Helen Thomas Syndrome: THE SYMPTOMS

Cute pic of Buddy.

No need to apologize. The post is actually quite pertinent.

If one were kind, one would say that Helen is the exception to the rule, "If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog." A rule, BTW, that is even more applicable to the clintons today, post 9/11, than it was when they made their cynical purchase.

But is "purchase" accurate? Or was the Buddy acquisition yet another example of the clinton klepto-bribery scheme?

The clintons cetainly exhibit a curious eagerness to exploit their pets

along with their kid,

and, of course, "the chilrun," blacks, women, the poor, the disenfranchised, the vulnerable, and so on...

Speaking of the doghouse, last fall the president's lawyer Bob Bennett gave a speech to the National Press Club in Washington. On a single day- so he informed an openmouthed audience- he had had four substantial conversations with Clinton about the Paula Jones case, and feeling this excessive, "I had to cut it short and the president said, 'Yeah, I've got to get back to Saddam Hussein,' and I said, 'My God, this is lunacy that I'm taking his time on this stuff.'" Well, I hope Mr. Bennett didn't charge for that day, or for the other time-wasting day when he naively introduced Lewinsky's false affidavit on Clinton's behalf. But, if he hoped to persuade his audience that Clinton should be left alone to conduct a well-mediated Iraq policy, his words achieved the opposite effect. Policy toward Baghdad has been without pulse or direction or principle ever since Mr. Clinton took office. As one who spent some horrible days in Halabja, the Kurdish city that was ethnically cleansed by Saddam's chemical bombs, I have followed Washington's recent maneuvers with great attention. The only moment when this president showed a glimmer of interest in the matter was when his own interests were involved as well.

And thus we come to the embarrassing moment last December when Clinton played field marshal for four days, and destroyed the UN inspection program in order to save it. By November 14, 1998, Saddam Hussein had exhausted everybody's patience by his limitless arrogance over inspections of weapon sites, and by his capricious treatment of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) inspectorate. In a rare show of Security Council solidarity, Russia, China, and France withdrew criticism of a punitive strike. The Republican leadership in both houses of Congress, which had criticized the Clinton administration for inaction, was ready to rock 'n' roll with Iraq. The case had been made, and the airplanes were already in the air when the president called them back. No commander in chief has ever done this before. Various explanations were offered as to why Clinton, and his close political crony Sandy Berger, had make such a wan decision. It was clearly understood that the swing vote had been the president's, and that Madeline Albright and William Cohen had argued the other way.

But in mid-November the president was still flushed with the slight gain made by his party in the midterm elections. Impeachment seemed a world away, with Republican "moderates" becoming the favorite of headline writers and op-ed performers alike. This theme persisted in the news and in the polls until after the pre-Hanukkah weekend of December 12-13, when, having been rebuffed by Benjamin Netanyahu at a post-Wye visit in Israel, Clinton had to fly home empty-handed. This must have been galling for him, since he had only imposed himself on the original Wye agreement, just before the November elections, as a high-profile/high-risk electoral ploy. (He had carried with him to Tel Aviv, on Air Force One, Rick Lazio and Jon Fox, two Republican congressmen widely hailed as fence-sitters regarding impeachment. So it can't easily be said that he wasn't thinking about the domestic implications of foreign policy.) But by Tuesday, December 15, after Clinton's last-ditch nonapology had "bombed" like all its predecessors, every headline had every waverer deciding for impeachment after all. On Wednesday afternoon, the president announced that Saddam Hussein was, shockingly enough, not complying with the UN inspectorate. And the cruise missiles took wing again. Within hours the House Republicans had met and, "furious and fractured," according to the New York Times, had announced the postponement of the impeachment debate, due to begin Thursday morning.

This was not quite like the preceding dramas. For one thing, it could and probably would have happened- unlike Sudan and Afghanistan- at any time. For another thing, the president was careful to say that he had the support of his whole "national security team," which he wouldn't have been able to say of his cop-out decision in November. Presidents don't normally list the number of their own employees and appointees who agree with them about national-security questions, but then, most presidents don't feel they have to. (Though most presidents have avoided making their Cabinet members back them in public on falsehoods about "private" and "inappropriate" conduct.) Having gone on slightly too long about the endorsements he'd won from his own much - bamboozled team, Clinton was faced with only a few remaining questions. These included:

Why, since Saddam Hussein has been in constant noncompliance, must bombing start tonight?
Why has there been no open consultation with either Congress or the United Nations?
When did you find out about the Richard Butler report on Saddam Hussein's violations?

The last question, apparently a simple one, was the most difficult to answer. It emerged that Clinton had known the contents of the Butler report at least two days before it was supposed to be handed to the UN secretary-general Kofi Annan. It was Kofi Annan's job, furthermore, to present it to the world body for action. Members of the National Security Council in Washington, however, were leading the report (which "discovered" Saddam Hussein's violations) to friends of mine in Washington by Tuesday, December 15. This timeline simply means that Clinton knew well in advance that he was going to be handed a free pretext in case of need. Mr. Butler might care to explain why he hurriedly withdrew his inspectors without Security Council permission- leaving some 400 United Nations humanitarian aid workers to face the music- at least a day before the bombs began to drop.

Once again the question: What was the rush? It must have meant a lot to Clinton to begin the strikes when he did, because he forfeited the support of the UN, of Russia, of China, of France, and of much of the congressional leadership- all of which he had enjoyed in varying degrees in November. (The Russians, whose volatile stock of "weapons of mass destruction" is far more of a menace than Iraq's, actually withdrew their ambassador from Washington for the first time in history, and threatened again to freeze talks on strategic-arms limitation.)

