Yesterday, I received an email complaining about an Op-Ed in the Washington Post, which the email writer thought was designed to influence the jurors in the Libby trial. I hope none of the jurors are reading the Washington Post’s coverage of the trial or their opinion pages. I also hope none of the jurors are reading my blog.

It probably doesn’t matter, because the outcome is pretty clear, as I’ll describe below. I just don’t want people in the media accused of having changing the outcome.

Closing arguments are scheduled to start on Tuesday. They are expected to be three hours each, although the defense is asking for four hours. That, together with instructions from the judge and associate wrangling means that the jurors will probably start deliberating in the next couple of days. If the jurors come back quickly it is probably a bad sign for the defense. Keep an eye on the jurors’ faces when they come back. Do they make eye contact with the defendant? Are they smiling, do they look glum?

The odds are, they will come back before I get my day in court as a credentialed blogger, so I’ll use that as my excuse for revealing the outcome now.

Liberal bloggers will bewail the trial as merely a diversion from the real issue, the abuse of power by the current administration, up to and including key members of the Bush administration revealing significant information about CIA agents. Conservative bloggers will argue that no crime was committed, that the whole trial was a waste of time and that the court should not be getting involved in how the administration is working to make sure we are safe from terrorists.

There will be arguments about the rule of law and the role of media.

The following morning, the sun will rise as normal and people will argue whether or not more of the sun’s warmth is being trapped by increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere caused by humans. Other trials will begin. A man will be convicted for possessing crack cocaine and sent to jail. His middle school aged daughter will be torn by this, glad that her father is no longer around stealing her stuff to pay for his habit, angry at him for his bad choices, but loving him nonetheless and praying that somehow, something will deliver him from the evil that has over come him.

There will be more bombings in Iraq, but we will not see a coup overthrow the U.S. Government. We will not see government sponsored death squads in our country, and somewhere, someone will quip that our government, including the judicial system, with all its foibles is the worst form of government, except for all the others.

Finally, I’ll find another topic to blog about.

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