"lying lips are an abomination to the Lord" – Prov. 12:22
The editorial page of past Saturday’s edition of the Grand Rapids Press was littered with a sizable number of comments on former Mayor John Logie’s call for the impeachment of President George W. Bush. Yes, it looks like, for better or worse, Logie is the talk of the town. The former mayor apparently made his controversial remarks in a public address at Fountain Street Church, a place known in these parts as an island of progressive thought in a sea of members of the Flat Earth Society. Some of the letters to the editor supported Logie, others expressed shock and dismay that a respected local public official would make such an outrageous suggestion.
Logie essentially said that if Bush and his entourage misled the United States into an immoral pre-emptive war of choice against a country that had done no harm to us, then the blood of nearly 3,000 American people and untold numbers of Iraqis is on his hands. This is not to mention other crimes and misdemeanors such as illegal warrantless wiretapping, incompetence in handling the Hurricane Katrina crisis, having disturbing friendships and links with criminal figures such as Kenny Boy Lay at Enron, Congressman Tom DeLay and lobbyist Jack Abramoff, illegally detaining suspected enemies at Guantanamo Bay and overseeing and defending inhumane torture of prisoners of war.
The irony is that I suspect many of the letter writers angry with Logie supported sacking Bill Clinton about eight years ago for the horrible crime of getting a blow job in the White House from a woman other than his wife and then not fessing up to it.
There is yet another irony here, but it occurred a little more than 32 years ago. Not long after Gerald Ford was elevated to the presidency because of the resignation of Richard Nixon, Ford decided to pardon Nixon in a pre-emptive strike against putting a former president on trial for any crimes he may have committed. Much of the country was outraged as a result, and many historians still consider it the biggest reason why Ford was defeated by Jimmy Carter in his bid to be elected president in 1976. Yet, almost immediately after Ford did the controversial deed, he received words of support from a totally unexpected source. The Rev. Duncan Littlefair of Grand Rapids, less than a week after the pardon was announced, preached that the true spirit of Christianity is in its ability to forgive. He essentially argued, “To err is human, to forgive divine.” This sermon backing Ford was reported in national news media, particularly in Time magazine.
Littlefair had been a thorn in the side of Nixon for a long time, openly criticizing his conduct of the presidency and the War in Vietnam. The reverend was regarded by Ford and the Republican Party as a bit of a left-wing crazy who did not share mainstream views of most of West Michigan citizens. Littlefair, at age 89, not long before he died, confessed in writing in the GR Press that he had once helped a terminally ill good friend commit suicide, much like Jack Kevorkian. And guess where Littlefair was pastor? That’s right — Fountain Street Church.
My message to John Logie, if he ever gets a chance to read this blog some day, and for what it’s worth, the ex-mayor’s actions were worthy of the kind of tales John F. Kennedy told in “Profiles in Courage.” John Logie, whom I have regarded as a moderate Republican all these years, is a great American, a true patriot who has shown me the courage to do the right thing in the face of massive criticism. Perhaps there truly is a hero among us, and like Rev. Littlefair, he can come from unexpected places.
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22 comments:
Well said pol.
There is absolutely no reason whatsoever for the responsible committees of the Congress to take whatever legal action necessary to determine what, if any impeachable actions have been committed by this or any President of The United States, or on his behalf my his minions.
There is no argument at all that Billions of taxpayer dollars have been stolen in Iraq. Yet to date no serious oversight has been undertaken by the GOP dominated Congress.
Over the last 6 years we have been deluged with the assinine charge that anyone who questions this presidednt or his actions are 'Bush haters'. When one reads the local press it is a rare ocasion when these defenders of W fail to include hate in their comments.
Hate seems a basic theme of these people whose conversations with God direct his being the decider.
Every public official must be held accountable for their official conduct.
Bravo to that!
While some may try to assume the title moderate in light of the rescent routing the Republicans have taken, Logie has to the best of my knowledge always carried on in a more socially conscious fashion!
He walks, the walk, while phonies like McCain, talk the talk.
Ex-Mayors and former Commissioners have a tendency to add too much caustic soda to their recipes for change. Adding caustic material to acidic comments merely turns into explosive froth.
