Dear Mr. Thompson:
I liked your article. You have broken many stories in the past, all believable as far as I'm concerned. You have always upheld journalistic ethics from what I've seen and I am familiar with them, as my father was among other things, a journalist. (side note: He worked in the White House under Reagan, helped with Reagan's 1980 election and was Deputy Counselor to Reagan from 1981 to 1982. My brother also worked in DC for the DOE. Their names respectively are Robert Martin Garrick and Martin Garrick. Dad was an admiral. Did you know him perhaps or at least know him by name? I have always suspected he was in on the Iraninan hostage deal when the hostages were handed over on Reagan's inauguration. There wasn't alot of love lost between my dad and myself, so if you have some not so good impressions about him to tell me, that's OK. But I wouldlike to know what others in DC thought of him and if he was in on the hostages deal.
I like your website because you always tell the truth, and let the ** fly where it may - good old fashioned ethical journalism. Our democracy depends on the public being well-informed.
Keep up the good work!
Thank you,
Ariel M.

I believe every word you wrote. I also believed that the delay was a cover up, but for what I did not know until "only a beer at lunch" surfaced.

May I have permission to post your article under Commentary of my online "newspaper" Eye On The Hampons? With full attribution, of course. I began it last May to be mostly about news from the East End of Long Island, but never have limited the news to within its borders.

Thank you.

Sir,

Nice rebutal/rant, but you do miss one other key point in your favor: Ms. Armstrong's statement that Mr. Cheney went back to the ranch after the shooting and had "a cocktail." As a recovering alcoholic that must strike you as odd. In a best case scenario the VP needs a drink to steady his nerves after a little accident (no disrespected to the wounded hunter intended, but this was no terror attack or assassination attempt.) Do we really want a VP one heart beat away from the White House who needs a cocktail after a minor accident. It is a disturbing impulse for a guy with 2 DUI's.

And it was probably not just to calm his nerves. The more likely reason, as many noted even before your report, was a pre-emptive strike in case someone insisted on a blood test. And Ms. Armstrong noting it was a pre-emptive strike against it leaking out.

I'm surprised more journalists have not noted this odd behavior (well, perhaps not odd to journalists, but to some of the rest of us...)

Thanks for the report and the rant. At least someone will print what is fairly obvious to anyone who really wants to take a good look.

Best

Scott

Nancy:

Permission granted. Thanks for asking (most don't).

And thanks for the kind comments.

Doug

You tell'em, Doug! I rank your site and your stories
right up there with the other Thompson I thought was a great journalist, the late Hunter Thompson. You both lay it on the line as you see it and the masses can judge it any way they want. Don't stop, man. I come here often to read what I can't read anywhere else! And I send these articles to people I know that USED to thing Bush was a 'moral choice' for President. You're changing minds, believe me. Keep up the good work.

Good Explaination To The Nay Sayers!

If those who have negative views of what you write and "don't believe any of it", then why are they connecting with your website?

Those people certainly must have some doubts as to what's happening within our "White House Community" or they wouldn't feel the need to "search out the real truth".

Keep up the good work. People are finally noticeing that there's something very wrong in the way our government's being run.

We need to pay attention and turn around this Nation, bring back the pride it once had and rid it of those who are only trying to tear it apart.

Dear Mr. Thompson,

I've been following your articles for the past 2-3 years now and I'd like to thank you for your commitment to journalistic ethics, integrity, accuracy and truthfulness.

Let them rail against you all they want - empty barrels still make the most noise. We expect pigs to wallow in mud and the politics of personal destruction so in the end, the joke will be on them when all the truth is finally out there.

I so appreciate your fine work. You, Sir, are a patriot.

Thank you.

Mr. Thompson: When I first saw clips from your original article on another blog, I thought, "That can't possibly be true." But now that I've read your "rant" (it's not at all rant-like) I have changed my mind. Keep up the great work. We need people who are willing to report the truth--whatever it may be.

Keep on speaking the truth Doug and don't ever put your sword..uh, I mean pen down. America needs ya buddy! God speed.

