May 2006 Thoughts & Stuff

Here's some things I found interesting this month:

Letters From Kenny Boy and George

The relationship between George "W" Bush and Kenneth "Kenny Boy" Lay is a long and touching story of friendship between two men, joined by personal affection and a love of money.

Nowadays, George pretends he just didn't know the man. That must hurt Kenny terribly, for they used to have such a close friendship, as evidenced by many affectionate letters revealed by a Freedom of Information Act request.

Here's a charming sample from the time when George would admit Kenny was an intimate:

April 14, 1997

Dear Ken

One of the sad things about old friends is that they seem to be getting older - just like you!
55 years old. Wow! That is really old.
Thank goodness you have such a young, beautiful wife.
Laura and I value our friendship with you. Best wishes to Linda, your family, and friends.

Your younger friend,
George W. Bush

You can see this letter, and many others, at http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/bushlay1.html

http://rewinn.com/9957

An Inconvenient Truth ...

Nature is a bitch. She don't care about your feeling or your propaganda. You mess with her, and she gives it right back.

The laws of physics aren't just a good idea; they are the LAW. You can't beat them or cheat them or ignore truths just because they are not convenient to you.

The inconvenient truth is this: humankind has messed with our environment just a little too much, and now we're going to pay the price. You can be part of the problem, or you can be part of the solution.

Do you have kids? if you do, pay attention, because the pain you are going to feel from global climate change is nothing compared to how they are going to suffer. At the least, you owe it to them to educate yourself by watching "An Inconvenient Truth". The trailer is on this page, and you can learn more here: http://rewinn.com/9962

wikiThePresident !

People For the American Way believes that a healthy democracy is an informed democracy. We have created WikiThePresidency.org to establish a single place for the public to both acquire and share information about Executive Branch wrongdoings. Anyone can edit this website, based on the same technology as the online encyclopedia Wikipedia.org. PLEASE read the Rules which tell you how to do it.

Post factual claims – this is intended to be a public resource not an op-ed page, so we ask that you refrain from posting your own commentary;
Provide links to supporting material – all factual claims should be supported with links to sources widely regarded as credible (either authored by a recognized authority or published by a reputable news source).
THIS IS NOT A BLOG! - please keep these rules in mind. If you want to spout off, we encourage you to visit existing sites built for political debate and expression.
This kind of site works ONLY with MANY people contributing.

http://www.wikithepresident.org

Lincoln vs. the Imperial Presidency

"Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such purpose, and you allow him to make war at pleasure.

"Study to see if you can fix any limit to his power in this respect, after having given him so much as you propose.

"If to-day he should choose to say he thinks it necessary to invade Canada to prevent the British from invading us, how could you stop him? You may say to him,--"I see no probability of the British invading us"; but he will say to you, "Be silent: I see it, if you don't."

"The provision of the Constitution giving the war making power to Congress was dictated, as I understand it, by the following reasons: kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object.

"This our convention understood to be the most oppressive of all kingly oppressions, and they resolved to so frame the Constitution that no one man should hold the power of bringing this oppression upon us.

Abraham Lincoln
February 15, 1848

http://rewinn.com/9959

ShakeHandsWithW

Ya know what's odd?

It used to be that a photo of a political candidate shaking hands with the President was a plus. Even the Vice-President would do.

But it's real hard to find a picture of my local GOP Congressman, Dave Reichert, even standing next to Bush. Why is that? (... or the Vice-President either.)

It's not like they're not buds. IIRC Cheney's raised a lot of money for Dave, and Dave votes as W commands nearly all the time. So why are they passing up this chance to work some magic together on film?

Let's help them! Let's collect pictures of GOP candidates shaking hands (...or something...) with W here: http://ShakeHandsWithW.blogspot.com/

Sending me your photos and links to photos of a current political candidate shaking hands with George W Bush (or even the Vice President) at rewinn2003@yahoo.com & I'll post them ASAP.

Picasa Photo Software

I've used Google's "Picasa" software to organize photos on my PC for a couple on months, and it works great! It's free, so why wait? You can download it for free at this link:

(Truth In Advertising: I get a small referral fee for each download. If you don't like Picasa, after downloading it it, just tell me & you can have your money back!)

Clear Bush's Name: Impeach!

Let us apply what we have learned from the Clinton impeachment.

1. You don't impeach on PROVEN offenses; impeachment sets up a trial in the Senate in which the offense is proven (or not). You impeach on SUSPECTED offenses.

2. Clinton was impeached on the ACCUSATION of lying under oath, which was later sustained. The impeachment set up a trial in the Senate to determine whether the law & facts sufficed to remove him from office; the Senate determined they did not. However, at the MOMENT OF IMPEACHMENT, it was merely an unproven accusation.

3. Later, a separate legal matter, a judge found Clinton had been untruthful, but that was AFTER the impeachment & trial in the Senate.

4. There is substantial and credible evidence that Bush has committed felony violations of FISA, felony obstruction of justice, felony conspiracy (by mean of giving orders) to commit torture (including lesser offenses of assault, battery, felonious sexual assault, et cetera), and other offenses. These are not PROVEN. However as the Clinton example shows, Impeachment is not about proven offenses; it is about suspected offenses.

5. Using the standard of Clinton's impeachment, Congress's clear duty is to impeach Bush, for a trial in the Senate either to clear his name or to remove him from office.

6. Does any Bush supporter doubt that a trial in the Senate would clear Bush's name?

Why would Bush fear a trial to clear his name?

Colbert's Speech

... at the White House Correspondents' Dinner is classic. The jester says what the press date not!

The complete video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-869183917758574879

Give Colbert a "thank you":
http://thankyoustephencolbert.org

MORE: http://rewinn.com/9960

Memoirs of William Sampson

Now in Print!

After being out of print for 190 years, William Sampson's Memoirs are now available at http://cafepress.com/rewinn . Sampson was an Irish Protestant lawyer, tortured and exiled for the crime of defending Catholics. He came to America on July 4, 1806 and became a leader in promoting human rights and religious under our Constitution.

You can read his exciting memoirs free on the web, or, better still: order the book!