• Bill Clinton,  Hillary Clinton

    Shocker: Bill Clinton Raises $41 Million from Saudi Arabia and Other Foreign Governments

    Clinton-Foundation-Donors

    No, it is NOT really a shock. We have known that Bubba has been taking the Saudi and other foreign money for years. But, now under the agreement that Hillary Clinton made with “the One” she and Bill must report the cash.

    Former President Bill Clinton’s foundation has raised at least $41 million from Saudi Arabia and other foreign governments that his wife Hillary Rodham Clinton may end up negotiating with as the next secretary of state.

    The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia gave $10 million to $25 million to the William J. Clinton Foundation, a nonprofit created by the former president to finance his library in Little Rock, Ark., and charitable efforts to reduce poverty and treat AIDS. Other foreign government givers include Norway, Kuwait, Qatar, Brunei, Oman, Italy and Jamaica.

    The foundation disclosed the names of its 205,000 donors on a Web site Thursday, ending a decade of resistance to identifying the sources of its money. While the list is heavy with international business leaders and billionaires, some 12,000 donors gave $10 or less.

    Clinton agreed to release the information after concerns emerged that his extensive international fundraising and business deals could conflict with America’s interests if his wife became Obama’s top diplomat. The foundation has insisted for years it is under no legal obligation to identify its contributors, contending that many expected confidentiality when they donated.

    How do you spell conflict of interest for Hillary as Secretary of State? The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee must scrutinize this disclosure and make sure that Hillary is NOT compromised in her dealings with the foreign donors – many of which have conflicts with other donors.

    Some notable donations:

    • Amar Singh, a donor in the $1 million to $5 million category, is an Indian politician who played host to Bill Clinton on a visit to India in 2005 and met Hillary Clinton in New York in September to discuss an India-U.S. civil nuclear agreement.
    • The Confederation of Indian Industry, an industrial trade association – $500,000 – $1 million
    • Dave Katragadda, an Indian capital manager with holdings in media and entertainment, technology, health care and financial services – $500,000 – $ 1 million
    • AUSAID, the Australian government’s overseas aid program, and COPRESIDA-Secretariado Tecnico, a Dominican Republic government agency formed to fight AIDS, each gave $10 million to $25 million. Norway gave $5 million to $10 million. Kuwait, Qatar, Brunei and Oman gave $1 million to $5 million each. The government of Jamaica and Italy’s Ministry for Environment and Territory gave $50,000 to $100,000 each.
    • The biggest donations — more than $25 million each — came from two donors. They are the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, a London-based philanthropic organization founded by hedge fund manager Chris Hohn and his wife Jamie Cooper-Hohn and dedicated to helping children, primarily in Africa and India; and UNITAID, an international drug purchase organization formed by Brazil, France, Chile, Norway and Britain to help provide care for HIV-AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis patients in countries with high disease rates.
    • The No. 4 person on the Forbes billionaire list, Lakshmi Mittal, the chief executive of international steel company ArcelorMittal, gave $1 million to $5 million. Mittal is a member of the Foreign Investment Council in Kazakhstan, Goldman Sachs’ board of directors and the World Economic Forum’s International Business Council, according to the biography on his corporate Web site.
    • Harold Snyder, director for Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, the largest drug company in Israel. His son, Jay T. Snyder, serves on the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, which oversees State Department activities, and served as a senior U.S. adviser to the United Nations, where he worked on international trade and poverty – $1 million – $5 million
    • No. 97 on the Forbes billionaire list, Ethiopian-Saudi business tycoon Sheikh Mohammed H. Al-Amoudi – $1 million – $5 million
    • Lukas Lundin, chairman of oil, gas and mining businesses including Tanganyika Oil Company Ltd., an international oil and gas exploration and production company with interests in Syria, and Vostok Nafta Investment Ltd., an investment company that focuses on Russia and other former Soviet republics – $1 million – $5 million
    • Issam Fares, a former deputy prime minister of Lebanon – $1 million – $5 million


    Top Israeli American Jewish donors include:

    • TV producer Haim Saban and his family foundation, who donated between $5 million and $10 million, splits his time between homes in Israel and California. “I’m a one-issue guy and my issue is Israel,” he told The New York Times in 2004.
    • Slim-Fast diet foods tycoon S. Daniel Abraham, a donor of between $1 million and $5 million, has been a board member of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which promotes Israel’s interests before the U.S. government.
    • The American Jewish Committee and the United Nations Foundation donated $100,000 to $250,000.

