. . . and I don’t mean Rizzuto.

Ex-San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds, Major League Baseball’s record-holder for career and single-season homeruns, was indicted Thursday on five counts of perjury and obstruction of justice for lying to federal prosecutors investigating steroid use by professional athletes linked to the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO).

Within hours of the indictment’s unsealing, President George W. Bush—who had earlier this summer congratulated Bonds on surpassing Hank Aaron as baseball’s all-time homerun king—rushed to jump on the Barry-be-bad bandwagon.

In Washington, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said: "The president is very disappointed to hear this. As this case is now in the criminal justice system, we will refrain from any further specific comments about it. But clearly this is a sad day for baseball."

Pardon me, but the Federal Government's Real Priorities™ are showing through again....

Federal officials are seeking to try Ed Rosenthal a third time

Prosecutors decided on a second trial for Ed Rosenthal after a "thorough and careful review,'' Assistant U.S. Attorney George Bevan told U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, who had urged him to reconsider his decision at a hearing last month.

Bevan said the final decision was made by Scott Schools, the interim U.S. attorney in San Francisco. When Breyer asked if Justice Department officials in Washington had been consulted, Bevan said he didn't know.

Scott Schools is one of the Gonzalez-appointed Interim Attorneys appointed by Alberto Gonzalez in the recent wave of firings (apparently referred as "Pearl Harbor Day" as they occurred on Dec. 7th) using the buried provision in the PATRIOT Act allowing such a maneuver.

More after the fold....