Tis Only My Opinion

November 2000 - Volume 20, Number 11


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October 30th, 2000

As I write this, the pollsters and media heads are suggesting that the marathon race between Al Gore and George W. Bush is "neck and neck." After almost two years of electioneering, the citizens are still undecided and that turnout will be the key to victory! Quite frankly, I think the pollsters and their liberal media friends are sadly mistaken about the mood of the country. I doubt if the election will be close and I think that turnout will be heavy.

The question facing many voters is simply this . . . Can the nation put up with any more of the Clinton/Gore administration policies?

Bill Clinton is the man who said that the definition of "is" is what he says it is. Keeping that in mind, let us review the definition of "Clinton's Legacy" which is what all the media have been suggesting is uppermost in the minds of William Jefferson and Hillary Clinton.

In order to define what is meant by "Clinton's Legacy", we have to define the word "Clinton"

clin-ton (clint’ n) [after Bill Clinton, late 20th century U.S. president whose administration is remembered primarily for impeachment, corruption and scandals]

vt. 1. To grope a person of the opposite gender in an unwelcome, unwanted manner …*He tried to clinton the man’s wife*

2. To communicate in a manner which clouds the truth by omitting essential information, or by playing with the meaning of words, or by other such deceptive means …*He clintoned his answer so much that nobody understood it*

3. To shamelessly promote a falsehood as the truth…*”Ken Starr – out of control,” clintoned the media or President
Bush’s Economy was the worst in the last 50 years was largely clintoned by the mainstream press *--vi. To act in a boorish manner while self- righteously maintaining the appearance of dignity …*He continued to clinton while the polls held up*

--n.1. Any lewd advance towards a person of the opposite gender, usually involving touching …*The boss did a clinton on his defenseless secretary* 2. Any instance of speech or conduct involving calculated deception …*The press conference on Kosovo was a real clinton*

--adj Characterized by sleaziness or deceptiveness …*It was a classic clintonian response*

See also: Apologies (Africa, Central America, Europe, South America), Arkancide, Arkcident, ‘Bill of Rights’ abrogation, "better put some ice on that", bimbos, Black churches burning, blue dress presidoo, Boy/Eagle Scouts, bureaucratic snafus, Cabinet investigations/indictments, Chinese Wars, cigar tricks, Clinton fatigue, Clintonspeak, compartmentalize, Constitutional Crisis, demonization of opponents, DiCaprio interviews, disbarment, “Doing the work for the American people” = fundraising, draft dodging, Dreamworks’ scandals, Elian seizure/drugging/deportation, e-mails (100,000-1,000,000 zip disks), equivocate, enablers & apologists, "even presidents have personal lives.", Executive Orders, Federal Land Grabs, fighting impeachment he had "saved the Constitution.", foreign boondoggle trips (Africa >$55 MIL, China >$78MIL. India >$58MIL), foreign deployments, ‘getting a Lewinsky’, gun confiscation, Hollywood money/influence, Homosexuals in military, Illegal (Campaign Funds, FBI files, travel office), impeachment, inappropriate, indefensible, ‘is’ is, Los Alamos
files/fires, Leavenworth, lies, Limited English Proficiency (LEPers), Lincoln bedroom rentals, lost civil liberties, lost legacy, martial law, medical records stonewalling, military nonreenlistments, military unpreparedness, missile technology transfers, “mistakes were made”, mother/grandmother conflicts, NATO aggression (Clinton’s Wars), obfuscate, obstruction of justice, oral sex, Oval Office pantry, Oval Office sink, perjury, ‘plunge’ protection team, politics of personal destruction, presidoo, presidential kneepads, ‘presstitutes’, prevaricate, scumbag, secret police, Soviet Union resurrection, spin, stonewall, Taiwan abandonment, “they’re mean to me”, telephone sex, treason, UN Sovereignty Rebellion, “vulgarizes everything he touches”, ‘Wag-the-Dog (Monica bombs, Afghanistan, Iraq (Impeachment bombings), Kosovo, Pakistan, Serbia, Sudan), Waco, Western Forest fire-fighting money diverted, White House ‘coffees’, White House pastors, White House ‘porn downloads’, WhiteWater, women (Gennifer, Christine, Dolly, Eleanor, Elizabeth Ward, Juanita, Linda, Monica, Paula, Sharon , Susan, etcetera...etcetera...etcetera...).

