WWW.PRESIDENTS"R"US.COM

Sitting Pretty?

The Bush Library opposition is betting on delegates to a local Methodist church conference overturning Southern Methodist University’s deal with the President.

But they may be betting on a weak horse. So far opponents lack even a single delegate to stand with them suing Methodist Bishops over conference rules.

“Our legal team tells us that we need to go to court to give us the best chance to protect the property rights and voting rights of the 290 Jurisdictional Conference delegates who are the elected representatives of the property owners, i.e., the 1.83 million UMC members of the South Central Jurisdiction (SCJ). To do so we need at least one delegate who is willing to step forward and be the plaintiff in the case. We have not found such a delegate.”

Opponents have been canvassing delegates, but the opposition seems soft at best:

“We need 146 votes to win. If we can educate the delegates about the dangers of the Bush partisan think thank to the academic integrity of SMU and the good name of our church, we can win the vote…The majority of the delegates feel they can live with the library, even with its current limitation — censorship by the president and his heirs in perpetuity through his Executive Order 13233, signed soon after 9/11. What many delegates are disturbed by and will vote against is the partisan think-tank to honor George Bush, which is being organized by Karl Rove. Neither SMU nor the United Methodist Church will have any control over the direction of the partisan institute, and that deeply troubles many. If given an opportunity by the SCJ bishops to vote, there is a good chance that the delegates will reject the partisan institute.”

Weakly Readers

The mother/daughter Bush author tag team worked it almost up to Jenna’s wedding, but America’s paper of record is unimpressed.

“Whom is this book supposed to convince, and of what? Leaving aside that part of the base who will find the conjuring of ghosts and dragons deeply suspicious, kids who already understand how stories work will see that this one doesn’t, and kids who don’t like stories won’t be persuaded otherwise. … The point is laboriously made, the teachers’ names are dorky, the plot is hectic and the suspense and dialogue are artificial. What child today says “pesky”?”

Signal Intelligence

Your War President wants you to know: he cares about sending wrong signals.

Getting his story straight is another thing.

President Bush let it be known in an interview with The Politico that he too feels families pain over Iraq [but not enough to attend soldier’s funerals], and he’s given up golf for the duration.

“I don’t want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf,” he said. “I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal.”

But apparently not biking,

fishing,

segwaying,

or near religious

attendence

at baseball’s opening day.

When did the light go on?

“Bush said he made that decision after the August 2003 bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, which killed Sergio Vieira de Mello, the top U.N. official in Iraq and the organization’s high commissioner for human rights…”I remember when de Mello, who was at the U.N., got killed in Baghdad as a result of these murderers taking this good man’s life,” he said. “I was playing golf — I think I was in central Texas — and they pulled me off the golf course and I said, ‘It’s just not worth it anymore to do.’”

But as AFP reports, he kept playing for two more months.

He’d been under the spotlight before things went south in Iraq, most famously while denouncing suicide bombers in 2002.

” “I call upon all nations to do everything they can to stop these terrorist killers.”

His business out of the way, Bush barely paused for breath before saying, “Thank you. Now watch this drive.”

”

For Some It Never Ends

Grand Rapids continues to salute former President Gerry Ford, despite the indifference of the Ford family.

No family members plan to attend the premier of a Ford musical tribute, “One of Us, Portrait of a Humble Healer.” This latest slap to local pride comes Friday when the Grand Rapids Symphony premiers the work, accompanied by David “The Tom DeFrank of Pictures” Kennerly’s photographs.

No one from the immediate family attended the 2007 dedication of Gerald R. Ford Middle School.

Longtime local Ford memorialist Marty Allen says the Ford’s desperately await the music’s CD release. Next Fall.

“I know the family wants it done, because they can’t be here,” Allen told the Grand Rapids Press. “And they’re anxious to hear it.”

Allen is Chairman Emeritus of the Library, and cementing his place in history as Ford family stand in. The Ford Library even holds a painting commemorating the historic day when he received the flag which had flown at half staff to mark Ford’s death.

If These Thistles Could Talk

We feared we’d never see the wedding – the Washington Post was among the media hordes resorting to Bush ranch edges file photos while repeating how little we knew.

Then the White House released manna from heaven, and the nation embraced the lovely couple and her sweaty family.

The President is strangely the only normal looking one here.