Bush also commuted the prison sentences of John Edward Forte of North Brunswick, N.J., and James Russell Harris of Detroit, Mich. Both were convicted of cocaine offenses.
Forte, a well-known hip hop artist, worked with the Fugees, Wyclef Jean and Herbie Hancock.
Pardon orders never give a reason, but NBC News' Pete Williams reported that in Forte's case, it is likely the mandatory minimum sentences required in drug cases. Here's how fans of Forte's put it on a Web site dedicated to him:
"John Forte's life was forever changed in July of 2000. He agreed to transport a package, and in turn was arrested on a drug trafficking charge. He did not accept the plea bargain offered him, as he maintained that he was innocent of the charges against him.
"In 2001, John Forté stood trial in a Texas court and was convicted of this non-violent crime. It was his first offense. Due to the outdated mandatory minimum sentencing laws currently in place, he received the only prison term available for the judge to hand down — 14 years in a federal penitentiary. John is not eligible to be released until he is at least 38 years old."
Under the Constitution, the president’s power to issue pardons is absolute and cannot be overruled.Some high-profile individuals, such as Michael Milken, are seeking a pardon on securities fraud charges. Two politicians convicted of public corruption — former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, R-Calif., and four-term Democratic Louisiana Gov. Edwin W. Edwards — are asking Bush to shorten their prison terms.
One hot topic of discussion related to pardons is whether Bush might decide to issue pre-emptive pardons before he leaves office to government employees who authorized or engaged in harsh interrogations of suspected terrorists in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Some constitutional scholars and human rights groups want the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama to investigate possible war crimes.
If Bush were to pardon anyone involved, it would provide protection against criminal charges, particularly for people who were following orders or trying to protect the nation with their actions. But it would also be highly controversial.
At the same time, Obama advisers say there is little — if any — chance that his administration would bring criminal charges.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Obama's victory, Democratic gains will change Washington agenda
Democrats will have firm control of the White House and both houses of Congress. With voters clamoring for change, the party will have a tall task to live up to expectations.
By Janet Hook
11:10 AM PST, November 5, 2008
Reporting from Washington -- The nation's capital woke up today to a political landscape upended by voters clamoring for change, delivering to Democrats more raw power than they have wielded in more than a quarter of a century.
With Barack Obama's election as president and Democrats' gains in the House and Senate, the party is now poised to rewrite the capital's agenda and interrupt a generation of conservative dominance.
"There is a wave of hope that swept the country," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told National Public Radio. "We had a historic mandate; not a mandate for any political party or any ideology, but a mandate to get over those things that divide us and focus on getting things done."
The victory unleashes pent-up demand for a host of Democratic causes, including expanding labor union rights, providing universal healthcare and raising taxes on the wealthy. Conservative politicians and interest groups who have been allied with President Bush, for eight years carried by Washington's political tide, now have to swim upstream.
For Democrats, this abrupt power promotion presents vast risks as well as the opportunity to begin undoing the legacy left by eight years of the Bush administration.
But Obama and the expanded Democratic majority in Congress are shouldering a big burden as they try to satisfy the enormous demand for change in a nation where, according to the latest Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll, 80% or more say the country is on the wrong track.
"Obama has to show that he is prepared immediately to take aggressive steps to deal with the economy," said Matt Bennett, vice president of the centrist Democratic group Third Way. "But Obama is a moderate. People who ignore that do so at their peril."
Given the choice between cautious pragmatism and boldness, the party's left wing has high expectations.
"His instincts will be to be very cautious, but the economic situation gives him no choice but to be bold," said Bob Borosage, head of the liberal Campaign for America's Future.
But Al From, president of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, said he was encouraged by reports that Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), a former advisor to President Clinton, would be tapped as Obama's chief of staff. A Democratic official on Capitol Hill told The Times this morning that Obama has offered the post but that Emanuel, chairman of the House Democratic Campaign Committee, has not yet accepted.
"He took on all the hard issues," From said of Emanuel, citing the Clinton-era crime legislation, trade agreements and welfare reform, "the things where Clinton had to form bipartisan coalitions."
