYMAN/SLAVEMASTER, HEAL THYSELF. Marion "Pat" Robertson, on CNN's Late Edition:
The elimination of Roe v. Wade won't stop abortion. Abortion's a private decision. But I just think it shouldn't be federalized.
On the surface, this sounds like more of the ridiculous, late-model pander from the nutcase right that posits that an overturned Roe won't lead to abortion being outlawed absolutely everywhere, but only in those godliest of states. That's if you focus on the "shouldn't be federalized" part. But come on -- "private decision" is where it's at. The logic that the Fake-Reverend Robertson is displaying here is the very essence of what it means to pro-choice. "Abortion's a private decision." Marion wants us to read that, somehow, as being up to a women, her doctor and her Governor. But that's not what "private" means, and I hope someone -- anyone, I mean I'll take fucking Geraldo if that's what it takes -- calls him on it. Oh yeah, he also said that Hugo Chavez "sent $1.2 million in cash to Osama bin Laden right after 9/11." How does he know this? "Well, sources that came to me. That's what I was told." The same place Dobson learned about Harriet Miers' double-secret qualifications?
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2005:10:08:23:29. Saturday. SMALL NET. We bought tickets for Mike Doughty -- formerly of Soul Coughing, currently of Mike Doughty's Band -- today, for next Friday's show at the High Noon Saloon. Only later did I remember that Doughty is a friend of one of the personalities from the old Warren Ellis Forum at Delphi, and an occasional poster at her now-defunct WEF satellite forum. Weird.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra |
