MSM Won't Connect Dots if it Harm Dems

MSM Headline: Gosh, Apparently the Democrats' Withdrawal Strategy Is Wrong

On June 16, the House passed a nonbinding resolution that rejected an "arbitrary date for the withdrawal or redeployment" for not being in the national interest.

A week and a half later, eleven Sunni insurgent groups offer to halt attacks on the U.S.-led military if the Iraqi and US governments set a two-year timetable for withdrawing all foreign troops from the country.

Causally related? Of course.

Will the MSM run any story focusing on the rejection of the left-wing withdrawal demands (Murtha, Kerry, et al), and this apparent insurgent white flag? Of course not.

Why Is This "Piling On?"

The phrase "piling on" implies a wrongful act. It's a personal foul in football. So why does the WAPO use it in a headline?:

Piling On the New York Times With a Scoop
Story on Secret Program Further Rouses Critics

President Bush calls the conduct of the New York Times "disgraceful." Vice President Cheney objects to the paper having won a Pulitzer Prize. A Republican
congressman wants the Times prosecuted. National Review says its press credentials should be yanked. Radio commentator Tammy Bruce likens the paper to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, chairman of the Intelligence Committee, yesterday asked John Negroponte, the national intelligence director, for a damage assessment following the Times story. Three other GOP senators joined Roberts at a news conference, with John Ensign of Nevada saying the paper "should have worked in cooperation with those authorities in our government to make sure that those who leaked were prosecuted." Arizona Rep. J.D. Hayworth circulated a letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert calling for the paper's congressional credentials to be withdrawn. And New York Rep. Peter King continues to call for the Times -- which, he told Fox News, has an "arrogant, elitist, left-wing agenda" -- to be prosecuted for violating the 1917 Espionage Act.

While we're on the pictoral subject of people laying on top of each other in the Hawkeye state, be sure to log your vote for Ms. Polk County Jail Hottie 2006, aka the Ms. Hoosegow 2006 Pageant.

Tax Immunity for Uber-Billionaires: Only the Little People Pay Taxes

" When I find a man who is not willing to pay his share of the burden of the government which protects him, I find a man who is unworthy to enjoy the
blessings of a government like ours."

-William Jennings Bryan

Forgive my lack of enthusiasm when the 2nd richest uber-billionaire in the world (Warren Buffett) dodges paying $17.5 billion of taxes and instead gives the money (tax free) to the richest uber-billionaire in the world (Bill Gates).

Yeah, the US tax coffers didn’t really need that $17.5 billion.

Instead for the next 15 or 30 or 50 years, the richest man in the world (Gates and wife) gets to fly around the world acting as the de facto U.N. Uberbassador of Health and Human Services. Spending the $17.5 billion that Buffett didn't pay in taxes, along with the $25 billion that Gates didn't pay in taxes. That's a $40 billion bankroll, otherwise underwritten by the U.S. taxpayer, who can go replace the lost revenue with ... other taxes.

"Thanks a lot for the tax-free $17.5 billion of extra cash, U.S. taxpayers," said Gates. "When I add it to the $25 billion that I saved by not paying taxes on my $50 billion, it makes for quite a stash."

"Sure beats having to send $17.5 billion to the IRS," noted Buffett. "Especially when you toss in several billions dollars worth of worldwide publicity hyping me as the greatest philanthropist of all time, for not paying any taxes. It's a GREAT COUNTRY."

"Only the little people pay taxes," reminded Leona Helmsley.

"Thanks, U.S. taxpayers, really. I mean, this should all be OK with you and stuff, because after all, it's for the children, or at least the ones that I pick," said Melinda Gates, now apparently the 2nd richest person in the world.

"Can you believe how well this charity donation thing works?" pondered uber-billionaire Larry Ellison, who concurrently settled an insider-trading lawsuit by agreeing to pay his own charity (Ellison Medical Foundation) $100 million as a penalty for a $900-million gain on selling his Oracle stock shortly before the share price plummeted.

***

Bummer understands that there are different viewpoints as to what constitutes "charity," but don't think less of Bummer if he doesn’t immediately place an etching of Mr. Buffett's face in the dictionary, next to "charity."

Buffett has earned over $30 billion, and has never paid taxes on it. This is a tax-dodge, pure and simple, cloaked by the hype and gullibility of a fawning media obsessed with the deeper meaning behind celebrities flying to 5th world countries to adopt babies.

