Leslie Cauley: the next Mary Mapes

Remember Mary Mapes? Yes, that >Mary Mapes who lives in some freaky, alternative universe where "fake but accurate" is grounds for producing a television news segment. Well, it seems that Leslie Cauley is trying desperately to take over Ms. Mapes' title as Miss Alternative Universe.

On May 11, USA Today published a story written by Ms. Cauley claiming that several telecommunications companies, BellSouth among them, have provided phone call record data to the National Security Agency. Well, in the rush to publish her story, it seems that Ms. Cauley might not have had all her facts straight. You see, BellSouth is calling for a retraction.

In a letter to the newspaper's publisher, Craig Moon, the company noted that the story said BellSouth is "working under contract with the NSA" to provide "phone call records of tens of millions of Americans" that have been incorporated into the database.

"No such proof was offered by your newspaper because no such contracts exist," stated the letter, portions of which were read by spokesman Jeff Battcher. "You have offered no proof that BellSouth provided massive calling data to the NSA as part of a warrantless program because it simply did not happen."

Oh, by the way, in her May 11 article, Ms. Cauley failed to mention that this story was first reported by the New York Times in December of 2005.

And she also failed to mention that the Communication Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) permits this type of government activity.

And she also failed to mention that CALEA was signed into law in 1994 by the excreable William Jefferson Blythe Clinton, a Democrat.

And she also failed to mention that she's a Democratic campaign donor.

And . . . I'm certain there's more she failed to mention. It just hasn't been discovered yet.

HUGE Hat Tip to NewsBusters - what a wonderful comfort to know that resourceful people like the folks at NewsBusters are watching the Drive-By Media and exposing their bias.