Year: 2005

Not news right? Well, neither is this.

It’s pay-back time. Freeh’s axe is now officially on the grinder.

Louis Freeh speaks publicly about his terrible relationship with the ex-president Bill Clinton.

“We were preoccupied in eight years with multiple investigations”

“The problem was with Bill Clinton — the scandals and the rumored scandals, the incubating ones and the dying ones never ended. Whatever moral compass the president was consulting was leading him in the wrong direction. His closets were full of skeletons just waiting to burst out.”

The director sought to distance himself from Clinton because of Whitewater, refusing a White House pass that would have enabled him to enter the building without signing in. This irked Clinton. “I wanted all my visits to be official,” says Freeh. “When I sent the pass back with a note, I had no idea it would antagonize the president.”

And this gem:

Freeh says the most delicate and unsavory of the investigations was the Lewinsky affair, when the FBI needed to obtain a blood sample from the president to match the DNA on the infamous blue dress.

“But we did it … very carefully, very confidentially,” Freeh says. During a scheduled dinner, the president excused himself to go to the bathroom. Instead of the restroom, he entered another room where FBI medical technicians were waiting to take a blood sample.

But wait! There’s more!

Aside from scandals and investigations, Freeh says Clinton let down the American people and the families of victims of the 1996 Khobar Towers terror attack in Saudi Arabia.

After promising to bring to justice those responsible for the bombing that killed 19 and injured hundreds, Freeh says Clinton refused to personally ask Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah to allow the FBI to question bombing suspects the kingdom had in custody — the only way the bureau could secure the interviews, according to Freeh.

Freeh writes in the book, “Bill Clinton raised the subject only to tell the crown prince that he understood the Saudis’ reluctance to cooperate and then he hit Abdullah up for a contribution to the Clinton Presidential Library.”

The former president declined to respond to this charge.

…until someone can tell him what the meaning of is, is.

Too bad there aren’t other Clinton administration era officials who are willing to stand up and tell the truth about his failed tenure of deceit and obstruction.

I’m putting my pre-order in right now.

The way he’s talking, you’d think he might be…floating a run for, uh… …naw, he wouldn’t try that again. Would he?

UPDATE: Whoa! Did you read his speech? Just how many liberal talking points can one fit in a paragraph? Or a sentence for that matter. He’s covering everything he can possibly think of. This address is a moonbat smorgasbord. It’s a late night all-you-can-eat buffet at Shoney’s. In fact, this wasn’t a speech, it was just another AlGore rant. He’ll never get elected to any office if his position on the issues come off as nothing more than lefty ramblings.

George W. Bush is speaking to a gathering of the National Endowment for Democracy right now (7:27 AM PDT). Although a lot of what he’s said so far has been heard in previous speeches, there is an enhanced seriousness in his delivery that I haven’t seen since the days just after 9-11.

He’s in his element, as he usually is when he’s talking about terrorism, the fight against it, and the progress being made to eradicate it.

This is not good.

While much of this story has been out for nearly a month (see links below), ABC News has been investigating a possible White House angle. That part of the story is breaking for the first time today.

ABC News: Espionage Case Breaches the White House

Matt Drudge: FBI CHARGES MARINE WITH STEALING DOCUMENTS AND GIVING THEM TO PHILIPPINES… WORKED FOR CHENEY; WORKED IN WHITE HOUSE FOR 3 YEARS… TOP SECRET CLEARANCE; STOLE FROM WHITE HOUSE COMPUTERS… 100+ DOCUMENTS…

Undetected for 3 years? Can you even imagine how much damage could be done in that amount of time?

In 2000, Leandro Aragoncillo worked as a staff member of then-Vice President Al Gore. When interviewed by Philippine television, Aragoncillo remarked how valued Philippine employees were at the White House.

Classified Material Transferred by E-Mail – Officials say the classified material, stolen from the vice president’s office, included damaging dossiers on the president of the Philippines. The suspect then passed those on to opposition politicians planning a coup in the Pacific nation.

I’m wondering if any other secrets were compromised beyond the dossiers mentioned above. Could this spy be working with yet another government?

