SWEET DREAMS, DICK CHENEY!

Dick Cheney can sleep tonight. He no longer has to worry about Scooter singing like the proverbial canary, facing years behind bars, clad in the prison togs that sag forlornly toward the ankles. Yes, Dick Cheney is off the hook. He can breathe freely, as can Scooter Libby.

It must be nice to be a member of the Political Rat Pack, all of them having a ball protecting each other's backs and greasing each other's palms, in Washington, D.C. It isn't enough that we learn that some 40,000 Illegal Aliens are employed by the U. S. Government in various functions, while millions of Americans are out of work or underemployed, but now we have to face the fact that there is no way any one of those corrupt souls that are leading our way is going to pay one shilling for their misdeeds.

Scooter Libby, in my opinion, knew that he would walk free. He walked with an assurance that a man facing years in prison just doesn't do. Not even Abramoff did that, him with the hat and the tubby facade. His head was down. He accepted his fate. Not so Scooter. He did not walk, but rather strutted along, a small smile on his face. Nice fellow, Scooter, I am sure of that. I don't know how he became embroiled with Cheney. What pride he must have had in his job, aide to one of the most powerful men in the world....in fact, perhaps THE most powerful man in the world. But then, he became the scapegoat. While the rest of them hid behind confusion and the reporters spoke the truth about their various phone calls about Valerie Plame, Scooter did what all good Republican loyalists do these days, he lied through his teeth.

You can lie to your wife or hubby. You can lie to your kids. It may upset them or, in some cases, lead to separation, but don't lie to a federal Grand Jury. That's skating on thin ice. That's playing with fire. That's sure to get you time in the Slammer. If you are summoned before a Grand Jury, tell the truth and face the music. But Scooter lied to protect his boss.

What a dilemma for Bush. If he pardoned Libby, he would risk losing the next election for his Party, and this is the most important issue in the world, even more important than all of those kids dying in Iraq. If he didn't pardon him, poor old Dick would spend restless nights because, although Scooter is the loyal sort, one couldn't expect him to bask behind bars without retaliation, retaliation being the middle name of most of the fools in our government these days.

So, Bush hit upon a great idea. He would take his vacation in Maine, fishing with the Russian, Putin, and face the Scooter problem on his return. He and Putin could talk about that missile site that Bush wants to erect in Europe and try to get his good buddy and fishin' podner, Vladdie Boy, to agree to it. Putin wants to direct the place the missile site is erected and he caught the biggest fish, but a good time was had by all, without a thought to those tired soldiers crawling around in the blood-soaked sands of Iraq.

So Bush decided to give Scooter a "commutation" from that terrible, excessive sentence. This would not please the Republican Base entirely, although it is a step in the right direction, but it would ease Cheney's fears and placate those energetic folks like Fred Thompson, who sits on the Board of the Free Scooter Immediately Or Else group.

So, now Scooter is free, but Bush pointed out that the poor guy is still under a cloud. Not as big a cloud as the one Patrick Fitzgerald stated was hanging over the Vice President's office, but a cloud nonetheless. Maybe a small pretty cloud, one of those fluffy white ones that look like lambs. Scooter, the President said, had to live with disgrace and humiliation, his wife and children suffering.

It was enough to make a person weep for all of those people sitting in cells, guilty of murder, rape and robbery, with suffering wives and humiliated children, living under a cloud of dishonor. Perhaps we should commute all of their sentences. But wait! We can't do that. We have two Border Guards in prison for eleven years. They shot a drug smuggler, who then testified against them. We can't commute the sentences of such criminals! How dare them disrupt the activities of a bona fide drug smuggler just trying to go about his business! To hell with THEIR wives and children. Let 'em suffer!

Scooter Libby has to pay a $250,000 fine, which will not even make a dent in his Defense Fund. He still faces appeals and all sorts of legalities, but Bush has not ruled out a complete pardon. The American public has been quite horrified over Amnesty for Scooter, especially coming as it did right after they defeated Amnesty for twelve million Illegal Immigrants. So, in retaliation (didn't I tell you about Retaliation?, the Republicans have been busily counting pardons given by other Presidents, and we all know that the only former President important to Republicans is Bill Clinton. There is no other former President, if you are a Republican. Only Bill Clinton.

It seems that Bill Clinton pardoned some 400 people. I think he spent his last night in the Oval Office issuing pardons, willy-nilly, and I think he did it to anger and irritate Republicans. Anyway, they are busy leafing through records and history books to prove that George Bush is not as prolific a pardoner as Bill Clinton. However, one could point out that George Bush has been busy causing turmoil in the Middle East, so the race might be called even.

The thing that sickens one is the fact that this commutation is blatant Cronyism, another example of the arrogance of George Bush and his Bunch. It isn't that anyone really cares if Scooter Libby goes free, even though it would have been nice to see him in those Scrubs, looking properly repentant. The thing that makes one sick is the fact that they do stick together like Birds of a Feather, secretive and sneaky, playing "Catch me, if you can!" and winning the game every damned time, by hook or crook, usually the latter.

Scooter Libby! Cheney! Bush! Bah! I'd like to see the whole damned bunch of them in jail, which may well be where they all belong!