***

Cf the previous statements of Buffett and Gates, urging other people to pay their taxes:

"If there is a class war in America, my side is winning. ... "We hope [Berkshire Hathaway corporate income] taxes continue to rise in the future-it will mean we are prospering-but we also hope that the rest of corporate America antes up along with us." - Warren Buffett

Public investments in our courts, schools, transit systems, public utilities, and research programs have pushed the United States to the top of the world's economy. No other investment scheme in the history of the world has been so successful. "As taxpayers, we should take pride in the fact that the US government is the world's largest venture capitalist." - Bill Gates

***

Back in the 70's, at least we recognized tax evasion excuses as a joke:

"You.. can be a millionaire.. and never pay taxes! You can be a millionaire.. and never pay taxes! You say.. "Steve.. how can I be a millionaire.. and never pay taxes?"

First.. get a million dollars.

Now.. you say, "Steve.. what do I say to the tax man when he comes to my door and says, 'You.. have never paid taxes'?" Two simple words. Two simple words in the English language: "I forgot!"

RoC Bloggers and Pols Pick Up On Thug Theme

Scott at PowerLine pens one, picking up on the theme of the effete MSM as being thugs, quoting from Lincoln's "mobocratic" dictum from the mid 1800's:

Lincoln feared the "mobocratic spirt" at large across the country in the hands of ignorant men who took justice into their own hands and committed violent outrages. Today the same "mobocratic spirit" can be seen in the hands of the smug sophisticates at the Times and elsewhere who share this in common with the mobs of Lincoln's day: "the growing disposition to substitute the wild and furious passions, in lieu of the sober judgment of Courts; and the worse than savage mobs, for the executive ministers of justice."

Michael Barone piles on with the notation that journalists are covered by espionage statutes, and they can either be prosecuted or jailed for refusing to testify under subpoena to a judge or grand jury:

Publication of the Times' December and June stories appears to violate provisions of the broadly written, but until recently, seldom enforced provisions of the Espionage Act. Commentary's Gabriel Schoenfeld has argued that the Times can and probably should be prosecuted.

The counterargument is that it is a dangerous business for the government to prosecute the press. But it certainly is in order to prosecute government officials who have abused their trust by disclosing secrets, especially when those disclosures have reduced the government's ability to keep us safe. And pursuit of those charges would probably require reporters to disclose the names of those sources. As the Times found out in the Judith Miller case, reporters who refuse to answer such questions can go to jail.

Meanwhile, Congressman Peter King (who chairs the Homeland Security Committee and thus has the power to hold hearings) calls for a federal criminal probe of the effete thugs of the NYTimes.

Moonshine Confuses Thugs

You'd think the leftist NYTimes would love the bio-fuels initiative (ethanol, that is) proposed by Bush and backed by tax credits.

The left cannot argue that the fuels program is ineffective, as dozens of bio-plants, and millions of gallons, of ethanol fuel are being added to supply each year.

Egads! The left has an '06, and more importantly an '08, election coming. And there is no way the leftist NYTimes will allow any sitting Republican administration to get credit for an enlightened energy policy - it robs the 'Dems of an issue.

So the NYTimes runs a pair of articles today, the Times lays on the critcism. The set-up:

Once considered the green dream of the environmentally sensitive, ethanol has become the province of agricultural giants that have long pressed for its use as fuel, as well as newcomers seeking to cash in on a bonanza.

The modern-day gold rush is driven by a number of factors: generous government subsidies, surging demand for ethanol as a gasoline supplement, a potent blend of farm-state politics and the prospect of generating more than a 100 percent profit in less than two years.

The rush is taking place despite concerns that large-scale diversion of agricultural resources to fuel could result in price increases for food for people and livestock, as well as the transformation of vast preserved areas into farmland.

Translation: "The rich corporations are in unholy alliance with RedState populists to rape the virgin land and exploit ghetto dwellers by causing fastfood price increases." What a load of crap.

***
Bummer's backstory -----> Corn Cob Insanity.
***

Curiously omitted from the Times' stories:

1. No mention of the huge corn surplus in America. The government buys half the corn crop, and pays to keep another quarter of the tillable land fallow. Already owning half the crop, why not sell it to the ethanol makers?

-- The Times wants to lay groundwork for leftist moron-voter-bloc election propaganda, to wit: "I'm in favor of alternative fuels, but the Bush administration has negligently allowed the big corporations to profiteer, while driving up consumer prices for our foods."


