Posted on 12/23/2008 12:36:59 PM PST by Mr. Mojo
WASHINGTON Before leaving for the holidays, President Bush on Tuesday commuted the prison sentence of a drug offender and granted 19 pardons, including one to a man who helped the Jewish resistance in the 1940s.
With this latest batch, which includes forgiveness for convictions ranging from gun and drug violations to bank and mail fraud, Bush has granted a total of 191 pardons and nine commutations. That's fewer than half as many as Presidents Clinton or Reagan issued during their two terms.
Included in the latest list is Charles Winters, who is considered a hero in Israel.
Winters, who died in the 1980s in Florida, was in the airplane business after World War II. He bought up former military cargo planes and used them to transport fruit and other products. He later started helping his Jewish friends who were shipping arms to Jews trying to found their own state in the Middle East.
Winters, a Protestant from Boston, could fly his planes in and out of the region without interference from authorities. In 1948, three of his planes left Miami, picked up weapons in Azores and Czechoslovakia and then left the planes and arms in Palestine.
Winters was convicted of violating the Neutrality Act, fined $5,000 and sentenced to serve 18 months in prison. The act is designed to ensure that financial assistance and arms are not provided to parties in foreign conflicts where the U.S. has not taken sides.
Reginald Brown, an attorney who worked on the Winters pardon, said Bush's pardon "rights a historical wrong and honors Charlie's belief that the creation of the Jewish state was a moral imperative of his time. ... Charlie Winters helped shape human history for the better."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Nice sentiment but I doubt they have internet privileges. However, if someone came up with their mailing addresses I'd bet more than one of us would send them actual cards and letters of support. It would make a good separate thread if someone had the information available.
Edd Hendee and KSEV radio has been doing a saint's work helping them and their families. Thanks for aksing for the info!
GW Bush couldn't care less what you or any other conservative thinks of him. Like his father he has contempt for Americans generally and conservative Americans in particular.
Very perceptive. What you call contempt I call a spoiled frat boy attitude. An East Coast Brahmin attitude that the Bush family is loftily above the unruly American peasants they rule from time to time
Bush also showed that contempt by nominating non-entity Harriet Meiers. Who has since slid into deserved anonymity
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