Second death penalty (from the article)

[smupony94]

No idea how this person got my email address - I also did not know our name had changed:


May/June 2007



Moving the Bush Bubble to the Big D: Southern Halliburton University

The Rev. Dr. Andrew J. Weaver

In her final column before her untimely death, Molly Ivins wrote: "We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders."

Dr. Benjamin Johnson, a history professor at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, where President Bush is proposing to build his $500 million library and neoconservative institute (DeFrank, 2006; Berkowitz, 2007), recently attended the annual meeting of the Organization of American Historians. Several colleagues there reported that Karl Rove, Bush’s chief political strategist, has been traveling around the country examining research facilities, discussing how to select Bush Institute fellows, and meeting with library directors (Johnson, 2007a).

According to Dr. Johnson, one well-respected colleague said, “Rove seems to know exactly what the square footage is of the building that will be at SMU and where it will be located on campus.” Rove also expressed displeasure that some SMU faculty and United Methodist bishops were protesting the proposed partisan institute (Korosec, 2007; Silva, 2007) over which Bush and company will have total control (Johnson, 2007b). This hands-on involvement of a top-level White House operative like Rove demonstrates just how important Bush insiders believe the library and think tank at SMU is.

Bush is the most unpopular and isolated president since Richard Nixon. Inside his bubble, the President is being told by the Secretary of State (Rice, 2004) that he is another Winston Churchill or Harry Truman -- unpopular now, but he will be vindicated by history for his heroic effort to bring democracy to the Middle East at the point of a gun (even if it requires a total re-write). To re-write history on the scale Bush needs will necessitate the complete control of a disinformation institute, and if it uses the legitimacy of a respected university and the good name of a major Protestant tradition, all the better (imagine the American Enterprise Institute with a giant cross on the front door, and you get the picture).

Importantly, Rove and friends will be able to continue to conceal the most damaging information about this administration in its bubble using Bush's Executive Order 13233, signed into law shortly after 9/11, which insures that the president and his heirs are able to deny access in perpetuity to government records (Gillman, 2007). Emily Sheketoff, Executive Director of the American Library Association, observed that the executive order “completely goes against the spirit of the essence of a library” (Gillman, 2007). Steve Aftergood, Director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists, said “If the Bush folks are going to play games with the records, no self-respecting academic institution should cooperate” (Gillman, 2007). Professor Benjamin Hufbauer at the University of Louisville, a recognized authority on presidential libraries, believes that dictating which papers can be seen at the library reduces it to “just a museum of political propaganda” (Jascik, 2007).

To convince the United Methodist Church to stain its good name and a major university to give away its academic respectability by linking itself with a president that much of the world views as an authoritarian bully (Public Diplomacy, 2005; World Public Opinion, 2007) who has authorized and advocated for torture and international kidnapping is one nifty trick (Miles, 2006; Grey, 2006). Such an endeavor required skilled operators and years of stealth planning (Schutze, 2006), which according to SMU President R. Gerald Turner began in 2001, shortly after Bush became president. It required that the SMU administration hide its intentions from its faculty and from church leaders who would understand that a partisan institute lacking standard academic controls, whose mission undoubtedly will include justifying crimes against humanity, would be a bad idea (Weaver and Crawford, 2007). To achieve these goals Bush needs powerful friends in high places and he has them in the SMU Trustees.

Awash in Conflicts of Interest
The SMU Board of Trustees is a study in the appearance of conflicts of interests, at a minimum. It is dominated by individuals who have long-standing relationships with George W. Bush and his family which raises serious questions about their objectivity and therefore how they fulfill their fiduciary duty to the university (Weaver, Sprague, Hicks, and Yeakel, 2007). At least 25 of the 41 trustees (61 percent) have personal, financial, and/or political relationships with Bush, and many have been major fundraisers and contributors to his political campaigns. Furthermore, one of the three United Methodist bishops who serve as SMU trustees, Scott Jones, publicly endorsed the Bush project months before a formal proposal was even presented to the Board (Tooley, 2007).