Thanks for putting forward this story, and graciously making it available for others to nibble at. While I'm not confident the MSM will ever commit journalism and actually work on stories like this, it does deserve fuller attention, and a wider broadcast through the internet.

Doug, I think only someone truely delusional could begin to make this stuff up

I know a lot of bloggers "say" they sat slak jawed when reading these reports, but I truly have.The main reason is that I have watched over and over, people whose intelligence I respect make attempts to defend the actions of these guys when no logic permits it.

One wonders if these are a group who share one common trait, an inability to admit that they may have made an error in judgement. Could it be a character flaw ? Can it be that they believe their insight into the motives of those whom they have chosen must be correct regardless of all evidance to the contrary?

A real poser for sure.

I have been a spotty reader of your column since I ran across it about a month ago. However, I have purused your archive because I like your style and I believe you. Personally, I do have a liberal bias, but I never agressively defended Bill Clinton. Although, I did urge people to put his lying in perspective. But I didn't defend Jim Wright or Traficanti or any other people that BREAK THE LAW! Keep being honest, keep strong and keep writing.

Mr. Thompson

A nice piece of work. I don't doubt it for a moment. It has that ring of truth.

Ordinarily, I wouldn't have asked permission to post this article and the story to which it refers, but I saw above that another reader (Nancy) did ask, and that you appreciated it.

May I post it as well? I'm only starting my blog, but I have a few readers, and they will want to hear this. Thank you for the story, whether I get your permission or not.

HB.

HB:

Of course. Thanks for asking.

Doug

I serious think what little truth to be found in Washington is in the Smithsonian. Bush and co have obviously been inoculated against it. The so called news media can't make a profit with it and the rest of us are denied acess to it. I find Capitol Hill Blue to be a breath of fresh air and a reflection of what a lot of us believe is actually going on. Sure, we're lazy but we aren't that stupid. We need folks that are not afraid to get bloodied in the fray. Keep up the fight and thank you for being there.

Hey Doug, . . . Who is kidding who?

Speaking as one who is a reader and a writer, and blessed with the ability to discern, . . . I freely award the surmise, that each one of these comments given in response to your rant, is suggestively written by the same Author.

The findings are based upon two main conjectures. One, each author in comment is written within the same monologue of tone. Second, the time frame between each one being sent and delivered, is highly questionable.

This gives cause for one to pause, . . . and think.

Do you care to respond Doug?

To be lazy is not only "stupid" but non precocious to man's well being.

funny for a guy who doesnt care what the naysayers say he sure spends alot of time and care saying he doesn't

", and blessed with the ability to discern"

and so after reading an article which posits that the vice president of the united states, while in a state of inebriation, shot a citizen of said country, your 'blessing' in tandem with (it appears)your 'attention' turned first to the stylistic writing nuance of the posts on this blog.

what an interesting weltanshung you must have.

ps i syncopated the rhythm of my typing while writing the above so as not to throw you into a conspiratorial tizzy.

I think its great that someone tells it like is. the morons in washington have been there to long. Its time we went back to govnt. of the people, by the people and for the people. we should be the only special intrests in D.C.. Keep it up, someone someday will read it to Bush, or his handlers and we might get our Country back.
Dick Wyland

could not have said it better if i had raised my middle finger to them. great post! hope more and more honest americans leak more and more of the truth about these dill pickle barrel scums in the wh.

As one who was dragged to the Friday night Ho-down at Floyd's Country Store, the buzz words were definately NOT next month's Burger-King's IPO.
Glad you're back with us DT, and *please* ask the Ho-downers if they know any "Enya".

Bully for you! Truthfully I've only followed you spottedly, but I go to boards and always see your credibility being challenged. Since I've seen nothing myself that was discredited, and some that has been since accepted, I always challenge these people on your (and truth's) behalf "Show me when, because I've not seen it."

The only thing I got was a link to your confession and report on what you did wrong regarding a story, and the unreliable person you had developed a habit of relying upon. And you swore you'd never do that again. Cool! I'm still waiting for anyone ANYONE at cbsnbcabccnnfoxtimespostjournal to have as much courage and as much honesty as you've shown me. Bully for you!

