All the Clintons’ Money

The Clinton’s income, from the Drudge Report:

World Exclusive: 4/4/08 15:43:06 ET
2000-2007 Returns
Feds Taxes Paid: $33.7 million
Charity: $10.2 million
Her Senate Salary: $1,051,606
His Presidential Pension: $1,217,250
Her Book Income: $10,457,083
His Book Income: $29,580,525
His Speech Income: $51,855,599

Story:

WASHINGTON (AP) – Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former President Clinton report nearly $109.2 million in income for seven years in newly released tax data. The Democratic presidential candidate and her husband paid $33.8 million in taxes from 2000 through 2007. They listed $10.25 million in charitable contributions during that period.

Mrs. Clinton is not the second coming of Charles Dickens, or even George Sands.   So why is an author, who has to get her books ghost written, been paid nearly thirty million dollars?

 B.J. is not a compelling speaker, intellect or even a wit.   So if B.J. is not being paid for his rather mundane speaking skills, so for what reason was B..J. paid some fifty million dollar?

With the Clintons there is always a quid pro quo.  Just ask Bill Richardson.  The Clintons’ patrons were not buying books or speechs.  They were buying influence.  What promises did the Clntons make in exchange for the money.  Given that both Clintons are habitual liars, their word, such as it is, will not suffice for an answer.

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• I tend to agree, Billy, (In fact I think you’re getting soft in your dotage) but the sad truth is that in that cesspool, he’ll likely find a band of supporters. Not only is he dumping n the military, but there’s an even smaller number… say around 10% who will support him no matter what he does. We’ve had this conversation before. Oh, by the way, as to your crack about the ‘burbs… Well, I’ve always figured anything south of about Nedrow to be the Burbs…(Chuckle)
• 40 degrees and rain. Yecch. I’m now officially tired of freezing my @$$ off.
• Did you notice that I Tunes is now the biggest music retailer on the planet?I don’t like I-tunes myself, for different reasos than the RIAA, but I do consider this vindication for anyone who considers the RIAA to be complete greedy fools, who are singularly responsible for making the transition to digital music much harder than it needed to be.
• A look at the mess in Texas over the Democrat primary will make anyone wonder if we really want these same Democrat idiots in charge of anything at all, much less our health care.
• On the radio just now, so no link; Supposedly, eight in ten people think the country is moving in the wrong direction. I hasten to point out that number wasn’t nearly as high, until such time as the Democrats moved into leadership positions in the Congress. Change, perhaps, but consisting of what, America?
• I see Boortz commenting on Ted Turner, and suggesting that Turner has ‘lost it’. First of all, Neal, what the hell is in the water in Atlanta, anymore? That part of the country does seem to be coming up with ore than it’s share of fruitflies of late.  Be that as it may, I will state flatly, that Turner never HAD ‘it’.
• Did you notice the article in Useless Toady? I mean the one about how campaign advisors to both Democrat candidates, have ties to the Subprime loan mess? Aside, of course from the concept that the Dmeocrats were the ones treatening banks of government action if they didn’t make more subprime loans…
• Finally, what would you do with $136 million? Personally, once I got the family’s needs taken care of, I’d get the RV i’ve always wanted, and do the whole country. And, yeah, I’d quit the job… you betcha. Might buy myself a radio station.

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Preface,  I neither deify nor demonize Martin Luther King, Jr.    King was certainly a very important figure in our nation’s history, but no where near important as liberal myth demands    King was not the single most important person in our history as suggested by being the only person to have a national holiday solely in his honor.   Nor is King the most important black figure in our history.   King’s contributions are paled by those of Fredrick Douglas.   

It is beyond my scope, and ability, to articulte a nuanced and balanced picture of King.

Today, marks the fortieth anniversary of King’s murder at the hand of James Earl Ray.   In response the media publishes scores of postumous puff pieces.

What King did do, better than any other American  back, was to articulate a vision, U.S Constituion Online.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

White America bought into King’s vision circa 1963, and conservatives still do.   The problem is that blacks and liberals have long since repudiated King’s vision.   The vision of a color blind nation, has now been replaced by militant and angry demand for a conscious one as hawked by merchants of hate like Jesse Jackson, Al Shapton, Jerimiah Weight and Barack Obama.   Yet we are somehow expected to diefy King while shunning his dream.   Any wonder why we not going to have a national discussion of race?

Hat tip photo:  Wikipedia.

Addendum: (Bit) We agree, here. I offer something I wrote to this effect a few years ago.

