"The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress." — Frederick Douglass

In less than 48 hours our Republic will be celebrating our Declaration of Independence the document which claims all men are created equal, all men are endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men and derive their power from the consent of the governed thus the implication in part is that the American Revolution would result in a country governed by laws and not ruled by the tyranny of men.

Less than 48 hours ago our “bring ‘em on” cowardly cowboy from Crawford claiming to be President issued a press release commuting the sentence of a “capo” in his compassionate conservative mafia rather than facing the press and the uncomfortable questions to follow.

Scooter Libby was recently convicted by a jury of his peers (more or less) on 3 counts of perjury and 1 count of obstruction of justice and now faced, after losing his appeal before an Appeals Council, spending 30 months of his life doing jail time in a minimum security prison at a Club Feb near his family.

In his release, possibly approved by if not authored by his 5 time draft dodging V.P. he stated that he respected the jury’s verdict but concluded the prison sentence handed down by a Republican judge and upheld by a Republican majority on the Appeals Council was “excessive” a somewhat peculiar way to show “respect” by using the power given to him in the Constitution of the United States in the process to circumvent the rule of law.

Bush did acknowledge that crimes were committed and as such Scooter would still be classified as a felon, he would still have to serve 2 years probation, and he would still have to pay $250,000 as if justice would then be served.

Indeed the Scooter Libby Defense Fund has already received enough money to pay off millions of dollars in Scooter’s legal expenses thus it is expected they’ll also cover the 250. Unlike most other felons Scooter won’t be hurting for dollars.

I suspect 2 years probation would be an inconvenience for a card carrying member of the power elite but I wouldn’t venture a guess as to how being classified as a felon would psychologically affect Scooter. Thus my conclusion is that justice was served by being mocked.

My outrage is not directed at the sentence nor the commutation of jail time for federal inmate number 28301-016 rather it is based on the perception documented by fact that the Bush Administration was in the process of making a case to wage war with Iraq and when Joseph Wilson publicly challenged one among other fabrications for war it produced the knee jerk reaction of retribution by those who were creating a future of death and destruction based on deception and deceit.

Scooter Libby was a part of that much larger crime of waging a war by participating in the commission of a crime against peace based on a series of lies. A war where Main St men and women would be put in harm’s way fighting for the predatory policy of people who avoided serving this country in uniform. A war in which the members of the Bush cabal would profit without having to sacrifice anything.

Even 30 months in a minimum security Club Feb cannot do justice for the carnage created by a corrupt administration that has shown nothing but contempt for the rule since the Supreme Court legitimized its existence.

Democrats, especially the presidential contenders will pull out all the “rule of law not men” rhetoric and announce their outrage at the commutation of Libby’s so-called jail time and the law and order pack mentality Republicans will support the criminal in this case because he’s one of their own privileged class of ruling elite.

The press will feed on the Libby case, package it for the public consumption, and provide the debate that will further divide us as a nation tomorrow more than we were yesterday merely serving to distract us from a reality described by George Orwell “In a time of universal deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act”.

The truth is that Libby was a willing and active participant in that “universal deceit” to wage war in Iraq and the commutation confirmed that some men are indeed above the law. The irony is that in less than 48 hours we will be celebrating independence from tyranny while we continue to endure a government that has become destructive of the vision of our forefathers and a form of government that betrays the American Revolution.