Does an accused have a right to be present at their entire trial? They do in American courts. But maybe not at military tribunal trials at Guantanamo. The case of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, allegedly a driver for Osama bin Laden, was heard today by the D.C. Court of Appeals.

The three-judge panel reacted strongly when a lawyer for Salim Ahmed Hamdan told them "it makes no sense to say that we adhere to international law and the first thing we do at the beginning of a trial is violate a canon of international law." Legal systems of other countries don't allow a defendant to be present for all parts of a trial, Appeals Judge A. Raymond Randolph replied. Judge John Roberts added that some countries don't allow cross-examination of witnesses.

"This is the law in Rwanda," but should not be in the United States, replied the detainee's lawyer, Charles Swift.

The prosecution may rue the day it decided to put former Jackson security guard Ralph Chacon on the stand. Chacon testified today he saw Michael perform oral sex on a young boy. No other witness has made that claim to date. The defense wasted no time in tearing Chacon apart:

"Jackson defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. quickly established that Chacon had sued Jackson, claiming he was improperly fired, and that Jackson had countersued, accusing Chacon of stealing from him."

Murray Waas at American Prospect reports that the investigation into who leaked the identity of former CIA operative Valerie Plame may be over. Eric Alterman says at Altercation:

It’s hard not to conclude Novak has turned state’s evidence—or possibly taken the Fifth- and won’t admit it. Otherwise, this Mr. Fitzgerald is simply crazy.

As I see it, Eric's got his finger on the unanswered questions.

• Did Novak get a subpoena? Did he take the 5th? Was he immunized and did he sing? Or, has special prosecutor Fitzgerald been dragging his feet in seeking an immunity order for Novak while he exhausts all other avenues? Who does Fitzgerald have in his cross-hairs besides Libby, who has waived all confidentiality privileges?

Update: Investigation over, no forcible detention.

Update: Chris Simcox, one of the minutemen, was on tv tonight. He couldn't see anything wrong with making the undocumented man hold up the tee shirt, particularly since he was allowed to keep it.

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This didn't take long. Three of the self-styled Minuteman patrolling the Arizona border are under investigaton for their treatment of an undocumented person whom they allegedly forced to pose for the camera with a t-shirt that read:

"Bryan Barton caught an illegal alien and all I got was this T-shirt."

A stepping stone to the abuses of Abu Ghraib? Let's hope the Sheriff stays on top of it.

It was like pulling teeth, but Attorney General Alberto Gonzales finally admitted Tuesday at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that the FBI used sneak and peek search warrants authorized by the Patriot Act in investigating Oregon lawyer Brandon Mayfield.

Gonzales at first denied the FBI used the Patriot Act while investigating Mayfield. "Senator, I think we have said publicly -- if not, I guess I'm saying it publicly -- that the Patriot Act was not used in connection with the Brandon Mayfield case,'' he told Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

But later, after Feinstein asked him a different question, Gonzales corrected himself: "You asked me specifically about the Mayfield case and I'm advised that there were certain provisions of the Patriot Act that apparently were used,'' he said.

Via Blogswarm, From the October 3, 2004 Miami Herald (available on Lexis.com). It's not a real conversation, it's an imagined one by a columnist, but it shows Mel Martinez' reputation for blaming staffers for his own deeds. Read it all, it's worth it.

Then there is this editorial that appeared right after Martinez won, showing that his blaming of staff is a running joke in Florida.

"When challenged, Martinez was too eager to assign blame to his staff or to groups he said he couldn't control. As a senator, he will need an office and a staff that speaks with the measured and centrist tone he says will be his own. He can't pretend to be above it all if the people he employs are not."

Press Release From Office of Senator Harry Reid, regarding the petition drive by Coalition for a Fair and Independent Judiciary:

One million Americans Wednesday petitioned their Senators to stand up against any attempt to circumvent our government’s checks and balances and silence debate in the U.S. Senate. The petitions against the proposed “nuclear option” were presented to Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid on the steps of the Supreme Court, and later delivered to targeted Senate offices on Capitol Hill.

“Today, over one million Americans have spoken with one voice against the arrogance of power in Washington,” said Reid. “They’ve told the Republican Party loud and clear to stop any attempt to abuse their power and silence Senate debate.”

The right-wing blogosphere can now wipe that egg off their keyboards....for weeks they've been pedaling conjecture that the GOP talking points memo about Terri Schiavo that Raw Story published and countless liberal blogs, us included, linked to, was a hoax.

Now, the author of the memo has 'fessed up: He's legal counsel to Florida Senator Mel Martinez. The Washington Post reports:

The legal counsel to Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) admitted yesterday that he was the author of a memo citing the political advantage to Republicans of intervening in the case of Terri Schiavo, the senator said in an interview last night. Brian Darling, a former lobbyist for the Alexander Strategy Group on gun rights and other issues, offered his resignation and it was immediately accepted, Martinez said.

America Blog has more.

Watch the right try to spin themselves out of this one. Shorter Powerline: It depends on the definition of "Republican official" and "party leader." (Sen. Martinez doesn't count because he'd only been in office three months and could hardly be described as a party leader.) And don't blame us, blame ABC and the Post. Don't you just love the way the right accepts responsibility?

There's lots of writing going on in the blogosphere.

• Jeanne D'Arc of Body and Soul on Our Pet Afghans

• Grits for Breakfast just got back from Washington where the right and left joined forces to bash "Byrne grant" programs which finance multijurisdictional drug task forces like the ones in Tulia, Hearne and Palestine, Texas.

• Liberty Street says terrorists likely will be the only ones not deterred by the Administrations' new passport requirements (via Sideshow.)

Why are right-wing bloggers smearing AP photojournalists who won Pulitzer Prizes for their work in Iraq?

The photo staff of The Associated Press, including five Iraqi photographers and six foreigners, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for breaking-news photography for its yearlong coverage of the combat in Iraq. Deanne Fitzmaurice, a 16-year veteran of the San Francisco Chronicle, won the Pulitzer for feature photography for her photo essay on an Oakland hospital's effort to treat a 9-year-old Iraqi boy severely maimed in an explosion.

AP director of photography Santiago Lyon singled out the Iraqi stringers for praise, saying they responded with bravery to a dangerous assignment.

Ezra Klein's got a new part-time gig writing a column for Campus Progress on young writers who have landed jobs with media or activist organizations.

Gather round kids, and let me welcome you to Get a Job, a regular feature here at Campus Progress. We know you’re broke. We know you are staring out over the precipice of graduation scared of free-falling into adult life. And we know you’ll soon want a job solving both afflictions. This feature will try to give you some ideas on that front.....

His latest interview: Matt Yglesias, who we in the blogosphere affectionately call "Big Media Matt." (coined by Atrios.)

If you want faces to go with names, here's a picture with Ezra, Matt, Atrios, me (and Jesse, Zoe, Brian and Tom.)

A prosecutor in Oregon has asked the Court for permission to allow up to 15 newly released sex offenders a year to live in his home for up to 60 days each while they try to find jobs and housing.

It is my hope, if I did this first, we might find others would who would be willing to do it," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "I wasn't able to see any other viable alternatives."

....Fisher said he isn't looking forward to opening his home to offenders, but hopes it could move the county toward a long-term solution. "Some means need to be found to transition these people back to society," Fisher told the Statesman-Journal. "From a gut perspective, I'm probably less afraid than the general public of these people. Rightly or wrongly, they are seen as inhuman monsters but mostly they're pathetic human beings."

His offer will be discussed by county officials at a meeting on Friday.