Nothing all that earth shattering about the presidential pardons President George W. Bush issued on Tuesday ; yes there were 29 convicts pardoned, including John F. McDermott, of Moretown, Vt., (defense procurement kickbacks); William Charles Jordan, Jr., of Dover, Pa., (managing an illegal gambling business.); and plenty of drug dealers.
         Some of the pardoned felons, though, could hardly be confused with the Whiskey Rebels, of 1794, Jimmy Hoffa, or Richard Nixon. Chances are George Bush won’t be receiving much heat for pardoning such sordid criminals like Glanus Terrell Osborne, of Dallas, Ga., (stolen motor vehicle), William Lucius Jones Jr., of Birmingham, Ala., (illegal possession of a unregistered firearm), Daniel Ray Freeman, of Douglas, Ga., (violation of Internal Revenue liquor laws); and Charles Wayne Bryant, of Sautee, Ga., (theft of United States mail matter).
         It's the election season; after all, not many were really expecting Bush to pardon I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, his vice president's former top aide, convicted in leaking the identity of a CIA operative. But much like President Clinton pardoning Marc Rich (charged with 51 counts of tax fraud) with one foot out the door, if Bush is going to pardon Libby (highly unlikely all the experts say); it wouldn't come now, but when he has the bus loaded up and about to depart for his Texas ranch at the end of his term.
         The Associated Press was quoting a Justice Department spokesman as saying Bush had issued 142 pardons and commuted 5 sentences since taking office in 2001, one the fewest in U.S. history. But as Brian Kalt, Associate Professor of Law at Michigan State University, was quick to point out, `` He's [Bush]not done yet, and those last-day pardons can really add up. He has granted 147 so far, Kalt observes, which puts him in 34th place out of 42. His dad granted fewer, but about the same number per year. If W doesn't grant any more pardons, he'll rank 10th out of the 13 presidents who served two full terms.''
        And data compiled by R.S. Ruckman, Jr.Associate Professor of Political Science, at Rock Valley College shows that while Bush does have one of the lowest number of pardons for U.S. presidents, his numbers have been rising, as this chart shows. 
         Whether he's developing the pardon bug or not; taking a peek at some other presidential pardons through history, it’s clear, Bush’s lives by the motto: ``To err is human; to forgive, Fuggetaboutit’’

-Bill Lucey
billlucey@bellsouth.net