Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s record of freeing criminals from prison was controversial even before news that the man sought for questioning in the killing of four Lakewood police officers had a lengthy prison sentence commuted by Huckabee.

The original parole and clemency papers from Arkansas may be viewed here.

The one-time Republican presidential contender granted twice as many pardons and commutations as the previous three governors of Arkansas combined, The Associated Press reported in 2007. In all, he issued 1,033 pardons and commutations during more than 10 years as governor — an average of about one every four days.

The Arkansas Huckster’s prison chickens are coming home to roost.

Huckabee’s ‘Willie Horton moment’

Mike Huckabee’s chance to be president of the United States could be going up in smoke this week.

The former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential wannabe is at the center of a story involving a “person of interest” in the shooting deaths Sunday of four police officers in the state of Washington….

This story has a long way to go before it’s played out. But, if Huckabee pardoned a man who went on to kill four cops, this will be a lot worse than the Willie Horton incident of the 1988 presidential campaign….

Huckabee’s credentials to lead the Republican party to victory in 2012 would evaporate if Clemmons indeed is the killer in the Washington case.

That’s not exactly something a “get tough on crime” political party would want on the resume of its leader.

Another RINO bites the dust!?

“The arrest of Roman Polanski in a neutral country, where he assumed he could travel without hindrance, … opens the way for actions of which no one can know the effects,” the petition said.

Outspoken celebrities have been caught up in their own skirmishes as the Polanski case has escalated. Comedian and actress Whoopi Goldberg – who remarked on ABC’s “The View” that the incident was not ” ‘rape’ rape” – now has her own critics.

“Just for the record, rape is rape. This is one Hollywood star who does not celebrate or defend Roman Polanski. His art did not rape her,” countered actress Kirstie Alley in a Twitter message to her fans.

Who or rather what is this thing that asserts that an individual who drugs a 13-year-old girl, and then “has sex” with her should take a pass and escape from the consequences of his act, just because he has managed to evade capture for so long?

There is (or at least was…we haven’t found out which yet) a principle of equal justice. If some poor schlub had done this, he would have been in jail doin’ the time. Just because someone is in the Hollywood glitterati, the Chief doesn’t know of any legal exemption from the laws and consequences that the rest of us are subject to.

A growing number of critics do not appear ready to forgive Polanski.

Carol Jenkins, president of the Womens Media Center, an activist group originally founded by Gloria Steinem and Jane Fonda, called on the media “to focus their coverage of Roman Polanskis recent arrest where it belongs: on the crime he committed, the rape of a child.”

“Too often, the media is complicit in misrepresenting or silencing the victims of sexual assault,” she said.

“The rape of a child is at the heart of the case,” Ms. Jenkins added. “That is not disputed, and should not be represented as subjective.”

Dang! Must be pretty cold today down in hell…the Chief agrees with Ms. Steinem’s group?

Even the Frogs have figured this one out:

The French government, which initially expressed outrage over the arrest, has since adopted a more neutral line. “Roman Polanski is neither above nor beneath the law,” government spokesman Luc Chatel said at a press conference on Wednesday.

Prison cell, perv H’wood director:  some assembly required.

Richardson Probe ‘Was Killed in Washington’

Looks like prominent Donk pol Bill Richardson won a “Get Out of Jail Free” card. It’s great to have friends in high places!

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former high-ranking members of his administration won’t be criminally charged in a yearlong federal investigation into pay-to-play allegations involving one of the Democratic governor’s large political donors, someone familiar with the case said.

The decision not to pursue indictments was made by top Justice Department officials, according to a person familiar with the investigation, who asked not to be identified because federal officials had not disclosed results of the probe.

“It’s over. There’s nothing. It was killed in Washington,” the person told the Associated Press.

Commenting further:

DoJ drops prosecution of top Dem

An unpleasant smell attends the Department of Justice decision to not prosecute New Mexico Governor (and Obama ally) Bill Richardson. Fresh on the heels of the Department declining to prosecute the New Black Panthers for voter intimidation, while appointing a special prosecutor for CIA interrogators, the appearance of a politicized Justice Department is being created.

D’ya think?  (Yep, sure do!)

Phone rage leads to arrest here for Ohio man

An Ohio man, fed up with deceptive junk mail, made the mistake of losing his temper while on the phone with a St. Louis company pitching an extended auto-service contract. Now he finds himself behind bars, where he is charged with making a terrorist threat.

According to court documents, Charles W. Papenfus, 43, allegedly told a sales representative during a May 18 telephone call that he would burn down the building and kill the employees and their families. He was indicted for making a terrorist threat, a Class D felony; and he could be sentenced to up to four years in prison if convicted.

