"Deep Throat" Comes Clean

Most thought it would never happen. Some wondered if Woodward and Berstein made up the main character in their part of the drama known as Watergate. They speculated that "Deep Throat" was invented to protect several sources... or to obscure the fact that they did not have a real source. But such speculations are finally shown to be false. Deep Throat has been unmasked. And not only is he real, but his identity explains a lot about the access he had to secrets in the Executive Branch.

The Washington Post said Tuesday that a former FBI official, W. Mark Felt, was the confidential source known as "Deep Throat" who provided the newspaper information that led to President Nixon's impeachment investigation and eventual resignation.
The paper made its announcement on its Web site after Felt, 91 and living in California, talked to a lawyer who wrote a magazine article for Vanity Fair.
"The No. 2 guy from the FBI, that was a pretty good source," said Ben Bradlee, who had been the key editor at the Post in the Watergate era.
"I knew the paper was on the right track" in its investigative stories, Bradlee said, citing the "quality of the source."

This draws to a close one of the last mysteries of the Nixon Whitehouse. I didn't live through it, but have been caught up in it all thru "All the President's Men" - both the book and the movie.

More proof that the Brits are the keepers civility

It seems that one of the many ways our friends across the pond celebrate the coming of spring is by chasing a slab of cheese down a hill.

Teenager Chris Anderson, who won one of four cheese rolling races contested Monday, was taken to hospital on a stretcher, clutching his winning slab of cheese to his chest.

"The pain was worth it," Anderson said. "This cheese is going straight in a cupboard when I get home. It's definitely not for eating."

Yes, quite civil indeed.

The Bachelor Strikes Back

Both Ward and Sean here at Mod-Blog got hitched last year. While I celebrate with them, and am very happy for them. Some days, I just feel sorry for their wives. I saw this comic yesterday, and the more I read it, the more I suspect this very conversation has happened to both of them at least once in the last year.


Sometimes, it is nice being the bachelor in the group.

It's Official: The French Diss and Dismiss the EU

If it were not such a far-reaching and historic moment for France, it would be funny. For years now, the French govenrment has been pushing for a Pan-European government for the European Union. They saw themselves at the head of a virtual Franch Empire which would span from the Atlantic Ocean down to Turkey and over to the borders of the Former Soviet Union. It was such a well-publicized notion that the End-Times-obsessed types that particularly rankle Ward pointed to it as the reformed Roman Empire that presaged the end of all things. But now, the tiny nation that sees Charlemagne as the once and future kind, has rejected the EU Constitution that French leaders essentially wrote. And with a 70% turnout at the polls, it is hard to argue that the vote is due to a highly motivated by unrepresentaive minority. The French people rejected this wholeheartedly.

Of course, French politicians have rarely been ones to be bothered by reality. Jacques Chirac will find some way to spin this to his advantage, and use it as proof that the Union is inevitable. I wonder how long until the Constitution is changed so that it does NOT have to be ratified by all member nations? If they put it at 60%, it could become law against the wishes of the French people... and who knows who else?

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road? That's For the Courts to Decide

No, that title is NOT simply a lame attempt at an original take on a classic joke. This last week a chicken in Ridgecrest, CA found itself on the wrong side of the law while innocently reinacting the old joke that it is unlikely anyone every actually found funny. Luckily, lawyers have no sense of humor, and got the chicken out of it.

A chicken that got a ticket for crossing the road has clawed his way out of it.
The $54 citation for impeding traffic was dismissed Friday after Linc and Helena Moore's attorney argued that the fowl was domesticated and could not be charged as livestock.
State law restricts livestock on highways, but not domestic animals.
The chicken was ticketed March 26 for impeding traffic after it wandered onto a road in Johannesburg, a rural mining community southeast of Ridgecrest.

It makes you wonder just how much livestock gets charged each year for such petty offenses. Perhaps we need a new "just say no to crossing the road" campaign to keep wayward fowl from recklessly putting themselves in harms way. Or perhaps we just need to give the reporters something more interesting to report on!

A new way to recruit priests

The BBC is running an interesting little story on the Catholic Church in Britain starting to use beermats (I believe that would be a coster in America) as a way of recruiting new priests. I suppose there is no better time to get a guy to give up his right to marry than when he is flat drunk. The article does go into some of the other options being looked at, but most of all it highlights that the Church does need to reform its policies surrounding what a priest may or may not do.

Congratulations Russ & Renee!!!

Congratulations from all of us at Mod-Blog go out to Russell Boronow and Renee Hoyt on their marriage today in Trumbull, CT. It was a beautiful ceremony, a fun reception, and I am sure it will be the start of a wonderful life together. May God bless your union as long as you both shall live. And may you walk with Him all the days of your life.