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Just a minor historical footnote, but arguably an interesting one . . . A man whose Watergate reporting made his career and led to Richard Nixon's downfall has declared that Pres. Gerald Ford did the right thing in pardoning Nixon. Carl Bernstein made the--to me at least--surprising statement on today's Morning Joe, in the course of a discussion of Jeff Greenfield's new book about various what-ifs in history. View video here.

Wisconsin: It’s game time. Brinkmanship. Call it what you want. But today, an elected Governor is forced to deal with a matter soon to hit other states if it hasn’t already. It is more than about unions. It is about America coming to terms with a long standing policy that has crippled states and even nations into bankruptcy: allowing a non-elected body to bypass a legislature and determine how much wealth they receive from a public treasury. Not to blemish his formerly hidden persona, the person who recently stated “We must live within our means” and “debate with a more...

On his final night in office, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger reduced the prison sentence of the son of former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez, Esteban Nuñez, who had pleaded guilty to participating in the killing of a college student. The governor also granted several other commutations and pardons and gave plum government appointments to political allies and the spouse of his chief of staff. Schwarzenegger announced the moves in a batch of eleventh-hour press releases e-mailed to reporters. Esteban Nuñez, now 21, was sentenced to 16 years in prison for his role in the stabbing death of Luis Santos. Schwarzenegger cut the...

Though the Eagles didn’t have a chance to make news on the field tonight, they made some more news off the field. Peter King of NBC reported during Football Night in America that President Barack Obama recently called Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie to congratulate the team for giving quarterback Mike Vick a second chance. President Obama explained that a level playing field rarely exists for prisoners who have completed their sentences. Vick’s success gives all of them hope. In our view, Obama’s gesture also provides Vick with the kind of positive reinforcement that will help keep him out of any...

Ten years ago, days before Christmas, President Bill Clinton changed my life forever. I was in federal prison, serving the seventh year of a 24-year sentence for a first-time nonviolent crack cocaine offense. Clinton's mercy and acknowledgement that my sentence was unjust led him to grant me a commutation. Had he not done so, I would be in prison until 2016...Indeed, I went to prison for being complicit in my abusive boyfriend's crack cocaine trafficking operation. Prosecutors in the case acknowledged that I never sold, handled or used any drugs.

It's high time we recognize that carbon dioxide has been treated unfairly. Not only have the good deeds of that wonderful molecule so essential to rain forests, begonias and plants that feed God's creatures been ignored, it has even come to be demonized as an endangering pollutant and climate-ravaging menace. What real evidence has been offered up to support these defamatory charges? Absolutely none. Take the EPA's CO-2 endangerment finding, for example. Shrouded under the ever- expanding blanket of the Clean Air Act, it is being applied to validate an unprecedented regulatory takeover of carbon-emitting energy and construction industry permitting....

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist is said to be considering a posthumous pardon for Jim Morrison -- The Doors singer charged with indecent exposure in 1969 following a concert in Miami -- in the months remaining in his term, The Hill newspaper reported Monday.

Click here to find out more! When asked about the significance of her daughter, Chelsea, marrying Marc Mezvinsky, who is Jewish, and thus being married in an interfaith union, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton responded, “Over the years, so many of the barriers that prevented people from getting married, crossing lines of faith or color or ethnicity have just disappeared.” True, the barriers have disappeared, but serious difficulties remain. While some scholars argue that mixed-faith unions “serve as a refiner’s fire” that make the relationships stronger, the statistical evidence indicates this is all too frequently not the outcome. The American...

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- The family of a Texas man who died while imprisoned for a rape he didn't commit cried and hugged at his graveside Friday with a framed copy of the state's first posthumous pardon - a document that finally proves his innocence. Gov. Rick Perry granted Timothy Cole's pardon nearly three weeks ago. He gave Cole's relatives the pardon document earlier Friday at a Fort Worth hotel, completing their long-fought ordeal.

