The tale of Scooter and Jon

One of this blog's readers once said you'll never go broke betting against the logic of our president's actions.

So, as Dutch Reagan said, here he goes again.

George W. Bush, the hero of Iraq, decided Lewis (Scooter) Libby, the convicted liar whom many have called a traitor to this nation, shouldn't have to go to jail like a common criminal.

So, instead of having the guts to pardon the former Washington insider outright, he just squashes Libby's jail sentence. That keeps Libby as a convicted felon, which means he'll probably lose his law license. Libby will have to pay $250,000 in fines.

The odds-on betting is that Bush will pardon Scooter outright at the end of the president's term late next year.

Talk about playing to your audience.

The decision makes nobody happy, except David Brooks of the New York Times. The neocons and right-wingers of all religious stripes say Libby should have gone free. Liberals and centrists say the decision flies in the fact of us all being equal under the law.

And just before July 4 to boot, although the founding fathers would have laughed about women, slaves, Jews, Catholics and anybody who didn't own property being equal under the law.

Just to make it perfect, Bush now says he's not ruling out pardoning Libby later.

This was all done because Bush said Libby's sentence was excessive.

There is a man whose sentence really is excessive who has been languishing in federal prisons for more than 20 years. His name in Jonathan Pollard.

While Libby lied when he said he didn't out an undercover CIA operative who just happened to be the wife of a Bush enemy, Pollard, pictured at left, pleaded guilty to spying for Israel. He wasn't spying for Russia or China or Vietnam or even Iran. He was spying for Israel, one of the nation's most ardent friends in the world.

Pollard came clean about what he did. He pleaded guilty in a deal that was supposed to mean a reasonable sentence. The trial judge, however, threw the book at Pollard -- life without parole.

Pollard has been a Jewish cause since the 1986 travesty. The first President Bush was supposed to pardon him at the end of his term, but because of supposedly damning information brought up by Casper (Cap the Knife) Weinberger, the former defense secretary, he stayed in jail.

President Clinton was supposed to pardon Pollard as part of a Middle East peace deal. No dice.

George W. Bush, whose pardoning skills are now honed to a razor point, has been talking about pardoning Pollard, or at least springing him from jail. So far, nothing.

It's time to let this guy out.

To everyone who made it this far, have a wonderful Independence Day.

Until next time...