Dick Cheney Is Not Going to Prison

Dick Cheney and Alberto Gonzales have been indicted by a grand jury for illegal detention practices! Time for some celebratory terrorist fist jabs!

Not so fast, champ. Cheney and Gonzales have been indicted in a South Texas county, and it has nothing to do with Gitmo, Abu Ghraib, or black sites. Cheney was indicted because he invests in the Vanguard Group, which holds financial interests in private prison companies that run holding pens for illegal immigrants in South Texas. (This is a booming business in the Lone Star state; we've written about it before.) Gonzales was indicted because he allegedly used his position while in office to stop a 2006 investigation into abuses at one of these privately-run prisons.

Conditions at these places are pretty awful, but that doesn't mean Cheney and Gonzales should somehow end up in jail. The always-delightful Will Bunch gives us all the reasons:

Dick Cheney is not going to jail, not any time soon, at least, and not because of the bizarre report that the vice president of the United States has been indicted in a small, obscure county deep in the heart of South Texas in a scandal over federal prison and detention abuses there. Aside from the obvious fact that a Willacy County, Texas, grand jury lacks authority over federal actions, the indictment of Cheney, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and other is not even signed by a judge, and the result of a wacky -- controversial wouldn't do the man justice -- renegade lame duck DA. It's almost not even worth noting that Cheney's alleged tie -- investing his millions in Vanguard mutual funds that are major owners of publicly traded federal prison contractors -- is weak beyond belief; by the grand jury's reasoning, one could surmise that others with Vanguard 401K plans (example: journalists at the Philadelphia Daily News and Inquirer!) could be charged as well.

The lesson? You shouldn't give a law degree to just anybody. This prosecutor and Alberto Gonzales both prove that.

Comments

Dang.

Posted by: gonzo411 on 11/19/08 at 12:32 PM Respond

shucks

Posted by: Pat Buday on 11/19/08 at 12:50 PM Respond

The other - more important lesson - you shouldn't give a position of power to people like W or Cheney.
What happened to the man Cheney shot?

Posted by: Dog G on 11/19/08 at 1:03 PM Respond

The fact is that connecting an investor to a crime committed by his investments is weak if not out and out specious. Oooh. I got use a cool word just then. I'll do it again. Specious. Too cool for law school!

Posted by: Dirk Dirksen on 11/19/08 at 2:05 PM Respond

This Shucks! I was so looking forward to seeing them in prison.

Posted by: bha on 11/19/08 at 2:11 PM Respond

These prisons were for all, I know that the Texas dept of Corrections also used these facilities.

Posted by: Herbert Boone on 11/19/08 at 3:04 PM Respond

Beyond the fact that America just WASTED 8 crucial years for global warming action, international co-operation against terrorist activities, and getting OFF the foreign oil that ironically Bush said that we were ADDICTED to, it also appears that the Cheney/Bush Mafia will escape any real punishment for their criminal actions!

Not only is this a true injustice, it also sends a message to the next bunch of gangsters who gain power by lying to the American electorate that they need not follow the law either.

One of the main items that separates a democracy from a dictatorship is the "Rule of Law"! If elected officials are above the law then we NO longer have a free democracy.

These abusers must be put on trial and if found guilty under the "LAW", must be punished according to the "LAW"! Otherwise America is nothing more than a glorified Banana Republic in which the rich and powerful may do anything they wish without fear of punishment under the "LAW".

Consider those facts...... while members of the "American Gangster Administration" scurry back under their rocks camouflaged by the smoke and ashes from the destruction they have perpetrated upon the citizens of a weakened and staggering "democracy"!

BE A SUCKER FOR POLITICAL GANGSTERS.............VOTE REPUBLICAN!

Posted by: JNH88KR on 11/19/08 at 5:00 PM Respond

Cheney is and always will be a dark and sinister creature. By the stroke of a magic wand – POOF and he’s gone! I’m just hoping and wishing that “somehow, somewhere” it’ll all catch up to him. For crimes against humanity, I would love to see Cheney punished to the fullest extent of the law.

Posted by: Justice4ThePeople on 11/20/08 at 1:07 PM Respond