I know DC. The story is incredible and does sound so "dated". This should not be happening. That's why I was looking for more info. But yea, good for them.


TIS

You might want to know the following:

In Texas, County governments are responsible for arranging early voting and they must pay for all of it.

Texas law doesn't require more than a central early voting location in Counties under 100,000 in population. Waller County's population is about 35,000 and its about 500 sq. miles in size.

There are about 25,000 registered voters in the County of which less than 8,000 voted in the 2006 General Election.

The provision of a central voting location affects all Waller County potential voters, not just the ones at the College.

Voter turnout among College age Texas voters in general elections is typically less than 20%. It is almost non-existent in primary elections and even fewer vote early.

So, perhaps you should take the foregong into consideration before using words such as incredible or invoking images of the Civil Rights movement.

TIS -- with all do respect, if I wanted to vote early, I would have to walk 12 miles to the county seat to get an absentee (or early ballot).

No one is preventing an individual or group from voting in this particular instance. Does traveling the 12 miles make me feel disenfranchised? Not in the least -- I have weeks to make this happen if necesary. If needed to vote absentee (becasue I could not make it our to vote on election day), I have plenty of time to walk, drive my car, ride a horse, catch a bus, get a ride from a friend, etc.... to go vote. And, I would do so as it is important to me. Something as important as voting should not one taken lightly. (I believe I have told the story on the GBB or how my wife and I were living at a camp about 50 miles from our house and drove back on election day and our candidate won her primary race for state legislature by 2 votes [my wife and my vote]?)

Anyway - just my thoughts.

Good observation that puts things in perspective. Man, those evil Republicans

Olivant,

What do you suppose they mean by, "The redistricting games they’ve played are infamous." Where/why does this frustration come from? Since you are in Texas can you provide a link as you may have access to more of this story?

Also, with all due respect, just looking at that video, yes, it does bring to mind the demonstrations movements of the 60's IMHO.

And dear Part, forgetting Republican or Democrat, it was more the story itself that I was pointing out. I know political games do go both ways.

TIS

Back on topic...I just heard Ralph Nader is running again. Wait, don't know why I'm surprised I guess. Anyway, for those torn, here's another choice.



TIS

The Democratic debate on Tuesday night will be held at Cleveland State University. I happen to work there and have been selected to be a volunteer for the event. Our institution held a lottery for students to attend and a separate lottery for those wanting to assist the process. I will find out later today what I will actually be doing on Tuesday.

I'm looking forward to this unique opportunity. It will be a looooong day, as the debate will air from 9:00 - 10:30 pm EST. We're not permitted to bring any phones, cameras, or other electronic devices.

Goombah, that's great. I have never been a particpant in anything like that. This election especially, it would be very appealing. Too bad you can't take pictures. It has got to be a very exciting and interesting experience, to say the least.

Keep us posted as to what's going on there in Ohio.


TIS

Following the 2000 Federal Census, the Texas Legislature failed to redistrict Congressional seat electoral district boundaries. Therefore, several State judges did it in 2002. That retained a Democratic majority among the State's House represenatives. After the Republicans took control of the Texas Legislature in 2003, Tom Delay and his allies got them to redistrict again and this time they were able to turn 5 formerly Democratic filled seats to Republican seats (Gerrymandering). That's what the article means by redisticting games.

As far as the "60s" visual, I would urge caution. Why? Yesterday I watched a video of Rocky Marciano defeating Joe Lewis on his quest to become boxing's heavyweight champion. Or maybe I was watching this young white guy beat up this older black guy while everyone else stood by and applauded.

The march by those A&M students was a faux demonstration probably based in large part on their ignorance of the Texas Election Code, the voting cycle, and their own responsibilities as part of that cycle.

"They're Republican red, and true blue to Obama"

By Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
February 25, 2008
DELAWARE, OHIO -- Chatter bounces off the bare walls and checkered linoleum floor as Josh Pedaline and other Barack Obama supporters burn through their call sheets.

A map of Delaware County splays across a tabletop. Another table is laden with cookies, pretzels and other snacks. Volunteers sit elbow to elbow, pecking at cellphones and pitching the Illinois Democrat in advance of Ohio's March 4 primary. The scene is a typical campaign boiler room.

