Tom who?

The Unbearableness of Being Tom Friedman

Silber Slays Goldin

The legacy of Boston University President and Chancellor John Silber lives on, as does Silber. Former NASA administrator Dan Goldin agreed to be BU's new Persident, if Silber agreed to step down as Chancellor and relinquish his board of trustees position -- which Silber agreed to do.

Now, 2 days before Goldin was to assume his position, Silber decided to hold onto the Trustee position. So, Goldin has backed out.

Smart move. With Silber, he's either in control, or not present.

Windfalls of War

Well, we all knew this was happening (who would you give your billions of dollars of no-bid contracts to - your enemies?), but the Center for Public Integrity has just released a report on the Afghanistan & Iraq post-war bidding contracts that they call Windfalls of War.

Worth noting too is this response from USAID assistant administrator J. Edward Fox (no relation!): "It would ... be incorrect to suggest that there is no overall oversight of this process. The USAID inspector general's review of all Iraq contracts which was requested by USAID Administrator Andrew S. Natsios on April 14th has shown that all Iraq contracts to date have been done in compliance" with federal regulations.

An interesting point, which raises the question: Does the fact of USAID's uniform oversight (if true) really make the whole sordid situation smell better - or worse?

Fires in California

See what we're up against?

The air has been very bad here for more than a week now - you can smell smoke every time you step outdoors. Occasionally (as in the photo) the clouds of smoke drift southwards in front of the sun, and we get a pink orange twilight in the middle of the day.

One of the fires (Paradise/Escondido) threatens Palomar.

I'm sure Bush can gleefully spell "National Guard".

When his draft number 143 was called up for service in 1970, now Presidential candidate Howard Dean showed up, but was rejected after a physical, which confirmed that he had an unfused vertebra (spondylolysis). Oddly, even though he's a doctor and worked as an internist before politics, during a recent interivew
he took three shots at spelling it, and still got it wrong.

MIT Saves the World

Or at least the music industry. A pair of students at the 'Tute have devised a means of sharing a large set of recordings - 3500 CDs at the moment - among all the students without running afoul of copyright law, and while providing the artists and composers with appropriate compensation. The sweetest part of the whole clever scheme: the record labels have been frozen out entirely. (Let them eat legal summonses, I say.) See the NYT story for details.

LA Philharmonic's New Home

Erica and I went to Walt Disney Concert Hall last night as audience members at its first concert recital, pianist Evgeny Kissin. Kissin was fantastic, probably the best pianist in the world. He played five encores. If you get a chance to hear him - take it. If you don't have one of his CDs - get one.

More importantly, the Hall itself is a miracle. You have seen the photos, I'm sure - if not, take a look now - so I will not go into detail on that front. As a performance space, though, know that there is not a bad seat in the place. The audience wraps completely around the stage, and even the nose-bleed seats have distinct advantages - for instance, better views of the performer(s), not to mention the entire audience. Erica and I were about 60 feet above the stage, behind and slightly to the left, and we could see Evgeny's fingers hit every note. The acoustics of the Hall are like something out of Fantastic Voyage - you feel as if space has been shrunk, or your ears ten-times magnified, with the slightest aural details individually perceptible. When any given audience member coughs, you can (if you choose) take a moment to determine exactly who it was. While the music is playing, you feel a very powerful urge to remain frozen in place, lest the creaking of your seat or the cracking of your knuckles disturb the performer's concentration ("You there - three rows from the back! Stop sniffling!").

The LA Phil has taken it up a notch too, in all respects. During one of the NPR broadcasts, they played an excerpt from one of the flutists, who said, "It's a bit scary. I'll be playing the same music, with the same flute, but it's supposed to sound a whole lot better." Well, the very good news is that it does.

P.S. Streaming audio of the three Gala Opening Concerts is available here.

Fucking brilliant

This is fucking brilliant.

You are now allowed to say fuck on TV. I am now waiting for South Park to stop bleeping the fuck out of the dialog.

Glorious days are ahead.