Much time and energy was wasted in the Clinton distraction. Logie and I need to offer our prescriptions with "a teaspoon of sugar".
I should add that I don´t pretend to be in Logie´s league.
The current purchase of the Judge Doherty office for three times what any house in Hastings is worth is appropriate relative to the Cone Zone acquisition that he brokered before his election.
I voted for Bill, and support him in his work. I do have issues with the County Board deciding in secret to make this purchase with General Fund dollars. There was no hurry to make this deal. Nobody else would have paid this price. If the County Board had brought their visionary plan for this property to the public in a millage request, as appropriate, the wonderfulness of their dream would have caused us to rush to break open our piggy banks.
Since this is as close as I can get to a Hastings Banner, I have to assume that the "whole truth" was revealed in full detail last Thursday.
"Articulate the Vision"
El: What was this secret price???
While this may be viewed as too little to late I must say it anyways.
Bill Doherty has a few skeletons in his closet for sure. While it has come to light some of the ills Fekkas had in her background, I was asked by a trusted friend not to bring to light what information I carried concerning Bill durring the election. To date, it seems my friend was correct in asking me not to share my info as Bill has done well enough in his new position to not make me regret it.
The reason I now say this is it appears this blog might be heading into a Judge Doherty period. I have had the honor of interacting with both Doherty and Fekkas and found they both suffer from the "hired mouth" syndrome. Niether party has any concern for more than they are being paid for. The point I want to make here is that Bill has at least not done any thing to harm families or lives since he took office.
Lets be careful as to how we drag things in here so as not to soil a "maturing" Person/jurist. Thanks and my appologies for preaching, lol.
Jay,
My point exactly.
Go to page 12 of your Banner for the juicy details, or not.
It isn´t about Judge Doherty, as the sale of his old offices was probably very cheap, especially as I expect to use the house as a comp to raise my own appraised value by a multiple of three.
The real issue is to the transparency of the deal and the alleged purpose. Will this become a further addition to the Cone Zone parking lot, or will we build a seven-story jail there with an elevated walkway to the Courthouse? What wonderful scheme has the County Board come up with to enhance the quality of the lives of folks in Prairieville and Nashville? Will this be connected by skyway to the office complex to the west where four County-owned houses now sit vacant?
To tie this to the post, perhaps John Logie could be hired as a consultant for us to mount a massive Calder on the site entitled "This is the way it has always been done!" or perhaps, "You ain´t from around here, are you?".
I agree with the sentiments of CD.
El, like always, is being cryptic for no apparent reason. It is no "secret" that the county is always interested in neighboring land around the courthouse.
Before the blog goes on a witch hunt, we need some harder facts than what has been revealed on here.
As far as a jail proposal, that's still in the formulation stage from what I have seen. I doubt we'll see anything concrete until at least 2008.
Heck! They haven't finnished the library yet.
Well said agnosti, well said.
This thought expressed by children's dad, has nagged at me for a couple days. He hints at dark secrets in Judge Doherty's pasy but says he is pure enough that he did not introduce whatever slime this was during the election.
Having known Judge Doherty fairly well for about 20 years I think no such secret exisits, but, if it did it was the duty o children's dad to make it known at election time so whatever the serious flaw was could be employed by all of us in evaluating the slime.
As I may have said in the past....'put up or shut up'.
"Before the blog goes on a witch hunt, we need some harder facts than what has been revealed on here."
Perhaps trying to find out the "whole truth", and trying to keep a wrongful expense of taxpayer money a big secret qualifies as a "witch hunt".
"It is no "secret" that the county is always interested in neighboring land around the courthouse."
From this statement of presumed fact, I would be forced to ask if this interest is based on some kind of intention to do something other than remove the real estate from the tax rolls. If the County actually had a smidgeon of a plan, they would then be responsible to the electorate and ask for a millage to fund this "plan". Lacking a plan, they are required to sneak around, unreported, and to purchase infrastructure with "grocery money".
Then the starving step-children at Charlton Park have to take out a second-mortgage to feed the kids.
I suppose that the County Board will want to build a new jail with operating funds, so that can also be done in closed sessions. That way any discussion of the wisdom of building more cells would avoid being mentioned in the Banner.