Twenty-two of the trustees have donated to one or more of the Bush political campaigns and/or the Republican National Committee in support of Bush, including SMU President R. Gerald Turner, Board Chair Carl Sewell, Ruth Altshuler, Michael M. Boone, Bradley W. Brookshire, Donald J. Carty, Jeanne Tower Cox, Gary T. Crum, Linda Pitts Custard, Robert H. Dedman, Jr., Frank M. Dunlevy, Thomas J. Engibous, Alan D. Feld, Gerald J. Ford, James R. Gibbs, Frederick B. Hegi, Jr., Ray L. Hunt, Robert A. Leach, Jeanne L. Phillips, Caren H. Prothro, John C. Tolleson, and Richard Ware (Campaign Finance in American Politics, 2007; Fundrace, 2007; NewsMeat, 2007; Public Citizen's Congress Watch, 2004, 2007).

Nearly all of the contributions to political candidates and campaigns by the trustees have been to Republican causes. In total, public records show that the SMU trustees have given $2,759,000 to Republican candidates and causes and $34,000 to Democratic candidates and causes (Campaign Finance in American Politics, 2007; Fundrace, 2007; NewsMeat, 2007; Public Citizen's Congress Watch, 2004; 2007). Trustee Milledge A. Hart, III, donated the most to Democratic causes ($27,750). The only trustee to have given exclusively to Democrats is the SMU Faculty Senate representative, Dr. Rhoda Blair, who donated $250 in 2004 to the Democratic National Committee (Fundrace, 2007).

Two United Methodist clergy on the Board, Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell of Houston (Gaines, 2002) and Rev. Mark Craig of Dallas (Religion and Ethics, 2001), have long-standing personal relationships with Bush and his family. In addition, Laura Bush, the wife of the president and a trustee, has publicly stated her personal preference for SMU (Wolffe and Bailey, 2005a). The First Lady is the only trustee who has said she will recuse herself from voting on the proposal because of a conflict of interest. Despite the fact that numerous other trustees have apparent conflicts, none have recused themselves, even after three United Methodist bishops called for the comprised trustees to do so (Weaver, Sprague, Hicks, and Yeakel, 2007).

The Hunt Oil/Halliburton Connection
And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid. -- [deleted] and Lynne Cheney’s Christmas card inscription, 2003 (both claim membership in the UMC)

Long-time trustee (since 1976) and UMC member Ray L. Hunt is head of the Dallas-based Hunt Oil Company, one of the largest independent oil corporations in the world. He is a Bush friend and a central figure in bringing the Bush think tank proposal to SMU (Personal communication, 2007). Hunt is the son of flamboyant Texas oil tycoon, H.L. Hunt, who was a staunch supporter of Joseph McCarthy and the John Birch Society. In 1948, Fortune magazine labeled H.L. Hunt “the richest man in the United States” (Texas State Historical Association, 2007). Ray L. Hunt, an under-the-radar power player, inherited much of the Hunt Oil fortune in 1974 when his father died. Forbes recently identified billionaire Ray Hunt as one of the richest men on the planet (Dallas Business Journal, 2007).

Ray Hunt is a longtime financial backer of the Bush family. He raised money for the elder Bush and served as the finance chairman of the Republican National Committee for George W. Bush in 2000 (Bryce, 2005). According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Hunt and his spouse have donated more than $460,000 to Republican state campaigns, while his company and its employees contributed more than $1 million to Republican causes between 1995 and 2002 (Grimaldi, 2002). He gave $100,000 toward the 2001 Bush inaugural festivities and one of his corporation’s, Hunt Consolidated, gave another $250,000 toward the Bush 2005 presidential inaugural gala (Public Citizen's Congress Watch, 2007). In addition, Hunt donated a whopping $35 million toward the Bush complex to secure additional property for the project (Schutze, 2006).



One month after 9/11, Bush honored his friend Ray Hunt with a seat on the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB), and he was re-appointed in January 2006 (Bryce, 2005). According to the White House, this board operates to offer the president “objective, expert advice” on the conduct of foreign intelligence (Wolffe and Bailey, 2005b). Hunt, with international business interests, has access through PFIAB to intelligence that is unavailable to most members of Congress. This group is privy to the most current and sensitive information gathered by the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the military intelligence organizations, and several others sources (Bryce, 2005). PFIAB operates in complete secrecy. According to Salon magazine, members of this oversight board “are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act and unlike other public servants who work for the president, there is no public disclosure of the PFIAB members' financial interests” (Bryce, 2005).