James Joyner:
 

The bitterness of the Democratic presidential race kicked up another notch yesterday, with the discovery that popular Air America radio host Randi Rhodes recently performed a profanity-laced standup routine in which both Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton were repeatedly referred to as “big f-ing whores” (minus the sanitization, naturally). (She also called Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and Dick Cheney racists and anti-Semites but Air America seems not to be upset by that.)

I respond to him in the comments:

Rhodes continues to amaze me with her ability to dig deeper holes with her mouth…. particularly since she has so few teeth to dig with anymore, given her recent battle with 17 martinis and a New York city curbstone.

James has raised an interesting point about the timing, however, that goes to the heart of the rift in the Demorat party, today.

It seems that April is Confederate Heritage month. Why one would want to celebrate a heritage of violent rebellion against a democratically elected government in order to perpetuate a system of chattel slavery is a bit hard for me to say.”?—?Matthew Yglesias

The kindest way I can put this, is …. Your misunderstanding, Matt, is far more than you imagine.

In the end, the Civil war was not about slavery, but about the constitution, which stated (at least when it was written) that each state would be free.

Mind, I do not propose to defend slavery, that’s not the point here, and I would not in any event. The fact was and remains however, that the war was against a strong federal government… as was the Constitution itself until the end of the war. That freedom is something the strong federal government couldn’t stand for.

It’s true enough, by the time things really got going, we were suddenly fighting a war about ending slavery. But that didn’t come about, that wasn’t the reason for the war until days after the war began. Remember, gang, in Lincoln’s first inaugural, he said flatly he had no intention of abolishing slavery, or of repealing the Fugitive slave law. Lincoln himself stated that the war was not about slavery, or about the rights of blacks, but about the preservation of’ the union’.  Lincoln even went so far as to bar Blacks from serving in the Military. It was only well after the war was underway did Lincoln pull an about face, and suddenly the war was about slavery. Ending slavery was a more tangible goal than ‘saving the union’, particularly given most people didn’t understand what the union was, except in the loosest of senses. Ending slavery served as a far easier to support rally cry, then the real purpose, which was to retain the vast resources of the south, under the control of Washington.

Nor did Lincoln save the union. Most people do not understand, (Mostly because they’re not taught this) is that the union ceased to BE a union as of the civil war. America was saved, but only in the Geographic sense.  As of the Civil war, America wasn’t a union of states anymore, but a very powerful federal government… something the founders never intended.

Moreover, the south didn’t start a rebellion.  Certainly, the south posed no military threat to the north. Nor did they show any intention of any invasions of the north. They simply chose to remove themselves from the union.

So, the question, then is… Was it worth all the people who died? Yes, we ended slavery, but historianns tell us that it was an institution which would have died shortly in any event. Was ending it ten years earlier, I ask you, worth killing so many men women and kids, and creating the behemoth federal government, thus destroying the union we had thought to save?

In my own view, the Civil war should have been called the war for Southern independence. Then again, the victors usually get to re-label things, don’t they?

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) – Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards said on Thursday he would not accept the nomination for U.S. vice president as he did four years ago.
…
“No,” said Edwards, who also declined to say whether he would endorse Clinton or Obama.

Apparently, he’s not interested in losing twice.

• McQ notes this report which finally catches on to the obvious…
  

  Rap music has increasingly glamorized the use of illegal drugs, portraying marijuana, crack and cocaine as symbols of wealth and status, according to a new study by the journal Addiction Research & Theory.

  and says

  How screwed up is this world when rap stars are “role models for the nation’s youth”?

  Well, it’s not like this is anything new, or even newsworthy, frankly. Of course back in the day when I was making this point, and pointing to the deleterious effects of it, and pointing a finger at who it was responsible for it, I got tossed off a few sites for doing so. Of course back then, the message wasn’t a very popular one. Still isn’t, really. But it seems we’re finally catching on.

• We upgraded WordPress to 2.5 last night. One of the things I noted was a little instability in the Tiny MCE editor extension, so I shut it off. Turns out, they added the functionality of the MCE to the new version of WordPress. Woulda been nice if they’d made mention of it…. Good thing I’m a good ‘seat of the pants’ tech, or I’d still be wondering what was up, and trying to revert to v2.2. I’m also less than fully pleased with the layout of the admin windows, though with the added functionality, I’ll put up with it as a price of being on the edge. And the Auto Upgrade plugin, though new, still isn’t ready for prime time.
• Heh… I see where Hanoi Jane has endorsed Barrack Obama. So much for his getting the Military vote. Now we know why the Democrats tried to negate the Military vote in the last few elections. There’s a few out there, like Erb, who think mst ffolks ahve forgiven Hanoi Jane, or don’t remember her. I figure it’s an easy test to make; Let’s get Obama to run with the Slogan: “Obama… The chocie of Jane Fonda.”  Think that’ll work out for him?
• CNN mumbles:
  

  Florida’s Democratic leadership and national party chairman Howard Dean presented a united front today as they met to resolve their dispute over the seating of that state’s delegation at the presidential nominating convention in Denver.

