Costas Refuses to Do Show about Holloway Case

It's been a while since I last posted here (so busy with work), but I thought I'd take time to note that Bob Costas who's been guest-hosting the "Larry King Live" show on CNN refused to host a show about the non-news event of the missing white girl Natalee Holloway.

Kudos to Costas for taking a stand against news trivialization.

CAIR to Launch Anti-terrorism Ad Campaign

Coming to a TV near you, according to Reuters:

American Muslims have launched an advertising campaign to denounce acts of terrorism after bombers believed to be British Muslims killed at least 54 people in attacks on London.

"Any effort by terrorists to hide their criminal activities under the mask of religious piety is being categorically and unequivocally rejected by mainstream Muslims," said Parvez Ahmed, chairman of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

He said the television ad, which will air nationwide by July 19, is an attempt to detach Islam from the "heinous" acts of a few Muslims.

Police believe the attacks are linked to al Qaeda, the Islamic militant group behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States and the Madrid train bombings last year.

"Backlash is a concern ... but it's not our main motive," said CAIR spokeswoman Rabiah Ahmed. "Our main motivation lies with making sure our position is clear where Islam stands on terrorism."

The Admission That Wasn't

Doing a bit of catch-up on the Plame Game, I came across the beginnings of a web firestorm (see here, here, here, here, and here) about an apparent admission from Joe Wilson that his wife wasn't undercover at the time Robert Novak divulged Plame's occupation.

At issue is the following exchange Wilson had with Wolf Blitzer on CNN:

BLITZER: But the other argument that's been made against you is that you've sought to capitalize on this extravaganza, having that photo shoot with your wife, who was a clandestine officer of the CIA, and that you've tried to enrich yourself writing this book and all of that.

What do you make of those accusations, which are serious accusations, as you know, that have been leveled against you.

WILSON: My wife was not a clandestine officer the day that Bob Novak blew her identity.

BLITZER: But she hadn't been a clandestine officer for some time before that?

WILSON: That's not anything that I can talk about. And, indeed, I'll go back to what I said earlier, the CIA believed that a possible crime had been committed, and that's why they referred it to the Justice Department.

She was not a clandestine officer at the time that that article in Vanity Fair appeared. And I have every right to have the American public know who I am and not to have myself defined by those who would write the sorts of things that are coming out, being spewed out of the mouths of the RNC...

One reading of this is that taken by John Podhoretz at National Review's Corner:

Here is Joseph Wilson himself, talking to Wolf Blitzer on CNN today: “My wife was not a clandestine officer the day that Bob Novak blew her identity.” Read that again. Now reflect on the fact that there has been an ongoing investigation FOR TWO YEARS conducted, we were breathlessly and rather constantly told in the weeks surrounding the initial controversy, on the basis that the White House and reporters OUTED A CLANDESTINE AGENT. Now we know. She wasn’t. Not then.

As smarmy and self-aggrandizing as Joe Wilson is (what normal human being would put his name on a book called "The Politics of Truth"?), he's not so stupid as to completely undercut everything he's been yapping about for two years now. Obviously, he meant to say that his wife was no longer "under cover" the moment Creator's Syndicate released Bob Novak's column which mentioned her. I hope the bloggers who misinterpreted Wilson in this instance will correct the record.

Thankfully, Wilson's ill-deserved and over-utilized fame will soon be coming to an end as USA Today and the New York Times report that 1) Plame likely was not "covert agent" covered under the law administration critics accuse Rove and others of violating, 2) Rove heard about Plame from Novak and other journalists.

UPDATE 3:48, Podhoretz corrects the record, mostly.

Hillary Clinton, Wire Services, and Pixelated Sex

Wire services are very useful as clearinghouses of information. They're often good at breaking down complex situations and making them easier to understand for people who haven't been following the story. Sometimes, though, the simplification goes too far.

Such is the case with the AP's and Reuters's reporting about a controversy that's errupted over the popular video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. At issue is whether or not GTA's creator, Rockstar Games deliberately included (disabled) pornographic minigames that can be unlocked through downloading a minor hack of one of the PC version of the game's files.

After word got out of the PC hack (a PlayStation2 version soon followed), various people started getting involved including the video game industry's ratings body, the Entertainment Software Ratings Board. Next to step up was Senator Hillary Clinton who sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission asking it to investigate Rockstar.

