The matriarch of evil has poked her head out of the cave to take care of her son, Neil.  The Associated Press reports:

Former first lady Barbara Bush gave relief money to a hurricane relief fund on the condition that it be spent to buy educational software from her son’s company.

The chief of staff of former President George H.W. Bush would not disclose the amount earmarked for purchases from Ignite Learning.

Since Barbara Bush’s gift, the Ignite Learning program has been given to eight public schools with high numbers of Hurricane Katrina evacuees, the Houston Chronicle reported.

"Mrs. Bush wanted to do something specifically for education and specifically for the thousands of students flooding into the Houston schools," the former

President Bush’s chief of staff Jean Becker said Thursday.

The money was donated to the Bush-Clinton Houston Hurricane Relief Fund, said Steve Maislin, president of the Greater Houston Community Foundation, which administers the fund. That fund has no connection to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund, he said.

Barbara Bush chose to promote Ignite because she supports her son and has genuine enthusiasm for his company’s program, Becker said.

Two years ago, the Houston school district board wrestled with conflict of interest concerns over the Ignite program. Neil Bush had helped raise $115,000 for the district’s philanthropic fund from donors who insisted the money be spent on his company’s software.

The district accepted the donations and used them to pay half the costs of new Ignite software, about $10,000 per school.

Currently, Houston public schools use 15 Ignite programs and the Houston area has 40 programs, said company president Ken Leonard.

Neil Bush founded the Austin-based company in 1999.

Since the AP released this story it has been picked up in the US, UK, and Australia.  As time goes by the story is getting watered down by some news agencies in an attempt to spin Mrs. Bush as caring about the children affected by Katrina. 

When the Queen of Mean visited these children stuck in the New Orleans Superdome back in December she audibly chuckled as she said: "So many of the people here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them.  What I’m hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. Almost everyone I’ve talked to says: ‘We’re going to move to Houston’."

And the ever popular: "Why should we hear about body bags and deaths," Barbara Bush said on ABC’s "Good Morning America" on March 18, 2003. "Oh, I mean, it’s not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?"

This is the woman that bore the evil seed of the Bush Administration, the pinnacle of family values.  Too bad she didn’t give him any intelligence to go with that indifference.

The latest Bush appointee to be engulfed in scandal is Claude Allen, 45, arrested by Montgomery County, Md, police for allegedly claiming refunds for more than $5,000 worth of merchandise he did not buy.  This particular even happened at a neighborhood Target store, but it was not the first time Allen has engaged in this type of scam.

The winner of best headline on this one is from the Ottawa Sun, “Bush crony charged with retail rip-offs”.  There is also an interesting article on black Republicans (which in itself should be an oxymoron) in the Huffington Post.

Allen got his early hate training as a young Republican while working just out of college as a press aide to the infamous North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms.  In 1984 when Helms was running against North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt, Allen was quoted by a North Carolina reporter saying then Gov. Hunt was vulnerable because his campaign could be "linked with the queers." Allen went on to say that the Hunt campaign could be connected with homosexuals, labor unions, radical feminists and socialists.

He went on to earn his JD from Duke University in 1990, then went on to a career in private practice in the early 90’s and served in the Virginia Attorney General Office in the late 90’s.  In 2001, Allen was appointed as the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 

In 2003 Bush nominated Allen to become a federal judge on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.  Allen was classified as under qualified by American Bar Association standards.  He only had 2/3’s of the minimum requirement of 12 years legal experience and had only served as lead attorney on one court case ever. 

During his confirmation hearing, Allen was questioned about his use of the word "queer" when he was a press aide to Sen. Jesse Helms.  Allen told the Senate Judiciary Committee he meant the word in the sense of "odd, out of the ordinary, unusual" instead of as a slur against gays.  Nobody bought it – the remark was even called “insincere” by  Marcia Kuntz, director of the Judicial Selection Project at the Alliance for Justice.

Democrats (back when they had a spine) filibustered the nomination. Allen eventually asked that his name be withdrawn from consideration.