Keep up the good work. Keep telling truth to power, and give them hell every chance you get!

Joe Walker

Questionable writes:
Speaking as one who is a reader and a writer, and blessed with the ability to discern, . . . I freely award the surmise, that each one of these comments given in response to your rant, is suggestively written by the same Author.

The findings are based upon two main conjectures. One, each author in comment is written within the same monologue of tone. Second, the time frame between each one being sent and delivered, is highly questionable.

This gives cause for one to pause, . . . and think.

Do you care to respond Doug?

You're welcome to your opinion even when it is dead wrong. I have better things to do than sit in front of a computer and add comments to my own work. Besides, the readers of this site do a far better job than I. Also, I sign my own name to everything I write.

Doug

Thanks for the answer and I believe you are right!!
Knowing how that society lives, I am sure there was a ton of drinking done during the "shoot". I do feel badly for the older gentleman, Mr. Worthington..maybe he won't go hunting again with Mr. VP. Hopefully Ms. Armstrong will not invite him either. He is just darn lucky that he didn't kill the man....I also agree that we many never know the entire truth...but then again, some of these guys mess up and it manages to get out....they love to brag.
Thanks for your answer....it does make sense.

Well I don't what Your talking about opposition? I've always found You to be top notch!!! No doubt Cheney was drunk! Thanks for confirming that.

Well said and Bravo!

Doug,

A friend forwarded your column on Cheney's drunken shooting to me. It was terrific, reasonable and straight shooting [no pun intended]. We SO need folks like you now...I truly think it may even be too late, but as long as a few speak the truth it will never die and sooner or later the truth will out. [Again, no pun intended]. Many thanks!

Good morning and thanks for the comments (pro and con). We did notice a number of duplicate posts this morning (along with some spam) and removed them to try and keep the discussion focused and on point.

Our apologies to our readers for those who try to disrupt discussions. It is our goal here to discuss issues, not attack each other.

Doug

You are doing a great service to our country by breaking these stories. I hope the mainstream media does its job and follows up on them.
This administration is morally bankrupt, and Cheney epitomizes its evilness and self-interest.
Keep writing!

Doug, you said you have "no doubt" that the drinking story will be confirmed. So you're on the clock: if it's confirmed I'll believe your stories, and if it's not I won't.

Personally I'd be worried that even if the drinking story is true, it'll be suppressed. But that's not what you said.

Doug,
I was forwarded your initial article on our VP by a very conservative but very objective friend (as I try to be). [That very objectivity, by the way, to respond to a few of your supporters' suggestions that we who read you must also be "political homophobes." is why we read your articles along with those from other camps.]

I am a proud conservative, Republican, Bush suporter in many cases (with his apparent stand on abortion and the recent port issue major exceptions)and a very proud veteran (career, in fact). Nevertheless, I must very honestly admit that the Cheney drinking story has the ring of truth and that, if it is true, there should be consequences. I do not, however, think those consequences should necessarily include lynching (as you and your supporters seem to be suggesting).

You, of all people, must understand the difficulty of addressing alcohol-related problems and of devising appropriate reactions.

As a very minimum, if it is true, two things are appropriate and necessary:
1. The VP needs to admit it and promise to enter an abuse recovery program immediately (ala Clinton, but, unlike him, sincerely and honestly).
2. Any SS people involved in this leak need to be discovered and fired immediately! Violating sacred and sound security regulations is NOT the correct way to address problems such as these (I could go on about that issue much longer).

Fianlly, having essentially complimented you for your research, potential discovery and reporting, will you be objective enough to accept what I think is a valid criticism? The real purpose of your most recent rant was to portray your journalistic objectivity and integrity I believe. If my assumption is accurate, how in HELL could you write something so obviously slanted, provocative and just plain divisive as the following (in your comments about Coretta Scott King's funeral)?

"Carter's comments ring true about Bush and his right-wing Republican followers -- a group of rabid racists whose tokenism only deepens the racial divide in this country."

