Thursday, September 29, 2005

I refuse to testify!

Sander invited me to borrow his pulpit from time to time, and to use it as I choose to spread a bit of my own gospel, and I have declined. As a bold stand on journalistic ethics, I refuse to ever become one. Days have passed since he made the offer, and I have been steadfast in preserving my right to remain silent. I shall be unmoved. I will be like my journalistic hero, Judith Miller, of whom the New York Times said,

Reporters from other news organizations have endured longer jail time in the same important cause over the years, but for us and we hope for others, it should be clear after 41 days in a Virginia jail that Ms. Miller is not going to change her mind. She appears unwavering in her mission to safeguard the freedom of the press to do its job effectively. If she is not willing to testify after 41 days, then she is not willing to testify. It's time for the judge and the prosecutor to let Ms. Miller go.

That's right. If Judy will not talk, I will not... what? ... oh...

It seems Scooter gave her the go-ahead. link

I wonder why it took them so long to communicate such a simple message as, "feel free to talk."

I suppose I have two theories.

Perhaps she will testify that she gave Libby the info, and she will refuse to say anything more. This will satisfy the narrow subpoena on which she was called, and protect her from criminal contempt charges. By the time they can bring her back in and compel testimony as to her source, she will be able to run out the clock on what remains of the final month of the investigation.

My other theory, on why it took so long for Rove's office to make the waiver of confidentiality clear to Ms. Miller, is somewhat simpler. It merely involves the acoustic problems created when both the speaker and the listener have their heads up their asses.

At any rate, I guess I will testify a little bit in the coming days after all. As a general rule, I will probably not rant on the events of the day in the way I did this time. Instead, I think I will either focus on the politics of my local district, or sometimes go the opposite direction and look at some larger themes and memes. Either way, I will trust Sander to cover the mainland, and devote my time to some of the interesting coastlines.

Details to follow.