[click here] for my thoughts on George W. Bush and former Connecticut Governor John G. Rowland, known as "Johnny" to both Presidents Bush.
[click here] for the text of the letter meant to arrive for Johnny's first day of Federal Prison. Warning: I'm not nice and use foul language.
Contacting Former Connecticut Governor John G. Rowland
contact former Governor John G. Rowland at 203-758-1117 or e-mail his office jgr@jgrowland.com. John G.'s [website]
The Get Justice Coalition post on the above [found here]
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Political intrigue
Former Governor Says He Is Not Seeking A Presidential Pardon
By JON LENDER, DAVE ALTIMARI and EDMUND H. MAHONY | The Hartford Courant
January 10, 2009
Former Gov. John G. Rowland said Friday that he won't seek a last-minute pardon from President George W. Bush for the December 2004 corruption conviction that landed him in federal prison.
"I am not seeking a pardon nor have plans to," Rowland said in an e-mail response to a question from The Courant.
Rowland did not respond by Friday evening to a follow-up e-mail asking if his response meant that he was ruling out any possibility of his receiving a Bush pardon.
Speculation has been rising among political insiders about a possible pardon for the former governor at a time when some prominent convicts from politics and business throughout the countryhave joined the traditional end-of-term rush for pardons from an outgoing president.
For example, in Massachusetts, former House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran submitted an application last month for a presidential pardon on his 2007 conviction for obstructing justice, the Boston Globe reported Friday.
Rowland, who served 9½ years as governor, once had a prominent profile in national Republican politics and enjoyed a good relationship with the Bush family. Before becoming governor, Rowland served in Washington as a congressman from the Waterbury area during the tenure of Bush's father, former President George H.W. Bush.
He resigned as governor in mid-2004, and pleaded guilty in December of that year to a felony count related to his receiving $107,000 in travel, gifts and improvements to his lakeside cottage from businessmen who got hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts and tax breaks from his administration. He later served 10 months in federal prison.
A presidential pardon restores various rights lost as a result of the conviction but does not erase or expunge the record of the conviction.
Rowland now works as a $95,000-a-year public pitchman for Waterbury's economic development efforts. He also gives speeches about the lessons that he learned in his downfall.
President Bush has granted more than 190 pardons during his eight years in office, not a large number compared with past presidents. End-of-term pardons are often controversial — as former President Bill Clinton's were — and Bush last month took the unusual action of rescinding a New York developer's pardon.
The developer — Isaac Robert Toussie, convicted of mail fraud and making false statements to federal housing officials — was among 19 people Bush pardoned on Dec. 23. Bush rescinded the pardon on Dec. 24, after newspapers revealed that Toussie's father had given a total of $40,000 over the course of a year to either the national Republican Party or GOP candidates.
Customarily, those seeking executive clemency apply to the White House but submit personal applications to the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of the Pardon Attorney. The pardon attorney initiates a review and, through the deputy attorney general, recommends to the president for or against clemency.
In the past, the pardon attorney has followed a fairly rigid review process in accordance with federal rules, Justice Department regulations and past practice and tradition. But because final decisions ultimately rest with the president, there have been deviations from the traditional review process.
Congressional analysis of the pardons process have found that local judges and law enforcement personnel are frequently notified when executive clemency applications are under review by the office of the pardon attorney. There are no indications that such notifications have been made recently in Connecticut.
Senior Republicans also said that they had no knowledge of pending clemency cases in Connecticut, and a spokeswoman for the pardon office said that as of Friday, no clemency petition had been received from Rowland.
Rowland's lawyer, R. Bartley Halloran, said Friday: "I don't know anything about it, and if that were happening, I think I'd definitely know about it."
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[click here] for my complaint with official Connecticut and allegations of Connecticut State Police misconduct
[my complaints], The Connecticut State Police Misconduct complaints,
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I'm sure there are many more we don't know about as well...but as far as I'm concerned it is "Mission Accomplished" as we now have a Democrat and a smart one at that for our next President.
Do any of you remember a senior FBI agent called John P O'Neill who tried very hard to forewarn President Bush and his other FBI colleagues that Osama bin Laden would attempt to strike the Twin Towers again. Mr O'Neill was also aware that certain individuals were being taught how to fly commercial aeroplanes. No one would listen, no one helped him to put together all the facts - in fact no one was interested in helping him save lives.If this man had been taken seriously then perhaps we would not have lost the 3,000 lives on the 11th September 2001. This is fact I am sorry to say, please go to the web and bring up John P O'Neill and you will be horrified to read all the information contained therein.John O'Neill left the FBI in total frustration and got a new job as senior Safety Officer at guess where, the Twin Towers.He died trying to save lives. I believe if the press or other organisations investigated this scandal you would perhaps realise that President Bush and others did not want to hear about the threat to the Twin Towers - it was not part of their game plan.It is up to you Americans to find out why he would not listen. Perhaps it partly explains why President Bush sat for 7 minutes after being told about the hit on the first tower without taking any action.That is not normal behaviour. So if this is not included in this article then it should be and it should be at the top of the list.For the sake of those who died do something about it.
What's most disturbing about this article is the number of scandalous endeavors by this fascist regime that aren't even mentioned.
Some of those are just Bush's stupid people doing stupid things . Some of them are indictable offenses and should be followed up on. I am fairly certain that the Obama administration will not pursue these sorts of things looking forward and all that, but I am not to sure that it sends the right message. I think every politician found to violate the law should be taken down. It is time that we cast the fear of the law into the hearts of our public servants
It is simply amazing the breadth and the scope of malfeasance within this administration.