That National Review Editorial

The Editorial which Robin is referring to in the National Review calls for General Boykin's head. They "acccidentally" went to press with it, but regret doing so, and no longer link to the editorial on their website (they can't do anything about the print version). That text read:

During the Korean War, Douglas MacArthur wanted to attack Manchuria, and he let that be known to everyone who would listen. That was not U.S. policy, however, and President Truman promptly sacked the great man. During the Cold War — in fact often pretty hot — NATO general Edwin Walker was instructing his troops in the theorems of the John Birch Society. That the U.S. government was 60 percent under Communist control was not the view of the Kennedy administration, and Walker was gone. Flash forward to today. A three-star general, William "Jerry" Boykin, has been lecturing, in public and in uniform, to the effect that we are in a war with Islam, than whose god his God is bigger, that this is a war against Satan, of whom he has a photograph in the sky above Mogadishu. President Bush has made it national policy that we are not in a war with global Islam. Furthermore, it is hardly good for the morale of troops to understand that their commander is a wacko who goes around photographing Satan zooming overhead. General Boykin is manifestly insubordinate, and should be sacked. Yesterday.

That "Yesterday" is a nice touch. The NR editors claim that they removed the editorial because they decided to withold judgement until they have all the information. But, they pretty much seem to have all the information needed.

Okay, Goddammit

Those Microsoft commercials are infuriating! They depict children in some typically middle-class context, often minority students, and hand-draw a line drawing showing them as astronauts, directors, musicians, artists. The commercial ends with a beaming statement about how pleased they are to help students acheive their dreams.

Please, Microsoft does about as much to help children acheive their dreams as Bic, a manufacturer of pens. All they are doing is hugging children, "We LOVE children." Microsoft is run by a pack of vindictive monopolists. They're exploiting the fuzzy image of children to flower their image (next: puppies?).

Their products provide the worst software experience in the industry. Back in 1985, it was great to know that a document you read was in a format you could send to a friend, and they could read also. But open standards have rendered that concept's only advantage to be maintaining a monopoly -- which gives them the power to manipulate markets. Which they do.

May Lightning Strike Me Dead if I'm Lying

It seems that, on the set of Mel Gibson's "Passion" -- the fabricatedly controversial film, whose marketing by Gibson has included a healthy "We're not anti-semitic" tent-pole, has been handed its divine criticism.

The set was struck, not once, but twice by lightning. One target of holy ire was none other than the actor who plays Jesus Christ for God's sake. However, the second target was an assistant director -- which is about as close to sending a confusingly mixed message as you might expect to get from heavenly providence.

How do you know when your Sec'y of Defense is on his way Out?

Why, that would be when nobody bothers to deliever mail from the Chair and the ranking minority leader of the Senate Arms Committee to him.


Could he just about tattoo "political roadkill" on his forehead?

MD not lying down like GA

Maryland is asking for an audit of those Diebold voting machines which may (or may not) have given the election to a Republican Governor in Georgia.

Why isn't this bigger news? Stories like this which reek of conspiracy (and Americans love their conspiracy theories) sell newspapers like hotcakes.

Another Big First for the U.S.A.

The US posted a record $374.22 Billion budget gap in 2003.

Cut taxes -- sure. That's the President's part. Bug cutting spending -- hey, that's for the congress, says our scissors-handed president. And besides, shouldn't we have defict spending during a recession? Umm, I mean, if there were a recession going on?

Well, perhaps, Mr. President, but the idea is to increase spending into a deficit while holding revenue constsant -- not decreasing revenue while holding spending constant.

The iPod is already a PDA

Just a note here: the iPod is already a PDA. You can store addresses, memos, calendar items with alarms and now voice memos. Apple already did a PDA, it was called Newton, and was a huge money suck. I can say with almost absolute certainty that they will never never ever EVER do a PDA again. Bluetooth? It's useful for PDAs, but to add it on a device which requires Firewire for fast transfers (not to mention charging), and you're just hobbling the device.

Right now, the only similar device on the market with a feature that the iPod hasn't assimilated is the mobile video player. Just add a color screen to the iPod, and you're done.

I guarantee that none of these other things will come to pass (and I don't have any inside information on the roadmap for this device). Care to wager?

Another of Derek's Ideas Hits the Market

When iPods first came out, it was not widely appreciated that the things were just portable disk drives. Storing and listening to music on them was clearly not the most revolutionary of its applications, and Derek pointed out that you could record everything you ever say, several days worth of live recording, or more if you shut it off when silent. Now, Apple's selling it.

What's next? My guess: add a little chip to it and make it a PDA. Oh, and bluetooth. I have a few ideas about what you can do with a little computing power and 20Gb in your pocket.

