Quitcha bitchin, Yes, this is biased, but can it be denied? If we are going to look into who influence peddling, we might as well be honest and look in more then one direction. If you don't want to read cut and paste, don't read it.

"Walsh Criticizes Reagan and Bush Over Iran-Contra

By DAVID JOHNSTON Excerpts From the Final Report."

http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4096508,00.html

"The key to Dubya's money empire is Daddy Bush's post-White House work which, incidentally, raised the family's net worth by several hundred per cent. Take two packets of payments to the Republican Party, totaling $148,000, from an outfit called Barrick Goldstrike. That's quite a patriotic contribution from a Canadian company. They can afford it.

In 1992, in the final hours of the Bush presidency, Barrick took control of US government-owned property containing an estimated $10bn in gold. For the whole shooting match, Barrick paid the US Treasury only $10,000. Barrick made deft use of an 1872 gold rush law meant to allow pan-and-bucket prospectors to gain title to their tiny claims. In 1992, Clinton's newly elected administration was ready to prevent Barrick's stunning grab. But Barrick is a lucky outfit. Bush's Interior Department expedited procedures to ram through Barrick's claim stake before Clinton's inauguration. Ex-Pres George Bush was lucky, too. When the electorate booted him from the White House, he landed softly - on the Barrick Goldstrike payroll, where he comfortably nested until last year.

Who is Barrick? Its founder, Peter Munk, made his name in Canada in the 1950s as the figure in an infamous insider stock-trading scandal. Munk headed a small speaker manufacturer that went belly-up, just after he sold his stock. This is not quite the expected pedigree for an international minerals mogul. If we look in the shadows behind Munk we can see the more accomplished player who provided the capital to set up Barrick - Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi.

During Bush's presidency, Khashoggi was identified as conduit in the Iran-Contra conspiracy. He had already run into trouble with US lawmen when, in 1986, he was arrested and charged - but not convicted - of fraud. He was bailed out of the New York prison by Munk, who provided the $4m bond.

Bush performed an even bigger favour for Khashoggi: as his last act in office, the president pardoned Khashoggi's alleged co-conspirators, key members of Bush's own cabinet. As a result, no case could be made against Khashoggi. In 1996, a geologist prospecting in Indonesia, Mike de Guzman, announced his discovery of the world's richest gold field. Munk rapidly deployed his president.

Bush, on behalf of Barrick, contacted officials of the former dictator Suharto who were in control of mining concessions. Thereafter, De Guzman's company was told it would have to turn over 68 per cent of its claim to Barrick. Barrick didn't have long to gloat. Jim-Bob Moffett, the tough, old, Louisiana swamp dog who heads Freeport-McMoRan Mining, had a private meeting with his old benefactor Suharto. At the end of the meeting, Jim-Bob and the dictator stood on the steps of the presidential palace to announce that Freeport-McMoRan would replace Barrick. (Ironically, Barrick lucked it again. The gold find was a hoax. After Jim-Bob learnt he'd been suckered, his company invited geologist De Guzman to talk it over. Sadly, on way to the meeting, De Guzman fell out of a helicopter.)

While Mr Munk's president did not pay the cost of his rental in Indonesia, Bush could redeem himself in Africa. In 1996, as genocide in Rwanda fomented civil war in Zaire, Barrick smelt opportunity. We have learnt that, at that time, Bush spoke with his old golfing buddy, Mobutu Sese Seko (then dictator of Zaire) about diamond concessions. I don't know what ex-CIA director Bush told the panicked dictator, but we do know that Mobutu granted Barrick exclusive rights to mine diamonds in north-west Zaire. Maybe Bush talked about Barrick's mining experience in neighbouring Tanzania where, according to Amnesty International, Barrick's subsidiary carried out 'extra-judicial killings'.

Amnesty reports that 50 independent miners who refused to move off the Barrick unit's concession were buried alive in the pits by company bulldozers. Barrick denies the allegations.

Beyond Barrick, Daddy Bush has many other friends who filled up his sonny-boy's campaign kitty while Bush performed certain lucrative favours for them. In 1998, Bush père created a storm in Argentina when he lobbied his close political ally President Carlos Menem to grant a gambling licence to Mirage Casino corporation. Bush wrote that he had no personal interest in the deal. That's true. But Bush fils did not do badly.

After the casino flap, Mirage dropped $449,000 into the Republican Party war chest. The ex-president and famed Desert Strormtrooper-in-Chief, also wrote to the oil minister of Kuwait on behalf of Chevron Oil Corporation. Bush says honestly that he, 'had no stake in the Chevron operation'.

Following this selfless use of his influence, the oil company put $657,000 into Republican Party coffers. Most of that loot, reports the Center for Responsive Politics, came in the form of 'soft money'

That's the squishy stuff corporations use to ooze around US law which, you may be surprised to learn, prohibits any donations to presidential campaigns in the general election. Not all of the elder Bush's work is voluntary. His single talk to the board of Global Crossing, the telecoms start-up, earned him $13m in stock. The company also kicked in another million for his kid's run.

And while the Bush family steadfastly believes that ex-felons should not have the right to vote for president, they have no objection to ex-cons putting presidents on their payroll.

In 1996, despite pleas of US church leaders, Daddy Bush gave several speeches (he charges $100,000 per talk) sponsored by organisations run by Rev Sun Myung Moon, cult leader, tax cheat - and formerly, the guest of the US federal prison system.

