Libby's sentance commuted

[greg334]

What a shame!

I think Bush could have done better and waited until the last minute before he left office.

AND

...For those who will complain about it, read about what Libby actually did.....

AND

understand that Bush's actions is not as bad than what Clinton did by "commuted the sentences of 16 members of FALN, a violent Puerto Rican nationalist group that set off 120 bombs in the United States mostly in New York City and Chicago, convicted for conspiracies to commit robbery, bomb-making, and sedition, as well as for firearms and explosives violations." Did I say terrorists?

 

[Pilgrim]

Evidently Bush must have gotten word he was going to the slammer pretty quickly, so this keeps Libby out of prison during the appeal process. It will probably go all the way to the Supreme Court, if they can get it that far but their success in the appeals process has been nothing to brag about. If he actually has to pay the fine, they will find some big donors to handle that and Bush can still give him the full pardon his last day in office. I'm pleasantly surprised that Bush had the stones to do this, but after the illegal immigrant fiasco he had nowhere to go but up.

 

[greg334]

Am I wrong in assuming a commutation means no jail time regaurdless?

I thought there is no appeal once the Pres does this, it is a seperation of powers thing.

 

[Pilgrim]

You're right and my statement wasn't clear. The point I was trying to make was that the sentence was commuted BEFORE the Feds had a chance to get Libby in prison stripes. His appeal process will, of course, continue.

 

[letzrockexpress]

I would like to know when Border Patrol Agents Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos are going to be pardoned for doing nothing more than exactly what they were hired to do. I have written my congressman repeatedly. No answer. Imagine that! As far as I am concerned, justice in our country is merely an undeveloped concept...

 

[greg334]

>I would like to know when Border Patrol Agents Jose Compean
>and Ignacio Ramos are going to be pardoned for doing nothing
>more than exactly what they were hired to do. I have written
>my congressman repeatedly. No answer. Imagine that! As far
>as I am concerned, justice in our country is merely an
>undeveloped concept...

Well I 100% agree with you, it would be nice to see some movement from the guy in that house.

 

[letzrockexpress]

I agree with your sig line that politics is a game of engagement. In my mind engagement results in friction. Friction, in a dialogue,can create heated exchanges and even hostility. At the very least it can cause disagreement. Our President says if we disagree we are not patriotic: Specifically we are,in his words, " either with us or against us". I stand with you on the engagement issue. I wish others could see the bigger picture. In the long run engagement spawns improvement.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

I think the Presidential powers of commuting and pardons should be rescinded...It dimishes the justice system. The accused was found guilty by a jury of his peers. It goes to show the ordinary person that thier are people above the law. Its a tradition that should be done away with. And serves no useful purpose.

 

[letzrockexpress]

I disagree. I think pardons and commutations are a valuable part of the checks and balances we need to make everything fair. I don't know how much experience you have had with American courts but I assure you errors are made daily, sometimes horribly erroneous ones. When they involve people's lives we need to be sure there are sufficient escape mechanisms to allow for correction when and if they occur.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Guess I was referring to these get of jail free cards that Presidents issues at term end...they have nothing to do with guilty or innocent, seems more of a political thingee.

Checks and balances are always a good thing.

 

[greg334]

Letzrock,
I understand what you are saying but what I am driving at is simply this, in the past we the people meant something, until the politicians understood that we could be appeased easily and simply, we had the power to invoke change. The engagement I speak of is more like what happened with the immigration bill, the people spoke up and this is engagement. As much as I think discussions can be heated, and even hostile, you must not forget at one time people stuck by their convictions and this is where it mattered. If someone of mixed convictions presents someone else with a position and caves after any attempt of a dialog is made, this is where the engagement stops – which is what I am driving at. The politician is one who takes the aggressive point of view with constitutes and this puts people in a position of being defensive right from the start and hopes that the person has mixed convictions so not to engage the politician, make sense?

As for the president, well I understand his speech but I don’t agree with it.

OVM,

As Letzrock said, this is part of the checks and balances system we have. In the case of Libby, I think that he should go to jail but at the same time the punishment should fit the crime. I also think that there is a serious problem with the justice system and the use of prosecutor discretion in how these cases are tried. The one issue I am concern about is that when you read everything about the specifics of the issues of the case, Libby didn’t really do anything wrong in comparison to the prosecutor.