Several experts are persuaded that Hunt's position at PFIAB could easily benefit both Hunt Oil’s worldwide energy interests and Halliburton, which has been awarded billions of dollars' worth of no-bid, cost-plus contracts in Iraq by the U.S. government (Bryce, 2005; Wolffe and Bailey, 2005). Hunt has been on Halliburton's board of directors since 1998, when [deleted] Cheney was running the company and serving as an SMU trustee (1997- 2000). [Interestingly, soon after Hunt joined the Halliburton board, he was placed on its compensation committee, where he helped determine Cheney’s pay package (Bryce, 2005). In fact, in 1998 Hunt's committee decided that Cheney deserved a $3.78 million bonus (Bryce, 2005), and in 2000 he got $33.7 million award when he joined the Bush campaign (Bryce, 2000).]

Halliburton has outdone Enron in using offshore tax shelters to avoid paying taxes. By 2005, Halliburton had 58 offshore subsidiaries in Caribbean tax havens (Turnipseed, 2005). In 1998, the year Hunt joined Cheney at Halliburton, the company paid $302 million in taxes. In 1999, with the use of offshore tax havens, Halliburton paid no taxes and even received $85 million in refunds from the IRS (Turnipseed, 2005). Halliburton also utilized its offshore companies to contract services and sell banned equipment to Iran, Iraq, and Libya -- something that would have violated federal law if Halliburton had not used offshore subsidiaries (Turnipseed, 2005). New York City Controller, William Thompson, said that profits made by Halliburton from states that sponsor terrorism, such as Iran and Libya, is nothing short of “blood money” (Halliburtonwatch, 2007).

Despite using tax havens and millions in profits from rogue states like Iran, Halliburton experienced financial distress. In late 2001, according to Fortune magazine, after a series of financial debacles and billions in asbestos-related liability claims, Halliburton stock plummeted to $8.50 a share, and Wall Street worried about the corporation’s survival (Elkind, 2005). Halliburton’s fortunes changed dramatically with the onset of the “war of choice” in Iraq. Before the war, Halliburton was 19th on the U.S. Army’s list of utilized contactors; by 2003 it was number one. The company has been awarded at least $11 billion in government contracts since Bush took office (Mayer, 2004).

And, Ray Hunt has become an even richer billionaire. In March of 2003 Halliburton stock was valued at $20.50 per share and by March of 2007 it was worth $64.12 per share (Rich, 2007). According to the Forbes list of the World’ Richest People in 2003, at the beginning of the Iraq war Ray Hunt was worth $2.3 billion (Forbes, 2003) and by 2007 his fortune had grown to $3.5 billion (Dallas Business Journal, 2007). Both Hunt and Halliburton have been winners in the Iraq War. To provide perspective, the $1.2 billion increase in riches in 4 years by Hunt is greater than SMU’s total endowment garnered since 1911 (SMU, 2006).

In 2005 audits by the Pentagon, the Congressional General Accounting Office and other agencies found that $1.8 billion of the $11 billion in contracts to Halliburton (16.4 percent) to be either “unjustified” or “undocumented” charges to the government (Elkind, 2005). In addition, the auditors reported widespread problems with record keeping and a refusal to provide required information, as well as misleading the auditors about its efforts to seek competitive prices. According to Fortune magazine, Halliburton’s “war profiteering” also involved outrageous price-gouging for fuel and services to the troops, such as charging $100 to wash a 15-pound bag of clothes and serving out-of-date food to the troops (Elkind, 2005).

As long-ago as September of 2004, the U.S. military called for “the immediate termination of Halliburton’s most lucrative contract with Army because of poor performance” (Halliburtonwatch, 2005). Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and President Bush ignored the request. When Fortune magazine tried to speak to Hunt about the company’s questionable practices, its phone calls were not returned (Elkind, 2005). None of these jaw-dropping scandals kept Halliburton from obtaining a new government contract to build a maximum-security prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (Ivanovich, 2005; Buncombe, 2006).

In a separate business dealing, Hunt Oil has a major role in the development of the Camisea Natural Gas Project in an unspoiled rain forest in Peru. This project has encountered fierce opposition because of concerns that the pipeline will destroy the rain forest and the lives of the indigenous peoples in the region (Grimaldi, 2002). Amazon Watch, an environmental and human rights group, calls the Camisea Gas Project "the most damaging project in the Amazon Basin” (Amazon Watch, 2007). The (London) Independent newspaper reported that the project "will enrich some of [President Bush's] closest corporate campaign contributors" but that it "risks the destruction of one of the world's remaining pristine stretches of rain forest and threatens the lives of indigenous peoples" (Halliburtonwatch, 2004). Does Hunt's position on PFIAB and the government intelligence to which he is privy give him a business advantage in dealing with this and numerous other projects? There is no way to be certain. What is clear, as journalist Robert Bryce has observed, is that “Hunt's business operations are so vast that every bit of foreign intelligence he sees at PFIAB could potentially be of value to him and his associates” (Bryce, 2005).