I don't mean to dredge up every mistake you may have made (and I do believe that was a mistake), but a truly objective observer/reporter would have to admit that virtually everyone who spoke at that funeral spoke for the wrong reasons (i.e., to further their own standings, political or otherwise), not to memorialize Martin Luther King's wonderful wife.

Just some thoughts from another camp,
Barry

To Mr. Thompson: it isn't so much that people like myself are pissed off, but that you make your claims without specific sources. If you were such a champion of truth, honesty and integrity why would you not include specific names rather than evasively refer to your sources as "insiders" or allies and friends inside the White House circles like he/she is the equivalent of Washington Post Bob Woodward's and Carl Bernstein's Deepthroat?

I've asked others who quote from Capitol Hill Blue if they have any way to verify any of the damning statements you make regarding Bush's mental state or his temper tantrums.

Please, come right out -- tell us if you know who exactly are these "insiders." Otherwise, you simply are mimicking all those partisan commentators whom you criticize for questioning the sources of your stories.

Richard:

Yes, I know each of our sources personally but I cannot, and will not, violate their our pledge of confidentiality to them. To do so is a violation of journalistic ethics.

This administration (as well as previous ones) has a documented reputation of retaliation against those who dare speak out.

We use and cultivate our own sources and we do not publish any stories until we have confirmed the information from at least three sources.

Thanks for commenting.

Barry:

I appreciate your thoughts and concern. You and I see the King funeral from different perspectives. "The Rant" is clearly labeled as "personal commentary" and my comments on the funeral are my observations. Differing opinions, and the freedom to express them, are basics of a democracy and a free press. I hope we can continue to enjoy them.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Doug

There is a culture of dnial out there, obviously. what should be done?

2-24-06
Flash From the Brain, Minnesota

WILL BUSH'S PORT OF PIGS BE THE WAKE UP STRAW FOR HIS CULT FOLLOWERS?
by Romero XIII

This whole thing is insane.
Bush can't even make it look like he's trying to protect America with this U.S. ports lease problem they are having.

Should we lease our ports to a business owned by a government who has helped the terra-ists when the money was right? Should we consider that they have also helped American businesses when the money was right? Should we look at everything thuroughly before rushing in?

Bush and his followers should be ridiculed and this "Port of Pigs" should be used as a catalyst for Americans to start heading back to a more realisticly based existance and away from the unreality of the Bush beliefs.

It should be seen as a huge scandel with all the cronyism, the lies and misreprsentations of the facts, the gambling of national security in exchange for the bottom line of money all comes to a head and shows that this is another one of Bush's "harriet Myers" moment. A deal that only helps the few who are rich enough to afford national ports and the government/private owners.

This port deal only helps those who are already addicted to money and are willfully blind to the obvious problems that could occure.

Isn't this the party who thinks it's ok to "temporarily" remove civil liberties and rights and spy on people because "it's better to be safe than sorry" with national security?

Now these addicts, always chasing after their next money high, are starting to have consequences for their addictions, they they are willing to ignore all facts and stop listening ot the other side jsut so they don't have to say they could ever be wrong.
They are totally willing to ignore the consequences that effect more than just the addicts themselves, consequences that will probably not effect them since they will all be out of office and enjoying their money and power if or when something horrible comes from this deal.

Probably this deal is all ok and there may never be a problem with them. And then again the odds were mighty low that a bunch of hyjacking foreignors getting cutting tools on a public plane during a summer of official "hair being on fire" and using them to fly a plane... ummm, pretty low. Almost impossible and totally improbable. That is, until it happened.

This port deal is about making money for a small group of people today... "and the future be damned. hope it all works out." Just like everything this administration and everyone they deal with do everytime. It's all "I hope it works out."
Hope in one hand and scratch your ass with the other and see which gets the job done better.

By the way, everytime Cheney is in the news for something, energy bill people and release and kill buddies who get shot in the face by the the Vice-President, no ones wants a picture taken or wants anyone to know they hang with Dick Cheney. Everyone Cheney knows hides when the cameras come out. Odd isn't it?

