The LATimes has a story up today showing how Bill Clinton uses his foundation to accept contributions from politically risky sources. http://www.latimes.com/...
Obvious problem: What favors do these donors want in return--if Hillary gets the presidency?
I think the story shows Billery isn't "vetted" at all-- a laughable claim, given the Clinton modus operandi in, say, given the unresolved circumstances of the pardons, and the frenetic fundraising for the Foundation and the Library. Since the Clintons are self-advertised "2-fers," the story illustates the possible conflicts of interest in Bill's fund-raising activities and a third Clinton term.
The slow-drip for this subject may be starting. (I hope it is--wish it were faster than a slow-drip.) We all remember the uranium deal. http://www.nytimes.com/... Specifics of the new episode below the fold.
The LA Times piece says this:
A [Chinese] firm that has donated to the president's charity [the Clinton Foundation] is accused of collaborating with the [Chinese] government in its crackdown on Tibetan activists. Hillary Clinton has spoken out against China's actions.
Recently, Hillary has asked the Chinese to 'use restraint' in the crackdown (whatever that means), and has called on Bush to boycott the opening-day ceremonies as a protest against the crackdown.
But isn't this 'principled' statement a little hollow?
Last month, the firm, Alibaba Inc., [the firm in question] carried a government-issued "most wanted" posting on its Yahoo China homepage, urging viewers to provide information on Tibetan activists suspected of stirring recent riots.
Alibaba, which took over Yahoo's China operation in 2005 as part of a billion-dollar deal with the U.S.-based search engine, arranged for the former president to speak to a conference of Internet executives in Hangzhou in September 2005. Instead of taking his standard speaking fees, which have ranged from $100,000 to $400,000, Clinton accepted an unspecified private donation from Alibaba to his international charity, the William J. Clinton Foundation.
It is widely known that China's internet is an arm of the police, who control its functionality through superservers, and block websites they don't like -- such as those that carry real news or political commentary. And they also use it to trap dissidents. The web in China is so controlled that people who know how it works call it China's "intranet."
Everything circulating through it gets washed through these superservers, which are programmed to locate nasty words such as "democracy." (The censorship is way more sophisticated than this, involving phrases and code terms used by political activists). More info about the politics of any company involved in China's net: See http://www.wired.com/...
No person with the slightest knowledge of China doesnt know this. So maybe this is one more instance in which Bill is using the Foundation to stick big contributions from risky sources. (The LATimes piece says there is also Saudi money, and money from Qatar and the UAE.)
Gad, who or what else? This is why they won't release the list.