Frank Rich, The New York Times, July 8, 2007 There was never any question that President Bush would grant amnesty to Scooter Libby, the man who knows too much about the lies told to sell the war in Iraq. The only questions were when, and how, Mr. Bush would buy Mr. Libby’s silence. Now we have the answers, and they’re at least as incriminating as the act itself. They reveal the continued ferocity of a White House cover-up and expose the true character of a commander in chief whose tough-guy shtick can no longer camouflage his fundamental cowardice. The timing of the president’s Libby intervention was a surprise. Many assumed he would mimic the sleazy 11th-hour examples of most recent vintage: his father’s pardon of six Iran-contra defendants who might have dragged him into that scandal, and Bill Clinton’s pardon of the tax fugitive Marc Rich, the former husband of a major campaign contributor and the former client of none other than the ubiquitous Mr. Libby. But the ever-impetuous current President Bush acted 18 months before his scheduled eviction from the White House. Even more surprising, he did so when the Titanic that is his presidency had just hit two fresh icebergs, the demise of the immigration bill and the growing revolt of Republican senators against his strategy in Iraq. That Mr. Bush, already suffering historically low approval ratings, would invite another hit has been attributed in Washington to his desire to placate what remains of his base. By this logic, he had nothing left to lose. He didn’t care if he looked like an utter hypocrite, giving his crony a freer ride than Paris Hilton and violating the white-collar sentencing guidelines set by his own administration. He had to throw a bone to the last grumpy old white guys watching Bill O’Reilly in a bunker. But if those die-hards haven’t deserted him by now, why would Mr. Libby’s incarceration be the final straw? They certainly weren’t whipped into a frenzy by coverage on Fox News, which tended to minimize the leak case as a non-event. Mr. Libby, faceless and voiceless to most Americans, is no Ollie North, and he provoked no right-wing firestorm akin to the uproars over Terri Schiavo, Harriet Miers or “amnesty” for illegal immigrants. Read More Here

Michelle Tsai, Slate Magazine, July 6, 2007 I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, paid a $250,000 fine on Thursday, part of his punishment for lying to investigators about the leaked identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame. The president commuted his 30-month prison sentence on Tuesday, and so far hasn't ruled out a full pardon. If Libby gets pardoned, can he get his money back? Technically, yes, but it won't be easy. Once a convicted criminal pays a fine, the treasury can't issue a refund—even if that person is later exonerated. For Libby to get back his 250 Gs, Congress would need to pass a law to make the funds available. Or it's possible that President Bush could issue a customized presidential pardon that specifies a refund. Libby paid by cashier's check, but the fine didn't necessarily come out of his own pocket. There's no law that says you have to pay with your own money; in fact, anyone could have walked to the U.S. district court for the District of Columbia and paid Libby's fine for him outright. The money could have come from Libby's legal-defense fund (which has $5 million in its coffers) so long as the fund's trustee agrees. While Libby's personal finances are a bit of a mystery today, that may soon change: According to the terms of his supervised release, he's required to report all income of more than $500. Read More Here

No Limitations. A 10-year-old boy decided to learn Judo despite the fact that he had lost his left arm in a terrible car accident. The boy began lessons with an old Japanese judo master. The boy was doing well, so he couldn't understand why, after three months of training, the master had taught him only one move. "Sensei," the boy finally said, "Shouldn't I be learning more moves?" "This is the only move you know, but this is the only move you'll ever need to know," the sensei replied. Not quite understanding, but believing in his teacher, the boy kept training. Several months later, the sensei took the boy to his first tournament. Surprising himself, the boy easily won his first two matches. The third match proved to be more difficult, but after some time, his opponent became impatient and charged; the boy deftly used his one move to win the match. Still amazed by his success, the boy was now in the finals. This time, his opponent was bigger, stronger, and more experienced. For awhile, the boy appeared to be completely outclassed. Concerned that the boy might get hurt, the referee called a time-out. He was about to stop the match when the sensei intervened. "No," the sensei insisted, "Let him continue." Soon after the match resumed, his opponent made a critical mistake: he dropped his guard. Instantly, the boy used his move to pin him. The boy had won the match and the tournament. On the way home, the boy and sensei reviewed every move in each and every match.Then the boy summoned the courage to ask what was really on his mind. "Sensei, how did I win the tournament with only one move?" "You won for two reasons," the sensei answered. "First, you've almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. And second, the only known defense for that move is for your opponent to grab your left arm." The boy's biggest weakness had become his biggest strength. Sometimes we feel that we have certain weaknesses and we blame others, the circumstances and our self for it, but we never think that our weakness can become our strength one day. Each of us is special, so never think you have any weakness, never think of pride or pain, just live your life to its fullest and extract the best out of it. You have powers you never dreamed of. You can do things you never thought you could do. There are no limitations in what you can do except the limitations of your own mind.

On conservative talk radio I heard that the Bush administration, in its ongoing effort to create open borders, is trying to change labeling so people can’t tell what country products come from. After seeing the way GW behaved concerning the latest amnesty bill in Congress, I believe it. Below are some examples of us being poisoned by Communist China. GW’s administration doesn’t care. They want open borders. Period. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today warned consumers to avoid using tubes of toothpaste labeled as made in Communist China, and issued an import alert to prevent toothpaste containing the poisonous chemical diethylene glycol (DEG) from entering the United States. The Communist Chinese say media exaggerating food safety problem (Kyodo) _ China's food safety problems are partly a result of misunderstandings brought about by exaggerations in media reports, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Tuesday. Qin Gang's comments at a regular press conference come as some countries have warned its citizens about tainted toothpaste and pet food originating from China. "One aspect of this is a misunderstanding which in large part is a result of media exaggeration," Qin said. "That creates a psychology of fear." Truly problematic products are "extremely few," he said. Most recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it was imposing an import control on select farm-raised seafood from China, saying it will detain those products at the border until the shipments are proven to be free of residues from drugs that are not approved in the United States.