Bush Commutes Libby's Sentence

Scooter gets a Get Out of Jail Free Card. Don't be fooled. Bush is not as dumb as people think and doesn't need anyone's approval...just look at the recent Supreme Court decisions, oil deals in Iraq and most likely with Putin's North Pole land grab, and now he commutes Scooter's sentence...Sorry, Bush is a winner to those that matter.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby cannot delay his 2 1/2-year prison term in the CIA leak case, a federal appeals panel unanimously ruled Monday.

The decision is a major setback for Libby, who is running out of legal options and who probably will have to surrender to prison in weeks. The ruling puts pressure on President Bush, who has been sidestepping calls by Libby's allies to pardon the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.

Libby was convicted in March of lying and obstructing the investigation into the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity. He is the highest-ranking White House official ordered to prison since the Iran-Contra affair.

Scooter Libby on going to jail: "Mom! It's not fair!"

Buh bye, Scooter.

Judge sends Scooter Libby straight to prison, no delay for appeals

Scooter Libby will not be allowed to remain free while his lawyers appeal the 30-month sentence he received after being convicted of lying to investigators during the CIA leak investigation, according to media reports.The former White House adviser could be sent to federal prison within weeks, according to the Associated Press.

Update at 2 p.m. ET: White House spokeswoman Dana Perino says President Bush doesn't plan to comment on the judge's decision. "Scooter Libby still has the right to appeal, and therefore the president will continue not to intervene in the judicial process," she says. "The president feels terribly for Scooter, his wife and their young children, and all that they're going through."

The Associated Press reports that Libby and Patrick Fitzgerald, the federal prosecutor, left the courtroom without speaking to reporters.

Update at 2:12 p.m. ET: As expected, Libby's lawyers plan to seek an emergency order from the appeals court staying execution of the judge's sentence, according to The Washington Post

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Valerie Plame does it for Waxman

Who's accepting the invitation to testify March 16 before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, headed by Henry Waxman?

That would be Ms. Valerie Plame Wilson, outed CIA agent and the center of the Irving Libby case. (please, don't call him SCOOTER). This should be one of the best tickets in town.....a NOT ANNA NICOLE blonde bombshell lighting up the camera with, hopefully, some juicy testimony about her hubby, her cover, her country.

AP The hearing will be the first public forum at which Plame has agreed to answer questions. At a news conference in July announcing a lawsuit against Libby and other Bush administration officials, Plame read a short statement but did not respond to questions.

"The trial proceedings raise questions about whether senior White House officials, including the vice president and Senior Adviser to the President Karl Rove, complied with the requirements governing the handling of classified information," Waxman wrote in his invitation to Fitzgerald.

"They also raise questions about whether the White House took appropriate remedial action following the leak and whether the existing requirements are sufficient to protect against future leaks," Waxman added. "Your perspective on these matters is important."

Cheney did it - He outed Valerie Plame

Who's in pretty big trouble now?

That would be Dick Cheney, the biggest dick of all, who outed Valerie Plame. Here's some real good Hardball video. PS: we've predicting Dick resigns and Condi becomes VP in postition to make a Presidential run. Bolton or Negroponte go to State.

Ari Fleischer and the death penalty

Who's afraid the death penalty could be applied to him now?

Ari Fleischer, former White House spokesperson, requested immunity in order to testify in the Libby trial. Here's why from Penisto:

It turns out Ari Fleischer will be the next witness, once court resumes Monday [Jan. 29, 2007]. The defense team wants to note — for the jury’s benefit — that Fleischer demanded immunity before he would agree to testify, because this might cast Fleischer’s testimony in a different light.

And here Fitzgerald makes a nice little chess move: Fine, he says, we can acknowledge that Fleischer sought immunity. As long as we explain why. Turns out Fleischer saw a story in the Washington Post suggesting that anyone who revealed Valerie Plame’s identity might be subject to the death penalty. And he freaked. Of course, if Fleischer was this worked up about it during the time period in question, that suggests Libby would have been, too. (Which again undermines the notion that Libby had much bigger fish to fry.)

Can we extrapolate from this that the normally uber-unctious Fleischer was feeling a wee bit — what’s the word — guilty?

Jury seated in Irving Lewis Libby's trial

Kiddie porn author and accused felony liar Irving Lewis Libby's jury is finally seated. (we refuse to call him Scooter).

We followed most of the events of last year regarding Libby, who is not only a kiddie porn author, but a master neo-con-artist and overall slimebag - who's mentor is sharp-shooter Dick Cheney.

We asked back then, and still believe, Bush may end up pardoning Libby, as we all shake our heads in disgust.

B A jury that includes four critics of the Bush administration's Iraq policies was seated Monday to try former White House aide "Scooter" Libby on charges of lying about what he told reporters about the wife of a prominent war opponent.

The jury of nine women and three men was seated after a nearly hour- long court session that was as silent as a professional chess match. Prosecutors and defense attorneys consulted in whispers, then handled papers to the clerk to exercise their 20 unexplained strikes of potential jurors.

Valerie Plame case uses Paula Jones legal precedent

Here's an obscure piece of information from a few months back that seems to be going unnoticed by most....let's go back to the 1990's when Paula Jones took on President Clinton and the Supreme court decided she could sue him while he was still in office. (talk about Activist Judges!)

In 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court said in a unanimous ruling that neither Clinton “or any other official has an immunity that extends beyond the scope of any action taken in an official capacity.”

Anyway, now that same precedent will be used to get Cheney et al to have to testify in the Valerie Plame outing case while they're still serving in office...Ha! The worm may indeed be turning!

PR A lawyer plans to use a legal precedent that allowed President Bill Clinton to be sued while in office to force Vice President Dick Cheney and presidential adviser Karl Rove to testify in a lawsuit brought by former CIA operative Valerie Plame and her husband.

California attorney Joseph Cotchett said he will ask a federal court to order Cheney, his ex-chief of staff Lewis “Scooter” Libby and Rove to testify in depositions about their role in disclosing her classified status.