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Good to be back in the Patrick Fitzgerald business:
No memory expert for Libby trialJudge called proposed key witness a 'waste of time'A key defense witness - a proposed memory expert - in the CIA/Leak trial of I Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the former top aide to Vice President Cheney, will not be allowed to testify at the upcoming trial.
Judge Reggie Walton, in an opinion Thursday, wrote the testimony of memory export, Dr. Robert Bjork, chairman UCLA's psychology department, would be a "waste of time," and could mislead and confuse a jury.
Libby's attorneys had argued many potential jurors do not understand the limits of memory and Libby should be allowed to call an expert to make that clear to them.
Judge Walton disagreed, and wrote in his opinion, "the average juror may not understand the scientific basis and labels attached to causes for memory error" but jurors encounter the "frailties of memory" as a "commonplace matter of course" and do not need the guidance of a memory expert to use their "common sense" in the understanding of how memory works.
Nice work, Pat.
It sure will be good to be back writing about the CIA leak investigation. I remember the days when I would sit in a bubble bath with a hot new 30 page Fitzgerald filing and a highlighter 'til my toes would prune up. Traffic soared, and the only assholes we had to deal with were openly Republican.
It was heaven.
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Fitz!!!
Judge Reggie Walton, in an opinion Thursday, wrote the testimony of memory export, Dr. Robert Bjork, chairman UCLA’s psychology department, would be a “waste of time,” and could mislead and confuse a jury.
He noted that the witness’s swan costume would be a distraction as well.
Double Fitz!
“common sense”
Whoa. Now there’s a novel concept.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 3
It’s a bit oxymoronic these days.
GET
OUT
THE
VOTE
Let’s hear it for the Constitution and the rule of Law!
It’s been a rainy afternoon here in the Bay Area. The Kid asked to watch a video, which is a boon rarely granted, but it seems like a good rainy day thing, so I said “Yes - what do you want to watch?” His answer was so appropriate: “1776!”
We’re waiting for the chirp, chirp, chirp,
of an eaglet being born . . .
On the eve of the election, that brought a very big smile to Dad’s face . . .
No Barney for this Kid - Adams (both John and Abigail), Franklin, and Jefferson rule!
I had something really snappy to say here but I forgot what it was.
Triple Fitz! with an indictment on top!
(gee, I’d almost forgotten how good Fitzing can feel…)
Eli @
2
judge sent him riding off into the sunset on his
scooterVespertineYour reports from the soaking tub were “heaven” for all of us too! Cheers from all corners for YOU and FITZ!
OT
Key Evangelical quits amid gay sex claim
Just curious - has the transcript of the Loftus testimony which Judge Walton gave consideration to in his ruling been made available to the public?
Link?
Hugh @ 8
you can always blame Bill Clinton
For anyone who missed it, Jane’s link describes how Fitz hammered Scooter’s “memory witness,” Elizabeth Loftus, for three hours.
OT, IIRC, Fitz asked Loftus if she remembered meeting him. She said no. Then Fitz provided documentation that (I think) he had questioned her before. Am I remembering this accurately?
Yes! Let’s play another round of the Plame Game!
OT. Wife came in from work and asked if I’d heard anything about Obama and a real estate deal. Googled a bit and found this.
Have no clue who any of these people are, the ex-con fund raiser or the writer. Any thing to any of this? Looks fairly innocent.
punaise @ 13
Who?
Yes Jane, it will be nice to be able to return our focus to other things. All of the problems facing us deserve serious attention and once we have managed to return some serious people to Washington maybe we will have a chance to tackle some of the serious problems facing America and the world. It is time for the grown-ups.
Jane,
Just like riding a bike, huh?
I hope Mr. Lamont doesn’t get jealous.
Nice to have you back on the Fitz trail.
We’ve all been Hamsherized.
Beautiful.
I can hardly wait to read Christy’s thoughts on this as well.
Thanks, Jane, for news I’m sure has the Libby defense team chugging the Maalox this afternoon…
-S
Strategerie @ 19
Any bets that said defense team is now strongly considering not having Libby testify in his own defense?