After the failed the judicial appointment attempt, in January 2005 Bush engaged some corporate welfare and hired Allen as a domestic policy adviser.  That same month Allen was nabbed at a Target store in Gaithersburg, Maryland, for returning unpurchased goods.  After this confrontation at the store, Allen called White House chief of staff Andy Card that night and told him what had happened.   The Republicans then began their usual cover-up procures by having Scott McClellan explain away the incident as simple confusion with his credit card.

Then abruptly he resigned abruptly on Feb. 9, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family. 

Of course there was more to this resignation than meets the eye.  Authorities said Allen has been under investigation since at least January for alleged thefts on 25 occasions at Washington-area stores.  Goods included everything from clothing to stereo equipment and items worth as little as $2.50.  Allen was not formally charged on the January 2 incident until after a thorough review of security video and credit card activity going back to 2005.

President Bush said when he learned of the March arrest, he was shocked to learn of the arrest, and deeply disappointed that the White House had not been "fully informed." 

The emperor still has no clothes.

Bush asked the Congress to give him the line-item veto in his latest radio address.   The line-item veto would allow the president to eliminate a single item in a tax or spending bill crafted by Congress.  Sound familiar?  It should.  President Clinton received it in 1996 and used it 82 times before the Supreme Court struck it down in 1998.  

In his majority opinion Justice John Paul Stevens upheld a lower court’s decision, concluding "the procedures authorized by the line-item veto act are not authorized by the Constitution."

If Congress wants to give the president that power, they will have to pass a constitutional amendment, Stevens said. "If there is to be a new procedure in which the president will play a different role in determining the text of what may become a law, such change must come not by legislation but through the amendment procedures set forth in Article V of the Constitution," Stevens said.

So what is more important here in terms of ammendments?  Gay Marriage or line-item veto?  Let’s also watch and see if it ends up at the Supreme Court again.  In the 6-3 decision, the justices opposed to the Clinton line-item veto were Stevens, Rehnquist, Kennedy, Souter, Thomas, and Ginsburg.  Scalia, O’Connor, and Breyer voted for the line-item veto. 

With O’Connor and Rehnquist replacements, will the Court show partisanship?  Will the Congress give up the power to declare war as well as the power of taxation to the president?  Will George be King?  God help us all.

Jay Bennish is a teacher at Overland High School in Aurora, Colorado.  After one many vanilla state of the Union Addresses was broadcast, Bennish told his class, in no uncertain terms what he thought of the Bush Administration. 

"Sounds a lot like the things that Adolf Hitler used to say," Bennish told students at the suburban high school. "We’re the only ones who are right, everyone else is backward, and our job is to conquer the world."

Bennish then qualified the statement saying he was not comparing Bush to Hitler, but that the administration’s rhetoric is “similar to the tones they use”. 

Little Sean Allen, rabid young Neocon, eager to gain recognition, taped the teacher saying these things then turned over the recording to a right wing radio show.  The rest is history, and the Southpark Episode is no doubt underway.

The school district put Bennish on unpaid leave causing over 150 students to walk out of class Thursday to protest freedom of speech violation.  They heckled Allen for being a narc and demonstrated outside the school with signs and by covering their mouths to show their freedom of speech had been violated.

The Neocon’s are not taking this lightly.  The backwards New York Post reported the story in an  article titled “The Case of the Commie Teacher” and encourages students to grab their tape recorders to nail other teachers.  The West Virgina Gazette thinks Bennish should be fired as well as whomever gave his his teaching certificate (Light up the Cross, Boys!).

Bennish’s lawyer, David Lane went on the Mike Rosen Show (that originally aired the recording) Friday and said, “Maybe it’s not mainstream, middle-American opinion, but the rest of the world agrees with him."

Lane added that if Bennish had spoken strongly in support of Bush, he would not be under investigation.  He also said he was looking forward to teaching the school district a lesson in Constitutional Law.

