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(Not you? Then who? Not me - Couldn't be. Then who? Not you?)

Twenty three Christmases ago, beginning in November, the Iran-Contra Affair was bubbling to the surface. Stories of secret arms caches, money laundering, clandestine operations, deals - all the stuff of mediocre spy novels.

But alas, it was the Reagan Years, so anything could be and was possible.

Ike Pappas (CBS News): “Secord spent less than fifteen minutes in the closed hearing room. Enough time to listen to opening statements and then claim the Fifth Amendment, refusing to answer questions as have several other key players in the case. Secord, now a businessman is said to have helped to arrange the Iran arms sales, and has been linked in documents to the clandestine privately financed network that sent arms and equipment to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua when Congress cut off funds.”

These two news reports from December of 1986 give some indication where this all was headed. 1987 was promising to be a fun year. Sandbags and all.

. . .and boy, do we need 'em now! (donations, that is - we're full up on sandbags)

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("The Olive Has Been Talking . . . ")

It seems wiretapping has been a popular subject in legal circles for quite some time, if this special edition of Meet The Press from November 17, 1957 is any indication. This roundtable discussion features New York State Supreme Court Justice Miles McDonald, District Attorney of Richmond County New York John Braisted and the infamous Roy Cohn on the subject of the use or misuse of the Fifth Amendment and the use and misuse of wiretaps.

All interesting stuff, considering it's 1957 and the world seemed much simpler then . . .or not.