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Blunderov
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The Bush Pardons
« on: 2008-11-25 00:34:27 » |
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[Blunderov] It may seem that the Bush White House has been a little quiet lately but if you listen carefully it is possible that on a windless night you just may hear the rustling sounds of overheated paper shredders working overtime just as they did with Nixon and Bush pere in the closing stages of those fiascoes.
The pabulum we are all fed from birth is that "no man is above the law". Indeed this concept is central to our understanding of the very idea of justice itself but we would be sadly mistaken to actually believe it; having power means precisely that - to raise oneself and one's cronies above the law. This is achieved by means of secrecy and the issuing of pardons.
It remains only to note that many of the upcoming beneficiaries of the voluminous pardons which are soon to be issued by the arch-criminal in the White House are applicable only in the USA. Those so favoured would be well advised to refrain from foreign travel; aeroplanes are quite often unexpectedly diverted to more scrupulous climes where crimes against humanity are prosecuted irrespective of who might have committed them and whether or not "pardons" have been issued.
Keep looking over you shoulders you bastards and sleep with your eyes open. Forever.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=HOR20081124&articleId=11121
The Bush Pardons
by Scott Horton
Global Research, November 24, 2008
Harper's Magazine - 2008-11-22
How does the George W. Bush presidency most resemble that of his father, George H.W. Bush? It may be best to wait to the last, agonizing days of reign of Bush the Lesser before making any call. Recall that Bush 41 left office with a flurry of highly controversial pardons, affecting a large number of individuals who were caught up in the Iran-Contra scandal. In December 1992, while Americans focused on the incoming Clinton Administration, Bush 41 wielded the pardon power to free former defense secretary Caspar Weinberger and five others who had been convicted for crimes committed in connection with the Iran-Contra affair. Lawrence Walsh, the independent counsel handling the matter, had been gradually closing the circle on the affair, and increasingly the evidence was suggesting that Bush 41 himself had been at the center of it. He had, Walsh learned, withheld his personal diaries from investigators and made statements which were at least seriously misleading. By issuing the Iran-Contra pardons, Bush threw up a roadblock…on a road that headed straight to himself.
True to form, the Democrats hardly raised a serious objection to the pardons. They were focused on the incoming administration and eager to avoid anything that would distract from the coup with which Clinton hoped to launch his presidency: a major healthcare initiative.
Sixteen years later, history appears poised to repeat itself. A new Democratic administration is preparing to descend on Washington, and healthcare reform is already being signaled as its first major campaign. President Bush, who has up to this point been remarkably stingy in using his pardon powers (other than for adviser Scooter Libby, who outed a CIA agent and lied to a grand jury about it) is widely thought to be preparing to take some extraordinary actions. Of prime concern are the Administration footsoldiers and policy-makers who participated in two extralegal gambits: his signature interrogation program that introduced a host of torture techniques which were up to that point the preserve of brutal Latin American dictators and formerly Communist adversaries; and a vast spying program that included snooping on the communications of tens of millions of Americans. Both programs had the misfortune of being contrary to federal statutes and punishable as felonies. The Bush Justice Department itself participated in these criminal schemes, and therefore should be counted upon not to prosecuted them. But with time wearing short and the prospect of a new administration descending upon Washington, Bush may shortly act to issue a pre-emptive class-based pardon to insure that his helpers not be prosecuted. And if the pardon is class-based, one prominent beneficiary will be George W. Bush himself. So 2008 promises to be a near perfect replay of pardons farce of 1992.
New York Congressman Jerrold Nadler, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, has different ideas. On Friday, Nadler introduced House Resolution 1531, anticipating and condemning such a pardon. Here are the findings:
(1) it is the sense of the House of Representatives that the granting of preemptive pardons by the President to senior officials of his administration for acts they may have taken in the course of their official duties is a dangerous abuse of the pardon power;
(2) it is the sense of the House of Representatives that the President should not grant preemptive pardons to senior officials in his administration for acts they may have taken in the course of their official duties;
(3) it is the sense of the House of Representatives that James Madison was correct in his observation that ‘‘[i]f 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’’;
(4) it is the sense of the House of Representatives that a special investigative commission, or a Select Committee be tasked with investigating possible illegal activities by senior officials of the administration of President George W. Bush, including, if necessary, any abuse of the President’s pardon power; and
(5) the next Attorney General of the United States appoint an independent counsel to investigate, and, where appropriate, prosecute illegal acts by senior officials of the administration of President George W. Bush.
Read the whole resolution here. Democrats.com has a form that makes it simple to contact your representatives to register your support for the Nadler resolution. And Representative Nadler and others (including myself) will be speaking on this issue on the evening of December 4 at NYU Law School, at a free forum co-sponsored by Harper’s magazine. The event is open to the public
Global Research Articles by Scott Horton
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MoEnzyme
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Re:The Bush Pardons
« Reply #1 on: 2008-11-25 14:53:42 » |
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[MoEnzyme] I have no doubt there will be a flurry of pardons, there always are with every departing administration. Clinton had his as well. The only question many of us are seriously contemplating is how high up the chain of command will such pardons go? And can Bush pardon himself? Or perhaps arrange one for himself through a timely resignation via Cheney? Perhaps they will pardon each other? Who knows. Stay tuned to the Church of Virus, where people actually ask questions like these.