This brings us back to Red Scare of the 40’s and 50’s and McCarthyism.  The slogan “Better Dead than Red” ruled the planet and there was a witch hunt for teachers suspected of teaching the doctrine.  Read about it on the Learn History site, and watch out for it in your neighborhood.

Former Republican Congressman, Duke Cunningham,  pleaded guilty last Nov. 28 to conspiracy, evading more than $1 million in taxes, and taking up to $2.4 million in bribes.  Today he was sentenced to 8 years and 4 months in Federal Prison (this ain’t no country club, boys).  Cunningham has held office in Congress in the affluent Rancho Santa Fe district, located in the San Diego burbs, since 1990.

Prosecutors recommended a 10-year prison sentence for the Dukester saying he "bullied" Pentagon officials to award contracts to defense contractors who bribed him. He extorted millions of dollars from contractors for his vote in Congress.

Prosecutors did not recommend the maximum 20-year sentence because Cunningham is cooperating in an investigation that has identified 4 co-conspirators not yet identified.  More corruption is to come.

Cunningham’s attorneys argued 10 years was unreasonable since no member of Congress has ever received a sentence as long as six years, however the judge has sense enough to make the punishment fit the crime.

A yacht, the mansion deal, a Rolls Royce, and other items were brought in court as evidence against him.  Cunning even had the balls to concoct a “bribe menu” scribbled on a note card detailing how much money would get what.  Guess he didn’t guard his napkins as closely as he should have.

The NY Times reported the Dukster said, "I made a very wrong turn," as he faced Federal District Judge Larry Alan Burns.  Even bleeding-heart liberals can’t squeeze out a drop for this thief. 

As you read this, think about all the lazy Dems that allowed this to happen….

In a radio Broadcast Wednesday, Dr. James Dobson read part of a letter he had received from the newest Supreme Court Judge Alito thanking him for his support.  Dobson read “as long as I serve on the Supreme Court, I wil keep in mind the trust that has been placed in me”.

The note also read, “I would also greatly appreciate it if you would convey my appreciation to the good people from all parts of the country who wrote to tell me that they were praying for me and for my family.”  Dobson took that as a green light to read it on the air.

Dobson said to his listeners, to celebrate the Supreme Court confirmations of both Justice Alito and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr..  Dobson said, "We do not yet know how these men will vote, but every indication is that they get it, they understand." 

Their confirmation may be "just in time," Dr. Dobson said, "because partial-birth abortion is now being considered by the Supreme Court."

The NYTimes reported Kathy Arberg, a spokeswoman for the court, said Justice Alito had written the note in response to a letter of congratulations from Dr. Dobson which is not uncommon for a newly appointed Justice to do.  She declined to identify who else had received such letters from Justice Alito.

Did you go to church this Sunday?  You’d better.

In the wake of all the backlash on the United Arab Emerate deal (in which Bush want to give control to our ports to a Dubai company), Bush is trying to look tough on terrorism again.  He tarnished his own reputation by selling control of our American Ports to the UAE and now he is backpeddling to try and gain the confidence of Americans again. 

According to ABC News, Bush made a detour on his way back from a visit to India to make an unplanned visit to Afganistan.  At a press conference he called at the  Bagram Air Base , Bush, said he was ‘confident’ the fugitive al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden will be ‘brought to justice.’

This is a 180 degree flip flop from the 2002 press conference at the Whitehouse where Bush answered a question from a reporter asking why Bush rarely mentions Osoma bin Ladin with, ‘So I don’t know where he is.  You know, I just don’t spend that much time on him, Kelly, to be honest with you.’

According to the Internation Herald Tribune, Bush was not greeted with flowers and chocolates during his trip to India this week.  When Clinton visited, he addressed the Indian Parliment, but Bush did not do this for fear of the reponse he would likely receive from "hostile politicians".  In New Delhi, it was reported thousands of muslim demonstrators chanted sloagans such as, "Death to Bush",
"Bully Bush go Home", and "Killer in Town".