Ed. Note: Ms. Shay, our token Republican, agreed to write for us only with the stipulation that no editorial hands touch her words. Thus we publish this, her twenty-first column (see bottom of page for complete list), exactly as it came in over our email transom.

Having recovered from the festivities surrounding the grand opening of this monument to, as Condi Rice once observed not long before her well-deserved elevation to Secretary of State, "one of the greatest statesmen of all time," I and several of my dearest friends just the other day were holding the monthly meeting of the Pompomettes (a sorority organization of former cheerleaders at Permian Basin High) in the Thar She Blows Room of the Midland Country Club.

After several drinks (Singapore Slings all around), Cindy Mae Wofford (wife of Clyde and co-holder of several of the biggest oil and gas leases west of the Pecos River) suggested a toast to all the little people who had helped elevate George W. Bush to the pinnacle of political power where he could properly exercise his God-given gifts of leadership, statemanship, and overall patriotic fervor.

"Here, here!" we all chimed in and downed our Slings.

Pondering our good fortune at living in a city that gave the world not one but two presidents and both a First Lady and a First Mother, and thinking about the hard work it took, starting with the wifely and motherly efforts of the blessed Barbara Bush, on the part of so many people to make the Bush dynasty a reality, inspiration suddenly struck!

While I, like tout Midland, had admired the care with which the boyhood home at 1412 West Ohio Avenue had been returned to its pristine 1950s condition, I had had a nagging feeling that something was missing.

Somehow the yard, while certainly authentic with its hardy brown Bermuda grass struggling (as we all do out here in God’s country) to survive our semi-Canadian winters and our semi-Saharan summers, seemed just a touch too barren.

But what could one possibly add to such a shrine that would not in some way detract from its humble simplicity?

I had studied photographs of the Bush summer home at Kennebunkport, Maine, and had been struck by its unassuming lack of extraneous décor (see photo below).

As I swallowed the last of my third Sling, I suddenly knew what was missing!

Think, dear Reader. Who has stood beside George W. Bush from the beginning? Who has created venues and photo opportunities to show him at his best (standing, bull-horn in hand, shoulder to shoulder with the brave firefighters on the smoldering remains of the Twin Towers; flying onto the aircraft carrier to announce "Mission accomplished!", etc.)? Who has hired the best speech writers to give voice to the visionary ideas of this statesman-among-statesmen? Who has helped bring his manifold and inspired foreign and domestic agendas to such rich fruition?

I speak of course of his sine qua non right-hand person, the Honorable Karl Rove.

That, I realized, is what’s missing on the sere lawn at 1412 West Ohio Avenue… some acknowledgment of the crucial, vital, irreplaceable role played by Mr. Karl Rove in the rise and triumph of George W. Bush.

Following adjournment of the Pompomettes’ meeting, I rushed to the studio of Midland’s outstanding homegrown sculptor, Brentwood Smythe (Midlanders all know that is his "nom de stone" and that he was actually born Billy Bob Thornberry).

Billy Bob and I were close friends at PBHS and it only took a few words for me to describe my inspiration to him. Infected by my enthusiasm, he found a photo of 1412 West Ohio Avenue and began to rapidly draw on it. Within seconds he had completed his proposal.

Tears of joy streamed down both our faces. Billy Bob called his partner Steve in and we all hugged and downed a few Lone Stars as we contemplated what Billy Bob had wrought.

That was hardly a month ago and now Billy Bob is hard at work on a big chunk of Carrera marble he had lying around the studio to make his and my inspiration a reality soon to be installed on the front yard of 1412 West Ohio Avenue.

And, yes, dear Reader, it is going to happen. I have approval in hand from the Midland powers-that-be. Billy Bob provided me with a photographic mock-up of what his work will look like when it rests before the beloved old Bush homestead. As soon as said powers saw the picture, their only answer could be, "Yes! Yes!"