Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Elogio della compassione

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2120913,00.html
A president transformed
It is so moving to see how a willing executioner can soften into a man of
compassion - for cronies
Terry Jones
Saturday July 7, 2007
The Guardian
It has been a truly moving experience to witness the concern and compassion
the president of the United States can show towards a convicted felon.
Particularly someone accused of such grave offences as Lewis "Scooter"
Libby, Dick Cheney's former chief of staff. On March 6 2007 Libby was
convicted of obstruction of justice, making false statements to the FBI, and
twice committing perjury before a grand jury. According to the charge sheet,
Libby "did knowingly and corruptly endeavour to influence, obstruct and
impede the due administration of justice by misleading and deceiving the
grand jury". So it wasn't a case of absent-mindedness, then.
That is why George Bush's act of mercy is so inspiring, especially when one
considers that compassion is not something generally associated with him.
When he was governor of Texas, for instance, there were quite a number of
convicted felons towards whom he didn't show much compassion at all. In fact
he insisted they receive the full penalty of the law, which in their case
was somewhat more severe than in Libby's. They were executed. When Bush
became governor in 1995, the average number of executions in the state was
7.6 a year. During his time in office, he managed to put down a further 24
humans a year, bringing the annual number of executions up to 31.6; it is
heartwarming to see how his attitude to convicted criminals has softened.
The president said the sentence imposed on Libby was "excessive", and that
he had suffered enough punishment without it. "The reputation he gained
through his years of public service and professional work in the legal
community is for ever damaged," said Bush. "His wife and young children have
also suffered immensely."
Now this will be good news for critics of the current system of justice. For
some time, defence lawyers have been complaining that sentences are too
harsh, that defendants' positive contributions to society are ignored, and
that collateral damage caused to defendants' families is disregarded. Only
last month the US attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, announced that the
justice department would push for legislation to make federal sentences even
tougher and less flexible. How delighted the critics of such harsh attitudes
must be to see that the president has now come around to their way of
thinking.
Mind you, Bush's softening of heart can only have happened in very recent
days. A couple of weeks ago, in an eerily similar case, Victor Rita was,
like Libby, convicted of perjury, making false statements to federal agents,
and obstruction of justice. Like Scooter, Rita has an unblemished record of
public service - 25 years in the armed forces with 35 commendations, awards
and medals - and yet he was handed a 33-month jail sentence without even a
message of condolence from the president.
In another recent case, the justice department tried to have Jamie Olis put
away for more than 24 years for accounting fraud. In the end he got six
years inside. But then I suppose fiddling the accounts isn't on a par with
trying to obstruct an investigation into a breach of national security.
So I thoroughly approve of the president's change of heart towards convicted
criminals, and hope it will continue until his term of office expires - and
that in the future we shall witness increasing moderation in the justice
department's insatiable urge to punish, imprison and execute.
And I sincerely hope that the commutation of Libby's prison sentence will
usher in a new era of clemency, compassion and human forgiveness, under a
president who otherwise has so much blood on his hands.
· Terry Jones is a film director, actor and Python 

Libby
*RRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTTTFFFFFFFFFFFFFLLLLLLLLLLL*
Ancora una volta il Guardian si attesta come il giornale dei *PIRLA* :)
-Stefano

 *RRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTTTFFFFFFFFFFFFFLLLLLLLLLLL*
fai bene a ridere fesso, il pezzo è di quel genio di Terry Jones...hai
presente i Monty Python? Naaah, troppo sofisticati per te...

il pezzo è di quel genio di Terry Jones...
Che si rivela un povero *PIRLA* del tuo stesso livello, con il Guardian
che gli da pure spazio :)
-Stefano

 wrote in message 
news:1183822319.7...@57g2000hsv.googlegroups.com...
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#_Aho! Giuvann! ... Lascia stare....E` piu` facile far passare un cammello 
ecc.ecc. che far entrare in testa qualcosa al Dececere!
G