  “It is my commitment, working with the Florida delegation and the campaigns to find a fair solution so that Florida will be seated — and we are confident enough that we have reserved hotel rooms for the delegates from Florida in Denver,” said Dean.

So, Dean is backing down? Interesting. Apparently, he figures Obama to have enough of a lead now to negate the advantage that Florida being seated would give Hillary Clinton.

“There will be no empty chairs on the convention floor in Denver,” added Rep. Alcee Hastings

Oh my… Michigan, too? Or is this just a play on words?

• Oh, that story I ran with last night about the husband of Senator Debbie Stabenow getting caught with an hooker? I mean, aside from the humor involved with all these Democrats going down in a ball of flame, having been caught with slot operated companionship, there’s a bit more of a mesh going on here, with this particular story. The story mentions that the incident occurred just off I-75 in the little burg of Big Beaver. I didn’t say anything at the time, being tired after my ordeal in the upgrade process last night… but Imagine the headline: Prostitution bust in Big Beaver. No, wait… it gets better…. I’d forgotten this; (it’s been 20 years since I’ve been over that way…) …but the exit off I-75 at Big Beaver is Exit 69. I kid you not. You can’t make this stuff up. I think I can understand why they mounted the sign waaaaayy up on the pole like that, no pun intended…. can you imagine the number of them they’d have to replace were they on the ground? Too bad this is going to be in the news for a while. If it wasn’t I could make a lot of beer money with this one.
• So what happened, to cause everyone to suddenly take seriously, the Iranian Nuclear threat? I mean, that threat is nothing new; We’ve been screaming about it for years.But now the Saudis, and the Chinese, both of which have fought us tooth and nail for that amount o0f time and longer, are now taking us seriously. Why? Seems to me something new has been added to the mix, something we’ve not been told about.

Mike Morris, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, reports on the Mouth of the South’s Foot-in-Mouth disease:

Failure to address global warming will have us all dead or eating each other by mid-century.

So says Ted Turner, the restaurateur, environmentalist and former media mogul whose controversial comments have earned him the nickname “Mouth of the South.”

And:

We’re too many people; that’s why we have global warming,” he said. “Too many people are using too much stuff.”

Turner suggested that “on a voluntary basis, everybody in the world’s got to pledge to themselves that one or two children is it.”

Well I doubt that Turner is right.   However on the off chance that he is, I suggest this for Ted.   Ted, if you lack the courage of your convictions, think of getting back together with Jane Fonda.

Addendum:

Allah Pundit, Hot Air, has the video posted.

Boortz did an interview with the guy we spoke of yesterday… and apparently got swamped with listener feedback:

You’ve heard endless times of the heroic efforts put forth by one Hillary Rodham as a lawyer on that committee. She was hired by Zeifman. If you were listening yesterday you heard Mr. Zeifman describe how Hillary hid documents which showed that Nixon was clearly entitled to legal counsel during that committee’s investigation … then she proceeded to write a legal memorandum saying that no such precedent existed. Simply put .. .unethical and dishonest. For more details, look at yesterday’s Nealz Nuze.
Here is a sampling of some of the email we received about that interview:

Your interview with Jerry Zeigman (sorry if I misspelled) was COMPLETELY AMAZING. I literally felt like history was unfolding before my very eyes just listening to this person. I could not tear myself away from the radio.

(This from the program director of one of my affiliates) Hey Neal – just wanted to let you know that interview today was incredible. I was glued to the radio – sitting in the car in my driveway glued. This story needs to break through to the mainstream. I talked to my morning guy about it today and I think we’re going to replay the interview on the morning show tomorrow. Great job – great radio.

Neal, You did a great job with the Jerry Zeifman interview! This was so well executed; I must proclaim it “Whiner Secure”!! Jerry told the story in HIS words!! He did most of the talking (not that I don’t enjoy you), his memory is crystal clear and everything had already been documented years ago! THIS NEEDS TO BE ON THE NATIONAL NEWS… 6PM TONIGHT!! Keep up the great work.. .you really did a service to the American people today!!

