President Bush Pardons 14 Individuals

Outgoing President Also Commutes Sentences Of Two More; Has Still Granted Less Than Half The Pardons Of Clinton, Reagan

(CBS/AP)  President George W. Bush has granted pardons to 14 individuals and commuted the prison sentences of two others.

The new round of White House pardons are Bush's first since March. The development Monday comes as Bush has less than two months left in his presidency.

Bush has been stingy about handing out such reprieves.

Including these actions, Bush has granted a total of 171 and eight commutations. That's less than half as many as Presidents Clinton or Reagan issued during their time in office. Both were two-term presidents.

Under the Constitution, the president's power to issue pardons is absolute and cannot be overruled.

A Department Of Justice press release says those pardoned include individuals charged with cocaine and marijuana distribution as well as embezzlement and tax evasion.

Bush also commuted the prison sentences of John Edward Forte of North Brunswick, N.J., and James Russell Harris of Detroit.

Some high-profile individuals, such as Michael Milken, are seeking a pardon on securities fraud charges. Two politicians convicted of public corruption - former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., and four-term Democratic Louisiana Gov. Edwin W. Edwards - are asking Bush to shorten their prison terms.

One hot topic of discussion related to pardons is whether Bush might decide to issue pre-emptive pardons before he leaves office to government employees who authorized or engaged in harsh interrogations of suspected terrorists in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Some constitutional scholars and human rights groups want the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama to investigate possible war crimes.

If Bush were to pardon anyone involved, it would provide protection against criminal charges, particularly for people who were following orders or trying to protect the nation with their actions. But it would also be highly controversial.

At the same time, Obama advisers say there is little - if any - chance that his administration would bring criminal charges.

[earache4]

Oh well, we''ll just discount the USS Cole bombings on Clinton''s watch, and the few hundred marines that got the ***** bombed out of them on Clinton''s watch, and a few other bombings...Oh and let''s forget Clinton bombed the ***** out of Saddam...
Let''s not face reality...let''s just LIE LIKE RUGS to make the democraps look good!
Posted by Rowdydfw at 01:38 AM

Does that mean we can discount every IED in Iraq as well? Or how about the bombings in Spain, London, And Bali? Do they count on Shrub''s watch, or no?

[chloemontague]

Ummmmmmmmn Did Bush also PARDON Obana''s underground evil racist communist terrorist friends? And what about Pardoning Obama''s secret life....

Larry Sinclair held a meeting at the National Press Club to address his alleged gay relationship with Barack Obama, and answer questions from the Press.

Larry Sinclair stated to the press that he and Barak Obama had gay *** while Obama smoked crack, not once but twice. Once in a limo and the next day in a hotel room. Sinclair stated that the murdered Donald Young, Obamas churches gay choir master told him, by phone, he also had *** with Barack Obama, before Young was MURDERED in December 2007!!!

watch it here

Barack Obama %u2014 Larry Sinclair Press conference Pt 1
(Part 2 gets right to it .. & 3 also)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Lrf8DbrJH0

Then watching this video by the infamous Pastor Manning makes sense.... www.youtube.com/watch?v=88V3F6_iUus

OBAMA *** & CRACK & MURDER - EXPOSED why was this not in the press?

[chloemontague]

KENYAN AMBASSADOR Paul Ogego Admits Obama was Born In kenya

%u2018LISTEN TO OUR CALLS TO THE KENYAN EMBASSY ABOUT BARACK OBAMA!%u2019

November 21, 2008

We recently called the Kenyan Embassy and learned some pretty interesting things about our President elect, Barack Obama.

From %u2018Mike In The Morning%u2019 radio show, it goes for just 19mins%u2026 quite entertaining. Obama is so reveled that Kenya had a Public Holiday!

tinyurl.com/69zlcp

[getoffmine1]

I hope Scooter Libby got raped at least once while in prison

[aldon61]

Grace, humility and empathy go a long way--integrity, honor and decency go even further. The GOP ought to try some. A novel approach.



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Posted by harbinger09 at 12:46 PM : Nov 25, 2008

Won''t happen in THIS lifetime!

[harbinger09]

LET''''''''S SEE IF THE LIBERAL DEMOCRATS CAN KEEP THE COUNTRY SAFE LIKE PRESIDENT BUSH DID EVERY SINGLE DAY AFTER 9/11.

