I'm flying back to Denver today and will be back to regular blogging Thursday night to Sunday, when I return to the Libby trial for closing arguments. If anyone would like to donate, here's how.

If you'd rather donate anonymously, please use Amazon here.

As always, thanks in advance. Your generosity is really appreciated. As an added incentive, the top three donors will get a free TalkLeft 4th Amendment Subway Tote.

Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake, Marcy Wheeler of The Next Hurrah who has been live-blogging this week at Firedoglake and I discuss the day in court and whether Fitz proved his case or Wells succeeded with his defense strategy.

I had a great week covering the trial for Huffington Post and I'll be flying home to Denver and my day job in the morning. I'll fly back to DC Monday to live blog closing arguments on Tuesday.

This has been one of the best blogging experiences yet. Why? Because bloggers bond. As you can probably tell from the week of Politics TV videos, Jane Hamsher, Marcy Wheeler and I got along famously. We don't compete, we complement and support each other and we share our knowledge. It's all about adding another dimension to the reporting.

Firedoglake has made an amazing contribution to the Libby trial reporting, as the New York Times documents today.

John Amaechi, former NBA player and UConn Penn State star, disclosed that he is gay. Dan LeBatard wrote:

"I feel exhausted already," he said. "All this is about to happen, this complete unknown. I like structure. I've planned my entire life to this point. This wasn't in there. I'm in the vehicle, but I'm a passenger now. There is no driver. But I did choose to open the door and get in, and it's the right choice for a number of reasons. I'm sure that will become plain soon." It just wasn't plain in the moment. What's the saying? Courage isn't the absence of fear but the ability to overcome it? Amaechi has never been so scared, which says plenty. Consider: When asked if he ever felt free in the NBA, he said, "Never. Just lonely and isolated and afraid." The biggest relief in his career? When he got the call that it was over. He felt, in his words, "the deepest and most profound of sighs -- every muscle in my body relaxing at once."

What an indictment on the homophobia that permeates sports. And Tim Hardaway, unapologetically confirmed that bigotry, flatly stating that he would not want Amaechi as a teammate and that homosexuality simply should not exist period.

I guess Timmy never heard of the ancient Olympics. But of course, in many ways, this was the attitude Karl Malone reflected when he balked at Magic Johnson's return to the NBA after he had retired when he was diagnosed as carrying the AIDS virus.

Just an ugly reminder of how far we still have to travel as a society.

People who have a "throw the book at 'em" attitude about all crime, large and small, often experience a change of heart when a son or daughter is arrested and charged. It's difficult to watch as one's child is chewed up by the criminal justice system.

Justice Scalia doesn't necessarily have a "throw the book at 'em" attitude, but it is interesting to wonder whether his daughter's experience with the criminal justice system will cause him feel a bit more sympathy toward the hardships that ordinary defendants endure during and after an arrest.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's daughter was arrested this week and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and child endangerment, officials said Wednesday.

Ann Banaszewski was arrested after driving with an undisclosed blood alcohol level. Three children were in her van.

Apparently, Barack Obama apologized for saying that US troops' lives have been wasted in Iraq:

Obama has twice apologized since implying that U.S. troops had died in vain, telling a rally crowd in Ames, Iowa, on Sunday, "We ended up launching a war that should have never been authorized, and should never been waged, and on which we have now spent $400 billion, and have seen over 3,000 lives of the bravest young Americans wasted."

. . . In an interview with the Des Moines Register, the leading newspaper in the critical first-in-the-nation caucus state, immediately backpedaled saying, "I was actually upset with myself when I said that, because I never use that term."

But, the first-term Senator's use of the term in a very public setting has forced Obama to elaborate on that apology, telling a house party crowd of potential supports in Nashua, N.H., Monday night, "Even as I said it, I realized I had misspoken."

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.

I am not sure about the politics of it all. Chris Bowers is upset with Obama.

I am upset with the Bush Administration, which has done severe damage to our country and in the process caused the death and maiming of tens of thousands of our fine soldiers, who have, in the main, acted in the best traditions of our country. I feel tremendously sad for the families of our brave soldiers, who must realize what Bush has wrought and at what cost. I would certainly not want to see them caused further pain. But the truth is the truth.

It's difficult for people with criminal records to find employment. Young people sometimes hope that military service will provide them with civilian job skills and a fresh start, but the military has, until recently, refused enlistment to most of those who have a criminal past.

Given the military's ongoing shortage of new recruits, more individuals with criminal histories are finding a second chance in the military.

[Since 2003, the Army has] increased the number of so-called “moral waivers” to recruits with criminal pasts, even as the total number of recruits dropped slightly. The sharpest increase was in waivers for serious misdemeanors, which make up the bulk of all the Army’s moral waivers. These include aggravated assault, burglary, robbery and vehicular homicide.

The number of waivers for felony convictions also increased, to 11 percent of the 8,129 moral waivers granted in 2006, from 8 percent.