In her FTC letter, the senator used the correct language to describe the situation. Reporting on Clinton's missive, however, the AP and Reuters were overly generic. While nothing the reporters said was false, it was misleading.

From the AP report:

Clinton, D-N.Y., is asking the Federal Trade Commission to probe how users of the game can access "graphic pornographic and violent content" for the game from the Internet.

Of course "access ... from the Internet" can mean a variety of things from third-party modules that can be downloaded (such as the infamous and short-lived Nude Raider mods) to unlocking disabled game features.

Reuters reporter Peter Kaplan phrased his story in more mysterious tones:

Clinton asked the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to investigate the origins of a downloadable modification that allows simulated sex in the personal computer version of one of the most popular and controversial video games in history.

This is all true, but Kaplan gave no hint as to "the origins" of the game patches, or even a statement from their creator, a Dutch individual going by the name PatrickW, despite the fact that he has an official statement about the patches on the front page his web site:

All the contents of this mod was [sic] already available on the original disks. Therefor the scriptcode, the models, the animations and the dialogs by the original voice-actors were all created by RockStar. The only thing I had to do to enable the mini-games was toggling a single bit in the main.scm file. (Of course it was not easy to find the correct bit). The Nude models that are used as a bonus in the Quick action version of the mod, were also already present on the original disk.
But all this material is completely inaccesible in an unmodded version of the game. It can therefor not be considered a cheat, easter-egg or hidden feature. But is most probably just leftover material from a gameplay idea that didn't make the final release. I would really like to stress that this material is only accessible after willfully applying the hot coffee mod (or something similar) to the game.

In the end, PatrickW will most likely to be proven correct. The idea that the ESRB should monitor and rate disabled and hidden code within games is absurd. Still, though, if the bad publicity continues for Rockstar, the company may very well pull the current version of GTA San An, even though Clinton's attempt to moderate her image will likely increase the game's sales among people who somehow think that polygon sex is kewl.

Va. Governor's Race Still the Same

I'm not a big follower of my state's politics, but do occasionally like to peek in on the electoral battles, especially since this year, Virginia is one of only two states with a governor's race.

According to the latest Rasmussen poll(a company whose record I'm not sure is entirely reliable), Republican Jerry Kilgore leads Democrat Tim Kaine by the same margin he did a month ago, though both candidates have gained a point. Kilgore is up 47 to 41.

The Anatomy of a Screwup

In a fascinating post, Ed Bott follows the story of how an anonymously sourced item speculating that Microsoft was in negotiations to buy adware company Claria (the maker of the Gator program) morphed on the web into an outright claim from the Boing Boing blog that the deal was done.

Demographics and Democrats

PoliPundit spots a Washington Times article claiming that interstate migration patterns are helping increase the population of Republican-leaning states, thereby increasing their clout in the electoral college. He files it under the "demographics-are-bad-for-Democrats" department which is somewhat premature. The ensuing discussion among the site's commenters (revolving around the question of who is migrating, liberals to the conservative states or conservatives seeking ideologically friendlier climes) is worth reading, though as yet, no one's pointed out that the article PoliPundit linked was written by Donald Lambro who is notorious in Washington for being as overly upbeat on Republicans' chances as the New York Times is on Democrats'.

On November 6, 2000 (article not online), Lambro claimed that California was "clearly in play" in the presidential election the next day and stated that Oregon, Maine, and Iowa "were leaning toward Mr. Bush." Bush lost all three.

Demographics are important, no question, but good strategy, the issue climate and candidate effectiveness are more of a factor on elections in my opinion.

The HD-DVD, Blu-ray Battle

The movie, computer, and consumer electronics industry is about to break out in a VHS vs. Betamax war over the next generation of DVD formats. Barring last-minute concessions, things are going to get interesting.

The New York Times reports (HT TV Barn) that Hollywood is still deadlocked in a battle over the successor to the DVD format. Right now there are two primary formats, HD-DVD and Blu-ray DVD. In short, HD-DVD can be thought of as an extension to to the regular DVD format which makes it cheaper and quicker to produce than the BDVDs which use an entirely new technical model. The downside for HD-DVD is that its capacity is much smaller compared to BDVD. Just recently, Sharp announced it has developed a 100GB disc which it says will be compatible with BDVD. The max an HD-DVD can hold is 45GB. (Detailed specs for both here.)

