lieve it was due to intense growing pressure from Grassfire team members!

Read the complete story below from:

http://www.iht.com/bin/print.php?id=4261451

+ + 265,000 and Growing

During the DC press event last week, Ron De Jong and I presented 225,000 petitions--the same petitions that Rep. Poe delivered to the White House the day before Ramos and Compean surrendered to U.S. Marshals.

In days we've added more than 40,000 citizen signatures! Keep rallying friends because it is making an impact.

Ron and I have also been interviewed by numerous media outlets, and in fact, many radio stations around the country are picking up the banner for Ramos and Compean and steering their listeners to our petition, and urging them to contact the White House!

++ Action Item--Alert the media!

Patrick H., in this update, we've included a special button and code. We are asking members of our team to send this button along with the special code to your local radio stations--urging them to place it on their homepage to rally additional support. Click here for your button and code:

http://Grassfire.org/142/Add_Link.asp?RID=12161672

Additionally, if you blog, or have a homepage of your own, you can post this button. As people rally for the agents via your favorite radio station, blog, or homepage, you will see your personal impact grow for these agents!

+ +Special Audio Update

Finally, don't miss our latest audio update. Ron and I discuss the latest in the case including questions and concerns some have raised about U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton's unusual five-page document entitled "myth vs. reality".

Click here for the audio update:

http://www.grassfire.net/r.asp?u=1272&rid=12161672

Thanks for standing with Grassfire. This is truly an issue worth fighting for, and we are grateful for your amazing outpouring of support!

Steve Elliott President Grassfire.org Alliance

P.S: Again, please pass our special button on to your favorite radio stations and blogging sites. Urge them to use this button to rally support for agents Ramos and Compean!

++Sign our Petition:

http://www.grassfire.org/142/petition.asp?PID=12161672

++Read our News Release:

http://grassfire.org/NewsReleases/20070117-229.htm

+ +Coming Soon! FireSociety.com

America's online grassroots community is getting ready to ignite! Get ready to join the discussion at FireSociety.com -- where you can chat, debate, and start your own citizen grassfires!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

(Note: Please do not "reply" directly to this e-mail message. This e-mail address is not designed to receive your personal messages. To contact Grassfire.org with comments, questions or to change your status, see link at the end.) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

+ + + + +

Grassfire.org Alliance is a non-profit 501(c)4 issues advocacy organization dedicated to equipping our 1.5 million-strong network of grassroots conservatives with the tools that give you a real impact on the key issues of our day. Gifts to Grassfire.org are not tax deductible.

+ +

Comments? Questions?

http://www.grassfire.org/email.asp?ind=10

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Bush open to idea of pardon for former U.S. Border Patrol agents who shot Mexican drug dealer

The Associated Press

Thursday, January 18, 2007

WASHINGTON

President George W. Bush left open the possibility of a pardon for two U.S. Border Patrol agents serving federal prison sentences for shooting a Mexican drug dealer as he fled and covering up the crime.

Bush said "there's a process for pardons" and the case has to work its way through the system. In an interview with KFOX-TV in El Paso, Texas, Bush said the White House will review the case, and he urged people to "take a sober look at the case."

"People need to take a tough look at the facts, the evidence a jury looked at, as well as the judge. And I will do the same thing," he said.

Several lawmakers have urged the president to pardon former Border Patrol agents Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos for the shooting of Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, who retreated to Mexico after he was shot and later admitted he was transporting marijuana while in the U.S. illegally.

The agents began serving their sentences Wednesday — 11 years and one day for Ramos and 12 years for Compean. Both were fired after their convictions on several charges, including assault with a deadly weapon, obstruction of justice, and a civil rights violation.

Rancor over the convictions and sentencing of the agents has been simmering for months, and the two have become a cause celebre among conservatives and on talk shows. Their supporters have said they were defending themselves and have called them heroes. The agents' prosecution occurred as the issue of illegal immigration was being debated in Congress and amid campaigns for last November's midterm elections.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, a California Republican, introduced a bill Thursday calling for a congressional pardon of the agents. Congress has never issued pardons to anyone convicted of a crime, said Joe Kasper, Hunter's spokesman. But Kasper said Hunter believes there is enough ambiguity in the law on pardons to give it a try.

"Agents Compean and Ramos fulfilled their responsibilities as Border Patrol agents and rightfully pursued a suspected and fleeing drug smuggler. It is irresponsible to punish them with jail time," he said in a news release.

U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton took the unusual step of issuing a five-page document of the "myth vs. reality" of the case as the agents began serving their sentences.

The document covered everything from the claims that the former agents were just doing their jobs to reports that the shooting was at night when it actually happened about 1 p.m. on Feb. 17, 2005.

White House spokesman Tony Snow also seemed to support the agents' conviction, listing details of the case in a briefing with reporters Thursday. He said an officer hit Aldrete in the chest with a gun after he got out of his car and that "a lot of the allegations about a scuffle and discovering drugs at the scene and all that, they're simply not supported by the fact record of the case."

Texas Sen. John Cornyn said the Justice Department should have the chance to explain why the agents were prosecuted. Cornyn sent a letter to Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, asking for a hearing.

"I understand that the Justice Department believes all the facts have not come out on this prosecution and would welcome the opportunity to explain its decisions. I believe such a public explanation and opportunity for questioning is necessary," Cornyn wrote.

Cornyn said he and Sen. Arlen Specter, who chaired the committee last year, investigated the case and that his office personally interviewed Sutton.

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