300 MILLION SHEEP

Today's Mack Attack is aimed at the citizenry of the United States. All 295 million of us who have let this adminstration get away with whatever they feel like bitch-slapping us with.
Case in point: Scooter Libby, Dick Cheney's Karl Rove, was indicted and stepped down from office because it was alleged that he leaked classified information, i.e. the undercover identity of a covert CIA agent (Valerie Plame) to the press in a personal act of political vengeance.
Granted, he is just the fall guy who did the bidding for the Vice President but nonetheless, this is a top government official leaking top secret government information.
At any other time in this great country's history, this would be called what it purports to be...TREASON! Greater men were hanged for lesser deeds and Benedict Arnold, that infamous historical traitor, did far less than this to establish his enduring villany.
So what happens to Libby?
He steps down from office with a fantastic pension intact. Republicans raise money for his defense, get him the best crooked lawyer their money can buy, and now, just in case it doesn't work out and they can't convince a jury that black is white and up is down, they set his court date for January, 2007. TWO MONTHS AFTER THE MID-TERM CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS.
And we'll let them do it.

Our apathy will surely be reflected by the lack of comments that this posting will receive.

See the COMMENTS button at the bottom of this post? No, I didn't think you did.

WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Friday set former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's trial date in the CIA leak case for January 2007, two months after the midterm congressional elections.
The trial for Libby, who faces perjury and obstruction of justice charges, will begin with jury selection Jan. 8, said U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton. The judge said he had hoped to start the trial in September but one of Libby's lawyers had a scheduling conflict that made that impractical.
Walton said he does not like "to have a case linger" but had no choice because Libby attorney Ted Wells will be tied up for 10 weeks on another case.
Libby, formerly chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was indicted late last year on charges that he lied to FBI agents and a federal grand jury about how he learned CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson's identity and when he subsequently told reporters.
Wells said Libby's defense team was "very happy" with the trial date. It "will permit us the time we need to prepare Mr. Libby's defense," he told reporters outside the courthouse.
"The defense will show that Mr. Libby is totally innocent, that he has not done anything wrong," Wells continued, as Libby silently stood nearby. "And he looks forward to being totally vindicated by a jury."
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald did not oppose the date during the hearing, and his team left the courthouse without commenting.
The judge also told the lawyers that he wants them to identify soon the reporters that each side wants to testify at trial to avoid delays while news organizations fight the subpoenas.
So far, Libby's lawyers have told Walton they want to seek notes and other documents from news organizations. But it was clear from the hearing that both sides expect to seek trial testimony from reporters.
Fitzgerald said both sides should know which reporters they want to subpoena by early spring.
Libby, 55, spoke only once during the hearing, when Walton asked if he understood that his lawyers had waived his rights to a speedy trial because of the case's complexity. Libby, surrounded by six lawyers at the defense table, stood and said, "Yes, sir."
When he arrived at the courthouse Friday morning, Libby stopped for coffee and made small talk with reporters as he headed to a conference room on the second floor.
CIA operative Plame's identity was published in July 2003 by columnist Robert Novak after her husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, accused the Bush administration of twisting intelligence about Iraq's efforts to buy uranium "yellowcake" in Niger. The year before, the CIA had sent Wilson to Africa to determine the accuracy of the uranium reports.
Walton did not hear arguments on motions that Libby's lawyers have filed over disputes they have with Fitzgerald. Instead, the judge set a series of deadlines for additional motions and scheduled future hearings, the first on Feb. 24.
In only a few filings so far, Libby's lawyers have revealed a significant part of their strategy.
A key element is their contention that Libby may have been confused when he told FBI agents and the grand jury about his conversations with reporters for NBC, Time and The New York Times. But he didn't lie, the lawyers plan to argue.
The defense attorneys maintain that Libby believed Plame's employment by the CIA was common knowledge among reporters. To prove it, they want Walton to let them obtain notes kept by other reporters — besides the three identified in Libby's indictment — so they can determine when journalists first heard about Plame and from whom.
Another key aspect of the defense strategy is to show that Libby had his mind on more pressing government business and couldn't be bothered with a plot — if one existed — to get even with Wilson by outing his wife.
The first half of Friday's hourlong hearing was public, with a second segment held behind closed doors.
In the secret session, Walton was to begin setting deadlines for evaluating what currently classified evidence Libby will be allowed to present to a jury in open court.
Libby's lawyers set the case on a dual track — one public, one secret — when they recently put the judge and prosecutors on notice that they want a jury to hear classified evidence.
Fitzgerald told the judge that he has turned over "99 percent" of the evidence he believes he is obligated to provide to the defense. Last night, he said, he gave 250 pages to the defense. An additional 800 pages were turned over Friday morning, Fitzgerald said.
But Wells said the prosecutor has "thousands and thousands and thousands" of pages of evidence that he has not provided to the defense. Wells said the defense will file its "core" motions, seeking those materials, in the coming weeks.

