"An Ex-President, a Mining Deal and a Big Donor": Clintons in the NYT

UPDATED
A sign that the The Times are changing: front-page coverage of yet another Clinton donor scandal.

An Ex-President, a Mining Deal and a Big Donor: The article starts by describing how Bill went to Kazakhstan in 2005 with Canadian mining financier Frank Giustra, undercut American foreign policy, and presto! two days later Giustra's company signed preliminary agreements giving it the right to buy into three uranium projects controlled by Kazakhstan's state-owned uranium agency, Kazatomprom.

Isn't that something.

Here's how Bill got his cut on the deal, and a big cut it is:

Just months after the Kazakh pact was finalized, Mr. Clinton's charitable foundation received its own windfall: a $31.3 million donation from Mr. Giustra that had remained a secret until he acknowledged it last month. The gift, combined with Mr. Giustra's more recent and public pledge to give the William J. Clinton Foundation an additional $100 million, secured Mr. Giustra a place in Mr. Clinton's inner circle, an exclusive club of wealthy entrepreneurs in which friendship with the former president has its privileges.

Who says money can't buy you [the Clinton's] love?

And the love continues to grow as Bill places himself as intermediary for other big deals that involve nuclear technology,

That same month, Mr. Dzhakishev, the Kazatomprom chief, said he traveled to Chappaqua, N.Y., to meet with Mr. Clinton at his home. Mr. Dzhakishev said Mr. Giustra arranged the three-hour meeting. Mr. Dzhakishev said he wanted to discuss Kazakhstan's intention - not publicly known at the time - to buy a 10 percent stake in Westinghouse, a United States supplier of nuclear technology.

At the same time as Bill was facilitating deals to provide nuclear technology to a Muslim country which has about one-fifth of the world’s uranium reserves, Hillary was signing letters to the State Department sounding "alarm bells" about Kazakhstan.

Bill must have unplugged the alarm clock, but his spokesman says that Bill finds no contradiction between his actions and Hillary's statement. Anyone who's been watching how the Clintons do things knows there is no contradiction because that's how the Clintons operate.

What I find interesting about this report is not that the third-term-co-President-to-be is deeply involved, since the Clintons have a really long record of such dealings from way back in the days when all it too was a $100,000 windfall in commodities trading, but that the NYT is giving it front-page coverage.

Maria also sent this Archived Profile: Frank Giustra, who continues to lend Bill Giustra's Giustra's MD-87 jet, complete with leather furniture and a stateroom, at least until Bill can get back into Air Force 1.

UPDATE
Across the big puddle, Clinton aide caught up in funding scandal:

The complaint against Morgan has been made by James Davenport, a former employee of Morgan Allen Moore, who claims Morgan breached the APPC code of conduct – specifically a clause governing the separation of private and consultancy activities - while working on the Hain campaign. Members of the APPC management committee first met on January 28 to consider the complaint. A spokesman told The First Post that, as a result, they have asked Davenport to provide more information and substantiate his allegations. The committee will meet on Monday, February 4 to reconsider the complaint.

Then there's The Company You Keep (and Sometimes Discard), including Hillary’s Anti-Union, Slumlord Pals going back to 1999.



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Hillary's campaigning Bill

Having watched Hillary's impersonation of Mrs. Claus-playing-with-your-tax-dollars-because-she-knows-what's-good-for-you-and-you-don't, I'm glad Erick improved on it:
Hillary's Crap Ad Made Better

The implication is that the only thing standing between you and Hillary’s trinkets is a president who doesn’t want you to have 'em.

Well, at least Bill wasn't watching over her shoulder handing her the cards.

Having gotten away - among other things - with Whitewater and that $100,000 commodities training windfall, Hillary of course thinks it's OK to charge your Christmas gifts on your credit card. After eight years of living in the White House, she's ready for a second spin. She wants to be in charge. She's entitled. God knows she's paid her dues.

She wants us to believe that being the pilot's wife qualifies you to fly the 747 she has presidential experience.

Well, maybe that's not the best phrase. Lots of Bill's women have presidential experience and they're not running for POTUS. Not yet, at least.

Bill, on the other hand, is ready for the White House, too. And he's sucking the air off every campaign stop:

He ended up drawing more attention to himself than the candidate -- which is in keeping with his formal campaign speeches. On the stump, he draws big crowds and comes off as charming, eloquent and persuasive. But reporters who have tallied his words say that he talks more about himself than about his wife -- at a ratio of about 9 to 1.

Ed Morrissey remembers lyrics from The Sound of Music in his post, A Flibbertigibbet, A Will O' The Wisp, A Clown, as Bill consistently remains focused on Bill:

We're about to get the 2-for-1 argument that we heard in 1992, but now the Clintons may disagree on who the one is.