Hook is a Times staff writer.
janet.hook@latimes.com
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Friday, October 31, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Ugly election incidents show lingering U.S. racism
By Carey Gillam
KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - Two weeks before an election that could install the first black U.S. president, scattered ugly incidents have reflected a deep residue of racism among some segments of white America.
A cardboard likeness of Barack Obama was found strung from fishing wire at a university, the Democratic presidential nominee's face was depicted on mock food stamps, the body of a black bear was left at another university with Obama posters attached to it.
Though the incidents are sporadic and apparently isolated, they stirred up memories of the violent racial past of a country where segregation and lynchings only ended within the last 50 years.
And some feared that Obama could be a target for people who reject him on racial grounds alone. The Illinois senator leads Republican rival John McCain in polls ahead of the November 4 election and has a big following in many sections of Americans, from liberals to conservatives, black and white, poor and wealthy.
"Many whites feel they are losing their country right before their eyes," said Mark Potok, who directs the Southern Poverty Law Center that monitors hate groups. "What we are seeing at this moment is the beginning of a real backlash."
Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod said the incidents were disappointing but he said there were fewer than some had predicted.
"We've always acknowledged that race is not something that's been eradicated from our politics," said Axelrod. "But we've never felt that it would be an insuperable barrier and I don't think that it will be."
The latest incident occurred on Monday when the body of bear cub was found on the campus of Western Carolina University in North Carolina. Obama campaign signs were placed around the dead animal's head. School officials said it was a prank.
Earlier a cardboard likeness of Obama was strung up with fishing wire from a tree at a university in Oregon and an Ohio man hung a figure bearing an Obama sign from a tree in his yard. The man told local media he didn't want to see an African-American running the country.
ANGRY INDIVIDUALS
Potok said the displays of racism did not appear orchestrated as part of a campaign of racial intimidation, but were rather the acts of angry individuals. Their voices are often heard in radio call-back shows or letters to editors.
Many Americans "see the rise of minority rights, gay rights, women's rights as a threat to the world they grew up in and that their parents grew up in. They see huge demographic changes," he said.
"They see jobs disappearing to other countries, and now they see a man who is African American and who will very likely become president of the United States. For some of those people that symbolizes the end of the world as they know it."
He estimated there were as many as 800 white supremacy or nationalist groups in the United States, with at least 100,000 as "an inner core" of membership and many more on the fringes.
One such group, the League of American Patriots, last month distributed literature about why a "black ruler" would destroy the country.
Michigan State University professor Ronald Hall, writing in his new book "Racism in the 21st Century," said racism remains one of the most pressing U.S. social problems, though it now takes forms that are more subtle than the lynchings and mob violence seen decades ago in some parts of the country.
Some groups tagged with racist acts deny the charge.
In California, a Republican group said it intended no racial overtone when its October newsletter depicted a fake food stamp bearing a likeness of Obama's head on a donkey's body surrounded by fried chicken, watermelon and other images evoking insulting stereotypes about African-Americans.
Some acts have targeted not Obama's black heritage -- his father was Kenyan and his white mother was from Kansas -- but the false notion that he is a Muslim.
A derogatory billboard in West Plains, Mo., went up last month showing a caricature of Obama wearing a turban.
"There are a lot of Republicans and McCain supporters who find it hard to believe that a black guy whose middle name is Hussein is going to be the next president of the United States," said David Bositis, senior research associate at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.
David Wolff, a 52-year-old white Pennsylvania voter who plans to cast his ballot for Obama, said he commonly hears racist comments and thinks such sentiments are deeply rooted across America.
"One thing that could speed up the eradication of racism would be to have a charismatic, inspirational, transformational, generational black president," he said.
(Additional reporting by Deborah Charles and Matthew Bigg; Editing by David Storey)
KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - Two weeks before an election that could install the first black U.S. president, scattered ugly incidents have reflected a deep residue of racism among some segments of white America.
A cardboard likeness of Barack Obama was found strung from fishing wire at a university, the Democratic presidential nominee's face was depicted on mock food stamps, the body of a black bear was left at another university with Obama posters attached to it.