In the article, the Times gives a listing of which studios and tech companies are on which side (HD-DVD almost has 50 percent of the movie market) but strangely leaves out the fact that Microsoft is backing HD-DVD which could be significant.

In the end, however, it may not be the movie industry that determines which format wins. The still-growing console video game industry may do that. Market leader Sony is one of the creators of the Blu-ray technology and is incorporating them into the upcoming PlayStation3, in the process driving the production cost of it to around $490 and creating a $90 loss on each unit. The system isn't skedded for release until next year.

Microsoft's next-generation Xbox 360, meanwhile, is still sticking with the existing DVD format. The advantage for MS is that this will allow it to release the 360 before Christmas this year. However, some developers don't like the size limitations of the disc format and are worried they'll have to release games on multiple DVDs, thereby annoying gamers. As a business strategy, Microsoft's failure to integrate HD-DVD into the Xbox may be what dooms the format.

As for Nintendo, the third-place (at least in the U.S. and Europe) is playing its cards close to the vest, though it's rumored that the company's upcoming system will be using disc technology from Panasonic, one of the backers of HD-DVD. Even though it may be using HD-DVD discs, Nintendo has officially stated that it "will not support high-definition." This announcement has spawned the creation of a web site 1080up.org devoted to convincing Nintendo to support HDTV.

MS Releases Longhorn Screenshots

Mirrored screenshot galleries here and here. My take: Those default colors sure are ugly. It also looks like they copied the transparent titlebars on inactive windows right from MacOS which has had that feature for about four years. I'm glad they added tabbed browsing to Internet Explorer.

Plame Game

The investigation into the leak of then-CIA analyst Valerie Plame's identity (contrary to widespread belief, she was not an undercover agent) continues to unravel as Newsweek reveals that Time reporter Matt Cooper did talk with Karl Rove about Plame's husband's trip to Niger.

Newsweek got a leak of Cooper's office email from someone at the rival magazine and reprinted portions of it in this week's issue. It's possible that Rove was the original source of the leak for both Cooper and New York Times reporter Judith Miller, but the available evidence is beginning to suggest otherwise.

In last week's Newsweek, Rove's lawyer Robert Luskin was quoted saying that Rove had waived any confidentiality agreements he had with reporters:

Luskin told Newsweek that Rove "never knowingly disclosed classified information" and that "he did not tell any reporter that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA." Luskin declined, however, to discuss any other details. He did say that Rove himself had testified before the grand jury "two or three times" [the last time was in 2004] and signed a waiver authorizing reporters to testify about their conversations with him.

Cooper's source, however, only at the last minute released the reporter. From the July 7 Washington Post:

In a last-minute surprise, Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper avoided Miller's fate by agreeing in the same court hearing to cooperate with special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald's probe.

Cooper told the judge that he said goodbye to his 6-year-old son yesterday morning and was expecting to go to jail for as long as four months. But minutes later he received a surprise phone call from his government source, who, Cooper said, freed him to break their confidentiality agreement and to tell a grand jury about their conversations in July 2003.

Another piece of evidence suggests that Rove was not the primary source. If the Newsweek emails really were written by Cooper, they seem to point to someone at the CIA being the principle leaker:

Cooper proceeded to spell out some guidance on a story that was beginning to roil Washington. He finished, "please don't source this to rove or even WH [White House]" and suggested another reporter check with the CIA.

Novak's own public statements on his report also seem to suggest someone(s) other than Rove. In his Oct. 1, 2003 column, Novak said his original source as "no partisan gunslinger." That hardly sounds like Rove who has routinely bashed Democrats:

During a long conversation with a senior administration official, I asked why Wilson was assigned the mission to Niger. He said Wilson had been sent by the CIA's counterproliferation section at the suggestion of one of its employees, his wife. It was an offhand revelation from this official, who is no partisan gunslinger. When I called another official for confirmation, he said: "Oh, you know about it."

The NYT's and its reporter Miller's actions also point to a larger pool of people being in on the allegation that Plame was a nepotist since she is refusing to identify whoever it was that told her about Plame. If Rove released reporters to whom he talked, if Cooper's primary source released him, then it stands to reason that, unless Miller has some sort of sick craving for prison, she had a different source.

