RIP, J.C. Stith

I think it's almost presumptuous for children to judge their parents. There's so much we don't know about them, and so much we'll never know about them because we see them through the lens of our childhood.

It came to me today that my father must have worked very hard to reclaim his life from whatever evils had taken hold of him, when he chose the high road of his Church and his God. I respect that deeply, and I wish it had not taken his death for me to realize it, because now I can't tell him.

J.C. Stith was a musician, a singer, and appreciated a good homemade ice cream. He loved his children, whom he did not see often. We did know.

[p.s.: to those close friends who are finding out such personal news in this rather cold fashion of a blog entry -- I'm sorry, I don't have my email address book with me, and I'm not anywhere near home.]

More Leaked Memos

Crikey! These governments have more leaks than they do flotation devices. Mind you don't go down with the ship. Or maybe, mind that you do.

Memo: US, British to withdraw majority of troops in 2006

A secret leaked memo written form British Prime Minister Tony Blair by his Defense Secretary John Reid says that British and US troops have drawn up plans to withdraw the majority of their troops by the middle of next year.

The memo, first reported on by the Mail on Sunday, is marked 'Secret — UK Eyes Only,' and says "emerging US plans assume that 14 out of 18 provinces could be handed over to Iraqi control by early 2006." This would allow a reduction in overall US-led forces in Iraq to 66,000 troops. The troop level in Iraq is currently 160,000, including 138,000 American troops.

Rove was Source of Plame Leak

Matt Cooper's Source

For two years, a federal prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, has been investigating the leak of Plame's identity as an undercover CIA agent. The leak was first reported by columnist Robert Novak on July 14, 2003. Novak apparently made some arrangement with the prosecutor, but Fitzgerald continued to press other reporters for their sources, possibly to show a pattern (to prove intent) or to make a perjury case. (It is illegal to knowingly identify an undercover CIA officer.) Rove's words on the Plame case have always been carefully chosen. "I didn't know her name. I didn't leak her name," Rove told CNN last year when asked if he had anything to do with the Plame leak. Rove has never publicly acknowledged talking to any reporter about former ambassador Joseph Wilson and his wife. But last week, his lawyer, Robert Luskin, confirmed to NEWSWEEK that Rove did—and that Rove was the secret source who, at the request of both Cooper's lawyer and the prosecutor, gave Cooper permission to testify.

AmericaBlog raises a good point: Bush said he wanted to "get to the bottom of this" ages ago. Amazingly enough, though Bush and Rove seem about as close as fingers on the same hand, little bottom has been reached thus far.

Why then did we have to waste all this money on a special prosecutor and a grand jury if Rove knew from day one that he was the guy who leaked Plame's identity? If Rove was so innocent, why didn't he just come forward immediately and say "yeah, it was me, but I didn't realize she was undercover"? Did he tell the president it was him? And if so, why didn't the president go public and put this investigation to an end? Or did Rove refuse the president's request and NOT come forward a year ago? And if so, what is he still doing working in the white House? [Emphasis added.]