Leaving the GOP

Re: your July 3 article, "Bush commutes Libby prison sentence":

I am appalled that President Bush would commute I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's sentence, and even more so that he will not pardon the two border agents who are rotting in jail because they shot a proven drug smuggler. This just does not add up.

I have been a Republican since the Eisenhower days, but the noise you hear is the door slamming as I walk out of the GOP. I'm sure Democrats are saying, "Thank you."

— Don Treadwell, Camarillo

(The writer is a member of The Star's Community Advisory Board. — Editor)

Gallegly part of the problem

Re: your July 3 article, "Bush commutes Libby prison sentence":

Once again, President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have arrogantly demonstrated their belief they are above the law. Bush rewarded I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's loyalty to his administration with a "get out of jail free card." Libby, convicted of obstruction of justice in a federal grand jury investigation of a treasonous crime, will be walking free.

Bush's disregard for our laws and Constitution is legendary. This goes well beyond the Iraq war. This president has issued an unprecedented 750 "signing statements" in which he signs bills into law and then indicates why they don't apply to him. He has authorized illegal wiretapping into American homes and championed torture as a way to "keep America safe." Bush has removed "habeas corpus."

Our democracy is not threatened today only because of Bush and Cheney. It is also threatened because for six years the Republican-run Congress forfeited the constitutional mandate of separation of powers and gave this administration a free ride. Congressional Republicans have clearly chosen "party over the people," and it is shameful. One of the most dedicated, but quiet, foot soldiers in the trampling of our democracy has been our own Rep. Elton Gallegly. Gallegly stands side by side with his party, refusing to look into the hundreds of abuses foisted upon this nation by this extreme administration.

It is time for Gallegly to remember he serves our district and the people of the United States, and stop standing in solidarity with those who refuse to investigate the criminal wrongdoings of the executive and judicial branches of the U.S. It is time to demand integrity from an administration that has clearly demonstrated it has none. It is time for my congressman to become part of the solution, not an enabler of the problem.

— Pamela Lopez, Westlake Village

What about border agents?

Re: your July 3 article, "Bush commutes Libby prison sentence":

While two U.S. Border Patrol agents fester in prison without a President Bush pardon or commutation of their "harsh" sentences for trying to apprehend a Mexican drug trafficker, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby smilingly skips prison.

What Bush's commutation has achieved is loyalist Scooter's guaranteed silence for the co-conspirators of the Iraq war.

Now, no tell-all-insider book will ever be written by an embittered Libby, who having serving his full sentence in prison, might then have been motivated to write the vengeful truth about his bosses.

— Sandra M. Bardos, Oxnard

First time concern expressed

Re: your July 3 article, "Bush commutes Libby prison sentence":

So President Bush thinks "the prison sentence given to (I. Lewis Scooter') Libby is excessive" and that other sanctions are adequate for holding Libby accountable. In 2004, the United States incarcerated 2.2 million people in its prisons and jails. Among industrialized nations, the United States incarcerates the largest percentage of its population. Yet, this is the first time I have heard Bush express concerns about excessive sentencing or express support for the efficacy of alternatives to incarceration.

Could it be this indicates a change of mind and heart on his part? If so, I welcome it. If not, his special treatment of Libby only serves to underscore the glaring inequities and disparities in our system that keep us from fulfilling our pledge to "liberty and justice for all."

The Rev. Jan Christian, Ventura