Neo-Con Terrorism: Judge in Libby Case Receiving Death Threats
I've long observed that many of those attracted to the extreme conservatism that underlies the neo-conservative political movement are also attracted to terrorist tactics and, very likely, actual acts of violence in the name of their agenda. Some confirmation of this comes today by way of Judge Reggie Walton, the man charged with the decision to send Lewis "Scooter" Libby to prison while he awaits an appeals process. In the US, this is normal procedure when someone is convicted of a criminal count. Neo-conservative exceptionalist thugs see it differently, of course, as they have no interest in anything resembling equal protection and responsibility under criminal codes.
Libby judge ignores threats
...The decision to jail Libby, 56, while he pursues an appeal intensifies pressure on President George W. Bush to pardon him.
Judge Walton revealed he had been harassed after handing down Libby's tough sentence.
"I have received a number of angry, harassing, mean-spirited phone calls and messages, some wishing bad things on me and my family," he said.
"Those types of things will have no impact.
"I initially threw them away, but then there were more, some that were more hateful. They are being kept," he said.
As all the nattering about "activist judges" and the like has abundantly demonstrated to date, the overthrow of the judicial system in favor of a more dictatorial state headed by an unchecked executive branch is an important element of the radical right-wing agenda in this country. Making terrorist threats against a federal judge is itself a felony, the punishment for which is provided in US Code, Title 18, Part I, Chapter 73, section 1503 (and elsewhere). In choosing to make death threats against a sitting judge and his family, however, these would-be terrorists have already demonstrated their lack of respect for the law, and so we should not expect them to observe it. They frequently believe that they have a divine mandate to do the things they do, and so are exempt from human laws. In this regard, they are not so different from the religious militants that are already causing so much misery in other parts of the world.
Perhaps when we no longer have an executive branch in this country that sympathizes with these criminals, we'll see them rounded up and kept in a place where they will be unable to act upon what is now, thankfully, largely fantasy.