One omitted detail

One small detail omitted from the Georgia article referenced below is that the Georgia governor's office has been held by democrats for 125 years.

Also throw into the mix that the CEO of Diebold is not shy in his support for George W. Bush, and this all makes an extremely convincing argument to make sure you cast your ballot using the absentee system.

It is criminal that these voting systems are proprietary, yet the irony here is that technically it is criminal to actually examine them.

Computers: The new Electoral Tyrants?

The new electronic voting machines produced by Diebold for last year's Georgia election were re-programmed, secretly, by the company just before the Georgia election in which the governor was elected in defiance of all previous polls. One contractor tells stories of 25% percent of his machines crashing while in use -- losing everything on them. The machines were never re-certified by independent testing authorities. This with a system which produces no means to verify the election afterwards. -- no paper trail, no auditing means at all.

The effect is the same as if a politician stole the election: the count of the ballots does not reflect the ballots cast. The wrong person takes office, against the will of the people.

If we don't trust the computers, we should not trust the results of the election, and we should not hold the declared winner to be the legitimate governor? Having such an fraught election system delegitimizes the governments they elect, and are a real threat to democracy.

For gosh sakes, have the computers print out a paper ballot AFTER the vote is cast, and have the voter take the ballot and put it into a ballot box. At least it can be traced. Isn't the country worth it?

Bush gets a Whak-a-Mole

Just as President Bush convinces France and Russia to back his plan on Iraq in the UN Security council, up pops Senator Edward Kennedy, who says: "Until the administration genuinely changes course, I cannot in good conscience vote to fund a failed policy that that endangers our troops in the field and our strategic objectives in the world," joining a number of Democrats, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who will vote against the $87B request to fund US activities there.

Ellsberg Remembers

Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers to the NYTimes back when, likened the present administration's use of outing Plame to intimidate others to his own treatment: "By trying to punish him and his wife, they're trying to intimidate those who might be thinking about coming forward," comparing it to the episode when the White House Plumbers broke into his psychiatrists' office to find something on him.

Which brings me to reason number 4: Journalists aren't coming forward because they all (all? really? every last one?) are intimidated.

Will Plame flame out?

This is what we're looking at :

• There are at least two felons among the Presidents cabinet or senior White House advisors, who took the opportunity --- when it became available -- to trash a security asset.
  
• In doing so, they told at least Robert Novak, and, according to the WaPost, a reporter there;
  
• Mr. Kinsey states that there are many more reporters claiming to have been leaked to prior to July 14, when Mr. Novak revealed the existence of the leak.
  
• Any one of these reporters coming forward to give the full story -- minus the identity of the leaker, assumably -- would have a very big story. Well worth reading.
  
• And yet none of them have. It's been 2 weeks since the story hit peak again, and 3 months since it first came out, and the only indication we have that anyone other than Robert Novak is a tangential mention (ref'd below) that a WaPost reporter was also leaked to.
  

What gives? Have reporters gotten cold feet, lacking the interest to throw out a wham-bang story? They gain nothing by waiting. I can't think of five reasons why any of them would hold back, but I can think of three:

1. The reporters are whispering among themselves, trying to figure out exactly how wide the leak is, and after they figure out who and how many of them know, the winds will carry the guilty parties' names out, and then that will be the story to be pushed -- to take a page from Karl Rove's book;
   
2. The reporters were all of a stripe -- Robert Novak's stripe. Every last one a conservative, and as likely to come forward with damaging information to this administration as Hillary was in the last one;
   
3. The reporters aren't really there.
   

If the real reason is (1), then it is going to be a very interesting winter, and a tough re-election for Bush if two of his Cabinet members (or Veep?) are hounded from office. However, if the reason is 2 or 3, this is a story which will flame out in the Attorney General's office.

When Politics Influences........ Yahoo! ?

Last year the #1 best-selling calendar was Presidential (Mis) Speak 2004 Calendar: The Very Curious Language of George W. Bush .

However, Yahoo is declining to advertise the calendar, saying that the content is not appropriate.

VoIP is Killing Them

University of Arkansas combined Voice over IP (VoIP) phone technology with 802.11 -- the wireless protocol, in single devices. And, they reduced their monthly service fees from $530K to $6K, a cost savings of $6M per year. That ought to cover any hardware overhead issues.

Imagine, you can carry your phone like it's cellular, and it costs less too, by a lot.

You've gotta love those revolutionary technologies.

