Bush Family Watch
Now it's time to check in with some rich, dysfunctional, shallow, selfish, and amoral characters from our favorite sit-com family, the Bluths Bushes.
Neil Bush
The major plotline this time involves Uncle Gob Neil, who is the subject of a Bill Berkowitz piece. Berkowitz reports that Neil has been touring Eastern Europe (in an effort to market his Ignite! software to schools in former Soviet republics) with a guy wanted for fraud by the Russians. He has also appeared in Asia at the side of Reverend Moon.
Bush visited Latvia [and Georgia and Ukraine] with Boris Berezovsky, described by the Washington Post as "a fugitive Russian tycoon who made millions in the violent scramble for control of Russian government assets after the fall of communism."[...]Ken Leonard, the president of Ignite!, said that he had no knowledge of any political problems that Berezovsky -- a shareholder in the company -- might have. "We know him in terms of his relationship directly with the company," he said.
For Ken's benefit, here is some info about Berezovsky's "political problems," courtesy of "FRONTLINE":
The Russian Prosecutor General's office charged Berezovsky in absentia with complicity to fraud, complicity not to return hard currency from abroad, and money laundering. He now lives in self-imposed exile in France and Britain. In March, Berezovsky was arrested on a warrant alleging that he defrauded the Russian region of Samara of nearly $2 billion in 1994 and 1995. After the arrest, a London court granted Berezovsky political asylum, protecting him from extradition.
But hey, he's a stockholder in Ignite!, so he must be an okay guy.
Oh, and he sounds like a great role model for young Neil, who needs to get busy and really exploit that relationship with the President, before it's too late (since it seems doubtful that Jeb is going to come through with another Bush presidency).
But Neil had better not cross Berezovsky, because people who do, seem to turn up dead . . .
A 1996 Forbes magazine article titled "Godfather of the Kremlin?", by Paul Klebnikov, portrayed Berezovsky as a mafia boss who had his rivals murdered. Berezovsky sued the magazine for libel, and the dispute was ultimately settled with the magazine retracting both claims. Klebnikov expanded the article into a book, Godfather of the Kremlin, that Berezovsky did not contest in court. Klebnikov subsequently became the editor of the Russian edition of Forbes and was murdered in Moscow on July 9, 2004.
But while Berezovsky might be something of a shady character, Reverend Moon is a holy man, and he presumably helped Neil to chase away all those women who showed up at Neil's hotel room door, wanting to have free sex with him.
Back to Berkowitz:
More recently, Bush showed up in the Philippines and Taiwan at the side of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, the head of the controversial Unification Church. In the Philippines, Bush attended the inaugural convocation of the Universal Peace Federation (UPF) in Manila, the Manila Bulletin reported. Bush, along with other "peace leaders" joined with Moon in meeting with Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
And just what is the Universal Peace Federation all about?
Well, per Reverend Moon's "Inaugural Convocation of the Universal Peace Federation," one of its mission is to replace the U.N. with "an Abel-type United Nations" (since the current U.N. is apparently Cain-type).
Under the banner of the Universal Peace Federation, we will serve as peace police and peace army to safeguard global peace.
[Berkowitz mentions a NewsMax story (apparently this one) which said that in a 2003 meeting, Philippines President Arroyo suggested to President George Bush that the United States might consider co-sponsoring "the proposal," and that "the president 'expressed deep interest and asked his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, to study the matter.'"
While it is tempting to think of the President ordering Condi to study Rev. Moon's "Abel-type U.N.," I don't think that Arroyo was actually talking about Moon's plan. She advocated creating a "Inter-religious Council" which would be an institutional part of the United Nations. Moon seems to be calling for a completely different organization which would take over the U.N.'s duties under the guidance of Rev. Moon. The mention of Moon in the piece seems to be there because another one of Moon's Peace Federations had just had a conference which talked about uniting religion to further world peace -- and since this was a UPI item (NewsMax only printed it), and since Moon "is the founder of News World Communications Inc., which owns UPI," I guess they had to mention him.]
But on to the next goal of the Universal Peace Federation: It will endeavor to break down all barriers between nations by building an undersea tunnel through the Bering Strait.
For the sake of peace and human welfare, I propose that we build a passage for transit across the Bering Strait, where Satan has historically divided east and west, and north and south, and where the North American and Russian land masses are separated. This passage, which I call the "World Peace King Bridge Tunnel," will link an International Highway System that will allow people to travel on land from Africa's Cape of Good Hope to Santiago, Chile, and from London to New York, across the Bering Strait, connecting the world as a single community.[...] The United States and Russia can become as one.
Uh oh -- what happens to Berezovsky's political asylum if that occurs?
Anyway, this tunnel, which will "tear down the manmade walls of race, culture, religion and country, and establish the world of peace that has been God's cherished desire," will also apparently further Rev. Moon's goal of marrying together people from different nationalities.
Once you receive the True Parents' Holy Blessing, you can give birth to pure, sinless offspring and build an ideal family.
The best way to receive the Holy Blessing is with someone from another race, nationality or religion. I call this an "exchange marriage."
And why must you receive a blessing from the True Parents (Rev. Moon and his wife) in order to build an ideal family?
Because Rev. Moon is our Messiah, the godlike being who succeeded where Jesus failed. He's the horizontal True Parent -- and you are danged lucky to breathe the same air he does!.
It is a miracle of miracles that for the first time in history a man has succeeded in establishing the position of Adam, securing the position of the owner of true love, and received God's anointing as the True Parent of humanity. It is an amazing fact that his lifetime coincides with yours, and that you and he breathe the same air. I gained victory in the position of the horizontal True Parent, who comes to rescue fallen humanity. .
