PARDON SCOOTER & HANG PARIS

News from the legal world this past week leads me to think the world has turned upside down. Two miscarriages of justice in the same week are more shock than any conservative should have to endure.
Let's start with Scooter. To begin with, jockeying a desk in Langley is not covert. Appearing in a Vanity Fair photo spread is not covert. There was no underlying crime. Ms. Plame and her husband have been thoroughly and repeatedly proven to have been at least contradictory in their assorted statements. Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald couldn't prove any element of the alleged revelation that was the basis for the investigation. "Special" in this case means "rides the short bus". Since the probe revealed nothing, Scooter was selected for prosecution because his memory of conversations differs from that of Tim Russert. And since he was the goat, the punishment exceeded the crime. Thirty months seems a bit excessive to me, especially for a guy with no prior record. President Bush should fully and immediately pardon Mr. Libby. The President has nothing to lose: he certainly can't be concerned about approval ratings or angering the opposition.
Now on to Paris. I normally wouldn't comment on Ms. Hilton, but her release early from jail to home confinement burns by backside. What we have is a spoiled little rich girl who has never known struggle or strife. Everything she has was presented to her at birth on a silver platter with no strings. She has become known originally for appearing in a night vision video that was far from decent. Now, after having been sentenced to 23 days in jail, she has been released after only three. The L.A. Sheriff was fuzzy on the reason, citing a "medical problem". I don't even know where to start here. This is a classic example of the rich getting special treatment from the justice system, another case that points to a dual system of justice: one for the rich, and another for the rest of us. The system is heavily weighted in the direction women to begin with, and adding money gives Paris a double chance of once again escaping responsibility for her actions. The whole situation makes me ill. The voters of L.A. County should take whatever action is necessary to remove the sheriff and anyone else involved in her release. Wouldn't you love to see a mob of regular folks drag her back to jail? I think tarring and feathering might be appropriate in this case. Paris now represents many of the things that are wrong with our nation, and will no doubt spin events to maximize her publicity. She is famous for being famous, but now she's infamous and deplorable. Poor little heiress.

JINGOCON