SMU Keeps Slugging To Avoid Dishonor Of Liebury

The faculty has joined with officials of the Methodist Church in fighting the nasty deposit of a load of disinformation from the Cretin in Chief.

An editorial in the Dallas Morning News this morning joined the opposition to having presidential papers sequestered at SMU, and away from the public.

With Southern Methodist University awaiting word to start construction of the George W. Bush presidential library, it's of considerable local importance to know what, if anything, ultimately will fill its shelves.

If Mr. Bush gets his way with Executive Order 13,233, he and his heirs could withhold a wide range of nonclassified records in perpetuity. But a federal judge ruled last Monday that enforcement of the order violated terms of the 1978 Presidential Records Act.

This is a sensitive question involving congressional checks and balances, the extension of executive privilege after presidents have left office and whether any such privilege can be conveyed to a president's heirs.

It's possible that the Supreme Court will be the final arbiter.
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On Wednesday, the SMU Faculty Senate called for Executive Order 13,233 to be rescinded, saying it "undermines the fundamental educational value" of having the Bush presidential library at the university.

Congress should push to override the president on an issue of fundamental importance to our democracy. We'd like to see Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison join Sen. John Cornyn in leading the charge for the public's right to know.

Some of the opposition is coming from the role that a discredited Karl Rove has been playing. His well known rottenness is not an asset to SMU or to any activity connected either with religious or academic nature.

Most recently, Stern Architects was chosen for the design.

In early September, Paul Bedard wrote in his U.S. News & World Report “Washington Whispers” column that Rove “is expected … to take charge of … the design, fundraising, and planning for what insiders are calling a copy of the conservative Hoover Institution at Stanford University.” Rove, who has “long played a key role” in the project, will not “be the front man … instead focusing on putting the president’s stamp on the facility.”
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According to the newspaper, “Stern’s firm was selected with the help of a five member committee that evaluated different architecture firms for the project. That committee included Laura Bush, Roland Betts, a partner with Bush in the Texas Rangers; Deedie Rose, whose husband Rusty was also a partner in the Texas Rangers, Witold Rybczynski, who Bush appointed in 2004 as a member of the Commission of Fine Arts; and Marvin Bush, the President’s brother.”

In an e-mail, the Rev. Weaver pointed out that “The fact that the press is reporting that Rove will lead the effort to design and plan the freedom institute has increased the concern about and sentiment against the project among many in the church. Three additional bishops signed the petition this week. I believe we have the stronger arguments on our side and can win the debate in the church. And, if Bush bombs Iran, I doubt he will ever get an inch of church land to put anything on.”

It shouldn't take bombing Iran to get enough moral indignation to keep an abomination out of a church institution. The lying, conniving, thieving, torturing and killing acts of the administration make it unfit to be associated with any decent people. Making their reputation dependent on an unholy cabal that has show it is rotten to the core hardly will give SMU an appeal for future students or academicians.