Ham Blogger and Cheese

Happy to report that the original Kinsley commentary is now on the web (RealAudio link provided; WMA also available). Here is the quote:

Yeah, I feel like maybe I'm the only person who doesn't have a clue. On CNN last week there was Bob Novak, the man who published the original leak, and a bunch of other journalists, discussing how we should proceed to investigate who leaked this story: should there be a special prosecutor, should there be an independent counsel... and Bob was sitting there, and he knows the answer, and he wasn't saying - for reasons that most people think are good, and I guess I do too. At least six journalists received this leak, I think at least six times six are claiming to be one of them; the people in the White House who made the leak (or the CIA, wherever it was) presumably know who it was. It's a very odd thing, everyone is geared up for an investigation of something which it seems like practically everyone knows.

A few points: First, Bob is right, there could in principle be an arbitrarily high number of leaked-to journalists. Second, on the other hand, the more people who do actually know about this, the less likely it seems that the secret could have been kept for this long (one reason to doubt the veracity of those who claim to have been leaked to). Third, my original point (less than obvious, in retrospect): since it has now become a point of pride among the Washington journalistic set to have been leaked-to, there is reason to doubt anyone who comes forward with that claim. Finally, I really just meant this whole thread tongue-in-cheek. Obviously, someone or someones broke the law, and there are people out there who know their names, and I hope the leakers are tracked down and suffer the consequences.

You Call This a Problem?

Derek: Why can't there be 8, 12, 20 leaked-to reporters in the Plame affair? There's nothing magic about the number "six" -- it's the number of leaked-to reporters the senior administration official, who served as the source for the WAPost article, said he/she knew of. It's a lower-limit -- there could very well be more.

I'm inclined to believe that there are more leaked-to journalists than the SAO knew about, since I doubt the SAO has the phone logs and so knows everyone to whom those two SAOs did the leaking.

To suggest, as you do, that we can't believe a one because Michael Kinsley says there are more than the six the SAO knew about is a specious argument. Unless you mean to imply that the SAO and every journalist is a conspiratorial pack of liars, as evidenced by the fact that they can't get their number straight, in cahoots of a big ole lie about leaking Plame's CIA identity in order to bring down the administration.

Plame's identity was leaked. We already know that Novak received the leak, so we know at least one journalist isn't lying. Contrary to your statement, we can believe a one. And if more journalists come forward with credible claims of being leaked to, that would be important. (By the way, if I were using your "all or nothing" calculus, finding one real leaked-to journalist -- Robert Novak -- would imply they are all telling the truth; but that's an equally specious argument).

Before we go about blanket endorsing or condemning members of the press, let's see who these journalists are, and the chronology in which they received the leaks -- rather than a web-link which leads to nothing. We are, after all, talking about a serious federal offense. And a rumor floated by Michael Kinsley on NPR isn't sufficient evidence to believe that those journalists actually exist. It's time those journalists came forward with their stories, so that we may exam them. The have nothing to lose, and would break no ethical rule in doing so, since the only new information they would be giving would be the fact and the date of their receiving the leak.

Army Astroturf

A special Alec Baldwin-edition pair of brass balls to the first journalist on Bush's whirlwind Iraq-boosting tour who asks him about the US Army's astroturf campaign that is mailing out form letters to hometown newspapers, only occasionally after getting the individual soldiers' approvals first, and never with their input as to the letter text. (Original link from Robin, who may blog with commentary later.)

Regarding the White House Plame Affair leakers/felons/traitors, Michael Kinsley was on Slate/NPR Day to Day today (web link not up yet, unfortunately) claiming that many (well, more than six) Washington journalists are now claiming to be among the leaked-to-six. This would be the mirror-image version of Bob's complaint from last week, namely, that six had been leaked to but none had even admitted it. Now, if we take Kinsley at his word, we are in the reverse situation of having so many who have "admitted" it that we cannot believe even one. Unfortunately Kinsley didn't name names...

The Smoking Gun Pointing at Plame Emerges -- A Third Leaker?

The WAPost reported on Sunday Oct 12 that two days before Robert Novak's July 14 column, which revealed Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA agent, an administration official told the same thing to an un-named Washington Post reporter.

This is the first confirmed report of a journalist having that information revealed to them prior to the appearance of Novak's column. It means that the revelation was deliberate and repeated, as was claimed by a senior administration official in a Sept 27 WaPost article . That same official expanded their comments last week, quoted in the Sunday WAPost piece.

