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I don't know what is going to happen this week when the Special prosecutor Fitzgerald closes out his Grand Jury investigation but I think it's important to remind everyone about some of lies surrounding it.

The list below came from Media Matters talking about MSNBC's Hardball but these claims have been repeated on almost every cable TV show and most likely every right leaning Talk Radio show on the air today.

But as Media Matters has documented, this claim echoes a false RNC talking point that misrepresented Wilson's July 6, 2003, New York Times op-ed and his August 3, 2003, interview on CNN's Late Edition. Wilson did not claim that the vice president sent him to Niger; rather, Wilson stated that the CIA sent him to Niger to answer the vice president's office's questions regarding the purported Iraq-Niger uranium deal.

But as Media Matters noted, Wilson's qualifications for the Niger mission included diplomatic credentials (he specialized in Africa for the majority of his diplomatic career), as well as past experience investigating sales of Niger uranium in 1999. Moreover, it is unclear how, according to Toensing's and O'Beirne's criticisms, Wilson's alleged lack of experience with weapons of mass destruction would prevent him from properly investigating the sale of yellowcake uranium, which is a commodity, not a weapon, and must undergo several refining and enriching procedures before it is considered weapons-grade.

Claim #3: Wilson's wife got him the job investigating the alleged Iraq-Niger uranium deal.

But as Media Matters noted, this assertion is disputed by CIA officials cited in The Washington Post and by unnamed intelligence officials quoted in the press. It is also unsupported by the findings of the Senate Intelligence Committee report.

But as Media Matters noted, Fitzgerald was given broad authority to investigate the CIA leak, including but not restricted to possible violations of the IIPA.

But as Media Matters noted, the very fact that Plame worked at the CIA was itself reportedly classified information. So the question of whether, in the process of those conversations, administration officials leaked that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA -- a potential violation of federal laws.

But as Media Matters noted, although the two articles differed slightly in structure, they agreed on the major facts of the Miller-Libby conversations -- both reporting that Libby told Miller that Plame played a role in Wilson's selection for the trip.

Media Matters does a very good job of Fact Checking and it always amazes me when I hear these claims repeated time after time. It as though the person making the claim is the only source. I also can't believe that after all this time they will still repeat these baseless claims.

Well I guess we'll know more this week.

Click to read. <----( read the whole story here )

SOME LESSONS ARE HARD TO LEARN

Wal-Mart to Expand Health Plan for Workers

Wal-Mart, which has long been criticized for the benefits it offers to its workers, is introducing a cheaper health insurance plan, with monthly premiums as low as $11, that the company hopes will greatly increase the number of its employees who can afford coverage.

Jumping into a new area, Wal-Mart is also offering health savings accounts, which the federal government introduced last year. Few employers offer them.

The new benefits, which Wal-Mart calls the Value Plan, follow years of complaints that at Wal-Mart, the nation's largest employer, health insurance is out of reach for many of its 1.2 million workers in the United States, forcing thousands of them to turn to state-sponsored programs or forgo health coverage altogether.

The devil is in the details.

Health insurance specialists generally praised the new plan, saying its lower premiums were likely to attract more employees and thereby reduce the ranks of the uninsured. They also noted, however, that the plan's $1,000 deductible would be high for Wal-Mart workers, particularly older employees who are likely to visit doctors more often, and might not cover expensive treatments, particularly in its first year.

Let's just say it's a start.

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