In honor of the President Bush presser attempt to control headlines for tomorrow, I thought I'd post a few reminders about life, liberty and the Bush record:

– Former SecDef William Perry writes today In Search of a North Korea Policy.  Sure with the Bush Administration had been thinking about this a helluva lot earlier — the purported nukes test happened under Bush's watch, not anyone else's — so Republicans ought to stop trying to pass the buck (yet again) for Bush Administration foreign policy failures.  Let's see if reporters ask President Bush about him dropping the ball on inspectors from 2002 onward.  (Oh, and speaking of the blame game, Sen. John McCain has gotten out of the gate on finger-pointing which, of course, has nothing to do with his personal Presidential ambitions and his need to provide cover for the do-nothing Republican Rubber Stamp Congress which has provided no real oversight to the mess that is the Bush foreign policy.  Pathetic.)  North Korea is threatening war over any increase in sanctions — and Japan has cut ties with them as of today — and the way forward on this is still unclear, as the Security Council and US officials continue to squabble over the best course of action.

– China, which had begun with what seemed would be a firm stance, is now urging some caution.  Here's a thought:  wouldn't it have been a great idea to line up all of the carrot and stick negotiations before Kim Jong Il set all of this mess in motion?  Call me crazy, but diplomacy and foreign policy ought to be pro-active — and the Bush Administration seems consistently behind the curve and frantically reactive.  Oughtn't we ask a helluva lot of question about THAT?

– Digby has some thoughts on the new estimates of up to 654,000 or more dead Iraqis.  The LATimes has more.

– The AP asks if history is repeating itself in Afghanistan, where increasing skirmishes and guerilla warfare tactics in battles with the Taliban have NATO allies feeling pressure to add more troops — something that they seem not to want to do.  What a mess.

– Five years after 9/11, the FBI still lacks agents with Arabic skills.  Heckuva job, Bushie.

– Just go read the last few days of Billmon. 

President Bush is speaking now, so let's listen in for a bit and see what he has to say — and, more importantly, what he doesn't say.  Feeling safer today than you were six years ago?  Are you better off than you were six years ago?

Had enough?

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  4. Bolton, Clinton, North Korea: One of Those Good Problems
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