Bush commutes Libby's prison term

[Nightshade]

I think likening you to a cantaloupe was overly generous.

[bikkeldesnikkel]

whut-evvaaaaaah

You're a retard to think I would know anything about foreign affairs. You should be delighted I know this much about your shitty country.

[Iccy]

you know what scarey about it. The more insane stuff they do, the more we get used to it and the less we pay attention.


I read this and it didnt even phase me, it was expected. I dont feel like anyone has any control to do anything or they just dont care and im just a little piss ant that means nothing to this anyway.

Thats really the scariest part for me

[tnf]

you know what scarey about it. The more insane stuff they do, the more we get used to it and the less we pay attention.


I read this and it didnt even phase me, it was expected. I dont feel like anyone has any control to do anything or they just dont care and im just a little piss ant that means nothing to this anyway.

Thats really the scariest part for me

That's the ironic thing here - they are doing things now that sound like the kind of crap only consipiracy nuts would have accused the government of years ago (getting rid of habeus corpus, etc.) Some of the shit is so outrageous that when you explain what they are actually doing to someone who doesn't follow things very closely, you are the one who sounds like the conspiracy nut. The outrageous has become commonplace. Like Dick Cheney STILL trying to discuss a link between 9/11 and Iraq with a straight face.

[Nightshade]

whut-evvaaaaaah

You're a retard to think I would know anything about foreign affairs. You should be delighted I know this much about your shitty country.

See, this is another reason why you're an idiot. You don't even live here and you're telling me how it is.

[Nightshade]

you know what scarey about it. The more insane stuff they do, the more we get used to it and the less we pay attention.


I read this and it didnt even phase me, it was expected. I dont feel like anyone has any control to do anything or they just dont care and im just a little piss ant that means nothing to this anyway.

Thats really the scariest part for me

One of the fundamental flaws in the system is that you can only punish retroactively. You have no other recourse but to sit and wait for the next election (not that that's going to do much of anything) and cast your vote.
As I've said (and has been ignored by certain fucking idiots in this thread) you're better off doing something that will actually matter. Boycott products made by companies that buy politicians and spend time talking to people about these issues. If you can change one single person's opinion about politics or even a given issue then you've accomplished something huge.
And if you're a 22 year-old foreigner you should probably realize that you don't know your ass from a hole in the ground and shut the fuck up.

[R00k]

you know what scarey about it. The more insane stuff they do, the more we get used to it and the less we pay attention.


I read this and it didnt even phase me, it was expected. I dont feel like anyone has any control to do anything or they just dont care and im just a little piss ant that means nothing to this anyway.

Thats really the scariest part for me

That's the ironic thing here - they are doing things now that sound like the kind of crap only consipiracy nuts would have accused the government of years ago (getting rid of habeus corpus, etc.) Some of the shit is so outrageous that when you explain what they are actually doing to someone who doesn't follow things very closely, you are the one who sounds like the conspiracy nut. The outrageous has become commonplace. Like Dick Cheney STILL trying to discuss a link between 9/11 and Iraq with a straight face.

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/24273

[R00k]

By the way (from http://www.pensitoreview.com/2007/07/04 ... -sentence/ ):

Bush Filed a Motion Last Year to Uphold the 33-Month Sentence of Victor Rita, a 24-Year Marine Corps Vet Convicted on Same Crimes as Libby

Posted by Jon Ponder | Jul. 4, 2007, 4:41 pm
Last month, the Supreme Court agreed with the Bush Justice Dept., ruling against Rita’s appeal for a reduced sentence based his exemplary military service.

Tony Snow said that President Bush decided to commute Scooter Libby’s two and a half year-prison sentence for perjury and obstruction of justice, because it was “excessive.”

Yet last year the Bush Administration filed a “friend-of-the-court brief” with the Supreme Court, in an attempt to uphold a lower court’s ruling that a 33-month prison sentence for Victor Rita, who was convicted of the same exact charges, perjury and obstruction of justice, was “reasonable.”

Pres. Bush cited Libby’s “years of exceptional public service” in commuting his prison sentence. But Libby is the classic Bushie chickenhawk — a neocon bureaucrat with no service record whose fingerprints are all over the worst military planning in American history.

Conversely, Victor Rita is the real deal:

Victor Rita is a very sympathetic defendant: he served 24 years in the Marine Corps, had tours of duty in Vietnam and the first Gulf war, and has received over 35 military metals and awards. Also, he is an elderly gentleman who suffers serious health problems.

The Supreme Court ruled on the case last month:

The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that criminal sentences within guidelines set by a federal commission are generally entitled to be upheld on appeal, a decision that limits legal options for defendants who feel that they have been punished too harshly.

