Karl Rove: More anti-American Than Osama bin Laden
or, They Execute Traitors, Don’t They?

I’m generally opposed to the death penalty, but in Karl Rove’s case I could see my way clear to an exception.

At http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/archive/lawrence-odonnell/rove-blew-cia-agents-cov_3556.html Lawrence O’Donnell reveals:

I revealed in yesterday’s taping of the McLaughlin Group that Time magazine’s emails will reveal that Karl Rove was Matt Cooper’s source. I have known this for months but didn’t want to say it at a time that would risk me getting dragged into the grand jury.
McLaughlin is seen in some markets on Friday night, so some websites have picked it up, including Drudge, but I don’t expect it to have much impact because McLaughlin is not considered a news show and it will be pre-empted in the big markets on Sunday because of tennis.
Since I revealed the big scoop, I have had it reconfirmed by yet another highly authoritative source. Too many people know this. It should break wide open this week. I know Newsweek is working on an ‘It’s Rove!’ story and will probably break it tomorrow.

Indeed, Newsweek has this at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8445696/site/newsweek/:

The e-mails surrendered by Time Inc., which are largely between [Time reporter] Cooper and his editors, show that one of Cooper’s sources was White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, according to two lawyers who asked not to be identified because they are representing witnesses sympathetic to the White House.

Title 18, Part I, Chapter 115, paragraph 2381 of the United States Code reads:

Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.

Reads a lot like the definition of someone who unmasks a CIA operative (Valerie Plame) for rank political gain, doesn’t it?

Of course, if this is true, odds are that this goes straight to the top, to Piehole his own self. Can you really buy Rove acting without authorization? If so, there’s no time for a lengthy impeachment process. The feds should burst into the White House, throw a bag over his head, stick him in an orange jumpsuit and drag him off to Guantánamo–or “render” him to a “friendly” country like Uzbekistan or Syria–for a lengthy session with our “humane” torturers.

The only questions now are:

Do Republicans have a shred of patriotism or loyalty to American legal principles left?

and

Do Democrats have the slightest spine left?

They released this stuff over a somnolent July 4th weekend, but if there’s any sanity we won’t be talking about much else during the coming days. This is huge, even bigger than Justice O’Connor’s replacement and certainly worse than anything Richard Nixon or Bill Clinton ever did to merit impeachment. Rove’s head isn’t enough. Not that the Administration doesn’t deserve prosecution on everything from war crimes to obstruction of justice, but the Rove-Plame connection ought to be enough to stop this charade of a faux government once and for all.

Ted Rall Merchandise Returns!

Enough of you fine patriotic readers replied to my request last week to justify the roll-out of the brand-new merchandise section. I look forward to hearing your feedback.

Now It Begins

What a week–first the Bush Administration starts sabre-rattling with Iran over the possibility that their president-elect was one of the hostage-takers at the 1979 embassy seizure in Teheran. Now Justice Sandra Day O’Connor is resigning, setting the stage for a wholesale nuclear option meltdown in the Senate. No doubt about it, Bush will look to replace this moderate swing voter with a hard-line right-winger. Sadly, the Democrats will squawk loudly only to roll over in the end, as they always do…or maybe not. Either way, buckle your seatbelts. Bush never misses a chance to avoid a confrontation.

Ted Rall Subscription Service

Joe asks:

Are you still doing the email subscription service for $10 a year? I can finally afford it but lost the info, could you post the details on the blog or send it to me? Thanks.

Indeed I am. I usually do this at the end of the year to make things simple, but anyone who wants to join the Ted Rall Subscription Service here at the midway point of yon fiscal year may do so, either by sending $5 (for the last half of 2005) to:

Ted Rall
PO Box 1134
New York NY 10027

Be sure to include your email address with your payment.

or sending the dough via PayPal. For the latter drop me an email at chet@rall.com.

What you get:

3 cartoons a week plus a column, delivered in many cases up to 3-4 days prior to their official publication date directly via email–plus occasional freelance stuff that never gets posted to the website.

