I heard this on Rush at the top of the hour and found it at Fox News when I returned:

On his last full day in office, President Bush commuted the sentences of two former Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a Mexican drug runner in 2005.

The imprisonment of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean had sparked outcry from critics who said the two were just doing their jobs. They had been sentenced to 11- and 12-year sentences, respectively.

Their prison sentences will now expire on March 20 of this year.

More as I find it.

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They finally have the right person behind bars.

Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, who was shot in the buttocks in February 2005 after fleeing from border agents during a smuggling attempt, has been indicted on charges of smuggling marijuana in September and October of that year, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton said Thursday.

Aldrete is to appear Friday in federal court.

He was arrested Thursday at an El Paso border crossing on charges of possession with the intent to distribute a controlled substance, conspiracy to import a controlled substance and conspiracy to possess a controlled substance with intent to distribute.

If convicted, Aldrete faces up to 40 years in prison and a $2 million fine.

Long, long overdue.

Also long overdue is the release of the two agents who should never have been jailed.

U.S. Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas, said Thursday that Aldrete’s arrest and indictment should have come sooner.

“It’s about time they arrested the drug dealer,” Culberson said in a statement issued by his office in Washington. “It’s long past time for them to release agents Ramos and Compean.”

Long past time is right.

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I’m way behind. I thought I was caught up, but…not so much.

I did finish the plugin I’ve been working on for bbPress. And it works! You can see it in action in the Forum.

Speaking of forums, if you’re a fan of 24 (and who isn’t), you need to check out Forums4Bauer. The number of registered users has doubled since last Sunday, and there are some very interesting threads going on there.

Other items of note:

If you want to read the latest about the Scooter Libby trial you can’t go wrong with the work that James Joyner of Outside the Beltway is doing.

William Teach (Pirate’s Cove) has a must read post on Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean and the contention that they were tried under the wrong law. This case is the very definition of “travesty”. Sign the petition in support of their pardon.

The Man, one of the real fun voices in the Blogosphere, is shutting out the lights at GOP and the City. He will be missed.

I want to comment on the President’s SOTU address, but I haven’t had a chance to read the transcript. I’ve also avoided reading much of the reaction until I’ve had a chance to look at it.

I’m sure that there are a slew of other things that deserve commentary as well, but that will have to be for another day.

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