Time Magazine to turn over subpoenaed records

CNN - Time Inc. announced Thursday it would turn over the subpoenaed records from journalist Matt Cooper regarding the leak of a CIA operative's name, even though it "strongly disagrees" with the court order

I think some might look at this event as an interference between the U.S. Government and the Freedom of the Press. I see it a bit differently. I see it as setting rule of law above excuses to break the law. - For those who missed it here is a quick recap: Matt Cooper and Judith Miller of the New York Times were facing up to four months in jail for refusing to reveal their confidential sources in the "Plame is a CIA agent" revelation.

Because federal law makes it a crime to deliberately reveal the identity of a CIA operative, the Justice Department launched an investigation...
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Miller and Cooper and their news organizations decided to fight the subpoenas, although Cooper did reveal one unnamed source who released him from confidentiality pledge.
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Ironically, Miller faces jail time for refusing to reveal sources she developed during her reporting, even though she never actually wrote a story on Plame or Wilson.

Prying1 sez:
It is a no brainer. If some 'source' broke the law in revealing information to me you bet your sweet bippy the 'source' will find his name on the judges desk before the spit dries on the envelope flap... I realize I am in no way on the same playing field as the big boys in the news rooms and they need to have 'sources' that sometimes need anonymity BUT should any citizen, a newsman or not, fall on the sword for another citizen who is breaking or has broken the law.

Hypotheticals aside I think the answer should reflect the importance of the rule of law.

I love it when I don't have to work!!!

AubreyJ.org (Just another BLOGGER's website) Has said everything anybody Right or Left could say about President Bush's Tues night speech. As a four fingered typist I love it. I need only link to his post and I'm pretty much done.

Now WE (this includes you, dear reader) need only get everyone in the world to read AubreyJ's post. Then everyone can shut up and get back to work. Email the link for his post to 10 people and you will have good luck for one week. Email it to 100 people and you will have 10,000 butterflies settle upon your house.

One of the stupidest things I've heard from the left!!!

Hat tip to - Left End of The Dial - (Another Slap Happy place to visit)

Tribunal on Iraq Findings
World Tribunal on Iraq

Monday 27 June 2005

The attack on Iraq is an attack on justice, on liberty, on our safety, on our future, on us all - The Jury of Conscience

Istanbul, 27 June, 2005 - With a Jury of Conscience from 10 different countries hearing the testimonies of 54 members of the Panel of Advocates who came from across the world, including Iraq, the United States and the United Kingdom, this global civil initiative came to an end with a press conference at the Hotel Armada where the chair of the Jury of Conscience, Arundathi Roy, announced the Jury's conclusions.
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Am I supposed to believe this PANEL met without any preconceived ideas on how it would turn out?
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The Jury defined this war as one of the most unjust in history: 'The Bush and Blair administrations blatantly ignored the massive opposition to the war expressed by millions of people around the world. They embarked upon one of the most unjust, immoral, and cowardly wars in history. The Anglo-American occupation of Iraq of the last 27 months has led to the destruction and devastation of the Iraqi state and society. Law and order have broken down completely, resulting in a pervasive lack of human security; the physical infrastructure is in shambles; the health care delivery system is a mess; the education system has ceased to function; there is massive environmental and ecological devastation; and, the cultural and archeological heritage of the Iraqi people has been desecrated.'
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Why do groups like these ignore the hundreds of thousands raped, pillaged and murdered by Saddam and his henchmen? Why do they ignore the gassing of the Kurds?
Why do they ignore the environmental benefits Iraq has received? Why do they ignore the OIL for PAYOFF scandal with the UN?
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Perhaps this is why - Number one recommendation by this group of fool leftists!

We recommend:

1. The immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the coalition forces from Iraq;
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In other words, let the country go back to the terrorists so that mayhem continues and leaves a toehold for world socialism.

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prying1 sez: When you meet these people on the street the same treatment should be given to them as the statue of Saddam Hussein received. Beat them over the head with your shoe!!!

Space Station gets 2001 Upgrade (At Last)

Those who saw and loved the Stanley Kubrick film "2001: A Space Odyssey" will be pleased to know that the Space Station has finally upgraded 'in part' to reach the year 2001. Although the voice activated computer 'Clarissa' does not have HAL's artificial intelligence it is believed that this system will be much nicer. From what I gather the system sounds even nicer than the voices in my head.
~~~~~~~~~ Quotes from New Scientist magazine ~~~~~~~~~~~
Called Clarissa, the program will initially talk astronauts on the International Space Station through tests of onboard water supplies. But its developers hope it will eventually be used for all computer-related work on the station.
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Clarissa was designed with input from astronauts. They said it was difficult to perform the 12,000 procedures necessary to maintain the ISS and conduct scientific experiments while simultaneously reading through lengthy instruction manuals.
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Clarissa's software runs on a laptop and astronauts interact with it using a headset, which helps screen out noise from the station. The program "listens" to everything astronauts say and analyses what to do in response using a "command grammar" of 75 commands based on a vocabulary of 260 words.
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It accurately interprets those commands about 94% of the time, but if it makes a mistake, astronauts can correct it with commands like, "no, I meant...". But because Clarissa listens to everything, early versions of the program misinterpreted whether an astronaut was giving it a command or having an unrelated conversation about 10% of the time.
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Personally I thought the movie stunk. Talk about boring. It did work well as a sleeping aid but I'd rather have insomnia... Hopefully Clarrissa will not put the astronauts to sleep.

(Link in NewScientist.com story to NASA video)

Moving Forward a Bit.

As I sat in this computer room/library I finally decided on Friday it was time to get back to work selling on eBay. I need to clear our some of the stacks of books. Hoping they go to homes that need/want them. I had quite a business going until a few months back and got out of the habit of listing items for sale. Mostly dealing in books but on occasion I would list other items such as printing equipment and even a 1940's stove. It went to a little cabin in Big Bear CA.

One thing I would appreciate was hooking the right book up to the right person. Usually at a discount from the online book sellers. Sometimes I would get emails from customers telling of how their niece/nephew just loved the book or a teacher saying he had to borrow a copy from a friend every year to teach a portion of his class. That one was a great deal for him. $50.00 for a hard to find book. I only saw one copy online and the bookseller wanted $200.00 for it.

Anyway, expect me to tout my eBay sales on occasion. I lucked out. Decided to start fresh with a new eBay name and guess what was available? - 'prying1' - That's right. Your (semi) favorite blogger now has the same eBay nom de plume. - Click here to check my eBay offerings.