Vincent Bugliosi, the man who convicted Charles Manson and 20 other murderers without ever losing a case, is convinced that a murder charge can be brought against George Bush and he seems pretty serious about following through on it:

Bugliosi v. Bush

I’ve also drafted a letter to DAs across the country offering my services. I’m dead serious about this. With my record as a prosecutor with twenty-one consecutive murder convictions, I would never in a million years argue for a prosecution against the President of the United States unless I knew I was standing on firm and strong legal grounds.

I’m going after Bush and I’m not going to be satisfied until I see him in an American courtroom prosecuted for murder.

Aw, hell. This isn’t going to go over well for McCain, is it?:

McCain In 2005: I “Totally” Support Bush On The “Transcendent Issues” (VIDEO) - Politics on The Huffington Post

But McCain’s case is complicated by his own words from just three years ago. In a June 2005 appearance on Meet The Press, the Senator told moderator Tim Russert that, far from being at odds with the White House, he had “been totally in agreement and support of President Bush” on “the transcendent issues.”

And the quote only picks up on the barest bit of what the video shows McCain saying. He goes on to outline what those “transcendent” issues of our time are, such as the War on Terror, Iraq, “Fiscal Conservatism,” and other gems the McCain camp wishes they could get back. As Josh Marshall recently said, “John McCain: I am viral video.”

If only he’d thought of some of this just a little bit sooner:

President Bush regrets his legacy as man who wanted war - Times Online

Phrases such as “bring them on” or “dead or alive”, he said, “indicated to people that I was, you know, not a man of peace”. He said that he found it very painful “to put youngsters in harm’s way”. He added: “I try to meet with as many of the families as I can. And I have an obligation to comfort and console as best as I possibly can. I also have an obligation to make sure that those lives were not lost in vain.”

All these revelations from the new Scott McClellan book! From conspiratorial asides between Scooter and Karl to the assertion that the press went easy on the war effort - which has subsequently led to one reporter outing her bosses for exactly that - this is probably the barn-burner of the litterae apologia coming out of former administration officials.

But its funny how the media’s aggressions against Scott McClellan - the administration’s frustrating little bitch-bot throughout Plamegate and the early parts of the Iraq War - are helping to paint the picture of McClellan as a hopeless boob. Take, for example, what should be a much bigger story about George Bush’s alleged cocaine use, mostly painted as Scottie’s clueless virginal silliness:

Scott McClellan: George W. Bush ‘couldn’t remember if he took cocaine’ : Telegraph Blogs

According to McClellan: “‘The media won’t let go of these ridiculous cocaine rumors,’ I heard Bush say. ‘You know, the truth is I honestly don’t remember whether I tried it or not. We had some pretty wild parties back in the day, and I just don’t remember.’”"I remember thinking to myself, How can that be? How can someone simply not remember whether or not they used an illegal substance like cocaine? It didn’t make a lot of sense.”

Hmmm? How indeed? It seems like such an incredibly naive thing to say. But that’s mostly because the quote is incomplete. The above linked article includes more important details:

Scott McClellan : Telegraph Blogs

Bush, McClellan writes, “isn’t the kind of person to flat-out lie”. Therefore “I think he meant what he said in that conversation about cocaine. It’s the first time when I felt I was witnessing Bush convincing himself to believe something that probably was not true, and that, deep down, he knew was not true. And his reason for doing so is fairly obvious — political convenience.”{{snippage}}

McClellan links the way Bush handled the cocaine rumours with selling the Iraq war and other controversial policies. “It would not be the last time Bush mishandled potential controversy. But the cases to come would involve the public trust, and the failure to deal with them early, directly and head-on would lead to far greater suspicion and far more destructive partisan warfare.”

Well, that’s a much different kind of statement, isn’t it? The phraseology may seem a bit naive, but the reality is that Scott is pointing out how Bush uses his supposedly fuzzy memory to evade serious inquiry about subjects he’d rather not discuss. Cocaine isn’t the type of substance people try just once and never go back to. Bush can’t pawn this off as something he did once at a party, but he’s trying to.

And while this blog will not needlessly engage in accusation directly without at least some equally direct evidence, I feel compelled to point out that my lifestyle as a musician, particularly after high school, definitely qualifies me as something of an expert on elicit drug use and its evidences. This will not be the last time that George W. Bush’s alleged cocaine use and the Iraq War will be linked in some way.

And in honor of Scottie, here’s a blast from the past, and to my knowledge, the only funny part of Eurotrip:

Oh, they probably had more diplomatic phrasology than that. Probably threw in an “Allah be praised,” or two as well.  Nevertheless, CNN.com is reporting (without an actual article, as yet) that the Saudi Government has rejected Bush’s appeal to produce more oil.

Huh! Maybe he should have said, “C’mon, Saudi Arabia! You know I’m good for it.”

Later Update: Link and article is now up:
Oil surges, nears $128 on China use, Goldman note - May. 16, 2008

According to the White House, Saudia Arabia doesn’t see enough demand to increase production.

