Teenage Commutin Ninja Turtles

Is it just me or does the President's decision to commute I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's prison sentence seem retarded, even for a guy who thinks that the words "decider" and "strategery" make sense in common speech?

I understand that this is a power specifically granted the president in the Constitution, and I suppose we should be glad it is there, since he usually ignores that silly old piece of paper anyway...at least THIS TIME he didn't just make up a new power for himself, unlike when he ignored that silly ol' fourth amendment about unlawful search and seizure (warrentless wiretapping), or when he began to issue "signing statements" effectively nullifying parts of the law that may prove bothersome later, or when he decided that the only African groups that would get AIDS aid (see how i used the same word twice to mean different things? Clever, eh? And, unlike the President, it actually made sense when I did it.) were those that preached abstinence only, since any form of contraception is against the will of the Lord God (Who needs that dumb First Amendment? We weren't using it anyway.). Apparently God wants African babies to be born with AIDS. That'll teach them to be born to poor people. Maybe next time they'll find a nice family in Newport Beach, or Westlake Village to have them...sorry, that went on a little longer than I intended, but there are just so many great things to say about the way this administration has used the Constitution as fish wrapping...

Back to my main point, I understand that the President has the power to commute or pardon any sentence he feels like, and I even think that it's a good thing the President can do that. But really. Scooter Libby? Scooter Libby, who didn't even serve a single DAY in prison or jail? To quote Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, "...Even Paris Hilton had to go to jail." Paris Hilton went and served her time, and Libby doesn't have to do anything but pay a fine? Are you really telling me that driving on a suspended license is a worse offense than Perjury, Obstruction of Justice, and what, when you get right down to it, amounts to TREASON (Outting a covert CIA operative.)? If that's the case, why don't you issue post-humous (that means they're already dead Mr. President) pardons or commutations to Benedict Arnold and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg? They all committed treason too.

My point is not that the President shouldn't exercise this power. He should, it's a good thing. But he should start with people who ACTUALLY deserve it. Start with people who have actually served some time, and maybe learned a lesson or two. Instead, he uses it to let his buddy play a get out of jail free card.

In regard to the commutation, Barack Obama said, "The decision to commute the sentence of a man who compromised our national security cements the legacy of an administration characterized by a politics of cynicism and division, one that has consistently placed itself and it's ideology above the law." Typically, this is the point of a Presidency when the administration starts to worry about the legacy they leave behind, and how they will be remembered. I believe that's at least part of the reason that President Bush pushed for the Immigration reform bill. He wanted people to have some positive things to look at from his time in office. But apparently, now that the bill has been defeated, he doesn't care about his legacy anymore, and is just doing whatever he pleases with the time left to him.

I suppose the real reason this bothers me, when you get right down to it, is that some sub-concious part of me wanted to believe that, (Even though I disagree with the man's politics, and he's shown me time and again that he doesn't.) he still had some sort of integrity, more out of hope that the office, if not the man, would have less of a stain.

But after freeing Scooter Libby, any last shred or vestage of faith I had in this president has been blown away.

Hopefully he can make it through these final months of his abortion of a presidency without fucking up too badly.

(P.S.: Teenage Commutin Ninja Turtles is a reference to the fact that Dick Cheney kinda looks like a turtle. An evil one. Don't believe me? Go to: http://www.iflipflop.com/cheney_short_of_breath.jpg He really does look like an evil turtle doesn't he?)
(P.P.S.: And just as a fun reminder, George W. Bush looks like a chimp. Don't believe me? Go to: http://z.about.com/d/politicalhumor/1/0/l/7/bush_chimp.jpg Now you can never doubt me again.)

Iraq Z

So I'm a little confused about the whole iraq situation.

before i go any further let me, in the interest of full disclosure say:
I am a liberal. Not a crazy, tree hugging one, but i definitely lean more to the liberal side of the political spectrum.
On the one hand, i think it is the job of the government to take care of ALL people, not just the wealthy, but i also don't think that people should just be given a hand out. if the government is giving you money to help you survive, you need to be making every effort to find a source of income for yourself.
I believe that there is such a thing as global warming, I think that a big cause of it is big gas guzzling cars, but I DO drive an SUV. I carpool everywhere I can, try to walk whenever possible, etc, but still, my car gets really bad gas mileage.
I believe in a woman's right to choose, but i don't think abortion should be some sort of last chance birth control. if you're gonna bone, get a condom, on the pill, patch or shot, whatever...to paraphrase President Clinton's view on abortion, it should be Safe, Legal, and Rare.
Just to make sure that no one accuses me of being some goddamn treehugging commie hippie liberal, I wanted to lay those facts out there. I am definitely middle of the road, politically.

Now that i've got that out of the way, I just really don't understand the foreign policy of this country. I know that the president is the only person who has the constitutional right/responsibility to set a foreign policy, but congress and the courts DO have checks and balances for a reason. mostly to keep a president from becoming a psycho autocratic ruler who can just do whatever he wants. but congress and the courts haven't been using those checks and things are just going frickin HAYWIRE.

in november the country issued a clear mandate to the government. we do not support the war in iraq. That mandate was certainly more clear cut than the one President Bush claimed after the 2004 election (that would be his "clear mandate" of a whopping .1% victory) The majority of democratic congress people who were elected ran on not much other than that. but they haven't done anything to put a check on the president's war. they have had a few chances now to try to change the course of events in iraq, and in each case they have backed down.

and just to put this out there, i am completely torn on the issue of the war. On the one hand, I never supported the war, I thought that "wmd" was complete bullshit, but now that we have completely FUCKED this country (a sovereign nation that never attacked us, by the way) I feel like we have a responsibility to help fix it. but clearly, what we have been doing to try to fix it isn't working. more people die every day, (not always americans, but contrary to what you hear on the TV, turns out Iraqis are human beings too.) and it has become increasingly clear that what we are doing IS NOT WORKING. So we need to try SOMETHING else. I can't say WHAT else we should. I don't have access to any of the information that is necessary to make an informed decision on how to fix things. but other people, Congress, the military, the cabinet, and the president himself, DO. It is all of their responsibility to try to fix this mess somehow.

Thats all...sorry if this was a bit long winded or less than clear and concise. it was brought up because i have a friend shipping out to Iraq in less than a week, and I thought by now we would be starting to bring people home, not sending more out.

Anyways, If you think i'm completely off base tell me. If you think i'm right tell me. Just please don't either a.) call me a terrorist, or french, or any of the other things you right wingers like to call anyone who disagrees with you, or b.) just say "fuck bush" or "pull the troops out yesterday" or anything you left wingers like to throw out when you don't have anything helpful to say. I'd love to have a logical, sensible dialogue with people about this issue, so let me know what you think.