A lawyer involved in the Valerie Plame leak case has confirmed that Armitage was the primary source for Bob Novak's column outing Valerie Plame and the source of Washington Post Bob Woodward. [Note: Edited to reflect that the article may be referring to a lawyer involved in the case rather than Armitage's lawyer. Thanks to Patriot Daily for pointing this out to me.]

But the lawyer and other associates of Mr. Armitage have said he has confirmed that he was the initial and primary source for the columnist, Robert D. Novak, whose column of July 14, 2003, identified Valerie Wilson as a Central Intelligence Agency officer.

The Times says this ends the mystery. I disagree. The question remains of whether there was a concerted effort to use Valerie Plame Wilson's undercover or classified employment status with the CIA in an attempt to smear Joe Wilson and his public statements that Iraq was not attempting to acquire uranium from Niger, as Bush erroneously claimed in his 2003 State of the Union Address.

On Monday, I wrote over at 5280.com about a DEA officer who reportedly was attempting to raise money to campaign against the legalization of marijuana initiative that will be on the Colorado ballot in November. The initiative, sponsored by Safer Colorado, would legalize possession by adults of up to one ounce of marijuana. Denver voters passed a similar initiative last year, but the state said it would continue to enforce its law which makes such possession a petty offense punishable by up to a $100 fine. (Colorado also has a medical marijuana law that allows people to obtain a state license to possess and grow up to six plants if they submit a letter from their doctor.)

Today, the DEA responded to the report it intends to campaign against the measure and says it's not true.

What else on the anniversary of Katrina? Two very different versions: Johnny Cash and Arlo Guthrie singing the City of New Orleans.

Johnny Cash

Arlo Guthrie

A friend sent me this. I didn't find a source for it other than the Feb. 2006 The Jewish Magazine, but I find it provacative and food for thought. What do you think?

The Global Islamic population is approximately 1,200,000,000, or 20% of the world population.

They have received the following Nobel Prizes:

Literature:
1988 - Najib Mahfooz

Peace:
1978 - Mohamed Anwar El-Sadat
1994 - Yaser Arafat
1990 - Elias James Corey
1999 - Ahmed Zewa

I haven't yet had an opportunity to watch the Katrina and New Orleans coverage but I'm sure you have. Here's an open thread on all things related to Katrina -- the devastation and the Adminstration's woefully inadequate response. Will this tar Bush's legacy for good?

Matthew Diaz, a lawyer for the Navy, has been charged with disclosing documents pertaining to Guantanamo.

Lt. Cmdr. Matthew M. Diaz, who was stationed at the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay for six months, could face more than 36 years in prison if convicted at a military trial of the three charges he faces, Navy Mid-Atlantic Region spokeswoman Beth Baker said.

A charge sheet released Tuesday says Diaz, 40, printed out secret information related to national defense "with intent or reason to believe that the said information was to be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nation." The document also says Diaz "did ... wrongfully and dishonorably transmit classified documents to an unauthorized individual."

In plain English, according to Reuters:

Diaz was accused of mailing "a multi-page classified document that contained the names and other identifying information" about Guantanamo detainees from that base to "a nongovernmental organization not authorized to receive it," Baker said.

Diaz has been in the Army or Navy for the past 19 years, a career guy. He's not in jail and he continues to work for the Navy in Jacksonville, Fl. How dangerous could he be?

Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defended his country's nuclear program today, denounced the U.N. Security Council demand that Iran stop its enrichment program and called upon Bush to debate him in a world-wide televised event. The White House turned him down, calling the challenge a diversion.

The Security Council has given Iran until Thursday to suspend enrichment, a process that can produce either fuel for a reactor or material for weapons, or face economic and political sanctions.

"The U.S. and Britain are the source of many tensions," Ahmadinejad said at a news conference. "At the Security Council, where they have to protect security, they enjoy the veto right. If anybody confronts them, there is no place to take complaints to. "This (veto right) is the source of problems of the world. ... It is an insult to the dignity, independence, freedom and sovereignty of nations," he said.

(Guest Post by Big Tent Democrat)

From National Lampoon's "Animal House":

OTTER: Ladies and gentlemen, I'll be brief. The issue here is not whether we broke a few rules or took a few liberties . . . We did.

But you can't hold a whole fraternity responsible for the behaviour of a few sick, perverted individuals. If you do shouldn't we blame the whole fraternity system? And if the whole fraternity system is guilty then isn't this an indictment of our educational institutions in general?

I put it to you, Greg. Isn't this an indictment of our entire American society?

Well you can do what you want to us but we won't sit here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America!

From Rummy today:

An Iraqi architect was denied permission to board a Jet Blue flight because of an inscription on his t-shirt:

Raed Jarrar was wearing a T-shirt that read We Will Not Be Silent in Arabic and English, when he was approached by security officers. The officers said the Arabic script was upsetting other passengers, and told Jarrar to either turn the shirt inside out or wear something else. Jarrar protested but finally wore a T-shirt provided by a Jet Blue employee.

Jet Blue's response:

A spokesman for Jet Blue says the airline is investigating to see if the security officers were with the airline, the Transportation Security Administration or the Port Authority. He also said the airline does not forbid Arabic T-shirts, but that it does take into account the concerns of its passengers.

[hat tip Patriot Daily.]

Raw Story reports there will be a press conference this afternoon at which Bruce Afran and Carl Mayer, lawyers for the class action plaintiffs in the wiretap lawsuit against AT&T and Verizon will announce they are subpoenaing the Bush Administration and Verizon.

Mayer explained that the subpoena seeks to learn "whether the Bush administration has unlawfully targeted journalists, peace activists, libertarians, members of congress or generated an 'enemies list.'"

...The subpoenas come on the heels of two federal court decisions that were seen as blows to the Bush Administration warrantless spying program. Earlier this month, federal judge Anna Diggs Taylor ruled the entire program unconstitutional and illegal; another federal judge in San Francisco rejected the Bush Administration's attempt to dismiss these lawsuits by claiming they breach national security.

I've gotten lots of emails today saying that comments are not going through. I've opened them up to everyone without registration. I'll delete the spam tonight, just ignore any that show up.

TalkLeft is going to a new comment system after Labor Day. I'm also planning on changing from Movable Type to Scoop, and putting TalkLeft on its own dedicated server. That should speed up the commenting process and allow greater flexibility.

For those of you who emailed me today angry that your comments didn't show up, please know I didn't stop any comments from being posted. There are no comments showing they are "awaiting moderation." It's a MT or Typekey glitch, and both will be gone the week after Labor Day.

by TChris

Katherine Harris, as quoted in the Florida Baptist Witness:

Separation of church and state is "a lie we have been told," Harris said in the interview, published Thursday, saying separating religion and politics is "wrong because God is the one who chooses our rulers."

"If you're not electing Christians, then in essence you are going to legislate sin," Harris said.

Here's Katherine Harris "clarifying" her stated belief that there should be a religious test for public office, and that the Establish Clause of the First Amendment is a lie:

"My comments were specifically directed toward a Christian group," said Harris ....

Yes, we know they were. That's hardly an excuse. Does this mean Harris would have advocated electing members of a different faith if she'd been speaking to representatives of that faith?