El:
I doubt with what limited properties the county has acquired around the courthouse that a jail is first on the list. Parking appears to be the more pressing need.
This county has been wise to buy up neighboring land around the courthouse. This has left our beautiful historic courthouse in tact, while accommodating the needs of county government and holding to the constitutional requirements of what needs to be in the county seat.
While commissioners do have to be treated to healthy skepticism from the public, they are not always the bad guy, nor are they necessarily keeping this deal from the public discourse for no good reason.
Let's see what they've done, but until then it's hard to comment on supposition and innuendo.
J.,
From my perspective, and that of some very wise legislators, the only three (3) legitimate reasons to hide information from the electorate are; specific negotiations regarding (a)personnel discussions of a specific individual, (b) real estate transactions regarding specific properties, and (c) pending legal actions. Once a transaction has been completed there is no longer any legitimacy for secrecy. This is usually referred to as the "Open Meetings Act" which this particular group has had difficulty with before.
"Let's see what they've done, but until then it's hard to comment on supposition and innuendo."
This is very true and the transparency of public service would lead us to expect a report in the Banner. today, Thursday.
These "limited properties the county has acquired around the courthouse " needed to have that qualification added. The County has a significant amount of real estate that is not anywhere near the Courthouse, for which they have no intention or plan for the future. These properties produce little, or no, tax revenue and there is no reason for them to not be sold and the cash used to pay off other obligations, rather than the endless millage requests.
While I agree with ElGrillo in part....the purchase of Doherty's building has not, I believe, been a secret other than for the negotiations. Since the oving of the Presbyteian Church is pretty much a done deal it would make good sense to place a jail on that property. It is not on tax paying property and would eliminate transporting prisioners. A good long term use of the land and ceratinly one that will withstand the scrutiny of a Bond to acomplish it.
I have little doubt that the current jail site is saleable, perhaps even to Pennock.
I had some business in the courthouse the other day and someone was gripping that Barry County voters have an aversion to electing women in law enforcement positions (judge, prosecutor). I am reminded of this quip based upon our recent discussion.
I could not disagree more. I attribute both loses by the losing women candidates to poor political calculations on their part.
Fekkes made some terrible associations during her campaign that folks uneasy about selecting her. I also think voters didn't take kindly to the appointment process.
Was Bill spot free in comparison? He's represented some questionable characters (CD's ex), but he always paid his taxes, and kept things above board. Towards the end of the campaign, there was some mud thrown by a former law partner, but that seemed to have been drown out amongst the noise of the election.
I've always thought the democratic system allows the voters to weed through the muck and make the best determination. Even when my candidates lost, I never blamed the voters.
So when the Park folks, or other candidates make claims that the "voters didn't know what they were voting for", I just chalk it up to them trying to find a scapegoat for their own poor decisions/regrets.
It ain´t about Bill!
Back to the subject of this blog, if Bush et al gets impeached, what about Hoekstra? Despite the admission by our Liar in Chief that WMD did not exist, Hoekstra tried to trump up some 'findings" to the contrary, and as recently as a month before the election. As Chair of the Intel committee, he is complicit in this hoax perpetrated upon the world. His actions are nothing short of traitorous.
So, before you pat Logie on the back for finally seeing the light, I'd hold back until such time as he cites Hoekstra for war crimes too. As far as Ehlers is concerned, he is just indifferent, and guilty of rubber stamping whatever the Bush administration demanded of him and his ilk. Ehlers a few years back said publicly that if more troops were needed to fight the Iraq war, he would like to re-institute the draft. Where has Ehlers been these past four years as our troops died? Was his silence these four years a sort of defacto admission that he believed troop levels were adequate? What is their current thinking on the war? They got us into it and still do not offer options for resolve.
Sent,
Sent,
Sent, over,
The only resolve in Iraq, or elsewhere in the Mideast, will be a form of "Silent Observer", where the most affected parties become willing to turn in the perpetrators of violence instead of sheltering them.
Therefore, the only way we can be useful in this is to stop being the feared occupation army that invades communities with random explosives that kill the children of those now-silent observers.
Lonesome,
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