I read about his questioning of Beth Loftus. I was actually dumbstruck to read about it, as it sounded as if he’d practically turned her arguments inside-out. (Long overdue, in the views of some, I’m sure.)
But this news about Bjork is remarkable, IMHO.
Hope Jane has plenty of bubble bath laid in. There are now so many comments on FDL that I find it impossible to even hope to keep up.
John Casper:
I don’t recall. Ive been so busy at work.
Eli @
2
*spit take*
Urg! At least a bad call was made against the rich and (formerly?) powerful for once. Common sense? Are you kidding me? Memory is one of those things that does not work the way in which it is experienced.
Memory is like eyewitness identification in this sense. When people are confronted in a standard lineup or photo array with a limited number of suspects to identify, people are more likely to pick the wrong person then if the witness is shown a series of photographs of random number. Why? Because there is a cognitive bias that in the fixed number arrays we are playing an elimination game - that is that one of the people present or pictured is the criminal. Thus the witness is more likely to pick a suspect on a weak resemblance. Whereas if the witness is shown a series of photos of unknown length, that bias - that one is playing an elimination game does not creep in. Common sense (whatever the hell that is anyway) does not make us aware of this bias.
I won’t be shedding any tears over Scooter - he’d probably agree with the judge if it was some poor African American guy instead of himself. But I do worry that the principle at issue here has ultimately been decided wrong. “Common sense” or “gut” over scientific expertise is the very sort of conservative attitude that is so wrong with the US right now.
Russell Crowe instructs us today:
AP - Russell Crowe, who pleaded guilty last year to third-degree assault for throwing a phone at a hotel clerk, says the incident would be downplayed in his home country of Australia.
Excuse me? Russ, did you do the crime in Australia? Libby’s crimes probably wouldn’t have been criminal either, if he had perped them on the moon.
Jeff@15
Google “Rezko” and “Blagojevich” for more info.
Fitz and Jane.
Thank you both very, very much.
Imagine:
The house goes Dem, maybe the Senate.
Investigations run non-stop for two years, digging into one case of corruption after another.
The White House squirms with executive privilege and classifying documents and I-am-so-important-I-don’t-have-to-answer-your-stinking-subpoena.
GOP-tied contractors get nailed for payoffs and no-bid contracts.
Plamegate slowly threads it’s way toward justice.
Nothing gets done in Washington and the Dems manage to point the finger at GOP efforts to block legislation and Bush vetos.
And Iraq becomes a really smelly albatross around the GOP’s old wrinkled neck.
Osama *still* isn’t found.
FOX dies a slow ratings death and the networks scramble to move away from the radioactive Right.
(And somehow the Democratic party manages not to kill each other over presidential politics.)
Gosh, what a great way to set up the next election. Chinese water torture…drip…drip…drip…
Hay, a guy can dream, right?
John Casper @ 14
Ummmm… John Casper, the accuracy of your recollection is a function of whatever distractions may have interferred with your ability to process short-term memory, IIRC. So it’s possible she didn’t recall meeting him b/c she was ‘distracted’ immediately after doing so, and consequently she would not have had an accurate memory of their earlier encounter.
Bet she remembers him now ;-)))))
BTW, punaise, I saw the link to Harris and Halperin in the last thread. Thanks, Halperin seems to be having a very public nervous breakdown. He was on Charlie Rose last night and looked really strained. I don’t know whether to laugh at him or feel sorry for him, even if he is a worthless pr*ck.
@ 28
certainly won’t forget about him anytime soon.
This brings back such warm memories. It seems so long ago. I can’t wait until that trial starts.
Lots of fun stories out there- fundie leader resigns because of charges he’s been hiring a gay prosititute certainly up there on the hit parade.
My personal favorite is the fact that Venezualans now own an e-voting firm.
Conservatives now will believe (without much prompting) that Chavez is determining the outcome of american elections. Can’t quit laughing. Funny as hell!
Cool, Fox is talking about Tom Cruise’s comeback and the new Panda at the Atlanta Zoo.
How do you spell irrelevant?