Except that four of the 13 dialing away are lifelong Republicans, including Pedaline, 28, who reveres Ronald Reagan and twice voted for President Bush.

"I am so sick and tired of the partisanship," Pedaline says before starting his night shift at Obama's outpost in this affluent Columbus suburb. "I don't want to be cheesy and say, 'He'll bring us all together.' But he seems like someone willing to listen to a good idea, even if it comes from a Republican."

Pedaline and other GOP renegades are part of a striking phenomenon this campaign season: They are "Obamacans," as the senator calls them, and they are surfacing in surprising numbers. Though some observers question their commitment, they are blurring -- for now, at least -- the red-blue lines that have colored the nation's politics for the last several years.

"I'm a conservative, but I have gay friends," Pedaline explains over dinner at a Columbus diner. "I have friends who don't believe in abortion, but I don't condemn them for it; I don't feel like Obama is condemning me for being a Republican."

Pedaline has some high-profile company. Susan Eisenhower, a GOP business consultant and granddaughter of President Eisenhower, has endorsed the Democratic hopeful. Colin L. Powell, who served in both Bush administrations, has hinted he may do so as well.

Former Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, who quit the Republican Party after losing his 2006 reelection bid, endorsed Obama even though he campaigned for Chafee's opponent. Mark McKinnon, a strategist for Republican John McCain, says he will continue to back the Arizona senator but will step aside rather than work against Obama if the two meet in the fall election.

McCain also enjoys crossover support, Democrats attracted by his blunt talk and willingness to break with Republicans on campaign finance and global warming. "We know the old Reagan Democrats," McCain said aboard his campaign charter. "We'll try to get those on our side as well, Democrats who think that I'm more capable, particularly on national security issues."

But so far, Obama has shown more success pulling members of the other party to his side.

Republicans made up 6% of voters in Missouri's Democratic primary, 7% in Virginia's and 9% in Wisconsin's. (Most states make it harder to vote in the other party's contest.) The overwhelming majority cast their ballots for Sen. Obama, according to exit polls.

Johanna Schneider was one of his Virginia supporters. She went door to door for Obama with her 14-year-old son, Chase, convinced that fellow Republicans have lost their way. "I just feel this is a tremendous opportunity to open politics up to a new generation," said Schneider, a former GOP staffer on Capitol Hill. "And I believe that Barack Obama is a genuine transformational candidate."

The support has not come unbidden. Throughout his campaign, Obama has been appealing to Republicans even as he battles Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York for the Democratic nomination. Obama's first TV ad in Iowa featured a GOP lawmaker from Illinois touting Obama's ability to work with Republicans.

"Very rarely do you hear me talking about my opponents without giving them some credit for having good intentions and being decent people," Obama recently told U.S. News & World Report. "There's nothing uniquely Democratic about a respect for civil liberties. There's nothing uniquely Democratic about believing in a foreign policy of restraint. . . . A lot of the virtues I talk about are virtues that are deeply embedded in the Republican Party."

As noble as those words may be, there are tactical benefits to Obama's outreach. Winning support from Republicans and independents as well as Democrats "shows he's the candidate best situated to take on McCain in the fall," Bill Burton, an Obama spokesman, asserted. "That is an important distinction in this race."

Republican support also reinforces Obama's message as he paints himself as a unity candidate above party labels, capable of ending the Washington sniping. "We're going to build a working majority," he said the night he swept primaries in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. "Not by turning people off, but by bringing them in."

Those words resonate with Lennie Rhoades, 57, who cast his first presidential ballot for Richard Nixon and has voted Republican in every presidential race since. "It seems like Washington has come to a standstill the last eight years," said Rhoades, in between calls at the Obama office in a brick storefront below Delaware County's Democratic headquarters. "I think Obama can get beyond that."

Many are skeptical that Republicans will stick with Obama until November. They point out that many of his proposals -- including a timetable for ending the war in Iraq, repealing Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy, expanding the government's role in healthcare and supporting gay rights and gun control -- cut too much against GOP orthodoxy.

"Even in this day and age, partisanship carries a lot of weight," said David Redlawsk, a University of Iowa political scientist whose polling last summer picked up early signs of Obama's Republican appeal.

