as it looks now, he won't even be punished.  Stories about President Nixon's indiscretions, which may have paved the way to today, end with a pardoned impeachment.  But his crimes are nothing compared with this man we have in power today.

First of all, I want to make it clear that this is not a scholarly diary ala Jerome a Paris.  This is a diary for the common folk (like me) that are very interested, but get lost in all of the scholarly analysis and data.  This is in no way a criticism of Jerome, just an acknowledgement that most of us are not in his league when it comes to energy affairs. I read them all and understand the immense value of his analysis, but feel like an idiot because he can grasp so many of the intricacies of the energy markets when I am lucky to understand a few.

So here are the four items I see adding up to a perfect storm because they have all hit together with my humble opinions (open to everybody’s critique):

1. Geopolitics

2. The Weak Dollar

3. Speculation

4. Supply and Demand

I have organized them in the order which I believe they affect oil/gasoline prices and the first three are directly caused by the Bush Administration. Only Geopolitics could have driven oil over $100/bbl by itself, but it has happened in an unanticipated manner with the other 3 items getting out of hand at the same time.

I came across this article a moment ago. After months of liking the former President less and less, this is the type of thing that will make me like him again. I've always thought that, despite all the misdeeds he had committed during his wife's campaign, in about a year I'd love Bill Clinton once again. He will campaign his heart out for Obama, make it clear that he isn't looking for 2012 and another shot, and get back to substance. This is a good place to start.

He spoke at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Miami. He told the mayors that they would have to play a large role in greening their cities, something he has been a part of with the Clinton Climate Initiative. He said:

I think if we do it right, it will be the major engine of growth and new jobs in America for at least a decade.

I want to see the only Democratic president elected to two terms since FDR rehabilitate his image. I want to see the President under which I grew up rebuild his legacy (I was 12 when he left office.) I want Pres. Clinton to once again be an elder statesman of the party and the country.

He might have been a lawyer, but the law school he applied to rejected him because he was black.

With his business administration degree, he might have ended up an executive, but he was black. And black executives are still pretty rare. So he sold insurance and became active in the civil rights movement.

He served in World War II, earning the rank of sergeant upon his honorable discharge — two years before the Army was desegregated by executive order. Who knows what he might have done, what future he might have seen for himself serving our country if not for the racism he undoubtedly faced from men who were supposed to be on his side?

Today, as I think about having a black man as president, and I venture into the mental territory that says this is not that big of a surprise, I must defend that within myself, must remind myself of the legacy we still live, of the legacy Americans were killed for opposing, of the legacy we are still fighting.

That legacy shot a man in the back on June 12, 1963. And then that legacy bragged about it. That legacy lived free for 31 years before justice came calling for the man who had murdered Medgar Evers.

My brain almost imploded when I read this bit from the Times:

President Bush has admitted to The Times that his gun-slinging rhetoric made the world believe that he was a "guy really anxious for war" in Iraq. He said that his aim now was to leave his successor a legacy of international diplomacy for tackling Iran.

In an exclusive interview, he expressed regret at the bitter divisions over the war and said that he was troubled about how his country had been misunderstood. "I think that in retrospect I could have used a different tone, a different rhetoric."

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."

President George W. Bush launched a "farewell tour" to Europe in order to "solidify" relations, among other delusional objectives to bolster his self-importance in the judging eyes of History, as opposed to remedy in a small measure his demonstrated incompetence - and that of his administration - over his two mandates as President.

It's been 40 years to the day since Robert Kennedy was killed.

I was 14 years old and I remember exactly what I was doing when I heard the news. I was 'camping' in the back yard with my best friend Jim.  

In the years that have passed, I have grown more acutely aware of what was lost that day, but even then we could sense both the grief and the fear in all the adults that gathered in our living room to watch the dreadful news.

In that time, in that year, there was a sense that the fabric of our society was ripping away.  There was a sense that what made us who we were as a country was slippping away.  But there was hope that this younger Kennedy could capture some of what his older brother had brought and building on that legacy could help our country regain its true direction and begin to heal.

That hope ended on June 5, 1968.  But the legacy of of Robert Kennedy lived on to inspire millions, even to this day.

I'm not a Hillary supporter, but I might have been if my Senator had not entered the fray.

Hillary Clinton raised millions of dollars for a campaign people took seriously. Hillary Clinton stayed in the fight long after she probably should have, but her presence also kept the spotlight on the fact that here was a serious female candidate. Pundits finally had to say "he or she" and "his or her." That was new.

