Celestial Navigation

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Wow, the White House Press Corps took Scott McClellan out behind the woodshed today, as this video shows. I had flashbacks to the West Wing episode where Josh disastrously intimates that the President has a "secret plan to fight inflation". Scott was in hyper-weaseling mode, absolutely refusing to answer ANYTHING about the leak regarding Valerie Plame, and not even willing to stand by previous comments that he or the President made about the matter in the past, he just kept repeating the "ongoing criminal investigation" mantra.

McClellan implied that the prosecutor asked him not to talk about the case, and that's why he clammed up, but he refused to say when the prosecutor asked him to stop talking about it, since he's been quite willing to talk about this "ongoing criminal investigation" in the past. He even ducked the question of whether or not the President would stand by his pledge to fire someone who was found to be the leaker, under the "criminal investigation" white flag. So, let me get this straight, there's an ongoing criminal investigation, which is clearly very serious, so we can't talk about it. But, if we actually find this serious criminal at the end of this serious investigation, we're not actually ready to commit to firing him or her.

To The Editor

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My Great-Uncle Reimert Ravenholt had a Letter to the Editor published in the New York Times today, regarding the talk of aid to Africa:

To the Editor:

Proposals for helping Africa that ignore the need for birth control are bereft of good sense. Without birth control, all food and other assistance are wasted, and the problem is enlarged, as during the last 20 years.

Resources divided by population equals the human condition.

Africa needs not only oral contraceptives and condoms in every village and household, but also ready access to safe surgical services for tubal ligation and abortion for all women in need. Readily available throughout the wealthy world and in China, these services are desperately needed in Africa.

R. T. Ravenholt, M.D. Seattle, July 3, 2005 The writer was director of the United States Agency for International Development's Population Program, 1966-79.