This means that the identity of the official is perhaps widely known -- perhaps as widely known as the six journalists the senior administration official had previously claimed had received the leak. However, there's a difference between "an administration official" (who leaked to the WAPost reporter July 12) and "two senior administration officials" (who the WAPost's source says were doing the leaking).

This means that either the WAPost source doesn't know the difference between a senior and non-senior administration official; or the WAPost reporter received the leak from a third leaker, perhaps in one senior official's office. This would imply a wide effort to throw Valerie Plame's CIA identity out to the winds.

Perhaps the winds will now carry back to us the names of those officials involved.

Sunday with Bob

On Meet the Press, Dick Lugar explained that he did not support Senator Biden's amendment to suspend the Bush tax cut for 1 year on American's who make more than $400,000 a year, which would pay the $87B Iraq bill, because it would single out one particular group of Americans.

Lugar also responded to Tim Russert's question: "Seeing that the principle reason that the administration gave to invade Iraq was the belief that Saddam had WMD that he would use against us, or give to terrorists, what would happen now if the administration came forward to say `We need to invade Iran for WMD,' what do you think the people would say?:

"I don't agree that WMD was the reason or even the most important reason for why we went into Iraq. It was the possibility that Saddam would produce WMD."


Hogwash. Lugar's opinion on the matter doesn't reflect anyone but Dick Lugar, but the war was pushed because we were 10 minutes away from a bio-weapons missle launch.

Go with it.

For those of you sick of your cell phone company, number portability is set to take place beginning November 24.

Number portability is the ability to keep your cell phone number when you switch carriers. The wireless companies fought the new FTC rule in court until this spring, when they saw the writing on the wall, and just gave in.

Now, when your contract's up, you can pick up your number and leave to greener pastures. For me, I've had a few $100 surprises on my bill --- and when those happen, I'm tempted to pay the $150 penalty for breaking the contract early and going elsewhere. I've been stopped by wanting to keep my number the same. No more.

It remains to be seen if the cell phone companies charge an exhorbitant "number portability" fee, too.

New Business Model For Music Industry: Sue People

The long term viability of suing people rather than selling music is being proven out in the case of a Princeton student who divulged the information that BMG's new copy protection can be circumvented using the shift key. SunnComm has said they will probably sue the student for "maligning the company's reputation". This is much better (financially) than putting thought into writing software that works, or publishing interesting music.

Donald Rumsfeld on his way out.

Let's connect the dots:

1. Last week, the Plame affair hits the fan, as Bush is brought to task over the fact that he has two felons in his administration, possibly his cabinet, who destroyed a national security asset and compromised all secret operations conducted by Valerie Plame, by revealing her identity as a CIA agent -- and for no reason better than for spite, and an ominous warning to those who might oppose this administration of how dirty Bush's people will play.

2. This week, in a one-page memo, Rumsfeld is summarily and without prior notice effectively relieved of his prior leadership role in Iraq, as it is passed to Condoleeza Rice.

The dots here point to Bush deciding that Rumsefeld is the leak, and is setting up his departure.

I don't have any proof -- I'm just reading tea leaves.

Not a Very Nice Thing

It's not a very good feeling you get, when you boss reorganizes your organization, without even telling you. Just ask Donald Rumsfeld.

The Good News About the California Recall and Election of Arnold Schwarzenegger

It ends his acting career.

On bets below, I owe a cappa to Derek (Davis was recalled) and a cappa to Erica (Arnold was elected). I could not have been more wrong.

Shift Key is now copy circumvention device

CNET has an article which claims that a Princeton student has managed to circumvent a new CD copy protection scheme which BMG is using. BMG has confirmed that the circumvention works. This means that now both the Sharpie and the shift key can be outlawed using the DMCA.

Bob's Election Bets

Let's review the bets (terms: a luxury caffienated beverage -- a latte -- to the winner) that I have outstanding on today's election.

1. Resolved: That Governor Gray Davis will not be recalled. Pro: Bob, Con: Derek. This bet still open, until 6pm PDT tonight. Any takers? A post here or email to me will serve as notice.
   
