"Four years into the Iraq war, Americans are still living with the consequences of this White House's efforts to quell dissent. This commutation sends the clear signal that in this Administration, cronyism and ideology trump competence and justice."

New Square (Hebrew: שיכון סקווירא) is an all-Hasidic village in the Town of Ramapo in Rockland County, New York. Its inhabitants are predominantly members of the Skverer Hasidic movement who seek to maintain a lifestyle based on Hasidic teachings.

The village is administered by a Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and a Board of Trustees. Although elections take place, the officials generally run unopposed and actual voting is minimal. It is generally understood that officials running for office, are endorsed by Rabbi Twersky, the village's spiritual leader.

The first took place in the Rockland County village of New Square last August, while she was running for the Senate. State party operatives thought the tiny community--which had often voted in a bloc in the past--was a promising one for Hillary in her race against Republican Rick Lazio. Following Hasidic custom, Hillary covered her head and chatted about the village's health-care services from across a coffee table, on which a tall bouquet of flowers served as the traditional screen that Hasidim require between the sexes. As far as anyone knows, that was a campaign event only; no pardons were mentioned.

The next session came four months later, after the sect had delivered nearly 1,400 votes for Hillary and only 12 for Lazio. On the morning of Dec. 22, Grand Rabbi David Twersky and an associate went to the White House and tearfully appealed to the President to pardon Benjamin Berger, David Goldstein, Jacob Elbaum and Kalman Stern. Hillary attended the meeting in the White House Map Room but insists she did not participate in the conversation. "I did not play any role whatsoever," she told the Associated Press. "I had no opinion about it."

Marc Rich (born Marc David Reich on December 18, 1934) is an international commodities trader. He fled the United States in 1983 to live in Switzerland while being prosecuted on charges of tax evasion and illegally making oil deals with Iran during the hostage crisis.

How long does the average post like that take you? I realize it's mostly copy and paste, but the formatting has to take some time, right? I've always wondered that.

LOL indeed. You dems ain't the most loyal bunch, that's for sure.

Remember when the Democrats circled the wagons? Seems like yesterday...ah memories...

It would have come out eventually from the GOP, right?

Come out?
It came out in 2001...Congressional hearings...the whole nine yards.

If Wesley Snipes gets a slap on the hand why should Marc Rich be on the FBI's most wanted list?

Factually, Scooter Libby was a "distinguished Repbulican attorney" at the time, and it was Bill who wrote that, not Hillary. Of course the article purposely conflates the two.

If anyone wants to recall, the initial reason for the Marc Rich controversy was the fact that Jack Quinn, Bill's former counsel, was representing Rich. The implication was that the pardon was a favor to Quinn. Mr. Quinn testified before congress, did a respectable job in defending himself, the issue was basically put to rest, Democrats like punkdavid paraded out long lists of pardons by former presidents and claimed the incident was much ado about nothing.

Fast forward to '08; there's quite a few left wing blogs that are starting to read like worldnetdaily.

Funny how, up until the election, whenever something about Bill Clinton was brought up by Republicans it was swiftly dismissed as the usual right-wing nonsense/conspiracy.

clinton was pretty slimey overall. theres lots to bring up on the economics/foreign policy front that has been ignored by alot of people.

It would have come out eventually from the GOP, right?

Don't we have polls that demonstrate that the American people hate everything that comes out of Washington. All three branchs poll for shit on job performance.

How is experience within that system worth a damn? I'd hire no experience over experience at sucking 99 times out of 100.

So You Wanna Fight Dirty?
By Mark Q. Sawyer | TheRoot.com
If Obama won't hit back, I will. Why aren't we talking about impeachment, Whitewater and Osama? The Republicans will.


March 5, 2008 -- This is a dirty campaign and since Senator Barack Obama won't say it, I will. The media has not been unfair to Senator Clinton, they have been extremely soft. There are elephants in the room that need to be addressed. Can anyone say Whitewater? How about impeachment? Let's not forget Osama bin Laden. You can bet Republicans will be talking about these issues. So why aren't Democrats? Clinton's central arguments in the campaign are basically a mirage, and they are dangerous ones both for the party and the country.

Clinton's line is that she is "experienced and ready on Day One" and that she is best poised to fight the Republican attack machine.

Sure, the Clintons have faced the Republican attack machine, and they did such a good job that it resulted in a Constitutional crisis. The scorched earth battle between the Clintons and the GOP over the Clinton's lies about sex, dubious financing and other misdeeds nearly brought down the government and terribly damaged the Democratic Party. Were the Republicans nasty, dirty and all manner of evil? Sure. But it took the Clinton spin and lie machine to spiral the country, the party and the presidency downward into impeachment.

