Arianna has an update on jailed New York Times journalist Judith Miller. Miller, according to Arianna's source, may be getting ready to talk. Miller may be seeking a "proper release" so she can talk without violating the journalistic principles she went to jail to uphold.

What's this all about? My take: Fitzgerald's grand jury is winding down. He's ready to charge Miller with criminal contempt which is a whole different ball of wax than the civil contempt charge on which she's now doing time. The newly sought waiver, I suspect, as does Arianna, is an excuse. Miller could have sought one before going to jail.

The reason the "proper release" doesn't wash is that Miller has said all along that she doesn't want to comply with the subpoena because once she complies, there's nothing to stop Fitzgerald from asking her about more sources, like he did with Matt Cooper, and then it never ends. But, a waiver from source A, "proper" or personal or unconditonal or whatever you want to call it, doesn't solve this problem. So, it seems like Ms. Miller is trying to make a deal to avoid more time and save as much journalistic face as she can.

Any way you look at it, it's crunch time for Judith Miller.

posted by Last Night in Little Rock

MSNBC reports on another gathering storm: The Democrats and the 2006 election: "Democrats declare open season on Bush / In wake of Hurricane Katrina, a political tornado gains strength."

by Last Night in Little Rock

The lunatic fringe of all religions have stated that New Orleans is being punished for being "sin city"--Christians, the Christian Taliban, and Muslims alike. Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell thankfully shut up. Remember their idiocies after 9/11, as recounted here?

by Last Night in Little Rock

An indictment against the political action committee formed Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX,22) was released today in Austin, TX. No individuals were charged with any wrongdoing, including Rep. DeLay.

by Last Night in Little Rock

Always a source of entertainment these days is a press briefing by Presidential Press Secretary Scott McClellan. Somebody at the White House dutifully transcribes these jewels for us. (The DoD website has proved to be fodder for Rumsfeldisms, which produced a good book and as shown here.)

Today's is no exception. Today's is priceless. It reminds me of the Cold War era films shown in school of what to do in a nuculer attack: "Duck and cover."

This is just too good. McClellan invokes the "blame game" defense and gets it shoved down his throat. Just about a fourth of it appears below, but the rest is on the link above.

by Last Night in Little Rock

The NY Times tomorrow has an article about the chaos in the legal system in NOLA, an issue that has been flying around the NACDL list serv since the storm. Criminal defense lawyers have been hearing these horror stories for over a week.

It compares the problems in NOLA today to the chaos after the Chicago Fire of 1871.

Yesterday, I wrote about the Administration's decision not to let the media have access to Hurricane Katrina photos of the dead. Vincent Carroll of the Rocky Mountain News took a swipe at TalkLeft for criticizing the decision.

Critics of the Federal Emergency Management Agency are shellacking it again for barring journalists from taking pictures of Hurricane Katrina's victims as bodies are pulled from receding waters.
"This is reminiscent of the policy against photographs of the flag-draped coffins of dead soldiers," declared the Denver-based TalkLeft blog in a typical complaint. "Anything that puts the government in a bad light becomes taboo."

posted by Last Night in Little Rock

This was written by Chris Rose of the Times-Picayune:

Dear America,

I suppose we should introduce ourselves: We're South Louisiana.

We have arrived on your doorstep on short notice and we apologize for that, but we never were much for waiting around for invitations. We're not much on formalities like that.

by TChris

Has spinmeister Rove saved the president's fanny again?

White House officials must be breathing a sigh of relief about the news coverage this morning that increasingly depicts the controversy over the government's response to the Gulf Coast disaster as a largely -- or even purely -- partisan issue.

Maybe not.

by TChris

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani thinks Saddam Hussein should “be executed 20 times a day for his crimes against humanity," which seems the very definition of overkill. One execution normally suffices to achieve the desired result.

Talabani claims an investigating judge “was able to extract confessions from Saddam's mouth” about various killings during Hussein’s regime. Hussein’s lawyer, Khalil Dulaimi, contends that Hussein didn’t confess and that the judge who leaked the claimed confessions to Talabani “must resign immediately.”

Dulaimi rebuked Talabani for his remarks, saying they meant "there will be no chance of a fair and clean trial."

The trial, before a special tribunal, is scheduled to commence on October 19. Meanwhile, the regime change orchestrated by President Bush hasn’t produced an end to indiscriminate killing in Iraq.

A police spokesman on Thursday said police had located 14 unidentified bodies in civilian clothes at several sites near the town of Mahmoudiyah, about 30 kilometers south of Baghdad. He said all had been shot to death.

by Last Night in Little Rock

Twenty years ago last month, a Japan Airlines Boeing 747 crashed into a mountain and killed 520. Because of Japanese culture, without waiting for determining who was at fault, the President of Japan Airlines immediately made a point to personally visit with the survivors of all passengers that he could find and personally apologize. I remember the video of the man bowing to the person receiving him. Aside from disaster, the Japanese also apologize for inconveniencing someone else.

In times of great personal disgrace, Japanese culture also recognized "the fine art of seppuku," the ultimate in acceptance of personal responsibility.

We used to hear our government officials talk of that concept. Now, of course, they have spun it around to the "personal responsibility" of those who lacked the wherewithal to escape New Orleans instead of their own responsibility. Spin for the sake of saving face. No matter that they swept up with the poor the nursing home and hospital patients who had no ability to escape who died in their beds.

In American culture, a simple resignation for the good of the country or the President would be enough. But that requires class, style, a conscience, and a desire to do the right thing; something these people all lack.

We have a lot to learn from Japanese culture.

by Last Night in Little Rock

The NY Times today has a surreal article today about "post-apocalypse" New Orleans: Macabre Reminder: The Corpse on Union Street.

This is a view the talking heads on TV will never give us, with words with power.