President Bush, who apparently uses the same pen for veto’s and pardons, has given out 14 and commuted the sentences of 2 others. All were pretty much low level scumbags who pretty much hurt no one but themselves, but what about the border agents?
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., noted that the list also did not include former Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who were convicted of shooting a drug smuggler and trying to cover it up. Ramos and Compean are each serving sentences of more than 10 years for shooting Osvaldo Aldrete Davila in the buttocks while he was fleeing from an abandoned marijuana load in 2005.
“President Bush still has time to do the right thing and commute wrongly imprisoned Border Agents Ramos and Compean,” Rohrabacher said. “The fact that the president has neglected to free these men from their imprisonment while freeing drug dealers, embezzlers and other criminals is insulting to the American people who have been begging and pleading for the president to release the agents.”
While I am hopeful that President Bush will pardon them, or at least commute their sentences, I kinda doubt he will. Dubya has had years to do the right thing, and failed miserably. He did nothing after Ramos was beaten up in prison. He did nothing when the illegal alien they popped in the butt was indicted for drug smuggling. He gave pardons to drug dealers and carjackers in 2007. When the issue was brought up by the House and Senate, Bush ignored them. When a petition was delivered by Rohrabacker to W with hundreds of thousands of signatures, Bush did nothing. He has a few months left. Maybe he will do the right thing. But, I doubt it.
Fausta notices the Ramos and Compean issue as well, and provides a number to call the White House. You can also check Grassfire. Amanda Carpenter and MacRanger also are calling on W to pardon the two Border Agents.
Meanwhile, Alan Colmes and good blog friend The Gun Toting Liberal go silly. Down With Tyranny just plain loses all connection with sanity. And at Firedoglake, braincell defecit
Of course, you have to actually give a crap about what the law and the regs say in order for that to be operative. And we’re talking about Bush/Cheney here, aren’t we?
Yeah, because liberal icon Bill Clinton really cared about The Law when he was throwing around pardons like candy for donations.
PS: Since the libs are already discussing loosing their minds over possible pre-emptive pardons, can we discuss the fact that folks like Barney Frank, Franklin Raines, Charlie Rangel, and Chris Dodd pre-emptive pardons for what they have done?
More: Jazz Shaw at The Moderate Voice has an interesting article about the case for and against pardons.
[…] The Pirate’s Cove/Stop the ACLU also link to Grassfire, which faxes a petition (for your donation) for the release of […]
I am counting on this, and hope that President Bush does the absolutely correct thing here, and pardons those heroes. I’m thinking he will await his very last days, before doing it, thereby making us all crazy with the waiting!
He could certainly increase his final standing with Conservatives by doing this. Let’ pray he does the right thing.