But for Pedaline, who spent months researching candidates before embracing Obama, there is no going back. Even though he questions the feasibility of Obama's plan to withdraw from Iraq and figures government would grow under the Democrat's administration, his support "is not a policy decision."

"It's a personality decision," Pedaline says. "It's an inspirational decision."

Pedaline, a loan officer at a Columbus mortgage company, grew up in rural Ohio and still carries the heft of his high school football days. His father, a salesman, and his mother, who ran a pizza shop, were largely apolitical. But Pedaline was bothered when the Democratic congressman from nearby Youngstown, James A. Traficant Jr., went to prison on corruption charges. "I had a bad taste in my mouth about Democrats from the beginning," he says over a chicken dinner.

During his college years in Columbus, the political talk was all about President Clinton and impeachment. That compounded Pedaline's contempt for Democrats in general, and the Clintons in particular. "Disingenuous," he says of the former first lady. He will vote for McCain if Clinton is the Democratic nominee.

Like many, he discovered Obama through the candidate's soaring address to the 2004 Democratic National Convention. His words put "chills on the back of my neck," Pedaline says, especially when he talked about America's shared values. He followed Obama on the Washington talk-show circuit and went to YouTube to download his February 2007 speech announcing his presidential candidacy.

By then, Pedaline had soured on Bush and the "conservative ideologues" he blamed for Washington's gridlock, especially when it came to Social Security, an issue important to his parents.

He wrote a long MySpace missive calling for a candidate "who is flexible, creative, intelligent and willing to compromise." After Obama entered the race, Pedaline posted his statement on a campaign message board with an addendum: "My biggest hope is that his refreshing outlook and attitude will rub off on his opponents both Republican and Democrat alike. . . . "

Soon, Pedaline heard from John Martin, a New York law student and co-founder of Republicans for Obama, a loosely knit grass-roots organization, who asked him to head the Ohio chapter. (There are 22 across the country.) Pedaline agreed, even though he was still weighing support for McCain and former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani.

Obama's two autobiographies sold Pedaline. After reading them last summer, he was convinced Obama possessed both the desire and a singular capacity to unite Americans. "Maybe it's just a fairy tale," Pedaline says, "but maybe we can at least get back to a point where people can listen and respect each other."

He committed to the Obama campaign six nights a week through the March 4 primary and hopes to volunteer in the fall, when Ohio will be a top target of both parties. His day job, which requires the occasional cold call, helps in phone canvassing. Two hours into his boiler-room shift, Pedaline sounds as relentlessly cheery -- "Hi, this is Josh, from Sen. Obama's presidential campaign!" -- as he did starting out.

Seated nearby is Royal Morse, 56, a small-business owner and another lifelong Republican. He too hungers for more civility and productivity in Washington. "I've never been as passionate about any presidential candidate in my 35 years of voting," Morse says during a break. "Never."

The two dial, chat, dial, chat, each in his own conversation until Morse gets some grief from the other end of the line. He glances at Pedaline. "Another one of those stuffy Republicans," he says. The two smile, and keep dialing.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-gopobama25feb25,0,2359434.story

The fact that Republicans and Independents in Texas can cross party lines and vote in the Democratic primary does not bode well for her. They have a choice as to which primary to vote in.

They're saying to themselves, Well, McCain has the Republican nomination sewn up anyway, so let me vote in the Democratic race instead, just to f*** over Hillary a little bit.

The Los Angeles Times article posted by RR above represents a certain naive view among Americans. Politics is supposed to be partisan. There's supposed to be wrangling. One essence of democracy is competition between interest groups for limited and sometimes scarce resources. There is competition for the allocation of resources to support ideas. A large degree of tension in any relationship can be a good thing and it is a good thing in government. unrequieted government is not only a bore, but inefficient. It engenders homogeneity and stifles creativity. That's one reason why ours is a federal system of government in the form of a republic.

The Onion?

The news equivelant of the GangsterBB.

We love the flattery, but we aren't that intelligent.

Let us know what you did for the debate and what you thought of it. I watched a few minutes of it and Tim Russert made me laugh when he called Clinton out on a couple issues. Did they talk about gas prices at all?

Joe Klein, author of PRIMARY COLORS, wrote this at TIME.com about the debate:

"Joe Klein wrote this at TIME.com....

