Arkansas Blog

does this guy look at opinion polls and do the least popular thing? he makes it so easy...

come on civil suit, we're counting on you.

Just when I start thinking the sleazy bastard can't do anything else to turn my stomach, he does this.

He's already demonstrated he doesn't care one whit about the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the poor, the economy, national defense, education, the environment, and just about anything else that this country has stood for for the last two hundred and thirty-something years. Why should justice be immune?

Get your facts straight, Max.

Commutation is not a pardon.

The probation, fine, and conviction remain.

Why even bother with the time and expense of a trial? Bush should just issue a blanket pardon for all the crooks in his administration and save the taxpayers from the costs and the mockery of the "justice system".

Let's see, ARRed, Libby isn't working for the White House anymore, so he's unlikely to have to run interference and obstruct justice at the behest of his boss. Libby's bills are already being paid FOR him and I'll bet they'll see their way clear to kick in for the fine. The conviction? Yeah, I'll bet there are several fat cats ready to hire him, conviction or no for "taking one for the team".

I'd wager he'll never be out of work making several times what you and I make put together, for the rest of his life.

Making a big fat paycheck would have happened 30 months from now.

He will have to give up his law license.

I thought the President should have left it alone, but I wanted to point out to Max that it was a commutation and not a pardon.

I agree with Never Vote Republican...save us from the pretense that the American Justice system applies to King George and his loyal Toadies. 'They' snidely toss out Habeas Corpus for those 'they' deem to be 'people of interest'; but then set Libby above the jury/judge/system that found him guilty. The Royal Republicans do not love America.

"Commutation is not a pardon."

The only reason he didn't pardon him was because he couldn't. Libby's conviction isn't old enough. No petition for pardon can be filed until the expiration of a waiting period of at least five years

"I thought the President should have left it alone, but I wanted to point out to Max that it was a commutation and not a pardon. Posted by: Arkansas Red"

Big difference. It's still the political equivalent of hush money, so "Scooter" doesn't sing like a canary about the various misdeeds of Cheney and Bush.

Anyone who thinks Libby wouldn't have spilled the beans to keep out of prison...well, they probably also believe that those weapons of mass destruction will turn up in Iraq any day now.

Not quite right soundman. No *petition* can be filed, but Bush can pardon Scooter without a petition. By your standard Libby wouldn't get a Bush pardon because 5 years won't have passed when 43's term ends. But the pardon can be granted without there being a petition.

Treason for a fee...even in a time of war!

and Rove gets his security clearence back (link at my name)

To the Hague!

commutation, instead of a pardon, also means that Irving retains his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination in any future legal investigation/trial.

If 30 months is too harsh, how about 18?

Would you believe...12?

Could you go for 90 days, just for the principle of the thing?

Okay, even Martha Stewart and Paris Hilton showed up long enough to get a jumpsuit and a ID No.

Could Mr. Bush have allowed Mr. Libby to do a Martha sentence, just for appearnces sake?

Let's see now. First, it was "I'm the President so anything I do is legal." Then it was "I'm the Vice-President, anything I do is legal." And now it's "if you did it for us, we'll commute your sentence now and pardon you later."

What a country. Makes Nixon look good and I *never* thought I'd see that day. Time to outlaw the Republican Party to save democracy.

This is wonderful news!

The more Bush debases himself, the more illegitimate his presidency becomes, and the greater the lanslide of 2008 will be.

The stink of corruption and failure will take decades to wash off the Republican Party. It'll never leave Bush, through all his upcoming rehabs and rebaptisms.

Shame and disgrace for the man, the administration, and the party. That'll do.

White House phone system shut down

What leak ?

You mean the Richard Armitage leak ?

Thyis whole story of the supposed "outing" of Valarie Plame is bogus anyway.

Her own husband "outed" her several times, moreover The Senate Intelligence committee found unanimously that "Mr. Wilson lied when he said Mr. Cheney had sent him on the mission; lied when he denied his wife had recommended him for it, and lied when he said he'd found no evidence Saddam had tried to buy uranium from Niger."

Libby should be pardoned this whole thing was a sham.

Do you suppose this elevates the White House to full-fledged "Gang" status? I'll watch the DemGaz tomorow for details.

My lovely wife just burst into the house from work yelling The MotherFK'er just pardoned Libby!