The Anchoress believes that Bill doesn't want Hillary to win. I'm not so sure. The way I see it, once Hillary's in office and her Senate seat vacated, Eliot Spitzer can name Bill, and Bill can look forward to being the next Ted Kennedy, safely ensconced in the halls of power (with all those perks) for the rest of his mortal life since there are no term limits. Bill might mind being "NY's junior senator", but if there's one person who can hog the public light even more than Chuck "Where's my camera?" Schumer, that's Bill.

Nobody's going to upstage Bill. Nobody can.

And that's the problem:

Since the Constitution provides for one president, not two, could he find a way to live in a White House that wasn't all about him?

It's always going to be about him. It always has been.

The question is, does Hillary realize that?

UPDATE
Irish Spy looks at the possibility.



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Darth goes to Buckingham Palace, and other news

Kudos to the music director:
King Abdullah Visits Buckingham Palace; Greeted by Darth Vader Theme
To make it even better, Stephen King was on the talk show:

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Via Larwyn, Al Qaeda takeover of the Taliban
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I made a brief appearance in Ed Morrissey's podcast, Heading Right to opine on Hispanic voters and drivers' licenses for illegal aliens.

As regular readers of this blog know, I have long believed that there is no such a thing as "a Hispanic vote".

Ed is a most gracious host and the best podcaster around.
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I haven't been following the attorney general nominee Michael B. Mukasey hearings, but one thing is clear:
Why would anyone put themselves through such a stressful nomination process?

Sister Toldjah has been following the story and notices Feinstein & Schumer's change. More from Belgravia Dispatch.
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The Anchoress asks, Clinton & Bush both thrown a Curveball on Iraq?

As we already know, The Anchoress is brilliant
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Via The Manolo, The Thoughtful Dresser notices that

fashion is full of fat men (sorry Alber, I really love you in every other way) giving normal-sized women an inferiority complex.

Jill Kerr Conway, in her excellent memoir The Road From Coorain, also made that point.

Yet another reason to wear what is well made and looks good on you, not what some dude wants you to wear.
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166,000 New Jobs Created Last Month, Double Expectations
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Special thanks to Doug Ross for his recommendation. Please vote for his blog, and while you're at it, for mine, too; and don't forget Laurie Kendrick in the funniest blog category.




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No One Left To Lie To?

Ed asks, Did Clinton lie about targeting Bin Laden?, to which I say, the question should be, "when hasn't Clinton lied about anything?"

Indeed, Clinton never gave the CIA an assassination order on bin Laden. Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball have the whole story. Don Surber points out,

Michael Isikoff, the reporter who broke the Monica Lewinsky story only to have his editors at Newsweek spike the story, has caught Bill Clinton in another lie: He never authorized the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Perhaps it all depends on what the definition of "kill" is.

As AJ Strata rather inelegantly but accurately puts it,

So while he was being serviced by an intern in the Oval Office he [Clinton] let Bin Laden run free to finish his work on 9-11. The ultimate screwing of the American people - and he did not even offer us a drink.

WILLisms: Bill Clinton: Still The Lyingest Liar That Ever Lied.

Every time Bill shakes a finger, he lies:

A Jacksonian last year itemized the wake-up calls that Clinton ignored during his tenure.

If that's not enough to convince you of Clintons' (both of them, since they're running for a second round) perverse disregard for facts, I invite you to read Christopher Hitchens's book, No One Left To Lie To: The Values of the Worst Family. It'll shed some more light on the true character of the co-presidents.

Then there's Hillary's Peter Paul lawsuit (via Jeremayakovka, who's also remembering an anniversary of sorts).

But back to Bin Laden: The fact remains that Clinton didn't do squat because they didn't see Bin Laden as important as keeping his ass from being removed from office. And that's the truth.

Update, Friday 24 August:
Larwyn:

"The LEFT MUST LIE. Those bright enough to use the IDEOLOGY as an easy way to POWER HAVE TO BE AWARE OF THEIR LIES. The next level, knows that their are many lies but it really is FOR THE GREATER GOOD. The rest just believe what they have been taught and what is spun for them daily by the LSM. So nothing shocking about the new leaks proving how CLINTONS HAVE LIED."