More than a decade after he died in prison, Fort Worth’s Tim Cole – wrongly convicted of rape – finally received a pardon from the state. Gov. Rick Perry sent out a statement saying that he gave Cole the state’s first posthumous pardon, saying he was innocent of the rape conviction that put him behind bars more than 25 years ago. “I have been looking forward to the day I could tell Tim Cole’s mother that her son’s name has been cleared for a crime he did not commit,” Perry said in a written release. “The state of Texas cannot...

There is currently a move underway to discredit Mike Huckabee over the rightful pardoning of a then 16 year old who had been sentenced to 108 years on robbery charges. I make this statement as someone who fully supports the death penalty for murderers and for child rapists, but also as someone who recognizes that getting tough on crime means fostering sensible rehabilitation, not turning first time offenders into violent career criminals. Yes, Governor Huckabee pardoned more people than most governors do. That’s because Gov. Huckabee isn’t thoughtless, callous or cruel and recognizes that public service actually entails service to...

The senseless and savage slaying of 4 police officers in Lakewood, Washington has raised many questions as to why the alleged murderer was even on the streets. My name has figured prominently in many of the stories because I commuted his 108 year sentence to a term of 47 years back in 2000. I take full responsibility for my decision then. Unfortunately, many of my fellow conservatives don’t seem to want to take responsibility for the facts surrounding the case. The Maurice Clemmons presented in a commutation request in the year 2000 was much different than the one who is...

President Obama Pardons Turkey U.S. President Obama waved his hand over Courage the turkey Wednesday, pardoning the bird from being the guest of honor on someone's Thanksgiving Day table. "I hereby pardon Courage so he can live out his days in peace and tranquility" in Disneyland, where he also will serve as grand marshal Thursday in the Orlando, Fla., theme park's Thanksgiving Day parade. Obama said he was showing mercy to the 45-pound bird at the behest of first daughters Sasha and Malia because "I was planning to eat this sucker."

The traditional presidential pardon of a turkey will be a little different this year. The turkey pardoned will most likely be Cold Cash Jefferson.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. John McCain on Friday pressed President Barack Obama to give a posthumous pardon to Jack Johnson, the black heavyweight boxing champion who was imprisoned nearly a century ago because of his romantic ties with a white woman. McCain, R-Ariz., and Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., noted in a letter to Obama that both houses of Congress this summer passed their resolution urging a pardon. After the vote, the lawmakers wrote to Obama in August asking him to issue the pardon. "Regrettably, we have not received a response from you or any member of your administration," they wrote...

WASHINGTON – A federal judge has denied the request for a new trial by a former Louisiana congressman convicted on corruption charges. U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III ruled against a motion by former Rep. William Jefferson on Friday in Alexandria, Va. Jefferson was convicted Aug. 5 on 11 of 16 federal counts for using his influence to broker business deals in Africa after federal agents found cash in his freezer. A jury ruled Jefferson must forfeit roughly $470,000. He later filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation.

Border Patrol agents Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos could be eligible to leave federal prison within days – though their official release date is still set for March 20, a spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons has confirmed. BOP spokeswoman Traci Billingsley told WND that inmates may serve their sentences in arranged living facilities or home confinement before they are given their full freedom. "On their release date, all Bureau of Prisons inmates are generally released from one of three places," she said. "They're either released from an institution, a residential reentry center (halfway house) or they're released from...

One of Connecticut’s most popular conservative radio talk show hosts, Jim Vicevich, uses many different Americana bumper music in his show’s rotation. One song in particular that Jim often uses - that absolutely blesses my heart - is by the Blue Grass Americana group named Cadillac Sky. The song is called Sinners Welcome. This song starts off with a soft vocal melody: One more night in the county jail Ain’t nobody gonna make your bail Behind these bars you’ll do your time Got yourself 25 to life. And the chorus: Sinners Welcome, No man denied Sinners Welcome, Save your soul...

On his way out of office, President Bush used his power of the pardon to commute the sentences of former U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who had been sentenced to 11 years and 12 years respectively for shooting and wounding a fleeing drug smuggler in 2005 and then covering up the incident. It was the right move. Ramos and Compean supporters no doubt would have preferred it if Bush had pardoned the agents - which would have cleared their criminal records. In that Bush had stood by U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton's prosecution of the agents, as...