So pardoned isn't quite the right word, but at this point who really gives a shit? President Cheney has ordered the Puppet to let Scooter off, and it's a done deal. How does it feel America? What a great country we have now, huh?

That poor Paris, imagine....doing more time than Scooter. I'm just sorry I don't know the secret identity of an undercover CIA agent.....I'd out them just for meanness.

Tell me the right thing to do is wait until January, 2009 to say goodbye to President Cheney and the Puppet Bush. Cheney just told us all to go FK ourselves.

"Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"

The Senate Intelligence committee found unanimously that "Mr. Wilson lied when he said Mr. Cheney had sent him on the mission; lied.."

The REPUBLICAN Senate Intelligence committe found unanimously that....

Imagine that.
.

imagine how infuriating this will be to the jurors/judge in the Wilson's civil suit against Irving?

so the bastard doesn't have to go to prison?

impoverish him

(so badly that he won't even be able to send his kids to college at Phoenix Online)

which begs the simple question "how much would Valerie Plame's future career have been worth?" (to her and to the country?)

i'd say 10 million $, minimum.

Val can make $10 mill on the movie rights.

As a government employee, you can't really make the case that she would have been rich.

i was having a very nice nap. i was awakened by my beautiful wife by dinner is ready and they pardoned libby. any bets on the fact on the fact that somebody gives him a tee shirt tonight at the party with his prisoner number. i can guarantee he will not hurt for money in his new job as rethuglican lobbist or corprate bord member. maybe he will become a traveling golf outing foursome when the party is the sponsor. they will rent out playing with him.

In case you're wondering where the quote from The Citizens Journal above comes from, you can click my name and visit the aptly-titled Testosterone Nation.

No, I'm not making that up.

"...Thyis whole story of the supposed "outing" of Valarie Plame is bogus anyway..."

It doesn't matter what side of a story you're on when you're asked to tell the truth under oath, before a Grand Jury or when the FBI comes a questioning. And it's especially galling/ironic that the same Republican thugs who screamed to high heaven about Clinton's oh-so-unforgivable act of lying about his White House loving are the same ones twisting the hell out of logic/ the Justice system in order to free their bud, Scooter.

John A. Arkansawyer...while it's true that this act will further bury the Republican Party, I don't think shame is quite enough punishment. Mainly because the rest of us so-called regular people don't get diddly consideration for the shame that our crimes have caused us or our families.

Actually the quote was from an old colum in the Toldeo Blade newspaper, that I had already used some time ago.

Follow the name for the column.

I'm with you in terms of what I'd love to watch, Zelda.

Here's my specific thought:

Harlan Ellison suggested that Richard Nixon should, as a condition of his pardon, have been required to clock in, 9 to 5, five days a week, all holidays off, at a public place, so that every American citizen, man, woman, or child, could, upon standing in line and waiting their turn, slap him in the face, once, as hard as they could.

That'd do for Bush, so far as retributive justice is concerned.

I'm more into restorative justice as a matter of policy, though, and the end of the Republican Party as a force in American politics, and an opening for the most leftward Democratic Party we can push into power for the foreseeable future, well, that's pretty sweet, and that's within our grasp.

I stand corrected, Citizens Journal.

Jack Kelly wrote it, in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Toledo Blade.

The column was pasted into Testosterone Nation(and Muscles with Attitude) are the only places where Google search turned up a match.

Is it not interesting that the apologists of this travesty have not but lies and obfuscation?

"SOPHISTRY, n. The controversial method of an opponent, distinguished from one's own by superior insincerity and fooling. This method is that of the later Sophists, a Grecian sect of philosophers who began by teaching wisdom, prudence, science, art and, in brief, whatever men ought to know, but lost themselves in a maze of quibbles and a fog of words." Ambrose Bierce

And the banshees wail.

By gar, the critter went and done it.

If I remember correctly...

Didn't Scooter represent Marc Rich in obtaining a pardon from President Clinton? Weren't conservatives clamoring for a change in the President's clemency power? Weren't conservatives deeply intoning their concern and worry for the process, wondering if proper procedures were being followed?

I hope to see the concern trolls out in full force clamoring for answers...

That is probably the best argument against a pardon for Libby sjp, the only chink in that armor is, that Clinton was caught red handed lying under oath (on video), I'm not so sure the same thing can be said for Libby.

What would he have to gain by lying ? He clearly didn't do it. Richard Armitage did, admittedly so.

Clinton on the other hand had plenty to gain by lying.