    All of the contributor information can be found here.

    Is there any wonder why Bill Clinton stonewalled the release of this list during Hillary’s run for the Presidency? Look at the conflicting/competing interests who all gave to Bubba’s library and causes.

    Now, with the Obama strategy of pushing Caroline Kennedy for Hillary’s New York Senate seat and thus freezing Hillary out of a return to the Senate and this disclosure Obama now assures NO PRIMARY CHALLENGE to him in four years. And, thus, wounds Hillary’s chances to run for the Presidency in 2016.

    Pretty smart strategy, eh?


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  • George W. Bush,  Iraq,  Iraq War,  Nouri al-Maliki

    Bush Shoe-Icide Attacker Muntadhar al-Zeidi Asks for Pardon From Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki

    Shoes and Bush

    Muntadhar al-Zeidi, the Iraqi journalist, who threw his shoes at President Bush has asked for a pardon from the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki.

    A spokesman for Iraq’s prime minister says the journalist who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush has asked for a pardon.

    Spokesman Yassin Majid says that in a letter sent Thursday to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki the journalist described his behavior as “an ugly act” and asked to be pardoned.

    Majid says that Muntadhar al-Zeidi in the letter recalls the kindness the prime minister once showed him during an interview in 2005 and asked for al-Maliki to show him kindness once again.

    Al-Zeidi, a correspondent for an Iraqi-owned television station based in Cairo, Egypt, could face two years imprisonment for insulting a foreign leader.

    What would a judge impose on a miscreant such as this here in America?

    Probably a fine, community service and probabtion. Plus, the villain would have to allocute in front of the court his remorse.

    Do it……

    But, NO PARDON.


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  • Paul Weyrich

    Paul Weyrich – R.I.P.

    paul weyrich

    Paul Weyrich

    Paul Weyrich, conservative leader has passed away.

    Paul M. Weyrich, 66, who helped found the Heritage Foundation and at one time was one of Washington’s most visible conservatives, died this morning. At his death, he was president and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation.

    Heritage announced this morning: “Paul M. Weyrich, chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation and first president of The Heritage Foundation, died this morning around 1 a.m. He was 66 years old. Weyrich was a good friend to many of us at Heritage, a true leader and a man of unbending principle. He won Heritage’s prestigious Clare Boothe Luce Award in 2005. Weyrich will be deeply missed. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, including son Steve, who currently works at Heritage.”

    From Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform:

    Ideas alone do not have consequences. Ideas, even — or especially — powerful ideas are like seeds. If they land in fertile soil and are cultivated they can grow. On rock or sand or ignored or tended by incompetents they die.

    The idea of individual liberty and a limited constitutional government has been around a long time. Liberty doesn’t need new ideas to advance, but institutions to give muscle and skeletal structure to a political movement for liberty. That is how Paul Weyrich changed the world for the better.

    Paul Weyrich created institutions and networks that incubated new and old powerful policies and strategies to advance liberty. The Heritage Foundation. ALEC. The Free Congress Foundation. The Kingston meeting. Many of the structures of the “religious right.” He understood that only freedom could successfully promote traditional values. He brought leaders of various freedom impulses together. Most of the successes of the Conservative movement since the 1970s flowed from structures, organizations, and coalitions he started, created or nurtured.

    May Paul rest in peace.

    Flap is a little sadder this morning…….


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  • Barack Obama,  Day By Day,  Rahm Emanuel,  Rod Blagojevich

    Day By Day by Chris Muir December 18, 2008 – No Sex, Some Lies and AudioTape

    Day By Day 121808

    Day By Day by Chris Muir

    Rahm Emanuel has been photographed along with David Axelrod at Barack Obama’s side as “The One” has announced his cabinet members this week – along with the cover-up mantra of not wanting to impede the Blagojevich investigation at the request of the United States Attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald. But, the effervescent and garrulous Emanuel who MAY become Obama’s Presidential Chief of Staff has been mute as to his involvement in the political scandal.

    Why?

    It is easy.