IF CLINTON HADN''''''''T BEEN SO BUSY CHASING "BUSH" MAYBE HE WOULD HAVE BEEN AVAILABLE TO AUTHORIZE BIN LADEN''''''''S TERMINATION.


Posted by Centerfall94 at 10:21 PM : Nov 24, 2008

Not every single day. 2 HUGE mistakes in your posts:

1. The anthrax deaths happened after 9/11 as did the Nebraska mail box bombings.

2. Clinton also had an attack of the WTC less than 1 month after he took office. He never had another attack after that either. He also did not blame Bush Sr for the attack even though he had just took office. Nor did he harp on the war the other left unfinished in 1991.

Grace, humility and empathy go a long way--integrity, honor and decency go even further. The GOP ought to try some. A novel approach.

[bobnjersey]

[It took less time to take Iraq than it took to count the votes in Florida !!! The biased media hopes we are too ignorant to realize the facts.]
[Posted by Joule18 at 10:38 AM : Nov 25, 2008]

''you'' apparently are. if it only took such little time ... then why are we still there ... the views?

the ideologically crippled auth followers hope we are too ignorant to realize that outlining only some of the story is the same as outlining the whole story.

[bobnjersey]

[In the years since terrorists attacked us, President Bush has liberated two countries, crushed the Taliban, crippled al-Qaida, put nuclear inspectors in Libya, Iran, and, North Korea without firing a shot, and captured a terrorist who slaughtered 300,000 of his own people. And the Democrats are complaining about how long the war is taking.]
[Posted by Joule18 at 10:38 AM : Nov 25, 2008]

what countries has he liberated? i''m not so sure those living in those countries would characterize it this way.

the taliban is not crushed ... al queda is stronger than ever ... the inspectors in iran are due to a un security council ruling ... and if it was up to the bush admin the inspectors would have been undermined as they were in the run up to the invasion of iraq. the inspectors in korea have been getting barred from visiting the sites due to the bush admins failure to remove them from the terror list. the koreans have recently claimed their intent to restart their yongbyon facility.

the war in iraq was characterized as ''they will greet us as liberators'' ... which was just a bit short of the real welcome.

[missingamerica]

Screw it, Obama picking General Jim Jones, former commandant of the USMC, for National Security Advisor is good enough for me.

Posted by Kimcon22000 at 11:25 AM : Nov 25, 2008

As an Army vet, I hate to say it, but better a Marine General than one of the other services.

The other three branches appear to have suffered excessively from the Rumsfeld sieve; the ones that didn''t get tossed or frozen too often seem to be the ones who put politics before professionalism and remember that they can get jobs at companies like KBR after retirement "if they are team players".

[missingamerica]

You quote Elton John in here and the Bush-lovers will be all over you for suspicion of unChristian activities.

[jfc15009]

And tell me grey seal, how does it feel to be so wise?

[missingamerica]

FDR (DEMOCRAT) [%u2026]
Truman (DEMOCRAT) [%u2026]
John F. Kennedy (DEMOCRAT) [%u2026]
Johnson (DEMOCRAT) [%u2026]
Clinton (DEMOCRAT) [%u2026]
[Clinton] was offered Osama bin Laden''s head on a platter [%u2026]
In the years since terrorists attacked us, President Bush [...]
Posted by Joule18 at 10:38 AM : Nov 25, 2008

Sure, Japan attacked us on December 7th, 1941...and then Germany and Italy declared war on us on December 11th, 1941.

Sure, Truman fought the North Koreans...while the Republicans wanted us to take that war straight into China - using the nuclear option.

Sure, Kennedy took us into Vietnam...because of the threat of Communism, which the Republicans not only had been screaming about for decades, but went so crazy over as to condone Republican Senator Joe McCarthy''s attempt to crucify half of the nation on SUSPICION of being Communism.

Bosnia? Pure and simple humanitarian peace-keeping, something that you Republicans S4CK at unless you see a profit potential.

That "Osama head on a platter" cr@p? Just that: Pure CR@P.

Bush hasn''t done SQUAT but spend a lot of money, bankrupt the country, and get a lot of Americans killed unnecessarily.

Bush is the WORST President the modern WORLD - not just America - has ever SEEN.

You modern Republicans NEVER want to take responsibility. You remind me of your brother fascists during the Nuremberg trials.

[aldon61]

FDR (DEMOCRAT) led us into World War II. Germany never attacked us; Japan did. From 1941-1945, 450,000 lives were lost ... an average of 112,500 per year.
Truman (DEMOCRAT) finished that war and started one in Korea North Korea never attacked us. From 1950-1953, 55,000 lives were lost ... an average of 18,334 per year.

