Bush pardons rapper, lets Border Patrol officers rot

Carly Simon -- she's got the power!

Speaking of Ramos and Compean, guess who were left off the most recent list of names pardoned by my one-time second-favorite president.

Some of the names on that list?

Among the 14 pardons and two sentence commutations were bank embezzlers, tax evaders and rapper John E. Forte, convicted of aiding and abetting possession with intent to distribute cocaine.

"John Edward Forte of North Brunswick, N.J., a graduate of the elite Phillips Exeter Academy prep school who later became a producer for the rap group The Fugees and released two albums on his own, was caught in 2000 at Newark International Airport with two briefcases filled with $1.4 million worth of liquid cocaine, according to court documents."

But hey, the man didn't like the way his trial was conducted, so by all means. Plus, he graduated from prep school, so he and Dubya had a connection. Not to mention how both Carly Simon and uber-RINO Orin Hatch had been stumping for him:

"Now is the perfect opportunity for John to be given the chance to provide positive benefits to society through his considerable musical talents."

True. Still time for him to perform with Carly at Obama's inauguration if they hurry.

Meanwhile, Ramos and Compean are working on new shivs to defend themselves from the next beating they'll take in the prison chow line.

California congressman Dana Rohrabacher's reaction:

"The fact that the president has neglected to free these men from their imprisonment while freeing drug dealers, embezzlers and other criminals is insulting to the American people. For the sake of justice, let's hope this is not the last round of pardons and commutations."

Rohrabacher has called this episode

“the worst miscarriage of justice that I have witnessed in the 30 years I’ve been in Washington. The decision to give immunity to the drug dealer and to throw the book at the border patrol agents was a prosecutorial travesty.”

The following quick recap of the case fails to mention how Bush handpicked pal Johnny Sutton to fly down and prosecute the case. Remember:

* Compean and Ramos were convicted almost solely on the word of a known illegal alien drug smuggler who claimed that Compean and Ramos shot him in the butt while he was attempting to escape.

* This smuggler was attempting to transport 743 pounds of marijuana into the United States at the time of the incident.

* In exchange for his testimony, the smuggler was granted blanket immunity and allowed to come and go across the border almost at will and was actually caught attempting to transport more drugs into the United States while waiting to testify against Compean and Ramos.

* The court WOULD NOT allow this fact to be submitted during the trial.

* And, in what may be the greatest irony of this whole case, the smuggler was eventually convicted of the smuggling offenses that occurred AFTER he was granted immunity and was sentenced to LESS TIME than Compean and Ramos.

Failing a pardon for these two in the coming days, let me take this moment to again say, Mr. President, thanks for killing terrorists and all, but given your promotion of the invasion at home, your "compassionate conservative" squandering of the Reagan legacy and now the bazillions in bailouts to crappy companies...there's the door. Don't let it hit you on the way out.