Charles Taylor Boycotts Own Trial

He didn't show up for the opening arguments. His attorney read a statement from Taylor claiming that he wasn't afforded the proper resources to mount an adequate defense.

Defense lawyer Karim Khan said Taylor had fired him and wanted to act has his own attorney. Khan walked out even though the presiding judge repeatedly directed him to continue to represent Taylor, if only for the opening day.

Apologizing and defying threats of contempt of court, Khan gathered his files and left.

"This is not defense counsel making some cheap trick," Khan told The Associated Press outside court. Taylor "thought this was a railroad to a conviction and in those circumstances, he exercised his right to terminate my representation and to represent himself."

Next step: months of pathetic courtroom rants from Taylor about how the court is biased against him. I guess this tactic is really all he has left. The case against him is devastating, the international community thinks he's pure evil, and his country is moving on without him. He must be afraid that a normal trial would be too boring an end for a man of his stature.

Adding insult to injury...

Samuel Eto'o scored the winner for Cameroon to beat Liberia 2-1 on Sunday and stay top of Group 5 in African Cup of Nations qualifying.

But hey, Cameroon is no joke, ranked at 13th in the world. And Liberia is ranked, um...lower than that. I heard that Eto'o's FC Barcelona fans in Monrovia were lined up to catch a glimpse of him along the road from the airport.