Oh goody!! More misogynistic, racist and sexist quotes from the disgraced president. He probably kept those thoughts to himself during testimony though. Dammit
WASHINGTON (AP) — Richard Nixon’s grand jury testimony about the Watergate scandal that destroyed his presidency is finally coming to light
Four months after a judge ordered the June 1975 records unsealed, the government’s Nixon Presidential Library was making them available online and at the California facility Thursday. Historians dared hope that the testimony would form Nixon’s most truthful and thorough account of the circumstances that led to his extraordinary resignation 10 months earlier under threat of impeachment.
“This is Nixon unplugged,” said historian Stanley Kutler, a principal figure in the lawsuit that pried open the records. Still, he said, “I have no illusions. Richard Nixon knew how to dodge questions with the best of them. I am sure that he danced, skipped, around a number of things.”
Nixon was interviewed near his California home for 11 hours over two days, when a pardon granted by his successor, Gerald Ford, protected him from prosecution for any past crimes. Despite that shield, he risked consequences for perjury if he lied under oath.
As I liveblogged earlier, during the MurdochGate testimony, Rupert got pied with a plateful of shaving cream. His wife Wendi wasted no time in retaliating. I wonder how many of his other messes she helped clean up.
A protester who has tried to attack Rupert Murdoch as he was being questioned by MPs has been named as comedian Jonnie Marbles.
Mr Murdoch’s wife Wendi and his son James immediately jumped to his defence as the attack was launched while MPs were asking their final questions of the two men.
MP Chris Bryant condemned the attack in which he said the media mogul had a plate of foam pushed into his face.
Wendi Murdoch, who had been sitting behind her husband as he gave his evidence to the committee, appeared to strike back at the assailant.
The hearing was suspended as the man, wearing a checked shirt, was detained by police.
As he was led away in handcuffs, the man refused to give his name, saying: “As Mr Murdoch himself said, I’m afraid I cannot comment on an ongoing police investigation.”
Describing himself as an ‘activist and comedian’, Mr Marbles wrote on Twitter just before the incident:
“It is a far better thing that I do now than I have ever done befor £splat.”
Liveblog of the questioning of Rupert and James Murdoch (by the Committee for Culture, Media and Sport in the House of Commons of the British Parliament):
Proceedings were interrupted when someone off-camera tried to attack Rupert Murdoch. The man was sitting a few rows back, “smacked shaving foam in Rupert’s face.” In other words, said Keith Olbermann, he was hit with a plate of shaving cream.
CNN news alert: The man could be heard telling Murdoch he’s “a greedy billionaire.” Murdoch’s wife, Wendi Deng, who was seated behind him, leaped to her feet and smashed the attacker’s hand with her own, pictures from the scene showed.
Murdoch was hit full in the face, and stunned but not injured…
Nice that Rupert just defended his “family company” by noting his father’s great reporting of Gallipoli. Unfortunately that was in 1915-16
OOPS: James Murdoch just confirmed NewsCorp has paid some legal fees for phone hacker Glenn Mulcaire #SmokingGun
Jim Sheridan Q: do you accept that you’re ultimately responsible? Murdoch: No. #CheckPlease #MurdochMelts
John Dean’s take:
It went as I expected. Rupert had very little knowledge, James was more of the protagonist, the hands-on executive. Father only deals with the big issues, smaller details don’t reach his attention. They’re clearly well-rehearsed. They know how they can give half-answers to some questions, take the UK version of the Fifth Amendment… They’re doing a good job, handling themselves well… This is all being guided by their attorney. This is crisis management in action.
“Willful blindness” is a well-known term, and when James was asked about it, he acted as if he didn’t know what it meant, but Rupert jumped right in and said, “We haven’t engaged in that.”
There was clearly a blue suit memo, although tie colors do vary.
One of the first quotes I caught was, “We were advised to tell the truth.” They had to be advised to do that? Then again, when one is unaccustomed…
James Murdoch, who has taken to clutching his chest for dramatic effect, has taken on the feigned sincerity persona of “Leave it to Beaver’s” Eddie Haskell. Some quotes are verbatim, some are slightly paraphrased, and anything not in quotes is my interpretation of his statements:
“This is a serious matter of regret, a violation of trust to our readers.”
“This is a matter of real gravity.” (Meaning they’re about to collide with reality with a big bang)
“Bad things happened YEARS ago…. only came to my attention when it was reported in the press. It came as a total shock.”
I am appalled, shocked, angry, dumbfounded, stunned, surprised, sickened! Oh, and did I mention we’re blameless?
“We’re trying to understand these allegations that come as a complete surprise to us. It’s appalling that any of our employees would do such a thing!”
We CARE, we’re compassionate. This is all so… regrettable. Did I mention we’re sorry for the misdeeds of others that we knew nothing about?
I understand everyone’s pain and all the skepticism. I have enormous sympathy.
“I have no firsthand knowledge.” Hey, I’m merely the chief executive.
“I’m happy to follow up on that.”
“I’m so happy you asked that!” (Then he never answered the question.)
“I’m happy to go back and look at that.”
“I don’t have direct knowledge. I’m not aware. I’m so glad you asked…! These are serious matters. We take them seriously. We are cooperating with full transparency.”
Did I mentions we’re fully cooperating? I know nothing of what my underlings do, say, whisper, or perpetrate. Now, allow me to obfuscate…
“People who are lawbreakers should be held to account.”
