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Bush Grants Seven Pardons This Week

By Jeralyn, Section Inmates and Prisons
Posted on Fri Jun 10, 2005 at 08:37:03 AM EST
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According to this DOJ press release, President Bush granted seven pardons this week. Law Professor Ellen Podgor of White Collar Crime Blog has the breakdown and analysis.

The pardons are mostly for "white collar" offenses, but one marijuana defendant from Texas is in the group. I wonder if an enterprising reporter or blogger will uncover a connection between Bush and this pardonee:

James Edward Reed
Kaufman, Texas
Offense: Conspiracy to possess
with intent to distribute marijuana; 21 U.S.C. § 846.
Sentence: January 10, 1975; Northern District of Texas;
18 months imprisonment; two years special parole.

Update: Could he have any connection to Bush White House political director Ron Kaufman? Never mind, Kaufman is the city in Texas, not the pardoned man's name. Thanks to the commenter who pointed this out.

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    Bush Grants Seven Pardons This Week | 19 comments (19 topical)
    Re: Bush Grants Seven Pardons This Week (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:55 PM EST
    I don't think it's related to Ron Kaufman. The city in Texas is named Kaufman. It's not the guy's last name.

    Re: Bush Grants Seven Pardons This Week (none / 0) (#2)
    by Dadler on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:55 PM EST
    Kaufman relation or not, the fact that Bush the former cokehead is pardoning a pothead, while supporting increased mj prohibition, evidences the prez's acute combination of hypocrisy and mental retardation better than almost anything. Bush, the man [deleted] but who thinks people should be prosecuted for using a plant infinitely less harmful. Idiocy. And I wonder how much the alcohol companies are aiding the anti-mj movement. Probably more than we could imagine. [unverifiable allegation deleted]

    Re: Bush Grants Seven Pardons This Week (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:55 PM EST
    I am sure the alcohol companies would love to sell marijuana and market it to youngsters. By the way, when marijuana becomes big business, do we have to hate the companies that market it like we do cigarrette companies? You complain when Bush doesn't pardon and you complain when he does-make up your mind.

    Re: Bush Grants Seven Pardons This Week (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:55 PM EST
    I'm not complaining at all. I'm just wondering why this particular marijuana offender out of all marijuana offenders was pardoned.

    Re: Bush Grants Seven Pardons This Week (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:55 PM EST
    Talkleft, this particular marijuana offender is probably a born-again Christian whose church has been petitioning for his symbolic pardon. He does not appear to be from a wealthy family, he owns an auto parts store and doesn't donate to any politicians. So no major red flags.

    Re: Bush Grants Seven Pardons This Week (none / 0) (#6)
    by pigwiggle on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:55 PM EST
    “ … would love to sell marijuana and market it to youngsters.” The MJ black market is doing just fine marketing it to your kid. When I was coming up is was much easier to get pot than booze. For some doob I simply needed to make a call, for the booze I had to go downtown and pick up a bum.

    Re: Bush Grants Seven Pardons This Week (none / 0) (#7)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:55 PM EST
    Don't bother pigwiggle...There is no room for sound reasoning in the war on drugs. I'm out of high school less than ten years, and I can verify that it is still much easier for a 17 yr. old to score some reefer as opposed to scoring some booze. Isn't Bush worried about the message pardoning an evil marijuana offender sends to kids? Not that the drug war is really about "the children", but just saying. One free, untold thousands to go.

    Re: Bush Grants Seven Pardons This Week (none / 0) (#8)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:55 PM EST
    I, for one, don't hate the cigarette companies Ed, I like their product.

    Re: Bush Grants Seven Pardons This Week (none / 0) (#9)
    by DawesFred60 on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:55 PM EST
    Is Bush king now? so he made laws to imprison people, and pardons people? yes, bush is king now and do you know what we Americans did to a king back in 1776? look it up in your history book. We need washington back and i don't mean the city.

    Re: Bush Grants Seven Pardons This Week (none / 0) (#10)
    by Mreddieb on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:55 PM EST
    Ed how can you compare cigarette smoking to Pot? Cigarettes cause lung cancer and heart desease Killing millions! Pot has not been shown to cause any desease at all but in fact has been prooven to have medicinal purposes. I'd rather share a joint with my kid than a cancer stick any day. But then again I'm a liberal and believe in a culture of LIFE while the repigs do not.

    Re: Bush Grants Seven Pardons This Week (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:55 PM EST
    I am not particularly bothered by mj or bush pardoning anyone who is not a fugitive with a wife who contributed to his library. However, calling it safe or beneficial is a stretch. Find some stoners and tell me the great benefit the drug worked. Sucking in smoke of any kind is harmful but the kid is yours, go ahead.

