I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby

As I typed the name of this post, I thought to myself, "What a dumb name." First, he decides to go by his middle name (which is fine), but then ends up with a nickname that makes him sound like a muppet. Or maybe a "Fraggle" although I doubt Scooter "rocks".

ANYWAY, we have apparently made it through a second day of jury deliberation without a verdict in his trial in which, if convicted, he could face up to 30 YEARS IN JAIL! Wow, that's a long time, eh? Although the truth is, that he'll probably never see even one single day in jail, because even if the jury returns a guilty verdict he'll be out on bail pending his appeal, an appeal likely to take long enough that even if he loses all they way up to the highest court, by then it will be late enough in bush's administration, that he'll just pardon him with very few consequences. (Love those run-on sentences.)

Despite that, I would like to see a guilty verdict as a solid example of just how corrupt this administration has been since before they even took office. I am glad Patrick Fitzgerald proceeded as he did and from what I can tell he has done a fantastic job, conviction or not.

So, what does it mean that the jury has not come back yet? I guess there are two likely possibilities. The first is that they are split somehow and so far they have not been able to convince enough others to change their minds as to get a unanimous verdict. Obviously, this scenario would be good for Libby. The second possibility I have come up with is that the jury is spending many hours pouring over the evidence and digesting the judge's instructions. This was a complicated and confusing case and maybe they just want to due their due dilligence before returning. They've been there hearing testimony and the like for over a month already, right? So what's a few more days? (Alternatively, you could argue that after a month they are going to do everything in their power to get the HELL out of there, justice be darned!)

Anyway, this case is really about DICK cheney. Fitzgerald would probably love to get a conviction against the muppet and turn him on Cheney to keep himself (Libby) out of muppet prison. Unlikely to work though because of that whole presidential pardon thing.

Speaking of which, I found it interesting that David Geffen soured on the Clinton's when Bill decided to pardon Marc Rich, but gave no such pardon to Lenord Peltier, who Geffen had personally asked Clinton to consider. (See Maureen Dowd's BRILLIANT column from yesterday's New York Times.)

But that is neither here nor there. (Whatever that means.) Another sleepless night awaits me, as I ponder what the jury will do to my least favorite fraggle.

Oh, I just came up with a 3rd theory for why the jury did not come back today. They obviously did not want to have to share tabloid headlines tomorrow with the judge in the Anna Nicole Smith case who awared custody of her body to....her 5 month old infant daughter. Good grief.

I hope you enjoyed this post, and if you want to laugh tonight, watch Scrubs.

One more question for you (all) to ponder. Do you think Libby was lying about being in the tail end of the plane that crashed on the island? I guess she wasn't under oath though, so it really doesn't relate, does it? Sorry.