Here's how they're going to cover up the body count

Remember SCI, the comppany with ties to the Bush family that was embroiled in 1999 in a scandal involving desecration of corpses?

Here's a refresher. It's a good one, involving the Bush family and Joe "Brownie's college buddy" Albaugh, who preceded him.

Wanna know why Albaugh resigned? Here ya go:

In case you are wondering how Joe Allbaugh came to be FEMA Director, we need to briefly review his past credentials. He has been a very busy critter indeed. Prior to his appointment as Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, he served as Chief of Staff to then-Governor Bush. He was the point person for nine presidential disaster declarations and more than 20 state level emergencies. He also happened to serve as National Campaign Manager for the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign, with the responsibility and oversight for all related activities. He had a lot of experience having already served as Campaign Manager for Bush's first run for governor of Texas and also worked on the Reagan-Bush campaign in 1984. Allbaugh is obviously well-connected and quoted as saying, "There isn't anything more important than protecting Governor Bush and the first lady. I'm the heavy in the literal sense of the word."

So why in the world did Allbaugh resign? Here's where it starts to get interesting, tangled, and quite disturbing. Judge for yourself and I will reserve my comments until the end. The Austin Chronicle broke new ground about Bush's involvement in an influence-buying scandal regarding SCI, Service Corporation International, the world's largest cemetery company based in Houston. Reporter Robert Bryce said, "Bush got $35,000 in contributions from SCI. It appears Bush then helped them thwart an investigation by the Texas Funeral Commission. The former director of the Commission, Eliza May, was pressured by Bush's Chief of Staff and Campaign Manager Joe Allbaugh. She has filed a whistle-blower lawsuit." May said she was fired after resisting pressure from the governor's staff to end her investigation, which resulted in a $445,000 fine against the company for a range of offences including using unlicensed embalmers.

Bush was subpoenaed in 1999, but refused to testify as to what his involvement was in halting an investigation into SCI's embalming practices, among other things. A Texas judge put everything right for Bush just in time to campaign for the presidency, ruling that he could not be forced to testify by an ousted regulatory official, who had not produced enough evidence or that Bush had "unique and superior personal knowledge." Bush had filed an affidavit claiming he had no conversations with SCI officials, agents, or representatives concerning the investigation or any disputes arising from it, although by his own admission he said he dropped in on a meeting between Waltrip and Allbaugh, for a quick social visit and couldn't remember what he said. May's lawsuit claimed they did talk about the investigation and asked the judge to hold Bush in contempt of court and compel him to testify. In a news conference (held in August, '99) dominated by tough questions, the issue that really irritated Bush concerned funeral homes. His remarks were, "It's frivolous. It is frivolous."

In November of 2001, Governor Rick Perry approved a settlement of $210,000 in May's lawsuit. SCI was to pay $55,000 and the balance by the state of Texas. May's attorney, Derek Howard, said any terms of agreement were to be confidential and he could not elaborate under the terms in which the state did not admit to any wrongdoings. This took place only weeks before the gruesome discovery was made at two Florida cemeteries catching the brief attention of the media. Fox News reported on Dec.20, 2001 that Fort Lauderdale attorneys were suing a cemetery company (SCI, also known as "Dignity" Memorial) accused of "recycling" graves, removing bodies and throwing them in the woods at Menorah Gardens and Funeral Chapels in West Palm Beach, of which SCI is owner and said they have no knowledge of any wrongdoing. The attorneys showed grisly photos and video footage of crushed burial vaults and scattered human remains and also presented documents they say show SCI and aforementioned cemeteries were aware of grave desecrations. Ten families are represented in the class action lawsuit that more than 1,000 people could become part of. The families say their loved ones were dug up, dumped in the woods, buried in the wrong vaults, or in vaults on top of each other instead of side by side as had been paid for. Co-counsel Neal Hirschfeld said, "There are several hundred people who purchased premium contracts years ago, that do not have a place to rest. We've investigated allegations that we thought were too heinous to be accurate and too horrible to be true, over the last several years." The general manager of Menorah Gardens Cemetery chain, Peter Hartmann, who was a central figure in the investigation is dead at 45 yrs. of carbon monoxide poisoning, treated as an apparent suicide by police.

More on "Funeralgate" here and here.

As an interesting aside, note the last sentence of the quote above. A central figure in an investigation that involves George W. Bush just happens to decide to commit suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning -- just the same way that Enron executive Cliff Baxter just happened to commit suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning -- right before he was expected to testify in front of Congress about Enron chicanery. Isn't that special?

Well, Pam Spaulding is reporting today that Kenyon International, the company which received a Bush Administration no-bid contract to set up a mobile morgue in Baton Rouge, is a subsidiary of SCI.

You know, it's truly amazing. The U.S. government spent $70 million tax dollars investigating a 25-year-old land deal in with the Clintons lost money, followed by a consensual blowjob. Yet here you have a company embroiled in desecrating corpses, payoffs to officials, with Joe Albaugh AND George W. Bush having been involved in a company scandal, being given a no-bid cost-plus contract to handle corpses in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina -- and it's "Nothing to see here, move along, move along."

In recent days, the mainstream media have shown at least a rudimentary spine in their dealings with this most evil, corrupt, vicious Administration in American history. Will they pick up on this story? Will they call for investigations on why the President's most corrupt campaign contributors are always the recipients of huge amounts of government cash?

I'm not holding my breath.