All of the casting talk has been for white actors. There are plenty of African-American actors who could play Wells. The big dramatic emotional finish when the defense closes is the sticking point: it will be hard to find a name actor in this day and age who would be willing to get down on his knee and sing “Mammy” like Al Jolson like Wells did.

BREAKING NEWS – Contents of Libby jury note have been revealed:

“Dear judge Walton,
In order to come to a unanimous decision, we, the jury, have been recreating some of the testimony. To accomplish this, we request 2 more packs of post-it notes and one Mr. Potatohead doll.

Thank you,
The Jury”

“p.s. And make it the old Mr Potato Head, where you got body parts with spikes and stuck them into a real potato.”

It’s like a Disney voodoo doll.

bmaz at 99 — Yup, true — read back of testimony also popular. And given the particulars on testimony in this case, it may be illuminating if that is what they ask for: Whose testimony? On what subject? That can be very useful in terms of divining what the jury’s been discussing. (And then again, sometimes, not so much. *g* I hate waiting for a jury.)

i caught myself.
i was surprised to realize that Plame House is still in full operation.
once the courtroom argument phase was over i was like ready to put the fork in it.
as if.
so we are still encamped at the house that Plame built and sweating snark-infested bullets waiting out our verdict.

but yet will the full-figured one sing?
what more courtroom time for sentencing?
chances of a retrial if we mistrial?
options for appeal(s)?

we have so far to go.

“the woods are lovely, dark and deep
and i have promises to keep
and miles to go before i sleep.
miles to go before i sleep.”

i am kicking in $20 for our Mission of Our Lady of Plame House.
thanks a trillion times that for being there for us.

***UPDATE: I’m told the note from the jury was a question of some sort, but nothing about the type or subject of the question. Just FYI. We’ll find out in the morning.***

So there was this Paul Newman movie, The Verdict. He was an alcoholic lawyer who took a case that reformed him. In the movie, the climactic moment was when the Jury asked a question – something like “Can we award more damages than the plaintiff asked for?”

Until tomorrow morning, I’m going to pretend that the jury is going to ask, “Can we add some perjury charges of our own?” and “Can we include Vice President Cheney in our verdict?”

i like the way Mickey’s mind works.

American Electorate 1; Saudi Arabia 0.

Tell it like it is.

Mary @
148

Mary @ 141

After seeing the 135, I guess I probably should go back to being Mary4.

Uh oh – have we met our alter egos? LOL..my usual SN is “Rkymtnmary” and I’d be happy to switch to that.

Rkythnmary- Mary/ aka Mary4 has been around FDL for a long long time, tho she has not been posting as often lately as she once did. I (as a former moderator) endorse your gracious offer. It will help the current mods stay sane. I’ve been here for quite a while, but when I took a brief break it created great consternation when someone else posted as Valley Girl!

Happy to oblige…consider it done!

RedShift @ 76 – Thanks for the link to Code Pink DC’s actions. I have to say, though, that the idea of marginalizing the general public by enclosing them all in garish pink “anti-war” T-shirts is not an effective approach, in my opinion [just ask the Valentine’s Day juror…]. The idea of physically occupying space in our own Capitol and office buildings is, however, very much the idea. We need overalls, business suits, jogging sweats, nursing uniforms, fast food uniforms, blue jeans, high heels – every manner of attire that the average American wears daily: because the point that needs pounding, in the face of our “representatives,” is that we are the American people as a whole, not some fringe stereotype that they can dismiss, and we mean business.

As Bob says, what is really at stake here is the Legislative Branch as a co-equal branch of government. The federal Republican Party basically had a private oath-violating fire sale auction of our Congress to the highest bidder during the last six years, thereby silencing the voice of the American people by shuttering our branch of the federal government. Yet so far, the Democrats seem to be afraid to openly and loudly declare that – through them – the voice of the American people has returned to Washington, D.C., and that the Democratic Party will be repossessing and restoring all the powers and rights of Congress, that the Republican Party sold off to their corporate cronies, for the rightful decision-makers of this nation: the people.

The bluffing of Reid and Pelosi is being called by Cheney and Bush. If the Democrats won’t revive the Congress as a co-equal power in our government before a Democrat takes over the presidency, will the Congress ever revive? That’s my underlying concern. And I certainly appreciate that this state of affairs has been decades in the making. But things have long since come to a critical point, and to such a state of crisis, that action can no longer be deferred, if we want to continue to pretend that our federal government still functions as our Constitution, and the Revolutionary War victors against a tyrannical King, intended.

One commission the Congress could establish – in line with Sara’s point about Ervin’s Committee and the 1950s SCOTUS rulings – is one to study and reform the massive Executive Branch secrecy now inherent in our modern ‘national security state’ and its Congressionally-defined classification protocols. That is very much in Congress’s arena, could address the tweaking that I think CIPA needs at the same time, and could also go a long way toward resolving the crisis in treatment, and need for protection, of our federal whistleblowers. But yet all we get, on every front, is whistling in the wind from our so-called representatives.

Would that our Members of Congress would read Christy’s clear post, its thoughtful links, and the comments above, and truly take our sentiments to heart, before they force us to confront them face to face, in condemnation of their conscience-less, craven pandering to politics as usual.

Mary @ 141

After seeing the 135, I guess I probably should go back to being Mary4.

Uh oh – have we met our alter egos? LOL..my usual SN is “Rkymtnmary” and I’d be happy to switch to that.

Rkythnmary- Mary/ aka Mary4 has been around FDL for a long long time, tho she has not been posting as often lately as she once did. I (as a former moderator) endorse your gracious offer. It will help the current mods stay sane. I’ve been here for quite a while, but when I took a brief break it created great consternation when someone else posted as Valley Girl!

After seeing the 135, I guess I probably should go back to being Mary4.

Uh oh – have we met our alter egos? LOL..my usual SN is “Rkymtnmary” and I’d be happy to switch to that.

The resolution that created the Ervin Committee passed 77-0. If you read the resolution you’ll see it is primarily aimed at the corruption in Campaign Finance, and it was only after that investigation that the Committee branched out to other Nixon Corruptions. Congressional Investigations have to be pegged on something Congress can address legislatively. There were four Supreme Court decisions on this in the late 1950’s, decisions that pretty much ended the kind of smear hearings HUAC, McCarren and Joe McCarthy specialized in during the late 1940’s and 50’s. (Hopefully no one wants to repeat that history.)