Deep Throat revealed!

Haven't posted this week due to travel to Kentucky, followed by an attack of acute muscle spasms in my neck and shoulder. Apparently this is called acute wryneck, aka torticollis, which makes it sound much more interesting than it really is. It was excruciatingly painful, and I will never complain about a stiff neck again. "They" say it will take 1-2 weeks to clear up.

In the meantime, this week in the nation's capital has been all about the revelation of Deep Throat. I found this tidbit in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. A small act of courtesy loaded with irony.

The revelation that W. Mark Felt was the anonymous source who kept Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein on track in their Watergate reporting is not without its ironies.

Felt, now 91, was the No. 2 official at the FBI -- a prime position for a leaker. He was also convicted in 1980 of having approved illegal break-ins of his own, violating the civil rights of friends and relatives of fugitive members of the Weather Underground in the early 1970s.

He and Edward Miller, former head of the FBI's intelligence division, were fined $8,500 after a trial that included testimony by Nixon and five former attorneys general.

Both men were pardoned in 1981 by Ronald Reagan, who said at the time they had acted "on high principle to bring an end to the terrorism that was threatening our nation." At which time Nixon sent Felt champagne and a note reading, "Justice ultimately prevails. Congratulations for sticking with it and thanks for your service to the nation." -- from "This nation needs another Deep Throat" by Sally Kalson