To the "rush" question, Clinton at first answered that the weekend of December 19-20 marked the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and one would not want to be bombing an Islamic people while they were beginning their devotions. However, the postponed impeachment debate continued well into Saturday, December 19, and so did the bombardment, which concluded a few hours after the impeachment vote itself. Muslim susceptibilities were therefore even more outraged, even in morally friendly countries such as Kuwait, by the suspicious coincidence of timing. During the debate, the House Democratic leadership took the position, openly encouraged by the White House, that a president should not be embarrassed at home while American troops were "in harm's way" abroad. Again, it is made clear by Clinton's own conduct and arguments that, for him, foreign policy and domestic policy do not exist in parallel universes, but are one and the same.

And, again, I found myself talking to someone who is normally more hawkish than I am. Scott Ritter, who served with UNSCOM from 1991 until August 1998 and who was the chief of its Concealment Investigations Unit, had been warning for months that Saddam Hussein was evading compliance inspections. This warning entainled a further accusation, which was that UNSCOM in general, and Richard Butler in particular, were too much under the day-to-day control of the Clinton administration. (An Australian career diplomat who, according to some of his colleagues, was relinquished with relief by his masters Down Under, Butler owes his job to Madeline Albright in the first place.) Thus, when the United States, did not want a confrontation with Iraq, over the summer and into the fall, Butler and the leadership acted like pussycats and caused Ritter to resign over their lack of seriousness. But then, when a confrontation was urgently desired in December, the slightest pretext would suffice. And that, Ritter says, is the bitterest irony of all. The December strikes had no real military value, because the provocation was too obviously staged.

"They sent inspectors to the Baath Party HQ in Baghdad in the week before the raids," Ritter told me. "UNSCOM then leaves in a huff, claiming to have been denied access. There was nothing inside that facility anway. The stuff was moved before they got there. The United States knew there was nothing in that site. And then a few days later, there are reports that cruise missiles hit the Baath Party HQ! It's completely useless. Butler knew that I'd resign if the U.S. continued to jerk UNSCOM around, and he even came to my leaving party and bought me a drink. But now he's utterly lost his objectivity and impartiality, and UNSCOM inspections have been destroyed in the process, and one day he'll be hung out to dry. Ask your colleagues in Washington when they got his report."

From the Washington Post account by Barton Gellmen, on Wednesday, December 16, written the day before the bombing began and on the day that Kofi Annan saw the Butler report for the first time:

Butler's conclusions were welcome in Washington, which helped orchestrate the terms of the Australian diplomat's report. Sources in New York and Washington said Clinton-administration officials played a direct role in shaping Butler's text during multiple conversations with him Monday at secure facilities in the U.S. mission to the United Nations.

"Of course," Ritter told me almost conversationally, "though this is Wag the Dog, it isn't quite like Sudan and Afghanistan in August, which were Wag the Dog pure and simple."

Well, indeed, nothing is exactly like Wag the Dog. In the movie, the whole war is invented and run out of a studio, and nobody actually dies, whereas in Sudan and Afghanistan and Iraq, real corpses were lying about and blood spilled. You might argue, as Clinton's defenders have argued in my hearing, that if there was such a "conspiracy" it didn't work. To this there are three replies. First, no Clinton apologist can dare, after the victim cult sponsored by both the president and the First Lady, to ridicule the idea of "conspiracy," vast or otherwise. Second, the bombings helped to raise Clinton's poll numbers and to keep them high, and who will say that this in not a permanent White House concern? Third, the subject was temporarily changed from Clinton's thing to Clinton's face, and doubtless that came as some species of relief. But now we understand what in November was a mystery. A much less questionable air strike was canceled because, at that time, Clinton needed to keep an "option" in his breast pocket.

On January 6, two weeks after I spoke to Scott Ritter, UN secretary-general Kofi Annan's office angrily announced that, under Richard Butler's leadership, UNSCOM had in effect become a wholly owned subsidiary of the Clinton administration. The specific disclosure concerned the organization's spying activities, which had not been revealed to the UN. But Ritter's essential point about UNSCOM's and Butler's subservient client role was also underscored. This introduces two more canines- the UN inspectors being metamorphosed from watchdogs into lapdogs.

The staged bombing of Iraq in December was in reality the mother of all pinpricks. It was even explained that nerve-gas sites had not been hit, lest the gas be released. (Odd that this didn't apply in the case of the El Shifa plant, which is located in a suburb of Khartoum.) The Saddam Hussein regime survived with contemptuous ease, while its civilian hostages suffered yet again. During the prematurely triumphant official briefings from Washington, a new bureaucratic euphemism made its appearance. We were incessantly told that Iraq's capacities were being "degraded." This is not much of a target to set oneself, and it also leads to facile claims of success, since every bomb that falls has by definition a "degrading" effect on the system or the society.

By acting and speaking as he did, not just in August but also in December, Clinton opened himself, and the United States, to a charge of which a serious country cannot afford even to be suspected. The tin pots and yahoos of Khartoum and Kabul and Baghdad are micro-megalomaniacs who think of their banana republics as potential superpowers. It took this president to "degrade" a superpower into a potential banana republic.

******

So overwhelming was the evidence in the case of the Sudanese atrocity that by January 1999 it had become a serious embarrassment to the Clinton administration. The true owner of the El Shifa plant, a well-known Sudanese entrepreneur named Saleh Idris, approached Dr. Thomas Tullius, head of the chemistry department at Boston University, and asked him to conduct a forensic examination of the site. Samples taken from all levels, and submitted to three different laboratories in different world capitals, yielded the same resut. There were no traces of any kind of toxicity, or indeed of anything but standard pharmaceutical material. Armed with this and other evidence, Mr. Idris demanded compensation for his destroyed property and initiated proceedings for a lawsuit. His case in Washington was taken up by the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer and Feld- perhaps best known for the prominence with which Vernon Jordan adorns its board of partners.

