Return of the Elves

Never forget this immortal quote:
“You are doing a heck of a job, Brownie.”

So, Scooter Libby dropped the appeal of his conviction for obstruction of justice and lying to the grand jury. Gee, why would he do that? Maybe because Cheney’s leg-breakers got to Scooter and reminded him, in their own special way, that Cheney had miraculously dodged an indictment in that trial and that opening up the whole Valerie Plame can of worms again might drag the Veep back into the live and twitching vortex? Or maybe because the boys with the thick necks pointed out to Scooter that he really didn’t have enough life insurance - that he couldn’t possibly buy enough life insurance - but perhaps he would be interested in getting a special rider to his health policy from the VP, the NSA, the CIA, the Russian Mob, and the Crips? Well, it’s a crazy world. Who can say?

Elves scare me. So do clowns. But mostly the clowns. I really hope there are no FanAp clowns.

And, lo, the season of the Improbable Birth was upon them, and the people rejoiced and didst bring tacky and pointless gifts to bestow upon their loved ones - stupid tchotchkes, destined to hang in closets and gather dust of many years, and fitteth not the personalities nor fashion tastes of the receiver. All in the land were happy for 30 days and then the shadow of the High Lord VISA didst fall upon them. And they were sore afraid. Amen and amen.

Where did you see it, piglet? I went to the movie’s Web site, and neither Washington nor Oregon was on the Theatres list.

http://www.wwjbmovie.com/partners.html

Looks like fun, but one thing puzzles me. In the trailer, Rev. Billy apparently decries the fact that everything we’re buying is made overseas, but in the Save Christmas section of the site, we’re urged to buy from “artisans around the world.” Hmmm.

I say “Bah Humbug” anyway. What Would the Great Lobster Buy?

Time for the Tuesday comedy dump! Enjoy!

http://images.salon.com/comics/tomo/2007/12/10/tomo/story.jpg?sid13

Well, the AP article on the case today speculated pretty freely that his sentence commutation would not apply if he appealed and lost again…

Hedera, I’m no expert on criminal law (I could have stopped at “I’m no expert,” I suppose), but I don’t buy the argument that he dropped the appeal to protect the commutation of his sentence. If the appeal were resolved unfavorably before Bush leaves office, Bush could commute the sentence again, or commute any new sentence Libby might get before Bush’s term ends. And if the appeal remained pending as Bush’s term came to a close, Bush could easily pardon him then. Either way, Libby’s effectively off the hook.

I still think one rationale (perhaps not the only one) was to let the whole controversy die a quiet death, if that’s possible. But who knows?

Gary, all I mean is that an appeal requires considerable work - preparing the record of proceedings in the trial court and writing briefs - all of which becomes public record (again) and all of which serves as fodder for anyone who wants to make an issue of it. You can’t take an appeal without filing briefs, and briefs include citations to the evidence introduced at trial and legal arguments and the like … all of which underscores what Libby was found guilty of doing, and quite likely what others around Libby were doing at the time … including Dick! Cheney, Karl Rove, and mebbe even Li’l George himself.

So, dropping the appeal means no more public filings by Scooter and his lawyers, or by the prosecution for that matter, which may be preferable than reliving the entire affair in a very public way. All the more so given that McClellan’s book is likely to embarrass all these jamokes, seems to me.

And, kidding aside, while the general public may have a short memory a lot of us don’t … and with an election year coming on, I suspect the less said about the Plame matter the better, from the Republicans’ point of view.

Anyway, it’s just a theory.

I hear ya, Gary.

Dave v.E., I’m not an expert on criminal law either. The actual implication in the AP article was that if Scooter were to appeal and lose, he might not get another pardon or commutation or whatever… I think the conclusion that nobody wants any more public filings about this is the right one.

I did ALL of my Christmas shopping buying craft products from artisans around the world! The place: Ten Thousand Villages, a store on Park Avenue in Winter Park, Florida. There are three full-time employees, and the rest of the staff are all volunteers. Winter Park was founded by northeastern liberals who found a pleasant home among the locals, and from that evolved a very upscale town which still somehow has decent tendencies and a gem of a liberal arts college, Rollins, and one of the best high schools in Florida, my alma mater Winter Park High School. Neither the town nor the high school are without their faults, especially some of the civicly retarded city politicos, who when The Last Temptation of Christ was loose in theaters passed an ordinance prohibiting its screening within the city limits. But on balance, the place is a cut above, at least for a Southern town, and the wealthy are not, as a group, complete assholes.