Desperation breeds forgiveness. Enlistees with conviction records made up almost 12 percent of the Army's recruits in 2006. It's unfortunate that the only opportunity to obtain employment available to many of these ex-offenders is in such a dangerous occupation. Fresh starts should be routine for those who have paid their debt to society.

[Cross Posted at Huffington Post]

The Libby trial is going out with a whimper. PlameGate followers, like Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake, feel cheated. Without testimony from Vice President Cheney or Scooter Libby, there's no bang for the buck.

"When Ted Wells came back from lunch today and announced that he had released Dick Cheney as a witness I was damn near brokenhearted. After all that, and Shooter lets me down. Did he not want to testify on Libby's behalf, did Team Libby decide he could do more harm than good, or did they never intend to call him at all? We'll probably never know."

For those who believe criminal trials should be a search for the truth, I sympathize. But that's not the purpose of a criminal trial. A criminal trial is simply a testing of the evidence. The only issue is whether the prosecution can prove its charges (pdf) beyond a reasonable doubt.

Scooter Libby is not required to prove he didn't lie or obstruct justice. All he has to do is raise a reasonable doubt in the mind of the jurors that he did.

The test for reasonable doubt is not a simple weighing of the evidence, after which the jury decides which side to believe more. That's the test in a civil case where the standard of proof is a mere "preponderance of the evidence."

In layman's terms, in a criminal case, if both sides' theories and arguments sound plausible, that alone is a reasonable doubt and the jury should acquit.

It took some time, but an indictment has finally been returned against defense contractor Brent Wilkes and former CIA official Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, cronies of (and alleged co-conspirators with) former Rep. Randall "Duke" Cunningham.

The [grand] jury returned 11 counts against Foggo and Wilkes that include conspiracy, wire fraud, conflict of interest and money laundering. It charges Foggo with using his seniority and influence within the CIA to direct the awarding of contracts to Wilkes, his lifelong friend.

A second indictment, which included 26 counts, names Wilkes and New York-based mortgage banker John T. Michael, who co-owned a mortgage company that provided loans to Cunningham. It charges Wilkes with conspiracy, wire fraud, bribery of a public official and money laundering.

The Foggo-Wilkes indictment is here, and the Wilkes-Michael indictment is here (both in pdf).

For her hard work in bringing the indictments, US Attorney Carol Lam was given the axe. Even as she announced the indictments today, the Justice Department was interviewing "four of her top advisers for the position of interim chief while a committee searches for a long-term replacement."

Wow. Ted Wells just announced neither Libby nor Cheney will testify. Evidence ends tomorrow, closings next Tuesday. More at Huffington Post.

Debate in the House of Representatives is underway concerning the president's plan to escalate the war in Iraq. Predictably, most Republicans are relying on the canard that any criticism of President Bush will "embolden" terrorists, when in truth it was the invasion and occupation of Iraq that has increased the threat of terrorism. Some are trying to change the subject by pretending that disapproval of escalation equates to cutting off funding for troops who are in harm's way -- as if Congress intends to leave soldiers in Baghdad without food or ammunition.

The nonbinding measure states simply that the House "will continue to support and protect" troops serving in Iraq but that it "disapproves" of the troop buildup.

A few Republicans, understandably concerned about voter frustration with congressional inaction to stop the escalation, will break from the ranks.

Republicans conceded that the measure was headed for approval and said a few dozen party members were likely to break ranks and vote for it.

I'm over at Huffington Post live-blogging the Libby trial today. Come on over. For the blow by blow, check out Marcy Wheeler at Firedoglake.

This morning has been taken up with determining Andrea Mitchell won't testify, the NY Times' Jill Abramson had no recollection of Judy Miller suggesting she assign someone to cover the Joseph Wilson/Niger story and Cheney NSA Advisor John Hannah testifying how busy Libby was with heavy national security issues.

Arianna wrote a few days ago that there are two trials going on in the Prettyman courthouse in D.C. One is designed to determine whether Scooter Libby is guilty of making false statements to federal investigators, lying to the grand jury and obstructing justice. The other is a referendum on the symbiotic relationship between prominent journalists and high ranking Administration officials.

The currency in Washington has always been information. That's nothing new. But the Libby trial has laid bare, for anyone caring enough to take a look, how the Administration used the press to present its unfounded case for war.

The directive to combat Joseph Wilson's July 6 op-ed came from Cheney himself. To get a sense of how Libby and others snapped to attention when he cried "fetch," consider the July 12th flight to Norfolk. It was on this flight, carrying Cheney, Libby and Cheney press aide Cathie Martin to the commemoration of the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan, that Cheney gave his directive as if he were Tony Soprano: Go after this guy Wilson. So seriously did Libby and Martin take the command that they started roto-dialing reporters from Andrews Air Force Base the moment the plane returned from Norfolk.