There are so many more tales of the Bush family daisy chain of favours, friendship and campaign funding. None of it is illegal - which I find troubling. But I don't want to seem ungrateful. After all, the Bushes helped make America the best democracy money can buy.

Blackout in Florida

Vice-President Al Gore would have strolled to victory in Florida if the state hadn't kicked 12,000 citizens off the voters' registers five month ago as former felons. In fact, only a fraction were ex-cons. Most were simply guilty of being African-American. While 8,000 of those disenfranchised went through the legal rigmarole of getting on to the voting list, the rest - enough to have won the state for Gore - did not.

A top-placed election official (not a Democrat) told me that the government had conducted a quiet review and found - surprise! - that the listing included far more African-Americans than would statistically have been expected, even accounting for the grievous gap between the conviction rates of blacks and whites in the US. The source of this poisonous blacklist: Database Technologies, a division of ChoicePoint, and hired by Governor Jeb Bush's frothingly partisan Secretary of State, Katherine Harris.

My thanks to investigator Solomon Hughes for informing me that DBT is a division of ChoicePoint.

Under fire for mis-use of personal data in state computers, ChoicePoint founder Rick Rozar made a strategic six-figure soft cash donation to the Republican Party."

-- Cherri (jessam5@home.com), February 20, 2001

Answers

Cherri, as I said elsewhere, your efforts are admirable, but why waste your time? These people know what they know and they certainly aren't going to let a silly little thing like "facts" get in the way. (Take, for example, the *fact* that Dick Cheney -- you know, the Vice President -- has more ties to Marc Rich than Clinton. Have you seen that "reported" here by the resident stellar news sources? Me neither.)

They ask "why won't Clinton go away", yet they are the ones that keep him in the spotlight (that would be the spotlight they don't want on Junior) with still MORE "scandals" (VandalismGate, SilverwareGate, TowelGate, GiftGate, PardonGate).

Remember, it's only a *bad thing* if it's done by a Democrat, and it's only "spin" if it doesn't come from such unbiased "reporting" (sic) outlets as The Washington Times or Fox News or WorldNetDaily or Rush Limbaugh ;-)

Don't waste your time any longer; it's just not worth it. The national horror of eight years of peace and prosperity is FINALLY over. Thank GOD. Oh the HUMANITY. Junior and Company are here to "restore honor and dignity to the White House".

ROTFLMAO.....

-- LMAO at the dittoheads..... (PatriciaS@lasvegas.com), February 20, 2001.

Who could predict W would be elected president 3 years in advance?

I have a film of someone doing just that, and, not because he is a prophet, but because the documented evidence of who W is.

On the other hand, the demo-commies are nothing more than the created and contolled opposites.

-- KoFE (your@town.USA), February 20, 2001.

Who could predict W would be elected president 3 years in advance?

I knew, sort of. Or rather, I had a heads-up from the great beyond. Yes, THAT great beyond. My 1st cat, Samantha, came to me in a dream back in 1997, shortly after Clinton began his second term in office.

She didn't speak to me (whatta you think I'm nuts?). Instead, she drew in the air with her paw, over and over again, the letters GWB.

Now I admit I thought the acronym stood for George Washington Bridge. Only in hindsight do I realize she was exhibiting prescience.

For those of you doubters out there who are thinking to themselves, "How on earth can an ex-cat draw backwards letters?" Hah! I was looking over her shoulder! She didn't have to write them backwards.

-- Rich (howe9@shentel.net), February 20, 2001.

No Rich, I *do* believe that she can write backwards! And all this I knew when Vince Foster was murdered. He came to me in a dream to tell me of the corruption in politics and he drew a picture with stick figures, not just writing letters.

-- Maria (anon@ymous.com), February 20, 2001.

Stick figures, huh? Did Vince use actual sticks? Spaghetti works well on a dark background. Or did he have access to a dry erase whiteboard?

When she was alive, Samantha would form figures on her feeding table using her kibble. Funny about those figures, they all looked like fish. Maybe she wanted to be baptised and have me get her one of those fish symbols we all see on car trunks.

-- Rich (howe9@shentel.net), February 20, 2001.

I was told in 1997 that the GOP power brokers had already lined up the ticket for the 2000 presidential election…..George W. Bush and Elizabeth Dole.

It is not uncommon for the VP candidate in waiting to campaign early on as a presidential hopeful. I believe that during this period last year, ED lost her chance to be on the ticket or she decided not to continue. I find nothing ‘mystic’ about all of this as it often takes years to position a candidate.

-- Barry (bchbear863@cs.com), February 20, 2001.

Rich, too cute. My cat used to sleep on top of the fish tank. He'd spend all day trying to catch one of those little swimming things.

Barry, I agree. Clinton started his bid about eight years prior. He positioned himself, got back together with his wife, ran again for gov and worked towards that shining star above the WH.

I often wondered about ED. I thought that GWB would have selected her for some cabinet position.

-- Maria (anon@ymous.com), February 20, 2001.

The Guardian's reporting (sic) is a London-fog miasma of cranky Leftism. Don't put your money on any "information" you find there.

-- (Paracelsus@Pb.Au), February 20, 2001.

I had heard about Bush running for prez in 1998. He said about someone else who was running early on--He should have written a book. meaning he believed that that was one of the requirements to running. So Bush "wrote" a book as a prerequisite to running.

-- Cherri (jessam5@home.com), February 20, 2001.