By a vote of 8 to 1, the court held that, even though it recently ruled that the sentencing ranges set by the U.S. Sentencing Commission are no longer mandatory, judges who follow them may be presumed to have acted reasonably…

The case that the court decided yesterday, Rita v. United States, No. 06-5754, was meant to help define “advisory.”
Legal Brief

* PDF of legal brief with Pres. Bush’s decision to uphold the prison sentence*

Victor Rita, convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice, asked for a lighter sentence based in part on his past military service. But the judge gave him 33 months, as suggested by the guidelines. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, based in Richmond, upheld the sentence, saying that penalties within the guidelines are “presumptively reasonable.”

It is customary in the pardoning process for the president to contact the Justice Dept. for input. But the White House is adamant that Bush did not speak to anyone at Justice about the Libby pardon. If he had run it past them, it’s possible he could have avoided what appears to be a spectacular blunder.

[feedback]

That's fucked up.

[bikkeldesnikkel]

you know what scarey about it. The more insane stuff they do, the more we get used to it and the less we pay attention.


I read this and it didnt even phase me, it was expected. I dont feel like anyone has any control to do anything or they just dont care and im just a little piss ant that means nothing to this anyway.

Thats really the scariest part for me

As I've said (and has been ignored by certain fucking idiots in this thread) you're better off doing something that will actually matter. Boycott products made by companies that buy politicians and spend time talking to people about these issues. If you can change one single person's opinion about politics or even a given issue then you've accomplished something huge.
And if you're a 22 year-old foreigner you should probably realize that you don't know your ass from a hole in the ground and shut the fuck up.

As I've said, I think that's way too mild given the circumstances. Don't try to argue that the situation isn't fucked up by downplaying my knowledge on your shithole.

[Nightshade]

My god, you're really quite unintelligent, aren't you? I mean for fuck's sake, nowhere in anything I've posted have I tried to say that the current state of affairs isn't horrendously fucked up. Fuck, I can't even begin to ruin my higher brain functions to the extent necessary to see where you could infer that from any of my posts.

[bikkeldesnikkel]

Really, you think that's appropriate given the circumstances? you crazy

[Mogul]

I think both of you should calm down.

You would probably benefit from reading Bill O'Reilly's books, too, especially The O'Reilly Factor for Kids.

[Nightshade]

Really, you think that's appropriate given the circumstances? you crazy

Idiot.

[Massive Quasars]

The power of the pardon needs to go IMO, it's a vestige of sovereign rule and building abuses of that power more than justify it be shitcanned. As to the current admin. and congress, all I can offer to you is this lame suggestion of donating to groups lobbying for good governance in one form or another.

As a last resort, you can always take your business elsewhere. If anything talks in government it's money, should you choose to move the fuck out of there, take your wealth with you.

[GONNAFISTYA]

Out of four pages the best idea is killing them.

[Fender]

The power of the pardon needs to go IMO, it's a vestige of sovereign rule and building abuses of that power more than justify it be shitcanned.

At the very least, Congress should have a veto power over the pardon/clemency.

[Grudge]

I don't see why the President should be able to pardon anyone?

[tnf]

I don't see why the President should be able to pardon anyone?

One thing I'll never understand the motivation for when they put it in the constitution.

[R00k]

[Shmee]

lol, like marching in the streets with smelly hippies has ever changed anything. The whole system is controlled, protests are a fucking joke.

Wow thats stupid. You don't think mass-protests would have any effect? You don't think the rest of the world would notice? don't think likeminded others would notice and protest aswell?

Either you do something now, or you'll have to leave the country in a noticable amount of time, agree? Or you think some fairy will use her magic fairy dust to sprinkle away all this nonsense? Plus you come across as a total pussy for taking this crap up the ass.

It's already painfully obvious that the people in charge over here don't give a fig about the opinion of the rest of the world, let alone that of their own citizenry. Even the democratic party, which was voted into power in 06 specificly to try to fix this shitstorm has neutered itself and backed away from anything difficult or meaningful.

It would take a full-on revolt to change things at this point, and most of us are too busy trying to hold down our jobs and pay our bills. That's a really cheap answer, but I think it's the truth, and we're going to get just what we deserve. I can't tell you how much I hope you all get to prove me wrong and say, "I told you so!"

[Shmee]

Damn... I keep not reading the next two pages beofore posting replies :icon32:

[seremtan]

so, it's come down to fisticuffs :icon3:

[Foo]

Wif a gingga no less.

[Foo]