Update: Keep reading the tea leaves. No verdict today and the jury is leaving early tomorrow. Marcy at Firedoglake has the recap.

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We're in day seven of the Scooter Libby jury deliberations. Jane and Marcy of Firedoglake are live-blogging any news.

Tidbit for today: The jurors asked for another large easel pad yesterday, signifying nothing. Maybe more important - the jurors are in jeans again.

I think the jurors will dress up on verdict day. I have no scientific or anecdotal evidence to back that up, only a memory that it happened in some other high-profile trial within the past few years. I can't even remember now which one.

Please use the comments to update with trial news as I'll be off-line for several hours (although checking in every ten minutes by Treo.) I'll have my laptop with me to get back online if there's a verdict. Feel free to e-mail me if you learn it before reading it here.

Previously, I wrote:

Apparently, Barack Obama apologized for saying that US troops' lives have been wasted in Iraq . . . Obama did indeed misspeak. The fact is our troops in Iraq have not been wasted, they have been used in an enterprise that has been as damaging to the United States as any in memory. They were worse than wasted -- they were employed in a Debacle that was foretold from the first moment PNAC dreamed up this insane scheme in the 1990s.

About Obama, Michelle Malkin said:

I could go on, but it would be a waste of breath trying to get Sen. Obama to acknowledge the existence of countless soldiers and their families who reject his patronizing, infantilizing, and insulting view of all American troops as dupes/victims who have squandered their lives.

Last night, John McCain said:

"Americans are very frustrated, and they have every right to be," McCain said. "We've wasted a lot of our most precious treasure, which is American lives."

It would be hypocritical of me to criticize McCain for saying soldiers' lives were wasted in Iraq. It would be hypocritical of Michelle Malkin not to.

Patterico, any comment? H/T Atrios

Former senator Linc Chafee talks about the past:

There was indeed a third way, which Senator James Jeffords, independent of Vermont, hailed at the time as “one of the most important votes we will cast in this process.” And it was opposed by every single senator at the time who now seeks higher office. . . . Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan, offered a substitute to the war resolution, the Multilateral Use of Force Authorization Act of 2002. Senator Levin’s amendment called for United Nations approval before force could be authorized. It was unambiguous and compatible with international law. . . . Senator Levin wrote an amendment that was nimble: . . . the amendment explicitly avowed America’s right to defend itself if threatened.

All true . But what I care about is now. What is Carl Levin doing NOW to end the war? Not as much.

In a diatribe against Glenn Greenwald, Patterico seemingly agrees with at least half of what Greenwald says:

To the contrary, Greenwald insists, anonymous comments by hateful leftists prove nothing about the left generally. Nothing! . . . These comments are staggeringly hypocritical, viewed in the light of Greenwald’s extensive history of spotlighting anonymous comments at conservative blogs to reach broad-brush conclusions about the entire conservative movement.

Well, I don't know about that, but presumably Patterico agrees with one of the two alleged sentiments expressed by Glenn. Either the anonymous comments about Cheney mean NOTHING, or the anonymous comments on Right Wing blogs mean SOMETHING.

So which is it Patterico, do anonymous comments mean something? Or nothing?

I tend to the nothing school myself.

See also Atrios and Alicublog.

Many Democratic Senators like John Kerry and Hillary Clinton have argued for years that their vote in October 2002 in favor of the Iraq AUMF was not a vote for war, but to give the President leverage. That is a crock of course. No, the stark choice presented was for war with Iraq or against war with Iraq.

Today, the choice for Congress is just as stark - for continuing the Iraq Debacle or for ending the Iraq Debacle. Democrats in Congress simply have not, and apparently will not anytime soon, accept this reality. More.

Another terrible idea, this time from Ohio:

Convicted sex offenders in Ohio may be soon be forced to drive cars with a special license plate denoting their offense....Under the proposal, the worst sex offenders - habitual sex offenders, predators, and child-victim predators - would have to display the plate on their vehicle for five years.