2. Resolved: That Richard Riordan will win the replacement election Pro: Bob, Con: Derek. Conceded by Bob
   
3. Resolved: That Arnold Schwarzenegger will win the replacement election Pro: Erica, Con: Bob. Note that Erica voted Bustamante -- so her bet here only signifies a desire to cash in on what seemed a probablistic certainty a mere 2 weeks ago I'm no longer accepting bets on this issue; but maybe you can get down-side action from Erica
   

Clock ticks; soon, we all will be rolling in stimulants.

The Turkish Army Heads into Iraq

The Kurds Are Certainly Not Thrilled. We should not have asked for this. It will freak out the Kurds -- who have been very friendly, helpful, and amazingly civilized recently given how we left them out to dry in 1991.

Bob Re-dickers the Numbers.

The absentee ballots in-hand are 2.1 million in number. At 60% voter turnout of 15M voters, only 23% of the total votes are presently absentee; the 40% of total votes being absentee which I give below is a wayyyyyyyyyyyy optimistic estimate. The absentee ballots may turn out to be no more important than in General Election 2002.


Shucks.

Blogspot Republican?

Why does Blogspot's spell checker include Schwarzenegger, but not Bustamante?

Report from the California Polls -- The Absentee Ballots will Decide.

Turnout is expected to be about 50-60 per cent of qualified voters -- less than the 70 per cent which showed up to vote for Al Gore in 2000, but more than last year's election, which swept Gray Davis into power.

However, the big story here is the
2.1 million absentee ballots which have already been received by the state -- and the estimated 3.5 million they will receive in total. With 15 million registered voters, this is 40 percent of people expected to vote, much more than the 27% due to absentees in the 2002 General election. Most voted before the LATimes article last Thursday which brought to light Schwarzenegger's groping problem; but, that probably doesn't matter.


Who are these people? They are not an organized faction of the Republican party -- the Republicans are not that deeply grassrooted in this state, and even if they were, they were not rallied around a single candidate until last week. That extra 13% of all voters are either a grassroots unorganized group of people disaffected with Gray Davis, or that's the turnout of Unions -- who show up at workplaces, hand out absentee ballots, and mail them off. My money's on the Unions.

If so, then those absentee ballots will be overwhelmingly against recall, and for Bustamante.

California doesn't count absentee ballots until after the ballot box ballots are cast -- and only does so if the absentee ballots can make a difference in the outcome (which, with 3.5 Million absentee ballots, 40% of the total, they will). The absentee ballots take longer to count -- so this election will not be called tonight.

And, if those absentee ballots are indeed union ballots, then even if the ballot-box vote goes for Recall and for Schwarzenegger tonight, sit tight until the absentee vote is counted.

Leak Denials by Rove, VP's office, and NSA's office.

White House Spokesman Scott McClellan asked Karl Rove, vice presidential chief of staff Lewis Libby and National Security Council senior director Elliott Abrams, had each denied being the source of the leak, which identified CIA operative Valerie Plame.

I suppose White House reporters said "Well, did anyone ask them?" And there had been no denial by these three, on whom much suspicion rests. However, someone did leak to Kovak, and whoever did should stand before a judge.

It remains unclear that there were any leaks which pre-dated Kovak -- that claim, made in the WAPost 2 weeks ago which launched the present leak frenzy, has yet to be substantiated by a journalist coming forward as a recipient. The claim may be a chimera, planted by politically battling members of the administration (Bush Senior Administration members eat their own).

And it remains uncertain that any of the "pushing" of the story by Karl Rove's office -- as described by Andrea Mitchell of NBC in NEWSWEEK this week -- was a leak itself, or in any way illegal.

The focus should be on the Kovak leak.

The Kill Bill extraveganza begins

Mim Udovitch of NYTimesgives the short interview with Tarantino.

Novak -- the dupe?

Ambassador Wilson appeared on Meet the Press this past Sunday, where he stated that all the reporters who contacted him, to tell him top administrators were pushing the story that his wife was a CIA operative, had all done so after the Novak article.

However, the Sept 27 WAPost article quoted:

a senior administration official said that before Novak's column ran, two top White House officials called at least six Washington journalists and disclosed the identity and occupation of Wilson's wife.

Mebbe. However, we have yet to hear of a single journalist who would state that they heard the statement prior to July 14 -- the date of Novak's article which revealed that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame is a CIA operative.

Now, Novak's been insisting in public that he is not a dupe. However, there is as yet no verifiable proof that anyone was told before Novak. As public knowledge stands now, it may be that Novak was the first leak; and that Rove took the opportunity of his publication to push the story -- which, by itself (just pushing the story, without materially confirming it) is not against the law.

