WHAT’S THAT DOWN THERE ON THE RIGHT?

Yep, it’s the tipping jar. See the item below (“TO BOLDLY GO”) for what to do, or just click on the Tipping Point button for more info. Thanks to all of you who have already chipped in.

WAIT, THERE’S MORE: No, we won’t move on for a while. I have a feeling we’ve only just begun to find out the true extent of the damage Bill Clinton did to the presidency. Now there’s Tony Rodham, who has had unspecified business dealings with some Southern carnies, and who got his brother-in-law to pardon them for bank fraud as a favor. The Justice Department maintained opposition to the pardons for Edgar Allen Gregory Jr and his wife, owners of a carnival company, but they were over-ruled by Clinton. According to the New York Times, DOJ’s opposition to pardoning these white collar crooks was, in the words of one official, a “no brainer.” The Times elaborates: “The negative recommendation was based on what the officials said was the unwillingness of the Gregorys to accept the criminality of their actions. An appeals court found that the couple ignored warnings of bank regulators and caused the failure of two small banks, disregarding the impact on other depositors. The officials said the White House was told that the case was among the most serious bank fraud case ever prosecuted in Alabama and that pardoning the couple would diminish the seriousness of their crimes.” The interesting thing about this pardon – apart from its typical sleaze, nepotism and association with the Gregorys’ hefty campaign contributions – is its timing. This one was granted last year – long before the current crop of stinkers. More evidence that this was not simply a function of last-minute exhaustion or chaos or incompetence. Pardonscam is inextricable from the entire way in which the White House was run for eight years – as a personal satrapy for money and sex and celebrity. And that’s why it will stain what’s left of the Clinton legacy – because it wasn’t the exception. It was the rule.

SHOAH THE MONEY: Shouldn’t the chairman of the board of the Holocaust Museum resign? Rabbi Irving Greenberg lobbied president Clinton for the Marc Rich pardon on Holocaust Museum stationery, urging the president to “perform one of the most God-like actions that anyone can ever do.” Lobbying for criminal fugitives is one thing. Using the moral stature of the Holocaust museum and the rhetoric of faith to do so is truly sickening. I want to know whether Marc Rich has donated to that museum, how much, and when. And if he has donated money to it, I want to know when it is going to be returned.