Middle East peace is always the last item on the agenda of our presidents. It’s one of those “legacy builders,” where they get to say, “. . . and he worked tirelessly at the end of his second term in the hopes of building a lasting peace in the Middle East.” Bill Clinton did this. George Bush is doing this. The next president, if he’s lucky to serve two terms, will also doubtless do this.

And now it looks as though we can add yet another foreign policy goal to the list: settling the Somali problem. First, it was Blackhawk Down. Now with this president, he just lobs a bunch of bombs at the problem:

BBC NEWS | Africa | Air raid kills Somali militants

A US military spokesman told the BBC that it had attacked what he
called a known al-Qaeda target in Somalia, but refused to give further
details.

Al-Shabab, considered a terrorist group by the US, is the
military wing of the Somali Sharia courts movement, the Union of
Islamic Courts (UIC), until Ethiopian troops ousted them in 2006.

The group has since regrouped and is in effect in control of large parts of central and southern Somalia.

The report issued by Empire Justice on New York’s subprime woes points out that, in fact, about 44% of all subprime mortages in Monroe County (not Rochester, as has been reported on the 13WHAM blog) were in some form of trouble as of October of last year.  Those mortgages are either already in foreclosure, behind by more than 30 days and therefore subject to foreclosure, or about to have their rates “reset,” thus potentially increase to dangerous levels.  Looking at the map that details where in MC the subprimes concentrate, we see some of the old familiar patterns of poverty and debt.  The City NE is particularly hard-hit, as is Gates and Greece, especially where it touches the city.

But another trend is worth noting, which is where the line of suburban sprawl and the line of subprime woes intersect.  Notice that the trend of deep red extends straight across route 104, through Webster, at minimum.  It would be interesting to see how red it is in Wayne County as well.  The subprime troubles seem to skip right over Brighton, then slam back down with force in Pittsford, Perinton and Henrietta.

It’s all part in parcel of the same thing: the focus on fast growth, new home ownership, home construction all lead to people gambling more than they should and getting into trouble.  Since 9-11, the sales of homes have been the only feather in the economic cap of this current presidential administration.  But as we can see, high growth means high risk.  Is it any wonder that the man who has tanked every business he’s ever run now appears to have his hands in his pockets during our economic crisis?

As the situation in Iraq degrades towards civil war, The Decider continues to declare progress being made. There is not a whit of recognition, nor will there be for months, that the situation is getting close to out of control. As TPM reports, Baghdad police are leaving in droves and Iraqi soldiers (who, according to the Bush Administration, are fighting in Basra) are back-filling those positions. Meanwhile, our troops are once again filling in the front lines of the Iraqi Civil War:

McClatchy Washington Bureau | 03/27/2008 | Bush: Iraq is returning to normal

President Bush, saying that “normalcy is returning back to Iraq,” argued Thursday that last year’s U.S. troop “surge” has improved Iraq’s security to the point where political and economic progress are blossoming as well.

The United States government - which has started two wars in the Middle East, all but literally printing anti-U.S., anti-Israeli propaganda; which has basically ignored the Palestinian/Israeli war for seven consecutive years; which has encouraged every bellicose action of the Sharon Administration; which has turned a blind eye to Saudi Arabia’s continued covert support of Hamas; which has refused to recognize the democratically-elected government of Palestine because it is (was) largely populated by Hamas politicians - is upset by Israel’s lack of progress in achieving peace.

O.I.C.

Ah, just in case you forgot that there was still an asswipe in the Oval Office, George has been busy readying the stage for his final exit, which will commence with the dropping of Russian bombs on Poland:

Bush and Polish PM hail progress on missile shield deal | Politics | Reuters

President George W. Bush said on Monday he had agreed the United States would help modernize the Polish military as part of a U.S. plan to base components of a global missile defense shield in Poland.

Just to bring you up to speed if you’ve not been paying attention, George Bush decided that the best place to have a Star Wars missile defense system was in Poland, Russia’s old turf.  The Bush Administration has insisted that the defense shield is meant to protect us from rogue states such as North Korea.  I’m no military expert - much less ballistics, physics or even higher geometry - but could someone please explain to me how a shield in Poland protects the United States from missiles launched from North Korea?

As you might have expected, Russia is a bit put-out by the idea of their chief nuclear rival putting up a missile defense system in their back yard.   It is unmistakably provocative.  And while it’s true that Vladimir Putin probably needs to do a bit of sabre rattling to maintain his tough-guy image at home, I think we should all probably be standing up and taking notice when they threaten to bomb any missile shield parked in their neighborhood.

But even more importantly, don’t miss the code wording in the above article: “Modernizing” Poland’s military is neat language for arming Poland with newer and more powerful weapons.  Get that: arming Russia’s recently-liberated satellite nation - the one they’ve fought over with Germany since time out of mind - with new and more powerful weapons.

What new and more powerful weapons?  Well, golly, that’s a great question that the media aught perhaps to ask him, eh?