Finally, there is another trustee associated with Hunt Oil who may benefit from intelligence gathered by Ray Hunt at the PFIAB and who appears to have conflicts of interest related to her long-standing relationship with Bush. Jeanne L. Phillips, who was appointed as an SMU Trustee in 2004, was personally chosen by Ray Hunt as his senior vice president of corporate affairs and international relations in 2005 (Solomon, 2005).

According to her official U.S. Department of State biography, Ms. Phillips “served as Senior Advisor for National Finance in the Presidential campaign of George W. Bush, developing the original fundraising plan and structure for the finance organization. . .” (U.S. Department of State, 2001). She was appointed Ambassador to France and Permanent Representative to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development by President Bush in 2001. She told the New York Times in 2005 that she had been a close friend of the Bushes since 1979 when she worked as a fundraiser for George H.W. Bush. She postponed her wedding plans to chair the Bush 2005 presidential inaugural events (Solomon, 2005).

Other SMU Trustees with the Appearance of Significant Conflicts of Interest

Ruth Altshuler is a Dallas philanthropist and investor. She pledged to raise at least $100,000 for the 2000 Bush presidential campaign and gave $25,000 toward the 2001 Bush inaugural gala (Public Citizen's Congress Watch, 2007).

Michael M. Boone is a corporate attorney and founding partner of the prominent law firm Haynes & Boone. According to its web site, it has 430 lawyers and 10 offices worldwide (World Services Group, 2007). It was the third largest contributor to the Bush re-election in 2004. The firm and Mr. Boone have been active financial and political supporters of Bush since he ran for governor. Mr. Boone pledged to raise at least $100,000 for the 2000 presidential campaign and at least another $200,000 in 2004. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Mr. Boone and his law firm were the ninth-largest patron of George W. Bush’s overall political career (Public Citizen's Congress Watch, 2004).

Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell is Senior Pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church in Houston. He introduced Bush at the 2000 Republican National Convention and campaigned with him in the 2000 and 2004 elections. He gave the benediction at both presidential inaugurations, has stayed overnight at the White House, and has traveled with the president aboard Air Force One on campaign trips (Gaines, 2002). The president has said the he considers Rev. Caldwell to be a trusted friend and close confidant (White House Press Office, 2003; Caldwell, 2007).

Donald J. Carty is Chair of Virgin America and former Chair and CEO of American Airlines. He contributed $52,000 for the re-election of Bush in 2004 (Fundrace, 2007) and $100,000 to the Bush 2005 presidential inaugural gala (Public Citizen's Congress Watch, 2007). Carty was appointed by President Bush in 2002 to the National Infrastructure Advisory Board.

Rev. Mark Craig is Senior Pastor of Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas, where President Bush is a member. He has been a long-time friend and admirer of Bush. According to the PBS program, Religion and Ethics, Rev. Craig expressed unfettered enthusiasm for Bush in these public comments:

I think what you [Bush] did for me, you have done for others. I think you have brought healing and brought hope to the young, to the elderly, to the marginalized, to the dispossessed. And that’s what Moses did. That’s what Moses did. He was chosen by God, as you have been chosen by God, to lead the people (Religion and Ethics, 2001).

Rev. Craig has not expressed equal ardor for the 15 UMC bishops, two former presidents of the New Zealand Methodist Church, a former president of the Irish Methodist Church, two superintendents in the British Methodist Church, 35 members of his congregation, several highly respected Protestant theologians, and more than 10,000 Christians (mostly United Methodists) who have signed a petition (www. protectSMU.org) calling for the rejection of the Bush complex. Craig labeled these fellow Christians “a marginal group, a fringe group,” asserting that if they do not share his high opinion of Bush they are “being grossly judgmental” (Hacker, Gillman, and Hodges, 2007).

Rev. Craig and Bishop Scott Jones of Kansas told the Dallas Morning News that fellow United Methodists who signed the petition and objected to the Bush complex “would have no influence on them as SMU trustees.” Moreover, they declared that “they as trustees – not the United Methodist Church – have the final say on decisions that SMU makes about the library” (Hacker, Gillman, and Hodges, 2007). Rev. Craig and Bishop Jones made this statement despite the fact that the UMC founded and owns SMU and the trustees are appointed under the authority of the church.

