Back in 1993, Jose E. Medellin was part of a Houston, TX, gang that raped, tormented and killed two teenaged girls. He was arrested and, after being Mirandized, confessed. But Medellin is Mexican, and under the terms of the Vienna Convention he was entitled to contact Mexican diplomats as well. He wasn't informed of that right.

Medellin was sentenced to death.

In 2004, the International Court of Justice ("ICJ," also known as the "World Court") ruled that Medellin's rights were violated by Texas authorities -- and Bush ordered the state of Texas to reopen the case. That's right, he actually went along with a ICJ decision!

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has now ruled that Bush had no power

Just before the 2004 election, Osama bin Laden released a videotape that is credited with giving George W. Bush a second term as President. Recently, pundits are again speculating over whether he will do it again just before the 2008 election, and what effect it will have.

Before delving a little deeper into this question (something the self-appointed pundits never seem to do), let us remember that over six years after bin Laden’s group hijacked four planes and killed almost 3,000 Americans he is still a free man. In that time, George W. Bush has shifted his position from “Wanted, Dead or Alive” to “not that interested” to … well, he seems to be ignoring bin Laden completely.

Could the two facts – bin Laden’s videotape and Bush’s nonchalance – be connected?

A “new” video has surfaced, showing Dick Cheney talking about his decision not to invade Baghdad when he was Secretary of Defense. In 1991, we “liberated” Kuwait from the invasion by Iraqi forces under Saddam Hussein, and the coalition forces stopped after ridding Kuwait of Iraqi forces.

At the time, Cheney said, “… if we had gone to Baghdad we would have been all alone … It would have been a U.S. occupation of Iraq.” He went on to ask, “Once you got to Iraq and took it over … then what are you going to put in its place?” He continued by worrying that Syria and Iran would claim parts of Iraq and that Turkey’s “territorial integrity” would be threatened.

He even said, “It’s a quagmire.” Those are Dick Cheney’s exact words.

In his press conference yesterday, George W. Bush called our seemingly interminable occupation of Iraq an “ideological struggle.” All evidence to the contrary, Bush still believes that he can create an atmosphere in which American values, systems and lifestyles will magically flourish in Iraq.

In the short term it is obvious that Bush is wrong. The only time in the history of the planet that one people imposed a non-totalitarian system of government on another was in 1945, and we had to drop a couple of atomic bombs on the Japanese first. Unless Bush & Co. are planning to nuke Iraq, there is no way that region’s people are going to surrender their history and customs to our political system.

In the long term Bush is still wrong, although it is not quite as obvious.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg used his first public appearance since announcing switching from the Republican Party to being an independent, a press conference celebrating the alleged success of his 311 program, to showcase his policy creativity to the media.

Bloomberg’s aware that his leaving the Republican Party would confirm to the media, his current constituents and potential presidential voters, that he’s pursuing an independent Presidential candidacy, despite saying wink, wink, I’m not running, and knew the world be watching his first appearance after making public his official political independence. This is why Bloomberg is using a press conference honoring 311, a program that he is particularly but unjustifiably proud of, as the location of his personal Presidential Debutante Ball.

Bloomberg hoped touting 311 success would perpetuate the myth that he’s a non-partisan problem solver. But the emperor has no clothes. 311 is useless.

I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby is going to prison.

Libby was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice, crimes committed during the special prosecutor’s investigation of the “outing” of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson. For his crimes, Libby has been sentenced to spend thirty months in prison.

The argument in the press now is whether George W. Bush should pardon Scooter Libby. Those who favor a pardon claim that the investigation didn’t find any “real” crime, that nobody has accused Libby of being the original source of the “outing,” and that Valerie Plame Wilson is doing quite well, thank you.

But nobody is asking why Scooter Libby lied.

This is a key question, first because anyone who lies to the FBI and to a grand jury must be covering up something serious, and second because what Libby is covering up could, if uncovered, lead to an unprecedented situation.