The only silver lining for Mr Bush was that Mr Kay blamed intelligence failures rather than exaggeration about the Iraqi threat by the administration.

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Over the next few years, the emergence of banks like Spirit of Texas could prove the silver lining in the largely bungled Bush-Obama bail out of the big financial companies.

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To borrow a phrase from the late Ann Richards, former governor of Texas, about former President George W Bush: sometimes it seems he was born with a silver foot in his mouth.

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Among the latest players to test positive for marijuana are Zambia strikers Francis Kombe, who plays for Silver Stars and Hilary Milanzi from Golden Arrows, as well as Bush Bucks' Kenyan defender Philip Opiyo.

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Another scenario is to avoid the cliff by renewing the Bush fiscal package, which would be bullish for gold and silver.

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