At this point, it seems to me that Plame's career was an open secret (a National Review contributor disclosed in 2003 that he knew about Plame before Novak's column), therefore, once word got around elite Washington circles that her husband, Joseph Wilson--who had donated to Democrats for years and had a high position in the Clinton admin--had gotten assigned to investigate possible Iraqi uranium dealings in Niger, gossip started spreading that she had gotten him the job.

The gossip spread more widely and rapidly after Wilson went public with his mission in a New York Times op-ed blasting the Bush admin and the war in Iraq. Eventually, several reporters heard about the gossip through sources and that Novak's column was released to its subscribers on July 11, the day before Cooper asked Rove about Wilson. Like many of the kerfuffles created by Clinton foes in the 90s, the Plame game seems to be another scandalous non-scandal. Instead of going after Rove who can easily claim he didn't know Plame was "undercover," administration foes would do well to follow the Left Coaster's advice and look elsewhere.

In conclusion, here is a list of reporters who knew about Plame and their sources. There may be some overlap. Not everyone in the list was mentioned in my post above. If you know of anyone I left out, post them (and a link) in the comments. I'm counting at least four to eight people who knew and told reporters.

Robert Novak, syndicated columnist: "two senior administration officials," one of whom is "no partisan gunslinger"

Matthew Cooper, Time reporter: Karl Rove, Scooter Libby (chief of staff for VP Cheney), at least one other person who released him from his promise of anonymity

"Other reporters": "During a July 12, 2003, conversation, according to a source involved in the investigation, Time reporter Matthew Cooper told Libby that he had been informed by other reporters that Wilson's wife was a CIA employee. Libby, the source said, replied that he had heard the same thing, also from the press corps."

Cliff May, conservative activist: "someone who formerly worked in the government" "but not by anyone working in the White House."

Judith Miller, New York Times reporter: At least one person who has not released her from a confidentiality agreement

Walter Pincus, Washington Post reporter: someone other than Libby

UPDATE 7/11 7:39, The WP reports that Rove signed his universal waiver of anonymity in December 2003 or January of 2004, but:

Cooper had indicated he would go to jail rather than expose a confidential source, but he agreed last week to cooperate with the grand jury after getting clearance from his source to testify. Luskin said Cooper had been clear to testify all along -- because of the waiver signed 18 months ago -- but that the waiver was "reaffirmed" on Wednesday, the day of a hearing to decide whether he and Miller would go to jail.

I may be wrong in saying that Rove was not Cooper's primary source.

For a comprehensive roundup of blog opinion on this subject, see this post from Joe Gandelman.

UPDATE 10:38, After reading over JustOneMinute's very good post on the Plame Game, I'm adding "other journalists" to the list of people who knew about Plame and told Cooper, especially since the crux of Novak's July 14 column was distributed to the press on July 11.

The Key to GOP Success

It's one of the most overlooked facts of politics that people opposed to abortion are the main reason Republicans have enjoyed congressional majorities since 1994. Many pro-lifers are uneasy with being in the GOP, and consider their allegiance to the party purely a strategic decision. After reading the web for 10 years, I've seen many posts like this post from a FreeRepublic member Vicomte13 on the subject of potential Supreme Court appointment:

The Pro-Lifer's deal was: we work out hearts out in election after election, for 32 years, and when you Republican leaders finally get control, you install judges who will overturn Roe. We are not going to change our expectations in order to make it easier for the Republicans. This is why we are at the party in the first place. If the Republicans had not made this their platform for 32 years, the pro-lifers would not be in the party as a bloc, and the Republicans would not be the majority.

There is an effort to try to renegotiate the terms of a deal after 32 years of substantial performance by pro-lifers.
No.
It is not going to fly.

Remember the electoral disaster after Bush's father raised taxes? Low tax conservatives decided that the betrayal was too much, and Bush 41 and his team were out.

That will happen to the Republicans now if they do not put pro-life conservatives on the Supreme Court, people who will overturn Roe. That was the deal, and we are not going to accept the Republicans changing the deal now.

Arrested at the Airport

Three men have been arrested at London's Heathrow Airport. Police are saying not to attach their arrests to the investigation of Thursday's bombings.

In other news, it appears an American was among those hit by the blasts.

Blogs Part of Groups' Strategies for Nomination Fight

Joe Gandelman talks about how political groups will be using blogs as part of their communications strategies in the upcoming battle over Sandra O'Connor's replacement on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Yet more proof that blogging has arrived. In fact, having a blog message is probably more important in the political realm than in the business realm because politics requires dialogue so much more than most for-profit enterprises.

