Kenneth Lay, our Lord Jesus Christ? I'm not outwitted, but I am DUMBFOUNDED.

The alleged "terrorists" of Guantanamo have been villified in the press and by government officials for years, their names withheld, but their reputations sullied and their guilt decided before any of them is actually tried.

Most likely, even after the Supreme Court ruling in their favor, they will never have a trial by their peers in order to clear their name or convict them.

However, if one happens to be in the ranks of the rich and powerful in this country, even conviction of a felony cannot besmirch one's name. Kenneth Lay was a "philanthropist and family man who didn't succumb to despair despite the scandal that destroyed his company and left him a vilified felon, friends and family members said at a memorial service Wednesday where mourners included former President George Bush" according to the Dallas Morning Snooze.

The DMS went on to report that, "Neither the Bushes nor former Secretary of State James Baker III, Houston Astros owner Drayton McLane Jr. and noted heart surgeon Denton Cooley spoke. The Bushes sat directly behind Lay's wife, Linda. "

But the greatest honor of the day was pronounced by The Rev. Bill Lawson, prominent pastor of the African-American Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church in Houston. He said lay was a "victim of a lynching." A lynching? O, Brother, Where Art Thou? A LYNCHING?

Lawson, according the Morning Snooze, continued, "The folks who don't like him have had their say. I'd like to have mine and I don't care what you think about it." Lawson evoked leaders who he said were vilified in life but vindicated by history, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy and "our Lord Jesus Christ."

O, brother, A LYNCHING?