Novak may be the dupe.

Wesley Clark's Inadvertent Science Advisor

First, some history. Back in November 1995, I was in DC staying with the Lodals for Thanksgiving, part of my usual routine. At the time Jan was serving as Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Policy. As part of our weekend's activities, Elizabeth got tickets for the group of us to see the Vermeer exhibit at the National Gallery - a fantastic experience. Afterward we went to dinner with one of Jan's colleagues from the Pentagon, a four-star general, Wesley Clark.

In advance of dinner Jan explained to us that Gen. Clark was currently angling to be named commander of the NATO Bosnia mission. It was clear that Jan thought very highly of him, which as those of you who have met Jan will know, really means something.

Once we met up with Gen. Clark and his driver outside the East Building, it was easy enough to be impressed with him in person. At dinner we talked a lot about the situation in Bosnia, which had been mired in NATO dithering since the Bush (I) administration. I asked him why he wanted the Bosnia command, which seemed at the time a pretty thankless job. He said that it was an easy decision - Bosnia was where the action was.

Then the subject of my work came up and, in particular, the question of the practical applications of astrophysics. This can be a hard one to address, but as it happened, I had recently read a paper in Phys Rev Letters about the possibility of faster-than-light travel. The gist of this article was that the famous speed limit applies only in a local sense (special relativity) and can be exceeded if one warps space-time in an appropriate fashion (general relativity). So, not that it would be easy - it requires moving around solar masses of material and, in particular, use of "negative energy density" matter, whatever that might be (physicists currently have no idea) - but it is not absolutely ruled out. I told Gen. Clark about this and, to my surprise, he was very intrigued. I tried to summarize the caveats but all in all I was happy to have engaged his imagination.

Okay, now read this Wired article, and you'll appreciate the significance of my title.

Top Ten PATRIOT Provisions for White House Leak

For the sake of the crack investigative team the FBI has no doubt assigned to ferret out the nefarious White House staffers who leaked Valerie Plame's covert CIA status to the press, top ten PATRIOT Act provisions to apply to this case:

10. Calling information

The agents can get the phone records of any suspect (Karl Rove) without showing probable cause; they need only "certify" to a judge that the information will be "relevant" to their investigation. This ability applies nationwide.

9. Web Addresses

The agents can similarly get the records of all web sites visited by the suspect.

8. Email headers

The agents can similarly obtain the header information (including destination addresses and subject lines) of all emails sent by the subject.

7. National wiretap

The agents can seek a "blanket wiretap" order that will follow the suspect wherever he goes, and can tap any number that he is judged likely to use. The agents will probably want to consider a blanket wiretap of the whole White House, just to be safe.

6. Library records

Agents can get the suspect's (White House) library check-out records, and the library is prohibited from telling the subject that these records have been provided to the government.

5. Doctor's records

The agents can get the suspect's records from his doctor; again, the doctor's office is prohibited from telling the subject that this has happened.

4. Commercial transactions

Similar provisions apply for almost any commercial transaction that the subject might have engaged in - bookstore or mall purchases, restaurant dinners, cab fares, escort services...

3. CIA Assistance

The agents could request assistance from the CIA, which is no longer prohibited from spying on Americans. This might prove particularly useful in the present case. Maybe the CIA could assign Secret Agent Valerie Plame!

2. Secret searches

Investigators can execute a "secret search" of a household (White House) without informing the owner (Dubyah).

1. Enemy Combatant

This is not strictly a provision of the act, but certainly qualifies as a useful post-9/11 tool of law enforcement. According to Justice, if they declare in a memorandum to a judge that the suspect US citizen (Karl Rove) is an enemy combatant, he may be transported to a military prison (Gitmo) and held for an arbitrary length of time, without recourse to the usual habeas corpus provisions of the US Constitution. I'm sure that would take care of a lot of these pesky White House leaks.

Today, in the Recall

Gray Davis signed a new California health care bill, while Schwarzenegger said he thinks California women are lookin' pretty healthy.

School of Rock: B Minus

In spite of the hype, the hype, and the hype Jack Black's new film SCHOOL OF ROCK is a forgettable second-best effort. In spite of some reasonable writing and a few memorable scenes (the "Step Off" scene was the entire movie for me) the director failed to get the kids to act -- there are a few interesting arcs among them, journeys worth watching, but their performances were flat throughout. Every step was predictable and not very interesting. Most annoying attribute: no sub-plot whatsoever -- the movie was MORE linear than a 30 min sit-com. I found myself bored way too often. Suitable for 6-12 year olds.

