Wanna get out of your jail sentence? Commit treason .. I mean, perjury ..
President Bush has commuted Lewis "Scooter" Libby's jail sentence of 30 months for perjury, obstruction of justice -- and other felonies -- because he thinks the term "excessive." And that Libby has suffered enough.
This despite 30 months being well within the specific sentencing guidelines under the law for the crimes he was convicted.
Which means Libby will be taken care of the rest of his life by right wing supporters because he lied to a grand jury when he was asked if he assisted in the outing of an active undercover CIA agent - who was dealing with some pretty bad guys.
She was outed because the Bush administration was upset with her husband for discovering that Iraq had *nothing* to do with Al Qaeda's attack on the Twin Towers September 11th.
Revealing the identity of an active undercover CIA agent is an act of treason, *especially* in time of war - a war that Bush literally lied us into with Iraq.
Treason is punishable by sentences up to and including death; he wasn't accused of treason even though the act of outing an agent is treasonous - he was accused only of perjury and obstructing justice.
Because he supported Bush and Cheney to the point of lying about the malfeasance and misfeasance of the Bush administration associated with Iraq, Haliburton, outing the CIA agent, etc., Libby is a hero to the right wing.
The next step may well be that Bush actually gives Libby a full out pardon for his crimes against the nation, not just commuting his sentence.
Despite the court's decision that Libby's crimes were bad enough to warrant serious jail time after he was convicted by a jury -- including the hard work of his top defense lawyers -- Bush takes it upon himself to supersede the court's jurisdiction and abuse his power to commute a sentence.
Bush has the right to do it - the president has the right to do just about anything, but it sounds like he's doing it to reward someone for lying and covering up the corruption that continues to erode the Bush administration and the US government.
It would be like Nixon setting the Watergate criminal mob - H.R. Haldeman, John Erlichman, John Colson, John Mitchell and many, many more - free. All were convicted and served jail terms for similar crimes.
It is stunning to think an American presidency is as corrupt, as destructive, as incompetent, as monolithic and as ignorant as the Bush administration is in 2007.
If you ever did not believe Bush and Cheney see themselves above the law - here's one more little clue if you're investigating.
I have to lay part of the responsibility of this outrage -- and it is an outrage, even though many are going to try to convince you otherwise -- on the media that has not reported extremely significant stories in a way that makes the American public aware of the massive abuse of the office of the presidency and vice-presidency.
Cheney and his henchmen have counted on an unquestioning media who will simply quote the lies of Bush, Cheney and others who so cavalierly pass on false information, then quote the people who disagree, leaving us with what is perceived as "two sides" of a story without any perspective or investigation.
If we had either perspective or investigation, we'd see that one "side" is an outright lie, not any side of any story.
So it's not a story at all, but unchallenging media still repeat statements of Bush and Cheney and their spokespeople as if they're facts when they have not the slightest basis in truth.
OK, maybe sometimes their statements have a slight basis in truth, but it's twisted beyond recognition of that truth.
I do not understand how good Republicans can tolerate what Bush and Cheney are doing to their party, how they are ignoring and obliterating the rule of law and why they would put up with Bush and Cheney's acts that disintegrate so many things that make our nation great.
On the other hand, it's outrageous actions like this that finally fire up an apathetic public; especially during a holiday that celebrates what makes this country the nation what it is supposed to be -- a nation where we are *all* - each of us - including the president and vice-president - supposed to be considered equals under the Constitution of the United States.
If it were not the Bush administration, this action would be absolutely unbelievable. But so many of us are so incredibly numb to the contempt this administration has for the Constitution, rule of law and common sense, all we can do is watch for their next even more ridiculous action which will leave us equally as speechless.
It's as bad as Richard Nixon being rewarded for his work helping the hopelessly alcoholic, rabid, right wing Senator Joe McCarthy and his heinous work on the notorious un-American activities committee, destroying the lives of thousands of innocent Americans unjustly accused of being "communist."
Thanks to his loyalty and support of unfounded attacks on innocent Americans, Nixon was rewarded with unceasing support right through reaching the White House as president.
Come to think of it, so was Ronald Reagan.
The saddest part of all this is that as angry as we get about the abuse of the system, ignorance and hubris costing thousands of American lives, tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis, the Taliban and Al Qaeda become stronger in Afghanistan and of course Ben Laden is still nowhere to be found or captured.
