This is a copy of an email message I sent as part of a discussion on the Valerie Plame case. I've preserved it here because I think I was in pretty rare form.

E wrote:

> But I'm curious from the minds on this alias -
>
> What's your take on this whole Karl Rove/Valerie Plame thing?

If you compromise your spooks, pretty soon you've got no spooks left. Running spook-less is a disaster waiting to happen. Whomever outed the spook should be done for treason and locked up as an example to others, I think.

That's the condensed version from the book of P, chapter 37, verses three through seven (New Abridged Translation).

For those who prefer the elegance of the original tongue, here it is in full:

[3] Woe betide the empire in which lords and earls divulge the True Names of the Shadow Warriors, for the Masters of the Dark are quick-witted and subtil as the Snake. Yea, know thou that they speakest many things to one another in the wee hours, and provocation will most surely cause them to flee, all together.

[4] The empire which hath no Shadow People is like unto a fair maiden travelling through a rough and barbarous place, with none to guide her or defend her tender virtues.

[5] Raise not thine hand against a man of shadow, lest thee be siezed by the squeaky bits and brought before the entire Multitude for Reckoning.

[6] Wail not, and shed no tear when thou art cast into the pit, O vile and heinous dastard - were Ye not old enough to Know Better?

[7] O, how the people wail, and raise up hands with shaking fingers, and brand the defiler as a Stench in the Nostril and an Offense! See how they go their way after in holy fear, treading the paths of righteousness!