by TChris

Here's a surprise: President Bush actually promised to pay attention to the International Court of Justice. That court wants state courts in the U.S. "to consider complaints by 51 Mexicans held on death row that they were denied their right to have Mexican officials notified."

In a memorandum to the attorney general dated Feb. 28, President Bush said he had determined "that the United States will discharge its international obligations under the decision of the International Court of Justice."

The administration will order state courts to review the 51 cases. This represents a change of position for the president, who until now has shown little regard for either the Vienna Convention (which requires a country that detains a foreign citizen to notify that individual of his right to seek the help of a consular officer) or the International Court, which ordered the review. The change of heart comes after the Supreme Court agreed to consider an appeal by Jose Medellin, a Mexican citizen sentenced to death in Texas. Background on the case is here, with links to information about the International Court's decision.

The jury in the fraud trial of WorldCom's Bernard Ebbers has deliberated three days without a verdict.

The jury has made a lot of requests for transcripts and videos. They asked for transcripts and videos of Ebbers - including his cross-examination transcript. I haven't read that they've asked for a transcript of Scott Sullivan's testimony.

You can never know how a jury is going to act, but it sounds to me like one or more of them are having trouble with Ebber's testimony that he was not familiar with high finance and had no idea of the company's accounting practices.

If Ebbers is convicted, it will mean the word of a co-operating co-defendant singing for his supper, bolstered only by the closing argument of a prosecutor, prevailed. That's too bad.

If the "dumbing down" defense doesn't work for Ebbers, what chance does Ken Lay have? Probably not much. You can bet his lawyers are watching closely. The "dumbing down" defense seems about as palatable to the public as Charles Graner's "orders from above" defense in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.

Nicholas Ciarelli, aka Nick DePlume, a Harvard freshman sued by Apple for disclosing trade secret information about its new Mac mini computer on his website, Think Secret, has filed a motion with the Court seeking to have the case dismissed under California'as Anti-SLAPP law.

SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation.

The law is designed to protect individuals who are exercising their free speech rights from frivolous lawsuits designed to silence them.

Ciarelli argues that he has the same right as journalists to protect his sources.

Ciarelli argues that he is no different from any other journalist. He solicits tips and offers sources confidentiality in the course of news gathering. But he did not pay Apple's employees to disclose proprietary information, nor did he sell the alleged trade secrets to a competitor of the computer-maker, according to the motion.

Apple has filed similar suits against subpoenaed information from two other websites. On March 3, the Judge ruled that bloggers are not journalists and that the websites have to divulge their sources.

Here's the $64 million question: Are bloggers journalists? It depends. Think Secret reports on news and has been cited in articles about Apple by the New York Times, BusinessWeek and the Mercury News. I'd say that makes the writer a journalist.

Nightline tonight will feature a report on ethics in the blogosphere. Part of the report was filmed at the Berkman Bloggers Meeting, and one of the attendees has already scooped Nightline by posting a videoblog of the meeting.

If you're a blogger and into media, check out the non-partisan Media Bloggers Association.

Anti-drug hysteria at work....but at least in Canada, they admit it when they are wrong.

The Chief of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Monday admitted he made a mistake when he blamed last week's killing of four RCMP officers on marijuana grows. The killings were committed by a deranged lone criminal - not an organized group of growers:

Last Friday, RCMP Commissoner Guiliano Zaccardelli Zaccardelli blamed pot growers for the murders:

RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli went further, suggesting it's time not just to crack down on grow ops, but also to re-examine the idea of decriminalizing simple possession of small amounts of pot.

Monday, Chief Zaccardelli acknowledged his mistake, saying he did not have all the information about the case:

"I gave what I believed was the best information I had knowing full well that at that time I didn't have all the information," a contrite Zaccardelli said. "Clearly, there's a lot of things in there that, in hindsight, we will have to look at in a different perspective."

If these killings had happened in the U.S., Congress would have already passed a law creating increased mandatory minimum sentences for cultivation offenses. Background on the killings is here.

Jackson Trial Update
Tuesday March 8

Under cross-examination today, the younger brother of Michael Jackson's accuser admitted that he has lied:

He admitted lying under oath at a deposition in his mother's suit against J.C. Penney security guards--and said he couldn't remember who told him to lie.

He admitted Jackson didn't show him a sex magazine that just yesterday he testified Jackson had shown him. That admission came when Mesnereau confronted him with the date of the magazine - six months after the family had left Neverland.

He also denied making statements that the psychologist attributed to him in grand jury testimony.

President Bush says Democracy is coming to the Middle East, while 500,000 answered the Hezbollah call and protested in Lebanon today.

Nearly 500,000 pro-Syrian protesters waved flags and chanted anti-American slogans in a central Beirut square Tuesday, answering a nationwide call by the militant Shiite Muslim Hezbollah group for a demonstration to counter weeks of massive rallies demanding Syrian forces leave Lebanon.

Organizers handed out Lebanese flags and directed the men and women to separate sections of Riad Solh Square. Loudspeakers blared militant songs urging resistance to foreign interference. Demonstrators held up pictures of Syrian President Bashar Assad and signs saying, "Syria & Lebanon brothers forever."

Other placards read: "America is the source of terrorism"; "All our disasters are from America"; "No to American-Zionist intervention; Yes to Lebanese-Syrian brotherhood."

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, staying true to his roots, defends the Administrations rendition program - flying detainees to countries that practice torture for interrogation by the C.I.A. TBogg writes:

If a detainee, being tortured to death after "extraordinary rendition" to a foreign country, screams, and Alberto Gonzales doesn't hear him, did he really die?

Gonzales doublespeak, from the news article:

The army is having a tougher time recruiting, and the Army has a new study showing that it's losing ground as a career choice, particularly among blacks and females.

The share of blacks in the Army's recruiting classes has plummeted by about one-third over the past five years. It has continued slipping this year despite more generous enlistment bonuses offered to all prospective recruits and an increase in the number of recruiters.

The media was not allowed to attend Saturday Night's memorial to Hunter Thompson at the Hotel Jerome in Aspen. One reporter "was "there as a continuation of Hunter's legacy," and Sunday, the family agreed to allow him to write about it.

The event was in the Jerome Ballroom, where people mingled and shared memories of Hunter. For the "ceremony," many read a passage or two from a work by Hunter, and recounted a Hunter moment. Here's a sample:

Reading aloud from Hunter Thompson works was a kitchen mainstay. And Saturday night was no exception, replete with the crowd warning people, as Thompson did, "slower, slower."

Actor, neighbor and friend Don Johnson recounted how Thompson would lie down with Johnson's horse when it was sick. Johnson did not quite know what to make of that....A gravelly voiced Johnson read a Thompson passage about electricity - a lazy, actually neutral force - that could turn quickly and punch someone in the gut with one wrong move. Just like when Johnson asked Thompson, What is the sound of one hand clapping? Thompson slapped him across the face.

The bill to ban the death penalty in New Mexico passed another hurdle yesterday. It was approved by the Senate Rules Committee. It now goes to the Senate Judiciary Committee where prospects are said to look good.

In February, the bill passed the New Mexico House.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in a state sentencing case that could put a dent in states' three-strikes laws.

The aspect of yesterday's decision that had legal bloggers buzzing was language in Souter's opinion that seemed to soften the court's previous holding that, while aggravating factors of a new crime must be proved to a jury, a judge on his own could lengthen a sentence based on the defendant's prior convictions.