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Opinion Journal:
Bush and Libby — The commutation is a profile in non-courage. — President Bush's commutation late yesterday afternoon of the prison sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby will at least spare his former aide from 2 1/2 years in prison. But by failing to issue a full pardon …
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CNN:
Bush commutes Libby's prison sentence — WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Bush on Monday spared I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby from prison, commuting the former White House aide's 30-month prison term. — The prison time was imposed after a federal court convicted Libby of perjury …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, New York Times, TPMmuckraker, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, No More Mister Nice Blog, Jon Swift, The Poor Man Institute, The Heretik, Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler, At-Largely, The Raw Story, Don Surber, Right Wing Nut House, Thought Theater, Cold Fury, The Politico, Jules Crittenden, The Moderate Voice, PoliBlog (TM), Needlenose, Angry Bear, New York Times, QandO, All Spin Zone, JustOneMinute, TalkLeft, Kevin Sullivan, Liberal Values, About U.S. Politics, Ace of Spades HQ, Political Radar, Patterico's Pontifications, The Daily Whim, Political Insider, Hot Air, The American Mind, Captain's Quarters, Democratic National Committee, Economist's View, JURIST, Taylor Marsh, The Anonymous Liberal, The BRAD BLOG, The Impolitic and GINA COBB
Michael Abramowitz / Washington Post:
A Decision Made Largely Alone — President Bush limited his deliberations over commuting the prison term of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby to a few close aides, opting not to consult with the Justice Department and rebuffing efforts by friends to lobby on Libby's behalf, administration officials and people close to Bush said yesterday.
Washington Post:
Too Much Mercy — IN COMMUTING I. Lewis Libby's prison sentence yesterday, President Bush took the advice of, among others, William Otis, a former federal prosecutor who wrote on the opposite page last month that Mr. Libby should neither be pardoned nor sent to prison.
New York Times:
Bush Spares Libby From 30-Month Prison Term — President Bush spared I. Lewis Libby Jr. from prison Monday, commuting his two-and-a-half-year sentence while leaving intact his conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice in the C.I.A. leak case. — Mr. Bush's action …
New York Times:
Soft on Crime — When he was running for president, George W. Bush loved to contrast his law-abiding morality with that of President Clinton, who was charged with perjury and acquitted. For Mr. Bush, the candidate, "politics, after a time of tarnished ideals, can be higher and better."
Speaker Pelosi / The Gavel:
A Betrayal of Trust of the American People — The President's commutation of Scooter Libby's prison sentence does not serve justice, condones criminal conduct, and is a betrayal of trust of the American people. — The President said he would hold accountable anyone involved in the Valerie Plame leak case.
Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:Fitzgerald's Statement
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, The Next Hurrah, The Huffington Post, Tom Watson, Hullabaloo and Crooks and Liars
Brad DeLong / Grasping Reality with Both Hands:Jeff Lomonaco, Please Report to the Department of Pre-Crime
Orin Kerr / The Volokh Conspiracy:BUSH SETS LIBBY FREE: Wow, that was fast: President Bush set …
Discussion:
CNN, The Corner, Sentencing Law and Policy, TPMmuckraker, Power Line, Daily Kos and Redstate
Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:For Bush, Action in Libby Case Was a Test of Will
Discussion:
ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES
The Independent:
Terror plot hatched in British hospitals — A suspected secret cell of foreign militants, believed to be linked to al-Qa'ida and using British hospitals as cover, are being questioned over the terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow. — Five of the eight people under arrest last night are said to be doctors.
Discussion:
Brisbane Times, The Strata-Sphere, Shakesville, Tim Blair, michellemalkin.com, Unqualified Offerings and Secular Blasphemy
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New York Times:
U.S. Says Iran Helped Iraqis Kill Five G.I.'s — Agents of Iran helped plan a January raid in Shiite holy city of Karbala in Iraq in which five American soldiers were killed by Islamic militants, an American military spokesman said Monday. The charge was the most specific allegation …
CBS News:
Al Qaeda In Iraq Behind U.K. Bomb Plot? — Sources Tell CBS News Suspects Recruited By Leader Of Terror Group's Iraq Branch — (CBS/AP) British intelligence services increasingly believe that the failed car bombings in London and Glasgow bare the fingerprints of al Qaeda in Iraq, CBS News has learned.
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Susie / Suburban Guerrilla:
James Capozzola, 1962-2007 — Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, — Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone, — Silence the pianos and with muffled drum — Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come. — "Funeral Blues," W.H. Auden. — My friend Jim died this evening.
Digby / Hullabaloo:
"A Man Like This" — I don't know about you, but I was quite moved by this part of Bush's commutation statement. In fact I almost cried: … He is compassionate after all, isn't he? Thirty months is just too excessive. Well, at least when it comes to the right kind of people: He has different plans for everyone else:
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New York Times:
Short on Money, McCain Campaign Dismisses Dozens — The presidential campaign of Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican who once seemed poised to be his party's nominee in 2008, acknowledged yesterday that it was in a political and financial crisis as a drop in fund-raising forced …
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Byron Dziva / Telegraph:
Mugabe's 'inflation police' raid shopkeepers — Plain-clothes police sought to enforce Zimbabwe's new price controls by raiding shops yesterday as President Robert Mugabe's regime waged a desperate struggle against soaring inflation. — They roughed up shop owners and staff and arrested 20 businessmen.
Tom Hester Jr / Associated Press:
N.J. Confiscates 4 Tons of Pa. Fireworks — Amid continued fretting about a Pennsylvania law that allows New Jersey residents to buy fireworks that are illegal in the Garden State, New Jersey state police have confiscated nearly 8,000 pounds of fireworks ahead of Independence Day.
Kana Inagaki / Associated Press:
Japan's defense minister quits over A-bomb gaffe — TOKYO — Japan's defense minister resigned under an avalanche of criticism today for suggesting that the United States was justified in dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki because the attacks saved Japan from a Soviet invasion.
Discussion:
Jules Crittenden
Richard Cohen / Washington Post:
A Local Lesson That Democrats Fail — The eight Democratic presidential candidates assembled in Washington last week for another of their debates and talked, among other things, about public education. They all essentially agreed that it was underfunded — one system "for the wealthy, one for everybody else," as John Edwards put it.
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