You can't trust anything any republcan says about why bush is right about anything, let alone with his "port of pigs" judgement.
He wants to let all the greedy pigs make money at the expense of American security or ethics or common sense. They help terrorists.
But in the Bush cultist's fantasy world it's ok to let the greddy have all the money. Someday it might trickle down to those in the middle. And after that it's up to them to let it trickle down or not. It's all ok. It will never effect the good honest hard working republicans. Well, for now lets just allow the wealthiest addicts run everything. I'm sure they can say no to money once in a while and after all... the bottom line is THE most important thing to everyone involved in this port deal and the world. On both sides of this deal. The American people have nothing to do with it.

You can't trust Republicans. You can't trust anyone who has ever supported this President. They are brain washed cultists who can't tell the difference between things that are good for them and thing sthat are bad for them. They can't tell the difference between right and wrong, and reality and fiction.

They believe George Walker Bush is a good honest, blessed by God, a man who only wants the best for America. Oh yeah, and that Bush knows everything he needs to know about (Except the insignificant things that "don't matter none". Why should bush need to know THAT stuff? Like Bin Lauden, 9-11, Iraq, Katrina, the price of medicare, etc, etc, etc). Who cares if our President didn't know Poland was pulling out of Iraq? Who cares if Bush didn't kow Italy was pulling troops and had to find out from a reporter on Air Force One. Who cares? He and his friends are makling money so America is good! Right?

How could anyone have EVER supported this man?

Bush claimed the impossible way back in Nov. and Dec. of 2001. That's when, 2 and a half months after 9-11, Bush claimed he saw the first plane hit the towers while watching television in the hall way of a grade school.

A COMPLETE fantasy. No way he could have.
No one in the world, the galaxy, the universe was able to see it on television since the television cameras didn't show up until people found out it had happened.
So George Walker Bush lied about how he found out about the first attack on mainland soil ever. Who could ever forget how they found out?
He lied, just for the sake of lying. A national tragedy and Bush is making up stories and not telling the real story along with it.

Yet people (republicans mostly) still believe that you cannot call the President a liar. And that he never lies. Unless of course they go with "all politicians lie. So What? That makes lying ok when our side lies blatantly to us."
That's just the way junior high children think.

Then, after Bush claims he saw the first plane hit the tower, and he has claimed this at least three times roughly three months after 9-11-01, does he or his people make immediate emergency plans? You know, just in case this huge unprecidented unknown "accident" isn't an accident? Or in case it causes more problems, or if it's an epidemic, or if triggers a domino effect of problems? Maybe let the shcool know that something else might take precidence?

After all they didn't know what this was, accident? Attack? A techilogical problem? Will there be more? Will there be panick? Do people need help in New York?

Nope. Not in the republican cult view of things. Bush doesn't let the school know he may have to leave quickly. Who cares if people might be dying in a huge office building that has just been hit by a big commercial plane? A plane that the President claims he saw on television (which he clearly could not have) but even in Bush's own fantasy world where he sees a commercial jet fly into one of the twin towers... seeing the smoke and the magnitude of it...
... his only reaction to it as PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA... is to go, "Now there's one terrible plot. heh heh. Oh well, hope that turns out ok. I got more important things to do."

Then he goes into a class room to tell children how great his education plan is as if they would understand or care, and then he sits down and listens to someone else read to these children about a pet goat (satan analogy??? hoho). Giving absolutely no thought to what is going on anywhere else Bush keeps going with his plans without any changes to them.

Of course he froze! When Andy Card whispered in his ear "we're under attack." There was no planning or action. Who would have guessed something else bad could have followed such a tragedy?

In actually, he was told either before they got there or when they got there. Depending on the report. No pictures, no video, just Rove or Card telling Bush that a report came in saying a plane had hit a building in new york and they didn't know if it was an aaccident or more.

Even though George Walker Bush claims he knew what had happened via the television in real time, and he claims he saw the devastation first hand through his imaginary magic television, he makes a joke to himself and went about his business.

And the people of this cult think that's all ok and proves nothing to them.

