UPDATE: Presidential Pardon Season

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Picking up the conversation from our earlier thread: President Bush issued 14 pardons and commuted two sentences yesterday. The NYT’s Eric Lichtblau tells us:

There has also been growing speculation in Washington that Mr. Bush might issue blanket pardons to government officials and intelligence officers who took part in counterterrorism programs like Qaeda interrogations, to protect them from the threat of criminal prosecution.

But none of that came to pass on Monday. Those issued reprieves had been found guilty of mostly garden-variety offenses; one recipient, Leslie O. Collier, was issued a pardon for a 1996 conviction for the unauthorized use of a pesticide in killing bald eagles. Others who received pardons had been convicted of income tax evasion, unauthorized acquisition of food stamps, drug offenses and bank embezzlement, among other offenses.

UPDATE ON THE UPDATE: From The Onion.