It Was 40 Years Ago Today

"It's what I do during my presidency. I go around
spreading good will and talking about
the importance of spreading freedom and peace."
--George W. Bush
____________

Talking about it don't fry no bacon.

Under the category, "Same as it ever was," Dahlia Lithwick in yesterday's Slate offers a a top 10 list of "the most appalling civil-liberties violations by the Bush administration." Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales gets his own category as his nefariousness was so multifarious. We second that motion.

By way of showing that Mr. Gonzales hails from a venerable pedigree of Texas judges who sleep with the wicked, we present for your viewing pleasure a trip back over 40 years through song.

This one includes another lapsed man of the Texas bench who came to the aid of shady Pecos trader Billy Sol Estes. Sol Estes didn't really have any commodities, but gamed the U.S. Department of Agriculture and bilked various others all the way into his own personal fortune. He used the cotton he didn't grow as collateral for bank loans, flipping it a la the sub prime mortgage game.

Like Scooter Libby in current times, Billy Sol Estes got sprung a bit prematurely from his sentence. There's something about Texas.

The Ides of Texas, The Chad Mitchell Trio

Here's to a guy with a big Texas smile
Who knows what it means to have real Texas style
Here's to a fella who couldn't think small
Here's to the biggest embezzler of all!

Billie Sol Estes, we're proud of you son
You had to be Texan to do what you done
While other kids saved up their nickels and dimes
For jellybeans, liq'rice, and fudge,

Well Billie saved too
And when he had enough
He bought him a federal judge!

While still in his teens he was very perplexed
as to what field his fortune was hid
His uncle suggested he go into steel
And that's just what Billie boy did!

Billie Sol Estes, that boy really cooks
He had one shining purpose
And two sets of books

There once was a senator Bill tried to bribe
So Bill had a wonderful notion
Oh, what a friend we have in Billie!
He sent him a yacht but that wasn't enough
So Billie boy threw in an ocean!

Billie Sol Estes, we're proud of you mate
It's hombres like you that make Texas so great
B is for the billions he's been bilkin'
Good ole billion bilkin' Billie!
I is to indemnify his loss
They use a lot of ammonia up there, Billie —
That's why they call it the White House.
L is for the loans from Uncle Sammy
Why, thank ye, Cousin Orville!
Then double L just like in double cross
I is for the interest he's accruin'
Praise the Lord and pass the fertilizer, Billie!
E is for the eggheads he outsmarts
Put them all together, you've got Billie Sol
Whose initials are emblazed on our hearts:
B.
S.

Billie Sol Estes, we're proud of you boy
Next to you Jimmy Hoffa is Lord Fauntleroy
Now they're gonna take Billie away to the clink
And the way things look now it appears
For all of the wheelin' and dealin' he's done
He'll get three thousand four hundred years

And the day they lead old Billie away
Why, each Texan will take off his hat
For who but a Texan
In all this wide world
Could pull down a sentence like that?

Billie Sol Estes, you're really a doll
There's Houston — and Crockett—
And now Billie Sol!
And remember, Billie boy,
We're behind you all the way —
Me and Ladybug