Well, fuck. The blogosphere is abuzz with this news. First there was ‘this news’ :
Former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby cannot delay his 2 1/2-year prison term in the CIA leak case, a federal appeals court unanimously ruled Monday.
Then started checking around the blogosphere on the coverage: Americablog, firedoglake, TPM, the Agonist, and a few other favorites. Get to work and find THIS!
God-fucking-damnit! All hell needs to break loose over this. Libby stood trial, he was tried – the jury found him GUILTY! He was sentenced. He appealed on a particular question regarding going to jail; he was denied that appeal . . . . . and finally – THIS! Joe Sudbay (Americablog) posted this from Jeffrey Tobin on CNN, (CNN’s legal analyst) who stated:
“This is a complete departure from the usual procedure. Scooter Libby is getting a very special brand of justice. He is getting enormous privileges that are not available to ordinary criminal convicts.”
From Josh Marshall: House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) reacts to Bush’s move as “inconsistent with the rule of law.” An update to the original reads: “And a staffer from his committee tells us that they’re looking to have a hearing on this as soon as next week.”
Josh also has updates with reaction from Reid, Pelosi, and Schumer. Like Chuck Schumer said: “As Independence Day nears, we are reminded that one of the principles our forefathers fought for was equal justice under the law. This commutation completely tramples on that principle.”
More later…….
[Update - 17:38] Just checked with Larry Johnson – colleague of Valerie Plame. He’s not ‘in’ so his blogmate has this up for now.
There are approximately 300 or so new laws which go into effect today; some, according to the official page, went into effect immediately or on an earlier date. Per the official bill page:
ENGLISH – OFFICIAL LANGUAGE – Amends existing law to declare English to be the official state language; to provide that English is the sole language of government, subject to exceptions; to provide that specified actions shall be in English, subject to exceptions; to provide exceptions; to provide for the return of specified funds to the state General Fund; to provide duties for state agencies; to provide duties for the State Controller; to provide the State Board of Education rulemaking authority governing the use of foreign languages in the public schools; and to provide for recognition of specified constitutional rights.
We could have had this instead…..
.….. with exceptions for those places without three or more floors.
