Some Depressing Links

I got home tonight and started my perusal of web sites for what was happening today, and it just seemed to get more depressing the more I read.

One of the first things I ran into was a post by Micheal Yon on a horrific find when he wen into a Iraqi village with an Iraqi army unit. It's not pretty what the al-queda "freedom fighters" left behind. I'll let Micheal explain: Bless the Beasts and Children.

I then got to read about an insider's view of the TSA and the reasons you get to stand in lines forever with your shoes off to get on a plane: Knee-Jerk From The DC Jerks Again.

There was some good news today, even if it was a half-assed attempt of doing the right thing: Bush commutes Libby sentence.

Half-assed in that Libby should have been pardoned for being convicted of a non-crime, but the fine still has to be paid (this will be covered by donations), and he will lose his law license due to the conviction.

Ball-less George is guessing that by commuting the sentence, he gets the right off his back, but by not pardoning Libby, he will still look like he isn't completely caving in.

Didn't work.

And for those of you who think this is a "travesty of justice", just keep in mind Sandy Pantsburglar and...

Clinton's commuted the sentences of

16 members of FALN, a violent Puerto Rican nationalist group that set off 120 bombs in the United States mostly in New York City and Chicago, convicted for conspiracies to commit robbery, bomb-making, and sedition, as well as for firearms and explosives violations, and:

Carlos A. Vignali had his sentence for cocaine trafficking commuted, after serving 6 of 15 years in federal prison.

Susan McDougal, who had already completed her sentence, was pardoned for her role in the Whitewater scandal; McDougal had served 18 months on contempt charges for refusing to testify about Clinton's role.

Dan Rostenkowski, a former Democratic Congressman convicted in the Congressional Post Office Scandal.

Roger Clinton, the president's half-brother, on drug charges after having served the entire sentence more than a decade before. Roger Clinton would be charged with drunk driving and disorderly conduct in an unrelated incident within a year of the pardon.

And by all means lets remember this upstanding citizen: Marc Rich, a fugitive, was pardoned of tax evasion, after clemency pleas from Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, among many other international luminaries. Denise Rich, Marc's former wife, was a close friend of the Clintons and had made substantial donations to both Clinton's library and Hillary's Senate campaign.-- One company from which Rich bought crude during this period was a front for extremist Russian and Ukrainian organizations. All were pro-Saddam; one was a staunch supporter of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il. Another company was tied to a major money launderer for Saddam.

To reach these conclusions, BusinessWeek traced crucial connections from a number of official inquiries and documents. Key among these documents: shipping tables from the Middle East Economic Survey (MEES), the preeminent authority on tanker activity in the Middle East. These detail the ports, tankers, destinations, and buyers of Iraqi crude. Other insights came from a 2004 CIA report on Iraq, data from Switzerland's Federal Commercial Registry Office, and the many inquiries launched into Oil-for-Food. The Justice Dept., six congressional committees, a U.N. commission, Morgenthau's office, and several countries, including Switzerland, are all investigating the program. Extensive interviews with dozens of oil traders, government investigators, and energy experts around the globe helped form a clearer picture of how the network operates.