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“The Truth About Hillary: What She Knew, When She Knew It, and How Far She’ll Go to Be come President,” by Edward Klein, is excerpted in Vanity Fair and slated to roll off the presses later this month.

The late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan and his wife despised a “duplicitous” and ruthless Hillary Rodham Clinton, who they believed would do anything to advance herself, according to a bombshell new book.

Sen. Moynihan’s wife, Liz, griped to a friend that a “duplicitous” Clinton “would say or do anything that would forward her ambitions,” according to the excerpt.

“She can look you straight in the eye and lie . . . ‘Lying’ isn’t a sufficient word; it’s a distortion of the truth to fit her case.”

Sounds like she is the same truth purveyor as her husband, Bill.

Klein writes that Liz Moynihan, who managed her husband’s campaigns, said of Clinton, “She believes that God approves of her and that, therefore, she can’t do anything wrong. I suppose it’s a Midwestern Methodist view, the equivalent of Nixon and Quakerism.”

Sounds like an inflated ego to me….or delusions of grandeur.

Clinton yesterday called Sen. Moynihan her “wonderful predecessor,” adding, “I can just hear him saying what needs to be said about the president and the Republican leadership.

“There’s never been an administration . . . in our history more intent upon consolidating and abusing power to further their own agenda,” Clinton said.

In 1999, Hillary Clinton sought Moynihan’s blessing to run for his seat and announced her “listening tour” at the then-senator’s upstate farm in Pindars Corners.

It is no secret Moynihan and Clinton had a forced relationship, but Klein contends that Moynihan could barely stomach her.

Stay tuned…. the heat upon Hillary is just starting.

Liberal MP Pat O’Brien announces at a news conference in Ottawa on Monday that he is quitting the Liberal party to sit as an independent.

Canadian Liberal Party members met last Thursday to plan strategy and to plot the ultimate demise of a same-sex marriage bill:

It was an extraordinary meeting in which the MPs discussed strategy, talked of ways to stall the bill and tossed out various scenarios. They even spoke about the possibility of supporting the Conservatives on a no-confidence motion to bring down the government, which would, in effect, kill the marriage bill.

Another person at the meeting was London, Ont., MP Pat O’Brien. A vocal participant, he laid out for his colleagues his frustration with the committee process and the bill.

But he gave no indication he was thinking about the drastic step he took yesterday — leaving the caucus to sit as an independent.

Flap reported yesterday – Paul O’Brien Leaves the Liberal Party: New Election Call?

In his news conference yesterday, Mr. O’Brien said he would do anything he could to stall or defeat the marriage bill, refusing to rule out voting against the government on its forthcoming budget bills.

During the news conference, Mr. O’Brien repeatedly referred to the committee process as a “farce.”

Captain Ed over At Captain’s Quarters has this:

O’Brien’s defection has left the Commons equally split, considering the alliances between the parties. The Tories/BQ faction has 152 seats, the same as the ruling Liberal/NDP bloc, with now four independents, including O’Brien. O’Brien indicated that he would consider voting against the government on the next confidence motion that gets tabled, which would split the independents and leave the decision once again to the Speaker, a result which would save Martin. However, if another member of that mini-caucus opposing gender-neutral marriage takes a walk to join O’Brien, Martin is in serious trouble — and playing Let’s Make A Deal, post-Grewal, probably isn’t in the cards.

A summer election may still happen. Stay tuned

Agreed, Flap continues to handicap a Canadian election within a year.

Three top fundraisers at the Democratic National Committee have resigned. This is amid turmoil created by outlandish statements by DNC Chairman and former Presidential candidate, Howard Dean.

Three top fundraisers at the Democratic National Committee have resigned at a time when its chairman, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, has come under fire from fellow Democrats for controversial comments and his Republican counterpart has raised more than twice as much money.

Democratic sources link the resignations to Dean’s decision to focus on raising money in small increments through the Internet, as he did during his 2004 presidential bid, and building up the party’s grassroots infrastructure while paying little attention to major Democratic donors.

Dean’s inability to raise money is especially noteworthy in this era of internet solicitations.

The committee’s finance directors for the two biggest hubs of Democratic fundraising have quit. Bridget Siegel, finance director for New York and the surrounding area, resigned last week, and Lori Kreloff, finance director for California, left the committee last month.

A third top DNC fundraiser, Nancy Eiring, the director of grassroots fundraising, has also resigned, citing strategic differences with aides to Dean, according to a report yesterday in ABC News’ “The Note.”
Siegel told The Hill that she remained at the DNC for the first few months of the year only to help with the transition to leadership under a new chairman and that “Dean is moving the party in a great direction.” Siegel will raise money for Andrew Cuomo’s race for New York attorney general.