2. Almost no mention of the linkage between ethanol critics like the Cargill executive quoted in the article, who supplies factory-farmed beef to McDonalds at 40% of cost, thanks to government subsidies, and the health crisis directly resulting therefrom. Our kids and poor get obese, and contract diabetes. The fattening of America and its kids is directly linked to high-fructose corn syrup being available at 40% of cost (SuperSize Me!).

-- All the Times will say, without drilling in (because it will stray off the "Attack Republicans" agenda): "Cargill has a stake in keeping the price of corn low enough to supply its vast interests in processed food and livestock."

Comedy Suffers a Setback

June 21 marked the end of an era. Bummer works in the entertainment biz, and pretty much gets his choice of thebest comedy stuff in the world.

But there is nothing - NOTHING - as consistently funny as the Phil Hendrie radio show. The last show was June 21. Let's hope Phil reincarnates on TV, as he plans.

We'll miss these ballers (Phil's characters):

Austin Amarka
Art Bell
Ted Bell
Clara Bingham
Lloyd Bonifide
Steve Bosell
Rudy Canoza
R.C. Collins
Doug Dannger
Bud Dickman
Bobbie Dooley
Jeff Dowder
Vernon Dozier
Raj Fahneen
Frodo the Puppet
Margaret Gray
Bob Green
Art Griego
Larry Grover
David G. Hall
Charlie LaFountain
Paul Lane
Mavis Leonard
Bob McGraw
Father James McQuarter
Chris Norton
Dave Oliva
Don Parsley
Pastor William Rennick
Brad Rifkin
Dr. Jim Sadler
Jay Santos
Roland Schwinn
Herb Sewell
Skippy & Frank
Brass Villenheuva
Dean Wheeler
Harvey Wireman

Cut and Win

When Bummer was in school, paying tuition in order to be indocrinated by left wing political science professors and TA's, Bummer thought that books like 1984 and Animal Farm were a wee bit over the top. Surely, no governing group could be so cynical as to manipulate language so blatently, to perpetuate a Big Lie. OK, except the Commies and Nazis.

Alas, how far Bummer has come.

So this week, Bummer hears a clip of a chick politician. I'm 99% sure it was Nancy Pelosi. In the speech, she was trying to rebut the "cut and run" label that the Republicans have painted on her Iraq War position (of withdrawal.) She stated:

"It's not cut-and-run, it's cut and win."

Standard joke amongst us in business, when we've lost. "Declare victory and pull out." Of couse we all chuckle at the absurdity of our word game.

Well, we've come full circle. Words no longer mean anything. Is this what unemployed slackers with college degrees refer to as, "Post-modernism"?

***

Meanwhile, a Senate resolution, sponsored by Senator John F. Kerry, (Frenchman -Mass) lost 86 to 13. It would have required all troops be withdrawn by July 1, 2007.

Senator Kerry declared the losing vote a victory:

"It was terrific," Kerry said. "Several votes more than we anticipated."

Dinner at Western Estates

A grand time was had by all last night at the Western Estates Homeowners Association clubhouse.

Bummer's pals were there, drinking some sweet Haut Bages Liberal bordeaux. Wish you'd been there.

Bobbie Dooley gets some!

Ted Bell of Ted Bell Steakhouse Fame - Come on Down!

Lloyd Bonafide - In the House!

Cool Chick Humor

Bummer ripped this from a chick's picture profile posted on myspace. Top 25 all-time captions.

Good Riddance II

Dan Rather, again put to pasture.

The 74-year-old man with the Mets cap pulled far down on his forehead slid into a booth at a diner on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and ordered a glass of milk without so much as turning a head — so quietly, in fact, that it was hard to believe it was Dan Rather...

In place of the swagger ...was an obvious sadness that his tenure at the network was ticking down to an inglorious end.

Mr. Rather complained that since [getting fired -ed] as anchor of the "CBS Evening News" last year, in the aftermath of a reporting scandal, he had been given virtually nothing at all to do for the previous six weeks.

Mr. Rather's contract with CBS, and "60 Minutes," is not scheduled to expire until late November. But he said yesterday that he and the network were close to an agreement that would end his tenure early.

What, does King Dan still expect to be rewarded for his part in a feloneous forgery caper, attempting to swing a wartime election? And then - as the purveyor of "news" - stonewalling and lying about it for weeks; and to this day, still backing the "no one has absolutely, 100% with DNA testing certainty disproved the story" crap.