-Mo
Can George W. Bush 'Self-Pardon' Himself?
http://www.alternet.org/rights/108317/ (full article)
By Stephen M Brown, AlterNet. Posted November 24, 2008.
Quote:There's no definitive legal consensus on whether a president can pardon himself. But Bush may well give the theorists an answer. |
excerpt:
He can simply pardon Cheney (and everyone else) and immediately resign. Cheney then becomes president and pardons him. Short, sweet, and -- after consulting with an attorney -- perfectly legal.
Would the entire country freak out over such brazen self-dealing? No doubt. Would Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al., care? Not a bit. After all, given the choice between a trial for high treason and murder (resulting in a possible death sentence) versus millions of people thinking badly of them (which 82 percent of the public already does), the answer is obvious.
But though the public might rise up in horror, politicians on all sides would secretly breathe a sigh of relief. Especially Democrats. In fact, it is my guess that Obama and virtually every Democrat in Congress is secretly praying for Bush to "self-pardon" himself. Not because they wish him to escape justice, but because they don't want the politically dangerous, nationally divisive, and ultimately thankless task of having to administer it.
If Bush pardons himself, or gets Cheney to pardon him, he will let the Democrats off the hook, freeing them from the growing importuning of millions of Americans whose rage at Bush and Cheney will only grow greater as more and more insiders come forward to reveal the truth.
My only question is -- why is no one even discussing this?
http://www.alternet.org/rights/108317/
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Mo Enzyme
(consolidation of handles: Jake Sapiens; memelab; logicnazi; Loki; Every1Hz; and Shadow)
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Fritz
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Re:The Bush Pardons
« Reply #2 on: 2008-11-25 23:06:09 » |
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Well at least one Canadian criminal in jail in the US is speaking out and asking for Pardon as well; but true to form shoots himself in the foot first.... sigh 
Fritz
Jailed fraudster Conrad Black asks for clemency from Bush
Source: SUN
Author: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Date: 2008.11.25
WASHINGTON -- Conrad Black is railing against the war on drugs in the U.S. and lamenting the country's incarceration rates from his Florida jail cell.
"The U.S. is now a carceral state that imprisons eight to 12 times more people (2.5 million) per capita than the U.K., Canada, Australia, France, Germany or Japan," Black, serving a 6 1/2-year sentence for defrauding millions from his former media empire, wrote in a letter to the Sunday Times of London.
"U.S. justice has become a command economy based on the avarice of private prison companies, a gigantic prison service industry and politically influential correctional officers' unions that agitate for an unlimited increase in the number of prosecutions and the length of sentences."
Fruitless attempts to wipe out the illegal drug trade are to blame for the situation, says Black.
"The entire 'war on drugs,' by contrast, is a classic illustration of supply-side economics: A trillion taxpayers' dollars squandered and (1 million) small fry imprisoned at a cost of $50 billion a year."
His rant seems to represent one of the first times the 64-year-old Black, in jail since March, has ever publicly complained about incarceration rates.
It also comes just days after he asked President George W. Bush for clemency.
Guardian on Black
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Hermit
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Re:The Bush Pardons
« Reply #3 on: 2008-11-26 15:02:50 » |
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Fritz
Argumentum ad hominem? The problem is real, the cause is as documented, the cost dwarfs all of American social spending and destroys many more lives than even the illegal Iraq war. The fact that this report comes from a personal perspective from inside the system doesn't invalidate any of that.
As for Conrad Black, I suspect that he is a silly man, not a bad one as the world counts it (although the papers he owned are well to the right of the Likud and appeal powerfully to the trolls of the world - which ought to be as great an offense as they are offensive <grin>, even if we don't lock people up for it); and that he was found guilty under the kinds of laws which include murder, rape, kidnapping, child abuse and breathing as offenses; by a jury, not of peers but of people who couldn't begin to understand a share option or a derivative swap if it bit them.
Kindest Regards
Hermit
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With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg, 1999
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Fritz
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Re:The Bush Pardons
« Reply #4 on: 2008-11-26 22:47:06 » |
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Quote:| [Hermit][<snip>and that he was found guilty under the kinds of laws which include murder, rape, kidnapping, child abuse and breathing as offenses; by a jury, not of peers but of people who couldn't begin to understand a share option or a derivative swap if it bit them.<snip> |
Sobering point.
Cheers
Fritz
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Where there is the necessary technical skill to move mountains, there is no need for the faith that moves mountains -anon-
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MoEnzyme
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Turkey pardons
« Reply #5 on: 2008-11-27 20:31:45 » |
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While we are on this pardon business, I would like to point out a particular political tradition that needs to cease . . . that of pardoning turkeys on Thanksgiving.