Coming to a Phone Near You?

Forbes reports on the how several large companies are looking to get into the cellular phone market, not through building their own networks but by reselling another company's services as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO).

This sales technique is commonplace for landlines and to a lesser extent DSL. Among companies mentioned as exploring MVNO services are Wal-Mart, Nike, and Apple. Others who are already in the game: 7-Eleven, Earthlink, and Disney subsidiary ESPN.

The idea is feasible though I expect that too many companies will try to cash in. All the new resellers will probably lower cellular prices even further.

Bush Repeats Flypaper Argument

In his Saturday radio address, President Bush and his advisers made a bone-headed play: he repeated the terrorist flypaper argument just two days after London was hit by a terrorist attack. Now it may be that the theory is valid (I don't think so) but it's just a little too soon to be repeating the line because surely Here's What's Left isn't alone in disliking it.

England on Edge

Just like after Sept. 11, in the immediate aftermath of the London underground bombings, the country is on alert. As of now, Britain's second-largest city Birmingham is being evacuated.

This comes after a three hoax threats one earlier in Birmingham, one at the central city of Stourbridge (see first link), and another in the city of Manchester.

In other news, a mosque was burned, prompting some to suspect arson.

UPDATE 16:53, BBC: Unconfirmed report there are two suspicious packages.

UPDATE 17:09, If you really want to know what's going on in Birmingham, the BBC has a great local radio service (RealPlayer required) which includes roving street reporters and allows people to call in and report. FYI, the stream plays music and local news so don't think you're at the wrong place if you don't hear news.

UPDATE 17:51, That radio service I linked to has gone to automated programming as they've been evacuated. Over 25,000 people in Birmingham have been evacuated. In the mean time, check out the BBC Five which is London-based.

UPDATE 17:56, Nothing new on the security threat, just the first poll post-7/7. Contrary to what happened after Spain was attacked, the Underground bombings have actually increased British resolve to remain in Iraq. Ed Morrisey has analysis and the link.

Iacocca Returns to Chrysler (Well Sorta)

Lee Iacocca, the former CEO of Chrysler who helped bring the company out of bankrupcy nearly a decade ago has agreed to appear in three ad spots for DaimlerChrysler. In return, the company has agreed to give him $1 for every one of the surviving brands from his time as CEO that sells. Plus his charitable foundation gets a donation. Hat tip Adrants.

Blogs and Overpersonalization

One of the things I tell clients and classes when I'm telling them about how blogs and other online media is to avoid putting too much personal info online. Here's an AP article that looks at some of the consequences of people who forget this. My advice: If you want to be really personal (and sometimes everyone does) try doing it with a pseudonym whether on a forum or a blog, and don't do it for too long.

Heritage After-action, Part I

Friday I attended a panel discussion at the Heritage Foundation which featured Ed Morrisey of Captain's Quarters, Jim Hill of the Washington Post Writers Group and Dan Glover of National Journal and Beltway Blogroll.

As usual, the best part of these sessions was after the prepared remarks when the dialogue between the panelists and audience begins. Mark Tapscott of Heritage did a good job finding a quality panel with the kind of diversity that makes for good discussion. I would post more of a reaction but unfortunately, I left my laptop at a client's office so that will have to wait until next week.

In addition to the three gentlemen above, I met several other people some for the first time, Mike Marshall of Pajamahadin and Michael Calderon. Both were interesting and it was nice to put a face on the postings. Like me, Mike is a consultant while Michael is a high school teacher.

It was also nice to see E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post again. He's always got something interesting to say. Friday, he mentioned his latest theory on newspapers: that the blogging explosion has actually helped increase the online audience of newspaper columnists. I'd love to see some research on the topic because it sounds quite possible.

For a good summary of what went on, see this post from Mary Katherine Ham, a blogger at Heritage, whom I also had the pleasure of seeing again. Ed Morrisey also has an after-action post.

The Impact of Grokster

Now that the dust has settled on the U.S. Supreme Court's unfortunate ruling in MGM v. Grokster, Doc Searls surveys the situation. The findings are mixed: while companies trying to get into the p2p space are now more restricted than before, they at least have some of the uncertainty removed. And, if they watch their marketing rhetoric so as never to appear to support copyright infringment, may be able to pursue their existing strategies. There are lots of supplemental links in the piece for those wanting further reading.