So, you can see why Neil Bush would want to support Rev. Moon's new federation -- because it just makes sense, and isn't goofy at all!
Or, conversely, because he got paid for his efforts.
As Berkowitz points out:
In 1995, former President George H. W. Bush received $10,000 [Note: other sources claim that it was $100,000] to speak at a Moon-sponsored Buenos Aires banquet that launched the Reverend's Latin American publication, "Tiempos del Mundo" (Times of the World). "A lot of my friends in South America don't know about the Washington Times but it is an independent voice," the former president said. "The editors of the Washington Times tell me that never once has the man with the vision interfered with the running of the paper, a paper that in my view brings sanity to Washington DC."
In 1996 Ex-President Bush and The Enforcer were also reportedly well paid (some say they took in about a cool million) to speak at six gatherings in Japan in support of "the Women's Federation for World Peace," which is led by Moon's wife. Bush the Elder was also said to have been paid $80,000 to appear at a "Family Federation for World Peace" function in Washington in 1996 -- but after Moon's connection with the event was noted by the press, leading Bill Cosby to express reservations about the deal, Bush said he would donate his fee to charity.
I doubt you'll see Neil doing the same.
In any case, I hope that Neil has fun playing with his new friends, and that he doesn't end up married to a Korean woman, or having a Russian mafia hit placed on him.
Now, briefly, here's the latest on some of the other Bushs:
Jenna Bush
Jenna visited with Henry Hager's family over the holidays, fueling rumors that she will someday become Mrs. "Cigarettes Aren't Addictive and Don't Cause Cancer" Jr.
A year later, the fire still burns between presidential daughter Jenna Bush and Richmond native Henry Hager. Or so it seems. The latest confirmation: The Bush twin was in town last week for a pre-Christmas visit with Hager, the son of former Lt. Gov. John H. Hager, and his family. Nearly a year after Style first reported that Henry and Jenna were dating, the two are apparently still an item. The status of their relationship, however, has been kept on the down-low by both the Bushes and the Hagers.[...]By most accounts, a Hager-Bush combo would appear to have the blessing of both families.
Yes, the Hagers would like being part of the Bush dynasty, while George and Laura would appreciate passing the responsibility for minding Jenna to somebody else.
And that brings us to the second bit o' Jenna news: her ID turned up in the possession of a drug dealer.
First, the story was just of a wallet that Jenna had apparently lost in a bar which she had never visited. And that led to a Secret Service probe. Or, as the Sun put it, "Bush girl ID probe."
SECRET Service agents have launched a probe after President Bush’s daughter reportedly left an ID card in a New York bar. Jenna Bush, 23, was said to have mislaid the University of Texas card and £500 in a wallet after a night of partying. Jenna, who graduated last year, was once busted with twin Barbara for ordering beer at 19 — below the legal limit in America.
The New York Post, which reported the latest incident, said authorities were trying to establish if the ID was genuine. Jenna’s spokeswoman denied she had ever been in the bar.
And then Radar Online reported that there was a video of a reported cocaine dealer, showing a student ID that looked a lot like Jenna's and making suggestive claims.
According to a source who has seen the footage—which features a self-described downtown coke dealer relating his late-night run-in with the First Daughter, and brandishing her college ID as a souvenir—the man insinuates that the two shared more than just drinks.
Okay, he said that she had been "'helping [him] clean up' the bar after a long night of partying." So, she was just washing glasses and mopping floors -- nothing wrong with that!
(A publicist for First Lady Laura Bush has unequivocally denied that her daughter has ever been to the Chinatown bar, Happy Ending, even though we hear the UT-Austin ID card displayed in the film clearly shows the hard-partying political liability’s name, picture and student ID number.)
Well, since we haven't heard any more since mid-December, I take it that the ID card was not genuine, that Jenna knows nothing about Happy Endings, and that the purported coke dealer has been secretly sent to Gitmo.
Barbara Bush (the younger)
The rumors about her involved a ring on the middle finger of her left hand.
Down in Washington, photographers covering Laura and Barbara Bush's visit on Wednesday to a children's hospital picked up on the ring that the First Daughter wore on the third finger of her left hand. Barbara, 24, has been dating Jay Blount, 23, for several years now - having met him at Yale, where he's pursuing an MBA. But, once again, a spokeswoman for the First Lady said Barbara's not engaged.
That spokeswoman has sure been kept busy denying things!
Anyway, the Wash Post had a gemologist look at a photo of the ring, and he aid that it was just "fun fashion jewelry." The Post also reported that Barbara hadn't been seen with Jay since she got back from Africa, implying that the President had NSA listen in on their phone calls (Barbara was in a foreign country, after all), and this caused the couple to break up. However, we hope that they're still together, since they seem so perfect for each other.
BTW, we last reported on Jay in Aug. 2004; back then, he was a senior at Yale, a former intern to Dennis Hastert, a "charismatic showman sent to bring balance back to earth," and the son of a Washington lobbyist. (Yeah, I'm not getting a good feeling about this either.)
Since that time, he's gone to back to Yale to get his MBA. The story is that Jay was allegedly unqualified for Yale Business school, but after President Bush sent a letter of recommendation on his behalf, he magically became qualified not only for admission, but also for a scholarship which covered his tuition for the year. While some thought that this didn't seem fair, others held that there has to be some reward for protecting a First Daughter's virginity for all these years.
3:49:24 AM
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