Al-Qaeda in the Caribbean, Sandy Berger, and today's items

Via PJM, Al-Qaeda's Inroads into the Caribbean

The Jammat al-Muslimeen (Muslim Group) is Trinidad and Tobago’s most notorious Muslim organization. Although Trinidad’s ethnically and religiously diverse population, split roughly between descendants of African slaves and indentured servants from India and a sizable “mixed” community, includes Sunni and Shi’a Muslim immigrants from South Asia and the Middle East, the Jammat is known almost exclusively as a Black Sunni Muslim organization comprised mainly of Afro-Trinidadian converts to Islam. The group is led by Imam Yasin Abu Bakr, a former police officer who was born Lenox Philip. The Jammat is best known for its violent 1990 attempt to overthrow the Trinidadian government over grievances related to land ownership, social and economic inequality, and government corruption [5].
...
The Waajihatul Islaamiyyah (Islamic Front), headed by Omar Abdullah, himself a Black Muslim convert, has also been identified as a potential threat by U.S. intelligence and Trinidadian authorities. Like the Jammat al-Muslimeen, the Wajithatul Islamiyyah is comprised mostly of Afro-Trinidadian converts to Islam. Local sources allege that Abdullah harbors extremist leanings. The Waajihatul has been accused of publishing material expressing support for al-Qaeda, but Trinidadian authorities have not provided conclusive evidence of any direct links with the group. He is often outspoken in his criticism of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and the Trinidadian government’s policy towards Muslims. Trinidadian authorities also tie Abdullah to local crime and other illicit dealings [9].

The Jamaat al-Murabiteen (Almoravids, after the African Muslim dynasty that ruled Morocco and Spain in the 11th and 12th Century) and the related Jammat al-Islami al-Karibi (Caribbean Islamic Group) are associated with one time Jamaat al-Muslimeen chief of security Maulana Hasan Anyabwile, formerly Beville Marshall. He split with Abu Bakr in 2001 over what Trinidadian sources allege was a personal rift with the group’s leader. Anyabwile hosted a radio show where he was known to criticize Trinidadian Hindus, Indian Muslims, and his former Jamaat al-Muslimeen associates for their purported failure in improving the lot of Muslims in Trinidad and Tobago. Local sources also allege that he is an extremist [10].

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Via Mike, Sandy Berger and the Clinton Cover-Up - Why It Matters

Berger had access to Archives documents that could be critical to understanding what information the Clinton Administration had, what options it considered, and what decisions it took on these sensitive subjects. In addition to primary documents, Berger had access to copies, and the only plausible reason for taking five copies of a single memo is that some had original notes on them from key officials, maybe from Berger or President Clinton.

For Berger to risk jail and disgrace, to then give up the right to practice his profession merely in order to avoid having to answer questions, he must be hiding something important. And if it is that important to him, it is also important to us.

The most likely explanation is that the material Berger destroyed points to a terrible mistake by Berger himself, by President Clinton, or by both. In dealing with al-Qaeda, did they overlook a critical piece of information or miss a chance to stop 9/11? Did the Administration's failure to take a more aggressive posture encourage al-Qaeda's later attacks?

When Fox News' Chris Wallace raised the possibility that Clinton's Administration might have done something more to prevent 9/11, Bill Clinton went into an inexplicable rage on national television. Wallace touched a nerve. So did the DC Bar.

Knowing what information Berger destroyed also might alter views of the current Bush Administration. Was the early support from both Bill and Hillary Clinton for going to war against Saddam based on something we don't know yet that was available to insiders in the Clinton Administration? Was it something that could come back to haunt Hillary and ruin her chances of winning Bill's third term?

--------------------------------------------------Via Maria, Senators Rebuke Joe Wilson Claims

The committee found that internal intelligence community notes of meetings in which Valerie Plame participated "did not mark her name with a (C) as would be required to indicate that her association with the CIA was classified," as both Plame and her husband have said. These aren't the only instances where Wilson's account did not square with the facts, the senators found.

Wilson has said in his book and in numerous public appearances that reports he reviewed from the U.S. ambassador to Niger, Barbro Owens-Kirkpatrick, "indicated that there was nothing to the Niger-Iraq uranium story . . . This too is untrue," the committee found. On the contrary, Owens-Kirkpatrick wrote a cable to the State Department which said that the initial CIA reporting of a Niger-Iraq uranium deal "provides sufficient details to warrant another hard look at Niger's uranium sales."

Although Nigerien officials insisted in meetings with the Americans that no uranium would be sold to rogue nations, "we should not dismiss out of hand the possibility that some scheme could be, or has been, underway to supply Iraq with yellowcake from here," she wrote.

Perhaps the most damning conclusion of the Senate report has been known for nearly three years, but has remained classified until now. In the initial July 2004 report, the Senate committee reported that the intelligence community "used or cleared the Niger-Iraq uranium intelligence fifteen times before the President's State of the Union address and four times after, saying in several papers that Iraq was ‘vigorously pursuing uranium from Africa.'"

