George's questionable military service...

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Fact: Obama wouldn't pass a background check for either of these organizations based on his associations alone (Wright, Ayers, Dohrn, etc.), yet somehow it's different to be President?

Don't waste your time arguing the point. Look it up for yourselves and start paying attention to plain facts.

who yelled "kill him" when Barack Obama's name was mentioned during a Sarah Palin rally?

After investigating the claim, the Secret Service concluded that no one actually heard the comment that was widely reported in the media

My "baby" is 37 years old. I was just thinking..........he earned his private pilot's license at age 16. MAYBE something like this is what Obama has in mind??

piling into that Ford Focus everyday....lol Methinks he probably has a limo or two, just not in his name...

what a nation of wimps we will become under this man. He'll be hiding behind Michelle's skirt.

I'm surprised Dubya didn't attend this since he recently told Larry King that Lay was such a *good guy.*

By KRISTEN HAYS, AP Business WriterWed Jul 12, 7:17 PM ET

Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay was a high-powered businessman, philanthropist and family man who didn't succumb to despair despite the scandal that destroyed his company and left him a vilified felon, friends and family members said at a memorial service Wednesday where mourners included former President George Bush.

Lay's 90-minute service drew some of the high-profile guests who were close to him before he was convicted in May of fraud and conspiracy for lying to investors and the public about the energy company's financial health. Enron collapsed in late 2001.

Neither the Bushes nor former Secretary of State James Baker III, Houston Astros owner Drayton McLane Jr. and noted heart surgeon Denton Cooley spoke. The Bushes sat directly behind Lay's wife, Linda.

Instead, Lay's family and friends sought to show a kinder view of him than had been seen publicly since the company's collapse. Some expressed bitterness over their � and Lay's � steadfast belief that he was wrongly convicted in one of the biggest corporate frauds in history.

I am angry because of the way he was treated in the last five years of his life, and I think I'll leave it there, leave it at that, said Lay's stepson, David Herrold, who attended much of the four-month trial.

I am glad he's not in a position anymore to be whipped by his enemy, Herrold said to the hundreds in attendance at Houston's First United Methodist Church, which Lay attended for 12 years.

His mother, Linda Lay, dabbed tears with a handkerchief.

Lay died of heart disease July 5 in Aspen, Colo., where he was vacationing with his wife. About 200 friends and family, including his co-defendant, former Enron chief executive Jeffrey Skilling, attended a small memorial service there on Sunday.

But Skilling decided not to attend Wednesday's service because of heavy media coverage, said his attorney, Daniel Petrocelli. His wife, former Enron corporate secretary Rebecca Carter, attended both services.

As guests entered the sanctuary, they passed a framed photo of a smiling Lay wearing a red Enron T-shirt, blue athletic shorts and gym shoes. Two large bouquets of sunflowers sat on either side of the pulpit, while two burning candles sat on each side of an open Bible in the center.

The Rev. Bill Lawson, prominent pastor of the African-American Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church in Houston, said the Lay he knew wasn't the target of late-night TV jokes or a pariah. Lawson called Lay a victim of a lynching and praised mourners for staying friends with him through the scandal.

The folks who don't like him have had their say. I'd like to have mine and I don't care what you think about it, he said, eliciting brief applause. Now his grandchildren won't ask, `Why is Papia in jail?' No more persecution. That is behind him, Lawson said.

Lawson evoked leaders who he said were vilified in life but vindicated by history, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Minutes before Wednesday's service began, shrieks pierced the sanctuary as Lay friend and former Houston Mayor Bob Lanier, 81, collapsed in an aisle. Carter and Lawson comforted Lanier's distraught wife, Elyse, before paramedics whisked him to a hospital, where was in stable condition with an irregular heartbeat.

Lay and Skilling were the faces of Enron throughout the company's meteoric rise from a stodgy pipeline company to a powerhouse energy trader.

Their reputations shattered alongside the company as their images switched from business visionaries to perpetrators of fraud that fueled a spectacular crash that evaporated $60 billion in market value and left thousands jobless.

A jury convicted Lay of six counts of fraud and conspiracy and Skilling of 19 of 28 counts of fraud, conspiracy, insider trading and lying to auditors. Lay also was convicted of bank fraud and lying to banks in a separate, non-jury trial related to his personal banking.

Lay died awaiting their Oct. 23 sentencing, and his lawyers are expected to ask a judge to erase his conviction because his death left his case unfinished. Skilling still faces sentencing on that date and could be ordered to serve decades in prison.

Beau Herrold, another Lay stepson who manages the family's finances, read from a letter he had begun writing to U.S. District Judge Sim Lake that he intended to deliver before Lay's sentencing.

In the letter, he described Lay as a devoted husband, father, grandfather and brother who always found a way to make time for family. Lay is survived by his wife, children, two sisters and 12 grandchildren.

___

Associated Press photographers David Phillip and Pat Sullivan, viedographer Rich Matthews and writer Chris Duncan contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON � President George W. Bush's "after-life," as Laura Bush calls the post-presidency, is shaping up to be pretty comfortable, with a Dallas office, staffers, Secret Service protection, a travel budget, medical coverage and a $196,700 annual pension, all at taxpayers' expense.

However, Bush will be the first president not to benefit from one former lifetime benefit: Secret Service protection.