Now we have to define the word "Legacy"

A legacy is what is handed down from an ancestor or predecessor. Here is what Clinton has given to us:

The above list is courtesy of Mark Levin.

So what is it about Clinton's Legacy that you are not sure about?

Many citizen's who formerly were not politically active and did not vote in several previous Presidential elections have decided that they would vote in this election to prevent a continuation of the Clinton/Gore policies. They see this Presidential election as their last opportunity to change the moral compass of the United States and to return the country to the values that made it a leader of nations. As one 90 year old said the other day while filling out her absentee ballot at a nursing home, "Let's hope that we can get rid of the stench in the White House."

The Progressive Review recently published a list of the achievements made by the Clinton/Gore administration.

Administration Records Set

1.- The only president ever impeached strictly on grounds of personal malfeasance
2.- Most convictions and guilty pleas
3.- Most Cabinet officials to come under criminal investigation
4.- Most witnesses to flee country or refuse to testify
5.- Most witnesses to die suddenly
6.- Greatest amount of illegal campaign contributions
7.- Greatest amount of illegal campaign contributions from abroad
Historical Context
8.- Number of independent counsel inquiries since the 1978 law was passed: 19
9.- Number that have produced indictments: 7
10.- Number that produced more convictions than the Starr investigation: 1
11.- Median length of investigations that have led to convictions: 44 months
12.- Length of Starr-Ray investigation (7/00): 67 months.
13.- Number of Starr-Ray investigation convictions to date (including one governor, one associate attorney general and two Clinton business partners): 15
14.- Median cost per Starr investigation conviction: $3.5 million as of 3/00
15.- Total cost of the Starr investigation (3/00) $52 million
16.- Total cost of the Iran-Contra investigation: $48.5 million
17.- Number of Clinton Cabinet members who came under criminal investigation: 5
18.- Number of Reagan cabinet members who came under criminal investigation: 4
19.- Number of top officials jailed in the Teapot Dome Scandal: 3
Crime Stats
20.- Number of individuals and businesses associated with the Clinton machine who have been convicted of or pleaded guilty to crimes: 47
21.- Number of these convictions during Clinton's presidency: 33
22.- Number of indictments/misdemeanor charges: 61
23.- Number of imprisonments: 14
24.- Number of congressional witnesses who have pleaded the Fifth Amendment, fled the country to avoid testifying, or (in the case of foreign witnesses)
refused to be interviewed: 122 (9/99)
Smaltz Investigation
25.- Guilty pleas and convictions obtained by Donald Smaltz in cases involving charges of bribery and fraud against former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy
and associated individuals and businesses: 15
26.- Acquitted or overturned cases (including Espy): 6
27.- Fines and penalties assessed: $11.5 million
28.- Cost of investigation: $22.2 million through 9/99
29.- Amount Tyson Food paid in fines and court costs: $6 million
30.- Amount Tyson Food still has in annual government contracts: $200 million
31.- Reasons individuals other than Espy went free: Concealing knowledge of gifts to Espy and his girlfriend (1), providing illegal gratuities to Espy(4),
illegally supplementing the salary of a government official (2), concealing receipt of illegal funds on behalf of Espy (1) (Espy's chief of staff was sentenced
to prison in this case)

Crimes for Which Convictions Have Been Obtained
Drug trafficking (3), racketeering, extortion, bribery (4), tax evasion, kickbacks, embezzlement (2), fraud (12), conspiracy (5), fraudulent loans, illegal
gifts (1), illegal campaign contributions (5), money laundering (6), perjury, obstruction of justice.

