Rule of Law? Wake up America...

Half the population is under the age of 18. Tanzania's future is NOW...join the 50% campaign!

"The President's decision to commute Mr. Libby's sentence is disgraceful.  Libby's conviction was the one faint glimmer of accountability for White House efforts to manipulate intelligence and silence critics of the Iraq War.  Now, even that small bit of justice has been undone.  Judge Walton correctly determined that Libby deserved to be imprisoned for lying about a matter of national security.  The Constitution gives President Bush the power to commute sentences, but history will judge him harshly for using that power to benefit his own Vice President's Chief of Staff who was convicted of such a serious violation of law."

And Speaker Pelosi responds:

The President's commutation of Scooter Libby's prison sentence does not serve justice, condones criminal conduct, and is a betrayal of trust of the American people.
The President said he would hold accountable anyone involved in the Valerie Plame leak case. By his action today, the President shows his word is not to be believed. He has abandoned all sense of fairness when it comes to justice, he has failed to uphold the rule of law, and he has failed to hold his Administration accountable.

Democratic Party Chairman Dean's statement:

"Once again President Bush and the GOP have undermined a core American value: equal justice under the law for every American. By commuting this sentence, President Bush is sending a clear message that the rules don't apply to the Bush White House or loyal Republican cronies. After promising that anyone who violated the law would be 'taken care of,' President Bush instead handed Scooter Libby a get out of jail free card. Though Libby was convicted by a jury of lying about a matter of national security, President Bush is sparing him the consequences ordinary Americans would face. This conviction was the first moment of justice in a Bush Administration void of accountability. It's a sad day for America when the President once again puts protecting his friends ahead of equal justice under the law."

Okay. So fucking do something about it.

Half the population is under the age of 18. Tanzania's future is NOW...join the 50% campaign!

Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.

Actually, the way Bush did it is even sneakier and wilier (preserving Libby's ability to hide behind the Fifth) proving once more that even when we think we're being pessimists, we're still too optimistic.

Leaving aside the legalese, I never though for a minute that Libby wouldn't be taken care of somehow, and frankly I think we can consider ourselves very lucky if this administration surrenders power willingly in 2008.

(Instead of "administration" I should say "regime" - there's no doubt Bush himself will leave but the nomenklatura might find new ways to remsain in power.)

what Nixon got wrong was he didn't tough Watergate out. Cheney will do what he thinks Nixon failed to.

The Constitution and the rule of law? Nixon didn't trample them hard enough. Cheney will.

Violent, ruinous projection of American power in the world? Nixon didn't hang in there. Cheney will.

Iran? OK, it was no longer Nixon's watch. But Cheney will anyway.

All this is of course subject to whether Cheney can and what he can. Which is pretty much the central issue in American politics right now. No one needs tell the Beltway Dems, they know, but they'd rather skirt round it.

"Right now" means right now, and for the last seven years.

When locusts move on, they leave nothing behind

This is the action that "changes everything."   Bush has set the precendent of a President pardoning an underling for the preformance of illegal acts committed by order of the President. This establishes the Executive Branch of the Federal Goverment as the Ruling Body of the the Goverment.  

Och nu den svenska kocken bakar en Alaskan älg jägare. Bonk! Bonk! Bonk!

WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House on Tuesday declined to rule out the possibility of an eventual pardon for former vice presidential aide I. Lewis ``Scooter'' Libby. But spokesman Tony Snow said, for now, President Bush is satisfied with his decision to commute Libby's 2 1/2-year prison sentence.

"Never mind petitions. We need serious action by the
Democratic Congress to face down this lawless
administration. Petitions will just get more of the
finger from Bush-Cheney.
Leonard Poryles.
--- Chuck Schumer <info@dscc.org> wrote:

> Dear Friend,
>
> I?m outraged.  President Bush commuted Scooter
> Libby?s prison sentence wiping away two and half
> years of jail time with the stroke of a pen.
> President Bush ignored Libby?s felony conviction for
> lying to investigators, ignored the jury?s guilty
> verdict, and ignored the rule of law that governs
> our nation.
>
> We expect more from our President.  We expect honor
> and integrity, we expect moral leadership.  We
> expect our President and his staff to be held to a
> higher standard.
>
> Tell President Bush that you are disgusted by his
> actions.  Sign our petition today letting President
> Bush know that this outrageous conduct won?t be
> tolerated."

I told Bush; don't play chess with the freakin' Russians.

but hardly surprised.  cf Juan Cole today

As for Libby's pardon, he was convicted of lying to a grand jury and obstructing the special counsel's investigation. Since Fitzpatrick could never have gotten to the bottom of whether crimes had been committed as long as key figures like Libby lied to him, Libby's crime was grave. The commutation of his sentence is a great injustice. It is not the first a Bush has committed.

Iran-Contra criminal Elliott Abrams, now a deputy National Security Agency adviser to Bush, essentially committed the same crime as Libby, though he only pled guilty to withholding information from Congress.