He'll remain defiant until he dies. He'll never admit his part in this wrongdoing. He ceased being a newman, in favor be being a Left of Center propagandist. An Effete Thug Demanding Immunity.

Good riddance.

Campaign Violations in the 4th Branch of Government

Michael Barone hits it (below).

Vietnam, Watergate and Rove Left-wing nostalgia dies hard, but can it
survive the events of this week?

BY MICHAEL BARONE
Friday, June 16,
2006 12:01 a.m. EDT

It has been a tough 10 days for those who see current events through the prisms of Vietnam and Watergate.

First, the Democrats failed to win a breakthrough victory in the California 50th District special election...

Second, U.S. forces with a precision air strike killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, on the same day that Iraqis finished forming a government....

Third, special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald announced that he would not seek an indictment of Karl Rove...

It is hard in retrospect to understand why the left put so much psychic energy into the notion that Mr. Rove would be indicted. He certainly was an important target. ...Still, it was clear early on that the likelihood that Mr. Rove violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act was near zero. Under the law, the agent whose name was disclosed would have had to have served overseas within the preceding five years....

In all this a key role was played by the press. Cries went up early for the appointment of a special prosecutor ... the editorialists of the New York Times evidently failed to realize that the case could not be pursued without asking reporters to reveal the names of sources who had been promised confidentiality.

Interestingly, Bob Woodward himself contradicted Mr. Fitzgerald's statement ... that Mr. Libby was the first to disclose Ms. Plame's name to a reporter. The press reaction was to turn on Mr. Woodward, who has been covering this administration as a new story rather than as a reprise of Vietnam and Watergate.

Historians may regard it as a curious thing that the left and the press have been so determined to fit current events into templates based on events that occurred 30 to 40 years ago. The people who effectively framed the issues raised by Vietnam and Watergate did something like the opposite; they insisted that Vietnam was not a reprise of World War II ....

Journalists in the 1940s, '50s and early '60s tended to believe they had a duty to buttress Americans' faith in their leaders and their government. Journalists since Vietnam and Watergate have tended to believe that they have a duty to undermine such faith, especially when the wrong party is in office.

That belief has its perils for journalism, as the Fitzgerald investigation has shown. The peril that the press may find itself in the hot seat, but even more the peril that it will get the story wrong. The visible slavering over the prospect of a Rove indictment is just another item in the list of reasons why the credibility of the "mainstream media" has been plunging.

There's also a peril for the political left. .... The pursuit of Karl Rove by the left and the press has been just the latest episode in the attempted criminalization of political differences.

Wolfowitz Marches On

Let's check up on the Wolfie Plan:

Zarqawi, dead.
Over 100 terrorists and their cells busted within 72 hours.
Captured terrorist documents document the waning of the terror organizations.

Iraqi government is in place and functioning.
All factions become invested in the government, every day.

Europe is waking up to the threat of the shari'a islamofascists in its midsts.
Palestine is on the verge of collapse and civil war - a war that will focus hostilities away from democratic Israel. Every combatant killed in this war is one less anti-Western terrorist candidate.
The milquetoast charade happy talk 3 years ago about the "reforming" Iran has been dropped; the world knows what the despotic Iran is.

****

Wolfowitz Plan is working just fine. Rising expectations.

The Big Lie Revisited

Bummer has a theory on societies in which the government and the press act as one, to propagandize The Big Lie - and how, over the long term (via open democracies) that Big Lie gets busted:

But in pockets behind the curtain,Western radio and TV signals could be received. And for decades, an alternative version of reality was provided to those behind the Curtain. Put simply: How can you expect two generations of semi-starving Albanians to accept the Soviet's Big Lie, when every night they view Italian TV commercials? To wit: The Big Lie gets exposed, continually and continuously, for a generation. At some point, the Big Lie no longer has much effect; the Albanians knew that they were being systematically lied to. And that is a critical pre-condition for an oppressed people to rise up and revolt against a dictatorship of thugs. It doesn't happen overnight, but the long fuse gets lit.

Bummer points you to this essay - "The Revenge of Marxism" by Fjordman (guesting at Baron Bodissey's blog).

Fjordman's essay may somewhat rebut Bummer's Big Lie theory - or maybe not. Bummer sees the Big Lie as building the pressure for true revolution; Fjordman sees it as perhaps a tool to break a man's soul. Interesting.....

