Miller Rite

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeFormer New York Times Pulitzer Prize-winning scribe Judith Miller is a new staffer at conservative periodical Newsmax, according to www.businessinsider.com.

Miller, who most recently has worked as an on-air commentator and Web site contributor for Fox News, left the Times in 2005 in a swirl of controversy surrounding her coverage of the as-yet-to-be-found Weapons of Mass Destruction allegedly amassed by the late Iraqi despot Saddam Hussein.  The Times later published a mea culpa concerning its erroneous coverage of the WMD lead-up to the Iraq invasion, essentially conceding that  Bush Administration sources had played Miller like a flute.

Miller testified at the trial of White House aide  Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who was accused of leaking information about CIA operative Valerie Plame. Miller spent 85 days in jail for civil contempt based on her initial refusal to testify on First Amendment grounds.

The Business Insider reports that Miller's first foray for Newsmax will appear in January 2011, and concern the Mideast drug trade. "TUOL" wonders if she'll discover "SMI"s (Substances of Mass Intoxication).

National Journal Taps Cooper as Managing Editor

Image by Eleventh Earl of Mar via FlickrVeteran Washington, D.C. newsman and former TIME Magazine scribe Matthew Cooper has been named Managing Editor of The National Journal.

The Atlantic-Media owned Journal lured Cooper away from the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission for whom he was writing a book about the nation's economic collapse.  Cooper is forever linked with former New York Times writer Judith Miller as the two journalists held in contempt of court for their initial refusal to testify in the Valerie Plame leaks case that ultimately sent Dick Cheney's & Karl Rove's loyal aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby to the hoosegow. Cooper utlimately appeared before the Grand Jury and also testified at Libby's trial.

Besides TIME, Cooper has toiled for Newsweek, The New Republic and Washington Monthly.