John F. Kennedy (DEMOCRAT) started the Vietnam conflict in 1962. Vietnam never attacked us.
Johnson (DEMOCRAT) turned Vietnam into a quagmire. From 1965-1975, 58,000 lives were lost ... an average of 5,800 per year.
Clinton (DEMOCRAT) went to war in Bosnia without UN or French consent. Bosnia never attacked us. He was offered Osama bin Laden''''s head on a platter three times by Sudan and did nothing. Osama has attacked us on multiple occasions.
In the years since terrorists attacked us, President Bush has liberated two countries, crushed the Taliban, crippled al-Qaida, put nuclear inspectors in Libya, Iran, and, North Korea without firing a shot, and captured a terrorist who slaughtered 300,000 of his own people. And the Democrats are complaining about how long the war is taking.



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Posted by Joule18 at 10:38 AM : Nov 25, 2008

For the most part, you are being factual. However, Ike got us involved in Viet Nam, NOT Kennedy. LBJ really accelerated it though.

[aldon61]

Remember Border Patrol Agents: Jose Compean & Ignacio Ramos?? Just like what I expected, let the drug dealers go free, while we imprison law enforcement officers, INJUSTICE! The winds of change are starting to blow, will our sails fill toward a better horizon?
Change is coming, only a few weeks left for business as usual.


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Posted by TNSwamper at 07:23 AM : Nov 25, 2008

I''ve been railing on this for days now. If there is anyone in America that needs pardoning more than these two, I don''t know where they''re at. These two are heros for crying out loud; they only made one mistake...they should have killed the scumbag that lived to testify against them. Talk about an injustice!

[joule18]

It took less time to take Iraq than it took Janet Reno (DEMOCRAT) to take the Branch Davidian compound. That was a 51-day operation
We''ve been looking for evidence for chemical weapons in Iraq for less time than it took Hillary Clinton (DEMOCRAT) to find the Rose law firm billing records.
It took less time for the 3rd Infantry Division and the Marines to destroy the Medina Republican Guard than it took Ted Kennedy to call the police after his Oldsmobile sank at Chappaquiddick.

It took less time to take Iraq than it took to count the votes in Florida !!!

The biased media hopes we are too ignorant to realize the facts.

[joule18]

39 combat related killings in Iraq in January. In the fair city of Detroit there were 35 murders in the month of January. That''s just one American city, about as deadly as the entire war-torn country of Iraq .
When some claim that President Bush shouldn''t have started this war, remember this :

FDR (DEMOCRAT) led us into World War II. Germany never attacked us; Japan did. From 1941-1945, 450,000 lives were lost ... an average of 112,500 per year.
Truman (DEMOCRAT) finished that war and started one in Korea North Korea never attacked us. From 1950-1953, 55,000 lives were lost ... an average of 18,334 per year.

John F. Kennedy (DEMOCRAT) started the Vietnam conflict in 1962. Vietnam never attacked us.
Johnson (DEMOCRAT) turned Vietnam into a quagmire. From 1965-1975, 58,000 lives were lost ... an average of 5,800 per year.
Clinton (DEMOCRAT) went to war in Bosnia without UN or French consent. Bosnia never attacked us. He was offered Osama bin Laden''s head on a platter three times by Sudan and did nothing. Osama has attacked us on multiple occasions.
In the years since terrorists attacked us, President Bush has liberated two countries, crushed the Taliban, crippled al-Qaida, put nuclear inspectors in Libya, Iran, and, North Korea without firing a shot, and captured a terrorist who slaughtered 300,000 of his own people. And the Democrats are complaining about how long the war is taking.

[niceface19]

Bush pardons Bin Laden because his family is a friend of Bush''s family. * Saudi Arabia is Bush''s best friend.

[earache4]

if you knew what that saying meant...you would see that your post makes no sense whatsover
Posted by jamesm12341 at 09:25 AM


Now by "whatsover" you mean "whatsoever", right?

[earache4]

if you knew what that saying meant...you would see that your post makes no sense whatsover
Posted by jamesm12341 at 09:25 AM

you should probably apologize to your parents for growing up such a loser
Posted by jamesm12341 at 07:00 PM

You were saying?....

[daffy64]

Boy talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

A pathalogical liar "pardoning" people. Sheesh.