    Re: Bush Grants Seven Pardons This Week (none / 0) (#12)
    by Mreddieb on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:55 PM EST
    Ed How about telling tailgater's how bad smoked barbeque, smoked fish, and those millions, including the catholic church, who use Insense as well is. So I guess your knowledge of ingesting smoke is limited. Booze is more disabling than Pot. You have been Brain washed by the anti drug wingnuts my friend. Try and think about being a member of NORMAL! LOL :)

    Re: Bush Grants Seven Pardons This Week (none / 0) (#13)
    by TomK on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:56 PM EST
    I got a dollar that says this guy is a military guy who was maimed or something. Anyhow, I'd rather have people market marijuana to kids then alcohol and cigs. You can tell this by going around colleges and hanging out with the smoke pot but not binge drink crowd, then hanging out with binge drink crowd. Where would you rather have your kid be? With the potheads talking about art and philosophy and listening to King Crimson, or with the drunks listening to Kid Rock and joking about date rape and their contracts with the army. I've been in both crowds, and pot is a much better recreational drug then large quantities of drinking. A lot worse stuff could happen then more people smoking pot. Also, pot makes things like advertising techniques and neurolinguistic programming less effective by bringing them into awareness from the general hieghtened awareness pot brings. You don't have to advertise it, but if you did, the people who used it who don't currently use it would start seeing through more advertisements, which might be another benefit. And another reason it is illegal even though it's completely insane for it to be illegal.

    Re: Bush Grants Seven Pardons This Week (none / 0) (#14)
    by Dadler on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:56 PM EST
    TL, What're you doing to me? Allegation unverifiable? Bush was asked about his use of hard drugs and refused to answer the question. The ONLY reason he could've done so was because did and wasn't man enough to admit it. Come on, this is the first time I've been deleted and I don't think your brains are turned on. Saying Bush didn't use coke is like saying Clinton didn't have a sexual dysfunction. One, Clinton's, had no hypocritical bearing on public policy; the other, Bush's, has in incredible bearing. Putting people in jail for significant portions of their lives for doing something you LOVED to do when you did it, and aren't even man enough to stand up and admit, well, that is what is known as pure evil. The worst kind of hypocrisy that consciously chooses to harm other people. I'm disappointed, J.

    Re: Bush Grants Seven Pardons This Week (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:56 PM EST
    Your comment went far beyond saying he had used cocaine and was an unsubstantiated statement of the extent of his use. It was libelous in my view.

    Re: Bush Grants Seven Pardons This Week (none / 0) (#16)
    by Dadler on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:56 PM EST
    Sorry, J, but I don't agree. And I don't see how you could dispute this. His refusal to asnwer, AFTER ADMITTING ON HIS OWN TO ALCOHOL ABUSE, was a crystal-clear reflection of his inability to think through an issue. Had he been able to, he would've realized he opened himself up to the larger question. Just as, had he been able to think through an issue like Iraq, thousands of people would be alive today. The failure of the press, bloggers included, to nail his ass to the wall on this obvious lie and degenerate hypocrisy (which, again, relegates thousands of people to jail) has only served to allow him to further his illogical agenda in other areas. How can you POSSIBLY think he didn't use coke to an extreme? And how could you possibly think this denial, disconnect and dishonesty doesn't have an incredible impact on publich policy, when you know had the truth come come out Dubya, and rightfully, would've been destroyed politically. Not rightfull because he used drugs, but rightfully because he used his immense position of power to transorm his lie about that use into policy.

    Re: Bush Grants Seven Pardons This Week (none / 0) (#17)
    by Dadler on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:56 PM EST
    Boy am I pissy today. You're still the best, J. I need a nap.

    Re: Bush Grants Seven Pardons This Week (none / 0) (#18)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:56 PM EST
    There is strong evidence that Bush used cocaine as recently as last year, in Peru. You may remember a picture of Bush coming out for a photo op with Putin and Koizumi, and Bush had a very STONED look on his face, AND HIS UNDERWEAR WAS STICKING OUT OF HIS OPEN ZIPPER. Just TRY to find that photo anywhere on the Internet. Scrubbed. And unexplained, unapologized for, unpublished in the US. But everyone in South America and the rest of the world saw this shameful display of arrogance, and knew what it meant. Does this president not have a staff? Clinton at least zipped up before going out into public. But Bush's face in that photo is wall-to-wall 'L'il Devil' smirk. What a funny guy, fresh from committing a massive war crime (and, we now know, treason). Maybe his staff is under the pillows of his couch with the WMD LIES that he used to destroy THOUSANDS of lives.

    Re: Bush Grants Seven Pardons This Week (none / 0) (#19)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:56 PM EST
    There is strong evidence that Bush used cocaine as recently as last year, in Peru. You may remember a picture of Bush coming out for a photo op with Putin and Koizumi, and Bush had a very STONED look on his face, AND HIS UNDERWEAR WAS STICKING OUT OF HIS OPEN ZIPPER. Just TRY to find that photo anywhere on the Internet. Scrubbed. And unexplained, unapologized for, unpublished in the US. But everyone in South America and the rest of the world saw this shameful display of arrogance, and knew what it meant. Does this president not have a staff? Clinton at least zipped up before going out into public. But Bush's face in that photo is wall-to-wall 'L'il Devil' smirk. What a funny guy, fresh from committing a massive war crime (and, we now know, treason). Maybe his staff is under the pillows of his couch with the WMD LIES that he used to destroy THOUSANDS of lives.

    Bush Grants Seven Pardons This Week | 19 comments (19 topical)