But whether you agree with it or not, it's a fitting companion to Schumpeter, von Hayak, Rand, et al.

"When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity.... One’s standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect and is intended to.


"I have heard people who have grown up in former Communist countries say that we in the West are at least as brainwashed by Multiculturalism and Political Correctness as they ever were with Communism, perhaps more so. Even in the heyday of the East Bloc, there were active dissident groups in these countries.... But how is that possible? Don’t we have free speech here? And we have no Gulag? The simple fact is that we never won the Cold War as decisively as we should have.

"What happened is that while the “hard” Marxism of the Soviet Union may have collapsed, at least for now, the “soft” Marxism of the Western Left has actually grown stronger, in part because we deemed it to be less threatening. The “hard” Marxists had intercontinental nuclear missiles and openly said that they would “bury” us. The soft Marxists talk about tolerance and may seem less threatening, but their goal of overthrowing the evil, capitalist West remains the same. In fact, they are more dangerous precisely because they hide their true goals under different labels. Perhaps we should call it “stealth Socialism” instead of soft Socialism.

"...We never had a thorough de-Marxification process after the Cold War, similar to the de-Nazification after WW2."

Good stuff. I wish more people could and would think, write and read like this.

Peaches and Strippers

Bummer was rocking out to TPOTUSOA the other day, one of the best 90's party bands. This line from "Peaches" won't leave:

Peaches come from a can
There were put there by a man
In a factory ... downtown

The source of peaches came to me when asking, "Where do all these strippers come from?"

The answer: Guys like CheChe at DailyKos groom them:

I don't think I've ever seen such a look of misery and dejection on the face of my daughter as I just did a moment ago. She just couldn't understand why the President would be going to Iraq when so many things are wrong in this country. "Doesn’t Mr. Bush care about us anymore?" she asked pitifully.

I sat down with her on the sofa and (as calmly as I could) tried to explain to her why the President seems to be abandoning his country. "Honey, I think his boss, Mr. Rove, sent Mr. Bush out of the country in order to keep himself out of the newspapers. You see, he wasn’t sure if he was going to be arrested today or not, and so he planned Mr. Bush’s trip ahead of time just in case...”

I tried to keep my voice steady, but it became increasingly difficult - the rage and feelings of helplessness were just too much. I think my daughter could tell something was wrong. I found myself at such a loss for words - nothing made any sense; nothing makes sense anymore. I finally had to admit, "Honey, I just don't know - I don't know what's going on in this country anymore..."

When I finished her lower lip started to tremble and her eyes began to fill with tears, "Daddy" she said, "why are the Republicans doing this to the country?" Well, that was it for me: I finally fell apart. She just fell into my arms and we both began sobbing for several minutes.

For once she had to comfort me and get me back on my feet. Sometimes I just think it's too much, but seeing the strength in my young daughter's voice helped me to get through.

Bottle-feeding newborns is like forcing them to smoke cigarettes.

Thanks for that, CheChe. Oh, and these 3 additional posts that catalog your emotional breakdowns on the couch with your daughter.

CheChe, troll or not, is raising an emotional cripple. The kind that become strippers. That's where they come from.

So CheChe, keep tending that little stripper - the county will need about 10,000 of them in a few years when the troops returen.

Let's put it to a President's riff, just to put the nail in my coffin - Bummer ain't never getting into no heaven:

Che Che has daughter
Soon she's 18
CheChe has daughter
Stripper for me

As If It Was Ever Gonna Happen......

MSM: Neither Dog nor Man Gets Bit:

WASHINGTON - Top White House aide Karl Rove has been told by prosecutors he won't be charged with any crimes in the investigation into the leak of a CIA officer's identity, his lawyer said Tuesday, lifting a heavy burden from one of President Bush' most trusted advisers.

Nice Timeline

Check out the AP Top Stories timeline at 7:40 am June 8 -- LOVE IT !

Iraqi parliament swears in new ministers
1 hour, 33 minutes ago
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's parliament on Thursday approved three new key ministers, including a Sunni Arab to head the defense ministry, as violence left at least 19 people dead and 40 wounded, according to police.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi killed in air raid
1 hour, 18 minutes ago
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most-wanted terrorist in Iraq who waged a bloody campaign of beheadings and suicide bombings, was killed when U.S. warplanes dropped 500-pound bombs on his isolated safehouse, officials said Thursday. His death was a long-sought victory in the war in Iraq.