Republicans think it's ok for one man to be able to say whatever he wants about any horrific national tragedy he wants for his own political gain and personal satisfaction.

Republicans need a national intervention and a hard core deprogramming.
"Bush is not a leader, look at the facts!"
"NOOOOOOOOOO!!! Bush is a GOOD man! a GOOOOD man! Freedoms on the march!"

How far will republicans go just for their little power trip and all the money they can possibly stuff in their empty heads? How many liberal lives are they willing to sacrifice just to feel that their side is the only way?

This is not a racist thing. This is s common sense, better safe than sorry, realistically looking at the facts kind of thing. What people claim they want to teach their kids.
"Check twice - cut once.", "Don't be a greedy little pig.", and "Share with the others and stay away from the bad kids."

So how does teaching your kids basic common sense beliefs work with "lets give our port over to a foreign government with a rap sheet a mile long and is only interested in money no matter who gives it to them." ? Why can't people see the total illogical sense that makes?

Republicans love saying "we can't trust Canada's prescription drugs" and yet they easily say "we can trust a government built on ultra conservative social views and a severe addiction to money and power and have helped terra-ists." The highest bidder gets to be king for a day any day they can come up with the money.

They sound like a better trading partner to the republican cultists.

Also the overall security is by our guys but the actually cargo security is not completely american but the responsibility of the renter (the UAE in this case). Another fact that the Bush lovers refuse to admit.

And don't forget this deal would mean that the UAE governments gets the plans to our ports and security... so everyone is on the same page.
There is one major law in the UAE... "Everything is for sale." It's all about the bottom line there. The bottom line is where paradise is found.

They are the Arabian version of "free trade republicans". The UAE is the future of the USA under republican rule.

How much of America is for sale to our admisistration? How much of their safty are republicans willing to let the white house spit on?

WHAT ARE BUSH CULTISTS?

All these Bush loving supporters and all these weak minded, easily lead party pawns are nothing more than a small minority of brainwashed cultists worshipping one man - George Walker Bush.

These cultists call themselves "republicans".

"Republican" must be latin for "brainless drones of the status quo".

Republicans show classic signs of being in a cult.
Lack of ability to recognise facts, inability to listen to others apart from their group or leaders, inability to grasp inaccuracies and out right falsehoods by their leadership. They have trouble dealing with things that do not match what they have been told. Exessive agression and violence, an inability to rationally think out a situation without frustration and anger as their last resort. A pattern of blame that points to everyone else except your group or your leaders.

It's time for us so called liberals and moderates of reality to reach out to our friends and neighbors and fellow Americans and start giving love and interventions.

If you don't believe it, listen to the last exchange between Al Franken of Air America Radio and his friend and Rush Limbough follower Mark Luther ( their "resident ditto head"). Mark was willing to side with Bush through Rush and label one of his best friends since childhood and all around half jew of being a "rascist" because Al is worried over the security of a sea port. Being against a possibly horrible decision is now labeled as "rascism" by these cultists.

Bush is an inveterate liar whose only oath of office is to protect and carry out the duties of The Constitution of The United States of America, and yet all Bush has tried and is still trying to do is change the Constitution to prohibit and restrict the freedoms, liberties, and rights of a minority group of Americans simply because he believes they are NOT equal to "regular" people, and he believes they DO NOT deserve the same rights and life as everyone else. Which goes directly against the whole idea and concept of the Constituion. All men are created equal and have the god given right to life, liberty and the persute of happiness. Taking away marriage (or anything) from someone on a national federal level just because they don't fit into a certain god's view of things is anti American, anti Constituional and is a very rigid pro commu-nazi mind set. Literally.

No ability to empathise with others not in the group, the leadership, or the only belief the group has. In their mind it is better that those sub-human Iraqis die for American beliefs than good and more important American humans. See? It is better that others who are less worthy die than the wealthiest of America have to give up moeny they will never use. It's a sick psychopathic view of things to be judge, jury and law over other human lives. Haven't the Iraqi citizens suffered enough in the last few decades? Republicans feel it's ok to bring terror to a breed that they don't consider to be real humans.

