ROVE, PART III - ROVE GONE BUT NOT LEGAL PROBLEMS

FINAL - PART 3 OF 3 - ROVE'S LEGAL PROBLEMS

Three posts on the subject of Karl Rove preceded this one, Part I of III; Part II, A; and Part II, B. You might want to read them in order by scrolling down to Part I of III (Part One).

Where are all those supposed "experts" who pontificate on television and those crack-shot investigative reporters? What do they know about Karl Rove? Why don't they "sick" their crack investigative teams, or at least a few German Shepherds, on Rove and find truthful answers about his past?

Perhaps, Rove will eventually reveal all with easily checked authentic information, not speculations on the Internet. However, probably not until he publishes that yet undisclosed book for which he will sign a multi-million dollar deal. Can we trust him to write the truth? More importantly, does he even know the truth? Or, as my grandmother would say, "If truth was a snake, it would have bitten him by now." Maybe not, Grandma.

Now, we learn Karl Rove has a family of his own and, glory be, it includes one child at least, a son with his second wife Darby Tara Hickson, whom Rove married in 1986. Wikipedia is not the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and you can't quote it even in a first grade paper but, often as not, the information there is correct. According to Wikipedia, the son Andrew Madison Rove was born in 1989 [same year Rove's mother committed suicide], and Andrew is currently an undergraduate at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.

That son is Rove's primary excuse for leaving his good buddy George standing in a pile of political rubble now that the fictional land of "Bushoz," which Rove so painstakingly created for Bush, has collapsed. Rove is leaving the White House for his family? Bull shards!

Here's something else I found on Wikipedia. Rove left Texas in late 2000 after Bush was illegaly elected president. Rove now owns a house in DC that is valued at $1.1 million. Rove sold his long-time home in Austin in 2003. After that, Rove registered to vote in Kerr County, Texas, about 80 miles west of Austin in the Texas Hill Country.

The residence that Rove claims on Texas voter registration rolls consists of two small rental cottages, the largest of which is 814 square feet. There had been a lodge on the property, but the Rove's sold that. Darby T. Rove, his wife, is listed as a director of Estadio Partners, LLC., the new owner of the lodge.

In early October 2005, a resident of Kerr County filed a complaint with the District Attorney of the county, requesting an investigation into whether Rove and his wife violated Texas state law by illegally registering as voters in Kerr County, since neither had ever lived there, and they have a residence in D.C. Texas law defines a residence, for voting purposes, as "one's home and fixed place of habitation to which one intends to return after any temporary absence."

On November 3, 2005, Rex Emerson, the District Attorney, announced that he had determined there was insufficient evidence to prosecute either Rove or his wife, and that his office would close the case without further action. Well, what did you expect? I am writing about Texas afterall.

Concurrent with this, the Roves have also claimed a homestead exemption on the house in DC, although it is illegal to do that if one is registered to vote elsewhere. He got caught and paid back almost $4,000 in taxes he had not paid. No other legal penalty extracted.

Rove, only a high school graduate, made up his life and doctored resumes in order to teach a course at a Texas university and sit in the White House West Wing next door to a president of the United States. What is the harm in a little doctoring of one's resume and stretching the point in voter registration, homestead exemption, or condemning those so-called hanging chads? It's a wonder the didn't incarcerate those chads and throw away the key!

One would think that Rove, at the very least, would be branded a liar. Not Rove. Surrounded by a den of liars, he waltzes through his lies. Of course, he has told so many, and written so many for Bush, that he may be on the verge of a nervous breakdown because he can no longer determine what his truth is. That last statement relates back to the previous question, . . . does he even know the truth?

It gets worse. Rove has apparently broken at least one Federal law, one of the worst anyone can break. He may have revealed the name of a CIA covert spy, and doing so could result in the death penalty, if convicted. However, since the spy in this case was a woman, and a woman married to a man who revealed the truth that Saddam Hussein was NOT buying nuclear material in Africa thereby removing the reason to invade Iraq . . . . Quick guys, sweep guys, sweep it under the rug. And they did, but they hung the Albatross around Scooter Libby's neck.