I can't believe what we are doing to ourselves as a country. These types of antics filter down - from the White House to the outhouse - to Wall Street, "Main Street" and personal encounters on side streets. We have been parasitical for 30 years going on 40. Barack Obama may be different but you have to ask: "Are the people he's circling himself with any different?" Let's hope his influence reaches beyond what has become standard operating procedure.
Thanks for mentioning the $12 billion cash that Bremer "misplaced." I've never forgotten that, and in fact it's near the top of my litany. That's almost 2% of the $700 billion bailout, and it seems largely forgotten.
You think this is bad, remember William Jefferson Clinton. I only wish Bush could have been impeached just as his predecessor was.
I do remember William Jefferson Clinton. And I'm remembering a lot of other things, such as how I still had a 401(k) when he left office instead of the 101(k) I've got now, or how we actually had an economy, or how there was a balanced budget, or how we weren't bogged down in a pointless war in the Middle East, or how we didn't have Christian fanatics running government policy, or how the US had respect, or we had more hope of an environmental policy, or.... No, no, when I think that the Bush years were bad, I think of the Clinton years, and then I think of how bad the Bush years ~really~ were. Clinton got blown. Bush screwed everyone. I'll take the former, thanks a bunch. I really don't care if the current administration gets to experience the enhanced interrogation techniques they say are so harmless just to get them to talk about what they've really been doing. (Will that be on Pay-per-View, maybe?)
Regarding the FBI and the Anthrax investigation:
The real scandal is yet to come as the FBI has nothing but a HUNCH that Bruce was the mastermind.
It took Stephen Hatfill years, a great deal of money and a fighting spirit to clear himself. Bruce is not here to defend himself, having been drained of money and hounded into giving up on life.
The FBI had a lot of pressure to solve this before the end of the Bush administration. I imagine high fives went around FBI headquarters when Bruce committed suicide. So easy to blame a dead man.
I think that here is where Bush is a genious. Clinton had one scandal and people still can't get over it 10 years later. But, if you have 100 people just can't keep up. At this point we have just become numb to scandals and corruption and Bush is going to escape any punishment.
Also, I think Bush counted on the fact that the Democrats wouldn't have the spine to impeach two presidents in a row.
Regarding the Canadian citizen being whisked away to Syria...
I watched a film a few months back, similar situation. In the film, a U.S. citizen was mistaken to have done transactions with a terrorist and was taken away to Egypt and tortured. His wife kept at it. Eventually, he was let go by an American observing the interrogations.
My wife asked me if stuff like this really happened. I said probably not.
I feel sick to my stomach now.
So often, when it comes to politics, the American public is accused of having amnesia but after the last eight years I'm not certain if these things are truly forgotten or if they represent a soft focused nightmare that most people would like to pretend never happened. We've just lived through a period that casts a pall on the very definition of public service. Let's try to get beyond the shield of cynicism and have some hope for a brighter future.
Bigwurzz: I suspect that's exactly the strategy of this administration. Either that, or the slightly more "innocent" story that they've simply lost touch with what is ethical and what isn't ethical.
It's strange how those who claim to be saved, can still act as though they have no moral compass at all. But this isn't an indictment of religion, so much as it's an indictment of those with power, and what happens when those with power aren't held accountable.
The latest, Bush senior wants the other bush Jeb, to run for President before he "moves on".
The thought alone burns a hole in my skull.
This administration - all of them - should be publically marched out of the White House in handcuffs.
The Borgen Project has informative statistics on addressing global poverty.
$30 billion ends world hunger
$550 billion is the US Defense budget
This organization has the ability, resources, and policy-makers to suppress the threat of global poverty by enacting legislation here in the US, which is tied to the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals. Please support organizations such as The Borgen Project so that we may rid the world of poverty.
@FredafromScotland
Yes, I do recall. I also recall that not only did Condoleeza Rice have a report in her hand warning of possible hijacked planes to be used as weapons, but that the military had actually conducted a drill based on that very scenario. In any event, how was it possible that all the billions of dollars spent on defense such as the NORAD system utterly failed. Does anyone remember the rash of hijackings in the 1960's? Well, absolutely nothing useful was done for nearly 40 years. Finally, Bush the Tush brags about keeping America safe AFTER September 11, 2001 (except for rescue workers at ground zero who were lied to about the risks). Admiral Husband E. Kimmel kept Pearl Harbor safe AFTER December 7, 1941. I guess the actual attacks don't count.
And these are just the ones we know about...
@astegga
you think that's bad
from http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-playing-field/200812/greed-and-ga mes
"Well, the New York Yankees signed three players last week for a cost of $423,000,000. That's 423 plus million for those of you afraid to count zeroes.
Which, as it turns out, is the about same amount of money Germany has pledged to rebuild Afghanistan.
423.5 is also the cost of all the anti-malarial nets currently needed to stop the spread of that disease worldwide, with about a 100 million left over for medicine for those whose nets didn't arrive in time.
Or, if you go by Doctors Without Borders calculations, the salary of those three players is also enough to feed two good meals to 242 million of the 350 million folks who go hungry each day.
And, if environmental issues seem more pressing, well that's enough to help the Save-an-Acre organization purchase and protect 847,000 acres of rainforest, which would go a long way to slowing global warming and stopping a crisis unprecedented in human history."