@
21
I just bought some brand new green tea bubble bath. I have a cute little burgundy twistie that I tie my hair up with and I sit in the bathtub with my glasses on while Kobe pokes his nose in the bubbles.
Kobe got a grooming today. He is outside posing, hoping someone notices how good looking he is.
rwcole @ 32
This story resonates with the Foley scandal and may remind voters of how hypocritical the Republicans and their allies are.
Fitz RULES!!!!
Fitz!
Peterr @ 7
The Rule of Law was meant to protect the landowners, the wealthy elite of the New Republic. They kept working on it til they quit having Rebellions. I’ll take the Franklin, Jefferson, Madison crowd over the Adams, Washington, Hamilton crowd when it comes right down to it! Hypocrisy and elitism abounded in both groups, but I think the first group had a stronger sense of “Other” and Fairness. I love the Constitution but so much of it has become mythical. I teach my History class a bit more to the Zinn/Foner side of life.
Not that you were asking or anything…you just hit me as I was lesson prepping on this subject. ;^)
Wow. Kobe is a standard huh?
Jane Hamsher @ 34
I am in favor of finding a way to start a “Stop Chavez” movement- in which conservatives are treated to daily stories about how Chavez is taking over the country. They’re so cute when they get paranoid.
It’s been a truly remarkable year, but one post, one Kiss Float, one YouTube at a time, it’s breathed life back into this aging Boomer.
Heartfelt thanks, and looking forward to much good analysis of the Libby Trial in coming months.
emptywheel’s comments about Judge Walton’s ruling:
http://thenexthurrah.typepad.c.....ibby_.html
OOMG!!! There’s a new PANDA!!!! at the Atlanta Zoo!!!
I think we can all forget about voting now and hit Pandacam 24/7.
Court to state: Explain why Gaza students cannot attend West Bank university
By Tamara Traubmann, Haaretz Correspondent
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/783304.html
bg @ 41
Aaawwww…a new Panda? http://www.glumbert.com/media/sneeze
Panda in the ATL
bg @ 41
I’ve been Jonesing for some Fitz. Thank you
montag @ 20
I bet that the defense team has already forgotten this.
No soup for you, Scooter!
School bus driver fired after flipping off president wants job back
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15532553/
rwcole @ 4:26 pm -
rw - have you seen this?
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/.....rostitute/
This is from Steve Clemons:
Snip……….
Prepare to Bomb Iran
Make no mistake, President Bush will need to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities before leaving office. It is all but inconceivable that Iran will accept any peaceful inducements to abandon its drive for the bomb. Its rulers are religio-ideological fanatics who will not trade what they believe is their birthright to great power status for a mess of pottage. Even if things in Iraq get better, a nuclear-armed Iran will negate any progress there. Nothing will embolden terrorists and jihadists more than a nuclear-armed Iran.”………
There’s a lot more, which is quite frightening.
http://www.thewashingtonnote.c.....001721.php
Can we stop him doing this if the Democratic majority is large enough or is this regime too crazed?
Richard Goblin @
24
This actually falls somewhat into my expertise. Your point is correct, RG, however it doesn’t relate to the ruling. The “memory issue” in this case has to do with whether or not Libby could have forgotten about leaking the name because he was so busy, not about whether he can remember a face during an emotional event.
Also, and this is even more important, the “memory expert” on the stand proved to be less than an ideal witness, as her own research cast doubt on the correctness of her research. If science if to be used to decide things in court, the science must not be cutting edge or doubtful.
The confusion of the jury comes in because people tend to assume that sciency people are nearly infallible, and are not likely to be able to judge nuance like how reliable a given scientific finding is in the absense of a complete (scientific) research project.
In this case, I believe the judge ruled correctly.
Not if they make up some Gulf of Tonkin shit.
jinny @ 50
bg @ 41
Is the Panda’s name going to be George or Nancy?
raven @
38
This is Kobe.
yo, Scoots: fuggedaboudit!
Matthews says on “Hardball”, that everyone “loves” Laura Bush. Really?