And our economy continues to take an extraordinary hit thanks to Bush putting us more than a trillion dollars in debt to pay for his war with Iraq.
All of which, by the way, Ben Laden not only hoped for but predicted. He knew Bush well enough to count on his knee-jerk, ignorant and inappropriate response to Al Qaeda's attack.
Put simply, Bush simply doesn't care how we feel - why should he? He continues to do whatever the hell he feels like with no accountability. As in, none.
I mean, Bush probably thinks that if HE doesn't have to deal with any scrutiny or accountability, why should anyone else in his loyal circle of pals like "Scooter"?
Heck, I bet Bush thinks "Libby's doing a heck of a job!"
More, Bush and Cheney do not care that we don't like them - why should they?.
Bush and Cheney do not care that they "get to" flaunt the law whenever they feel like it -why should they?
Bush and Cheney do not care that they have corrupted our government and given the finger to the rule of law, voters and the idea that there are actually three branches of government. Why should they?
Bush and Cheney do not care about ordinary Americans, the economy (do they know how expensive milk is these days?), how to actually and honestly combat terrorism, corrupting the government at all levels, reality, stealing, lying, manipulating or whatever they want to do, whenever they want, where ever they want, however they want to do it, regardless of how many Americans and Iraqis are killed in the process.
Again, why should they? They continue to do anything they wish with no accountability.
Remember my blog on "disinformation" recently? How I said that the government releases information when the public is busy with other events - like the weekend, the Rose Bowl, Super Bowl, and say -- big holidays like the 4th of July?
Well, that's why they released the announcement of Bush's commutation of Libby's jail sentence Monday night, July 2, when most Americans are getting ready to celebrate the holiday, hoping that they will not be watching the news, hoping they'll be too distracted to care and that the unquestioning media will simply release the statement and get some typical "liberal complainers" to respond.
By the way, Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani both agree with Bush's action. They are Republicans hoping to be nominated to be a presidential candidate, and many Republicans are doggone pleased they do!
Congratulations, Democrats! You could not have had a sweeter election gift than this because, gosh, the rest of us realize that when we break the law, we get thrown in jail. Seriously, even Paris Hilton.
Come to think of it, thanks to DNA, we're seeing how many people are thrown in jail even when they don't commit a crime.
This despite 30 months being well within the specific sentencing guidelines under the law for the crimes he was convicted.
Which means Libby will be taken care of the rest of his life by right wing supporters because he lied to a grand jury when he was asked if he assisted in the outing of an active undercover CIA agent - who was dealing with some pretty bad guys.
She was outed because the Bush administration was upset with her husband for discovering that Iraq had *nothing* to do with Al Qaeda's attack on the Twin Towers September 11th.
Revealing the identity of an active undercover CIA agent is an act of treason, *especially* in time of war - a war that Bush literally lied us into with Iraq.
Treason is punishable by sentences up to and including death; he wasn't accused of treason even though the act of outing an agent is treasonous - he was accused only of perjury and obstructing justice.
Because he supported Bush and Cheney to the point of lying about the malfeasance and misfeasance of the Bush administration associated with Iraq, Haliburton, outing the CIA agent, etc., Libby is a hero to the right wing.
The next step may well be that Bush actually gives Libby a full out pardon for his crimes against the nation, not just commuting his sentence.
Despite the court's decision that Libby's crimes were bad enough to warrant serious jail time after he was convicted by a jury -- including the hard work of his top defense lawyers -- Bush takes it upon himself to supersede the court's jurisdiction and abuse his power to commute a sentence.
Bush has the right to do it - the president has the right to do just about anything, but it sounds like he's doing it to reward someone for lying and covering up the corruption that continues to erode the Bush administration and the US government.
It would be like Nixon setting the Watergate criminal mob - H.R. Haldeman, John Erlichman, John Colson, John Mitchell and many, many more - free. All were convicted and served jail terms for similar crimes.
It is stunning to think an American presidency is as corrupt, as destructive, as incompetent, as monolithic and as ignorant as the Bush administration is in 2007.
If you ever did not believe Bush and Cheney see themselves above the law - here's one more little clue if you're investigating.
I have to lay part of the responsibility of this outrage -- and it is an outrage, even though many are going to try to convince you otherwise -- on the media that has not reported extremely significant stories in a way that makes the American public aware of the massive abuse of the office of the presidency and vice-presidency.
