Attorney General Eric Holder recently told intelligence community lawyers that he wants them to continue the Administration’s crackdown on leakers and media sources despite calls for his termination and the controversy on the attack on the free press. The message is clear: there will be no quarter given those who disclose classified information. Well not everyone. This week it was revealed that former CIA Director Leon Panetta disclosed classified information to “Zero Dark Thirty” filmmaker Mark Boal. According to an inspector general report, the disclosure of the name of the Navy SEAL unit that carried out the Osama bin Laden raid and the unit’s ground commander at a 2011 ceremony. Some of the information was marked as “top secret.”
The wonderful thing for Holder is that this leaker is known and there are witnesses. He made the disclosure in front of 1,300 people in a tent at the CIA complex on June 24, 2011. So Panetta is now being housed next to Bradley Manning, right? Not quite. The Administration leaks classified information on a regular basis. On Obama Farm, all leakers are equal but some leakers are more equal than others.
Notably, this disclosure helped a filmmaker who was developing a controversial film that seemed to herald the value of torture by CIA employees. Like many, I was surprised by the degree to which the movie made it look like it was torture that led to the killing of Obama in direct contradiction to what we know about the various sources used in the operation. Giving top secret information to a filmmaker for such a film does not appear to be a matter for prosecution. Now, the Associated Press or Fox News? That is an entirely different question. In that case, the reporters are viewed by the Administration as an possible criminal co-conspirator. In the case, of Boal, he was not a co-conspirator . . . just part of the creative enterprise.
Source: Politico
nick:
enough with the name dropping, very interesting anecdotes and great stories. I dont know if I can “tolerate” your posts for too much longer. 🙂
SM:
come to Virginia, much less expensive than MD as far as taxes go. although houses for sale are few and far between or so I am told.
what areas are you looking?
Suburban DC is all pretty nice.
Elaine, Persistence is what leads to success. I have a friend in Madison who is a barrister. His father-in-law is Leonard Kessler who has illustrated and written children’s books for over 50 years. His wife and collaborator died a few years back. Leonard was a college friend of Andy Warhol in Pittsburgh and they moved together to NYC, living as starving artists. They both ended up doing quite well. Leonard has several original Warhols that Andy just gave to him. Leonard lives in Florida now and is retired. He’s a WW2 vet. He tells a funny story of being sent on scouting missions to draw maps of enemy positions, towns, bridges, etc. Being an artist, he was quite meticulous. His commanding officer told him to forget the aesthetics and just draw the details I don’t know if Leonard is doing anymore drawings but if your publisher is striking out I’ll be happy to ask my buddy if Leonard is taking on any projects. He’s an ace.
Elaine,
So you know a famous children’s book author? Not as interesting as good as the one I know.
It is known as the Fitting Game and “Can you top this?” This game was discussed in Eric Bernese’. ‘The Games People Play”. It is considered a classic passive aggressive gambit.
nick,
It’s difficult getting a book published these days. I know a couple of writer friends who have self-published. I was fortunate. One of my dearest friends is an award-winning children’s author and illustrator. Her name is Grace Lin.
Grace gave one of my children’s poetry manuscripts to her editor at Chronicle Books in San Francisco. Her editor loved my manuscript and bought it. I had to do several revisions of it. Now, I have to wait patiently while the publisher finds an illustrator for my book. I hope it gets published in the next couple of years.
http://www.gracelin.com
Elaine, My wife’s childhood friend, Linda Colletti, is a grief counselor. She just published a book called, 101 Rainbow Ribbons. It helps children get through the process of death and funerals that is quite foreign to them. My wife has been working on a novel for a decade based on her career in the Federal Prison and Court system. It’s called, Taken for Granted. It set in Madison and involves college medical grants, drugs and murder. It will be on Amazon within a week or so. She has a follow-up in the can. She had an agent from NYC who was just not responsive so she is self publishing. Soon there may not be any publishing houses.