Richard Goblin @ 24
If I may,
I think the main consideration here is not whether a witness identification is at issue - at which point, experts could testify to help juries realize that witness id doesn’t always work the way we “think” it should (cross-gender, cross-race identifications, for example, and the studies stating the respective rates of inaccuracies).
Whereas here, Libby is accused of lying about what he himself remembers doing and saying. I think Libby’s argument is going to be “I’m a busy man so I can’t recall if I discussed classified information with reporters and certainly didn’t try to think about what I did regarding issues of national security when speaking with the FBI or testifying before a grand jury” (which is, of course, quite a mouthful). If that’s true, experts aren’t needed (in my opinion, anyway) to explain to the jury how people may forget things when they are very, very busy. I think it is a matter of “common sense” for jurors to realize what people can (or should) be able to remember about their actions when they have lots on their mind.
I think Libby’s argument is somewhat of a long shot, but I think looking at it this way explains why the judge was predisposed not to let the memory evidence in in the first place (it was Libby’s team’s job to convince him).
What a sweetie, is he (or she) a black or a blue?
Jane Hamsher @ 54
When it rains it pours! - Rep. paying ex-mistress about $500K
Traffic soared, and the only assholes we had to deal with were openly Republican.
It was heaven.
And it will be again, Jane. It will be again. Scooter’s just spending a little time in Fitzatory.
Jeralyn thinks Walton may have given the Libby team their first good issue for appeal. She thinks the gov’t case would be better if the memory stuff was allowed.
I assume Christy is watching them eeers!
Stephen Parrish, CPA @ 49
It’s getting better. CNN says he hopes to talk more about it at a latter date but in the meantime will seek inspirational counseling and guidance.
Steve- Yeah- that’s the story I was referring to. Funny as hell. You have to wonder if there’s a logical connection between bein a right wing preacher and hypocricy- or are these just random events we get treated to.
OT - GOP night on CNN continues. Blitzer just let Falwell say whatever he wanted unchallenged and now it’s Andrew Sullivan’s turn.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 55
Well, except for a few whackjobs on the left.
raven @ 52
While I don’t agree with everything Clemons says, he is connected with very senior people who know what is going on. If he is worried about Bush unilaterally bombing Iran, that is very important data. His sources are not just going to call up the newspapers. But they might try to get important news out there thru deniable means such as bloggers. Clemons is no ordinary blogger.
A lot of people in DC know a little bit, a few people in DC know a lot. Clemons is on the inside track. If he is alarmed, TAKE HEED.
Eli @ 67
she’s an asset sez Card.
I see a*shat people. (I am whispering)
EVERYONE loves Laura Belle—ceptin for those who don’t of course- and some of THEM HATE her sorry ass!
Course Tweety is impressed with the fact that EVERYONE wants to have a beer with Clusterfuck too. Why? He’d spill the thing all over ya.
jinny @ 50
Note the rather hysterical language Clemons employs in this: “need to bomb” (assuming a necessity where none exists) and “religio-ideological fanatics” (to describe some of the most cagey and pragmatic people in region).
Once again, there is, at this moment, no evidence of what everyone in this country assumes to be true (sound familiar?), and any attack on Iran will utterly destroy the chances for any organic, internal democratic movement inside Iran. It will harden the populace and align them with the mullahs. If anything, Iran is even more nationalistic than other nations in the region.
This simply buys into Bush’s own notions that it has to be done while he’s in office because no one else will have the opportunity.
Think we have problems now? Just bomb Iran and see what happens. Yet another rush to manufacture yet another self-fulfilling prophecy.
egregious @ 67
It is my belief that Dubya went into office with a list of Cool Preznit Stuff that he wanted to do, and I have a feeling that dropping a nuke on someone is one of the few remaining items that he hasn’t crossed off yet.
jinny @ 50
Pakistan has the bomb, is a big country although not a great power, has numerous religious kooks, and is our big buddy on the war on terror when they aren’t looking the other way on the Taleban and al Qaeda. We seem able to live with them well enough. Why does Iran push these wingnuts’ buttons?
angie @ 69
Laura Bush with Prince Charles
Check out the first two pics on this page - there’s more on the pages that follow
Tweety outdid himself tonight. He had some very good people on at the beginning of the show who are great political analysts. He deliberately avoided asking them how many house seats the dems would take.