Stranger Reaction

Sandy from Utah writes:

My nephew Tom in Kansas sent me your article. Thanks for putting into words what many of us are feeling. I was with Quakers that held signs of peace and pleads for not invading Iraq. The fact that everything has been mismanaged and costly in terms of money and mostly lives continues to sicken me. However, you missed an important point: This is slowly becoming a Bush war with an invitation for a “Holy War”. I live where Evangelicals are plentiful and their mantra remains joyful. Yes, these new age “Christians” are pleased that Muslim are dropping along with our Amreican hero/ soldiers…go figure? I fear that REAL trouble hasn’t even shown its ugly face. Thanks for your well written article….please keep it up.

Reading the above makes me shudder in fear that many Americans are clinically insane. Could it be true? Does anyone really want a holy war between the Christianists and Islam? What good could possible come out of it? Still, it’s obviously a phenomenon that we need to keep track of.

A Libbie Quandry

Dave writes:

On one hand, you have upholding the protection of First Amendment rights for the press and the protection of confidential sources for journalists. On the other hand, you really, really want to know who was involved in leaking the identity of Valerie Plame, with the fervent hope that it shows a direct path back to Karl Rove and the Oval Office…
What’s a liberal to do?
Personally, I think this is why douchebag of liberty, Bob Novak isn’t being bothered in all this. No liberal would really give a rats ass about protecting his rights. (Proper credit to Jon Stewart and the Daily Show for providing the greatest nickname in all of political punditry)

Ah, so true. The other quandry: standing up for the New York Times’ Judith Miller’s right to protect confidential sources while ignoring the fact that she played as important a role in getting us into Iraq as Karl Rove.

The Stranger

The Stranger, the alternative weekly newspaper in Seattle, has asked me to write a piece reacting to being proven right about the war in Iraq.

Yes.

Bill notes:

I watch and listen to the right-wing corporate media outlets just to get a feel for what kind of propaganda or distraction they are trying to present. The latest has got to be that girl from Alabama who disappeared in Jamaica. I feel bad for the girl and her family but how the fuck is this national headline news? I noticed that Fox seemed to be the first to lead with this story and the rest of the corporate media just seemed to follow suit. Nothing like a missing blonde haired girl to distract people from being outraged about a failing war that’s losing support.

You’re right about Fox. Even cynical moi was amazed to see O’Reilly spend the better part of 20 minutes on the Aruba story on the same day that Republican Congressmen were calling for the Gitmo concentration camp to be shut down. Paranthetical: Closing Gitmo would merely lead to more outsourcing of torture. Closing BUSH down is the best way to start restoring some semblance of decency to US foreign policy… State-controlled media has traveled so far down the path of total obeisance that it’s now forced to ignore the day’s top story in favor of manufactured tripe.

New Books

I’m currently working on a new book about Central Asia called “Silk Road to Ruin.” That’s due out in January. Due out around the same time will be “Attitude 3: The Subversive New Media Cartoonists,” with an emphasis on artists whose work appears online. And those of you who have been clamoring for a straightforward collection of my cartoons, the sequel to 2001’s “Search and Destroy” comes out next year. Title is: “America Gone Wild.”

Beyond that, anything is possible. I’m talking with one publisher about doing a graphic novel adaptation of a European play (gotta be coy here, sorry). I’m also due to start a project I’ve been researching for years, an all-prose novel. And there’s also a possibility of doing a foreign policy follow-up to “Wake Up, You’re Liberal!”, which focused on domestic issues. Of course, I’m always open to requests, should you have one.

Merchandise Update

Much-beloved Agitproperties.com, home to El Busho T-shirts and posters, has sadly gone under. I’m considering putting up some TR merch (T-shirts, mugs, etc.) at another site–well, first I’d have to find such a site–but before I spend a lot of time on this I’m wondering whether enough people would be interested to make such an endeavor worthwhile. So…if you’d buy a Ted Rall T-shirt or somesuch item, please email chet@rall.com…but only if you’d really, actually buy one. I do not want to hear from you if you’d consider buying one, or think seriously about buying one.

keyboard_arrow_up
css.php