"He won. He not only won by not losing, but he also won on points--and on demeanor, and on quickness, if not quite substance (although this was a fairly substantive debate on both sides). A few points:

--On health care: she's right and he's wrong. His implication that she would force people "who can't afford it" to buy health insurance is just plain nonsense. The whole point of her plan is to subsidize health care for those who can't afford it. The problem is the 15 million, more or less, who can afford it and choose not to buy in. They are mostly young, mostly well-off...you've heard the arguments. I agree with Clinton (and the ever-crusading Paul Krugman) that they have a moral and civic responsibility to buy in. I also agree with Clinton that it will be easier for insurance companies to discriminate and cherry pick absent a mandate. (But looking ahead to the general election, Obama's position will be more tenable against a Republican trying to sell the Democrats' plan as a "Government takeover of health care.")

--On NAFTA, both were more realistic than their stump speeches and advertising. Neither made outlandish claims about the impact--peripheral, at best--that trade deals have had on the decline of manufacturing jobs. I spoke with James Galbraith, the University of Texas economist today, and he said the major impact of NAFTA was on illegal immigration, not manufacturing jobs: the deal removed Mexican tariffs on agricultural products, which flooded Mexico with cheaper US food, which made farming untenable for many Mexicans, which sent them hurtling north in search of jobs. (I should Add that Galbraith agrees with both democratic candidates that trade deals should be carefully reviewed--for special interest trade breaks. Apparently, the loopholes in trade deals are beginning to look like the loopholes in the tax code.)

--On getting asked questions first: Bad, bad moment for Clinton. She seemed whiney, especially raising the SNL skit about the press fawning over Obama. If you go there--which you shouldn't--you do it cleverly. She didn't.

--On getting endorsed by Louis Farrakhan: Bad moment by Obama, later redeemed. Russert asked if he rejected Farrakhan's support. Obama said he denounced Farrakhan's antisemitism--which was to say, I don't like him but I won't kick away his (or the Nation of Islam's) support. Incredibly, Clinton saved him by mentioning that she had rejected the support of an anti-semitic fringe group in 2000. He responded brilliantly, "I would reject and denounce." There is a growing, despicable movement to denounce and defame Obama among right-wing Jews and this would have given them ammunition. He escaped, narrowly.

--On Russert's Iraq hypothetical: Way too hypothetical. We pull out, Al Qaeda in Iraq--which has been decisively rejected by the Sunni community and is on the run--comes back in droves? I think not. A more plausible hypothetical--and not so hypothetical: Kirkuk votes to join Kurdistan, the Turks invade...Senators, do you really think a referendum on the status of Kirkuk is a good idea? What do you do if Turkey invades? (Oh, and by the way, what do you think about Turkey's current operations against the PKK in Iraq?)

--On Clinton's Iraq vote: "You voted for driving the bus into the ditch." Great moment for Obama.

--On Clinton's "celestial choir" sarcasm: Great, gracious response by Obama. "I thought she showed some good humor there. She gets points for delivery."

--On Pakistan: Bad for Clinton, who repeated the canard that Obama wanted to "bomb" Pakistan. Excellent for Obama, who said he wanted to go after Al Qaeda operatives there if we had actionable intelligence and Pakistan was refusing to act. (Which we did a few weeks ago, in the CIA strike against al-Libi.)

Again, Obama just seemed in command throughout, never threatened, never flustered. Clinton didn't seem flustered either, but she didn't seem as big as Obama. We're nearing the end of this incredible race."

http://time-blog.com/swampland/

Both did well. Considering Obama he is so "new" and his inexperience is constantly questioned, he seemed totally in command yesterday. Hillary's SNL/"you ask me first" rant was a real turn off and seemed childish. It did seem the mods aggressively questioned both of them.

I have watched every debate and don't know at this point, if any more debates will change anyone's mind.

Goombah, let us know how it was up close in personal at the debates. Did you get to meet either of the candidates? I look forward to hearing about your experience.