Papenfus’ wife, Tracie, said she hasn’t seen her husband since his arrest on June 27, when he was lured to a Fostoria, Ohio, police station with a false story about being suspected in a tavern fight there. Charles Papenfus, a self-employed mechanic who sometimes works on the department’s police cruisers, dropped by the station to clear his name, she said.

This is a bit much…at least…especially when the complainant firm has it’s own record of illegal and/or fraudulent sales techniques.

This is just too good!

From a distance the large ship on the horizon looked like the perfect target, ripe for a successful spot of piracy.

But as the Somali pirates sped toward the vessel sailing near the Seychelles, they were horrified to see two boats and a helicopter set off from their target and launch their own counter-attack.

They had failed to spot, in the dazzling sun, that the ‘merchant ship’ they thought they were intercepting was, in fact, a French naval ship bristling with cannons, radar technology and armed commandos.

SOMETIMES there IS some justice in this world!

The San Antonio federal prosecutor at the center of a politically charged case against two Border Patrol agents convicted of covering up their role in the shooting of a drug smuggler resigned Thursday.

U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton submitted his letter of resignation to President Barack Obama and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, said Shana Jones, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western Judicial District of Texas.

Good riddance. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

Hurray!!!!

The impeachment of Rod Blogjevich has been sustained by the Illinois Senate and they also voted that he may not in the future hold any public office in the State of Illinois. Both votes were unanimous.

When he addressed the Senate this morning his speech was all about himself and how he was being treated unfairly, no mention of his treatment of we the people.

Seems to make the point. The Chief concurs.

The current Labor Ingsoc government never ceases to come up with new examples of moonbattery.

Prison officers have been told not to refer to their charges as “inmates” because it might offend them. Ministers claim the age-old term is not appropriate if criminals are to be treated with “respect and dignity”.

!

Prisons minister David Hanson revealed the Ministry of Justice stance in a letter to an inmate in HMP Wakefield, in which he said: “Prison staff are expected to treat prisoners with dignity and respect and for this reason the term ‘prisoner’ should be used in preference to the term ‘inmate’.”

He went on to say the term “offender” was not inappropriate.

Hanson sounds like he’s so far removed from situational awareness that he would need the help of GPS, laser range-finders, and a police surveillance team to be able to find his posterior portions with both hands.

Fortunately for Merrie Old England, EVERYONE over there is not bereft of common sense (yet):

One prison officer leader attacked the move and warned jails have already become too soft as he called for a return to tough prisons in 2009.

Opposition MPs said it was “politically correct nonsense”.

In a scathing outburst, Brian Caton, general secretary of the Prison Officers Association, called for an end to the “namby pamby attitude” that has led to soft prisons.

“It never ceases to amaze me, the hypocrisy of politicians and senior civil servants,” he said. “On the one hand they say we are not going to have soft prisons but on the other phraseology that has been around for a long, long time suddenly becomes offensive to our dear charges. As far as I am concerned they are convicts, they are prisoners, they are inmates.”

“We should treat them fair and properly but prison should be tough. As we come to 2009, prisons should move away from being seen and actually being soft options to be challenging and demanding places of punishment. Without that we will continue to slide down in the views of the general public and will send people out of prison more likely to reoffend.”

Hear! Hear!

France’s Islamic street thugs were at it again to “celebrate” the new year.

The French press reported that the Interior Ministry released a final “verified” count of 1,147 vehicles burned in France over New Year’s Eve. The number is up 30.64% from last year’s total, 878.

Not to fear, the government is responding forcefully(?).

Sarkozy vows crackdown on car burners

President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed to crack down on France’s car burning after more than 1,100 vehicles went up in flames overnight on New Year’s Eve.

Sarkozy said he had asked authorities to be “uncompromising” with vehicle arsonists and said those caught burning other people’s cars should lose their own licences until the damage had been paid for.

Oooooooh! “This time we REALLY mean it! If we catch you, you’ll LOSE YOUR DRIVER’S LICENSE!” This must have them shaking in their shoes!

“There is no reason why honest people should have to pay the consequences of the behaviour of delinquents,” he said in an address to emergency service staff who worked over the evening of Dec. 31.

Car burnings are regular occurrences in France, where some 36,700 were recorded in the first 11 months of 2008, according to interior ministry figures.

“…regular occurrances in France…” This is as disgraceful an example of lily-lovered weak law enforcement as the U.S. urban phenomenon of the “known crack house”. What they need is a French Giuliani to straighten out their priorities…but then again, it IS the French…so it may well be beyond all hope. C’est la vie.

From Chicagoist:

First there is this instructive comparison:

Pretty good likeness!

THEN there is the inevitable playset to go with…

’nuff said…for now!