Despite that finding, Democrats led by Michigan Sen. Carl Levin blasted President Bush for the "16 words" in the January 2003 speech that described Iraq's efforts to acquire uranium from Africa, calling them an effort to "cherry-pick" intelligence and to "mislead" the country and the world in a "rush to war."

In fact, the U.S. intelligence community continued to believe in the veracity of the Niger uranium story for many months after the speech, and didn't call back its original reporting until June 2003 — well after the liberation of Iraq.

Meanwhile, via Larwyn, Plame To Sue CIA - The Irony And The (Near) Ectasy--------------------------------------------------
Please listen to my podcast with Neo-Neocon, and tell your friends.

The French, global warming, and today's items

Nidra Poller continues to explain the French elections: Francois Bayrou, French Insiders' Outsider. It's more of the same-old, same-old:

Bayrou's socialeconomic program, in which every economic measure is linked to a corresponding "social" or welfare measure, is based on the assumption that an unfettered, flourishing economy does not automatically favor the general welfare. Bayrou's recipe for stimulating the sluggish French economy is a plodding reform package involving a balanced budget and small increment improvements - a 5% yearly increase in the research budget over a ten-year period, a referendum to reform the pension system, improved synergy between academic and professional spheres, slight advantages to employees willing to work 39 instead of 35 hours. He would make deficit spending unconstitutional, tax fossil fuel to encourage alternate energy sources, and somehow prod banks to invest in business.

Bayrou proposes a Small Business Act similar to the one established in the U.S. in the Fifties. This would favor small business in bidding for modest government contracts, and reduce the employer’s contribution to the employee's social protection package; a contribution that doubles the real cost of French salaries.

In the interim, Bayrou would institute a quick fix for job creation: every company would be allowed an exoneration of the employer's social security contribution for two newly hired employees. Similar selective exonerations have been applied in the past without ever demonstrating their effectiveness. Bayrou believes that the only thing missing is the spark! Something that would awaken and liberate energies, create a momentum, run on its own steam. But that wouldn't be socialeconomy! It would be crude, crass American money-worshiping capitalism.

It hasn't worked yet, but they dream on...

Update Helen asks, Is this the third man?
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Global Warming: Fact, Fiction and Political Endgame

Inconvenient Truth: Bush greener than Gore

So, while you hear nothing at all about President Bush successfully gaining international co-operation for a green initiative that does not destroy economies like the Kyoto treaty, and you read nothing about how the president is committed to helping the restoration of ancient Iraqi Marshlands, you hear rather too much about all the preening and moralizing going on by Green Al Gore…except when he cancels interviews that might make him address…inconvenient dissent.

Martin Luther protested against the selling of indulgences and got excommunicated. Nowadays you protest against the purchasing of carbon offsets and you get excommunicated, too.
Some things never change.

Update I {heart} Gerard
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"The big lie is that all religions are basically alike"

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Click on the image to read the story:

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In a lighter mode, Maria's addicted to watching the San Diego Zoo pandas.

Asteroids and today's other items

Via Jeremayakovka and Maria, if anyone's expecting the UN to solve this problem, I better spend my Roth IRA right now - I won't be reaching advanced old age: U.N. urged to take action on asteroid threat

An asteroid may come uncomfortably close to Earth in 2036 and the United Nations should assume responsibility for a space mission to deflect it, a group of astronauts, engineers and scientists said on Saturday.

-----------------------------Dinocrat writes about economics and global warming

Our question today is this: is there an survival purpose to the religious madness that grips the most fervent Global Warming adherents, turning them into harpies and hysterics? We think the answer is probably yes. The ancient story of Pharaoh’s dream tells us that the affluent and powerful have always had a little internal alarm bell warning them about the saven years of lean following the seven years of fat. Preparing for the lean times, and, as importantly, trying to ward them off, has been important for human survival — then and now.

Most people in America today have absolutely no idea how we became so rich over the last 130 years. They have no idea about the nexus of laws, an enterprising spirit of the people, available capital, good accounting, an expanding market, low cost resources, technology and engineering, and an adequate monetary policy that created the relative paradise that is capitalist America — a point we have made over and over again.

(h/t Larwyn)-----------------------------
SoCal Pundit discusses 24 in Attack of the Show.
24 is on tonight. You know what I'll be doing.
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You (Haven't) Come A Long Way Baby
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What will provide me more blogging material than Hillary as POTUS? Hillary as POTUS with Bill as Senator-for-life. (h/t Linda and four other friends)

"Why not?" Begala added. "He excelled as attorney general and governor of Arkansas, he excelled as president and he’s been a model of the modern Senate spouse."

He'd fit right in. (h/t Larwyn)
Linda has the scoop on Nancy the riveter.
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In a lighter mode, Neo-neocon posts on playing the cello.