This Could Be Big

Sid Blumenthal has looked more deeply into the Dan Rather suit against CBS and sees something I had been wondering about. Rather doesn't want the money, the first too-obvious interpretation many in our lap dog press have been mouthing. He wants vindication that the story about Bush's National Guard service was essentially correct and that the CBS management team sandbagged the story, and Rather, to ingratiate themselves with the Bush White House. Rather is a bulldog and he sees the chance to not only recover his reputation, but also to use the subpoena power of the suit to expose the whole rotten mess from the Bushies to CBS and Viacom. Watch for this one.

If the court accepts his suit, however, launching the adjudication of legal issues such as breach of fiduciary duty and tortious interference with contract, it will set in motion an inexorable mechanism that will grind out answers to other questions as well. Then Rather's suit will become an extraordinary commission of inquiry into a major news organization's intimidation, complicity and corruption under the Bush administration. No congressional committee would be able to penetrate into the sanctum of any news organization to divulge its inner workings. But intent on vindicating his reputation, capable of financing an expensive legal challenge, and armed with the power of subpoena, Rather will charge his attorneys to interrogate news executives and perhaps administration officials under oath on a secret and sordid chapter of the Bush presidency.

In making his case, Rather will certainly establish beyond reasonable doubt that George W. Bush never completed his required service in the Texas Air National Guard. Moreover, Rather's suit will seek to demonstrate that the documents used in his "60 Minutes II" piece were not inauthentic and that he and his producers acted responsibly in presenting them and the information they contained -- and that that information is true. Indeed, no credible source has refuted the essential facts of the story.

The Brisbane Times Looks at the Bush Entourage

I saw this link and am embarrassed for the arrogance and wastefulness of our boy preznit. I am sure the no-nonsense Aussies are shaking their heads. 700 people!! Everything about these people is shameful and disgusting.

The US President is bringing to Sydney with him not one Jumbo jet, but three, as well as another two aircraft that carry aircraft.

The president's Jumbo has a back-up, and the back-up has a back-up.

Air Force One is a specially converted 747-200B costing $400 million.

Its electronic gadgetry can jam enemy radar, and radar-guided missiles, and is equipped with flares to avoid heat-seeking missiles.

It can withstand electromagnetic shock waves from a nuclear blast.

The Jumbos are carrying 700 of the president's closest friends.

They include a doctor, nurse, personal chef and four cooks.

They are also carrying advisers, and it is clear the president will not be short of advice.

His entourage includes 50 White House political aides, 150 national security advisers and 200 specialists from other government departments.

POTUS, as he is known in Secret Service jargon (President Of The United States), is getting by with a mere 250 protective agents.