Other Matters Investigated by Special Prosecutors and Congress or Reported in the Media
Bank and mail fraud, violations of campaign finance laws, illegal foreign campaign funding, improper exports of sensitive technology, physical violence and
threats of violence, solicitation of perjury, intimidation of witnesses, bribery of witnesses, attempted intimidation of prosecutors, perjury before congressional
committees, lying in statements to federal investigators and regulatory officials, flight of witnesses, obstruction of justice, bribery of cabinet members, real estate
fraud, tax fraud, drug trafficking, failure to investigate drug trafficking, bribery of state officials, use of state police for personal purposes, exchange of
promotions or benefits for sexual favors, using state police to provide false court testimony, laundering of drug money through a state agency, false reports by
medical examiners and others investigating suspicious deaths, the firing of the RTC and FBI director when these agencies were investigating Clinton and his
associates, failure to conduct autopsies in suspicious deaths, providing jobs in return for silence by witnesses, drug abuse, improper acquisition and use of 900
FBI files, improper futures trading, murder, sexual abuse of employees, false testimony before a federal judge, shredding of documents, withholding and
concealment of subpoenaed documents, fabricated charges against (and improper firing of) White House employees, inviting drug traffickers, foreign agents and
participants in organized crime to the White House.

Unexplained Phenomena
1.- FBI files misappropriated by the White House: c. 900
2.- Estimated number of witnesses quoted in FBI files misappropriated by the White House: 18,000
3.- Number of witnesses who developed medical problems at critical points in Clinton scandals investigation (Tucker, Hale, both McDougals, Lindsey): 5
4.- Problem areas listed in a memo by Clinton's own lawyer in preparation for the president's defense: 40
5.- Number of witnesses and critics of Clinton subjected to IRS audit: 45
6.- Number of names placed in a White House secret database without the knowledge of those named: c. 200,000
7.- Number of persons involved with Clinton who have been beaten up: 2
8.- Number of women involved with Clinton who claim to have been physically threatened: 5 (Sally Perdue, Gennifer Flowers, Kathleen Willey, Linda
Tripp, Elizabeth Ward Gracen)
9.- Number of men involved in the Clinton scandals who have been beaten up or claimed to have been intimidated: 9

Arkansas Sudden Death Syndrome
1.- Number of persons in the Clinton orbit who are alleged to have committed suicide: 7
2.- Number known to have been murdered: 2
3.- Number who died in plane crashes: 11
4.- Number who died in automobile accidents: 3
5.- Number killed during Waco massacre: 4
6.- Number of key witnesses who have died of heart attacks while in federal custody under questionable circumstances: 1
7.- Number of medications being taken by Jim McDougal at the time he was placed in solitary confinement shortly before his death: 12
8.- Number of unexplained deaths: 3
9.- Total of above deaths: 31
10.- Number of northern Mafia killings during peak years of 1968-78: 30
11.- Number of Dixie Mafia killings during same period: 156

Arkansas Alzheimer's Manifestations
1.- Number of times Hillary Clinton said "I don't recall" or its equivalent in a statement to a House investigating committee: 50
2.- Number of paragraphs in this statement: 42
3.- Number of times Bill Clinton said "I don't recall" or its equivalent in the released portions of the his testimony on Paula Jones: 271
4.- Total number of facts or events not recalled before official bodies by Bill Kennedy, Harold Ickes, Ricki Seidman, Bruce Lindsey, Bill Burton, Mark
Gearan, Mack McLarty, Neil Eggleston, John Podesta, Jennifer O'Connor, Dwight Holton, Patsy Thomasson, Jeff Eller, Beth Nolan, Cliff Sloan,
Bernard Nussbaum, George Stephanopoulous, Roy Neel, Rahm Emanuel, Maggie Williams, David Tarbell, Susan Thomases, Webster Hubbell, Roger
Altman, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton: 6,125
5.- Average occurrence of memory lapse by top administration figures while before official bodies: 235

Arkansas Money Management
1.- Amount of an alleged electronic transfer from the Arkansas Development Financial Authority to a bank in the Cayman Islands during 1980s: $50 million
2.- Grand Cayman's population: 18,000
3.- Number of commercial banks: 570
4.- Number of bank regulators: 1
5.- Amount Arkansas state pension fund invested in high-risk repos in the mid-1980s in one purchase in April 1985: $52 million through the Worthen
Bank.
6.- Number of days thereafter that the state's brokerage firm went belly up: 3
7.- Amount Arkansas pension fund dropped overnight as a result: 15 percent
8.- Percent of Worthen Bank that Mochtar Riady bought over the next four months to bail out the bank and the then-governor, Bill Clinton: 40 percent.
9.- Percent of purchasers from the Clintons and McDougals of resort lots who lost the land because of the sleazy financing provisions: more than 50
percent

