Bush Pardons Six

[Tab]

President George W. Bush granted six pardons Wednesday, the Justice Department said.

All already have served their sentences.

They included Meredith Elizabeth Casares of Kansas City, Kan., who embezzled U.S. Postal Service funds. ...
Gerald Douglas Ficke of Lincoln, Neb., who structured currency transactions to evade reporting requirements. ...
Richard Arthur Morse of Rowley, Mass., who transported a stolen motor vehicle across state lines...
Fred Dale Pitzer of Xenia, Ohio, who transported falsely made securities across state lines...
Cecil John Rhodes of Dallas who made a materially false statement in a loan application to a federally insured bank....
Russell Don Sell of Independence, Mo., who aided and abetted the making of a false statement to a credit institution. ...

http://www.kpnw.com/script/headline_newsmanager.php?id=365720&pagecontent=nationalnews&feed_id=59

[JuniorPlankton]

1. Plus the two turkeys...

:puke:

[Lerkfish]

2. hmmm...all fraud for the most part: honor among thieves?

[underpants]

4. Yep the crook letting off crooks

Gee I didn't see this on the Today Show this morning :eyes:

[sam sarrha]

3. Well... he couldnt appoint them to a Cabnet postition with a record ..

:shrug:

[Tab]

5. Don't forget...

It's "pardoning" after they've already served their sentences. I mean, big woof. Just a little show of "Christian Compassion". Hey, how about pardoning someone actually in jail that might be there wrongly and/or deserve to be released?

[noonwitch]

17. There's probably some kind of legal status change for the pardoned

I don't know what that entails, but otherwise, why bother? There has to be some reason for doing it.

When Carter pardoned Patty Hearst, she had already served her time, too.

[daleo]

24. There is, but normally you don't need a presidential pardon

I think anyone who has served their time, and stayed out of trouble, been an upstanding citizen, etc. can apply for a pardon after a sufficient period of time has elapsed. It doesn't require a special act by the president. As far as I know. There is probably something fishy about all this.

[elehhhhna]

6. 3's 2, 5 & 6 are relevent to Ken Lay's future pardon. Look at the charges

[emad]

11. Plus posthumous pardon for Cliff Baxter who "suicided" himself??

And General Pinochet, Riggs Bank management board and Sir Mark Thatcher?????

[elehhhhna]

14. I live near Cliff and I think

he may have really suicided himself. The humiliation and pressure was huge. Either way his conscience killed him--by his own hand, or others who feared he'd confess.

[Barrett808]

16. "his conscience killed him"

That's an excellent assessment.

[emad]

18. Especially as the day before he'd just bought a brand news $50K

Merc...really depressing....

[musette_sf]

25. I used to live near Cliff

and from the news stories I read at the time, the logistics and evidence looked more like Pushed as opposed to Jumped, if you know what I mean.

[Barrett808]

28. He was also on some pretty potent meds, iirc

Might have thrown him for a loop.

[grumpy old fart]

7. None for Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft....

or the Chimp himself???

[librechik]

8. Bushie is recruiting for the new Voting Machine Certification team

these people sound perfect--and now they owe him bigtime!

[demokatgurrl]

9. Government of the liars, for the liars, so why not pardon liars.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

10. He needs to pardon Weldon Angelos

This story is tragic

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/17/national/17sentencing.html?oref=login&pagewanted=print&position=

[chiffon]

12. What a crock of crap!

Totally unfriggin' real. All liars and thieves.

Oh...I forgot, 'Birds of a feather'...

[KansDem]

13. Notice how, with the exception of one, they all involve some kind of...

...financial malfeasance?

*...embezzled U.S. Postal Service funds. ...
*...structured currency transactions to evade reporting requirements. ...
*...transported falsely made securities across state lines...
*...made a materially false statement in a loan application to a federally insured bank....
*...aided and abetted the making of a false statement to a credit institution. ...

Perhaps Bush, being a white-collar criminal himself, identifies more with this crowd.

I don't get where the guy who transported a stolen motor vehicle across state lines fits into this? :shrug:

[elehhhhna]

15. Those last 2, particuliarly, interest me re: Ken Lay

THOSE are the surprising crimes he was charged with, (along with insider trading, fraud, etc.) that are guaranteed convictions. It was a big deal and signalled that this prosecution was SERIOUS when those charges were announced...

[KansDem]

19. Hmmmm...possibly laying the groundwork for a Lay pardon?

...via precedent?

on edit: Ah, I see your post #6--good observation!

[elehhhhna]

22. Maybe checking public reaction? The charge is essentially lying...

to financial institutions, and since when was LYING a crime with these people?

[KansDem]

29. "Maybe checking public reaction"--That's it!

When Bush DOES pardon Ken Lay and the public does a collective "What the...???," the corporate media will step in and say, "Oh, but Bush has pardoned people convicted of ambiguous, little-known, confusing-to-the-average-American, white-collar crimes before! Consider Casares, Ficke, Pitzer, Rhodes, and Sell..."

[SoCalDem]

21. Maybe he was the "getaway driver" hauling the money away

:)

[skypilot]

31. Maybe it was full of stolen cash.

Either that, or he was on his way to steal some.

[SoCalDem]

20. Gee... whodathunkit? All but ONE involved stealing MONEY...

There is fraternity amongst thieves:)

[daleo]

23. All white collar corruption charges

I wonder if they were contributors. I don't suppose the media will bother looking into this.

On edit - Amusingly, the radio station website that this story is on has prominent banner ads for Rush Limbaugh, who one imagines will be needed a pardon himself soon.

[Donkeyboy75]

27. Sure,

but look at the pardons Clinton handed out at the end of his term. Those don't smell right either...especially the Rich pardon.

[daleo]

30. Let us see these subjected to the same scrutiny

That's all I want.

On edit - I thought there was a site where you could look up campaign contributors. If so, it would be worth running these names through the search engine. Although everything might not be that above board.

[NashVegas]

26. Namebase Search

Cecil John Rhodes:

http://www.namebase.org/cgi-bin/nb06?_RHODES_CECIL_JOHN

VERY interesting chart, connections to several from the Clinton admin and banking concerns. And this is the guy who was prosecuted for making a false statement on a loan application. You gotta wonder ...

ON EDIT: I see the direct link won't work. Try a search on the guy's name. He's the only one on the list who showed up, btw.