Evaluation of the policies of George W. Bush and his Republican conservatives on America.
Published on January 19, 2007 By COL Gene In Politics



The faculty and Alumni at SMU are circulating a petition to oppose the placement of the Presidential Library of George W. Bush at their school. President Bush commented yesterday that those who are objecting to his library at SMU do not understand that a library is a place of learning and a good thing.

What George W. Bush does not understand is that SMU is a private school affiliated with the Methodist Church and their objection is not to a library but to his library because they believe the policies he followed as President do not reflect the values of the Methodist Church and SMU.

This should be a straight forward issue. If the Alumni and Faculty do not want the Bush library at SMU it should not be located at that school. Maybe the Community College near Crawford would like his library!

Comments (Page 1)
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on Jan 19, 2007
i wonder how many copies of "my pet goat" will be stocked?

plus i hope they include the actual chair he was sitting in while america "was under attack." i sure would like to experience what sitting in it for 7 long minutes after the president knew that america was under attack and his duty and constitutonal obligation required him to get off his duff.
on Jan 19, 2007
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on Jan 19, 2007
IslandDog

What - No Pro Bush Comments?
on Jan 19, 2007
What - No Pro Bush Comments?


Col, now you are complaining about a Bush library.  I mean seriously.
on Jan 19, 2007

The faculty and Alumni at SMU are circulating a petition to oppose the placement of the Presidential Library of George W. Bush at their school. President Bush commented yesterday that those who are objecting to his library at SMU do not understand that a library is a place of learning and a good thing.

What George W. Bush does not understand is that SMU is a private school affiliated with the Methodist Church and their objection is not to a library but to his library because they believe the policies he followed as President do not reflect the values of the Methodist Church and SMU.

This should be a straight forward issue. If the Alumni and Faculty do not want the Bush library at SMU it should not be located at that school. Maybe the Community College near Crawford would like his library!


What CROCK OF SHIT col! Do you "ever" get anything right? The issue that's holding it up is "eminent domain" being used for the ground to build it on. NOT GW's policies! Grow up will ya? Proven wrong again!


Lawsuit Over Eminent Domain Could Snarl Bush Library Plans
By MEGHAN CLYNE
Staff Reporter of the Sun
February 17, 2006

DALLAS - The school favored to host the George W. Bush Presidential Library, Dallas's Southern Methodist University, may encounter a snag next week in the form of a lawsuit alleging that the school has improperly seized local homes in order to secure land for the proposed library site.

Amid increasing outrage among Republicans over the use of eminent domain and other coercive measures to obtain private property for public projects, a case in Dallas County's 134th Civil District Court, which is set to begin on Tuesday, will determine whether the university violated its legal obligations to local homeowners in an effort to secure the land currently occupied by the University Gardens condominium complex, a potential library site.

"They're taking my home," said Gary Vodicka, one of the litigants and a University Gardens owner and resident, yesterday.


Link

Then there's this:


Bush library hopefuls have stacked up
By Judy Keen, USA TODAY
WACO, Texas — Baylor University has proximity to President Bush's beloved ranch. Southern Methodist University has a garden dedicated to alumna Laura Bush. Midland College is in the town where they married. Texas A&M has the prospect of a father-son pairing. Arlington has the Texas Rangers, the baseball team Bush once ran.

Southern Methodist University is one of eight possible sites for the future library honoring President Bush.
By Hillsman S. Jackson, SMU

In the competition to be the home of the George W. Bush presidential library and museum, communities and colleges across Texas are working every angle they've got. The prizes they're competing for are considerable: prestige, tourist dollars and jobs.

Seven colleges or universities and the city of Arlington have until Sept. 15 to submit proposals for the library. They were asked to spell out how they'd raise $200 million to build it and what sorts of facilities they envision. Three Bush insiders — former Commerce secretary and longtime Bush pal Don Evans, the president's brother Marvin and Craig Stapleton, husband of a Bush cousin — will recommend finalists. Then Bush will make the final decision, thrilling one community and disappointing the others.


Link
on Jan 19, 2007
Even if it is about Bush, it most certainly isn't about religious issues. I went to a Methodist school, and aside from the Chapel and some dorm policies there wasn't anything religious about it. Even the religion classes weren't in line with Methodist dogma.
on Jan 19, 2007
What CROCK OF SHIT col! Do you "ever" get anything right?


yes he did,,,do some reading...WWW Link

this is a CURRENT article (from the 10th, the day you accused me and the col of being the same person)unlike yours from last year when the process was just getting started and the students and faculty weren't yet aware of the plans. now that they are, they're pissed.

but you are just looking to attack...you have no interest in the truth.
on Jan 19, 2007
IslandDog

YOU got is all wrong. I am not the one complaining about the Bush Library-- The people who do not want it are the Alumni and facility at SMU!

