On March 6th I stated, "Personally, I think Ms. Stewart will win if she uses the words of this juror in her appeal."

Martha Stewart asked on Wednesday for a new trial, saying one of the jurors who convicted her lied about a past arrest on assault charges.

Stewart lawyer Robert Morvillo said in papers filed in Manhattan federal court that he would have sought to strike juror Chappell Hartridge had he known about the prior incidents.

"These facts, in and of themselves, establish that Ms. Stewart is entitled to a new trial," Morvillo wrote.

The papers also accused Hartridge of seeking money for post-trial interviews. On the day of the guilty verdict, the juror said publicly he believed the decision was "a victory for the little guys."

She'll get a new trial. It might not change the outcome, but she will get a new trial.

The world court ruled Wednesday that the United States violated the rights of 51 Mexicans on death row to receive diplomatic help, and ordered Washington to review their cases.

Diplomatic help from the Mexican Consulate would not have changed the fact that they committed the crimes they committed. It would only have provided them with one more way to try and weasel out of doing time for the crimes they committed.

The ruling by the International Court of Justice could mean a reprieve or another chance of appeal for the inmates, including one scheduled to die May 18 in Oklahoma. It also could have implications for other foreign citizens in U.S. prisons who were not told they could receive help from their governments.

"A reprieve or another chance of appeal"? Why? I don't believe I have ever read anything in the U.S. Constitution that says citizens from another country who commit crimes in our country will be allowed to walk free.

In hearings in December, lawyers for Mexico argued that any U.S. citizen accused of a serious crime abroad would want the same right, and the only fair solution for the men allegedly denied diplomatic help was to start their legal processes all over again.

…

Fierro was convicted of shooting a taxi driver to death, Ramos was convicted of killing his wife and two children with a hammer, and Torres was convicted of killing two people during a burglary.

While I agree that if a foreigner commits a crime on U.S. soil, they should indeed have access to their respective diplomatic representative, I hardly think that the legal process should be started all over again if that diplomatic contact does not come before the trial.

In fact, I can guarantee that diplomatic access would not have prevented the deaths of the taxi driver, the wife, the two children or the other two people.

Bottom line for citizens as well as foreigners: You do the crime, you do the time!

The dollar weakened broadly on Wednesday after rumors that Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan had suffered a heart attack roiled the markets, traders said.

The Fed declined to comment on the rumors.

The euro rose to a session high just above $1.23, a gain of more than 1 percent, according to Reuters data. The dollar fell over 1 percent against the Swiss franc to 1.2671 francs.

"The dollar is selling off across the board on fears that Greenspan may no longer be at the helm," said Jeremy Fand, senior proprietary trader with WestLB in New York.

Rumor or fact? The market reponds bad enough when he just opens his mouth, let's hope this is just rumor.

Update [11:15 AM]:

"There is no truth to the rumor," said Federal Reserve spokesman Andrew Williams.

"Greenspan is fine."

The Federal Reserve usually refuses to comment on market rumors, but its silence had appeared to fuel the talk.

Whew.

I said it before, I'll say it again. The Saudi's are NOT our ally.

OPEC on Wednesday forged ahead with tighter oil supply curbs from April, deaf to consumer country complaints about crude prices close to 13-year highs.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to turn down the taps despite calls from the United States for cheaper fuel.

Benchmark U.S. crude rose 28 cents to $36.53 a barrel, supported by a new all-time high on the New York Mercantile Exchange's gasoline contract of $1.1775 a gallon.

The Bush administration, in an election year, had pressed OPEC to lift export restrictions to help control U.S. pump prices and prevent energy inflation slowing economic growth.

OPEC powerhouse Saudi Arabia led the push for the cartel to implement cuts of one million barrels a day from April 1, as first agreed in Algiers in February.

U.S. gas prices are at an all-time high and they are cutting production? I honestly think the Saudi's are out to distance themselves from the United States. Let's help them. Let's cut ALL ties with the Saudi's and see what happens next. It's just a thought.

Finally … finally we can talk about what's really going on. Rather than accept the myth that 9/11 turned President Bush into a "hero" … former counterterrorism expert Richard Clarke has bravely spoken out to tell us the real story – that Bush did not treat terrorism as an urgent issue.

So… Bush is no hero, and Clarke is brave? Barbra Streisand really is off her rocker isn't she? To make a statement like this is just plain idiotic. When responsibility came knocking, Bush not only answered the door, he took it in and handled it with honesty, integrity, and professionalism. Clarke wasn't even home to answer the door.

Also on September 10th (as I posted in a statement on November 21, 2002), Attorney General John Ashcroft rejected the FBI's request for a $58 million increase for their counterterrorism budget to pay for 149 new counterterrorism field agents, 200 intelligence analysts and 54 additional translators. He did that despite the fact, discovered later by a Congressional investigation, that the FBI had only one analyst monitoring al Qaeda and a severe shortage of Arabic translators.

Maybe. just maybe, if former President Clinton and former Attorney General Janet Reno had made the request in the previous administration, there would have been enough people on hand to help on September 11th. Bugdet requests and authorizations for hiring take time. Actually hiring people takes time. Training people takes time. Authorizing money to hire people on September 10th would have made NO difference on September 11th. The fact that Ms. Streisand is using this as one of her "points" is just plain stupid. I thought she was much more intelligent than that.

I DO BELIEVE THAT EVERY AMERICAN CITIZEN THAT TRULY CARES ABOUT THIS COUNTRY, AND LEARNS THE FACTS, WOULD HAVE TO SERIOUSLY ASK THESE QUESTIONS … AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT IN NOVEMBER!

Ms. Streisand suffers from the same afflictions that have gripped almost every Democratic leader in our country. Denial and stupidity. She, like others, are very quick to point out all the things the Bush administration has "done wrong", yet she, like others, never points out the fact that the Clinton administration had more than a couple opportunities to take out bin Laden LONG before Bush was elected. If the Clinton administration was "too focused" on bin Laden, then why in the hell was he allowed to continue his operations? Clinton dropped the ball, plain and simple, and the Democrats refuse to acknowledge this.

Once Democrats are reminded of the facts (which their denial hides so well) they start spouting senseless dribble to try and cover the fact they had no idea what was going on. Statements like the one about Ashcroft not authorizing money on September 10th. Puh-leaze.

It's only a matter of time before the events of September 11th are recalled only through history books and the "old-timers" who might remember it. It happened. It's over. Mistakes were made. The biggest mistake was believing that terrorism could not happen on our soil. But it happened. Let's honor the victims of that horrible day by remembering our principles and values that make us stronger, even today.