As a capitalist and holder of private property, Mr. Idris was always likely to receive due consideration if he was prepared to hire the sorts of help that are understood in the Clintonoid world of soft money and discreet law firms. The worker killed at the plant, the workers whose livelihood depended upon it, and those further down the stream whose analgesics and antibiotics never arrived, and whose names are not recorded, will not be present when the recompenses are agreed. They were expendable objects of Clinton's ruthless vanity.

Christopher Hitchens, NO ONE LEFT TO LIE TO

by Mia T

I went to the movie to today to see "Wag the Dog,"

fully expecting to be entertained by its wicked satire.

For an artistic work to qualify as satire,

it must attack human vice or folly through irony, derision, or wit.

If it merely recounts what actually is, it is reportage.

If it underestimates what is, and does so not by design but by miscalculation, it is a flop.

"Wag the Dog" -- notwithstanding De Niro and Hoffman -- is a flop.
A farce of a greater farce just doesn't parse.

You can blame it on bad timing,
and to some small extent this is the case.

Clinton's latest round of

pet-ploitation

and sexploitation

and press-ploitation

and U.S.-ploitation

and us-ploitation

did make a preemptive,

low-life-imitating-art strike.

But the film's obvious references to this president
render that excuse grossly inadequate.

And yet, this flop-as-a-farce shocks, nonetheless.

What is shocking is that Hollywood made it.

That Hollywood made a film about a clintonesque president

who has sex with a Girl Scout in the Oval Office;

who shamelessly, reflexively defrauds the media and the electorate;

who will do anything to cover up his crime:

(it is only eleven days before his expected re-election);
who confects a fake war to deflect attention away

from the statutory rape on federal property;

and finally, who murders a coconspirator
threatening to go public about the coverup.

Dog-ear this: A clear case of canine distemper on celluloid, this movie is not without a certain irony. It is between the frames, however -- the inadvertent, interstitial whimpering of the wagged lapdogs of LA-LA-land.

WHOSE DOG WAS WAGGED?

the operant definition of 'clinton classlessness' -- Although a reliable source had previously warned me about the wife's designs on the White House furnishing -- she had apparently acquired the nasty habit of pilfering from the White House drapery fund -- when I created the following metaphoric musing a year before the clintons "moved," I never imagined that she would -- that they would -- in real life -- in real time -- actually swipe the sofa. Smaller objects neatly tuck-able in nuncupative deals & unnumbered Swiss accounts, without question... BUT THE SOFA??
Jan. 1, 2000

hillary's "interior" design scheme
(an animated how-to)

by Mia T
copyright Mia T 2000

The White House Booty

Letters .. thanked Lee and Joy Ficks for their 1993 donation of a
kitchen set to the White House. Joy Ficks said she was surprised to
hear the Clintons are keeping the kitchen set as a personal gift.

White House Gifts List

• $19,900 two sofas, an easy chair and an ottoman from Steve Mittman,
New York.

• $3,650 kitchen table and four chairs from Lee Ficks, Cincinnati.

• $2,843 sofa from Brad Noe, High Point, N.C.

• $1,170 lamps from Stuart Schiller, Hialeah, Fla.

• $1,000 needlepoint rug from David Martinous, Little Rock.

Following are gifts the Clintons received in 2000 and are paying for:

• $9,433 china cabinet, chandelier and a copy of President Lincoln's
Cooper Union speech from Walter and Selma Kaye, New York.

• $7,375 two coffee tables and two chairs from Denise Rich, New York.

• $7,000 dining room table, server and golf club from Mr. and Mrs. Ron
Dozoretz, Washington.

• $6,282 two carpets from Glen Eden Carpets, Calhoun, Ga.

• $5,000 rug from Martin Patrick Evans, Chicago.

• $5,000 china from Mr. and Mrs. Bill Brandt, Winnetka, Ill.

• $4,994 flatware from Ghada Irani, Los Angeles.

• $4,992 china from Iris Cantor, New York.

• $4,967 flatware, Edith Wasserman, Beverly Hills, Calif.

• $4,967 flatware, Mr. and Mrs. Morris Pynoos, Beverly Hills, Calif.

• $4,787 china from Mary Steenburgen and Ted Danson, Los Angeles.

• $4,920 china from Mr. and Mrs. Steven Spielberg, Universal City,
Calif.

• $3,000 painting from Joan Tumpson, Miami.

• $2,993 televisions and DVD player from Paul Goldenberg, La Habra,
Calif.

• $2,400 dining room chairs from Arthur Athis, Los Angeles.

• $2,110 china and jacket from Jill and Ken Iscol, Pound Ridge, N.Y.

• $1,588 flatware from Myra Greenspun, Green Valley, Nev.

• $595 pantsuit and sweater, Margaret O'Leary, San Francisco.

• $524 golf driver and golf balls from Richard Helmstetter, Carlsbad,
Calif.

• $500 antique book on George Washington, Mr. and Mrs. Bud Yorkin, Los
Angeles.

• $499 golf driver from Ely Callaway, Carlsbad, Calif.

• $450 leather jacket from Vin Gupta, Omaha.

• $350 golf driver, Jack Nicholson, Beverly Hills, Calif.

• $350 framed tapestry, Mr. and Mrs. Vo Viet Thanh, Vietnam.

• $340 two sweaters from Robin Carnahan and Nina Canci, St. Louis.

• $300 flatware from Colette D'Etremont, New Brunswick, Canada.

• $300 painting of Buddy, Brian B. Ready, Chappaqua, N.Y.

Chair Lift

Among the gifts that former president Bill Clinton says he is keeping as
personal presents he accepted last year are $28,000 worth of furnishings
that documents and interviews indicate were given to the National Park
Service in 1993 as part of the permanent White House collection...