United States District Court (NJ) Criminal Complaint (PDF)

Background  – Leandro Aragoncillo, 46

Home:  Woodbury, NJ
Birthplace:  Philippines, came to US in 1984
Citizenship:  US, in 1991
Family:  Wife and two children
Occupation:  FBI Intelligence Analyst
Hired July 2004, suspended 12 Sept 2005

• Retired US Marine with 21 years service, 1983-2004. Gunnery Sergeant. Stationed in Japan, Guantanamo Bay, Quantico, VA, Assignment to the White House between 1999 and 2002 as “administration chief” of the security detail assigned to Vice President Cheney.
• Six Good Conduct Medals and a Humanitarian Service Medal

Arrested:  Saturday, 10 September 2005

Charges  

• Knowingly communicating classified information by a government employee to an agent or representative of a foreign country (i.e. receiving classified information).
• Acting as an agent of a foreign official without notification of the Attorney General in violation of Title 18 of the US Code, Section 951
• Unauthorized use of a government computer to obtain and transmit classified information
• Conspiracy to commit all of the above offenses in violation of Title 18 of the US Code Section 371.

Dates of Spying:  January 2005 to August 2005

Possible Motivations:  $500,000 in debts, mostly mortgages on rental properties

— FBI Probes Ex-Marine on Classified Info (10/06/05)

Others: John Marzan | James Joyner | Ed Morrissey | Wretchard | Juliette Ochieng | Tom Elko | Joe Gandelman |  

Earlier: Philippine News.com | CI Centre | Manila Standard Today | INQ7 | Malaya | PCIJ Blog | Boston.com | WIRED | STAR – Washington Bureau | USAToday | TheRealityCheck.org | ABS CBN Interactive | The Manila Times |  9/12/05 ABC News Story | 9/12/05 US Dept. of Justice News Release |

Obviously, one of the Capos messed up and didn’t bury the police report in time.

Two days after he was placed on probation last month for taking classified documents, former national security adviser Sandy Berger was accused of reckless driving in Virginia by police who said he was traveling 88 miles per hour in a 55 mph zone.

On Wednesday, Berger appeared before the same federal magistrate who had sentenced him on Sept. 8 in the documents case. Deborah Robinson admonished Berger, and she will decide eventually whether to punish him further.

She’ll decide eventually whether to punish him further? What kind of decision is that?

He was stopped on Sept. 10, and two days later he informed the probation office of the U.S. District Court that he had been speeding because he was late to a meeting and was unaware of how fast he was traveling.

The probation office “reiterated to Mr. Berger” that all violations of the law and probation are taken seriously, the office said in a two-page report to the federal magistrate dated Sept. 28.

Yeah, taken seriously, just like the court took seriously the act of stealing classified documents, destroying said documents, and then lying about stealing and destroying said documents.

Last night I saw a report by Andrea Mitchell of NBC News focusing on the fight between Bush and Conservatives over his nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. What bugged me about it was Mitchell’s sing-songy delivery. There was a certain amount of joy in her voice. It got me thinking about the temperature of the debate, and how important it is that Conservative Bloggers remain composed while they communicate their position on the matter. The distilling of opinion is great, and necessary, but if things get out of hand (as they often do), and the conversation becomes mean spirited, the MSM and the Left will eat it up. The focus will shift from the real issue over Miers to a story about GOP disunity. That’s something we don’t need one year out from mid-term elections.

The Democrats belong to the divided party. Republicans should be careful that we don’t inadvertently wrestle that characteristic away from them.

If you need to be brought up to speed on all sides of the debate over Miers, there are two good sources that I’ve found. One is Joe Gandelman at the Moderate Voice, and the other is Michelle Malkin, who’s been covering the twists and turns for a few days now.

A bogus story about a new Single-Play DVD technology from Microsoft was published yesterday in an obscure UK business magazine and promptly picked up by other major tech sites. Problem is, no one checked the facts behind the report until a flurry of email activity from within Microsoft uncovered the truth.

PunditGuy is one year old today.