drmiler

The opposition has to do with the fact they do not want his library at SMU because they do not agree with some of his policies including the Iraq War. You would think Bush would be so embarrassed by the opposition that he would drop the plan and go else ware. He is too dumb-- He will stay the Course. I hope if the Alumni and Facility do not want his library at SMU the administration does not buckle under pressure from the Bush Family. Daddy will most likely try and pull George's bacon out of the fire again!
The petition has over 3,000 signatures asking the Bush library not be located at SMU!
This is one excerpt about the protest:

Now, SMU faculty, administrators, and staff are speaking out. In a December 16 letter to R. Gerald Turner, president of the Board of Trustees, members of SMU’s Perkins School of Theology have urged the board to “reconsider and to rescind SMU’s pursuit of the presidential library.”
They have over 3,000 signatures so far on a petition to stop the library! We count ourselves among those who would regret to see SMU enshrine attitudes and actions widely deemed as ethically egregious: degradation of habeas corpus, outright denial of global warming, flagrant disregard for international treaties, alienation of long-term U.S. allies, environmental predation, shameful disrespect for gay persons and their rights, a pre-emptive war based on false and misleading premises, and a host of other erosions of respect for the global human community and for this good Earth on which our flourishing depends.
The letter concludes, “These violations are antithetical to the teaching, scholarship, and ethical thinking that best represents Southern Methodist University.”
The petition has over 3,000 signatures asking that the Bush library not be located at SMU!
on Jan 19, 2007
plus i hope they include the actual chair he was sitting in while america "was under attack." i sure would like to experience what sitting in it for 7 long minutes after the president knew that america was under attack and his duty and constitutonal obligation required him to get off his duff.


What garbage. Yup, that "7 minutes" made all the difference.  
on Jan 19, 2007
Daiwa

What has made a difference is the failure to make us safer. We are doing a better job to stop plots by terrorists. We have made the number of people that would conduct terrorist acts greater by our actions.

This Blog is about the fact that the faculty and Alumni at SMU do not want Bush to put his library at their school because they do not agree with the actions he has taken as president!
Read what the letter said as to WHY they do not want the Bush Library at SMU: They have over 3,000 signatures so far on a petition to stop the library! We count ourselves among those who would regret to see SMU enshrine attitudes and actions widely deemed as ethically egregious: degradation of habeas corpus, outright denial of global warming, flagrant disregard for international treaties, alienation of long-term U.S. allies, environmental predation, shameful disrespect for gay persons and their rights, a pre-emptive war based on false and misleading premises, and a host of other erosions of respect for the global human community and for this good Earth on which our flourishing depends. The letter concludes, “These violations are antithetical to the teaching, scholarship, and ethical thinking that best represents Southern Methodist University.”
on Jan 20, 2007

yes he did,,,do some reading...WWW Link

this is a CURRENT article (from the 10th, the day you accused me and the col of being the same person)unlike yours from last year when the process was just getting started and the students and faculty weren't yet aware of the plans. now that they are, they're pissed.

but you are just looking to attack...you have no interest in the truth.


I read but the col did NOT! The article plainly states what their problem is and it AIN'T GW's policies.


In a meeting Tuesday, faculty members complained of a lack of consultation over the emerging agreement and all but demanded answers from the university’s president, R. Gerald Turner, on the relationship that would develop between the university and the library.


Both of you can try again if you like. And you're "still" wrong col. No where in the article are Bush's policies mentioned. So SConn1 is "also" wrong.


drmiler

The opposition has to do with the fact they do not want his library at SMU because they do not agree with some of his policies including the Iraq War. You would think Bush would be so embarrassed by the opposition that he would drop the plan and go else ware. He is too dumb-- He will stay the Course. I hope if the Alumni and Facility do not want his library at SMU the administration does not buckle under pressure from the Bush Family. Daddy will most likely try and pull George's bacon out of the fire again!
The petition has over 3,000 signatures asking the Bush library not be located at SMU!
This is one excerpt about the protest:
on Jan 20, 2007
yes he did,,,do some reading...WWW Link

this is a CURRENT article (from the 10th, the day you accused me and the col of being the same person)unlike yours from last year when the process was just getting started and the students and faculty weren't yet aware of the plans. now that they are, they're pissed.

but you are just looking to attack...you have no interest in the truth.


Show me "where in the article President Bush's policies are part of the arguement. If you can't then stay out of the conversation.
on Jan 20, 2007
What garbage. Yup, that "7 minutes" made all the difference.


you call it whatever you want. but if your chief of staff whispered "mister President, we are under attack" would you sit there like a stunned deer in headlights or would you get up, excuse yourself and find out what is going on in the country you are supposed to be in charge of and constitutionally responsible for its protection?

that event foreshadowed everything we have seen since.

on Jan 20, 2007
Show me "where in the article President Bush's policies are part of the arguement.


About 150 of the university’s 600 faculty members attended the meeting, voicing a range of concerns, particularly on whether the school’s academic freedom and political independence might appear compromised by an association with not only the Bush library but also a museum that would accompany it.