All right, I'm not really an animal rights type of guy most days of the week, but this one really sticks in my craw. Why does a turkey need any pardon at all? It's not like it actually did anything wrong except get born as the wrong species in the wrong situation. The very idea that a turkey has any need of pardon, I find offensive to humanity, to turkeydom, and even to the very essence of justice and mercy. And really, does the pardoned turkey actually live out the rest of its accidental years? Is that really mercy when they've already been engineered for so much less. Or is it simply spared from the slaughter for today, only to make to our Christmas table next month? Perhaps its vague hedonistic pre-sentient mind wonders why you didn't end its suffering long before a more bitter ending. Inquiring minds want to know. Regardless of such obviously ludicrous questions, the turkey pardoning continues. Does Obama have a position on such inane practices? Somebody please help. . . the future of civilization is at stake here I feel certain.
Bush's turkey pardon takes Pumpkin and Pecan off the menu this Thanksgiving
full story:http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-turkey-pardon27-2008nov27,0,2988330.story
excerpt:
Quote:By Cynthia Dizikes
November 27, 2008
Reporting from Washington -- At least two frequent fliers will be getting a good deal on holiday travel and accommodations this Thanksgiving.
Pumpkin and Pecan, the lucky turkeys whose lives were spared by the annual Thanksgiving presidential pardon Wednesday, will fly first-class on United Airlines to Los Angeles, where one of them will be grand marshal in Disneyland's Thanksgiving parade today. The pair will then take up residence in a turkey house in the amusement park's Frontierland. |
-Mo
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Mo Enzyme
(consolidation of handles: Jake Sapiens; memelab; logicnazi; Loki; Every1Hz; and Shadow)
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Fritz
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Re:The Bush Pardons
« Reply #6 on: 2008-11-27 22:11:30 » |
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Quote:| [Mo]<snip>Does Obama have a position on such inane practices? Somebody please help. . . the future of civilization is at stake here I feel certain.<snip> |
If in fact as suggested below the Bushes started Turkey Pardoning; the irony amuses me greatly. Obama might be served well to start a new Thanksgiving tradition; like, say, maybe a turkey in every pot. 
Happy US Thanksgiving
Fritz
Source: Info Please
Author: Borgna Brunner and Mark Hughes
Date: NA
Origins
Each year since 1947, the National Turkey Federation and the Poultry and Egg National Board have given a turkey to the President of the United States at a White House ceremony. Since then, presidents have been more likely to eat the turkey rather than give it a reprieve. A notable exception occurred in 1963, when President Kennedy, referring to the turkey given to him, said, "Let's just keep him." It wasn't until the first Thanksgiving of President George H.W. Bush, in 1989, that a turkey was officially pardoned for the first time.
Confusing the Practice
Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush have continued the pardons begun under the first Bush. Some confusion about the true origin of this practice has crept into recent presidential speeches though. One story claims that Harry Truman pardoned the turkey given to him in 1947, but the Truman Library has been unable to find any evidence of this. Another story claims the tradition dates back to Abraham Lincoln pardoning his son Tad's pet turkey.
From Frying Pan Park to Disneyland
What's certain is that since 1989 a turkey—and its alternate—have been pardoned each year. An alternate is chosen just in case the first bird is unable to perform its duties. For fifteen years through 2004, the turkeys were given to Kidwell Farm, a petting zoo at Frying Pan Park in Herndon, Virginia. The turkeys would receive a last minute pardon before arriving, and were then led to their new home at the Turkey Barn after enduring a turkey "roast" full of poultry humor and history.
In 2005 and 2006, however, the turkeys were flown to Disneyland in California where they served as honorary grand marshals for Disneyland's Thanksgiving Day parade. After that, they spent the rest of their lives at a Disneyland ranch. A spot in sunny Disneyland seems immensely preferable to a place called Frying Pan Park if you happen to be a turkey who has just escaped from becoming the main course of someone's Thanksgiving feast.
The People's Choice
On Wednesday, November 26, 2008, President Bush gave two turkeys named Pumpkin and Pecan a last-minute reprieve. The two hail from Ellsworth, Iowa, and were raised under the direction of National Turkey Federation Chairman Paul Hill. The American public was allowed to vote for the turkeys' names on the White House web site. 2007's turkeys were named May and Flower, 2006's were Flyer and Fryer; 2005's were Marshmallow and Yam; and 2004's were Biscuit and Gravy
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Where there is the necessary technical skill to move mountains, there is no need for the faith that moves mountains -anon-
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MoEnzyme
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Re:The Bush Pardons
« Reply #7 on: 2008-12-03 04:13:02 » |
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Will Bush Pardon Stevens?
Dec 2, 2008 by Votemaster
http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2008/Pres/Maps/Dec02.html
One power that lame-duck Presidents still have is the power to pardon people. There is increasing speculation that President Bush will pardon Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) who has been convicted on seven counts of lying on his Senate disclosure forms. A number of Republican senators have expressed support for the idea of a pardon http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1208/16104.html. Stevens has not formally requested one and Bush has not commented on the idea yet. The downside for Bush is what future historians will say about him.
Mo: Once Bush and Cheney get done pardoning each other for their numerous war crimes, I doubt anyone will much remember that Stevens was pardoned in the process.
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Mo Enzyme
(consolidation of handles: Jake Sapiens; memelab; logicnazi; Loki; Every1Hz; and Shadow)
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