TIS

I want to weigh in on the purtid performance of Tim Russert, who still thinks the debates are about him and not about the canidates. When he asked them if they would scrap Nafta and both basically said they would unless changes were made, he seemed deflated and almost angry because they did not waffle, then getting more ridiculous he asked them a hypothetical about the Russian army marching on Kosovo. First of all the Russian army is not about to launch a sneak attack on a Eurpoean country that far from its borders, and there would be months if not a year for the US and Nato and Russia to discuss various contingencies. These moderators need to ask the question and then shut up and let the candidates go after each other.

It was a great experience to be there in-person. While I did not get to meet the candidates, unfortunately, I did get to meet Rev. Jesse Jackson, Steve Croft from 60 Minutes, Richard Wolf from MSNBC/Newsweek, some state politicians and lots of other media. There were media reps from al Jeezera, England, Kenya and all over the country. I was able to watch some of the 7pm "Hardball" broadcast from about 15 feet away.

I put in a 17 hour day, so I am dragging this morning. To make the morning even better, I had over a foot of snow to remove just to get out of my driveway.

I thought the debate itself was rather tame. Clinton was in a tough spot - she's damned if she gets too negative and she's damned for not being aggressive enough. Given the fact that she needs a big win in Texas and Ohio, I expected her to come out swinging. She did not and I think she is done. Obama's answers on NAFTA and what he would do about Pakistan were solid. I thought Hillary came off as petty about her complaint of always being asked questions first.

Brian Williams spoke to the audience before the debate began and he was surprisingly funny. He seems like such a stuffed shift, but he was very personable. I have a soft spot for Tim Russert since he went to Cleveland State's law school, where my wife graduated from. I always enjoy his performances.

Sounds like a good time, Goomby. Ol' Billy C is speaking at U.T tonight, I think I'll go check it out.

Did you hear Hillary whineing about how the mods always ask her questiond first. Oh yeah and how she blamed Al Gore cuz she didn't come through with her promise to bring jobs to NY.

Well, I just got back from watching Bill deliver a speech in front of the U.T clock tower, and let me tell ya, the ol' boy has still got it. He has to be one of the best orators to ever grace American politics.

When the speech ended and half of the crowd or so had filtered out, he and about five Secret Service agents dashed into the huddled masses to shake hands. Although I didn't get to touch his hand, I was so close to him that I could see the lines in his face.

The man may be a lying, murdering bastard, but I couldn't help getting caught up in the moment!

He murdered someone?

Clinton = He's Gangsta

Will-Jef C

...I guess the Koreshians at Waco in 1993 don't constitute as someone?



Bill Clinton Murder List:

Vince Foster, a former partner in the Rose Law firm and White House aide, had just been served a subpeona and was supposed to testify about Whitewater. Instead of testifying, he died on July 20, 1993. A suicide note was supposedly found a few days later, torn into several pieces, in his briefcase, after his office had been entered by white house staff and materials removed. (The "suicide" note has since been revealed to be a forgery.) The suicide conclusion does NOT square with the testimony from the man who found the body (the Confidential Witness) or much of the forensic evidence. For example, the gun which he supposedly used to kill himself was reported to be still in his hand, but the person who first found the body reports that there was no gun. A signed report of Medical Examiner, Dr. Donald Haut was uncovered at the National Archives, proving that Foster had a previously unreported gunshot wound to his neck. And, an FBI memo has surfaced dated the day after the date of the official autopsy, in which the autopsies informs the FBI that there was NO exit wound.

Danny Casolaro, a reporter who was investigating several of the Clinton Scandals, was found dead in the bathtub of a hotel room in West Virginia on Aug. 10, 1991, with his wrists slit. He had earlier warned his family that his life was in danger and if he was found dead due to an apparent accident or suicide, not to believe it.

On March 3, 1994, Dr. Ronald Rogers, a dentist from Royal, AR, was killed when his twin-engine Cessna crashed near Lawton, OK, in clear weather. He was on his way to see Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, a reporter from the "London Sunday Telegraph", to reveal some "dirt" on Clinton.

John A. Wilson, a Washington, D.C. councilman, "hung himself". He allegedly knew a lot about Clinton and was reportedly going to start talking before his death made that impossible.

Gandy Baugh, attorney representing Mr. Lassater in a case concerning alleged financial misconduct, died in an alleged suicide on Jan.8, 1994, by jumping out of a window of a multi-story building. Mr. Lassater was a close associate of Gov. Clinton, and was later indicted on drug related charges, among other things. Baugh's law partner was "suicided" one month later on Feb. 9, 1994.