The Media
1.- Number of journalists covering Whitewater who have been fired, transferred off the beat, resigned or otherwise gotten into trouble because of their
work on the scandals (Doug Frantz, Jim Wooten, Richard Behar, Christopher Ruddy, Michael Isikoff, David Eisenstadt, Yinh Chan, Jonathan Broder,
James R. Norman, Zoh Hieronimus): 10

Friends of Bill
1.- Number of times John Huang took the Fifth Amendment in answer to questions during a Judicial Watch deposition: 1,000
2.- Visits made to the White House by investigation subjects Johnny Chung, James Riady, John Huang, and Charlie Trie: 160
3.- Number of campaign contributors who got overnights at the White House in the two years before the 1996 election: 577
4.- Number of members of Thomas Boggs' law firm who have held top positions in the Clinton administration: 18
5.- Number of times John Huang was briefed by CIA: 37
6.- Number of calls Huang made from Commerce Department to Lippo banks: 261
7.- Number of intelligence reports Huang read while at Commerce: 500

Political Fallout
1.- GOP seats gained in House since Clinton became president: 60
2.- GOP seats gained in Senate since Clinton became president: 11
3.- GOP governorships gained since Clinton became president: 14
4.- GOP state legislative seats gained since Clinton became president: c. 500
5.- Democrat officeholders who have become Republicans since Clinton became president: 439
6.- Republican officeholders who have become Democrats since Clinton became president: 3

Reprinted with permission of The Progressive Review.

For a more comprehensive and detailed look at the transgressions go to the Alamo Girl's website.

Pardon me if I don't buy the spin!

During the past four months, I have traveled about 24,000 miles from Pennsylvania to Oregon, Minnesota to Texas and many points in between. During these months, I have only met about 20% of the people who were strongly for Gore. The vast majority were for either Bush, Nader and/or Buchanan with George W. being by far the most mentioned.

At a family reunion in Idaho in July, of the 160 voters, Gore got 20 votes and that was before the debates. At another reunion in Pennsylvania in August, Gore got 25% of the votes while 40% of the people attending confessed to being Democrats. At a third family reunion in Illinois in September, Gore got only 10% of the votes, yet 60% of the group admitted to being Democrats.

And at a 47th High School Reunion back in Idaho on September 30, Gore only picked up 5 votes of the 48 people attending. And two of those said that they probably would not vote for him but would vote for other Democratic Party candidates.

Is this attitude typical or not?

Throughout the farmer coffees at the elevators, and coffee shops which travelers must frequent as they drive around the country, I have learned to listen and take notes to see what the real people are saying. Listed below is my attempt to put some of their concerns into print so that my readers can understand what the past eight years of the Clinton/Gore administration have done to this old "republic."

The Clinton Legacy

First, they are fed up with politicians "period". Many have stated that "politicians can not be trusted." Those of us who had civics and a course on the Constitution during our secondary school years are appalled at the trampling of our Constitutionally guaranteed rights by the Clinton/Gore Administration. One of my readers sent in this cartoon as her way of expressing her "outrage."

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Second, the attempt to take away the 2nd amendment has brought many almost to the position of taking up arms against the government. The use of children's deaths involving guns at schools to call for the registration and banning of guns seems to many as severe overkill. Deaths involving children under the age of 11 are really minuscule. Even the oft-quoted "17 deaths per day" can not be substantiated and is below the number of children killed in bathtubs and on bicycles each year. At my 47th high school reunion in Idaho, we were asked how many of us took guns to school. About half of the boys did and one girl admitted that she took her Dad's shotgun to school. And guess what, we did not shoot a single person! For a good look at the unintended consequences of gun control, go here.

If we don't learn from history, we are bound to repeat it.

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Third, the land grab schemes in the guise of "saving the environment for the children" is seen as an attempt to take away peoples livelihoods, recreational opportunities, and change the concept of private property. Many local governmental agencies are beginning to fight the Clinton administrations land grab attempts at closing vast areas of the country under the "Antiquities Act." Moreover, the federal programs instituted by the United States Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management have led many westerners to point out that it was because of changes implemented by the Clinton/Gore Administration that the fires consumed more land and forests this year than any year in the past 50 years. Now the Clinton/Gore Administration admits that perhaps those policies were in error . . . but the damage to the environment has been done.

