Date posted: July 4, 2007 - Wednesday
Title: There's a word for it
Current mood: angry
I saw the headlines and I couldn't think of the exact word for it. I struggled to pin down the one word that would express what I was thinking. I have a fairly large vocabulary, but finding the exact word was difficult.
Brass
Gall
Arrogance
When I couldn't think of a single word, I thought maybe several words.
Disregard for the law.
Bowing to political pressure.
Pure political stubbornness.
Maybe letting the story speak for itself would be the only way to go.
In a move that has perverted the justice system in this country, President Bush has eliminated the jail sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. He didn't totally pardon this man for the crimes he was convicted of, but he has spared him jail time.
Why do I say perverted the system?
It is within the power of the President to commute jail sentences and even outright pardon people convicted of crimes. But just because it is within the power of the President, that doesn't mean it is right or proper to do it.
The real crime in this whole situation remains. And it is a crime. A Federal crime to reveal the identity of an undercover agent of the CIA. And to date no one has admitted to this crime, no one has been formally accused or indicted.
Libby was convicted merely of impeding the investigation and lying to the FBI and investigators. And perhaps he was the fall guy for the people who perpetrated this crime in defense of a bankrupt political decision to go to war. The people responsible for orchestrating this crime, most likely at the highest levels of government, remain unpunished and, I would guess, unrepentant.
But even if he was the fall guy, he still was convicted. And he should spend his time in jail.
The justification for Libby's clemency was he had an exemplary record of service up until this time. Well, a first-time murderer has a great record up until the time he kills someone as well, but does that mean he shouldn't pay for the crime he did commit?
I will admit, after years of watching these political shenanigans coming out of places like Washington D.C. and Sacramento, I have very little faith or belief in the people who run our government, but this latest example of political favoritism makes me sick to my stomach.
After much thinking, I finally came up with a word for this situation. I had to fall back on Yiddish word I knew. The translation is inexact, but it comes close to some of the words listed above with overtones all its' own.
The best way to explain the meaning of it is a kind of a joke definition I heard one time. The word describes a guy who has killed both his parents and at the trial he throws himself on the mercy of the court because he is an orphan.
The word is Chutzpah.
