scandalous
I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Jr., former chief of staff for the Vice President has been pardoned, oops has had his jail sentence commuted by The President. If the Bush administration had any credibility left it now does not.
Libby was convicted of lying to the F.B.I. and a grand jury regarding details of the leaking of the identity of a covert C.I.A. agent, Valerie Plame. Plame's husband, a former Diplomat, Joseph Wilson, was correctly outspoken about how flawed the intelligence was for invading Iraq in 2003.
Detailed coverage at AMERICAblog.
Libby was convicted of lying to the F.B.I. and a grand jury regarding details of the leaking of the identity of a covert C.I.A. agent, Valerie Plame. Plame's husband, a former Diplomat, Joseph Wilson, was correctly outspoken about how flawed the intelligence was for invading Iraq in 2003.
Detailed coverage at AMERICAblog.
posted by IAN at
10:21 pm
Let's hope when GW has to go to the highest court, Saint Peter will send him to hell forever...
Separation of Powers: Doctrine and Practice -Australia.
The doctrine of the separation of powers divides the institutions of government into three branches: legislative, executive and judicial: the legislature makes the laws; the executive put the laws into operation; and the judiciary interprets the laws. The powers and functions of each are separate and carried out by separate personnel. No single agency is able to exercise complete authority, each being interdependent on the other. Power thus divided should prevent absolutism (as in monarchies or dictatorships where all branches are concentrated in a single authority) or corruption arising from the opportunities that unchecked power offers. The doctrine can be extended to enable the three branches to act as checks and balances on each other. Each branch’s independence helps keep the others from exceeding their power, thus ensuring the rule of law and protecting individual rights.
Obviously under the Westminster System – the parliamentary system of government Australia adopted and adapted from England – this separation does not fully exist. Certainly in Australia the three branches exist: legislature in the form of parliaments; executive in the form of the minsters and the government departments and agencies they are responsible for; and the judiciary or the judges and courts. However, since the ministry (executive) is drawn from and responsible to the parliament (legislature) there is a great deal of interconnection in both personnel and actions. The separation of the judiciary is more distinct.
The President has a lot of power. Who will George W. pardon before leaving office.