Plame Lawsuit Dismissed And The Fairness Doctrine Could Be Used To Control Web Content Too

Would someone please head over to the home of Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame so as to inform them that their fifteen minutes of fame ended back in 2004? These two are such shameless attention hounds that they will do anything to keep themsleves in the news, including launching a frivolous lawsuit against Vice President Cheney and other members of the Bush Administration.

Fortunately, a rationally thinking judge finally ended this whole non-scandal affair by throwing out the lawsuit. From NewsBusters:

Valerie Plame was dealt another setback Tuesday when a U.S. court of appeals upheld a federal judge's decision to dismiss her lawsuit against members of the Bush administration. Given the media's fascination with this former CIA operative who has claimed for years she was illegally outed by the White House for political reasons, it will be interesting to see just how much attention this ruling gets in the next 48 hours.

And according to Reuters:

A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday dismissed former CIA analyst Valerie Plame's lawsuit against Vice President Dick Cheney and several former Bush administration officials for disclosing her identity to the public. [...] Plame and [husband Joe] Wilson sought money damages from Cheney, Libby, former White House aide Karl Rove and former State Department official Richard Armitage for violating their constitutional free speech, due process and privacy rights. But a three-judge panel of the appeals court upheld a federal judge's ruling that dismissed the couple's lawsuit. The court ruled Cheney and the others were acting within their official capacity when they revealed Plame's identity to reporters.

Memo to Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame: Valerie was not covert at the time of her non-outing.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

Plame Lawsuit Against Cheney Et Al Dismissed, Will Media Care?
Noel Sheppard
NewsBusters.org
August 12, 2008

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And the possible effect on Talk Radio is not the only reason we should all be opposed to the mis-nomered "Fairness Doctrine." The fact that you are reading this on the Internet means you too can be affected by it. According to the Business & Media Institute:

There’s a huge concern among conservative talk radio hosts that reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine would all-but destroy the industry due to equal time constraints. But speech limits might not stop at radio. They could even be extended to include the Internet and “government dictating content policy.” FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell raised that as a possibility after talking with bloggers at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. McDowell spoke about a recent FCC vote to bar Comcast from engaging in certain Internet practices – expanding the federal agency’s oversight of Internet networks. The commissioner, a 2006 President Bush appointee, told the Business & Media Institute the Fairness Doctrine could be intertwined with the net neutrality battle. The result might end with the government regulating content on the Web, he warned. McDowell, who was against reprimanding Comcast, said the net neutrality effort could win the support of “a few isolated conservatives” who may not fully realize the long-term effects of government regulation.

This isn't China with it's massive human rights violations. This is the United States where we have Free Speech and Free Press.

Controlling web content is something that Google helps the Chinese Communists do.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

FCC Commissioner: Return Of Fairness Doctrine Could Control Web Content
Jeff Poor
Business & Media Institute
August 12, 2008

CNN Helps Scott McClellan Deliberately Mislead Readers About Valerie Plame Leak

Okay, here is one of the clearest cases of a major media outlet deliberately skewing the news in order to push an agenda rather than reporting the complete story.

It's no secret the Scott McClellan was in front of Congress today testifying about his recent book. He kept his words conveniently vague so that if it comes up in the future, he won't be charged with perjury. But let's look at what he said, as reported by CNN:

McClellan also also said he could not rule out that Cheney had ordered his former chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, to leak Plame Wilson's identity. A later investigation showed that Libby, in fact, had been involved in the leaking of the CIA operative's name. The FBI and a federal grand jury later investigated the leaking of Plame Wilson's identity. No one was convicted for the actual leak, but Libby was later convicted of perjury, lying to federal investigators and obstruction of justice in 2007. ... "I do not think the president had any knowledge" of the revelation of Plame Wilson's identity, McClellan said. "In terms of the vice president, I do not know."

Now, those of us who followed this story in detail and know the ins-and-outs of the case can see that something is missing from CNN's report: the identity of the original leaker who revealed Valerie Plame to Robert Novak. That person is former State Department official Dick Armitage. You'll notice that Armitage is not mentioned once in the whole CNN narrative.

You see, revealing the truth of Dick Armitage as the leak who "outed" Valerie Plame would make Scott McClellan look like, at best, the fool he is and at worst, a perjurer.

Anyone care to guess why CNN would deliberately leave out that most important detail?

Perhaps we should let CNN answer that, if they have enough integrity to answer the question.

And here is yet another example of McClellan being a fool or perjurer:

"I do not know whether a crime was committed by any of the administration officials who revealed Valerie Plame's identity to reporters," he said. "Nor do I know if there was an attempt by any person or persons to engage in a cover-up during the investigation. I do know that it was wrong to reveal her identity, because it compromised the effectiveness of a covert official for political reasons."

Except that Valerie Plame was not "covert" at the time that Dick Armitage leaked her name to Robert Novak and Fitzgerald even said so in public statements during his investigation. Again, another blatant omission on the part of CNN. McClellan clearly isn't getting anything right, yet for whatever reason, CNN is trying to portray him as if he were yielding some sort of new revelations.

You can access CNN's grossly misleading story on-line here:

McClellan: Cheney Should Testify About CIA Leak
CNN.com
June 20, 2008