Thank you for having Mr. Zeifman on your show today and allowing him to tell his experience with HRC. It is sad that men like him that have morals and ethics are so hard to find in politics. This should have ended Hillary and or the Clinton’s career in politics and law years ago. Hillary should pull out of the race for the President and end her campaign in disgrace. Thank you again for giving the time to Mr. Zeifman all the time he needed.

 Yeah, I heard that one myself; Great stuff. But even with this interview, I think David’s correct on this; and Ed Morrissey over-estimates the level of impact this will have on Hillary Clinton. What supporters she has, fall into two categories:

1. Those who will line up behind her in spite of any facts. These people never were about facts in any case, and have signed on for purely emotional reasons.
2. Those who lined up behind her not in spite of her misdeeds but BECAUSE of them.

By the way; Boortz reports that the interview is available to Boortz Blast Subscribers… you have to register, but it’s free.

BUENOS AIRES (AFP) – Argentina’s claim to the Falkland Islands, which remain in British hands after the 1982 war between the two countries, is “inalienable,” President Cristina Kirchner said Wednesday.

The sovereign claim to the Malvinas Islands is inalienable,” she said in a speech marking the 26th anniversary of Argentina’s ill-fated invasion of the islands, located 480 kilometers (300 miles) off shore.

The April 2, 1982 invasion prompted then British prime minister Margaret Thatcher to deploy naval forces to retake the Falklands, known as the Malvinas in Spanish.

There’s two reasons for this coming up just now;

1: Kirchner needs the diversion from her problems at home

2: She knows the Brits are not likley to put up the fuss they did last time. Brown is no Thatcher, and England is no longer England.

As of tonight, BitsBlog has moved to WordPress 2.5. This is the latest version available. While you likely won’t see much in the way of changes at the user level, some rather massive changes at the Author and SysOp levels have been done, and it may take a little getting used to. Bear with us, please.

Why did I do it tonight, when I said I was doing it come the weekend? Simple enough; The forecast for Saturday is a great one. Sunny, high 55. I have no intention of sitting here in the BitCave while that’s going on outside.

Since CBL (740AM in Toronto) went dark, and CBC radio one went to FM at CBLA/99.1FM*** and about a zillion low power FM repeaters, I can no longer get CBC1, so I didn’t hear this one.

Many Americans are misguided in thinking that a Barack Obama win will settle the race discussion in the U.S., Missouri Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Hillary Clinton supporter who drew attention this weekend for pointed remarks about Obama, told FOX News on Wednesday.

Following up on remarks he made to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in which he described Obama as a “mediocre” orator, Cleaver said he thought the Illinois senator will win the Democratic presidential nomination, but that doesn’t mean the work will be done trying to improve race relations in America.

“I think whites would say, ‘How could anybody say we were racist, that we have any racist residue when you look what we just did (potentially electing Obama)?’ And African Americans would say, ‘Look at what we just did. So now we ought to have unblocked access to all of our dreams, all of our hopes,'” Cleaver said.

Cleaver, a former Kansas City mayor, added that whites sometimes think that saying an African-American is “articulate” is a compliment, but in actuality it is symptomatic of latent low expectations.

“If you will remember earlier, one of the senators here referred to Senator Obama as ‘articulate.’ And I’ve never heard someone refer to Senator Clinton as articulate. I’ve never heard it,” he said.

“And I think there would be great disappointment when they saw some issue of race surfacing. It would be like, ‘Oh my goodness. I thought we were past that.'”

Of course, he’s a Clinton backer, and thereby might have been expected to say this.   But the ‘Articulate’ thing… bringing that up is a stroke of brilliance we’ve not seen from the Clinton camp; and I’m inclined to accept it as genuine, because it’s simply too smart a play for Cliinton’s people to pull without a three year study.  It falls directly into line with the objections we raised some months ago, when Joe Biden called him ‘clean and articulate’.  Clearly, in that event, and many siuch comments since, the bar has been lowered quite a  bit. It also idetifies what we’ve been saying right along, about how some were voting for him because of his racial identity and naught more, as if it was some kind of qualification. 

And as with the subprime mess being the logical consequences of loaning money to peple who cannot afford it, simply because they happen to be of a racial minority, the logical consequences of lowering the bar for Obama will be a disaster, if he ever attains power as a result of it.