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Fourth, the environmental regulations which have been issued and are based upon "junk science" are seen by many as just another attempt at imposing an agenda designed to harm local citizens from their way of life. The Clinton Administrations effort to impose the Kyoto treaty on the U.S. without it ever being ratified by the Senate is seen by many as arrogant, unlawful, and potentially damaging to the American way of life.China which does not have to conform to the Kyoto treaty is slated to become the world's largest polluter by 2020.

Fifth, selling state secrets for cash, taking foreign donations for political purposes, and allowing large donors to stay in the Lincoln bedroom are seen as trashing the "People's House."For all the coddling of foreign dignitaries, our foreign policy has not made the US many friends. Clinton even hired some public relations people in his vain attempt to garner a Nobel Peace Prize. Yet not only in the Middle East and other places, the foreign policies of the Clinton/Gore administration have created contempt for this country. Here is a picture taken last month that says "Indonesian protesters burn an American flag during a protest outside of U.S. consulate in the provincial capital of Surabaya, East Java.

Flag burn

Sixth, while the Democratic Party may say that the "Impeachment of Bill Clinton" was just about sex, many people are concerned that the Republican Senate leadership failed to allow the House Managers to present all the evidence in the case or to call witnesses. To these people, the crimes of obstruction of justice, perjury, and witness intimidation were far more serious. Many citizens are dismayed to have a President who is an admitted "perjurer" and a Vice-President who is best known for "no controlling legal authority" as their top elected officials. Can a constitutional government exist that allows its chief law enforcement officers and the person that appoints all federal judges for life to continue in office when that person is convicted of perjury in a civil case?

Seventh, Clinton's legacy is an entire generation of young people who are governed, not by principles of right and wrong, but by how much they can get away with. To them, it's not cheating if you don't get caught. And if you get caught, you can lie your way out of it. Attack your accusers; question their motives; cover up the wrongdoing of your friends. Who can blame them? For eight years, they have watched Bill, Hillary, Gore and Reno attacking their accusers, twisting the truth, evading the tough questions and covering up. And their left-wing friends in the teachers unions, Hollywood and the news media have been hard at work spin-doctoring and filtering the news.

There are a few exceptions and they are a joy to find: a hard-working honorable Democratic councilman, a teen-ager who believes in personal responsibility for
his actions. But the general rule is that they can't be trusted.

Eighth, in this Administration's dealings with the various investigations, the operative mandate was not to cooperate but rather to delay, obfuscate, lie, intimidate witnesses, and claim some previously unknown "executive privilege" that required time consuming appeals up to the Supreme Court. Many witnesses known by their colleague's including William Jefferson Clinton for their photographic memories suddenly developed a severe case of amnesia or "I don't recall" when asked by Congressional committees, Justice and/or FBI investigators, or other lawyers during depositions. Simply amazing! In these circumstances, there can be no justice . . .

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And finally, CAN YOU NAME THIS COUNTRY?

* 709,000 Regular (active duty) service personnel
* 293,000 reserve troops.
* Eight standing Army divisions.
* 20 Air Force and Navy air wings with 2,000 combat aircraft.
* 232 Strategic bombers.
* 13 Strategic ballistic missile submarines with 3,114 nuclear warheads
on 232 missiles
* 500 ICBMs with 1,950 warheads
* Four aircraft carriers
* All the support bases, shipyards and logistical assets needed to
sustain such a force.

Is this country Russia? . . . No - Red China? . . . No - Great Britain?
. . . Wrong Again - USA? . . . Hardly, Give up??

Well, don't feel too bad if you are unable to identify this global superpower because this country no longer exists. It has vanished. These are the American military forces and support equipment that have disappeared since the 1992 election of Bill Clinton and Al Gore.

Sleep well, America. It's time to vote!

But then - - 'Tis Only My Opinion!

Fred Richards
November 2000

Corruptisima republica plurimae leges. [The more corrupt a republic, the more laws.] -- Tacitus, Annals III 27

This issue of 'Tis Only My Opinion was copyrighted by A. R. Associates in November 2000.

All rights reserved. Quotation with attribution is encouraged.

Tis Only My Opinion is intended to provoke thinking, then dialogue among our readers.

 

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