"Poor Scooter," as Ann Richards, late former Governor of Texas, might have said, "He had his prison sentence commuted by the president, and his fine paid by his rich Republican cronies." Poor Scooter, indeed!

Rove must think he got away with all the lies. However, it is not over. "Tricky Dickey" Nixon thought he had gotten away with what he did, too. He didn't. Rove will not, either.

Goebbels went mad when he realized the war was lost. In the same bunker under Berlin where Hitler shot his lover Ava Braun and then himself, Goebbels poisoned his six children, shot his wife and himself.

One day, perhaps soon, some little birdie who had his/her wings clipped by the Nazi-like hatchet man for Bush will eventually sing. Some in the U.S. Justice Department pricked up their ears the day Alberto Gonzales announced his resignation. There's always hope as long as we protect our Democracy against power grabbers unless the devils we knew, Rove & Gonzales, turn our to be better than the devil we get, their replacements.

BYE, BYE, KARL ROVE!

GONZALES GONE

Alberto Gonzales, the nation's first Hispanic attorney general who served for a little over two years, announced his resignation this morning. This finally ends a nasty standoff between Gonzales and members of Congress over his honesty and competence at the helm of the Justice Department.

Republicans and Democrats alike have demanded his resignation over the botched handling of FBI terror investigations and the firings of U.S. attorneys, but President Bush defiantly stood by his Texas friend until accepting his resignation Friday. Bush was not by Gonzales' side when he made the formal announcement in D.C. this morning, as he was when Rove made his resignation statement.

Solicitor General Paul Clement will be acting attorney general until a replacement is found, said the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting the announcement. Rumors are that Bush has no idea what name he will put forth for a confirmed appointment.

As attorney general and earlier as White House counsel, Gonzales pushed for expanded presidential powers, including authority to eavesdrop on American citizens. He drafted controversial rules for military war tribunals and sought to limit the legal rights of detainees at Guantanamo Bay — prompting lawsuits by civil libertarians who said the government was violating the Constitution in its pursuit of terrorists.

Then, there is the continuing flap over the fired prosecutors that proved to be the final straw for Gonzales, whose truthfulness in testimony to Congress was questioned. Some lawmakers said the dismissals of the federal prosecutors appeared to be politically motivated.

Thousands of documents released by the Justice Department show a White House plot, hatched shortly after the 2004 elections, to replace U.S. attorneys. At one point, senior White House officials, including Rove, suggested replacing all 93 prosecutors. In several House and Senate hearings into the firings, Gonzales and other Justice Department officials failed to fully explain the ousters without contradicting each other.

Gonzales, whom Bush once considered for appointment to the Supreme Court, is the fourth top-ranking administration official to leave since November 2006. Donald Rumsfeld, an architect of the failed Iraqi incursion, resigned as defense secretary one day after the November elections. Paul Wolfowitz, also a proponent of invading Iraq, agreed in May to step down as president of the World Bank after an ethics inquiry. Top Bush adviser Rove -- no doubt about where he came down about Iraq -- announced earlier this month that he was stepping down to spend more time with his family. Who among you believe that last one -- about the family, I mean?

Only Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice remains untouched and is scheduled to remain until Bush boards Air Force One for the last time. I guess that's because she's such a damn good crossword puzzle player with Bush, or it could be because she's done so damn little as secretary of state that, unlike Rumsfeld, Rove and Gonzales, she's managed to not get Congress in a flutter. Anyway, Gonzalez and Rove will officially, and hopefully, physically leave D.C. in September. Back to Texas both of you! Hooray!!

Some information for this post taken from an Associated Press Article. Read the complete article, without my comments and edits, at the Associated Press Web site, and read the one from Reuters.