_{*** The small matter of having a 50,000 watt station two blocks away from me on 98.9fm doesn’t help, either}

• I see Presdient Bush is bypassing a lot of laws and regulations to get the southern fence built. Bravo, Presdient Bush, …..on two levels; 1: the fence is actually going to be built. 2: most of these regulations are revealed by this bypassing process as being a roadblock to progess, and to more than just the government…. it’s just that government gets to bypass its own rules when the need arises. We’re costing ourselves with over-regulation.  Is there anyone who doesn’t understand this one?
• Reynolds says:
  

  WHAT IS IT WITH ALL THE HOOKERS IN AMERICAN POLITICS lately? At least Bill Clinton was getting it for free.

  Yeah, but look what he ended UP with, OK? Of course, one of you is bound to point out just what it was he was running away from. Before you do, yeah, I’d have to say that’s true, and I wouldn’t dream in my worst nightmare about hitting either one of ’em.

• Bruce notes the same meme and notes it’s not limited to US politics, either.
• Oh, speaking of Reynolds, have you seen his sitemeter lately? he’s pulling a quarter million hits per day… Yikes!
• I see where Hillary Clinton’s likening herself to Rocky Balboa. Note to Hillary: Rocky was better looking, and smarter. Likely, he was and is more real than you are, as well.  The usual comment about Hillary Clinton these days is “How life-like!”
• I keep hearing stuff about how edgy Nervous and jerky, the Democrats are getting out on the campaign trail. Meltdowns? I’m thinking of starting a betting pool, to see how meltsdown outright, first.
• Got into the lower 40’s here today, and struggled at that. Weird after being so warm yesterday. Supposed to be in the middle 50’s on Saturday, though, so all will be forgiven.
• I see by way of OTB, that a Saudi woman was killed for using Facebook to talk to a man. Of course her killer won’t be arrested, much less convinced of a crime. I keep saying it, folks. Not all cultures are equal. Notice that it’s those who keep trying to get us to ‘respect all cultures’ that are so shocked when this kinda thing comes up? What they’re dancing around is this kind of thing showing up here in the west, is the logical result of the kind of ‘open mindedness’ they propose.
• DJ Durant over at Conservative Reader notes increased discussion on Socialist Security. He’s right of course… just ditch the stupid thing is the best option of the bunch. Then again, people have been paying into it all this time, so it’ll have to be a ramp-down. However that might be, I don’t suppose anyone in power will ever have the stones to even think about proposing such a move, without some serious PR… like… years of it, saying why such a thing should happen.

Yet another one. The Detroit news is reporting:

TROY — The co-founder and former CEO of the liberal-progressive Democracy Radio and husband of U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow was caught in February by a Troy police sting aimed at catching prostitutes, according to a police report.

Thomas L. Athans was stopped Feb. 26 by undercover officers investigating a possible prostitution ring in a room at the Residence Inn near Big Beaver and Interstate 75. Athans paid a 20-year-old prostitute $150 for sex in a Troy hotel but was not arrested, according to police reports obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by The Detroit News. The police report said officers observed Athans enter a room under surveillance and leave 15 minutes later. Detectives followed and stopped Athans’ silver 2002 Cadillac DeVille on Interstate 75 near Square Lake Road.

Athans told police he stopped at the hotel to see a female friend he met online. After calling her on his cell phone, he was given a room number and met the woman at the door. Once inside he placed $150 on a counter top. The woman collected the money and performed oral sex on him, Athans told police.

Ya know… there’s something of a trend, here, that I can’t quite put my finger on.

So just when does the decision from where to order pizza delivery become a moral question?   When the decision is between a Pizza Hut and pizza business which does not have corporate policy of indifference to the delivery person’s life.    Those who delivery pizza are known to carry cash, and travel alone.  In short, they are targets.   A corporate policy which precludes a delivery person from carrying a legally permitted weapon is akin to having the delivery person carry a sign saying please rob me.

Yet for reasons unknown to rational men, that is exactly the corporate policy of Pizza Hut.  Ragnar Danneskjold, Jawa Report, on “Defend Your Life, Lose Your Job”   Think about the moral consequences of ordering a pizza from Pizza Hut, and find a responsible vendor instead.  You may save the life of the person who delivers your pizza.

Addendum:

Ed Morrissey, Hot Air, as is his style takes this story long and deep:

Here’s one story that ended with two dead deliverers. Here’s another from earlier this year. Pittsburgh had one two years ago that remains unsolved. Badger Blogger reports on one from December in Wisconsin, where earlier another deliveryman wound up prosecuted for defending himself. A Chicago woman got murdered in 2006 while delivering pizza. Almost three months ago, another pizza-delivery murder occurred in South Carolina. A Google search turns up 574,000 hits for pizza delivery murder.

Of course that is half million web hits about pizza delivery murders and not half a million murders.   Still hardly a risk free job.