Elaine, Thanks for sharing your story about your new home. It sounds wonderful. We are downsizing.
Nick, I have door knocked that neighborhood many times. They do a lot of door to door campaigning there. I worked for a State Senator at one time that represented that neighborhood. Safety is important, and I am constantly reminding my daughter that as she looks for apartments.
SWM, I seem to remember you saying you lived in the Cities. They bought a modest 3BR near Lake Nokomis. It has a brand new kitchen. All the neighbors have been real nice. Apparently the former owners were jerks. My daughter is stubborn and really wanted to buy the St. Paul house. I am a libertarian in all aspects and let my adult kids make their own decisions. I told her the neighborhood in St. Paul was bad, but she wanted my approval. She asked, “Would you feel safe w/ me living there?” My answer was a quick, “No.” I then followed up w/ “It’s your life and your money, but my housewarming gift to you will be a shotgun.” She got the message.
It’ll end soon enough, nick, but I have approved every comment you’ve made that didn’t involve a personal attack of some sort. If this sample isn’t enough to teach you the lesson not to break the rules around here, I have no issue with escalating the matter to make your status permanent.
AY, Wrong thread. However, your comment on the correct thread was not more positive. Do you trust me?
Swarthmore mom,
I’ll be moving to our new place next weekend. Last year, we found a lovely antique home with a wonderful in-law apartment. Our apartment is a converted carriage house. It’s taken us many months to renovate the apartment. We had wood floors installed and lots of built-in bookcases made to house my extensive collection of books–the great majority of which are children’s books and poetry books. I’ve had to give most of my adult books away.
I wish you luck in your search for a new home. We were fortunate to find a place with a large in-law apartment…and one that isn’t situated in a basement. We have well over three acres of land. The property was–back in the late 1700s–an apple farm. We just planted four fruit trees and some blueberries bushes there. I’ll be happy when I don’t have to live in two places any longer…and can see my granddaughter every day.
Nick,
You’re incorrect with that generalization…. Many here don’t hate cops anymore than they hate you….. They just distrust them…..and you….
nick, I lived in the twin cities for eleven years and know the neighborhoods very well. Some of my best friends live there.
“How much more evidence do we need to impeach Holder and Obama?”
But aren’t we going to need Holder to indict Panetta? I mean we can’t just have government officials going around and revealing sources and methods – now can we?
For a commercial (read Hollywood) project – really??? It is not like Panetta blew the whistle to the NYT or the WAPO.
Does it make any sense to get rid of Holder now that we really, really need him?
Good luck on selling and buying. The former should be easier than the latter, houses are flying off the market in some areas. My daughter and her husband just bought their first house, closed on Monday. They loved a house in St. Paul. It was nicer and cheaper than their second pick in Minneapolis. They were ready to pounce but asked them to wait. I did some investigation and learned the St. Paul house had a lot of crime, the Minneapolis house very safe. I determined a cop lives 2 doors down from them. Many here hate cops but it’s nice to have one on your block.
nick, More Maryland but Northern Virginia, also. Don’t have the Texas house on the market yet. Still more work to do.
SWM, Are you house hunting in northern Va. WordPress must have eaten my last comment to you.
“How much more evidence do we need to impeach Holder and Obama?”
We don’t need any more evidence. We need a functioning Senate.
The problem is, there’s no way to make a functioning Senate. The thing is constructed to be non-functioning, with the staggered terms and the malapportionment and the supermajority rules. You can’t get 67 votes in the Senate for ANYTHING decent.
Because of the Senate rules, we will probably have to have a bloody revolution instead. (Since the non-functioning Senate is going to cause EVERYTHING to get worse, year after year.) Isn’t that sad?
“The Patriot Act and the host of laws and regulations it spawned has monitized the security state.” LK The proof of that is the price of real estate in Northern Virginia.
Elaine, You conjure up the “Master of your domain” Seinfeld episode. Kramer was the first one out, and so would I! At least back when it was originally aired.