Cathie Martin Reveals Key Discrepancy in Libby Trial

Cathie Martin started talking at the Scooter Libby trial today.

In July, 2005, I'd introduced you to Catherine J. Martin, who was once Dick Cheney's press secretary (and has since been named White House deputy communications director for policy and planning) - and who has been part of the Fitzgerald investigation on the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame because of some questionable cell phone calls. Catherine J. Martin's husband, Kevin Martin, just so happens to be the fellow who took Michael Powell's place at the FCC when Powell stepped down. Kevin Martin worked for Ken Starr during the witch hunt against Clinton, and when the Florida fix was in danger of falling apart in 2000, "Martin left for Miami so quickly he didn't pack a bag. Working round the clock, he could be seen on TV peering over ballot counters." [Loyal partisans, both Mr. and Mrs. Martin.]

Here's what Cathie Martin had to day today, per Raw Story:

In a major development today in the I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby perjury and obstruction of justice trial, a former vice presidential spokeswoman raised questions about the defense employed by Dick Cheney's former chief of staff. Cheney's former Press Secretary Cathie Martin took the stand and told the prosectuion she had briefed Libby and the Vice President on the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame as the wife of Iraq war critic Ambassador Joseph Wilson.

Martin revealed that she had a conversation with a CIA counterpart who in the course of the discussion said that Plame was Wilson's wife. She immediately informed Cheney and Libby of this fact, on a date she said was prior to July 6th, according to the Associated Press. Libby claims he learned of Plame's identity days later.

Somebody's been lying...or so it seems. As loyal Cathie Martin and her husband have been to CheneyCo and BushCo, she doesn't appear willing or able to lie about this in a court of law.

Iraq is Over - When Will Leadership Admit It?

Raw Story: Senator Feingold asks, 'How can Congress end a war?' Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) will hold hearings next week to examine “Exercising Congress’s Constitutional Power to End a War,” RAW STORY has learned.


Andrew Sullivan has a good point to make on Iraq, and it's something we can all see but our leaders seem to be in denial about. They dance around the reality that, in order to have the kind of victory Bush talks about, we're going to have it soon, and we are going to have to see the draft activated. Otherwise, it's nothing but magical thinking and fancy to think this kind of "victory" can be achieved. Try tapping into the will of the People on this idea and you'd have an additional 500 thousand in the streets of Washington DC this weekend protesting our occupation of Iraq.


Senator John Edwards on Iraq and Bush's SOTU speech:

"America needs leaders who will do more than propose half-measures and baby steps; President Bush has left us a legacy of challenges that can only be met with courage, conviction and bold change.

And that change must begin in Iraq. President Bush's decision to adopt the McCain Doctrine and escalate the war in Iraq is terribly wrong. There is no military solution to this civil war. Instead of increasing the number of troops in Iraq, we should immediately withdraw 40-50,000 troops. In order for the Iraqi people to take responsibility for their country, we must show them that we are serious about leaving, and the best way to do that is to actually start leaving. Since the President refuses to change course, Congress must use its power of the purse and block funding for an escalation of war. Over 80,000 people from across the country have joined me in calling on Congress to stop President Bush's misguided plan to escalate the war. Congress has the power to stop this escalation - they should use it."

Amos Lee - "Sympathize" video

Amos Lee sings Sympathize
Live at the Hotel Cafe, L.A.
Video by tstumphauzer

Abbé Pierre: Poverty Warrior Dies at 94

"We have lost a great figure, a conscience, an incarnation of goodness."

-French President Jacques Chirac

The Roman Catholic priest, Abbé Pierre, one of France's most popular figures has died. The leading social rights activist, who was 94, had been in hospitalised for just over a week ago with bronchitis. Often donning a beret and cape and clutching a cane, Abbe Pierre - a code name from his World War II resistance days - topped polls as France's most beloved public figure almost year after year.

His death was announced by President Jacques Chirac who described him as a "living legend", adding that France had lost "an immense figure, a conscience, a man who personified goodness."

- Born Henri Groues into a large and affluent family in Lyon, Abbé Pierre renounced wealth to campaign for more than half a century on behalf of the homeless and downtrodden.

- He entered the resistance in the Second World War, taking the name Abbé Pierre in 1942 as a cover for his work manufacturing fake identity papers and helping Jews cross the border to Switzerland. Elected to parliament after the war, in 1945, his devotion to the "street sleepers" was awakened. A lawmaker for seven years, until 1951, he occasionally begged alms while organizing rag pickers among the homeless so they could fend for themselves. With the help of an ex-convict and his lawmaker's salary, the first Emmaus Community house was born in 1949 in Neuilly-Plaisance, northeast of Paris. Emmaus, which helps the disenfranchised to help themselves, is now present in many countries.

"Abbé Pierre represented the spirit of rebellion against misery, suffering, injustice and the strength of solidarity."

- A quote from French President President Jacques Chirac, who awarded Abbé Pierre a higher order of the Legion of Honor (Grand Officier de la Legion d’Honneur)on April 19, 2001.

- He set up the Emmaus Community Foundation for the impoverished in 1949. It gained nationwide notoriety when he persuaded parliament to pass a still existing law which forbids landlords from expelling tenants during winter months. Well into his 90s, he continued to champion the causes close to his heart and will be remembered as a staunch defender of the homeless and the destitute.

- His campaigning for the homeless first achieved national attention in the winter of 1954 when an indignant Abbé Pierre issued a radio appeal to the public on behalf of the homeless, after a woman froze to death on a Paris boulevard clutching an eviction order.

- The priest freely admitted to using provocation as a tactical weapon in his war on misery. "I’m not by temperament a man of anger," he said in a 1994 interview with the Associated Press. "But when I must denounce something that destroys man, I get mad. It is love that engenders this holy anger. They are inseparable."

- The president of the French Muslim Council, Dalil Boubakeur, spoke of a deep sense of loss at the news of the death. "We would like to express our deepest respect and total admiration for the life of this man of God which was devoted to defending the powerless and the rights of the poorest to live with dignity," he said.

- In the Vatican, French cardinal Roger Ethchegaray said Abbé Pierre’s death "affects all of humanity for a simple reason: he never strayed from the cause, declaring war on poverty and putting first those who suffered the most."

- In France, he created his own Abbé Pierre Foundation in 1992.

- Abbé Pierre inspired the U.S. cooperative known as H.O.M.E. in Orland, Maine.



Sources: Euronews, TimesOnline

Related articles:

France's Voice of the Voiceless, TimeOnline

Abbé Pierre - champion of the homeless by Jo Siedlecka, Independent Catholic

Bloomberg News

Abbé Pierre speaks about death - In 2000, the Abbé Pierre had some conversations with a group of young children. These were recorded in a book, entitled: 'What is Life? Why Death? ... Explained to Children.'

Quixote "cities", CBS News; Associated Press story

Abbe Pierre, Adventus (blog)