Headlines - Libby Trial Juror Dismissed, Mistrial Averted

Libby Trial- Juror Dismissed

Aldon Hynes is covering the Scooter Libby trial in D.C. this week. You can read the blow by blow at his Orient Lodge.

People are already talking about mistrial. How many jurors were tainted? Is it enough to make a fair verdict unlikely?

Another comment, I don’t know why they didn’t sequester these guys.

Current court room chatter is that someone heard a joke on late night TV and repeated it to the other jurors.

Meanwhile, a reporter asks me about my blog and wishes for the freedom that we bloggers have.

Update/Daily Kos: Potential Mistrial In Libby Trial Averted


Iraq

Kevin Hayden - Why Al Sadr? - The NY Times provided a multi-author overview of Moqtada Al-Sadr today that describes his efforts at the current juncture in this long war that I consider a must-read. [..] While friendly to Iran, he’s known to be a nationalist that doesn’t want Iraq’s government to be Iran’s puppet. Nor does he want it to be America’s puppet. [..] considering that Al-Sadr had no past of anti-American animosity and the circumstances he’s had to contend with since, defending a population where unemployment rates have ranged from 33% to 60%, I have to admit he’s impressed me greatly. He’s navigated amid sharks, he’s had SCIRI, the Sunnis, Al Qaeda, the US military and Bush aiming at him. And he’s survived. As one of the two most popular figures in the country. [..] I still think, if he’s negotiated with without betrayal, he may hold some keys that can unlock progress towards a functional country...



John Edwards, 2008 Candidates

Quote of the Day:

Whoever blogged for Edwards was signing up for a lot of bad hair days, and it wasn't going to be me.

Lindsay Beyerstein of Majikthise, from a Salon.com article titled Why I Refused to Blog for John Edwards

At Daily Kos, David Mizner is saying that John Edwards is doing something important. "It’s so important that it’s eluded the attention of the political press. While pundits handicap the horserace and assess hairstyles, Edwards is quietly yet thoroughly rejecting the economic philosophy that’s dominated the Democratic Party for the last fifteen years."

My comment:

We cannot forget that this is a time when the percentage of poor Americans who are living in severe poverty has reached a 32-year high, with millions of working Americans falling closer to the poverty line. This is a time when the gulf between the nation's "haves" and "have-nots" continues to widen. The plight of the severely poor in this country is a truth that cannot be discounted, especially given the most recent economic expansion.

Ask yourself what's wrong with the picture. Sound economic theory would lead you to believe that governments should run a surplus in good times and a deficit in bad times. Game-playing with politics has warped sound economic theory. An overwhelming deficit has been run up in recent years, disproportionate to the "comeback" rate of economic expansion. Overall, in the past 15 years of continuous economic growth in this country, we've had too few years of government surpluses to show for it. It's time for new thinking and some moral leadership on the issue of how we should deal with the economy. Rubin and the entire Clinton administration worked hard to balance the budget and should be commended for what they did in their time. We can't depend on the shaky economic structures that once brought us stock market bubbles and Enrons to solve the problem of millions of Americans who've sunk into deep poverty. If that is what we are leaning upon because we have a fetish about balancing our budget, we're missing an opportunity for finding a lasting solution that keeps us on solid ground while we raise others up - n a way that raises all of us up.

American health care spending is nearly twice what other developed countries spend as a percentage of GDP. Edwards is laying it on the line for us. We can keep playing political games that provide a temporary and pretty frame for budget-balancing "success" or we can make meaningful change in the way we approach justice, equality, and opportunity when we consider our approach to the budgets. This is a new day.

Books

In The Shadows: Unknown Craftsmen of Bengal - For her new book, In The Shadows: Unknown Craftsmen of Bengal, Payal Mohanka chose six villages which made products like wigs, lights, polo-balls, boats, shuttlecocks and jeans. Each of the villages featured in the book were involved in making one of the products. The craftsmen, she says, have been passing on their skills to the next generation, trying to keep alive a family tradition despite their abject poverty. It is these products that give these villages an identity. [..]“Most people associate poverty with lack of skill, yet the villagers are so skillful. There is such a contrast between what they make and resemble," said Nobel Laureate, Professor Muhammad Yunus, who recently helped to launch the book. [link]


Former Child Soldier Haunted by Past - Sierra Leone emerged from the 11-year war in 2002. Beah visited the country last year, and was dispirited to see how little had changed. There's still a great deal to rebuild and tremendous poverty. Beah says the political corruption worries him most, because it's often a prelude to more conflict.


Other

AP: Scholars Criticize New Jesus Documentary -
Archaeologists and clergymen in the Holy Land derided claims in a new documentary produced by James Cameron that contradict major Christian tenets, but the Oscar-winning director said the evidence was based on sound statistics.[..] "The Lost Tomb of Christ," which the Discovery Channel will run on March 4, argues that 10 ancient ossuaries -- small caskets used to store bones -- discovered in a suburb of Jerusalem in 1980 may have contained the bones of Jesus and his family, according to a press release issued by the Discovery Channel.[..] One of the caskets even bears the title, ''Judah, son of Jesus,'' hinting that Jesus may have had a son. And the very fact that Jesus had an ossuary would contradict the Christian belief that he was resurrected and ascended to heaven.

to be cont'd