Two of the furniture makers whose donations Clinton took with him on
leaving the White House last month say they gave them to the White House
as part of a widely publicized, $396,000 redecoration of the executive
mansion and not to Clinton personally.

"When we've been asked to donate, it was always hyphenated with the
words, " 'White House,' " New York manufacturer Steve Mittman said of
his family-owned business, which gave two sofas, an easy chair and an
ottoman, worth $19,900 and listed by Clinton as part of the gifts he
took with him. "To us, it was not a donation to a particular person."

Gifts Were Not Meant for Clintons, Some Donors Say

Sen. Clinton made another assertion - one that is equally misleading.
She contends she was not obliged to report the first Leiber bag she received "because it was received before the Clintons entered the White House."
But this bag, valued at $3,500, was received after the election and during the transition and therefore obviously was related to the Clinton presidency.

HILLARY'S STORY ON HER WHITE HOUSE GIFTS IS FULL OF (LOOP)HOLES, Dick Morris
But he said the Socks purse was given to Clinton during the transition in late 1992, before her husband took office...
--HILLARY: I RETURNED GIFTS TO THE NATIONAL ARCHIVE

TRANSLATION: An earlier example of the clinton post-election/pre-swearing-in klepto-bribery scheme...
MORE: HILLARY: I RETURNED GIFTS TO THE NATIONAL ARCHIVE [SOCKS BAGS BAG]

A (sporadically-Camp-David) clinton Thanksgiving --1996 Turkey Prez a D.C. Gofer? (Have you connected the dots yet, Helen?)

Clinton reviewing inaugural plans

by Helen Thomas, 29-NOV-1996 14:29

The president, still suffering from a raspy voice, and ordered by his doctor to rest his vocal chords, carried a briefcase as he strolled to the waiting helicopter to return to Camp David. He wore a leather jacket and was followed by an aide carrying a huge box of inaugural papers.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- President Clinton briefly interrupted his Thanksgiving holiday weekend at Camp David Friday with a quick trip to the White House to gather data he wants to study in planning his second inauguration and then returned to the mountaintop retreat.

The president returned to the Executive Mansion with his wife Hillary and daughter Chelsea, 16. Along with him was Hollywood producer Harry Thomasson, who with his wife Linda Bloodworth Thomasson, a prominent sitcom writer, spent Thanksgiving Day with the Clinton clan at the mountaintop retreat.

Clinton conferred with Thomasson in the Oval Office on his return and discussed preliminary plans for the inaugural on Jan. 20, including choosing a poem he will have read at his second swearing in as president.

The Thomassons played a prominent role in writing the script for his first inauguration in 1993.

The president, still suffering from a raspy voice, and ordered by his doctor to rest his vocal chords, carried a briefcase as he strolled to the waiting helicopter to return to Camp David. He wore a leather jacket and was followed by an aide carrying a huge box of inaugural papers.

But before plunging into further study, Clinton arranged to take time out to play golf with Hillary's brothers at a course near Camp David.

The first lady and Chelsea did not return to the presidential hideaway with him. Mrs. Clinton had the Christmas decoration of the White House to supervise as it got underway Friday and Chelsea had to attend a rehearsal for her performance in the Washington Ballet's annual Christmas performance of "The Nutcracker Suite."

In addition, an aide said Mrs. Clinton had to prepare for her trip to Bolivia Monday afternoon where she will attend the annual meeting of the first ladies of the Americas. Before she departs, she will host a press preview of the White House Christmas decorations.

The president arranged to deliver his weekly Saturday radio address from Camp David. White House press secretary Mike McCurry said the subject would be: "Thanksgiving."

Clinton plans to return to the White House on Sunday, and will face a busy week ahead as he makes important decisions on the make up of his next national security team.

Clinton took a binder of recommendations with him to Camp David on possible Cabinet appointments prepared by his transition team. Most of the interest centered on who he would pick to succeed Secretary of State Warren Christopher who is leaving the Cabinet.

The president wants to have his chief diplomatic and military advisers on deck before Christmas, and the entire new Cabinet selected by Inauguration Day.

On the social side, next week the President and Mrs. Clinton will begin a series of nightly Christmas parties leading up to the holiday. The Clintons, in keeping with tradition, will spend Christmas in the White House.

15. Mr. Grafeld told me, referring to Judicial Watch's allegations that Commerce Department trade mission seats were sold in exchange for campaign contributions, that "(Judicial Watch Chairman and General Counsel) Klayman is right on target" but that he believes that the trade mission issues were "only the tip of the iceberg -- that the really big money went towards Presidential access." Mr. Grafeld indicated to me that he believes that Ms. Moss was asking for political contributions in exchange for seats on Commerce Department trade missions, likely at the direction of Hillary Rodham Clinton, but that documents showing this illegal activity had "left the building." In fact, there were effectively no security procedures at the Commerce Department to ensure that sensitive and secret documents and/or any documents which might evidence criminal activity stayed in the building. The purported letters referenced by Mr. Grafeld and Nolanda Hill could easily have "left the building" absent sufficient procedures to secure them.

---from DECLARATION OF SONYA STEWART

WASHINGTON, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- President Clinton [upon the discovery of the body of Barbara Wise in the Commerce Department offices] briefly interrupted his Thanksgiving holiday weekend at Camp David Friday with a quick trip to the White House to gather data...and then returned to the mountaintop retreat...
The president, still suffering from a raspy voice, and ordered by his doctor to rest his vocal chords, carried a briefcase as he strolled to the waiting helicopter to return to Camp David. He wore a leather jacket and was followed by an aide carrying a huge box ...