Offenders would face a criminal charge if they are caught without the plate, and enablers who loan vehicles to known offenders would face criminal charges, too. If an offender moves out of state, they would get a green sticker.

This is just another shaming punishment and one that will have no effect on the number of sex offenses.

10TV spoke with a local registered sex offender who said this would be a second sentence, once out of prison. A spokesperson for CURE Ohio, which supports former inmates, said the plates would demonize people, and it's more often not an ex-felon, but rather a neighbor or relative, who hurts a child.

I'll be railing against the measure on MSNBC tomorrow at 1:30 pm ET. (Barring getting bumped for a Libby verdict or other breaking news.)

Former Ohio Rep. Bob Ney reports to federal prison tomorrow in Morgantown, W.Va. to begin serving his 30 month sentence.

He sent his friends a farewell e-mail, quoting Garth Brooks' song, "The Dance."

and now i'm glad i didn't know
the way it all would end, the way it all would go
our lives are better left to chance,
i could have missed the pain,
but i'd have had to miss, the dance

A federal judge in Miami today found that Jose Padilla is competent to stand trial.

"This defendant clearly has the capacity to assist his attorneys," Cooke said just hours after she finished four days of competency hearings.

....Cooke said testimony in the competency hearing showed that Padilla understands "legal nuances" of pretrial motions and noted that he had signed a document verifying the truth of allegations made by the defense that he was tortured and mistreated during his years in a Navy brig in Charleston, S.C. "At some time, the defendant was able to discuss some things with his lawyers," Cooke said. "The defendant's situation is unique. He understands that."

Padilla had no reaction in court to the decision. I'm not surprised. He probably had no idea what was going on.

More....

Of all the silly things.

A bill that would ban the sale of marijuana-flavored candy to children in Georgia won approval from a legislative committee this morning, advancing the proposal toward a vote in the House of Representatives.

House Bill 280 calls for a $1,000 fine for those caught selling the sweets, also called “chronic candy” or “pot suckers.” The candy comes in the form of lollipops, gumdrops and other sweets.

Read the comments. One is from a prohibition true believer and former prosecutor and drug agent who thinks the bill is a great idea. The other is from NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre, who writes:

Bump and Update: Per Firedoglake, no verdict today, the jury has gone home.

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Libby: Factors to Consider While We Wait

While predicting what a jury will do -- or even where they are in their deliberations -- is fruitless, there are some things to consider in trying to follow along. The first is that we have access to newspaper articles, blog posts, pleadings, etc. They do not.

They do not have transcripts of the trial testimony or opening or closing arguments. They do not even have a copy of the Indictment.

They have jury instructions. They have paper copies of the exhibits. They have their handwritten notes of the testimony.

So, where would they begin once they have selected a foreman and decided to start discussions? Byron York says how he would do it.

More...

And the next chapter of the Walter Reed scandal, the number of mice in Walter Reed is a "national security secret":

Soldiers say their sergeant major gathered troops at 6 p.m. Monday to tell them they must follow their chain of command when asking for help with their medical evaluation paperwork, or when they spot mold, mice or other problems in their quarters.

And yes, the classification line is a joke from me. I know this is not classifying the info. It is just putting a de facto gag order on our soldiers:

Soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center’s Medical Hold Unit say they have been told they will wake up at 6 a.m. every morning and have their rooms ready for inspection at 7 a.m., and that they must not speak to the media. “Some soldiers believe this is a form of punishment for the trouble soldiers caused by talking to the media,” one Medical Hold Unit soldier said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Say hello to the Eyewitness ID Reform Blog

I have corresponded with one of the authors, a Public Defender, and the blog is the real deal.

They will be blogging tomorrow through Saturday from the "Off the Witness Stand Conference" at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

The conference is named for Dr. Munsterberg's collection of essays, "On the Witness Stand," which urged the courts to open their doors to a plethora of social science findings that cast serious doubt on assumptions commonly relied on in criminal proceedings.

Speakers include: Janet Reno, Steven Penrod, Gary Wells, James Doyle, Saul Kassin and Tim O'Toole.