The She-Pundit with long blond hair was just on Hannity and Colmes. (Crooks and Liars has video.) She was pretty defensive, not surprisingly, but also very insistent that she was joking in calling John Edwards a "faggot", insisting she was talking about Gray's Anatomy co-star Isaiah Washington going to rehab for using the same word against a co-star.

She insisted she wasn't using the word in the "gay" sense, only in the "wuss, pansey" "schoolyard taunt" sense. She said everyone knows John Edwards, who is married with kids, isn't gay. She said this happens every six months that liberals attack her for something she said and every time it's supposed to be the end of her career and it never is.

She claimed every conservative news junkie knew about Isaiah Washington going to rehab for using the word. Really? They all watch Gray's anatomy?

Isaiah went to rehab for criticizing a gay member of the cast. He didn't use the word in the schoolyard sense. Her excuse doesn't make sense.

Politicans have to choose their words carefully these days. Check out the latest critism of Barack Obama's Selma, Al. speech yesterday where he credited the 1965 marchers with empowering his black father and white mother to marry.

Turns out he was born in 1961.

....he credited the "Bloody Sunday" civil rights marchers of 1965 with the fact that his parents -- a black African father and white Kansas mother -- were empowered to fall in love and got married.

"They looked at each other and they decided, 'We know that in the world, as it has been, it might not be possible for us to get together and have a child, but something is stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Ala., because some folks are willing to march across the bridge.' And so they got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born. So don't tell me I don't have a claim on Selma, Ala.!"

Obama was born in 1961; the Selma march was four years later. Obama said later that he meant to credit the entire civil rights movement with his parents' union, not just the Bloody Sunday marchers.

More...

The U.S. Supreme Court today refused to hear WorldCom former chief Bernie Ebbers' appeal. Ebbers, at 65, was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Ebbers argued in court papers that the trial judge improperly allowed prosecutors to use testimony from witnesses who had been given immunity, but denied immunity to potential defense witnesses.

The judge also instructed jurors that they could find Ebbers guilty if they believed he suspected a crime was being committed but intentionally looked the other way.

It appears now he will die there.

More...

ABC News' blog reports:

Armed with fresh intelligence, the CIA is moving additional man power and equipment into Pakistan in the effort to find Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al Zawahri, U.S. officials tell ABC News.

Officials tell ABC the trail's not cold.

People familiar with the CIA operation say undercover officers with paramilitary training have been ordered into Pakistan and the area across the border with Afghanistan as part of the ramp-up.

...Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell testified last week that current intelligence "to the best of our knowledge" puts both bin Laden and al Zawahri in Pakistan. It was the first time a high-ranking U.S. official publicly identified Pakistan as bin Laden's hiding place.

This may just be a yearly thing, as bin Laden changes locations every March when the mountain snow covers melt.

Via Marcy at Firedoglake, there's another jury note, Wells looks happy, Fitzgerald does not. They are discussing how to answer and will reconvene at 4:30 ET. I'll stay online to update.

Update: DOJ spokesperson Randall Samborn says "The parties have been asked to meet in Court at 4:05 p.m. today Monday March 5 to review a note with questions that the Court has received from the jury."

So, there's more than one question.

More....

Vice President Dick Cheney has been diagnosed with a blood clot in his calf. He will be on blood-thinners for several months. He returned to work immediately after the diagnosis.

I know most of us here don't approve of Cheney, but calling for his demise or ill-health is unacceptable. Any such comments will be deleted.

Via TPM Muckracker:

The department also said that Michael Battle — a senior Justice official who directed the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys and who had personally informed the ousted U.S. attorneys of their removal — would leave his post March 16.

Battle, who has held his post since June 2005, notified U.S. attorneys of his decision in January and had informed the department last summer that he wished to pursue opportunities in the private sector, the department said. Battle was not involved in the actual decision-making that led to the prosecutors' ouster, the department said.

The Justice Department says the resignation is not related to the embroglio. I'm not buying it.

Noting she has the same initials as the Human Rights Campaign, in an unpublicized speech Friday, Hillary Clinton offered gays a partnership in her Administration.

She also opposed "Don't Ask, Don't tell" for gays serving in the military, as do John Edwards and Barack Obama.

The group hasn't yet decided whom to endorse, and like many of us, won't for some time.

As to being closed to the press:

Crooks and Liars is all over the Walter Reed hearings today, with some video.

Think Progress notes Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley has been accused over an abuse cover-up before -- with respect to the detainees. It notes, "Despite these inexcusable cover-ups, Kiley continues to serve as the Army’s surgeon general."

Sounds like it's time for Kiley to go.

You can watch the hearings at C-Span here.

An AUSA and reader of TPM explains:

I'm an Assistant United States Attorney in [*******], and am, of course, outraged by the U.S. Attorney purge, as most AUSAs are. I appreciate all the work you've been doing on this story. My own sense is that this purge has to be viewed as part a much larger story on the devastating impact of this administration's policies on the institution of the U.S. Attorney's Office.

. . . I strive every day to make sure that the Fourth Amendment rights of evn the worst criminals are scrupulously observed, only to learn that the folks I work for view those rights as disposable, inconvenient anachronisms. I operate in a criminal justice system properly designed to maximize due process for even the worst criminals, only to watch the administration kick and scream when forced to provide even the most basic due process rights to suspected terrorists.

And now the purges. So they've slashed U.S. Attorney's budgets, trashed rights we have sworn to uphold, and now, tried to toady-up the ranks of our leadership by firing some of our best and brightest, apparently to make room for wingnut-annointed political hacks. Folks who do stuff like this deserve to get caught.

Read the whole thing.

The Judge in the Scooter Libby trial today provided this written response (pdf)to the questions the jury asked Friday about reasonable doubt and Matthew Cooper and the obstruction of justice charge.

The first question read:

We would like clarification of the term "reasonable doubt." Specifically, is it necessary for the Government to present evidence that it is not humanly possible for someone not to recall an event in order to find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Shorter version: Dear Jury, re-read the reasonable doubt instruction, and if you still have a problem, clarify what you mean by "humanly possible." On Matthew Cooper, you can consider all the evidence presented at trial, including all of Libby's grand jury testimony.

Marcy at Firedoglake ( here and here and most recently here)live-blogged the court hearing over how to respond to the jury.

Update: Text version of response below the fold:

Bump and Update: CREW has filed an ethics complaint against Sen. Domenici.

Today Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) asked the Senate Select Committee on Ethics to investigate whether Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-NM) violated Senate Rules by contacting the U.S. Attorney in Albuquerque, New Mexico, David C. Iglesias, and pressuring him about an ongoing corruption probe.

Also, see this Albuquerque Tribune article:

Ethics rules permit members of congress to request a status report on a case from federal agents if they're doing so at the behest of constituents.

In his statement, Domenici seemingly moved to insulate himself from ethics charges, saying he'd received a "growing number of inquiries from constituents" about the courthouse case.

*****

Sen. Domenici Admits Urging DOJ to Fire Prosecutor

New Mexico Senator Pete Domenici today acknowledged not only calling U.S. Attorney David Iglesias to inquire about the progress of a corruption case against a Democrat, but recommending to DOJ that he be fired.