Joe Conason has been on a roll lately. In his latest column for Salon, he looks back at some of the pardons granted by the elder Bush. Included in his pardons along with the members of the Iran-Contra scandal were a Pakistani heroin smuggler, a Cuban terrorist, and suspected Commie sympathizer Armand Hammer. The Hammer pardon is interesting because he was brought up frequently in the previous election cycle in order to tar Al Gore. Hammer in fact donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Republican causes and obtained his pardon from the first President Bush.