Scooter Libby, and Paris Hilton
Jun. 14th, 2007 10:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pecuniumLots of ink has been spread, and uncounted electrons recycled, on both of them.
I see parallels, mostly in the various hypocrisies being bandied about by those who are defending them.
Poor Libby just couldn't catch a break, to hear those who wrote letters to the judge asking him to be lenient.
Libby, you see, was the victim. It doesn't matter that the crimes for which he was convicted were serious, and related to a grievous harm to our national (and perhaps the world's) interest.
No, see the Att'y General, appointed a special prosecutor (who was a US Att'y, appointed by GW Bush) to look into an complaint by the CIA (being run by Bush's man Tenet); who alleged (to read all these letters, falsely) that a covert agent had been outed.
This rogue, Republican, prosecutor actually asked Libby questions, which Libby (under oath) answered with lies.
The prosecutor, ignoring Libby's noble purpose in preventing the person who sabotaged the US efforts to contain nuclear proliferation in the Horn of Africa (known to be a hot-spot of folks who really don't like us, and would like to be able to more easily trade in radioctive materials) from being brought before the bar, had the effrontery to present a case to a grand jury, which (imagine) actually indicted him for perjury, and obstructing justice.
If that weren't bad enough some witless bunch of jurors failed to see through all the flim-flam, and convicted him.
How does this relate to Paris Hilton?
Well the story making the rounds is she is being treated more harshly than she deserves. Someone (a rogue judge... spouting nonsense about "respect for the law") insisted that she serve a whole 45 days.
Only the facts aren't that she was pulled over for a DUI, and given 45 days.
No. She was given 45 days for violating probation.
For what was she on probation?
Driving recklessly, while drunk, back in January. She got three years for it. Along with it came some restrictions; she could only drive while in possession of a valid license, had to enroll in a program, and (as is standard with probation) had to obey all laws and court orders.
She didn't. She got a ticket for driving without a valid license, (after she, and her lawyer(s) were sent a notice that her license was suspended) and had to sign that she knew she wasn't allowed to do it (so she got a second chance, more than many get). Her passenger got to drive the car home (again, this was more slack than some get, the police could have impounded the car)
She never enrolled in a program.
Then she decided to take a midnight drive; still without having had her driving privilege restored. This wasn't a quick trip to the grocery, no, it was ding 75 in a 30 zone (miles per hour, not kilometers), at night, with no lights.
She was late to court.
She got 45 days.
She got off easy, the judge had every right to revoke her parole, and send her to prison (not jail) to serve the entire bit her probation was in lieu of.
Yep, them poor people, getting so much more grief than they deserve. Libby has the "it wasn't the sex, it was the 'perjury'" crowd explaining that his, very real perjury; and obstruction of justice, aren't all that bad, and Hilton has the same people who say the system give too many slap on the wrist sentences accusing the judge of being to harsh for giving some 45 days in jail; and insisting she actually serve the sentence, instead of making her go to prison for a couple of years.
Those rich, and famous, people just can't get a break.
I see parallels, mostly in the various hypocrisies being bandied about by those who are defending them.
Poor Libby just couldn't catch a break, to hear those who wrote letters to the judge asking him to be lenient.
Libby, you see, was the victim. It doesn't matter that the crimes for which he was convicted were serious, and related to a grievous harm to our national (and perhaps the world's) interest.
No, see the Att'y General, appointed a special prosecutor (who was a US Att'y, appointed by GW Bush) to look into an complaint by the CIA (being run by Bush's man Tenet); who alleged (to read all these letters, falsely) that a covert agent had been outed.
This rogue, Republican, prosecutor actually asked Libby questions, which Libby (under oath) answered with lies.
The prosecutor, ignoring Libby's noble purpose in preventing the person who sabotaged the US efforts to contain nuclear proliferation in the Horn of Africa (known to be a hot-spot of folks who really don't like us, and would like to be able to more easily trade in radioctive materials) from being brought before the bar, had the effrontery to present a case to a grand jury, which (imagine) actually indicted him for perjury, and obstructing justice.
If that weren't bad enough some witless bunch of jurors failed to see through all the flim-flam, and convicted him.
How does this relate to Paris Hilton?
Well the story making the rounds is she is being treated more harshly than she deserves. Someone (a rogue judge... spouting nonsense about "respect for the law") insisted that she serve a whole 45 days.
Only the facts aren't that she was pulled over for a DUI, and given 45 days.
No. She was given 45 days for violating probation.
For what was she on probation?
Driving recklessly, while drunk, back in January. She got three years for it. Along with it came some restrictions; she could only drive while in possession of a valid license, had to enroll in a program, and (as is standard with probation) had to obey all laws and court orders.
She didn't. She got a ticket for driving without a valid license, (after she, and her lawyer(s) were sent a notice that her license was suspended) and had to sign that she knew she wasn't allowed to do it (so she got a second chance, more than many get). Her passenger got to drive the car home (again, this was more slack than some get, the police could have impounded the car)
She never enrolled in a program.
Then she decided to take a midnight drive; still without having had her driving privilege restored. This wasn't a quick trip to the grocery, no, it was ding 75 in a 30 zone (miles per hour, not kilometers), at night, with no lights.
She was late to court.
She got 45 days.
She got off easy, the judge had every right to revoke her parole, and send her to prison (not jail) to serve the entire bit her probation was in lieu of.
Yep, them poor people, getting so much more grief than they deserve. Libby has the "it wasn't the sex, it was the 'perjury'" crowd explaining that his, very real perjury; and obstruction of justice, aren't all that bad, and Hilton has the same people who say the system give too many slap on the wrist sentences accusing the judge of being to harsh for giving some 45 days in jail; and insisting she actually serve the sentence, instead of making her go to prison for a couple of years.
Those rich, and famous, people just can't get a break.
