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Get Out of Jail Free
By François Blumenfeld-Kouchner / June 14, 2007
I cheered with most of the world the return of Paris Hilton to jail (the issue of special treatment from the sheriff’s office is not over yet) — not because of any particular animosity against the celebrity, but rather from disgust at the despicable example celebrity DUI sets. While I am anxiously waiting for Jacques Chirac to confront the long line of prosecutors awaiting the obsolescence of his judicial immunity, a far more worrying trend in early release of criminals seems to be appearing: that of those convicted of crimes against humanity. Is it only because they are now old that we should release those imprisoned for such crimes?
Maurice Papon, a French official involved in the deportation of more than a thousand Jews, including women and children, was able to roam free after having served a minimal part of his sentence and without ever having been tried for his other crimes. A common feature of Papon and Nazi criminal Priebke (one of the main perpetrators of the Ardeatine Caves massacre), just released from an already lax house arrest, is that neither of the two ever expressed any remorse for their crimes. And it’s not like you could protest about it, either: Italy banned demonstrations over the pardon granted to Priebke, and France did not mind Papon being buried with a national decoration that had been officially taken away from him.
At least Hilton has the decency to claim that her jail time has shown her the error of her ways.
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oy vey i am embarrassed to report i didn’t even know the dude was Jewish.
Jews “in with the in crowd” in DC have not fared very well during the Bush years. Some administrations produce 4 or 8 years of Jews with a distinguished track record of public service and government-related activities.
Perhaps Scooter evaded my radar because of all the noisy echoes bouncing back from Jack Abramoff and the loopy Senator Lieberman.
Well … it could be worse. There were two Quaker presidents. Poor Mr. Hoover — a very brainy and honest gent — happened to be sitting at the Big Desk when the stock market crashed. And Nixon …….
My take on the clemency is that without it, Libby was vulnerable to pressure to make a deal with the special prosecutor for testimony against higher-ups in the White House.
Maybe Scooter is a real Team Player willing to keep his mouth shut and go to prison to protect his buddies.
But there’s a Mrs. Scooter, and perhaps she didn’t take any such Bush/Cheney Blood Oath. I wouldn’t want to have to explain to my wife why I have to do 2.5 years in federal prison, and why loyalty to my team prevents me from making a deal with the special prosecutor.
Sometimes wives, with kiddies, don’t fully understand these High Guy Loyalty Principles. A few wives of the Watergaters played significant off-page off-message roles that helped the whole conspiracy unravel.
I certainly don’t think that “good Jews” should stay out of government and politics; that’s totally the wrong message here. And even political ambition is not in itself a guaranteed inevitable corrupter of character and ethics.
But maybe, in US politics, there was and still lingers a Good Magic associated with the FDR New Deal ethnic coalition. Jews who entered public service and politics with that crowd have tended to retire with widespread admiration.
But Jews who got seduced into politics by the Nixon and Reagan crowd seem not to have fared nearly so well in public esteem.
Kissinger would seem to be a stellar counterexample — but there are about four countries where, if his plane touches down there, he’ll immediately be arrested and brought to trial, and it ain’t for unpaid parking tickets.
btw, re Lieberman — I’m a Vietnam-era Army draftee vet. Lieberman never served in the military. So how come I want the Iraq War to end yesterday, and this psycho is screaming for us to start a war against Iran?
I am sure Libby still considers himself a Jew. I am not surprised to find out that Jewcy refuses to print anything negative about Jews and/or neo-cons. Defend Wolfowitz! Ignore the whole Libby mess till he’s pardoned!
once someone allows himself to be called "Scooter" he renounces Judaism in principle and task.
I honestly don't see how this is connected in any way, shape or form to the content of my post. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
Do you want Bush to pardon Libby? Or is a miscarriage of justice okay when the criminal is Jewish? Funny how nothing has been written on Jewcy about Libby.
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