    The report is that Patrick Fitzgerald has Rahm on tape 21 times talking to Blagojevich or his staff about appointing Obama’s pick to the U.S. Senate. And, who has custody of the tapes?

    Nobody, except the United States Attorney – until Blagojevich is indicted.

    Rahm Emanuel is afraid that if he comments or tries to spin the flap that the tapes will prove inconsistencies and/or mistatements, rendering him “radioactive” and OUT THE DOOR. So, he remains quiet and Obama covers for him – at least until next week (December 22nd).

    Previous:

    The Day By Day Archive


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  • Del.icio.us Links

    links for 2008-12-18

    • Rick Warren, conservative author of “The Purpose Driven Life” book series and pastor at the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Cal., will deliver the invocation at Barack Obama’s inauguration next month. This is change?

      Warren, outspoken proponent of California’s Proposition 8, is James Dobson masquerading as a moderate. A writer for The Nation observed the following after a 2005 interview with Warren: “Lamenting the ‘tyranny of activist judges,’ who obstruct the will of the majority, he evinces no understanding of minority rights or the judiciary's role in enforcing them. Explaining his views about homosexuality and gay rights, he notes, ‘I don't think that homosexuality is the worst sin,’ and, ‘By the way, my wife and I had dinner at a gay couple's home two weeks ago. So I'm not [a] homophobic guy, okay?’

    • Barack Obama’s choice of a prominent evangelical minister to perform the invocation at his inauguration is a conciliatory gesture toward social conservatives who opposed him in November, but it is drawing fierce challenges from a gay rights movement that – in the wake of a gay marriage ban in California – is looking for a fight.
      ++++++
      Will gay leaders protest? Boycott Obama?
    • An attorney for Rod Blagojevich says the embattled Illinois governor will not appoint someone to replace Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate.

      Attorney Ed Genson says Senate leaders have already said they won't accept an appointment by Blagojevich, so there's no reason for the Democratic governor to select someone.

    • Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger answered a question today about whether he might support the majority-vote package being crafted by legislative Democrats today to balance the budget.

      Just don't look for an answer in his answer.

      "We'll look into that," Schwarzenegger said.

      Later, Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear added, "As the governor has said, we need a balanced proposal. That includes legitimate cuts, real revenues and economic stimulus, including public-private partnerships and design-build," referring to public contracting methods. "If their proposal does not include these element, tonight's vote will be nothing more than a drill."

    • To call the Democrats' latest tax package complex would be an understatement.

      California law requires a two-thirds vote to increase taxes — meaning Republican support is necessary. But Democrats are making an end-run around the GOP with this latest package, which the Legislature will vote on later today, in a number of ways.

    • Democratic state lawmakers today unveiled a new package of $18 billion in budget fixes that include more than $9 billion in new general fund revenue to be raised with a simple majority vote, avoiding the need for Republican support.
    • Democratic legislative leaders have cobbled together an $18 billion package of budget cuts and tax increases that they contend can be passed today by a simple-majority vote.

      The maneuver, if passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, could soften the impacts of the state's decision this morning to halt funds for thousand of public works projects statewide.

      The complicated new budget-cutting proposal comes after weeks of tense negotiations between Democrats and Republicans on bridging a projected $40 billion shortfall over 18 months.

      "We're committed to getting the job done with or without our Republican colleagues," Assembly Speaker Karen Bass said.

      Bass and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg plan to vote tonight on the proposal, crafted secretly behind the scenes and unveiled Wednesday.

    • Democratic legislative leaders are planning to use a series of complex legal maneuvers to raise Californians' gas, sales and income taxes over the objection of Republican lawmakers, who have been able to block such proposals in the past.

      Under the Democrats' plan, sales taxes would increase by three-fourths of a cent. Gas taxes would go up by 13.5 cents per gallon. And a surcharge of 2.5% would be added to income taxes.

    • In three brief orders, less than one page in length, and without explanation, the Illinois Supreme Court today rejected calls that it temporarily remove Gov. Rod Blagojevich from office.

      The court today turned down a request, filed last week by the state's attorney general. She urged the court to temporarily remove Blagojevich from the governor's office and put the lieutenant governor in charge.