"He'll be the first one to receive it for 10 years," said Malcolm Wiley, Secret Service spokesman. Congress changed the law in the 1990s so that any president elected after Jan. 1, 1997, and his or her spouse will receive the federal protection for only 10 years.

The Bushes will move to their new $2 million, 8,500-square-foot Dallas home � not paid for by taxpayers � on Jan. 20, and there Bush will be close to his future presidential library at Southern Methodist University.

"We're working on a conceptual design for the building," said Mark Langdale, president of the George W. Bush Foundation. The president will help develop the $300 million structure, which will include a library, museum and policy institute.

Fundraising is just beginning, Langdale said. Once the project is finished in 2013, the National Archives and Records Administration will take over the operation of the library and museum, at federal expense. Construction will be paid for with private funds, and Bush is expected to be involved in organizing the fundraising drive.

"He is enthusiastic about spending a lot of his time and effort working on the programs of the institute," Langdale said.

Bush will maintain an office nearby in space acquired by the General Services Administration, which, under the Former Presidents Act, will pay for the office suite and staff to assist him for the rest of his life.

Bush's pension, which is tied to the base pay of the most senior government executives and increases with federal cost-of-living adjustments, will be about half the $400,000 annual presidential salary. He and Vice President Dick Cheney will receive transition expenses as well for seven months � one month before the inauguration and six months afterward � "to facilitate their transition to private life," according to the Congressional Research Service.

The GSA also covers travel expenses for any official activities attended by a former president, as well as two staff members. Former President Bill Clinton was allocated $50,000 for travel in fiscal year 2008 and former President George H.W. Bush, $56,000.

Former presidents and their families are entitled to health care in military hospitals, although they have to pay a reimbursement rate set by the Office of Management and Budget.

Bush will receive a state funeral upon his death, with full military honors for the former commander in chief.

I watched "The Situation" on MSNBC last night, and I got a pretty good laugh regarding the Bush Administration taking a quote from Bono (of all people), completely twisting what it said to mean something completely different, and running with it.

I believe I'm starting to understand the disconnect between some of the Conservatives on this board and the rest of humanity. They've obviously adopted the George W. Bush way of communicating. I'm not sure if Bush is their hero because of his communication style or whether they personally adopted his technique after the fact. Someone should really enlighten them that just because Bush does it, doesn't make it right, and that that is the very crux of many people's frustrations with Bush: That he lies, and nobody can believe what he says.

CARLSON: Next situation, the Bush administration between the rock and a hard place and it�s all because of rock star Bono. A State Department press release quotes the U2 front man praising President Bush. But apparently, Bono was not so much quoted as misquoted.

According to the State Department, Bono said Bush, quote, �has already doubled and tripled aid to Africa.� But actually, Bono told �Time� magazine, quote, �Bush feels he�s already doubled and tripled aid to Africa, which he started from too low a place.�

This is such an interesting story on so many levels. Here is the most interesting level, as far as I�m concerned. The Bush administration feels compelled to twist Bono�s words. Why do they care what Bono thinks? Bush actually has dramatically elevated aid to Africa to a much higher level than Clinton ever even thought about bringing it.

The United States is the largest donor to Africa far and away. We have no moral obligation to give anything to Africa. We do it because we�re decent. Isn�t that enough? The front man from U2 has to approve? Why are they lying about this? It�s bizarre.

SEVERIN: This is very sad. By the way, Bono has an �r� missing from the end of his name. I just wanted to report that on this program.

Secondly, you know, how can I know what to think about world affairs until Bono and the Edge weigh in? What about the Backstreet Boys? What do they think today? I mean, this is really sad that we care about what �Bonor� thinks about anything.

MADDOW: Well, fine, you can be upset that they quoted Bono. But the fact is, they misquoted Bono.

MADDOW: ... get out there and say that Bono, who they respect for whatever reason, he�s actually made himself into a voice on debt issues...

SEVERIN: I knew we�d get you to say something nice about Wolfowitz before the year was up.

MADDOW: Exactly. But the fact is, the State Department, like they�re doing�like the Bush administration is doing on way too many things, just overreach. They not only had to quote Bono, they had to lie about what Bono said. It�s embarrassing.

CARLSON: But why not just tell the truth about their own record? It�s compelling enough. It�s amazing. Here�s this purportedly mean, right-wing administration sending huge amounts of aid to Africa.

MADDOW: Well, yes, they�ve promised�they asked for $4 billion for the Millennium Challenge. They�ve actually spent $4 million. So we�ve got a difference of opinion on that.

CARLSON: The fact is, in money spent already, they�ve elevated 56 percent over the final year of the Clinton administration. It�s a lot of money.

Drinking age and fighting is an old and worn out reasoning. Besides, they get all the alcohol they want. What are we supposed to do with men and women who choose to join the military. Put it in writing that they will never have to go to war? And where was the left's outrage when Clinton sent men and women into his little skirmishes. I never heard a word then. Never saw one leftie holding a sign that said NO MORE MOGADISHUs. In fact, the left hardly even mentions it. Why is that exactly?

equate to a point for foreign affairs experience? Please explain that to me. I know a lot of people whose children are in the military, in the war zone and not one of them would say they have foreign affairs experience. Also, didn't she herself say she doesn't know anything about Iraq.

have always been conservative. However, many military members and veterans are changing their minds after what has taken place in recent years. Watch the results of the election and see which way the military goes and compare that to elections in the past.