IQ TEST

1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?

The correct answer is: Open the refrigerator, put in the giraffe, and close the door.
This question tests whether you tend to do simple things in an overly complicated way.

2. How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator?

Did you say, Open the refrigerator, put in the elephant, and close the refrigerator? Wrong Answer. Correct Answer: Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe, put in the elephant and close the door. This tests your ability to think through the repercussions of your previous actions.

3. The Lion King is hosting an animal conference. All the animals attend... except one. Which animal does not attend?

Correct Answer: The Elephant. The elephant is in the refrigerator. You just put him in there. This tests your memory. Okay, even if you did not answer the first three questions correctly, you still have one more chance to show your true abilities.

4. There is a river you must cross but it is used by crocodiles, andyou do not have a boat. How do you manage it?

Correct Answer: You jump into the river and swim across.
Have you not been listening? All the crocodiles are attending the Animal Meeting.

This tests whether you learn quickly from your mistakes.

According to AndersonConsulting Worldwide, around 90% of theprofessionals they tested got all questions wrong, but many preschoolers got several correct answers. Anderson Consulting says this conclusively disproves the theory that most professionals have the brains of a four-year-old.

Coincidence?

This year, both Groundhog Day and the State of the Union address both fell on the same day.
As Air America Radio pointed out, "It is an ironic juxtaposition of events: one involves a meaningless ritual in which we look to a creature of little intelligence for prognostication while the other involves a groundhog."

Here are some updates to Friday's stories:

