..and this is really old news for anyone that knows Bush's shady history, but the media monoplogies won't give it any airtime. Here's a DU article from 2002...right down the memory hole of the US media in 2000...and perhaps in 2004 as well.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/02/04/09_volunteers.html"Volunteering time in the service of our fellow human beings is a good and worthy cause and is to be applauded but what may have seemed as a disconnect to those who have followed Bush's life history closely was what was strikingly absent from Dubya's call to action: an account of his own year of service at an inner city center for youths at risk in Houston. One would think that the president would have touted his own charitable efforts as an example of his selfless resolve to help the less fortunate. It is in the nature of a politician's constitution to loudly trumpet their accomplishments in an effort to appear more worthy of office, so it may at first seem odd that Bush would not broadcast his own altruistic efforts in the ghettos of Houston. This would seem especially true when it involved working with minorities, a valuable voting bloc that he has doggedly courted, except when his brother was busy disenfranchising them during elections. On examination of his history, it appears that the reason for his reticence to play up his charitable works may be the same as his reluctance to use his service record with the Texas National Guard to encourage enlistment into the armed services. Both of these eras in his past would not simple open a can of worms so much as open an entire dumpster full of the slimy little creatures
...In the 1970's Bush uncharacteristically volunteered to work at the P.U.L.L center in Houston an antipoverty charity program where his father was an honorary chairman. This was the first time the Dubya had ever demonstrated any 'compassionate conservatism' towards the less fortunate. Up until that time, Bush was known as the quintessential frat boy, devoted to partying and chasing skirts. There were the rumors of alcoholism, drugs, lost weekends in Mexico, dancing nude on bars and an endless parade of fast women. Working with black and Hispanic children did not exactly seem to be something that he was inclined to do by nature. After his stint at this job, Bush never again volunteered to help the needy and it appears that he quickly resumed his lifestyle as a hard core playboy.
According to the book, 'Fortunate Son; George W Bush and the Making of an American President', by J.H. Hatfield, this unusual digression in his life's history may have not really been volunteerism after all. According to Hatfield's sources, George W. Bush may have been busted for cocaine and a sympathetic judge prevailed upon to expunge the record with the stipulation that he would perform community service. This allegation is not new and has also been raised by other news sources such as the online 'Salon' but it merits reexamination after America's new war and Bush's appeal for a nation of volunteers. One of Hatfield's sources who he claim's was a former Yale classmate and a family friend who partied with the future president in the late '60's and early '70s in Houston, is quoted as saying "George W. was arrested for possession of cocaine in 1972, but due to his father's connections, the entire record was expunged by a state judge who the elder Bush helped get elected". This source then went on to say, "It was on of those 'behind closed doors in the judge's chambers' kind of thing between the old man and one of his Texas cronies who owed him a favor. In exchange for successfully completing community service at Project P.U.L.L., where Bush senior was a heavy contributor and honorary chairman, the judge purged George W.'s record."
...When the book, 'Fortunate Son' was about to be released, a tremendous effort was made on behalf on the Bush campaign to suppress the book. Lawsuits were threatened and eventually the publisher offered to turn the book into 'furnace fodder'. While never directly addressing the substance of Hatfield's charges, they attacked the author in the press, releasing arrest records revealing the author's imprisonment for a murder conspiracy (never mind that his is irrelevant to whether the book is factual or not) and ultimately succeeded in besmirching the writer. Despite subsequent lawsuits and political pressure, the book has now been released by a new publisher, Soft Skull Press. Readers may decide for themselves whether there is any credibility to these allegations."
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