Though the incidents are sporadic and apparently isolated, they stirred up memories of the violent racial past of a country where segregation and lynchings only ended within the last 50 years.
And some feared that Obama could be a target for people who reject him on racial grounds alone. The Illinois senator leads Republican rival John McCain in polls ahead of the November 4 election and has a big following in many sections of Americans, from liberals to conservatives, black and white, poor and wealthy.
"Many whites feel they are losing their country right before their eyes," said Mark Potok, who directs the Southern Poverty Law Center that monitors hate groups. "What we are seeing at this moment is the beginning of a real backlash."
Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod said the incidents were disappointing but he said there were fewer than some had predicted.
"We've always acknowledged that race is not something that's been eradicated from our politics," said Axelrod. "But we've never felt that it would be an insuperable barrier and I don't think that it will be."
The latest incident occurred on Monday when the body of bear cub was found on the campus of Western Carolina University in North Carolina. Obama campaign signs were placed around the dead animal's head. School officials said it was a prank.
Earlier a cardboard likeness of Obama was strung up with fishing wire from a tree at a university in Oregon and an Ohio man hung a figure bearing an Obama sign from a tree in his yard. The man told local media he didn't want to see an African-American running the country.
ANGRY INDIVIDUALS
Potok said the displays of racism did not appear orchestrated as part of a campaign of racial intimidation, but were rather the acts of angry individuals. Their voices are often heard in radio call-back shows or letters to editors.
Many Americans "see the rise of minority rights, gay rights, women's rights as a threat to the world they grew up in and that their parents grew up in. They see huge demographic changes," he said.
"They see jobs disappearing to other countries, and now they see a man who is African American and who will very likely become president of the United States. For some of those people that symbolizes the end of the world as they know it."
He estimated there were as many as 800 white supremacy or nationalist groups in the United States, with at least 100,000 as "an inner core" of membership and many more on the fringes.
One such group, the League of American Patriots, last month distributed literature about why a "black ruler" would destroy the country.
Michigan State University professor Ronald Hall, writing in his new book "Racism in the 21st Century," said racism remains one of the most pressing U.S. social problems, though it now takes forms that are more subtle than the lynchings and mob violence seen decades ago in some parts of the country.
Some groups tagged with racist acts deny the charge.
In California, a Republican group said it intended no racial overtone when its October newsletter depicted a fake food stamp bearing a likeness of Obama's head on a donkey's body surrounded by fried chicken, watermelon and other images evoking insulting stereotypes about African-Americans.
Some acts have targeted not Obama's black heritage -- his father was Kenyan and his white mother was from Kansas -- but the false notion that he is a Muslim.
A derogatory billboard in West Plains, Mo., went up last month showing a caricature of Obama wearing a turban.
"There are a lot of Republicans and McCain supporters who find it hard to believe that a black guy whose middle name is Hussein is going to be the next president of the United States," said David Bositis, senior research associate at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.
David Wolff, a 52-year-old white Pennsylvania voter who plans to cast his ballot for Obama, said he commonly hears racist comments and thinks such sentiments are deeply rooted across America.
"One thing that could speed up the eradication of racism would be to have a charismatic, inspirational, transformational, generational black president," he said.
(Additional reporting by Deborah Charles and Matthew Bigg; Editing by David Storey)
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Africa: Time to Return to Our Original African Values
Ray Morphy
One thing that is clear from the economic meltdown ravaging the entire world today is that the age of consumerism is almostover. And accompanying the death of consumerism is the collapse of the false and contrived socio-economic system called capitalism. Capitalism is false because it is abnormal to the natural behaviour of the majority of the human race. It is incontrovertible that capitalism and its adjunct consumerism are both inventions of the modern man of the Western hemisphere. It is a system that has no foundation in the natural interactions and inclinations for mankind.
For most of the human race, communalism is the practice of natural tendency and preference. It is a system wherein most resources are owned communally and are used by everyone according to his need. Status in such a society is not indicated by acquisitions and material symbols; rather, people are respected as a result of their contribution to the welfare of the whole group. There is no pressure, as it were, for people to exploit either the society or the environment. Each man is more or less his brother's keeper. It is the practice of communalism that has assisted humanity to survive this long. But with the coming of the Judaeo-Christian ideals of selfish concerns, egotistical acquisition and personal prosperity or salvation, emphasis moved from the group to the individual. Consequently, man lost his natural God-given inclination to good neighbourliness and kindness.
