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Come get your pardons while they're red hot

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Write-brained, Jul 19, 2008.

  1. Pretty interesting story. Good to see that Marion Jones feels she's served her penance already.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/19/us/19pardon.html?_r=1&th=&adxnnl=1&emc=th&adxnnlx=1216463071-aJhpB2Oxb8zZvIcPnyBaig&oref=slogin

    WASHINGTON — Felons are asking President Bush for pardons and commutations at historic levels as he nears his final months in office, a time when many other presidents have granted a flurry of clemency requests.

    Michael Milken, the former junk bond king turned philanthropist, as he left Federal Court in Manhattan in April 1989.

    Marion Jones, the sprinter, in White Plains upon being sentenced for lying to federal agents about her steroid use.

    Among the petitioners is Michael Milken, the billionaire former junk bond king turned philanthropist, who is seeking a pardon for his 1990 conviction for securities fraud, the Justice Department said. Mr. Milken sought a pardon eight years ago from President Bill Clinton, and submitted a new petition in June.

    In addition, prominent federal inmates are asking Mr. Bush to commute their sentences. Among them are Randy Cunningham, the former Republican congressman from California; Edwin W. Edwards, a former Democratic governor of Louisiana; John Walker Lindh, the so-called American Taliban; and Marion Jones, the former Olympic sprinter.

    The requests are adding to a backlog of nearly 2,300 pending petitions, most from “ordinary people who committed garden-variety crimes,” said Margaret Colgate Love, a clemency lawyer .... .
     
  2. Tom Petty

    Tom Petty Guest

    abuse. of. power.
     
  3. Lamar Mundane

    Lamar Mundane Member

    These are just requests right?

    I'll reserve Bush bashing for when he actually pardons people. This is a bipartisan event anyway.

    But thankfully Scooter's sentence was commuted. That poor fellow suffered so much after a CIA agent's identity was revealed. No problem b/c all she was responsible for was WMD programs for Iran.
     
  4. hondo

    hondo Well-Known Member

    Right ... just ask the Clintons. They pardoned quite a few dregs of humanity before they took off. Let me know when President Bush's eventual pardons approach the gang of thugs the Clintons cut loose.

    If I were John Walker Lindh, I wouldn't hold my breath.
     
  5. slappy4428

    slappy4428 Active Member

    Randy Cunningham and Michael Milken, come on down. The rest of you the African-American woman and the Democratic governor not so fast....
     
  6. Flying Headbutt

    Flying Headbutt Moderator Staff Member

    Bush has been perhaps overly stingy with his pardons thus far. Just because people have applied doesn't mean they'll get them. Bush's track record suggests they won't.
     
  7. Yodel

    Yodel Active Member

    Are you saying the president's power to pardon is unjust, or are you calling Bush's pardons (which he has not issued) abusive? I'm confused.
     
  8. Tom Petty

    Tom Petty Guest

    i'm saying the act itself is an abuse of power.
     
  9. Yodel

    Yodel Active Member

    That's what I thought, but others seemed to have a different interpretation, so I wanted to make sure I read it right.
     
  10. Tom Petty

    Tom Petty Guest

    some others aren't as smart as you, newb.

    i thought it was obvious, too.
     
  11. PopeDirkBenedict

    PopeDirkBenedict Active Member

    That's great, but the Framers seem to disagree with you
     
  12. Tom Petty

    Tom Petty Guest

    that's right. i forgot that the framers were all god-like and never made a collective mistake. my bad.
     
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