Another nail in the Republican party's coffin.

Ah, yes: the "Clearly I didn't do it even though the jury was convinced I did" argument. I believe it is a favorite in jails and prisons all around this Great Nation.

I'm not sure I have ever seen it work before, though.

Bush-Cheney policies are hammering us down toward a third-world status. If we're destined to be a third-world country, why not just go ahead and act like it?

Seeing how this current crowd have preyed and fattened on American citizens and government, I wonder if Democrats will follow the Republican lead and provide more glaring examples of shifting morality and irrelevant laws.

Or will they try to do it better -- tough consequences in exchange for committing illegal actions?

Our emerging generation is learning their lessons, right now, to apply to their own future behavior.

The lessons of today:
What good are laws, policies, and rules anyway? Scooter's actions prove that laws may be interpreted freely by each individual. Bush's signing statements demonstrate that laws are irrelevant. Lower-echelon fall guys are willing to take a rap in exchange for a few million dollars to keep quiet for the bosses.

Fine exemplars for our future.

36 COMMUTATIONS (22 Drug Dealers) GRANTED JANUARY 20, 2001 by President Bill Clinton

I remember our leader as Governor and now as President sharing his respect for the jury system--generally in capital murder cases. Can't overturn those because a jury heard the evidence and he trusts the people, blah, blah, blah. No reform needed here, juries can be trusted in highly emotional cases when a person's life hangs in the balance.

However, in cases where large tort verdicts might be rendered, the President and his folks seem troubled, can't trust juries here because they might be susceptible to clever plaintiffs lawyers, etc. Need tort reform.

He now gives a big firm fuck you to the entire system, shitting on all involved in the process.

IF the Federal Sentencing Guidelines are good enough for a young black kid selling crack, they should be good enough for Scooter Libby. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals not more than two weeks ago reversed a George Howard downward departure on a federal sentence because he suspended time due to the defendant's finding of religion. The 8th Circuit reversed, stating that was an impermissible consideration under the guidelines.

My mentor told me this: If a jury says it happened, then it happened. To so quickly usurp the function of the jury is just wrong.

This man has shit on this country and the rule of law long enough.

Impressive stats, ses. Can you follow up to see if any of them skated wthout so much as a cup of coffee in prison? Or were some of the commutations to time served? Years in some cases?

Dinner had a calming effect on me and now I can put away my anger and see the silver lining in the Libby commutation.

For one it just cooked every Republican up for reelection in 2008. It probably also just stacked the decks on any new Republican who choses to run next year.

That means even with Pryor still in office the Democrats will bury each and every move the few remaining Republicans in Congress try to make for years to come.

This could very well be the death of the Republican Party. So giving Scooter a free ride is sweet at twice the price. Plus Scooter will be a hunted man for the rest of his life, and that is a pretty good punishment in itself. He and Bush and Cheney can entertain each other down in the bunker for the rest of their lives.

This move just doubled the number of Cheney enemies and the cross-hairs are pointed right between his beady eyes. President Cheney has piles and piles of dirty laundry and tomorrow the Corruption Team will double and triple their efforts to find all the rope needed to hang him.

Let us pray Cheney's hanging goes every bit as poorly as Saddam's.

As Joe Wilson just said on TV, nothing is a surprise since the Cheney-Bush administration is corrupt from top to bottom. Where are those emails, Asa? How is Sen. Pat Roberts doing on that lying us into war investigation? Would the one honest Republican please stand up?

Bush has the power to commute this sentence, there is no doubt. But it is the line in the sand. Cheney has gone too far this time. It calls down the dogs of hell on every Republican head. Enjoy the Free Scooter celebration. Republicans will not be happy when they get the bill.

As an ex-Republican, it saddens me to see members of the Grand Old Party defending criminals, especially those at the highest levels of government.

But then again, that's one reason I'm an EX-republican.

It's all about morals.

Here is the full list of the commutations under Bill Clinton.

Follow the name for the link.

Looks to me like the Clinton commutations were at least to time served ...old Thomas W. Wilson probably figures Mr. Clinton was pretty stingy. Wilson's 24-month sentence was reduced to 12 months.

Then there's Linda Sue Evans -- she only had to pull 15 years before Mr. Clinton commuted her sentence to 25 years and made her eligible for parole.

Doea anyone *really* want to compare this with Mr. Scooter-the-closest-I'll-get-to-jail-is-if-the-limo-driver-gets-lost-Libby?