Now the Clinton campaign shouts about "Nafta-Gate," pointing to a supposed conversation between a chief Obama economic advisor and Canadian officials, to assure the Canadians that Obama's opposition to NAFTA was political posturing. The media made a big deal about it. But it was Bill Clinton actually passed the legislation at stake (along with the disaster we know as welfare reform, and deregulation of banking that contributed to the current mortgage meltdown). The Obama campaign should reveal what happened with the Canadians. But it will likely pale in comparison to Clintonian back-room escapades during their tenure.

Senator Clinton has also raised the Rezko land deal. At worst it looks as if Obama bought a portion of a vacant lot next door to his home from a dubious character, so he could have a bigger backyard for his kids. Does it really compare with the Whitewater scandal? The phony "Nafta-Gate" and "Rezko-Gate" don't come anywhere close to Monica Gate, Trooper Gate, Whitewater and the persistent trail of sleaze that follows the Clintons.

Senator Clinton knows how to come at the Republican attack machine, but she's also the one who gives it all the fuel it needs to rev up.


As for experience and being poised to fight for Americans, well Hillary Clinton was given one major policy task as first lady, health care reform. She was so effective at "fighting" for it that it went down in defeat and the Democrats lost the Congress as a result.

Legislation is not passed by fighting. Health Care reform will only be achieved through bringing Democrats, and some Republicans, together.

Clinton's claim of experience and readiness is a mirage. Senator Clinton has no true national security experience. Her vote on the Iraq war was cynical, at best. Embattled during the impeachment scandal, the Clinton administration failed to respond decisively to the threat posed by Osama Bin Laden. Bill Clinton's unwillingness to take out bin Laden, fearing it would create a "wag the dog" scenario in the midst of impeachment, showed a disastrous lack of judgment. McCain will hammer home these weaknesses at every opportunity. And the fight will be messy.

So since Senator Barack Obama won't say it, I will: The Clintons are reckless, back-alley fighters who are willing to destroy the Democratic Party, the country and the institution of the presidency if it will benefit them. Yes, they are "fighters," but not for you or me. They fight hardest and dirtiest on behalf of themselves, and this campaign has proved it. Over the past week Senator Clinton has reminded us how dirty she can play to stay alive. But is that ultimately good for the Democratic Party? Democrats need to exorcise their Clinton demons and do it fast for the sake of the party and the country. Superdelegates and especially Al Gore, can you hear me?

Mark Sawyer is an associate professor of political science and African American studies at UCLA and director of the UCLA Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity and Politics.

Riiiiight...and how many times have I heard my Democrat friends pine for the good ol' Clinton days the last 7 years?
Like I said, they're not the most loyal bunch.

Since the name of Chicago defendant Antoin ‘Tony’ Rezko has come up in national debate, it seems fair to look at donations from other defendants in Chicago’s "Operation Board Games."

Of the other five defendants, three have donated to the Clintons or to Clinton supporters, three have donated mostly to Republicans, and at least two have donated to Obama’s political opponents. None have donated to Obama.

Rezko’s trial is scheduled to begin March 3. The legal cases comprise several indictments of Chicago political and business figures on multiple counts of fraud, extortion and kickbacks. Rezko’s co-defendants include Chicago businessman Stuart Levine; construction executive and Chicago Medical School trustee Jacob Kiferbaum, who is cooperating with the investigation, and Bear Stearns executive P. Nicholas Hurtgen; and attorneys Joseph Cari and Steven Loren, doing business for the Teachers’ Retirement System. Mr. Loren has not been a significant donor.

Meanwhile—

That Rezko donated over the years like a political junkie, and may have been one, has already been written about by Buzzflash. Rezko himself gave mostly to Dems, with the largest amts going to central committees, other donations to national figures incl GWBush ($4000), and frequent contributions over the years to IL politicians incl Rod Blagojevich, Luis Gutierrez, and former senators Carol Moseley-Braun and Peter Fitzgerald as well as the donations to Barack Obama that Hillary Clinton pointed out.

Predictably, the Chicago Sun-Times reports that the national co-chair of Mrs. Clinton’s presidential campaign, Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigo, also got Rezko donations.

Here is the rundown on his fellow defendants, from FEC data via http://www.opensecrets.org, in descending order by amounts donated:

* Stuart Levine: 210 donations for federal candidates, totaling $255,350, mostly to Republicans. Biggest contributions to Illinois Republican Party and to National PAC. One $5000 donation to the Illinois Democratic Party. Most individual donations to GOP candidates from GWBush on down, except for a few $2000 donations to Joe Lieberman, Mark Green of NY, who now appears frequently on MSNBC as a Clinton supporter, and Illinois State Comptroller Daniel W. Hynes, whose father, Thomas C. Hynes, was formerly a Cook County Assessor. Dan Hynes was among Barack Obama’s primary opponents in the Illinois U.S. Senate race in 2003. Levine donated $1000 to Bill Clinton in 1995. Levine has not donated to Obama.

