The Unseen Here and Now . . .
Stuart
Revercomb
Stuart
Revercomb is a marketing consultant and joyously married father of four
children. He seems to remember someone once telling him he ought to be
a writer. "The Unseen Here and Now" -- Thursdays.
E-MAIL
February 01, 2001
Par-don Me !
O.K. - baton down the hatches. If you're not in the mood for several rants
and maybe even a bit of a rave, you might want to click on out of here
while you still have a chance... try one of the articles from the Todd
Jennings archive - he keeps me laughing every week.
Which was exactly what I did when I heard Bill Clinton's final list of presidential pardons. At first I though the list was a joke. I really did. But the further I listened the more I realized that this was the regular news guy and Clinton had actually done what they were saying.
Here - you try not to laugh.
"In further news today as one of his last acts in the oval office President Bill Clinton has offered a full presidential pardon to over 100 individuals. Including...":
- The president's brother Roger Clinton, who was convicted of drug-related charges in the 1980s. He was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty in 1985 to conspiring to distribute cocaine.
O.K. Bill, can't say I don't understand your motivations here. I mean it is family. But if my brother was stupid enough to sell narcotics and drag the family name through such an ordeal, I can assure you I wouldn't do him or the family one worse by pardoning his legal conviction by those sworn to uphold the law. Of course you may have already one upped him in the "trashing the family name" category. I'm not sure how Roger is going to top perjuring oneself in front of a Federal Grand Jury and becoming the first President to be impeached in the House of Representatives since 1868.
- Susan McDougal, a former real estate business partner of the Clintons. She was convicted of four felonies related to a fraudulent $300,000 federally backed loan that she and her husband, James McDougal, never repaid. Part of the loan was placed in the name of Whitewater Development, the Arkansas real estate venture of the Clintons and the McDougals. She was incarcerated for 21 months for refusing to testify in the case.
Susan McDougel? No real surprise here either. Any convicted felon thats willing to spend 21 months in jail so that they don't have to talk about your role in their felonious acts is certainly deserving of your support. Who said there is no honor among thieves.
- Henry Cisneros, who served as Secretary of Housing
and Urban Development
during Clinton's first term in office. He was convicted of making false
statements to FBI agents conducting a background investigation of him
when he
was nominated to the Cabinet post in 1993. They included misleading
investigators about cash payments he made to a former mistress.
You and Henry sure seem to have a lot in common. Is he the guy who taught you the meaning of the word "Is"? Well, you certainly do owe him something. Maybe a presidential pardons not enough.
- Former CIA Director John Deutch. The one-time spy
chief and top Pentagon
official was facing criminal charges in connection with his mishandling
of
national secrets on his home computer.
The fact that you would appoint someone as the Director of the CIA who was capable of loading the most sensitive and potentially volatile information our country possesses on a home computer connected to the internet via AOL, says perhaps more about the appointer than the appointee. Of course, you could do worse. You could pardon him.
Sheeeesh.
Or better yet you could reach back into the ages and pardon someone for no apparent rhyme or reason. You could pardon someone like....
- Patty Hearst, the 19-year-old newspaper heiress who
made headlines in 1974
after she was kidnaped by the radical Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA).
She
was later photographed, machine gun in hand, helping the SLA in a bank
robbery
attempt. Although Hearst would later maintain she was brainwashed, she
was
convicted and sentenced to seven years in jail for the robbery.
Patti Hearst ??
Why Patti Hearst for heavens sake? Did you date her in high school or something? Or have you always just kind of had a soft spot in your heart for her?
Why not Squeaky Fromme - the misguided young lady with the bad aim that took a shot at former President Gerald Ford. She seemed to be pretty "brain washed' at the time.
Probably not as cute as Patti was on that bank camera with the AK-47 on her shoulder, but this is all about "justice," isn't it Bill? We're not concerned with sex appeal here are we?
By the way, how do you define that "Justice" thing. Is that something that applies to all people some of the time or some of the people all of the time. I know you believe in it in some way I'm just trying to put my finger on it.
In his eloquent defense of the power to pardon in the Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton writes, "The criminal code of every country partakes so much of necessary severity that without an easy access to exceptions in favor of unfortunate guilt, justice would wear a countenance too sanguinary and cruel. Humanity and good policy conspire to dictate that the benign prerogative of pardoning should be as little as possible fettered or embarrassed."
I'm sorry to report my dear Mr. Hamilton, that the countenance of justice is "smiling" perhaps a bit too broadly in the land these days.
And embarrassment?
It's clearly a thing of your day - not ours.