Muslim indignation over caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed in the European press continued unabated Monday, with further violence in several countries around the globe.
In Afghanistan, one demonstrator was killed in the eastern city of Mihtarlam and two demonstrators and two policemen wounded during a protest there, according to Afghan Interior Minister spokesman Yousif Stanikzai. In the Bagram area north of the capital Kabul two demonstrators died and two were wounded after shooting during a protest, Bagram's security chief Mawlana Abdul Rahmen said.
In Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, hundreds of Indonesian Muslims took to the streets in several cities to condemn the Mohammed caricatures.
In the East Java capital of Surabaya, police fired warning shots after a group of about 300 Muslim activists from the Islamic Defender Front forced their way into the US consulate in the second-largest city in Indonesia.
Iran meanwhile was tensely awaiting a demonstration planned for Monday evening at the Danish embassy, on a day of violent clashes between demonstrators and police at a protest demonstration in front of the Austrian embassy in Tehran.
Demonstrators tried to set the Austrian embassy ablaze but could only burn down the embassy gate, witnesses said. A large number of police and anti-riot forces could not prevent the fire at the gate but succeeded in preventing further damage.
The Tehran Fire Department quickly arrived on the scene and extinguished the fire, witnesses said. Police had in the meantime dispersed the crowd from the embassy area. The Austrian embassy was apparently chosen as Austria is the current European Union president.
In New Delhi, at least 16 people including 11 policemen were injured during a protest by students.
Police at the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in the Indian capital said 11 policemen and two students were treated for injuries after the police tried to prevent students from Jamia Millia Islamia University (JMI) from reaching the Danish embassy.
In Cairo, thousands of Egyptian students demonstrated in universities across Cairo to protest against the cartoons while calls for a boycott of Danish products continued.
More than 10,000 students marched at the Azhar University campus in a Cairo suburb condemning the caricatures while an additional 5,000 students at Helwan and Cairo universities also staged separate protests organized by the student unions on campus.
In Pakistan, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz met the visiting Italian deputy foreign minister in Islamabad and condemned publication and reprinting of blasphemous caricatures depicting the Prophet Mohammed in the European media, an official statement said.
"Publication of these sketches has profoundly hurt the sentiments of Muslims all over the world," Aziz told Margherita Boniver, days after Pakistan formally lodged protests with at least nine European countries through their envoys in Islamabad.
Amid the ongoing Muslim protests, Western leaders both came forward to criticize the media for publishing the caricatures, but also to condemn the violence by demonstrators.
In Brussels, Johannes Laitenberger, spokesman for the EU Commission, said "We are aware that the cartoons published in European media have aggrieved many Muslims around the world, but no grievance - perceived or real - justifies acts of violence such as perpetrated on the weekend."
The Commission condemned the violence in the strongest possible terms, he underlined. But it also acknowledged that the majority of Muslims "have clearly distanced themselves from such violence," Laitenberger added.
In Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that while she could understand the outrage felt in Arab countries, it did not justify the violence.
"Violence cannot be an instrument in the argument," she said. "I can understand that people in Arab nations are outraged by these cartoons, but this does not justify violence during demonstrations."
In Paris, French President Jacques Chirac firmly condemned the violence against Danish interests in the Muslim world. In a telephone conversation with Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Chirac "expressed his condemnation of all acts of violence directed against the Danish and foreign embassies and his solidarity with Denmark," Chirac's spokesman Jerome Bonnafont said.
In the Czech and Slovak republics, Catholic leaders criticized the publication of a Danish editorial cartoon that's triggered angry reactions from Muslims around the world.
Separate statements suggesting the cartoon of Islam's Prophet Mohammed had gone too far were released in Bratislava by the chairman of the Slovak Bishops Conference, Monsignor Frantisek Tondra, and in Prague by the head of Czech Catholics, Cardinal Miloslav Vlk.
Meanwhile in Copenhagen, the newspaper Jyllands-Posten, which initially published the 12 caricatures last September 30, said it is considering a request by imams in Denmark to publish a joint statement.
The proposal by Imamg Ahmed Akkari would be for the newspaper to "unambiguously" apologize for the cartoons, in return for which the imams would urge Muslims to stop their protests. Jyllands-Posten chief editor Carsten Juste said the proposal was "well worth considering."