Some might argue that she kept it on herself and her personal ambitions. There's no denying that this was one very ambitious woman. But how many women have set their sights on being Leader of the Free World versus how many men?

But Hillary's next steps could change the world more than a Hillary Clinton Presidency or even a health care plan. (We will have a health care plan with the next Democratic administration.) but I'm talking about something only someone like Hillary can deliver.

I lost my Dad a year ago today.  I had hoped to post a real diary on this first anniversary, but somehow all those things I have in my head never made it to disk.  This is something I wrote for his memorial service.  It is from the heart.

As a fan of the Senator, and a believer that she wants what is best for our country... I ask Senator Clinton to consider her legacy.

I came accross with Arianna Huffington's piece today entitled "A Historic Triumph Out Of Defeat."A Historic Triumph Out Of Defeat It reads well, even wonderful, civil in its tone, and inspirational for the readers.

Nevertheless, I couldn' help but wondering about its efficacy for Obama's continuing campaign. Arianna has painfully tried to paint Hillary's struggle has resulted in a new politics, particularly as far as women and their struggles for political rights in the country are concerned. In fairness, I can share with most of her arguments. Certainly, Hillary has brought about new phase in American political history in which women's candidacy for the top job in Government would no longer a mere political accessory.

So it seems that Jonah Goldberg wants your opinion on the legacy of George W. Bush:

http://corner.nationalreview.com/...

Some choice items which I sent him follow below the fold.....

Waiting for the coffee this morning, and reacting to all the posts about WV, OR, and KY etc...

Two main thoughts keep coming to mind.

1. Is it not reasonable to think that there will be some malaise on the Clinton voter side?

2. At this stage, does it not become fair to think that the percentage of those who vote for Hillary because of racial bias goes way up?

BENEATH THE SPIN    • ERIC L. WATTREE

HILLARY, WHAT’S THE POINT?

After Tuesday’s primary results I had hoped that I had written the name Hillary Clinton for the last time during this election.  But in spite of the fact that there is virtually no legitimate path for her to gain the nomination, she simply refuses to see the writing on the wall. Thus, she appealed to the superdelegates on Wednesday for yet more time to defy the will of the electorate.

Hillary Clinton cannot win the 2008 Democratic nomination.  It is too far gone for her now.

The problem is not that Hillary Clinton is still in the race. She has every right to be. It is that she is running the kind of race that she is. Having failed to convince voters of the viability of her own candidacy, she is now committed to proving the unviability of his.

Hillary once said it takes a village to raise a child. Now she seems determined to destroy the village in order to save it.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/...

Why is Hillary running?  

It is not for herself, but to save Bill Clinton's legacy.  

Why will she not drop out?  

Because this campaign has further damaged that legacy and they are now doubling down on the table.

In the Sunday WaPo, Political reporter Perry Bacon Jr. has some good things to say about Howard Dean.  I'm sure that many still mourn now and then that he was not our nominee in 2004.  Frankly, I'm still not sure I understand what happened.  I found his clarity and strength to be just what I was wishing for in a leader.  His progressive values and technology savy were made to order as well.  Some special politics seem to take place in Vermont.  Senator Bernie Sanders is still a hero of mine.  Take a look at what Bacon has to say about Howard Dean

Please be gentle with me as this is my first ever diary. I was watching Hardball just now and Chris Matthews made a slight issue over the fact that both Clinton and McCain were in Memphis today making speeches to commemorate the anniversary of Dr. King's assasination, while Obama was not. He's not the first I've heard today try to make something over the fact that Obama was not in Memphis but in Indiana, also a symbolic place this day given it was there that RFK announced King's death.

With each passing day it becomes more nauseatingly clear that the swath of destruction surrounding Hillary and Bill Clinton can only exponentially increase.  They are both driving the bus and everyone around them is getting thrown under it.

Of course, this is nothing new.  My first recollection of then-candidate Bill Clinton was the introduction of his letter to COL Eugene Holmes, written in 1992.  It was leaked to the Wall Street Journal, which was a run-of-the-mill sleazy tactic to attempt to tar Bill as a draft dodger.  The one passage of the letter, which was quite thoughtful, most often cited was the following sentence: "I decided to accept the draft in spite of my beliefs for one reason: to maintain my political viability within the system."