Abrams was pardoned by George H. W. Bush, and then his son hired him. Congress, which should have been permanently outraged by having been misled by Abrams, gave him a pass. A far rightwing Likudnik, he has been handling Palestine issues for Bush!

So, like father like son.

Except for that vision thing about the insidious traitors.

Basically, in Bushworld, high government officials are above the law, including all international law and most domestic. America is not nearly as much fun if you aren't rich.

And then there was Ford pardoning Nixon... boy, did that stick in my craw, even as a kid.

The Old (White)Boys' Club sticks together.

A Brief Legal Bibliography of Presidential Pardons

The difference between theory and practise in practise ...

I know, cash and leverage, then you become like them generally.

Shit, Shit Shit.

"I said, 'Wait a minute, Chester, You know I'm a peaceful man...'" Robbie Robertson

Check out part thirteen, in which he reads the following quote:

Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.

there's something 'divine right of kings' about it, and it flies in the face of equal justice for all.

it encourages impunity, and opens the door for blackmail too.

if america really wants to be a democratically fair country, she will do away with this medieval anachronism, that belittles the whole point of an hard-working, judiciously independent magistrature.

when you look at the repug track record on this, it's a rogues' gallery that has come back on the country in spades...

really offensive, and a lampoon of justice.

scary, yes a bit, depressingly familiar is more like it.

when will these wax wings melt already?

Peace is not the absence of war -- peace is the absence of fear. Ursula Franklin

Commuting Scooter
http://afterdowningstreet.org/node/24255
By David Swanson

George Mason (1725-1792), the father of the Bill of Rights (1791-2002), argued at the Constitutional Convention in favor of providing the House of Representatives the power of impeachment by pointing out that the President might use his pardoning power to "pardon crimes which were advised by himself" or, before indictment or conviction, "to stop inquiry and prevent detection."

James Madison (1751-1836), the father of the U.S. Constitution (1788-2007), added that "if the President be connected, in any suspicious manner, with any person, and there be grounds to believe he will shelter him, the House of Representatives can impeach him; they can remove him if found guilty.

Sounds like impeachment is the way to go, from what a couple of Founders say...

Half the population is under the age of 18. Tanzania's future is NOW...join the 50% campaign!

I don't know how old you are. If you were not around for the Watergate, or too young to understand it than you comment is understandable.

But if you were old enough to live through it than the comment is blatantly false.

You are comparing the commuting of a sentence of someone who committed perjury on a matter not directly related to the exposing of CIA agent - regardless of whether it was right or wrong for his prosecution.

And you are comparing it a series of horrific events that began with the burglary of the DNC headquarters by former CIA agents at the request of high level officials of the White House and with, worse, the attempted cover-up and bribes by the U.S. Attorney General and the President of the U.S. Included in it were a litany of dirty tricks by CREEP (Committee to Re-Elect the President) some of which were illegal.

There is no credible comparison of those events or anything since, with the closest being the Iran-Contra scandal under Reagan.

And if you are irate over Bush's commutation of Libby which is legal under the Constitution regardless of whether it is fair or moral, then I would suggest you look at the horrible trail of commutations and pardons committed by Bill Clinton (called Pardongate) which included:

1. The commutation of 16 FALN terrorists which killed and maimed people (coincidentally New York has a high population of Puerto Rican people who were sympathetic to their cause and who would vote for Hillary). The Senate condemned the action 95-2.

2. The pardoning of fugitive Marc Rich (coincidentally his wife made major contributions to Clinton's library and Hillary Clinton's campaigns after that).

3. After lobbying by Hillary's brother, Hugh, the owners of a carnival company convicted of bank fraud were pardoned after paying Hugh over $100,000.

4. The commutation of drug trafficker Carlos Vignali (whose father made significant political contributions).

So when you get outraged over the scandal by Bill Clinton and the outrageous hypocrisy of Hillary Clinton's statement yesterday, then I will buy into some of your outrage over this.

But impeachment? Over what? The impeachment of Nixon was more than warranted. The impeachment proceedings of Clinton was a sham and a desecration of the Constitution. By the same standards applied to Clinton you could impeach Bush and probably every future President. But it doesn't make it right.

Unfortunately this and Clinton's pardons/commutations are all perfectly legal. There is nothing anyone can do about Libby or about Clinton's Pardongate, but I do think Congress should seek to enact a law that does limit the ability of a President to commute or pardon anyone for any reason - particularly if there is a political motivation behind it.

There is a concept of equal justice under the law and that is just not the case in this country too many times, particularly if you are a young person who makes a mistake and does not have the financial resources of Marc Rich who could afford to hire Scooter Libby (ironically) to defend him and help get his pardon.

If you want to be outraged, then be outraged over the entire system which heavily favors the haves over the have-nots and don't waste your outrage over a bunch of haves getting their way or not.