Clinton reviewing inaugural plans, Helen Thomas, 29-NOV-1996

Missy Kelly's Analysis of Mysterious Commerce Death
Whitewater Bulletin Board on the Prodigy Network
1997

Missy Kelly

Missy Kelly is a regular poster to the Whitewater Bulletin Board on the Prodigy Network. She is not a "professional" reporter but her work often surpasses that of so-called professionals who are content to rewrite wire stories and take the party line from the beltway elite.

For some background to this analysis, here is the original AP wire story concerning the mysterious death of a Commerce Department worker that occured over Thanksgiving weekend.
Police Investigating Death at Commerce Department

November 29, 1996 9.58 am EST (1458 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Police were investigating the death of a woman whose body was found today in an office at the Commerce Department.
Anne Luzzatto, press secretary for Commerce Secretary Mickey Kantor, said the woman's body was found this morning by a Commerce Department employee, who notified security personnel in the building. "It is my understanding that someone found the body in an office on the fourth floor,'' Luzzatto said.
She said that District of Columbia police were conducting an investigation but that she had no details on a cause of death. The woman's name was being withheld pending notification of relatives.
1996 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
FOX News Network 1996. All rights reserved.

Beginning of Missy Kelly's Analysis

On Friday morning at 7:45 AM, Clinton suddenly, and unexpectedly, returns to WH from Camp David that same AM, and yet is back on links at Camp David by afternoon.
Compare this UPI story to the report on the AP that follows:
Clinton reviewing inaugural plans

by Helen Thomas

29-NOV-1996 14:29

WASHINGTON, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- President Clinton briefly interrupted his Thanksgiving holiday weekend at Camp David Friday with a quick trip to the White House to gather data he wants to study in planning his second inauguration and then returned to the mountaintop retreat.
The president returned to the Executive Mansion with his wife Hillary and daughter Chelsea, 16. Along with him was Hollywood producer Harry Thomasson, who with his wife Linda Bloodworth Thomasson, a prominent sitcom writer, spent Thanksgiving Day with the Clinton clan at the mountaintop retreat.
Clinton conferred with Thomasson in the Oval Office on his return and discussed preliminary plans for the inaugural on Jan. 20, including choosing a poem he will have read at his second swearing in as president.
The Thomassons played a prominent role in writing the script for his first inauguration in 1993.
The president, still suffering from a raspy voice, and ordered by his doctor to rest his vocal chords, carried a briefcase as he strolled to the waiting helicopter to return to Camp David. He wore a leather jacket and was followed by an aide carrying a huge box of inaugural papers.
But before plunging into further study, Clinton arranged to take time out to play golf with Hillary's brothers at a course near Camp David.
The first lady and Chelsea did not return to the presidential hideaway with him. Mrs. Clinton had the Christmas decoration of the White House to supervise as it got underway Friday and Chelsea had to attend a rehearsal for her performance in the Washington Ballet's annual Christmas performance of "The Nutcracker Suite."
In addition, an aide said Mrs. Clinton had to prepare for her trip to Bolivia Monday afternoon where she will attend the annual meeting of the first ladies of the Americas. Before she departs, she will host a press preview of the White House Christmas decorations.
The president arranged to deliver his weekly Saturday radio address from Camp David. White House press secretary Mike McCurry said the subject would be: "Thanksgiving."
Clinton plans to return to the White House on Sunday, and will face a busy week ahead as he makes important decisions on the make up of his next national security team.
Clinton took a binder of recommendations with him to Camp David on possible Cabinet appointments prepared by his transition team. Most of the interest centered on who he would pick to succeed Secretary of State Warren Christopher who is leaving the Cabinet.
The president wants to have his chief diplomatic and military advisers on deck before Christmas, and the entire new Cabinet selected by Inauguration Day.
On the social side, next week the President and Mrs. Clinton will begin a series of nightly Christmas parties leading up to the holiday. The Clintons, in keeping with tradition, will spend Christmas in the White House.

END OF UPI REPORT

Clinton Enjoys A Round Of Golf

5:36 PM (ET) 11/29

HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) -- Scaring a pondful of ducks, President Clinton enjoyed an afternoon of golf with family members on Friday after returning briefly to the White House to work on the program of his second inaugural.
Midway through 18 holes, the president splashed two balls into a small lake between the green and the rough, scattering a flotilla ducks.
The ducks settled down and so did the president. After one more errant shot, he landed his ball on the green, drawing applause from club house onlookers at the Black Rock Golf Club.
The president, just returned from a trip to Asia that included a state visit to Australia, wore an Australian-style "Crocodile Dundee" hat, charcoal gray pants and a blue sweatshirt.
It was an all-in-the-family affair. The president's partners included his stepfather, Dick Kelley; his brother, Roger Clinton; and his two brothers-in-law, Hugh and Tony Rodham.
The president drove his own golf cart.
On Friday morning, Clinton unexpectedly left Camp David in the Catoctin Mountains of western Maryland, where he and his extended family had enjoyed Thanksgiving, to return to the White House.
One purpose for the helicopter ride: The president wanted to give first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and their daughter, Chelsea, a ride to town to attend a ballet event.
But White House press secretary Mike McCurry said the president also spent time in the Oval Office with television producer Harry Thomason discussing the themes and program of his second inaugural.
"The inaugural committee wants to send the program to the printers as early as possible next week," McCurry said.
Clinton also picked up some volumes of poetry not available to him at Camp David, McCurry said, adding that the president wants to review them before announcing the name of the poet expected to be included in the Jan. 20 ceremony at the Capitol.
When Clinton was inaugurated four years ago, poet Maya Angelou read from her work.