Here in Africa, man, from time immemorial, has lived in tune with the environment. The activities of our ancestors were largely in tandem with the nature of the earth and its sustenance. Our natural way of life neither hurt the earth nor depleted its resources. Our lifestyles and world view conditioned us to acquire only what we needed, unlike the Western model where men not only took what they did not need, they also killed any tribes or people who stood in their way, hence the genocidal wars of this world. Of course, we Africans had battles with neighbours, but they were mere skirmishes that were quickly settled. Nowhere in the history books is it stated that indigenous communities engaged in genocide, until African people began to adopt the decadent materialistic systems of the Western hordes. As a matter of fact, morally, our ancestors were in advance of the West. Today, it is clear that the Western acquisitive model is the woe of the world and would bring the earth to ruin unless mankind abandons that unworkable self- destructive social model wherein status is indicated by material symbols. Clearly, human development need not have such massive negative consequences on the ecosystem and humanity as is being felt around the world. Consider the threat of global warming and the economic and financial meltdown. Mankind has progressed through several epochs, but no other period has mustered a threat higher than the current one the white race constructed and foisted on the world.
Nevertheless, we in Nigeria must decide whether to continue to follow the failed Western model or return to the African communal model that is hallmarked by hospitality and a concern for one another. The communal model of life developed by our ancestors places score on human beings rather than on material things. That is why a truly rich man in the African sense is the man who has a large number of people in his family, which includes his children, wives and relatives. A man's strength in that system is defined by his ability to organise, farm and dance. It also includes his generosity during communal feasts and festivals. Men assisted one another in building houses, in farm work and burials.
Inbuilt was a welfare system in which the weak and the sick were cared for by their own relatives. Nobody was really poor because anyone could get food to eat and receive social support from his age grade, his clan or kindred.
How many Nigerians today realise that, in the true African communal setting that our forefathers left for us, there were no jails because there was no crime the way we see it today? Misdemeanours were kept in check by a strong taboo system to which everyone in the community subscribed, unlike in the adopted Western model where only the weak get punished for social infractions. Stealing, murder and looting were unheard of in these shores until the white man introduced his decadent humanity of materialism. Only the old can recall this.
In those days, buyers took what they needed and placed the appropriate sum indicated in the display tray. Try that now and even the neighbourhood kids would steal you blind. Our value system has gone down so abysmally because we blindly adopted the white man's crazy materialism.
We must find a way of regaining the much more sensible values of our forefathers that we have erroneously abandoned. Had we stayed with our own value systems, there is no way our society would have degenerated to this level where the self is the denominator of rulership.
No way would an authentic African see any sense in buying a car for N50 million when many in his family cannot afford school fees. It would have been sacrilegious for anyone to approve N100 million for a house renovation where many people live in cartons and zinc houses. In the African moral system, such a person would be prayed for and sacrifices ordered to cleanse the land. For me, there is no choice except for us to return to our roots, both in our moral conduct and religious practices. That way, our society would regain the respect for life rather than the current situation where people are willing to kill in order to be rich.
One thing that is clear from the economic meltdown ravaging the entire world today is that the age of consumerism is almostover. And accompanying the death of consumerism is the collapse of the false and contrived socio-economic system called capitalism. Capitalism is false because it is abnormal to the natural behaviour of the majority of the human race. It is incontrovertible that capitalism and its adjunct consumerism are both inventions of the modern man of the Western hemisphere. It is a system that has no foundation in the natural interactions and inclinations for mankind.