It's obvious and yet people still follow Bush and the republican party after everything they've done has been proven to be wrong time after time, with their theories and ideals being more important than other people, other ideals, and America itself. Over and over and over they are wrong and over and over and over the republicans follow.

It's a cult. They are litterally brainwashed. And this could be serious as seen in New Orleans and Iraq.

Hopefully this "port of pigs" scandel will break the spell. Maybe the inept "liberal" press will stand up for America, maybe politicians will have a surge of American pride and responsibility... and maybe Bush won't always need to have a reporter tell him what's going on out there.

Or else we are going to have to work hard to help these poor weak willed republican become human again and make America a better and freer nation by working towards reality.
Maybe we can have people in charge who see things coming and prepare for them and stop them BEFORE they become a problem.

Instead of the republican Bush cultist belief of "just hope it works out, and don't do anything until it BECOMES a problem."

"Lets not look at what went wrong lets just hope we do better next time."

"Why worry or spend money on something that may or may not happen? It's a waste of time."

Well, there is always more than one way to skin a cat and there is such a thing as preventative planning instead of jsut waiting for a problem to come along and then solve it. That is the way the President runs his future plans. Always.

Mr. President, I want a problem preventor not a problem solver.

Flash From the Brain, MN
C.2006 feel free to distribute

What would be the actuarial risk factor for injury or mortality vis-a-vis a drunken Christian with a firearm as opposed to a sober Moslem with a bomb ?
I would surmise that it would be intuitively obvious to the casual observer that, within the U.S., it would be the former. Has Homeland Security looked into this?

Regarding the secret service's job of stepping in and stopping the hunt if people were drinking - remember the two bush daughters being caught in the bar drunk with fake ids in their college days? The secret service were with them and did NOT stop it then. If they are afraid or not authorized to intercede with the children, do you think they would intercede with a Vice President?? Would an inebriated V.P. have congratulated them later or fired them?

what about critical thinking, most of those supporting & endorsing your writings have certainly no need for reliability,identification of sources,because of the specific nature of their sentiments toward Bush & his administration. on a personal base, i deeply hate Bush & what he represents but i need more than the comfortable rhetoric of unnamed sources & unidentified insiders, even if in the end the message pleases my personal system of belief. you may be right about everything you write but that doesnt mean, that at any time you had direct & personal access to any of the sources from which the information is supposed to originated from.

Anthithesis:

Good points. But, from a personal point of view, I am not anti-Bush any more than I was anti-Clinton when we published stories and columns critical of his administration. I wish every source could be named but they cannot in today's punitive political environment.

Let's remember that without anonymous sources, Watergate might have remained a "second rate burglary." Such sources are, unfortunately, a necessary evil in exposing wrongdoing by public officials. My responsibility, as a journalist, is to do the best I can in making sure those sources are reliable and not working from a political agenda of their own. When a source turns out not to be reliable, I also have a responsibility to admit they were wrong and expose them (which I have done in the past).

Thanks for commenting.

Doug

you are welcome Doug, glad you took my comment as the way it was meant (nothing more than a personal thought). i can assure you that i apply the same degree of scepticism to everything i read, & do take in context each side or version of a particular issue.the first thing you learn when you are involved in "intel", is that there's a relative "range" of truth,reality,explanations & denials. once the information is out of the original context from which its originates from, it is not a raw information anymore , by any means.
keep up the good work.

Thank God for Doug Thompson.

I couldn't agree with you more. It is time that the government be held responsible just as the general public is. Just because you are in the government does not put you above the law. Basicly we all know that it doesn't matter who is in office. They are there to line their own pockets. (most of them)
Maybe we should start completely from scratch and go strictly by the constitution and Bill of Rights. Which the government has seen fit to rewrite to fit their needs.