The Republican National Committee continues to praise the decison to choose Dean as the DNC Chairman.

Flap wonders when Democrats will figure it out?

Thousands of empty cold medication packages litter the highway outside of Tijuana, Mexico. The pseudoephedrine contained in the medicine is used to produce methamphetamine, and the area around Tijuana is home to many clandestine laboratories that produce the drug

In the Unnecessary Epidemic, Mexico is playing an increasing role in the scourage that is sweeping across the United States.

Flap previously featured this series of stories from Steve Suo and the Oregonian newspaper that was first published in October 2004.

June 5, 2005

MEXICO CITY — America’s methamphetamine crisis is now rooted in Mexico, where drug cartels are illicitly obtaining tons of pseudoephedrine, the key ingredient needed to make the potent stimulant:

Mexico’s imports of the cold medicine have jumped to 224 tons from 66 tons in the past five years, customs records show. That’s roughly double what the country needs to meet the legitimate demands of cold and allergy sufferers, an analysis by The Oregonian newspaper of Portland, Ore., found.

U.S. officials say meth production in Mexico is rising because Mexican traffickers can no longer easily obtain pseudoephedrine in the United States and Canada, which have cracked down on companies that sell cold pills. The number of Mexican-run “superlabs” found in California has plummeted in the past three years, the officials say, yet Mexican-made meth remains widely available on U.S. streets.

The spread of methamphetamne has so sensitized other states that numerous state laws have arisen to limit the sale of methapmphetamine precursor chemicals like pseudoephedrine.

Now, more international efforts must be undertaken in Mexico and in other countries to affect interdiction of these chemicals.

Although some U.S. officials predicted three years ago that traffickers would start acquiring massive amounts of pseudoephedrine in Mexico, the U.S. and Mexico failed to prevent it from happening.

U.S. officials say they have been talking to the Mexican government about the country’s surging imports of pseudoephedrine powder since 2003.

But those discussions have been largely confined to officials below the Cabinet level. Senior U.S. law enforcement officials have not raised the issue in their public testimony before Congress.

Mexican authorities have moved to restrict the number of cold pills consumers can buy in pharmacies and have shut down a number of distributors. But only this year is Mexico beginning to roll back the amount of pseudoephedrine companies can import.

Mexican officials have told the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration that they have reduced their import quota 30 percent this year. That reduction, U.S. officials say, applies to 2004 import levels.

But those reduced import levels will still leave traffickers an ample surplus from which to obtain the pseudoephedrine they need.

Then, the President must give policy direction to the Attorney General and the Department of Justice to further reduce import levels. If legislation is needed, the Congress must act – and act quickly.

The newspaper’s analysis, drawn from demographic data and independent market research, offers the first publicly available estimate of how much cold medicine Mexico legitimately needs. The analysis suggests that Mexico’s legitimate demand is between 90 and 130 tons — roughly 100 tons less than the country imported last year.

The Oregonian’s assessment includes data from one of Mexico’s largest discount pharmacy chains and other industry sources. Some statistics, such as precisely how much pseudoephedrine is distributed by public health agencies, could not be directly obtained.

Mexican health officials have told international authorities that the country’s legitimate demand may be as low as 70 tons, or a third of what Mexico imported in 2004. That estimate was presented as tentative and the Mexican government is still refining it.

The International Narcotics Control Board in Vienna, which tracks the global drug trade, is examining Mexico’s pseudoephedrine imports and suspects the recent increases cannot be explained by the legitimate market. DEA officials say they have not tried to calculate Mexico’s legitimate demand. They do not know whether Mexico’s planned import reductions will be enough to eliminate illegal diversion.

The failure to halt diversion of pseudoephedrine products made in Mexico has profound consequences for cities and towns across the United States.

The devastating effects of methamphetamine are ravaging almost every community in the United States.

Numerous stories are printed daily about this drug bust, this crime, this legal loophole or this tragedy because of methamphetamine.

This scourage can be eliminated by interdiction of precursor chemicals.

It is time for the President and Congress to act.

Read the remainder of Steve Suo’s excellent artice here:

Steve Suo is a staff writer for The Oregonian of Portland, Ore. He can be contacted at stevesuo@news.oregonian.com. Suo reported this story in Mexico City and Vienna. Freelance journalist Adrienne Bard contributed to this report in Mexico.)