END OF AP REPORT

Missy's Analysis of Situation

Death at Commerce
The partially nude body of Barbara Alice Wise, 48, was found at 7:45 AM in her LOCKED fourth floor office at the Commerce Department, Friday morning, Nov. 29, 1996.
Ms. Wise worked in Commerce's INTERNATIONAL TRADE ADMINISTRATION, known as ITA.
The DOA showed up in the same department that Huang and Yee were both associated with when they worked at Commerce. Interesting.
What's almost as interesting is the fact that this Death at Commerce has NOT been widely reported. I have waited for nearly a week now, but nada, nothing, zilch, zip.
So...Maybe they didn't catch it?
Lets look at this story as it played out in the press. The stories, in their full glory are attached:
9:58 AM Friday The story breaks: A dead body, female, is found on the fourth floor of Commerce, by a colleague. Colleague, un-named. The District of Columbia Police are conducting the investigation. No name [pending notification of relatives], no details.
12:01 Friday Reuters: Body found in deceased's office, where the International Trade Administration has offices. Cause of death not yet determined. Police say the city's medical examiner would perform an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of her death. Case being investigated by Homicide branch.
Woman last seen alive Wednesday at 4 PM. Commerce building was closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving.
1:23 PM Friday AP reports the body was found at 7:45 AM that morning. The woman, still unidentified, had worked for Commerce for 14 years, in the department's International Trade Administration.
"She specialized in trade development, working in the unit that provided analysis of various industries." No details on the cause of death. "Police also would immediately release few details."
1:39 PM Friday AP reports President Clinton flew to the White House today, from Camp David where he'd spent Thanksgiving. Clinton had already returned [by 1:39 PM] to western Maryland for a round of golf. He spent less than two hours at WH, one them with Harry Thomasson.
Why the unexpected, unscheduled, sudden trip to the White House? Why the meeting with Thomasson...and the rush to meet with him?
[Clinton] spent an hour in the Oval Office with television producer Harry Thomasson discussing the themes and program of his second inaugural, said White House press secretary Mike McCurry.
"The inaugural committee wants to send the program to the printers as early as possible next week," McCurry said.
Clinton also picked up some volumes of poetry not available to him at Camp David, McCurry said, adding that the president wants to review them before announcing the name of the poet expected to be included in the Jan. 20 ceremony at the Capitol.
McCurry said the president also wanted to give first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and their daughter, Chelsea, a ride to town to attend a ballet event.
Completing his less than two-hour stop, Clinton returned to Camp David, also by helicopter.
He was to play golf at a course near Hagerstown, Md., with his stepfather, Dick Kelley, and his wife's two brothers, Hugh and Tony Rodham.

This story...from AP and the WH...infers that Bill came to the WH to meet with Thomasson to finalize some inauguration plans that needed to get to the "printers". We all know that the small fry GO TO THE PRESIDENT, not the other way around. Thomasson would have flown to the prez. Further, the PRESIDENT doesn't run back to the White House to pick up "poetry books". He SENDS people back to pick up poetry books. And we all know what a devoted husband and father Bill is ... wasn't it sweet of him to give Chelsea and Hillary a "lift back to town"? Must have been an early "ballet event"...
Notice the time that BC arrived is not stated, but we do know he was gone by the time this story was reported: 1:39 PM. He was there for 2 hours. That means he was in DC no later than 11:30 AM, possibly earlier.
2:29 PM Friday UPI Report Just in case you didn't buy the above excuses for Bill's sudden appearance at the White House, how about these from UPI excerpts:
1] a quick trip to the White House to gather data he wants to study in planning his second inauguration
2] Mrs. Clinton had the Christmas decoration of the White House to supervise as it got underway Friday and Chelsea had to attend a rehearsal for her performance in the Washington Ballet's annual Christmas performance of "The Nutcracker Suite."
3] In addition, an aide said Mrs. Clinton had to prepare for her trip to Bolivia Monday afternoon where she will attend the annual meeting of the first ladies of the Americas. Before she departs, she will host a press preview of the White House Christmas decorations.

Now the DISINFORMATION/SPIN is starting to become very clear. Not only the lame excuses as to Clinton's sudden quick trip to the White House, but regarding Clinton's visit with Thomasson.
Quickly let me chat about Hillary coming back to oversee the decorating. Gary Aldrich wrote about the 1994 White House Christmas decorating, in his book "Unlimited Access", p. 103. He said he was "surprised" to hear that the First Family was at the White House when the decorating was going on. "They had not gone to Camp David, as was tradition - that way, the decorating could go on undisturbed and they could be surprised when they returned for the great unveiling." Hillary has never taken an interest in decorating the White House before. Did she really take an interest this year? Did Aldrich "make her do it"?
But more importantly, contrary to the AP article above, which inferred that Bill came to the WH to MEET with Thomasson, it turns out Thomasson and Clinton had been together for days:
The president returned to the Executive Mansion with his wife Hillary and daughter Chelsea, 16. Along with him was Hollywood producer Harry Thomasson, who with his wife Linda Bloodworth Thomasson, a prominent sitcom writer, spent Thanksgiving Day with the Clinton clan at the mountaintop retreat.
Clinton conferred with Thomasson in the Oval Office on his return and discussed preliminary plans for the inaugural on Jan. 20, including choosing a poem he will have read at his second swearing in as president.

[end of excerpt]
Thomasson and Bill Did NOT HAVE to meet at the White House. They were together all along. They could have had their meeting at Camp David. If they needed info, they'd have sent a lackey. Clearly, this "meeting" was an EXCUSE for the sudden return to DC. Clearly, the real reason for Clinton's sudden trip to the White House was NOT BEING TOLD.
And there is more weirdness:
"The president... carried a briefcase as he strolled to the waiting helicopter to return to Camp David. He wore a leather jacket and was followed by an aide carrying a huge box of inaugural papers."