In July 1997, during the pre-trial publicity surrounding the Paula Jones lawsuit, and mere days after Newsweek's Mike Isikoff had dropped hints that a "former White House staffer" was about to go public with her story of sexual harassement at 1600 Pennsylvania, gunmen entered the Starbuck's Coffee shop in Georgetown while the crew was cleaning up. Mary Mahoney, a 25 year old former White House Intern for Bill Clinton, was working as the Assistant Manager. Mary's two associates, Aaron Goodrich, 18 and Emory Evans, 25, were taken to a room and shot. Mary herself had five bullets in her, from at least two different guns, most likely with silencers. A total of ten shots were fired; none of them heard by neighbors in the densely populated Georgetown section. Mary was shot in the chest, her face, and in the back of the head. No money was taken.

Suzanne Coleman had an affair with Bill Clinton when he was Attorney General in Arkansas. On 15 February 1977, she "committed suicide" with a gunshot to the back of the head. No autopsy was performed, but it has been alleged that she was seven-and-a-half months pregnant with Clinton's child, although never proven.

Judy Gibbs, who appeared in the December 1979 issue of Penthouse, and her sister Sharon were part of a house of prostitution in Fordyce, Arkansas that also engaged in blackmail of it's more powerful clients. Linked to Bill Clinton by both her own family and by one of Bill's bodyguards, Judy had just decided to cooperate with police in an investigation of Arkansas cocaine trafficking when she burned to death inside her home from a fire of undetermined origin.

Gary Johnson, an attorney who lived next door to Gennifer Flowers, was beaten severely and left for dead by two thugs who broke into his apartment. It seems he had videotaped some of Clinton's "visits" and had mentioned the existence of the tapes to other people. The intruders made sure THEY TOOK THE "CLINTON-FLOWERS" TAPES after they finished the beating.

Kathy Ferguson, the ex-wife of Arkansas State Trooper Danny Ferguson, was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head, in Sherwood, AR. On May 11, 1993, the right-handed Ferguson supposedly shot herself behind the left ear. It was labeled a suicide even though much of the forensic evidence does not support this finding. She died five days after her ex-husband, was named a co-conspirator in the Paula Jones case. Kathy had told friends that Clinton had sexually harassed her in a manner similar to that reported by Paula Jones. She purportedly had knowledge of Clinton's "regulars" and often talked about how Clinton had gotten Danny to bring women to him and stand watch while they had sex. Part of Danny's job was to make sure that each woman was ready and willing when she and Clinton got together. Kathy said she heard that Clinton was really mad when Paula Jones wouldn't "put out".

Bill Shelton, an Arkansas police officer and boyfriend of Kathy Ferguson at the time of her death, was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head, in Sherwood, AR. He was shot behind the ear which is usually the sign of an execution. His death was also labeled a suicide. Shelton was highly critical of the conclusion of local police that Kathy had committed suicide and he aired his complaints widely.

Sally Perdue, one of Clinton's "regulars", was offered a $60,000/year federal job to keep her mouth shut; or she would have her legs broken. When she did come forward, she received a series of threats; but luckily for her, the American press mostly ignored her.

James McDougal was serving his 3 year sentence for bank fraud at the Fort Worth Federal Medical Center in Texas, a facility operated by the federal Bureau of Prisons for inmates who need medical attention. Just prior to another round of testimony before Kenneth Starr's grand jury, Jim McDougal suffered a heart attack while in solitary confinement and died March 8, 1998. When Jim McDougal was taken out of solitary, instead of attempting to defibrillate his heart with equipment on hand at the facility, he was driven over to John Peter Smith hospital. Not the closest hospital to the Fort Worth Federal Medical Center, John Peter Smith hospital is a welfare hospital, where (in the words of one local) ,"They let interns practice on deadbeats".

Jon Walker, an investigator for the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC), mysteriously "fell" to his death from Lincoln Towers, in Arlington, VA. In March 1992, Walker contacted the Kansas City RTC office for information concerning the ties between Whitewater and the Clintons. He reportedly was looking into a 50 million dollar transfer from an RTC fund in Chicago to Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan to cover up a 47 million dollar embezzlement.