Look! Over there!! It's a Clinton!

"Does anyone *really* want to compare this with Mr. Scooter...."

I wouldnt think so, most of those commuted sentences under Clinton were for drug dealers and traffickers.

Wasn't one of his big initiatives the crime bill ? Way to be tough on crime.

What a horrible argument.

You can also throw out the idea of trying any more of these thugs in a court of law...

I think this is a clear signal that ANY and ALL of those in the adminstration that are tried and convicted of crimes will be pardoned. So, throw out your impeachment trials...it's all for naught.

And to top it off, Wikipedia already has additional information in their definition of "commutation of sentence" that says "One example of a commutation occured on on July 2, 2007 when President George W. Bush commuted the sentence of former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Libby was facing 30 months in prison for his March 2007 conviction on federal charges of perjury, obstruction of justice and lying to investigators. Bush, who had been under tremendous pressure by Libby associates to pardon the former chief of staff, commented that by commuting Libby's sentence he is still leaving "harsh" punishment in place (a criminal conviction). However, Libby will not be required to serve the 30 month prison sentence."

The Wikipedia entry starts out by saying "Commutation is normally linked to prisoners' good behavior". Scooter never was a prisoner. Never will be. His "good behavior" is that he didn't rat out his boss!

People were "outraged" about Paris Hilton getting "special treatment" when she got let out of jail the first time. Hopefully there will be enough outrage over something more important--the Scooter Libby commutation--that moderate Republicans will have finally had enough of the fiasco called the Republican administration to finally see the light and help vote a Democrat into office in 2008.

Let's see if I have this right. Mr. Clinton said he would be tough on drugs, then he commuted quite a few drugs sentences to time served or reduced the terms of years.

Okaaaaaaayyyyy...So, of course, that makes it perfectly legitimate and honorable for Mr. Bush to thumb his nose at a jury verdict, pat his behind at the trial judge's refusal to reduce the sentene, disregard the Court of Appeals's refusal to delay the sentence and obliterate The Rule of Law by excusing Mr. Libby from spending even *one day* in prison?

*That's* what makes this hunky-dorey?

Okay. If that's your argument, have at it.....I have no answer for it.

Citizen's Journal, just go ahead and keep your head in the sand. It's OK, it really is.
I had an uncle who was just like you. Once he made his mind up, nothing could change it. I wanted to shake some sense into him almost every time he and I talked, but I knew it would be fruitless.
So just keep on defending this bunch of crooks, liars, and thieves, and I'll keep on feeling sorry for you.

It's genetic. It runs in the Bush family.

Click on Cato

And then some hardened criminals go to jail....
Click on Cato

Oh no you didnt!!!! (with a female Asian accent)

HAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

everyone on this blog are nothing more than a common household douche.

But hey, at the end of today all of your doctors were happy...you all needed refills on your blood pressure meds.

ha

Cato,

Your second post links to the same image -- is that what you intended?

Too bad I just now read this mess of comments to comment.
I know not one of you would have done any different. YOU all would have pardoned a friend and you all know it.. YE Hypo's
You get in politics and you screw up you pay. simple as that.
Some say don't be a rep but the damn dimocraps have done things that should have killed that party long ago.
There are NO good people in politics. Those that are( rep and dem) will completely destroy this nation. The same way every power before us has gone down the tube.

Maxwell Dumb, you are an idiot. And every time you post on this blog, you prove it.

chasv, nobody knows what you are trying to say. Go to bed. You are ass.

Blue ridge get you head out of you ass. The view is better.

When told of Karla Faye Tucker's request for clemencency from her Texas death sentence, Gov. Bush mocked her using a whiney little girl voice, "she doesn't want to die" and projecting his famous smirk. Tucker was executed.

I bet "Scooter doesn't want to go to jail" either, but I doubt the Decider couched it in a schoolboy whine before granting mercy.

How disgusting.

Now, Blue, you got to hand it to Chas there. In the middle of this intensely partisan and somewhat degenerating thread (apologies to TAP) Chas has managed to find something that all of us lefties and righties alike can agree on.

If the righty-tighties believe comparing Clinton's two-bit pardons for such crap as people caught in the drug war to Bush-Cheney's blatant abuse of power and obstruction of justice will win the day, they have a far greater cynical view of the American people than I do.

Past wool-pullings involving the Patriot Act and the war on Iraq must have made them overly cocky.