Okay. Put on your thinking cap. When have you EVER seen ANY President CARRYING ANYTHING as the get into or out of the Presidential helicopter...? Seriously...WHEN HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A PRESIDENT CARRYING ANYTHING? [I believe it is against security rules for the president to be encumbered in such a fashion. That's why others carry everything.]
5:21 PM Friday [AP]
This is critical!
The AP STILL says: "The name of the 48-year-old woman was being withheld pending notification of relatives."
In itself, this means nothing.
But then you have THIS BOMBSHELL:
"District of Columbia police spokesman J C Stamps said that an autopsy was being performed."

The DOA's relatives have NOT been informed YET the body is already on the table being autopsied.
Not only did the autopsy start BEFORE the relatives had been informed of the DOA's death, but the autopsy started less 10 HOURS after the body was found.
The last time I saw an autopsy done so quickly was in the death of Vincent Foster...and it took tremendous pressure EXERTED BY THE WHITE HOUSE. I have read hundreds of pages of testimony regarding the influence of the White House on getting Foster's autopsy bumped to TOP PRIORITY. I submit to you that only White House pressure could account for the fact that this DOA was autopsied even before her name was publicly released.
Just think common sense. There are a lot of DOA's in Washington DC. There is ALWAYS a back log of bodies to be autopsied. NO DOA gets autopsied in less than 10 hours unless someone decides to bump THIS DOA to the top of the list. WHO? WHY? Were the officers of the crime scene present at the autopsy, per standard procedure? Was the autopsy in progress when whoever attended got there? Was there anyone from the DC Police even present at the autopsy? Who performed the autopsy?
Continuing from the AP story:
District of Columbia police spokesman J C Stamps...did not rule out foul play.
"We are looking into all possibilities," he said.
A local television station, WRC, quoted unidentified police sources as saying that the office where the body was found was locked and the body was partially nude.

Whoa. A dead body, found partially nude, in a locked office, in the same Commerce Department where Yee and Huang once worked, where documents are being requested and subpoenaed left and right, is being autopsied less than 10 hours after it is found, and before the relatives have been notified.
This is getting VERY interesting. Or is it?
5:36 PM Friday
Apparently it's of no interest at all. To Bill Clinton at least.
Now, another excerpt from AP:
Scaring a pondful of ducks, President Clinton enjoyed an afternoon of golf with family members on Friday after returning briefly to the White House to work on the program of his second inaugural.

But Bill was WITH Harry Thomasson at Camp David... they did NOT have to return to the White House to "work on the program of his second inaugural". Horsepuckey.
This story cracks me up...done for no other reason than to publicly show how relaxed and unconcerned the President was that afternoon...even though a dead body had showed up just hours before in a locked room at Commerce's ITA, the same department that Huang and Yee worked in.
Again, from AP:
Midway through 18 holes, the president splashed two balls into a small lake between the green and the rough, scattering a flotilla ducks.
The ducks settled down and so did the president. After one more errant shot, he landed his ball on the green, drawing applause from club house onlookers at the Black Rock Golf Club.
The president... wore an Australian-style "Crocodile Dundee" hat, charcoal gray pants and a blue sweatshirt.
It was an all-in-the-family affair. The president's partners included his stepfather, Dick Kelley; his brother, Roger Clinton; and his two brothers-in-law, Hugh and Tony Rodham.
The president drove his own golf cart.

Just a beautiful picture, isn't it? The close knit- family, golfing, laughing; relaxed, the ducks on wing... So serene.
Except for that 800 lb. gorilla, aka, the DOA, back at Huang's Department at Commerce.
This story has absolutely no value. Why was it written? Why was it posted to the wire service? This is news?
I submit to you it was written to record that Clinton showed no signs of stress about that 800 lb. gorilla. The rest is just re-hash of what was put out hours before.
This story was COVER.
1:30 AM Saturday Morning
Nearly six hours has elapsed since AP's last story on the DOA.
In the wee hours of the morning AP announces the name of the Commerce DOA, one Barbara Alice Wise, 48, of Gambrills, Md.
It is also noted that "the unit where she worked provided analysis for various industries designed to boost export sales."
Again, from AP:
Sgt. Michael Farish, a homicide investigator with District of Columbia police, said officers have found no signs of foul play and believe that she died of natural causes. But the case continued to be investigated as a homicide, he said.
A preliminary autopsy was unable to determine the cause of death Friday.