Then he put Andy Card on- why? To give his fuckin opinion of how well Clusterfuck is doin. Holy SHIT. What da ya THINK he’s gonna say you yellow haired brainless whore?
montag @ 71
And this would be bad for Republicans how? The more Scary Muslim Boogeymen, the better.
raven @ 71
Where he developed a Bob Jones for man-on-man lovin’.
windje @ 75
It kinda looks like Charles found her g-spot… and immediately regretted it.
Oral Roberts eh? Thank God- was afraid the guy went to Anal!
oops, sorry.
I broke the margins, but I was in the groove.
raven @
58
Very good question, nobody has ever asked before but Kobe is actually a registered blue.
Lots to not love about Miz Laura. She and her groom deserve each other.
Signed,
Whackjob on the left.
Oh man. The comments over at tbogg are hilarious.
Haggard poems- fun.
Tony Perkins and Kate O’Beirne on “Noballs”. That does it.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 56
Arrrrrggggghhhh…LauraBOT:
Scooter made the list:
One Breath
who is Haggard the Whore-able?
Hugh @ 75
Pakistan is different. The Bush crime family helped Pakistan get nukes in the first place. AQ Khan who is KNOWN to be involved in spreading nuclear technology to places like Libya and North Korea, is today a free man in Pakistan, our supposed “ally.” Why?
Oh and now we’re helping India improve their nuclear program. When these two countries go to war it will not be an enormous surprise. But it will be a stupendous profit making opportunity for those who provide them with arms. War is a boondoggle. Maybe it always has been.
There are dark forces involved in the spread of nuclear weapons, forces that pushed Valerie Plame out and got Sibel Edmonds fired from the FBI because she knew too much about the Turkish translations when they came too close to their inner secrets. They make money and the people of the world will pay with their lives.
I have to give Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker credit. They did it with a female prostitute and a secretary. Showed alot more class. Umm not.
These folks have to prove to me that they aren’t full of crap. There is no benefit of the doubt for them anymore.
I followed this case soooooooooooooo closely, and must admit, I got off after the Rove debacle this past May, when it looked as if he was finally going to be indicted, but wasn’t. I came to the conclusion that Bush is going to pardon all players involved anyway, so what is the point of hoping that something is going to come out of this? Don’t mean to rain on everyone’s parade - I for one was oh so disappointed………….any updates on the Rove front?
Guy ain’t lookin so good- a little Haggard ain’t he?
Oklahoma kiddo @ 56
So would Matthews want to be a pedestrian if he saw Laura driving?
Jane -
As soon as you have a chance, please extricate my 4:30 pm comment from moderation. Thank you very much for your assistance.
rwcole @ 95
kinda lost the Swaggart in his step
rwcole @ 95
Little Haggard is about two feet lower down…
trifecta @ 93
At least they were “Normal Perverts”: http://mediamatters.org/items/200609290003
OT:
CNN Cafferty: Question: What should happen to Bush if the Dems retake Congress?
Cafferty shows 4 letters, 3 of which mention impeachment. Paula asks if there were more negative comments. Cafferty replies he read hundreds of replies, almost all of them calling for impeachment. “A lot of people out there very angry at what this man has done to the country.”
Now back to Plame.
Hugh @ 96
Matthews, a pedestrian? How gauche….
how soon till the revelations of Haggard and bear cages?
Coolio, we have a black living around the corner and she loves to bound out and greet Raven and the Bohdi when we walk by!
Jane Hamsher @
85
Buy him a drink for the understatement of the year.
Grad school and then the semenary.
rwcole @
83
Someone’s going to get in trouble for messin’ up tha margins. I wonder who that was?
Hugh @
29
I thing Glenn Greenwald’s critique of his interview with the rightwing guy pretty much destroyed Halperin’s credibility as a journalist. That was devastating, and all Glenn did was provide extensive quotes.
Another great video about the war and the need for change. You will want