* Joseph Cari, Jr: pulled out his checkbook 137 times from 1993 on, giving $193,836 under Joseph and $8958 under Joe to candidates for federal office, mostly to Dems. Further donations from family members incl $1000 to Bill Clinton in 1995. Biggest Cari donations went to the DNC and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Individual donations, usually $1000 apiece, to Dem candidates across the country incl the natl figures—Gore, Kerry, Kennedys—and others incl Robert Torricelli in NJ, Chuck Robb in VA, and even the late Paul Wellstone in MN ($250). Cari donated $2000 to Bill Clinton in 1995, another $1000 to Clinton campaign manager David Wilhelm, $500 and $1000 to Hillary Clinton in 2000 and 2003, and donated twice to HILLPAC in 2002. The Hillary Clinton campaign has apparently returned the $1000 but not the other donations. Cari also donated several times to Southern Wine & Spirits, a PAC donating to both major parties which has also donated to both Clintons. Cari has also donated to several Illinois Democratic candidates including Gov. Blagojevich and former Congressman Dan Rostenkowski. No contribution to Obama individually is listed, but the Obama campaign has returned $1439 from apportioned committee contributions.

* P. Nicholas Hurtgen, former Bear Stearns manager in Chicago: 48 federal contributions from Hurtgen and his wife in recent years, totaling $47,787, almost entirely to GOP candidates--$5000+ to the Republican National Committee, $4000 to GWBush, most of the rest to other Republicans. However, the Hurtgens have also donated $2000 to Rahm Emanuel and $7000 to Mark Green of NY, a Clinton supporter.

Hold the Crumpets

By Peter Baker
DUBUQUE, Iowa -- It ain't no tea party being first lady. At least that's what Hillary Rodham Clinton's telling audiences.

A day after Sen. Barack Obama dismissed her foreign policy experience as little more than sipping tea with potentates, Clinton fired back by portraying herself as a virtual secretary of state during her husband's administration.

To listen to her tell it, she brought peace to Northern Ireland ("I went to Northern Ireland more than my husband did"), parachuted into the hottest of the world's hotspots ("If it's too dangerous, too small and too poor, send the first lady") and improved U.S. ties with the other countries ("I was part of the diplomatic team that conveyed America's values across the world").

She said she saved Kosovar refugees by persuading Macedonia to reopen its border. And in a direct jab back at Obama, she recalled visiting Bosnia on a plane that made a tight corkscrew landing to avoid potential attacks. "Somebody said there might be sniper fire," she said, adding tartly, "I don't remember anyone offering me tea on the tarmac."

Her remarks responded to Obama's comment Friday that his experience overseas was more relevant than hers. "It's that experience, that understanding, not just of what world leaders I went and talked to in the ambassador's house, who I had tea with, but understanding the lives of people like my grandmother, who lives in a tiny village in Africa," he said.

Speaking of sniper fire.

Posted at 10:23 PM ET on Dec 29, 2007

Sinbad Unloads on Hillary Clinton

Finally, the Barack Obama campaign has found a big gun to help shoot down Hillary Rodham Clinton's self-proclaimed foreign policy experience. And he may be the wackiest gun of all: Sinbad, the actor, who has come out from under a rock to defend Obama in the war over foreign policy credentials.

Sinbad, along with singer Sheryl Crow, was on that 1996 trip to Bosnia that Clinton has described as a harrowing international experience that makes her tested and ready to answer a 3 a.m. phone call at the White House on day one, a claim for which she's taking much grief on the campaign trail.

Harrowing? Not that Sinbad recalls. He just remembers it being a USO tour to buck up the troops amid a much worse situation than he had imagined between the Bosnians and Serbs.

In an interview with the Sleuth Monday, he said the "scariest" part of the trip was wondering where he'd eat next. "I think the only 'red-phone' moment was: 'Do we eat here or at the next place.'"

Clinton, during a late December campaign appearance in Iowa, described a hair-raising corkscrew landing in war-torn Bosnia, a trip she took with her then-teenage daughter, Chelsea. "They said there might be sniper fire," Clinton said.

Threat of bullets? Sinbad doesn't remember that, either.

"I never felt that I was in a dangerous position. I never felt being in a sense of peril, or 'Oh, God, I hope I'm going to be OK when I get out of this helicopter or when I get out of his tank.'"

In her Iowa stump speech, Clinton also said, "We used to say in the White House that if a place is too dangerous, too small or too poor, send the First Lady."

Say what? As Sinbad put it: "What kind of president would say, 'Hey, man, I can't go 'cause I might get shot so I'm going to send my wife...oh, and take a guitar player and a comedian with you.'"

As you may have guessed by now, Sinbad isn't supporting Clinton for president. He's an Obama guy. All because of Clinton.

"What got me about Hillary was her attitude of entitlement, like he messed up her plan, like he had no reason to be there," Sinbad said. "I got angry. I actually got angry! I said, 'I will be for Obama like never before.'"


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