For most of the human race, communalism is the practice of natural tendency and preference. It is a system wherein most resources are owned communally and are used by everyone according to his need. Status in such a society is not indicated by acquisitions and material symbols; rather, people are respected as a result of their contribution to the welfare of the whole group. There is no pressure, as it were, for people to exploit either the society or the environment. Each man is more or less his brother's keeper. It is the practice of communalism that has assisted humanity to survive this long. But with the coming of the Judaeo-Christian ideals of selfish concerns, egotistical acquisition and personal prosperity or salvation, emphasis moved from the group to the individual. Consequently, man lost his natural God-given inclination to good neighbourliness and kindness.
Here in Africa, man, from time immemorial, has lived in tune with the environment. The activities of our ancestors were largely in tandem with the nature of the earth and its sustenance. Our natural way of life neither hurt the earth nor depleted its resources. Our lifestyles and world view conditioned us to acquire only what we needed, unlike the Western model where men not only took what they did not need, they also killed any tribes or people who stood in their way, hence the genocidal wars of this world. Of course, we Africans had battles with neighbours, but they were mere skirmishes that were quickly settled. Nowhere in the history books is it stated that indigenous communities engaged in genocide, until African people began to adopt the decadent materialistic systems of the Western hordes. As a matter of fact, morally, our ancestors were in advance of the West. Today, it is clear that the Western acquisitive model is the woe of the world and would bring the earth to ruin unless mankind abandons that unworkable self- destructive social model wherein status is indicated by material symbols. Clearly, human development need not have such massive negative consequences on the ecosystem and humanity as is being felt around the world. Consider the threat of global warming and the economic and financial meltdown. Mankind has progressed through several epochs, but no other period has mustered a threat higher than the current one the white race constructed and foisted on the world.
Nevertheless, we in Nigeria must decide whether to continue to follow the failed Western model or return to the African communal model that is hallmarked by hospitality and a concern for one another. The communal model of life developed by our ancestors places score on human beings rather than on material things. That is why a truly rich man in the African sense is the man who has a large number of people in his family, which includes his children, wives and relatives. A man's strength in that system is defined by his ability to organise, farm and dance. It also includes his generosity during communal feasts and festivals. Men assisted one another in building houses, in farm work and burials.
Inbuilt was a welfare system in which the weak and the sick were cared for by their own relatives. Nobody was really poor because anyone could get food to eat and receive social support from his age grade, his clan or kindred.
How many Nigerians today realise that, in the true African communal setting that our forefathers left for us, there were no jails because there was no crime the way we see it today? Misdemeanours were kept in check by a strong taboo system to which everyone in the community subscribed, unlike in the adopted Western model where only the weak get punished for social infractions. Stealing, murder and looting were unheard of in these shores until the white man introduced his decadent humanity of materialism. Only the old can recall this.
In those days, buyers took what they needed and placed the appropriate sum indicated in the display tray. Try that now and even the neighbourhood kids would steal you blind. Our value system has gone down so abysmally because we blindly adopted the white man's crazy materialism.
We must find a way of regaining the much more sensible values of our forefathers that we have erroneously abandoned. Had we stayed with our own value systems, there is no way our society would have degenerated to this level where the self is the denominator of rulership.
No way would an authentic African see any sense in buying a car for N50 million when many in his family cannot afford school fees. It would have been sacrilegious for anyone to approve N100 million for a house renovation where many people live in cartons and zinc houses. In the African moral system, such a person would be prayed for and sacrifices ordered to cleanse the land. For me, there is no choice except for us to return to our roots, both in our moral conduct and religious practices. That way, our society would regain the respect for life rather than the current situation where people are willing to kill in order to be rich.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell: "I'll be voting for Senator Obama" By Christopher Hass - Oct 19th, 2008 at 11:44 am EDT
From the transcript:
So when I look at all of this and I think back to my Army career. We’ve got two individuals, either one of them could be a good president. But which is the president that we need now? Which is the individual that serves the needs of the nation for the next period of time? And I come to the conclusion that because of his ability to inspire, because of the inclusive nature of his campaign, because he is reaching out all across America, because of who he is and his rhetorical abilities – and we have to take that into account – as well as his substance. He has both style and substance. He has met the standard of being a successful president, being an exceptional president. I think he is a transformational figure. He is a new generation coming in to the world, on to the world stage, on to the American stage. And for that reason, I’ll be voting for Senator Barack Obama.
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