Yes, Armstrong's admission that Cheney had a drink after shooting a Republican in the head was most-likely a legal contingency plan. It does not guarantee that Cheney actually drink alcohol after the shooting. But that statement does provide a legal defense to refusing a blood-alcohol test. Very clever. Another legal contingency plan, reserved only for the highest ranking VIPs, is hemodialysis to speed the process of scrubbing alcohol and drugs from the blood of intoxicated persons caught committing crimes, such as fatal hit-and-run. A documented example of this strategy is the case of Tennessee Republican state senator Carl Koella. He killed a motorcycle tourist in his driveway, then left the victim in a ditch with his leg cut off and his bike in the middle of the highway, claiming he didn't see anything out of place. It was many hours before he took a blood test. But not until after state police flew him by helicopter to Kentucky for hemodialysis. A state trooper was also seen giving a blood sample that night at Blount County Hospital. Earlier that day, Koella had been evicted from Airport Hilton, during his campign tour with Republican governor Don Sundquist, chauffeurred by a state trooper. Koella pled guilty to a plea bargain for "leaving the scene of a fatal accident", rather than felony hit-and-run or vehicular homicide. Tennessee legislature then had the audacity to name a highway for Koella, resulting in a million-man boycotte of Tennessee by the American Motorcyclist Association. It's possible Cheney was escorted to a medical site for hemodialysis to clean his blood, and the martini-after-shooting was a cover story, which would explain why he was too busy to visit Whittington that night. If Cathy O'Brien's courtroom testimony applies in this case, then Cheney might have been worried about cocaine and heroin or other illicit drugs in his blood. Koella was a crack-cocaine addict, according to legislators, and was in fact the billion-dollar/year cocaine kingpin of Blount County. Cheney, of course, is a capo in the Bush/CIA Gang running the cocaine/heroin rackets in North America and Afghanistan, as proven during Iran-Contra. Click link to read the Koella story, based on the $1.5-million casefile from his wrongful death settlement with the widow of his murder victim.

Cheney's Got A Gun music video:
tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/piratenewsrss/message/157

Good Stuff. One possible typo:

Others talk about truth as if it were some divine providence of a political party or philosophical organization.

I think you meant provenance.

As John Quincy Adams once said, "Facts are subborn things."

"stubborn"

I'm afraid that like many in the media you are missing what really happened on the Armstrong Ranch:
http://jonswift.blogspot.com/2006/02/what-really-happened-on-armstrong.html

Hi Doug.

You wrote:

Some say it's because I'm a liberal, which shows
what little they know. How many liberals are
card-carrying members of the National Rifle
Association or worked for conservative members of
Congress like Manuel Lujan Jr. or the 1984
Reagan-Bush re-election campaign?

Up until that line, I was pretty confident in your
sincerity. The problem with those of you who work
with/for/or as folks who "really love your country"
that particular way is that they seem to have a blind
spot here:

search "casey affidavit cocaine trick"

and here:
search "chip tatum license to kill" which is a second
source, albeit not an inside contact.

More "trickle down", anyone?

It's still warm!

I may be wrong about you, but appreciative as I am at
the moment I'm on my guard because I do think you can
flip to the dark side very very easily.

Crack cocaine addiction targetting blacks should have
been on your radar. How could you have campaigned to
reelect Reagan/Bush knowing what you must certainly
have known.

And what kind of "love for your country" is it when you
violate your own soul, the US Constitution, for some
obscure notion of conquering the world to save it from
being conquered by someone else.

Are you pissed off that there was a last minute change
of plans? Do you feel betrayed?

I'm sorry, but it seems to me you could be sucked right
back into it if the apology sounded good enough to you
but in fact, sir, that apology is not due you.

It's due to Latin America. And I do not see that
apology forthcoming.

The forgiveness appears to be there. They seem more
willing than we deserve, to forgive us our profound (!!)
ignorance.

But I don't think you were ignorant at all, Doug.

And I can't believe you never heard of...

The Boneswomen

Bravo good sir! Having only recently discovered this site myself, i appreciate your equality and non-partisan news coverage, it seems harder and harder to find sources you can trust.

Thank you for finally proving what i (and most non-bush worshipping americans) thought all along. The delay alone was really suspicious, not to mention the rest of it. Keep up the good work!