When I started this little hobby, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I had no idea how much it would become a part of my life. I had no idea how much fun it would be.

I had no idea that one year later, blogging would become a love of mine.

Well, it has.

After 365 days, hundreds of thousands of typed words, roughly 584,000 unique sets of eyes, three different versions of blogging software, and three complete redesigns, I still wake up each day eager to learn something new, hopeful that I’ll write better today than I did yesterday, and grateful for each reader who stops by.

Blogging is a wonderful thing.

If you’ll indulge me a bit, there are a few people I need to thank. Each one has influenced me and in their own way, guided and encouraged me to keep going.

Stephen Green (Vodkapundit)
Hours before I wrote that first post one year ago, I was lucky enough to receive a kind word from Stephen. I asked a few simple questions in an email and he sent back honest answers. Most of all, he said, “Don’t get discouraged!” Thanks Steve.

Jeff Goldstein (Protein Wisdom)
Early on, when he probably should have, Jeff never told me to bug off. Even though I sent him link requests that weren’t always his cup of tea, he always replied with a nice word. Thanks Jeff.

Bill Ardolino (INDC Journal)
Although I’m sure he doesn’t know it, INDC Journal was the first blog to link PunditGuy. Thanks Bill. 

Ace (Ace of Spades HQ)
A good friend who has driven lots of new traffic to PunditGuy. Thanks Ace.

N.Z. Bear (Truth Laid Bear)
NZ taught me a lesson about sending out too many link requests. I respected that and I’ll always remember that bit of guidance. Thanks NZB.

Glenn Reynolds (Instapundit)
How can a one year old blogger not thank Mr. Reynolds? Thanks for the Instalanches Glenn.

Michelle Malkin (Michellemalkin)
She’s been generous and a great example for me. Thanks Michelle.

Kevin Aylward (Wizbang)
Wizbang has been a constant influence for me, and Kevin Alyward has directed many of his readers to articles I’ve written. Thanks Kevin.

Of course there are many, many others to mention. Too many, in fact. Every one of you have shaped this blog. I sincerely appreciate that.

And to the readers of PunditGuy…the ones who come back, day after day, contributing when I’ve had something interesting to say and tolerating me when I’ve posted complete nonsense…you are the fuel that keeps this engine humming.

Thank you.

New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin announced today that damage from Hurricane Katrina is forcing him to layoff as many as 3,000 city employees.

Nagin announced with “great sadness” that he had been unable to find the money to keep the workers on the payroll.

He said only non-essential workers would be laid off and that no firefighters or police would be among those let go.

“I wish I didn’t have to do this. I wish we had the money, the resources to keep these people,” Nagin said. “The problem we have is we have no revenue streams.”

Nagin described the layoffs as “pretty permanent” and said that the city will work with the
Federal Emergency Management Agency to contact municipal employees who fled the city in the aftermath of Katrina, which struck about a month ago.

The mayor said the move will save about $5 million to $8 million of the city’s monthly payroll of $20 million. The layoffs will take place over the next two weeks.

Sure, there is a very practical side to this decision by Nagin. Hey, if there is no money, there’s no money and you can’t promise to pay people with something you don’t have and won’t (in the foreseeable future) earn. I guess I just have a real problem with the way Nagin is going about all of this stuff. Is it me or does this guy never take responsibility for anything? Has he assumed blame for any bad decision since the hurricane hit? If he has, I sure haven’t heard it. All I have ever seen him do is point fingers, whine, and complain that no one is doing enough.

Let’s get real Mayor. Who’s paying your living expenses right now? Who’s housing and feeding your family? Are you still collecting your six figure salary?

Oh, and while we’re at it, can you explain your relationship with Louis Farrakhan? What kind of support have you received from his organization?

If you’ve got a story to tell, the world is willing to hear it. When you lay employees off, it’s usually helpful to communicate that you have made your own sacrifices.

Tell us what you’ve sacrificed, Mr. Mayor.

UPDATE: The proverbial DEAD HORSE – Those buses. He didn’t fully explain the flooded ones, and he won’t explain these either, so, ipso facto – the point is moot.