Disgusting.

[catcherintherye]

"Venezuela."

????

No entiendo. Do you mean Leonel takes his cues from Chavez? Or that Chavez takes his cues from Bush?

[cobraboy]

Originally Posted by catcherintherye

"Venezuela."

????

No entiendo. Do you mean Leonel takes his cues from Chavez? Or that Chavez takes his cues from Bush?

You said Leonel takes his cues from the US. I'm not so sure that is true.

I use Venezuela as an example.

[catcherintherye]

You might be absolutely correct on that score.

I don't really know what the deal is now. In the past, most DR policians took their cues from the US, but many of the dynamics that existed between the US and the DR have changed over time, and it may well be the case that Chavez has a greater influence now.

I hope not, and I would be disappointed in the US if they couldn't maintain their position in the Caribbean, but I can see how that shift might have occured.

[edm7583]

All Presidents pardon, but Slick Willie did everything but hang a sign outside the White House saying "Pardons for sale. Enquire within". Looking at Bush's pardon's, they are mostly low level drug charges that were sentenced to wildly disproportionate prison terms under draconian mandatory minimum sentencing drug laws and petty white-collar criminals. Most were already in prison and apparently the President (and the Department of Justice who recommends the pardons) felt they served enough time in proportion to the nature of their crimes.

Marc Rich was a fugitive from justice. He lived in Switzerland and renounced his U.S. citizenship. He owed the IRS millions. He did business with Iran and Cuba! But Denise Rich shows up at the White House and cuts a check for Clinton's Library and and voila. A pardon! He can now return to the country he despises so much without fear of legal consequences for his crimes.
And then there's the FALN Puerto Rican Separatists that Clinton pardoned. These where terrorists who blew up buildings and killed people for God's sake. But Mrs Clinton wanted to engratiate herself into the Puerto Rican voting block in New York just in time for her Senate run. So there's another pardon. No other President comes close to the corruption that was in the Clinton White House.

[MikeFisher]

the big difference on the Clinton list is the pardon of terrorists.
i would never agree to any pardon for any terrorist,
doesn't matter how small of a piece he'd been within the blowing network.
just hang 'em all.
the hugest amount of pardons provided above given by US presidents shows minor fellows who also had some time in jail before pardoned, would not have a problem with such. i can not comment on "sales" or such of those, if that's the case i would plee to lock up the corrupt president who sales such(after his period is over, not as a presidentwhich would blame the country as a total), but i am really not that interested in the always the same and boring stu US politics to know about such.
to the theme Venezuela:
i can not see where a orientation towards a Chavez influence would be for the DR worse than a US oriented one.
it would bring us at least very cheap fuel for our dry power plants, a very important factor when running a country which is relying completely on that fuel for absolutely everything.
republicans or democrats??
heck, who cares what partybook a corrupt pardons selling president has in his pocket,
corrupt is corrupt,
selling his country is selling his country,
he should get investigated and sentenced AFTER his period is done, and for the abuse of the highest and most honorable position in the country he should get sentenced harder than any other corrupt gubmin member.
that's not meant US specific,
i mean that as an over all, valid for every country.
than higher and more powerful the position of the abuser than harder the sentence should be.
Mike