      Attorney General Lisa Madigan acted under a section of the state constitution that gives Illinois Supreme Court the power to declare a governor unfit to serve. She urged the court to take the case and act quickly, "in light of these extraordinary and unprecedented circumstances."
      +++++++
      Fitz better indict Blago soon, if he can!

    • Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak is warning that if Iran acquires a nuclear weapon, it could try to attack the United States.

      Barak said the world should press Iran to stop it from building nuclear weapons.

      He spoke at a conference of the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University. He said, "If it built even a primitive nuclear weapon like the type that destroyed Hiroshima, Iran would not hesitate to load it on a ship, arm it with a detonator operated by GPS and sail it into a vital port on the east coast of North America."

      (tags: Iran Israel)
    • His name is Robert Cooley.

      Cooley was a criminal defense lawyer in Chicago in the late 1980's who became one of the most potent witnesses against Chicago corruption, testifying for federal prosecutors in cases that resulted in dozens of convictions.

      Cooley says that before Rod Blagojevich got into politics he was a bookmaker on the North Side who regularly paid the Chicago mob to operate.

    • The decision of Texas Republican Party chair Tina Benkiser and former Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell to formally ally in the race to become the next chairman of the Republican National Committee is, by rights, a minor affair, but it has to the potential to be the most important development yet.
      (tags: GOP)
    • The real story behind this story is not even about Pelosi and Rahm; it's about the battle for the hearts and minds of rank and file Democrats, who will face four-way cross-pressures from the White House, their constituents, the Republicans and their party leadership in Congress.

      Pelosi knows the power game.
      ++++++
      Not Pelosi for now.

    • The traditional media is USELESS, PATHETIC, and VENAL. I suggest that team Obama keep the satellite channel that it purchased during the General Election and offer its own programming. I would prefer government sponsored propaganda to the CORPORATE-funded DRIVEL that we are currently subjected to.
      +++++++++
      Talk about drivel……
    • A month from now, the nation will say farewell to its sports-obsessed president who doesn't like tough questions. And it will replace him with, well, another sports-obsessed president who doesn't like tough questions.
      ++++++
      The "in the tank" MSM is already starting to turn on Obama
      (tags: barack_obama)
    • Top Conservatives on Twitter have launched a new action project targeting the “three little piggies” — UAW President Ron Gettelfinger, GM CEO Rick Wagoner, and Chrysler CEO Robert Nardelli.
      (tags: bailout TCOT)
    • Last night, word was spreading among conservative bloggers that two Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee may be going wobbly on the review of attorney-general nominee Eric Holder at his confirmation hearing. Sens. George Voinovich and Dick Lugar conspicuously chose not to sign a letter to committee chairman Patrick Leahy declaring that Holder's record requires more time to review.
      +++++++
      After today's revelations about Eric Holder and Rod Blagojevich Flap thinks the GOP will hold up his nomination
    • Before Eric Holder was President-elect Barack Obama's choice to be attorney general, he was Gov. Blagojevich's pick to sort out a mess involving Illinois' long-dormant casino license.

      Blagojevich and Holder appeared together at a March 24, 2004, news conference to announce Holder's role as "special investigator to the Illinois Gaming Board" — a post that was to pay Holder and his Washington, D.C. law firm up to $300,000.
      +++++++
      This may put a stop to Holder's nomination. an organized crime link is not good for a US AG.

    • ABC News' Matthew Jaffe Reports from Chicago: Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich will likely hold a press conference toward the end of this week, ABC News has learned.

      The embattled governor, arrested last Tuesday, has yet to respond to charges that he tried to sell President-elect Barack Obama's former Senate seat.

    • Gov. Rod Blagojevich says the day "will soon be here" when he'll tell his side of the story to the people of Illinois.

      As he prepared to go for a jog this morning, an upbeat Blagojevich told reporters outside his home that he's "dying" to talk to Illinoisans. He says he could do so by the end of the day or "maybe no later" than Thursday.
      ++++++++
      When Blago starts to talk the Obama crowd will start to scatter.

    • How shocking, some folks are saying, that Caroline Kennedy might use her storied last name to land a Senate seat.

      I don't recall hearing a whole lot of carping when George Walker Bush, son of George Herbert Walker Bush, became an instantly plausible presidential candidate because his dad had served in the Oval Office.
      ++++++
      The Senate is becoming more like the House of Lords each month.