Here's hoping Bush is impeached before he can pardon Cheney after vice hopefully is brought to justice.

"I had an uncle who was just like you. Once he made his mind up, nothing could change it. I wanted to shake some sense into him almost every time he and I talked, but I knew it would be fruitless.

So just keep on defending this bunch of crooks, liars, and thieves, and I'll keep on feeling sorry for you."

Posted by: BlueRidge

Blueridge, see if you can find the Cheryl Wheeler song, "Frequently Wrong But Never in Doubt." There is comfort there for you.

One last thing. I'm watching Bush and Vladimir Rasputin on a C-Span repeat at the moment. My god.....they could be twins!

The 2 most evil Cheney spawns in the universe! Two killers having a nice day on the Maine shoreline busy hatching their evil plots against the world.

Remember, Bush said he looked into Putin's eyes and saw his soul. If any 2 bastards were soul-less it's Bush and Putin.

How fitting they hugged and kissed today of all days.....Scooter's day. The advice Putin gave Bush on gulags will come in handy by the end of the year. Scooter won't see the insides of a prison, but I bet a bunch of us will.

After the Surge comes the Purge....pack your extra toothbrush now and avoid the rush.

"Article II of the Constitution gives the president broad and unreviewable power to grant "Reprieves and Pardons" for all offenses against the United States. The Supreme Court has ruled that the pardon power is granted "[t]o the [president] . . ., and it is granted without limit" (United States v. Klein). Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes declared that "[a] pardon . . . is . . . the determination of the ultimate authority that the public welfare will be better served by [the pardon] . . ." (Biddle v. Perovich). A president may conclude a pardon or commutation is warranted for several reasons: the desire to restore full citizenship rights, including voting, to people who have served their sentences and lived within the law since; a belief that a sentence was excessive or unjust; personal circumstances that warrant compassion; or other unique circumstances."- Bill Clinton in an Op Ed in the New York Times entitled "My Reasons for the Pardons"

Click on my name for a Link to the Article.

Marcy Wheeler aka Emptywheel who wrote an excellent book on this whole fiasco and blogs at the next hurrah summed it all up on MSNBC Hardball today and the 2 minute youtube is at my name.

P.S the book is excellent

From my in-box this morning:

Hours after a federal appeals court ruled that I. "Scooter" Lewis Libby would to have to begin serving his prison sentence while appealing his conviction for crimes of perjury, obstruction of justice and lying to investigators, President Bush commuted his sentence.

Last week Vice President Cheney asserted that he was beyond the reach of the law. Today, President Bush demonstrated the lengths he would go to, ensuring that even aides to Dick Cheney are beyond the judgment of the law.

It is time for the American people to be heard.

I call for all Americans to flood the White House with phone calls tomorrow expressing their outrage over this blatant disregard for the rule of law.

202-456-1414

Remind George Bush what he told staffers during a swearing in ceremony for White House staff back in January 2001:

"[We] must remember the high standards that come with high office. This begins with careful adherence to the rules. I expect every member of this administration to stay well within the boundaries that define legal and ethical conduct. This means avoiding even the appearance of problems. This means checking and, if need be, double- checking that the rules have been obeyed. This means never compromising those rules. No one in the White House should be afraid to confront the people they work for, for ethical concerns, and no one should hesitate to confront me as well. We are all accountable to one another. And above all, we are all accountable to the law and to the American people."

Click here to watch the video of George Bush addressing staff: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjwLlfFKerU

Paid for by Biden for President, Inc.

Turn about fair play:

Sen. Joe Biden:

Wilmington: 302-573-6345
Milford: 302-424-8090

D.C.: 202-224-5042

Thanks, TAP. Here's what I wanted to post. The type of hardened criminals we send to jail in chains.
Click on Cato

There is a fine artical in the Demozette editorial page that puts this in prospective. No need to bash Bush for doing what many have done before. Clinton pardoned so many people you would need a spreadsheet to keep up with it.

Here's the Republican platform:

1. Clinton did it, so we can, too.
2. Clinton didn't do it, so we need to.
3. Hillary is evil.

Bush makes fun of people about to be executed, but he sure takes care of his friends.

What an immoral man -- and the people who still make excuses for him? Sheesh. I hope you aren't raising your children with those ethics.

The investigation, trial and appeal were all handled by very conservative prosecutors, and judges and Scooter lost every step of the way. Even a jury of his peers found him to be guilty.

And Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation is not even closed, yet the commutation is worse than a pardon for the investigation because it allows Scooter to take the 5th on the very questions he is convicted of lying and obstructing...

Bush and Cheney quite likely ordered Scooter to expose classified information and out a covert spy who worked in what may have been the only office that watched WMD potential in both Iran and Iraq. (which we know Bush and Cheney wanted shut down/discredited so the lies that led our country to war could be perpetuated without question.

Commuting Scooter is in and of itself an act of obstruction of an investigation of the VP and P. (and Rove who lost his security clearance over this for a time and now has it restored per a link I posted up thread)

Reading Hussmans paper, which must be renamed, and listening to most of the MSM is truly a path to streaming lies.

I am not a lawyer... but read multiple lawyers while they scrutinized the minutia of the investigation and trial every day for over a year in the run up to the trial and followed every minute of the trial itself...

Everything about what Bush did yesterday was wrong and should be added to the long list of why he should be impeached and impeached now.

"Here's the Republican platform:

1. Clinton did it, so we can, too.
2. Clinton didn't do it, so we need to.
3. Hillary is evil."

That pretty much sums it up...especially the generic Hillary is evil! I can't count the times people have told me they hate Hillary...but they can't tell me specifically why.

Good morning and welcome to White House in Crisis: Free Libby Day 2.

Today the White House is talking about a future pardon for Scooter, perhaps their idea of rubbing a little salt in the wound. This is an interesting strategy that I bet Nixon would wish he thought of. But it's a wasted effort, the American public is already as mad as it can get.

This ploy is beyond me, history shows you fair less well screaming shoot me shoot me to someone pointing a gun at your head. But we'll just see how this plays out for Team Libby. I predict a Presidential Medal of Freedom is in his future, we've seen this movie before and it always ends badly.

Scooter may not rat on President Cheney but there are plenty of others that will. Anyone who was an adult in 1973 knows you knock off the VP before you go after the P.

And this time around that 1-2 punch will be much more entertaining because Agnew wasn't Nixon's brain. GWB is a toddler in traffic without Cheney to tell him when to squat and pee.

The worm was already turning on the Cheney administration and yesterday the worm turned all the way around. Now we can kill the worm and start the restoration of our sick government and the uniting of the people.

Rejoice! In the end Scooter's gift from the White House will end up being a gift to the American people.......the end of the Cheney-Bush administration.

I'm not so sure, DBI.

If I were a betting man I'd bet that the American public is going to give us President Fred Thompson -- who, after all, is a no-nonsense prosecutor strong on the principle of Law and Order (or does he just play one on TV?).

I'd love to be wrong, but that's my hunch.

"Clinton pardoned so many people you would need a spreadsheet to keep up with it."
Posted by: DraftinHog

Now for a free bottle of champagne:
Which President Issued the Most Pardons?
JFK
LBJ
Clinton
Reagan
Geo Bush ver. 1
Geo Bush ver. 2
.

Knoc Knock,

My Google-Free guess--

Reagan?

(You probably don't want to say yes or no until you get some other guesses).

I'd love to say you're guessing wrong, TAP, but after monkeyboy and the last two elections, I'd say President Law and Order is about par.

"Remember, Bush said he looked into Putin's eyes and saw his soul. If any 2 bastards were soul-less it's Bush and Putin."
Posted by: Deathbyinches

Click BLUE NAME

(You probably don't want to say yes or no until you get some other guesses).
by TAP

It was listed out on CNN last night.

Click on Cato for information as to numbers

"Is there anyone--anyone who actually believes that Bush plucked Libby from the iron jaws of jail for any other reason than, well...to make sure he keeps his lying mouth shut on the encyclopedia of felonies and crimes committed by Bush and Cheney?"

---- Jeffrey Feldman

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight'
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming.
And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen, thro' the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream;
'Tis the star-spangled banner: oh, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Oh, thus be it ever when free men shall stand,
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Power that has made and preserved us as a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust";
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

During World War II, when the British were our staunchest allies, this third stanza was not sung. But I never heard but the first verse ever sung anyway.

Now till Cato kills the quiz

During Which War was the Star Spangled Banner written??

War of Independence
War of 1812
Civil War
WW I
Viet Nam
.

*I know! I know! I know!*

Vietnam!!!!!!

Wow. And I thought the first stanza was hard!