Ahmadinejad: Iran ready for nuclear talks
1 hour, 12 minutes ago
TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday Iran was ready to discuss "mutual concerns" over his country's nuclear program, but he refused to first suspend uranium enrichment.

Zarqawi Begins Slow Roast in Hell

Zarqawi, a chickenshit thug unfit to fight (except gunning down kids and women at bus stops), gets sent to hell by some American F-16 pilots:

-----Original Message-----
From: BreakingNews@MAIL.CNN.COM
Sent: Thursday, June 08, 2006 12:25 AM
Subject: CNN Breaking News

-- Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most wanted terrorist in Iraq, is dead, according to an aide to Iraq's prime minister.

-----Original Message-----
From: BreakingNews@MAIL.CNN.COM
Sent: Thursday, June 08, 2006 5:46 AM
Subject: CNN Breaking News

-- U.S. military shows video with F-16s dropping two 500-pound bombs that killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

A Modest Proposal (Which Will Fix Everything)

Bummer has a favor to ask of the B23. Every one of you.

The favor is this: Log a comment, even if it is as simple as "agree" or "disagree."

***
Bummer has been doing some thinking. (Typically, a pint of '89 Meyney, '83 Poyferre, '88 Rausan Segla, '92 Mondavi Reserve, or some such, helps the Bummer.*)

Bummer's modest proposal:

1. Every bill introduced into the Senate or the House must be sent to the floor for a tabulated up-or-down vote, during that session. If any bill is not so handled, the speaker, majority leader and minority leader shall all be disabled from serving in the next session of Congress.

2. Any member who misses more than 1 % of that session's votes, shall be disabled from serving in that house of Congress in the next session.

I gotta tell you something: I think that fixes everything.

Go to the fridge, get yourself a little drinkie poo, and spend 3 minutes thinking about it, like when you used to have to come up with some angle in order to type out your poli-sci 101 papers at 1.45 am on that damned Smith Corona manual portable using erasable bond paper.

C'mon, think....

I think this fixes everything.

And if I'm correct, and this does fix everything, don't credit me. Credit Millie. aka Lacey Davenport.

She suggested this to me and some other folks back in the summer of '81. (Well, the 'vote on every bill' part, anyway.) Too early to make the Net. So I just logged it into the Net.

If she was still around, this idea might get some traction.

Millicent Fenwick vote on every bill rules committee system congressional reform
____
* - "Help the bombadier." - Joseph Heller, "Catch 22"

"Well, Boys Will Be Boys"

25 years ago, Israel had the foresight and cojones to bomb Saddam Hussein's Osirak nuclear reactor, which Jacques Chirac had sold to him and was just finishing the installation. It would go live in a short time. Bombing it once live would create a potential Chernobyl- type disaster.

"Well, boys will be boys."

-- President Reagan, upon being informed of the Israeli raid that used US-supplied F-16 jets.

Read the book, "Raid on the Sun."

Thugs Fined $1.6M for Thuggery

It's been a good year for victories over effete thugs claiming immunity:

WASHINGTON (AP) - Wen Ho Lee, the former nuclear weapons scientist once suspected of being a spy, settled his privacy lawsuit Friday and will receive $1.6 million from the government and five news organizations in a case that turned into a fight over reporters' confidential sources.

The payment by AP, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and ABC is the only one of its kind in recent memory, and perhaps ever, legal and media experts said.

The companies said they agreed to the sum to forestall jail sentences for their reporters, even larger payments in the form of fines and the prospect of revealing confidential sources.

Two federal judges held the reporters in contempt for refusing to reveal their sources to Lee. The journalists had argued that he could obtain the information elsewhere.

ReutersGate: The Newest MSM RatherGate?

Charles @ LGF was the proximate cause of the RatherGate scandal being fully exposed.

Now, after receiving a noxious (and perhaps threatening) email from a Reuters ("al-Reuters" to many, for its anti-Israeli slant on news) account, Charles has once again technologically outclassed the sophomoric islamofascist(s) who work at, or have access to, the Reuters email account.

Reuters has assured Charles that the "individual who was responsible" has been suspended. Yet, the very account continues to ping LGF. The story is no longer the initial quasi threat - islamofascist comment; rather, it is that Reuters is engaging in a cover up - CBS "RatherGate" style -- that is, Reuters claims that the person has been suspended, when obviously they have not.

The still breaking story is here.

***