July 4th 2007 HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA: Stand and Salute Your New Dictator
The president in his move to commute the sentence of Irwin Lewis "Scooter" Libby has done something extraordinary.
He is described as being disingenuous because he said he'd not depart from his past practices. He said he would not do anything out of the normal for Dick Cheney's former aide.
Here is a list of what he's done with regard to the Libby case:
This is the first time Bush has issued a pardon or commuted a sentence without receiving a request to do so.
It is the first time, though it is not required, he has granted a pardon or commutation of a sentence without going through the routine Department of Justice review.
This is the very first time the president has granted a pardon or issued an order of sentence commutation for someone who has not served a portion of an ordered prison sentence.
The president says he used the following reasoning for his decision:
"I weighed this decision carefully. I thought that the jury verdict should stand." and "I felt the punishment was too severe." Which is it?
We wonder why spend our tax dollars investigating and bringing this friend of the administration to trial, when the whole matter could have been handled more expeditiously by having GWB say, "Scooter's not guilty. I say so, and I'm the president!" If you're gonna be a dictator then do what a dictator does. Dictate, up front. Straightforward. No smoke and mirrors. No horse and pony show necessary.
According to news secretary and presidential spokesman Tony Snow, "A felony conviction has a profound impact on Libby's ability to earn a living as a lawyer because he's not going to be able to practice law."
Who needs to practice law when you can be make lots more money as a high profile public speaker? We predict Libby will be raking in the millions when he publishes his book. A good title might be "How I Beat A Federal Rap With the Help of GWB" (that's not a drug, that's the President of the United States.)
Under the clemency rules of the Justice Department Libby was not eligible to seek commutation. "No petition for commutation of sentence, including remision of fine, should be filed of other firms of judicial or administrative relief are available, except upon a showing of exceptional circumstances."
We wonder if GWB can be impeached for interfering with an attempt to the carry out justice?
Maybe a new slogan for our country should be:
"Who needs God or Justice when you've got GWB?"
Courts have now been declared irrelevant on several fronts.
You can now be imprisoned indefinitely without access to lawyer, court hearings, trial or conviction.
You can now be freed regardless of courts or trial or conviction. We suggest a commercial: A smiling Libby saying: "Thank you GWB"
An inmate from Guantanmo saying: "Thank you GWB".
Various citizens of Iraq dodging bullets, gunfire and bombs, saying "Thank you GWB!"
With a disclaimer that says: "This war was made in the U.S.A. Nothing much is made in the U.S. any more but this was. This war is copyrighted and protected by the United Nations and the Geneva Conventions. Any unauthorized duplication without written permission may lead to investigation by the C.I.A the F.B.I. and extraordinary rendition to extraordinary travel locations you would not want to voluntarily visit."
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