Gail Collins Writes

My favorite NYTimes columnist has a short piece in the magazine this weekend, Stand-Up Women, suggesting several figures for statuary of women in NY, which at present is non-existent.

Suit Holds Microsoft Responsible for Worm Holes

It's bad enough that these suckers can transport you to the opposite end of the universe and then close up, leaving you stranded. And now we learn that Microsoft is responsible for them? Have they no decency? At long last, have they no decency?

So, How did you spend your Tax Rebate?

Did you have a good time with that $300 tax rebate? Or, $600 for a family? That's nice, because the median household income dropped by $500 last year, for the second straight year in a row. So, you've come out behind.

I bought a digital camera. It broke last year.

It's Time for some Questioning

Faced with the certain knowledge in mid-July that members of his administration had illegally revealed the identity of a covert CIA agent for purposes of political revenge, why did George Bush not demand an investigation to reveal who those people were, and why did he not fire them? Why did he wait for 3 months before even weakly suggesting that they come forward? Why has he still not demanded resignations -- whoever they are?

Here was clear evidence -- now, over two months ago -- that an important federal law had been broken by a trusted member of his administration -- that someone had, against Bush's will and without him knowing, used the mechanisms of government and their place of privilege in the Executive Branch to push down a political enemy of this administration. And yet Bush did nothing.

In other words -- why must the country fight this president to see that our laws are applied, and the privileged power of government is not used as a political tool of oppression and retribution? The president should be enforcing the laws, not allowing them to be broken by his administration. And waiting 3 months and for a major public outcry and demands from Congress is not enforcment -- it is condoning the breaking of them.

Fun with Numbers

So 40 percent of Californians want Schwarzenegger as their next Governer, over 32 percent for Cruz and 15 percent for McClintock. However, recall is winning at 56 percent. (see numbers here) .

Here's my fun scenario: Huffington (2%) just withdrew, dropping that 56% to 54% for recall. GOPers are calling for McClintock to withdraw. Now, my dream (and it is a dream) is that the McClintock people -- right wing as they are -- don't see much difference between Schwarzenegger and Davis. Say Tom withdraws, and half of those people decide to vote AGAINST recall. That would make recall fail.

And what a scream it would be, after the GOPers got Tom to withdraw so that he doesn't split Arnie's vote.

It's amazing how I daydream without coffee.....

Four of the Six Reporters in the Yellowcake Leak

The reporters should not be compelled to reveal their sources in the administration -- but it is informative in tracing the leaks to know exactly who they are. Of course, the reporters could provide the names of those in the administration who leaked to them in July that Ambassador Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, was a covert CIA operative, and they would be breaking no law in doing so, but no one would ever provide them with confidential information again, ending their careers.

So who are the journalists contacted by the administration officials? The numbers are beginning to add up:

1. Robert Novak, syndicated columnist about whom the leaking story has centered, published that Valerie Plame was a CIA operative, according to "two senior administration officials", on July 14.
   
   
2. Andrea Mitchell, NBC News was identified by Ambassador Wilson as one of several TV Network news journalists who contacted him in July to say that administration officials are saying "The story isn't yellowcake, it's Wilson's wife".
   
   
3. Timothy Phelps, Washington Bureau Chief of Newsday , along with Knut Royce also of Newsday, reported on July 22 that Plame worked at the CIA "in an undercover capacity,", citing as source "intelligence officials". This, in an article about Novak's column, written to confirm the story with apparently independent sources. It is therefore possible that Phelps and/or Royce were not originally contacted by the TWO (Two Whitehouse Officials), but managed to confirm the story with other sources.
   
   
4. Matthew Cooper, Massimo Calabresi and John F. Dickerson of Time Magazine who published the outing, independent on Novak, on July 17, citing "government officials" as the source.
   
   

Wilson's statement of "several journalists" contacted him to say that the White House was pushing a story that "Plame is a CIA operative" might imply that there are more than those named here who were contacted. That is consistent with the -- surprisingly precise -- number of "six journalists" who were contacted by "top White House Officials", according to the "Senior administration official" who was the source for the WAPost article which broke the story on Sept 28.