Like, what's up with that?
On the one hand, I like that miscarriages of justice can be easily overturned, and I don't trust government agencies very much to begin with. On the other hand, the pardons that do get granted are all stupid, offensive, or totally sleazy.
One of Bush Jr's recent beauties: Obie Gene Helton of Rossville, Ga., whose offense was unauthorized acquisition of food stamps.
Send in your parking tickets now! Only a few weeks left to get your presidential pardon!
Seriously, if I was President I would have staff actively looking for people currently in jail that were convicted based on BS evidence. And I would at least have the decency to publish a paragraph to go with each pardon, explaining why I thought it was justified.
Sheesh.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Presidential Pardons
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2 comments:
Wait, what? How can you discuss the corruption of presidential pardons without mentioning the Reagan administration officials, Abrams, McFarlane, and Weinberger, convicted of lying to congress about their scheme to sell arms to Iran to raise funds to buy weapons for terrorists in Nicaragua.
I'm afraid my knowledge of anything pre-Clinton gets pretty hazy.
But (based on your brief description) I think I prefer Reagan's questionable pardons. Reagan effectively made their crimes - committed while doing official business - a part of his legacy.
I guess what really bothers me (aside from this great power being squandered) are the pardons for personal benefit. If you could make the case that Reagan personally benefited from his pardons (that they actually protected himself) I would view them much less favorably.
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