"Obama Pardons: Alligator Hides, Hashish and Satellite TV"

The title of this post is the headline of this Time piece reporting the news that President Obama has now issued his second batch of pardons.  Another notable piece about Obama's clemency efforts comes from PS Ruckman at the Pardon Power blog in this post titled "Obama: 8 More Pardons to the Tiny Little Pile."

The Time piece's intro to its list of the eight pardon recipients provides a telling indication of how recent presidents have turning this historic power into a near punchline:

You know it’s a Friday afternoon if the White House sends out the latest list of presidential pardons. Here are today’s lucky winners, all of whom were convicted of non-violent crimes. Some swing states represented, but no campaign contributors.

Relatedly, I received via e-mail a reaction from Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) president Julie Stewart, who released this fitting statement in response to President Obama's announcement of eight pardons:

"We're happy that these eight people will have their civil rights restored by this presidential pardon, but it's sad that the Justice Department has not brought the president one prison sentence to shorten.  It can't be true that there isn't a single person among the 210,000 currently in federal prison who shouldn't be there.  In fact, during the campaign the president acknowledged that federal prisons are filled with nonviolent offenders serving excessive sentences.  Why, then, can't he find one to commute?"