Some Liars Are More Equal Than Others!

Bush family backer linked to ghoulish (and illegal) corpse-dumping, grave reselling schemes.

By: Tamara Baker

Remember how the GOP Media buried the "Funeralgate" story surrounding George W. Bush - just as they buried the Air National Guard desertion story, the drug-use stories, and the booze stories (until his DUI's started coming to light)?

Remember how the main figure in that story, Eliza May, was convinced to settle out of court, rather than (horrors!) drag the sacred Bush name through the mud?

Well, this is one story that won't stay buried.

In fact, the chief figures in Funeralgate - the fine folks running the Houston-based Service Corporation International (SCI) funeral company - have been accused of similar gruesome stunts in (you guessed it) that other Bush fiefdom, the State of Florida!

...Distraught families filed a class action lawsuit on Wednesday in a state circuit court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, accusing Menorah Gardens and Funeral Chapels and its parent company, Service Corporation International, of desecrating graves and destroying human remains.

The lawsuit alleges that people were buried in the wrong graves at Menorah Gardens cemeteries in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach without their relatives' knowledge.

It said cemetery workers broke open some burial vaults and dumped the bodies in the woods, and crushed down other coffins to make room for new coffins on top of them.

It also alleged that body parts of different people were mixed together when the buried vaults were broken open and that people who bought side-by-side plots were actually buried head-to-toe or on top of each other.

The plaintiffs' lawyers said hundreds of bodies were mishandled and that there were some 700 people with claims against the two cemeteries.

Yummy, right? But wait, it gets better:

The lawyers showed a videotape they said was filmed in the woods behind the West Palm Beach cemetery, showing what appeared to be human bones scattered on the ground.

Myra Stone said her mother was buried in someone else's grave after that man's remains were tossed into the woods.

"It is just a nightmarish situation... the fact that my mother's resting place is contaminated with someone else's remains is just inexcusable", Stone told a Miami television station.

The lawsuit was filed a day after Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth subpoenaed all of SCI's Florida burial records dating back to 1990 as part of an investigation into its business practices.

Service Corporation International, based in Houston, said the allegations in the lawsuit were disturbing and "completely contrary to our policies and procedures as well as the excellent performance record we have established".

Yeah, sure. Just ask Eliza May in Texas about that "excellent performance record".

SCI's ties to the Bush family are long and deep, so much so that George W. Bush was not able to avoid testifying under oath concerning the Funeralgate case. And, as documented in a Salon.com article from 1999, even one of SCI's own lawyers contradicted Bush's sworn testimony, indicating the strong possibility that then-Governor Bush deliberately lied and misled while under oath:

Bush had been subpoenaed by attorneys for Eliza May, the former executive director of the Texas Funeral Service Commission, which had been investigating Service Corporation International of Houston, the world's largest funeral company, whose chief executive, Robert Waltrip, is a close political ally of the Bush family. May, who was fired in February, is suing SCI, Waltrip and the state of Texas, alleging that Bush and other state officials pressured her agency to stop the investigation.

The Texas governor and front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination sought to avoid testifying in the case by filing an affidavit swearing he "had no conversations with [SCI] officials, agents, or representatives concerning the investigation or any dispute arising from it".

The affidavit also stated that Bush never spoke with the Texas Funeral Service Commission about the investigation, and that Bush had "no personal knowledge of relevant facts of the investigation nor do I have any personal knowledge of relevant facts concerning any dispute arising from this investigation".

But in a forthcoming story by Newsweek reporter Michael Isikoff, Johnnie B. Rogers, attorney for SCI, said he and Waltrip met with Bush's chief of staff and campaign manager, Joe Allbaugh, on April 15 to hand deliver a letter demanding an end to the investigation.

Bush stuck his head into the meeting, Rogers told Isikoff, and said, "Hey Bobby, are those people still messing with you?" When Waltrip indicated that they were, Bush asked Rogers, "Hey, Johnnie B. are you taking care of him?" Rogers replied, "I'm doing my best, Governor".

Ahem. As the Salon.com article states:

Rogers' story appears to contradict Bush's statement that he has "had no conversations with SCI officials, agents or representatives" about the state's investigation.

No kidding.

Now, everybody remember why Bill Clinton was impeached?

It was for lying under oath, remember. At least, that was the wingnuts kept saying: "It's not about the sex, it's about the LYING!" (Never mind that it was concerning a deposition which was later ruled by the judge to be irrelevant to the case and therefore inadmissible, and that the case itself was soon dismissed as being bogus.)

Now, what did Usurper Boy do when HE testified in Funeralgate?

He lied under oath, and his testimony was not only relevant to the case, it was CRUCIAL.

But I guess that some liars are more equal than others, especially if the liar is a rich Republican.