Translation, and degrees of harshness.

So stuck behind a lorry I spy a logo comprising of a laurel wreath with the phrase "In estor in people", which of course I tried to translate from the Latin... Be upon the people? Odd phrase, at which point it clicked that "people" isn't Latin and a "v" had been scrubbed out.


Flicking through the news I spot that President Bush has commuted the sentence of Libby Lewis. For those who don't recall Lewis was sentenced to 30 months in jail, a $250,000 fine and 2 years supervised release for perjury. Bush has kicked out the 30 months jail time. Now while the 30 months may seem excessive for a perjury case it must be recalled what the case was regarding. This wasn't a "I was driving the vehicle your honour and not the Vice-President when it was speeding" oh no this was lying to the FBI and a grand jury regarding a national security matter.

This was impeding the functions of government in its duties of watching itself. So Bush sends the message that this is alright and that it's fine to lie (perhaps also cheat and steal) provided you do so on behalf of those in power.

Contrast this with the latest from Prime Minister Brown who has limited the power of the Attorney General to direct prosecutors in individual cases, so the AG can no longer decide whether there were to be charges in a case like the cash-for-honours affair. In other words she wouldn't have any (or as much) say over any case brought against fellow members of her own government.