Rupert has a very annoying habit of thumping the table for emphasis. Some takeaway Rupert moments:
“This is one of the most humbled day of my life.” Thump.
Take it, James. Thump.
We can’t be bothered with teeny weeny little things like our own newspapers. Editors? What editors? We have editors? Who hacked into phones? What phones? What hacking? There were cash settlements of a million pounds? What cash? What pounds? Thump.
Nobody told us anything. Conversations between my employees and me consisted of, “What’s doin’?” “Nothing special.” Football, sure, but a million-pound payoff? Nah. Kthxbye. Thump.
We meant no harm when we published damaging headlines, honest! We’ll watch that from now on, honest! Trust us! Thump thump.
The second we found out about the sleazeball illegal activities, we reported them. Immediately! Thump.
“We’re a very big company. It wouldn’t be surprising that there are people who are trying to please me.” Thumpthumpthump.
“There is no excuse for breaking the law at any time.” Thump.
After claiming that he was accomplishing something “truly progressive,” Dennis Kucinich got Walker to admit that his union-busting legislation would not save the State of Wisconsin any money at all. [...]
Furthermore, as BuzzFlash documented in an earlier commentary, Walker confirmed that despite his claim of a voter mandate to repeal collective bargaining for public employees, he had never once mentioned the plan when he campaigned for governor, not once.
If you define Orwellian as language uttered that is the opposite of reality, then Walker is a master Orwellian politician.
Ken Cook and EPA are lying. EPA did NOT stop the aerial toxic dispersant spraying 2 months ago. EPA did NOT approve the massive use of toxic dispersants because they didn’t know the toxic effects. EPA approved use of the toxic dispersants so that the amount of oil released would be hidden under the surface, to help protect BP’s liabilities. EPA knows how dangerous the toxic dispersants are (the info is on the warning labels).
Come on Keith Olbermann, don’t be conned by these folks.
Thank you, Keith, for staying on top of the dispersant story.
My very informed friend Hugh Kaufman (AltaKocker on Twitter) sent me an e-mail. He has allowed me to quote it verbatim:
Environmentalist Ken Cook [interviewed in the Countdown video above] testified that EPA and the Government “went into this blind” (ie. didn’t know what they were dealing with or doing in the Gulf).
Another Environmentalist testified that EPA needs more authority and that would have helped solve the dispersant problem.
The Head of EPA testified that EPA decided to allow BP to use almost 2 million gallons of toxic dispersant by making a choice from 2 bad alternatives.
When asked by Chairman Mikulski if EPA knows the effects of the toxic dispersants, the EPA Administrator said “NO.”
When asked by Chairman Mikulski if EPA has authority to stop the use of toxic dispersants, the EPA Administrator said “I DON’T KNOW, I’LL HAVE TO ASK THE LAWYERS.” (On May 12, the EPA Administrator said she did, and earlier in her testimony she also said she did).
The testimony Thursday alarmed subcommittee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski, D-Md.
“I don’t want these dispersants to be the Agent Orange of this oil spill,” Mikulski said, referring to the defoliant used during the Vietnam War that some analysts blame for post-war health problems.
Hugh Kaufman is a senior policy analyst with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response.
Assuming no more oil is released — and for many skeptics, that alone is the bravest of assumptions — 85 days of slow-motion disaster added up to some 700 million litres of crude by some estimates. Put another way, about 17 times more oil than gushed from the Exxon Valdez when it broke open off Alaska in 1989. [...]
“It is awkward to use the phrase ‘best-case scenario’ but if not another ounce of oil is released that’s obviously good. We can only hope so,” said Hugh Kaufman, senior policy analyst with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response.
“What that will leave us with, however, is a 20-year reckoning of the damage to the environment, to the fisheries, to tourism and beyond. People will still be sending in the bills long after I’m dead and buried.” [...]
“What we do know is that the dispersants put all that oil in play — there is no skimming or burning it off anymore. Instead you have a vast expanse of oil droplets, together with Corexit chemicals, that’s going to do what it will do,” said Kaufman.
“The result may be short-term gain for very long-term pain. More complex pain, in fact, because we’ll be sorting through questions of both the oil and the dispersant impacts. Anyone who looks on the label of a bottle of Corexit might decide on that alone they don’t want to ever again swim in this water or eat this fish.” [...]
“This isn’t over. Nobody really has any idea how much stress the cap can take. A day, a week, a month, two years? Eventually it is at risk of blowing again, until they can get the relief well aligned, pump in the mud and properly shut this thing down,” he said.
“For now, that is the best-case scenario, that we can buy ourselves enough time to end this well for good before a catastrophe becomes even worse.”
I, for one, am grateful to Hugh and Keith for continuing to challenge, question, and push for facts.
UPDATE: Hugh Kaufman just sent me this in an e-mail to add to the post:
Ken Cook and EPA are lying. EPA did NOT stop the aerial toxic dispersant spraying 2 months ago. EPA did NOT approve the massive use of toxic dispersants because they didn’t know the toxic effects. EPA approved use of the toxic dispersants so that the amount of oil released would be hidden under the surface, to help protect BP’s liabilities. EPA knows how dangerous the toxic dispersants are (the info is on the warning labels).
Come on Keith Olbermann, don’t be conned by these folks.
Lt. Col Barry Wingard is the lawyer for Gitmo detainee Fayiz Al-Kandari. For their ongoing story + related topics, please click on the link below: Kuwaiti Citizen Detained at Guantanamo since 2002
You can read the complete story here or on Wikipedia.
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