Reminder
12 years ago
Monday, July 2, 2007
It just figures
Looks like Bush again made sure that no one was truly held accountable for any of the lawlessness of his administration. Figures that he'd wait til the last second, probably hoping the appeals court would do his dirty work. Of course, that didn't happen - there was no legal basis for an appeal here. So Libby gets convicted of four felonies and he walks free - no jail time. Wonderful. I'm pissed.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Me too. Why is it that we all allow this stuff to keep happening? What can we actually do (collectively and individually) to return the country back to what it was intended to be?
Waiting for the next election is too long. Plus, based on the (in)actions of a Democrat-majority Congress, I am not convinced that a potential Democrat President will turn things back around and be better than what we have now.
These days my wife and I often discuss the concept of moving out of the country to somewhere sane.
I don't think the Democratic Party is all that great either - but the thing is, Bush is so bad that ANYONE would be better, but given the prolictivities of the GOP (they do NOT police themselves and the Dems do a poor job of policing the GOP too) it would be much better for the country to have a Democratic President in there - to start to undo a lot of the damage (which will probably take decades) and also to start digging into all of those executive secrets (or at least those that Bush and Cheney don't shred / delete by January 19, 2009. A GOP president will bury all of that.
So while I don't exactly have much faith in the Dems, we need them in power for a while to start cleaning the Bush stain out of government. At least in the executive branch.
Yes, part of me is exceedingly disappointed as what is plainly a miscarriage of justice. I think Bush's intervention (and the whole trial, and everything) is emblematic of the way our justice system views white-collar crime.
It's interesting to compare Libby's case with that of the Chinese official who accepted bribes in exchange for turning a blind eye to those companies wishing to flout safety measures; he was the reason for melamine in dogfood, antifreeze ingredients in toothpaste, etc. What happened when he was convicted?
He was executed. No kidding. At first, I thought that sounded pretty harsh, but then I realized that it had, at least, a degree of internal consistency that we lack when it comes to holding government officials acountable.
The real sticking point for me throughout the entire Libby trial has been this question: Why the hell wasn't it Cheney up there, instead of the sap they made the fall guy? Everybody knows it was Cheney who was responsible, but we're getting bent out of shape because some other guy isn't paying for it in a way we'd like to see. Dammit, it should be Cheney, and he should be in jail. That's why I'm pissed about this.
Yeah, Cheney should be in jail, along with Gonzales, Rumsfeld, and Bush. But part of the reason they aren't, particularly with Cheney, is the coverup. In other words, Libby lied to protect Cheney, first and foremost. Now, his jail time could be used as leverage against him to get him to talk about Cheney - except now even that is gone.
And this makes it more likely that others will also break the law under orders because there is always the pardon parachute. Sickening. Just sickening.
Back in 1964 I was still in school and there was always someone for whom an assembly was held. One such person was the president of GE who rhapsodised about the greatness of the American system and Free Enterprise. It is memorable because about two weeks after his apple pie-ing, anyone can ge a millionaire-ing, and unseen handing, there were accusations that GE and several of the other such entities were doing their best to avoid this great system. GE and many others involved in defense were bid rigging, colluding, price fixing, and committing a whole lot of fraud. The gentleman who had regaled us with the greatness of the system said, nope, he really didn't have a clue about what was going on in his company. Oh well.
Our teachers told us that we would see the system work and know the greatness thereof. No one was above the law. Blah blah blah.
The attorney general had to be forced to investigate and prosecute, he was very upset about it, dragged his feet. The upshot was, they went after the big boys, got them, THAT wouldn't do, so they started over and nailed a few clerical types who typed the papers and gave them a little jail, some fines were levied, job done.
Well, not quite. Congress enacted a special law which made the corperate legal costs and even the fine tax deductable, so the public they defrauded got nailed again. I know, I should just shut up, wave my flag and light a cherry bomb if I live in a place which regards me as competent to do so.
Post a Comment