ScooterGate On Monday, Lewis "Scooter" Libby was told by a judge he could not delay his prison term until after his appeal. Less than five hours later, the President commuted Libby's sentence, removing the 2½ years of prison time, but leaving the conviction and the $250,000 fine. Needless to say, a media firestorm erupted. On the left, those who think his sentence shouldn't have been commuted and Libby should do hard time. On the right, those who think the President didn't go far enough and should pardon him outright.
Libby became the face and the name attached to the Valerie Plame CIA operative leak. It should be emphasized that there has been no arrest for the leak itself (the goal of which was suspected to be the harrassment of an agent against the war), Libby's conviction is for perjury and obstruction of justice. The President commented that he thought the sentence was excessive, not that Libby was innocent. That, however, comes as little consolation to those who believe Libby was the fall-guy for higher-ups who want to remain hidden.
This Week's Crazed FanPoll Results
Do you think the President's commuting the sentence of Scooter Libby was the right thing to do?
Yes, I agree with Bush that the sentence was too harsh. 16% (4 votes)
No, Libby should've gone to jail and served the full time. 58% (14 votes)
No, Libby should serve some jail time, maybe not 2½ years, but something. 20% (5 votes)
I have no opinion on this at all. 4% (1 vote)
Total: 24 votes.Thanks for voting!
One could argue that sentences for other crimes were softer, or whatever, but that's not even really what's central to what, in my opinion, has everyone in an uproar. What has caused the outrage is that, once again, King George appears to juggle the laws of the land to support his personal agenda and his cronies (and this case, if not his whole presidency, reeks of cronyism, it practically defines it) and side-step protocol. It also recalls the recent episode where Dick Cheney startled everyone with the announcement he no longer had to answer uncomfortable questions because the Vice-President was now a separate branch of government! But I digress...
Regarding Libby, I did say Bush "appears to" side-step laws. He is within his rights to commute/pardon whoever he wants and no goverment agency or branch, even up to the Supreme Court, can overturn it. And yes, I've been reminded that Bill Clinton had issued three or four hundred pardons at the end of his reign. But despite the natural compulsion of conservatives to avoid doing anything remotely Clinton-like and with as many political black eyes as Bush has sustained, particularly the last two years, it looks like, basically, the President is just throwing any remaining political caution to the wind as his approval ratings hang low and his days in office dwindle to a close.
The "UFO Crash at Roswell" Celebrates its 60th Anniversary
Part America folklore, part conspiracy theory, yet with dogmatic political and scientific adherents on both sides of the fence, the most celebrated UFO event in modern history, that which has come to be known as The Crash At Roswell (aka, The Roswell Incident), in fact, celebrates its 60th anniversary this week.
At or near the 4th of July, 1947, Farmer "Mac" Brazel walked out to a remote location on his ranch and into history books when he discovered the now-classic "debris field", strewn over an area roughly 100 yards wide and a quarter-mile long.
Suspecting it to be the remains of a "flying saucer" (the term was only coined two weeks earlier after Kenneth Arnold's classic, and well-documented sighting near Mt. Rainer, Washington), calls to local authorities resulted in a temporary lockdown of the ranch while all materials were confiscated and all witnesses silenced. The debris was whisked off by the military to....somewhere.
The case was explained away as a "weather balloon" and forgotten. Decades would go by before the incident was rediscovered by author Stanton Friedman whose late-'70s books, along with Charles Berlitz's, repopularized the case. A late '80s episode of TV's "Unsolved Mysteries" put it back on the map nationally.
The official Air Force explanation of the UFO "crash" changed at least once more. In the late '90s, it was reported that the infamous debris field was from a then top-secret project named "Mogul", a high-altitude balloon train, developed to spy on Russian nuclear tests. It had apparently gotten lost and come down in New Mexico during a violent thunderstorm. OK, not really a "weather balloon", but pretty close.
While that buried the topic for some, a miniature UFO industry grew around the legend and around Roswell, NM, itself. Further, every so once in a while a mysterious "deathbed confession" will emerge, claiming somebody in-the-know saw alien bodies (as in the late Walter Haut's announcement, made by his family, post-mortum).
The Roswell 4th of July is more than Independence Day...it is also their version of an other-worldly Mardi Gras, where all things alien parade down Main Street!
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Happy Independence Day!
The "UFO Crash at Roswell" Celebrates its 60th Anniversary
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