Johnny Franklin Laughton, Jr., and a friend hit a telephone pole at a high rate of speed, Mar. 29, 1998, after their car had become airborne and left the road. They had driven less than 1/4 of a mile at the time of the impact. In the spring of 1997, a tornado ripped through some junked cars at Johnny's transmission and opened up the trunk of a car that proved to have a box of Whitewater records in it, including a copy of a $27,000 cashiers check drawn on Madison and payable to Bill Clinton. Johnny Franklin Laughton, Jr. realized what he was looking at and turned the box of documents over to the FBI.

The night before White House secretary, Betty Currie, was to testify before the Campaign Finance hearing, her brother, Theodore Williams, Jr., was severely beaten and hospitalized (see Oregonian January 29, 1998 Page A9). Then within one month of her testifying in the Lewinsky Grand Jury her sister was killed in a car "accident" in December 1997.

Ronald Miller died October 12, 1997. Miller is a former co-owner of Creek Systems/Gage Corp., an Oklahoma natural gas company that alleged discrimination by corrupt utility regulators. A court case that could have proved damaging to high-ranking Democrats was averted at the last minute when the Lums helped to purchase Gage Corp. and drop the lawsuit. Miller tape recorded Gene and Nora Lum and turned those tapes (and other records) over to congressional oversight investigators. The Lums were sentenced to prison for campaign finance violations, using "straw donors" to conceal the size of their contributions to various candidates. Reportedly a healthy man, Ron suddenly took ill on October 3rd, and steadily worsened until his deah 9 days later. (This pattern fits Ricine poisoning.) Owing to the strangeness of the illness, doctors at the Integris Baptist Medical Center referred the matter to the Oklahoma State Medical Examiner's Office who promptly ran tests on samples of Ron Miller's blood, but has refused to release the results or even to confirm that the tests were ever completed.

Ed Willey, the manager of the Clinton presidential campaign finance committee, died of a "self-inflicted" gunshot wound in Nov. '93. He was seen handling briefcases full of cash during the campaign. Mr. Willey died on the same day his wife was allegedly assaulted in the White House by Bill Clinton.

Barbara Alice Wise was employed in the same section of the Commerce Department which was the focus of illegal foreign fundraising. She was found dead in her office at Commerce's International Trade Administration on November 29, 1996.

Jerry Parks, the owner of a security firm that provided security for Clinton's presidential campaign, was gunned down, assassination style, on Sept. 26, 1993 in Little Rock. Now the dead man's son, Gary Parks, charges that his father, who ran American Contract Services Inc., was killed "to save Bill Clinton's political career." Interviewed in the London Telegraph, the younger Parks said "my dad was working on Clinton's infidelities for about six years, starting in the campaign around 1983," and had compiled two name-and-photo-filled files on Mr. Clinton that he kept hidden in his bedroom. The Clinton campaign had failed to settle an outstanding debt to Parks for $81,000 at the time of his death. Parks' wife said her husband threatened to go public with his information if Clinton did not pay the bill. Parks' home was broken into only hours before he was murdered. THE ONLY THING TAKEN FROM HIS HOME WAS THE DOCUMENTATION HE HAD ON CLINTON'S "ACTIVITIES".

C. Victor Raiser II, the co-chairman of Clinton's presidential campaign finance committee, was killed in a plane crash on July 30, 1992 near Anchorage, AK, in good weather. With his inside knowledge of the Clinton operation, he had become disillusioned by what he had seen and thus became a potential liability.

The Democratic National Committee political director, Paul Tully, died from unknown causes in his hotel room in Little Rock on September 24, 1992. The Arkansas medical examiner's office ruled the death was because of a massive heart attack.

L.J. Davis, a veteran journalist, was knocked unconscious in a Little Rock hotel. Pages were stolen from his notebook that contained information on the inner workings of the Rose law firm. He later received threats to back off the story. Davis is a contributing editor for Harper's magazine and does free-lance writing for many publications.