Jeanne Tower Cox is the daughter of the late Sen. John Tower. She and George W. Bush are on the steering committee of a group called Associated Republicans of Texas that has one of the largest political action committees in the state with over $1.2 million in funds (100 Biggest PACs in Texas, 2007). The group reads like a who’s who list of leading Republican Party activists in Texas, including U.S. Senators Kay Bailey Hutchinson and John Cornyn. It traces its roots back to 1975 when the founders committed “to putting their time and money” into rebuilding the Republican Party in Texas (Associated Republicans of Texas, 2007).

Robert H. Dedman, Jr. is Chair and CEO of Club Corp. International. The Dedmans are long time friends of the Bush family, and Mr. Dedman raised at least $100,000 for the 2000 Bush presidential campaign.

Alan Feld is a lobbyist and one of two senior executive partners of the 25th largest law firm in the U.S. It has 900 employees and offices in Dubai, Dallas, Moscow, Beijing, Washington and 10 other locations worldwide (Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld LLP, 2006). He pledged to raise at least $100,000 for the 2000 Bush presidential campaign.

Carl Sewell is Chair of the SMU Board and Chair of Sewell Automotive Companies in Dallas. He and his spouse together donated $54,000 toward the re-election of President Bush: $50,000 to the RNC and $2,000 each to the Bush/Cheney committee to re-elect.

A Second Death Penalty
Veritas Liberabit Vos -- SMU motto
SMU is the only university in history to receive a “death penalty” from the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA). In 1987 the NCAA required, among other things, that the university cancel its football season (White, 1989). The NCAA cited the need to "eliminate a program that was built on a legacy of wrongdoing, deceit and rule violations” (McNabb, 1987). The scandal was a deep embarrassment to SMU and the UMC and centered on the misconduct of a number of trustees and school officials, along with a lack of proper oversight by the UMC (Wangrin, 2007; The Bishop’s Committee Report on SMU, 1987).

It involved a slush fund of $61,000 distributed to 13 football players, as well as the continuation of payments to players involving SMU officials while the school was serving a two-year probation for prior rules violations (Wangrin, 2007). When the scandal broke, the chair of the trustees was the Republican ex-governor of Texas, William Clements. Working on his re-election staff as governor was none other than Karl Rove, who was entangled in nasty allegations involving Clements’ re-election efforts (Dubose, 2001; Ivins, 2006).

According to the San Antonio Express-News, Bill Clements was smack in the middle of the SMU football mess (Wangrin, 2007). He admitted on March 3, 1987, “that while sitting on the SMU board, he and other school officials had approved a secret plan to continue illegal payments to SMU players” (Wangrin, 2007). Clements insisted that all the members of SMU's board of trustees were in on the fix. All denied it, including Ray Hunt. UMC bishops had to intervene to save the university and its board from total disgrace (Wangrin, 2007).

Two of the strongest recommendations the bishops made to SMU were to place “limits on the length of time a person can serve as a trustee” and “create more diversity among the trustees” (Bishops’ Committee Report on SMU, 1987). The football scandal came as result of a concentration of power in the hands of a few like-minded, long-time trustees, who acted in secret counter to the interests of the university. Only two trustees are on the 2007 board who were there in the scandal-ridden years of 1983-1987, Ray Hunt and vice chair Richard Ware.

The humiliation to SMU and the UMC from that self-inflicted wound of the athletic program debacle will pale in comparison to what will unfold if the partisan Bush complex goes to SMU without adequate oversight. University President R. Gerald Turner has repeatedly stated his belief that “When a President is in office, everything is political; when he leaves office, it becomes historical” (Turner, 2006). Given the extreme secrecy and nefarious behavior within this presidency, nothing could be more counter to reality (Chandrasekaran, 2006; Greenberg, 2005; Isikoff and Corn, 2007; Saar and Novak, 2005).



Over the remainder of Bush’s life, horror stories of war crimes that were committed under his authority undoubtedly will spill out (Murray, 2007). We will continue to hear about clandestine torture and the international kidnapping of innocents (Miles, 2006; Ratner, 2004). The full extent of the lies that were told by this administration to start a greed-based war will be uncovered and the real story of war profiteering by Bush’s friends will be told (Chandrasekaran, 2006; Isikoff and Corn, 2007). SMU and the Bush Institute bubble may well become the final bastion in the defense of the indefensible, and the United Methodist Church will continue to be stained by its complicity and collaboration.

