By The People, For The People

Now here's something odd - a US president pardoned somebody the other day. Oooops sorry - he didn't, he just commuted a sentence. I'll pull my tongue out of my cheek now.

Let me check my Constitution here. The legal system is set up to provide a fair trial ... to examine the evidence ... and to provide a verdict which is then upheld by the system itself. Beautiful. Elegant. Fair (more often than not). Good stuff. The Constitution of the United States of America - a work of art.

Dateline 2007 ... Scooter Libby's going to jail. Or is he? He was convicted ... and thus, if he's in the same category as any other convicted criminal, he's headed to jail.

But wait! President Bush flies in with his Superman cape on and says "no worries mate, it doesn't matter what the legal system says because what *I* say matters most - and I say you're not going to jail".

Neener neener neener. He might as well have stuck his tongue out while he was doing it - it's almost like giving the media the bird in the press conference.

Oh, yes, the President "shall have the power to grant reprieves and pardons". But commutation of a sentence? Which, directly or indirectly, is in the same breath as "weapons of mass destruction" and "mission accomplished"? [By the way - did we ever establish exactly what mission was accomplished? The last time I looked, Iraq was still a mess ...]

I think they call this "the misuse of power" - but I may be wrong. What happened to "checks and balances"? What happened to "doing what's right"? What happened to "truth under oath"?

No worries though - I guess they've all done it before, right? Hasn't this become an accepted presidential act nowadays? Maybe THAT is the part we need to pay heed to - that this stuff is part of our normal day-to-day and we don't give a #@%$? about it to do anything to change it. It has become acceptable behavior. Of course, "voting" could take care of that ... oh and we do have two elections worth of Floridian hanging chads and Ohio re-counts, lest we all forget. Ahhh yes, democracy ... by the people, for the people ...

Oh ... and while I have you - I've got some oceanfront property in Arizona if you'd like it.