The Police say "no signs of foul play", yet she was found partially naked, in a locked office. And the police say she died of "natural causes" even though the autopsy was UNABLE to determine the cause of death.
Humm. Interesting. What natural causes would that be, that an autopsy can't determine?
No, they tell us: the autopsy didn't determine why she died, partially naked, in a locked room. But it was of natural causes, and there were "no signs of foul play." And it would continue to be investigated as a homicide.
Interesting.
My, What's going to happen next?
NOTHING, because THAT WAS THE LAST STORY ON THE DOA AT COMMERCE. [The same story appeared on Prodigy's AP Online with a later timestamp]
To my knowledge, NO NEWS SERVICE HAS DONE A SINGLE STORY ON THIS DEATH SINCE.
In less than 24 hours, this stunning discovery at Commerce, in John Huang's former department is no longer news. This story is DOA.
Comments:
Once they got it on the wires that the body had been autopsied, and it was of natural causes, even with an indeterminate autopsy, well...that's the end of that.
The press says: "Let's talk about Hillary's Press tour of the WH "Nutcracker" decorating theme...."
Why, there weren't even any follow-up stories on Hillary's trip to Bolivia, alluded to in the UPI report at 14:29 hours on Friday.
I would think the First Lady's trip to Bolivia for unknown reasons would be more newsworthy than what Bill wore when he played golf, and that he drove his own damn golf cart. Wouldn't you?
It would appear, at the very least, Ms. Wise worked under Mr. Huang, where he served as the Ass't Deputy Secretary in that section. What was Alice Wise's position under John Huang? How much did they interface in their work? Same questions regarding Ms Yee and Ms. Wise.
Did Wise focus on Asian or European affairs? What did Ms. Wise know? Did she travel on any Commerce trade trips? Did she attend the Nov. 1994 junket to Jakarta? Did Ms. Wise ever interface with Lippo/Riady or their business interests while working at Commerce?
Did Ms. Wise ever receive a subpoena for testimony on information she may have regarding Ron Brown? From either Ron Brown's now-defunct IC, the Justice Dept. who took over the Brown investigation after Brown's death, or Starr? Or any congressional committee? Or Judicial Watch?
What are the answers to the who/what/where/why of Ms. Wise? And why is NO ONE ASKING?
WHY IS THE MEDIA SILENT ABOUT THIS WOMAN'S DEATH?
It also appears quite clear to me that the REAL reason for Bill's sudden and unscheduled visit to the White House is not being shared. Spin, spin, disinformation. Obviously NOT for the reasons the White House put out. National Business that suddenly needed attending to? Then the rest of his staff would have been there.
Were they at the White House to "deal with" the dead body that just showed up at Commerce? If NOT, then why DID Bill Clinton REALLY make this unscheduled urgent trip to the White House...and bring Thomasson along? If Clinton needed a "meeting" as an excuse, you would think he'd pick a better cover than Thomasson whose mere name raises eyebrows...Better that Clinton meet with Mother Theresa. Was Thomasson just "handy" to use as an excuse? But Thomasson was WITH Bill Clinton at Camp David. There was no need to fly to the White House for the meeting.
BUT for the fact that at 7:45 AM that very morning a dead body showed up in the very Commerce Department section, ITA, where Huang and Yee worked when they served there, there is no legitimate reason why Bill suddenly flew into DC on Friday morning.
If the DOA at Commerce was the real reason, and her death relates to the Lippo Affair, consider this:
Most of Bill's contacts and conduits to the Riady's have been exposed. Is Thomasson NOW ACTING as the conduit for information flow between the Riady's and the White House? Did Bill go to the White House to deal with events, and to "gather data" that relates to Lippo/Riady/Huang, and this woman's death? Were these documents what Bill was personally carrying to the helicopter? Are these documents what in the box of "papers" the aide was carrying? Were they removing incriminating documents to Camp David to make them inaccessible to any WH subpoena? If I were issuing a subpoena at this point, I'd surely include any papers at Camp David. You think this is far fetched? Remember that not too long ago, Clinton's COUNSEL, Jack Quinn tried this same ruse to circumvent a WH subpoena by sending the subpoenaed documents TO THE FBI, so Quinn could say, "there are no such documents IN the White House." This is NOT far-fetched with this Clinton White House.
Regarding the query: IS Thomasson now acting as a conduit between the Riady's and the Clintons? I don't know if I sent you this or not, but I have been wondering about Thomasson's company in the Travelgate affair TRM. We know that Huang and Thomasson spoke often on the phone...but we don't know what they talked about. The only role we know for Thomasson is Travelgate, so it naturally brings up the next question: Were Thomasson and Huang talking about Travelgate? If so, what does Huang have to do with it? Well, what if TRM doesn't stand for T=Thomasson, R=Richland M=Martens.
What if the R in TRM really stands for RIADY? Do we know for certain that this Richland dude was THE "R"? Do we know for certain he used his own money? Further, notice this:
From the Arkansas Democrat Gazette [date uncertain, but posted on BB 11/27/96] "Clinton's election focused world's eye on Indonesia deals" by ANDREA HARTER:
[Mark] Grobmyer has said he does not represent himself to the Indonesians as having special access to the White House, but he did gain a rare audience with Suharto in 1993, Arkansas Industrial Development Commission records show. An April 23, 1993, memo written by Harrington to Tucker says, "Grobmyer recently visited Indonesia by invitation of Mr. Mochtar Riady. ... While there, he met with President Suharto." The memo says that a visit to Arkansas by Jakarta's governor was "to reciprocate Mark's visit."
Grobmyer said Monday that his visit with Suharto had no connection to state officials or to Clinton. "I was on the international committee for Little Rock with the (Little Rock) Chamber of Commerce, and there was some talk of a commuter airline facility out at the airport. I thought they would be interested in knowing about it. But I never represented the president."

Many fascinating things about this statement! First of all: Why would Riady and Suharto be interested in a "commuter airline facility" out at the airport? They'd be interested if they had a stake in a related business...perhaps TRM? Perhaps even World Wide Travel?
Secondly, if I am not mistaken, Judge David Hale was a BIG dog in the Chamber of Commerce in Little Rock. If I am not mistaken he even held a NATIONAL post in the parent organization. This meeting with Grobmyer and Riady and Suharto took place in April 1993...before Hale's troubles became known. Why doesn't someone ASK David Hale what HE KNOWS about the Lippo connections to ArkAsia?
I have never believed all the reasons thrown out as to the "why" of Travelgate. Why would the WH/Clinton's expose themselves so recklessly, and urgently to get TRM into the Travel office? The urgency is what doesn't fit. And I never bought that it was the money Thomasson could make if he had the office. Thomasson already has money, and how much would one make arranging press trips?
But what if Travelgate is in reality "Lippogate", only in disguise. What if the Riady's and Lippo play a role in TRM, World Wide Travel? Ah, then the possible reasons for the WH actions make a little more sense. It even makes on reconsider the statement that Foster died over Travelgate.
I have tremendous RESPECT for the disinformation that comes out of this White House. They are BRILLIANT. Yet, on this Friday morning, they really blew it big-time. I would suggest to you that they were SO PANICKED that they COULDN'T THINK STRAIGHT. Hence, their terrible job of creating "cover stories" for the urgent, and unexpected stopover at the White House.
End of Investigative Report by Missy Kelly

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