What you can do
The UMC bishops within the region where SMU is located have the power to stop the Bush partisan institute. If they say no to Bush, he will not go to SMU. The church owns the school. Contact these bishops in a courteous manner telling them of your concerns.

[NickSMU17]

I personally am looking forward to the opening.

[SMUtrojanFAN]

I guess I thought the Methodist Church no longer "owned" the University. Is this correct?

[LonghornFan68]

I personally am looking forward to the opening.

Going streaking?

[smupony94]

I personally am looking forward to the opening.

Going streaking?

With Nixon masks on

[NavyCrimson]

LOL!!! Hilarious!!!

[PonyKai]

The only atrocity I saw was the piece of writing itself.

[RE Tycoon]

http://jitcrunch.cafepress.com/jitcrunch.aspx?bG9hZD1ibGFuayxibGFuazo4MF9GLmpwZ3xsb2FkPUwwLGh0dHA6Ly9pbWFnZXMuY2FmZXByZXNzLmNvbS9pbWFnZS8xNzM4NzE3N180MDB4NDAwLmpwZ3x8c2NhbGU9TDAsMTIxLDQxLFdoaXRlfGNvbXBvc2U9YmxhbmssTDAsQWRkLDE4MywxMzV8Y3A9cmVzdWx0LGJsYW5rfHNjYWxlPXJlc3VsdCwwLDQ4MCxXaGl0ZXxjb21wcmVzc2lvbj05NXw=

[Casey]

Great story, smupony94 -- what publication was it in?

Wish Dr. Turner and the trustees could be forced to read that before the ink was dry on the contracts.

[SMU Football Blog]

Great story, smupony94 -- what publication was it in?

Wish Dr. Turner and the trustees could be forced to read that before the ink was dry on the contracts.

Why? So they can laugh their [deleted] off?

Example of the factual mistakes. I know Jeanne Johnson Phillips. If she was the Ambassador to France, it is news to me. She lived in France, but she was not the Ambassador of France. If she had wedding plans in 2005, that would be news to her husband, because they have been married a lot longer than that. She did chair the inagurals in 2000 and 2004, though, and also the Texas inaugurals in 1994 and 1998.

[Water Pony]

It seems to me that framing the topic as Black and White is part of our issue.

First, there will be a President Library. Second, the policies and actions of this and all presidencies need to be reviewed, studies, challenged, etc. Third, the extremes on both ends of the spectrum will never take the time to understand and learn about Bush's decisions and how they helped and/or hurt the USA and its objectives and position in the world.

I say, bring the Presidental Library to Univesity Park and the SMU campus. Our nation needs to challenge itself and come together on what is our role in defending our country, values and culture.

At least Bush acted and, my sense only, with good intentions. The American people didn't do it for land, oil and an empire. Confronting radicals/terriots, who are and want to threaten, intimidate and control non-believers must be done, preferrably by the world as a whole. But, if not, they still must be challenged and, hopefully, marginalized.

Is the library going to make our task as a nation easier or better? Academically, you would have to say yes. Let's leave politics out of it. This battle or war will persist for generations. Let's figure out how to confront it. I welcome it and encourage SMU to host the library. The think tank is also welcome, since opposing views are part of this exercise.

[PonyFan]

Something about anything called a "think tank" with W's name on it just begs to be material for late-night talk show punchlines.

And Blog: are there two Jeanne Johnson's? I know one (an aluma who is very generous to SMU) who has been a widow for a couple of years. Maybe she is, in fact, getting remarried, in which case, the inaccuracy might not be inaccurate after all, at least in that particular case.

Either way -- like the story. Thanks for posting it.

[smupony94]

Great story, smupony94 -- what publication was it in?

Wish Dr. Turner and the trustees could be forced to read that before the ink was dry on the contracts.

I don't know how they got my email. It was sent to my work and personal emails as a link.

[PK]

Great story, smupony94 -- what publication was it in?

Wish Dr. Turner and the trustees could be forced to read that before the ink was dry on the contracts.

I don't know how they got my email. It was sent to my work and personal emails as a link.

Maybe you should be more careful in selecting websites to visit or in your choise of friends who might share your e-mail address info.

[mr. pony]

Typical Bush-hating propaganda. I suppose the guy thinks the Clinton library is just fine and dandy.