Muslim Anti-Cartoon Clashes Turn Deadly

KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan security forces opened fire on demonstrators Monday, leaving at least four dead, as increasingly violent protests erupted around the world over published caricatures of Islam's Prophet Muhammad. European and Muslim politicians pleaded for calm.
The worst of the violence was outside Bagram, the main U.S. base in Afghanistan, with Afghan police firing on some 2,000 protesters as they tried to break into the heavily guarded facility, said Kabir Ahmed, the local government chief.
Two demonstrators were killed and five were injured, while eight police also were hurt, he said. No U.S. troops were involved in the clashes, Ahmed said.
Lebanon, meanwhile, apologized to Denmark a day after thousands of rampaging Muslim demonstrators set fire to the building housing the Danish mission in Beirut to protest the series of cartoons satirizing Islam's holiest figure.
The European Union issued stern reminders to 18 Muslim countries that they are obliged under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations to protect foreign embassies, and Austria which now holds the EU Council presidency, reported calling in a top representative of the Organization of the Islamic Conference to express concerns for the safety of diplomatic missions.
The prime ministers of Spain and Turkey issued a Christian-Muslim appeal for calm, saying "we shall all be the losers if we fail to immediately defuse this situation."
But Turkey's Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said media freedoms cannot be limitless and that hostility against Muslims was replacing anti-Semitism in the West.
Anger has been spreading over the 12 caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that were first published in Denmark's Jyllands-Posten in September and recently reprinted in European media and elsewhere in what the newspapers say is a statement of free speech.
One depicted the prophet wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with a burning fuse. The Danish paper said it had asked cartoonists to draw the pictures because the media was practicing self-censorship when it came to Muslim issues.
The drawings have touched a raw nerve in part because Islamic law is interpreted to forbid any depictions of the Prophet Muhammad for fear they could lead to idolatry.
Afghan police also fired on protesters in the central city of Mihtarlam after a man in the crowd shot at them and others threw stones and knives, Interior Ministry spokesman Dad Mohammed Rasa said. Two demonstrators were shot to death, and two police were injured, officials said.
In Kabul, about 200 protesters tried to break down the gate of a the Danish government's diplomatic mission office but failed, said police who were guarding the building.
The protesters then threw stones at the mission and beat some officers guarding it, as well some guards at a nearby house used by Belgian diplomats. Police later used batons and rifle butts to disperse demonstrators walking toward the presidential palace. An Associated Press reporter saw at least three protesters bleeding from injuries, and at least seven more were arrested and driven away in a police vehicle.
"Long live Islam! We are Muslims! We don't let anyone insult our prophet!" chanted the demonstrators, many of whom appeared to be teenagers. They also chanted, "Down with America!" and slogans against the Afghan and U.S. presidents.
Some protesters moved toward the main American base in city and threw stones that smashed windows of a guard house. Police standing amid the protesters watched but did not intervene.
About 200 demonstrators in Iran threw stones at the Austrian Embassy in Tehran, breaking windows and throwing firecrackers that started small fires. The demonstration lasted two hours, but police quickly extinguished the blazes and stopped some protesters from throwing stones.
Several thousand Iraqis rallied in southern Iraq, burning Danish, German and Israeli flags, as well as an effigy of Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, to demand diplomatic and economic ties be severed with countries in which the caricatures were published.
Protesters called for the death of anyone who insults Muhammad and demanded withdrawal of 530-member Danish military contingent operating under British control.
Danish Capt. Philip Ulrichsen said Danish troops were shot at and targeted by stone-throwing youths on Sunday. A roadside bomb planted in the area also was defused. No soldiers were wounded in any of the incidents.
Several thousand students massed peacefully in Cairo on the campus of al-Azhar University, the oldest and most important seat of Sunni Muslim learning in the world, to protest the drawings.
The main city in Indian-controlled Kashmir came to a standstill as shops, businesses and schools shut down for a day to protest the caricatures. Dozens of Muslim protesters torched Danish flags, burned tires, shouted slogans and hurled rocks at passing cars in several parts of Srinagar.
In the Indian capital of New Delhi, riot police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse hundreds of students from Jamia University, who chanted slogans and burned a Danish flag.
Muslim leaders in Australia demanded a newspaper there apologize after it published one of the cartoons.
Palestinian police in Gaza City used batons to beat back stone-throwing protesters who gathered outside the European Commission building. About 200 protesters waved green flags symbolizing the Islamic Hamas movement and the yellow flags of the secular Fatah Party.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel also called for an end to violence and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the country would try to use its contacts with Arab countries to cool the violence.
"We cannot allow this argument to become a battle between cultures," Steinmeier said.
Lebanese Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said the government had unanimously "rejected and condemned the ... riots," saying they had "harmed Lebanon's reputation and its civilized image and the noble aim of the demonstration."
"The Cabinet apologizes to Denmark," Aridi said.
Police investigating Sunday's fire and riot at the building housing the Danish mission said that, contrary to previous reports, the mission offices were intact. The fire and wrecking of offices had been confined to Lebanese businesses on lower floors.
At least one person died, 30 were injured half of them security officials and about 200 people were detained in Sunday's violence, officials said. Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said the arrested included 76 Syrians, 35 Palestinians and 38 Lebanese.
The Beirut violence came a day after violent protests in neighboring Syria, including the burning of the Danish and Norwegian missions. The United States accused the Syrian government of backing the protests in Lebanon and Syria, an accusation also made by anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero published a column in the Paris-based International Herald Tribune in which they appealed for "respect and calm," saying the dispute "can only leave a trail of mistrust and misunderstanding between both sides."
The protests over the caricatures also claimed their first political casualty on Sunday when Lebanese Interior Minister Hassan Sabei submitted his resignation after the parliamentary opposition and even some Cabinet colleagues demanded he step down. The government appeared divided, saying it only "took note" of the resignation offer.