Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Six Degrees of Presidential Separation (or, Kevin Bacon Goes to Washington)

It's a small, small world for pardons, after all:

Before entering government, ("Scooter") Libby was a private attorney who represented billionaire international commodities trader Marc Rich. Rich was indicted in 1983 by then-U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani on charges of tax evasion and illegal dealing with Iran during the American hostage crisis.

Rich fled to Switzerland. He also occupied a spot on the FBI's Most Wanted List.

Giuliani, former mayor of New York, is now a leading Republican presidential candidate. He endorsed Bush's decision to spare Libby jail time even though he'd tried to put Libby's client behind bars.

"After evaluating the facts, the president came to a reasonable decision, and I believe the decision was correct," Giuliani said.

Rich's fugitive days ended when President Clinton pardoned him in January 2001, a move that prompted a congratulatory call from Libby to Rich. The pardon raised questions about whether large donations to the Democratic Party and the Clinton Library by Rich's former wife, Denise, had anything to do with it.

Clinton, of course, is married to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, who is a Democratic front-runner for the White House. She blasted Bush's decision on Libby, leaving out any mention of Libby's connection to Rich — or Rich at all, for that matter.

Independence Day Funnies (or is it Amnesty edition)







Monday, July 02, 2007

Scooter Libby, Libby, Libby goes to prison, prison, prison



And we like it, like it, like it

'less there's a pardon, pardon, pardon.

(If you're old enough to get this, then you're at least as old as me.)

Update (5:30 p.m.): No, he's not going to prison after all, thanks to his friend and fellow criminal George W. Bush.

Pre-Fourth Postpourri

-- We spent the weekend in San Antonio for the Progressive Populist Caucus' annual retreat, but we renamed it the "full frontal assault", since we advanced so many Tzu-like plans to turn Texas blue.

-- Our dinner guests Saturday evening included David and Rachel Van Os and SDEC member Linda Perez of Floresville, and we dined at Ernesto's. A wonderful meal and even better company.

-- On the return trip we paused at Frank's Restaurant in Schulenburg. The fried chicken was piping hot and right out of the grease. The wife also noted that chicken doesn't taste that good unless the grease is very fresh, too. This was about 1:30 in the afternoon, so either Frank's family is fastidious about their fryers or else they go through a lot of canola oil. Judging from the girth of the regular patrons, I would suspect the latter (although the former, I'm certain, is no less accurate).

About Frank's clientele: There were one or two Latin and African-Americans on the waitstaff, but none being waited on. I haven't seen so many Kluckers gathered together after Sunday service since I stopped at Gary's Coffee Shop in Vidor, on the way to Lose-iana. One of my unfortunate talents is a capacity to read the minds of people like this when I am surrounded by them: "An' I don't want no black girl or a Messican waitin' on me; send over the whitest, fattest Baptist in the place to take my order."

-- Sue's mother went back into the hospital while we were out of town. She has a thrush infection in her mouth.

-- We can see the fireworks show at Reliant Park from our fifth-floor window. How cool is it to be able to watch 'Entourage' and fireworks at the same time?