Herschel Friday, a member of the Clinton presidential campaign finance committee, was killed when his plane crashed on Mar. 1, 1994 as he approached his private landing strip near his Arkansas home, in a light drizzle.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Ron Brown was killed when his plane crashed as it approached the Dubrovnik, Croatia airport. Brown had previously been under investigation by the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Commerce Department's Inspector General, the Justice Department, the FDIC, and the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee was within two weeks of possibly being indicted for an bribe allegedly paid by Dynamic Energy Resources in Oklahoma.

Air Force Tech. Sgt. Shelley Kelly, a stewardess, survived the crash for some four hours. Kelly and another stewardess had been seated in a jump seat at the very rear of the 737. That area was found basically intact after the crash. According to the Air Force, she received first aid from Croatian rescuers but died on the way to a nearby hospital. Her autopsy report states that Kelly died of a broken neck…"

Ron Brown's high level Muslim associate, Mohamed Ferrat was supposed to be on Ron Brown's doomed death flight, but he changed plans at the last minute. He later died on TWA Flight 800. Coincidence?

Terry Reed, co-author of, Compromised: Clinton, Bush, and the CIA received a death threat while signing copies at a Little Rock Wal-Mart. The book claims that Bill Clinton was involved in more than $9 million a week in cash being secretly air dropped into Arkansas while he was governor. The threat was slipped onto the front seat of his car according to Little Rock Police Information Report Number 94-53155.

Stanley Huggins, a partner in a Memphis law firm, was found dead on June 23, 1994 reportedly from viral pneumonia. Huggins headed a 1987 examination into the loan practices of Madison Savings & Loan. He produced a 300-400 page report that has never been made public.

Paul Wilcher, an attorney, was found dead in his Washington, D.C. home. The coroner either could not find or did not report the cause of death. At the time of his death, Wilcher was investigating gun-running and the drug business in Mena, AR. Shortly before his death he wrote a 105-page letter to Attorney General Janet Reno describing evidence that he allegedly had concerning Mena. The first page of his letter stated in part; "The lives of key participants, other witnesses, and even myself, are now in grave danger as a result of my passing this information on to you. If you let this information fall into the hands of the wrong persons... some or all of those who know the truth ...could well be silenced in the very near future."

Alder Berriman (Barry) Seal, the head of the cocaine smuggling operation at Mena airport, was murdered.

Florence Martin, an accountant who had worked as a sub-contractor for the CIA, was found dead in Mabell, TX, the victim of three gunshot wounds to the head. She had the documents and paperwork as well as the pin number to an account that had been set up in the name of Barry Seal for $1.46 million dollars at the Fuji Bank in the Cayman Islands.

Kevin Ives, a teenager who lived near Mena, AR, was run over by a train close to Mena. First ruled a suicide, a later autopsy showed he was murdered before he was run over by the train. He may have gotten too curious about air drops he had seen in the nearby countryside.

Don Henry, a friend of Kevin Ives, was also run over by the train on the same night. His death was initially ruled a suicide, too, but a later autopsy showed he was also murdered before he was run over by the train.

Keith Coney, an individual who claimed to have information about the deaths of Kevin Ives and Don Henry, was fleeing an attacker on his motorcycle, when he slammed into the back of a truck. Police ruled it a "traffic fatality".

Keith McKaskle, another person who claimed to have information about the Ives-Henry murders, was brutally stabbed to death in his home. He knew someone was after him so he had said goodbye to his friends and family.

Gregory Collins, another person who claimed to have information about the Ives-Henry murders, died from a shotgun blast in the face.

Jeff Rhodes, another person who claimed to have information about the Ives-Henry murders, was shot in the head. His burned body was found in the city dump, with his hands, feet, and head partially severed.

Richard Winters, another person who claimed to have information about the Ives-Henry murders, was killed by a man using a sawed-off shotgun.

Jordan Ketelson, another person who claimed to have information about the Ives-Henry murders, died of a shotgun blast to the head.

Wow. If Bill could easily kill so many people, who had dirt on him, how did Monica Lewinsky and Paula Jones escape unscathed?

They were both too public

This is nuts. The slander that Clinton killed all these people was first propounded by Jerry Falwell, and it has been debunked. Now we have the same idiots saying that Barrack Obama is a one man Al Queada sleeper cell. What next? John McCain a secet Commie agent?

People who believe in these ridiculous conspiracy theories are people who think the moon landings by the U.S. were fake and that professional wrestling is real.