Cheney and his henchmen have counted on an unquestioning media who will simply quote the lies of Bush, Cheney and others who so cavalierly pass on false information, then quote the people who disagree, leaving us with what is perceived as "two sides" of a story without any perspective or investigation.
If we had either perspective or investigation, we'd see that one "side" is an outright lie, not any side of any story.
So it's not a story at all, but unchallenging media still repeat statements of Bush and Cheney and their spokespeople as if they're facts when they have not the slightest basis in truth.
OK, maybe sometimes their statements have a slight basis in truth, but it's twisted beyond recognition of that truth.
I do not understand how good Republicans can tolerate what Bush and Cheney are doing to their party, how they are ignoring and obliterating the rule of law and why they would put up with Bush and Cheney's acts that disintegrate so many things that make our nation great.
On the other hand, it's outrageous actions like this that finally fire up an apathetic public; especially during a holiday that celebrates what makes this country the nation what it is supposed to be -- a nation where we are *all* - each of us - including the president and vice-president - supposed to be considered equals under the Constitution of the United States.
If it were not the Bush administration, this action would be absolutely unbelievable. But so many of us are so incredibly numb to the contempt this administration has for the Constitution, rule of law and common sense, all we can do is watch for their next even more ridiculous action which will leave us equally as speechless.
It's as bad as Richard Nixon being rewarded for his work helping the hopelessly alcoholic, rabid, right wing Senator Joe McCarthy and his heinous work on the notorious un-American activities committee, destroying the lives of thousands of innocent Americans unjustly accused of being "communist."
Thanks to his loyalty and support of unfounded attacks on innocent Americans, Nixon was rewarded with unceasing support right through reaching the White House as president.
Come to think of it, so was Ronald Reagan.
The saddest part of all this is that as angry as we get about the abuse of the system, ignorance and hubris costing thousands of American lives, tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis, the Taliban and Al Qaeda become stronger in Afghanistan and of course Ben Laden is still nowhere to be found or captured.
And our economy continues to take an extraordinary hit thanks to Bush putting us more than a trillion dollars in debt to pay for his war with Iraq.
All of which, by the way, Ben Laden not only hoped for but predicted. He knew Bush well enough to count on his knee-jerk, ignorant and inappropriate response to Al Qaeda's attack.
Put simply, Bush simply doesn't care how we feel - why should he? He continues to do whatever the hell he feels like with no accountability. As in, none.
I mean, Bush probably thinks that if HE doesn't have to deal with any scrutiny or accountability, why should anyone else in his loyal circle of pals like "Scooter"?
Heck, I bet Bush thinks "Libby's doing a heck of a job!"
More, Bush and Cheney do not care that we don't like them - why should they?.
Bush and Cheney do not care that they "get to" flaunt the law whenever they feel like it -why should they?
Bush and Cheney do not care that they have corrupted our government and given the finger to the rule of law, voters and the idea that there are actually three branches of government. Why should they?
Bush and Cheney do not care about ordinary Americans, the economy (do they know how expensive milk is these days?), how to actually and honestly combat terrorism, corrupting the government at all levels, reality, stealing, lying, manipulating or whatever they want to do, whenever they want, where ever they want, however they want to do it, regardless of how many Americans and Iraqis are killed in the process.
Again, why should they? They continue to do anything they wish with no accountability.
Remember my blog on "disinformation" recently? How I said that the government releases information when the public is busy with other events - like the weekend, the Rose Bowl, Super Bowl, and say -- big holidays like the 4th of July?
Well, that's why they released the announcement of Bush's commutation of Libby's jail sentence Monday night, July 2, when most Americans are getting ready to celebrate the holiday, hoping that they will not be watching the news, hoping they'll be too distracted to care and that the unquestioning media will simply release the statement and get some typical "liberal complainers" to respond.
By the way, Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani both agree with Bush's action. They are Republicans hoping to be nominated to be a presidential candidate, and many Republicans are doggone pleased they do!
Congratulations, Democrats! You could not have had a sweeter election gift than this because, gosh, the rest of us realize that when we break the law, we get thrown in jail. Seriously, even Paris Hilton.
Come to think of it, thanks to DNA, we're seeing how many people are thrown in jail even when they don't commit a crime.
Labels: Bush, Cheney, democrat, Lewis Libby, Nixon, obstruction of justice, perury, republican, Sen. Joe McCarthy, treason, Watergate
posted by cp @ 9:53 PM
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