Thomas J. Knock, a professor of history, said the public might have trouble differentiating between the library, museum and the university.

that is a very "diplomatic" way of putting it...but i should have remembered that you don't pick up on subtlety. want something more direct? here...[link="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070112/ap_on_re_us/bush_library"]WWW Link">Link

that's the AP article on the subject. here's a quote...

Some professors have complained that the combined library, museum and think tank would celebrate a presidency that unnecessarily took the country into a war.

The fear is that the library "will continue to espouse the philosophy and practice of the Bush administration, which has seriously divided our nation and has brought the ire of other countries," said William McElvaney, a retired professor at SMU's theology school and co-author a November opinion piece in the campus newspaper titled "The George W. Bush Library: Asset or Albatross?"


do i have to pull up the student op/ed as well that was referenced in the times article?

i guess so, because you'll doubt it's existence if i don't...here...

The George W. Bush Library:
Asset or Albatross for SMU?
By William K. McElvaney and Susanne Johnson

For some time Southern Methodist University has pursued the George W. Bush Presidential Library. We assume this quest will not likely change. Nor do we doubt that the best interests of the university are honored in the minds of SMU’s administration.

Indeed, we have great respect for SMU’s present leadership and its many remarkable achievements. In this instance, however, we seek to love the university in a different way by offering an alternative viewpoint and by raising questions we regard as healthy for both SMU and for public conversation.

We are perplexed and concerned on two levels. The first has to do with process or lack thereof. In conversation with SMU faculty in several schools of the university, we have yet to find any substantial evidence that university-wide conversations regarding the library have been encouraged.

The right of the SMU administration, with trustee approval, to seek the library is not in question. The wisdom of such decision without broad campus discussion forfeits a golden opportunity for students and faculty to experience the give-and-take learning process so basic to a university’s purpose. This seems to us to be especially pertinent in a university striving to encourage ethical considerations through open dialogue.

In our judgment SMU’s best interests are served when leadership proceeds without assuming that the reasons for seeking the library at SMU are self-evident. Open conversation honors the academy as well as indicating respect for faculty and students.

Our second concern is with both the short and long term implications for SMU becoming the presidential library site. It is often said that a presidential library is not about the policies and practices of a given administration, regardless of the consequences of those actions. Rather the issue is said to be the providing of a permanent historical repository for presidential papers, documents and artifacts. Presumably such a library becomes a prestigious center for scholars, historians and interested citizens to participate in programs, study and enjoyment, to say nothing of enhancing area tourism and thus the economy. It cannot be reasonably denied that a number of presidential libraries serve a positive purpose as stated.

That said, what does it mean ethically to say that regardless of an administration’s record and its consequences, it makes no difference when considering a bid for the library? What does it mean ethically for SMU to say a war violating international law makes no difference? That a pre-emptive war based on false premises, misleading the American public, and destined to cost more American lives in Iraq than the 9-11 terrorist attack, makes no difference? That the death of thousands of innocent Iraqis by our “shock and awe” bombing in the name of democracy, verified by international organizations and Iraqi doctors, is of no consequence?

These realities are not about partisan politics. Rather we are concerned with deep ethical issues that transcend politics. Do we want SMU to benefit financially from a legacy of massive violence, destruction and death brought about by the Bush presidency in dismissal of broad international opinion?

What moral justification supports SMU’s providing a haven for a legacy of environmental predation and denial of global warming, shameful exploitation of gay rights and the most critical erosion of habeas corpus in memory?

Given the secrecy of the Bush administration and its virtual refusal to engage with those holding contrary opinions, what confidence could be had in the selection of presidential papers made available to the library? Unless the Bush library philosophy is radically different from the already proven track record of isolation, the library will be little more than a center for the preservation and protection of privileged presidential papers. What would that mean for academic integrity based on open inquiry?

SMU does not need a presidential library to host significant scholars and events on the campus in order to analyze the Bush legacy. In fact, SMU already has the Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility, which sponsors first-rate conferences on key issues and promotes ethical reflection and discernment on the campus and beyond.

So would the George W. Bush Library be an asset or an albatross for Southern Methodist University? The question deserves open debate and dialogue among lovers of SMU.
on Jan 20, 2007
Show me "where in the article President Bush's policies are part of the arguement.


About 150 of the university’s 600 faculty members attended the meeting, voicing a range of concerns, particularly on whether the school’s academic freedom and political independence might appear compromised by an association with not only the Bush library but also a museum that would accompany it.


You "still" don't get it do you? I said "show" me in the "linked" article where it says that. It does NOT! If you're trying to make a point use the "correct" article to make the point. Not one that you have to go dig up.

And as far as you being here for 3 years, you are correct in that. What threw me was the large blank spot in your posting from April 2004 to March 2006. And again the coversation was between me and the col....why are you butting in?
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