Snips and eMails and Hillary Tails Part 2

Whitewater Gate

In the cartoon movie Despicable Me, the Nefario Principle, a characteristic of the typical high-powered Shrink Ray, was described by Dr. Nefario to be “the duration of the shrunken state of an object is inversely proportional to the mass of the object.” Nothing could be more applicable in the case of the Hillary Clinton’s nefarious acts hitherto referenced as  Clintonous-nefariosa. Yes, Clintonous-nefariosa is intended to sound like an infectious disease. Because the nefarious activities of the Clintons over the years have proven to be more like an infectious disease than a philanthropological inspiration. James McDougal, who went to jail of over Whitewater,  described the Clintons as “sort of like tornadoes moving through people’s lives.” I can only imagine the magnitude of the behemoth that will emerge when the mass of the shrunken state of the nefarious deeds exceeds the characteristic duration of the Nefario Principle.

While Snips and eMails and Hillary Tails Part 1 covered the Watergate episode which only dragged on for a couple of years. Snips and eMails and Hillary Tails Part 2 will cover Whitewater Gate which eclipsed normal program run time furnishing nearly two decades of new run material. Oh! Is it done yet? Or will there be a reunion show? Who knows? But for sure the list of people who went to jail did not include the Clintons who were left to incubate a new strain of pestiferous politics  we will call Clintonous-nefariosa. Some claim that there was a casualty inn Whitewater Gate whereas there were none in Watergate.

So what really happened? The Clinton strain of nefariosa began in 1978, considering the Rodham strain had actually begun in 1974 with Watergate, when the Clintons joined with James and Susan McDougal to borrow a little over 200 thousand dollars to buy 220 acres of land in the Arkansas Ozarks giving birth to the Whitewater Development Corporation. “Whitewater Estates” was supposed to be a vacation paradise but rising interest rates doomed the venture to fail. The four investors did not want to take a loss so they built a model home hoping that the economic climate would improve. They did not improve.

In the meantime, Bill Clinton was elected governor of Arkansas but failed his bid for governor in 1980.  McDougal, who had been an “economic aide” for governor Clinton, now decided that banking was the way to go. Consequently, in 1980 he bought the Bank of Kingston and in 1982 Woodruff Savings & Loan. He renamed the banks to Madison Bank & Trust and the Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan.

After a shady fundraising effort to pay of the Clinton gubernatorial debt, McDougal set his sights on another real estate venture. Castle Grande, 1,000 acres at $1.75 million, which was more than McDougal could afford on his own. He could borrow $600,000 from Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan, which he owned, but that was not enough to fund the entire project. McDougal then leveraged several other people, including an employee of the bank, to funnel the necessary funding for the $1.75 million project. Funds were shifted among several investors and intermediaries to shield the fact that all of the money came from Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan. During this process Castle Grande was represented by the Little Rock based Rose Law firm. The lawyer, Hillary Clinton.

Federal investigators discovered that all of the funding had come from Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan in 1986 and the ensuing investigation caused the resignation of McDougal from Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan. McDougal would be charged with fraud but later acquitted. Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan would ultimately collapse in 1989 and the Clinton’s would lose tens of thousands of dollars.

In 1992 Bill Clinton was elected president amid the swirling controversy of Whitewater. The Clintonous-nefariosa incubation filled petri dish after petri dish and would continue to morph as a strain. That same year the Federal Resolution Trust Corp., which was investigating causes of Madison’s failure, sent a referral to the Justice Department that names the Clintons as “potential beneficiaries” of illegal activities at Madison. In 1993, the Clintons were informed of the Federal Resolution Trust Corp. findings but the criminal referral would later be rejected by Paula Casey, U.S. attorney in Little Rock.  Paula Casey was a former law student of Bill Clinton. It seems Clintonous-nefariosa had spread and was threatening to become an epidemic.

1993 continued with more Whitewater controversy as there were now questions about deductions take by the Clintons on the 1984 and 1985 tax returns that were not appropriate as they have been taken on the Whitewater Development returns. Bill Clinton promptly wrote a check for $4900 which included the tax and the penalty. Deputy White House Counsel Vincent Foster, in June 1993, filed three delinquent Whitewater Corp. tax returns and noted in documents later found in his office that he was concerned about the Clintons taking these deductions inappropriately.

In July 1993, Vince Foster was found dead of a single gunshot wound to the head in a Virginia park.  The death was ruled a suicide and a note was later found torn into 27 pieces. Again, the controversy was swirling. Was this really a suicide as the official ruling? A panel of experts compared the note to known writings by Foster and concluded that Vince Foster, Jr. did not write the note. There were, of course, dissenting opinions but it was, non-the-less, dubious. The strain of Clintonous-nefariosa continued to evolve as Hillary gave a moving eulogy at Vincent Foster’s funeral.

Apparently, within hours of Vince Foster’s death,  chief White House counsel Bernard Nussbaum removed documents from Vince Foster’s office. Some of these documents were alleged to be related Whitewater Development Corporation, including Hillary Clinton’s activities with Rose Law firm. The documents, that were removed from Vince Foster’s office, were placed in a safe by the First Lady’s chief of staff, Maggie Williams, and later turned over to the Clinton’s personal lawyer.

Still swirling the sinkhole of Whitewater, in 1994 Kenneth Starr, newly appointed independent council, re-issues subpoenas for documents, including those in Vincent Foster’s office and in particular the Rose billing records of one Hillary Clinton.

1994 would see former partners of the First Lady at the Rose Law firm convicted of fraud and jailed. Though the Clinton’s top political advisers would raise a half million dollars to help in his defense, Webster L. Hubbell served 18 months.

1995 would bring more bad news as a grand jury will charge James and Susan McDougal, as well as Governor Jim Tucker, with bank fraud. The charges stemmed from the 1985 loan of $300,000 from a company owned by David Hale, a former Little Rock judge and banker, to Susan McDougal to aid the failing Madison Guaranty . Hale’s company received funds from the Small Business Administration which was supposed to be used for small business owners. He would later plead guilty to two felony charges. In 1996 they would all be convicted, sooner or later of various charges. All but the former governor, because of medical issues, would serve jail time.

While Clintonous-nefariosa continued to incubate and become more virulent, everyone else seemed to be going to jail.

The controversy continued swirling in 1996 as the billing records from the Rose Law firm mysteriously surfaced in the White House residence book room. The records revealed that Hillary had provided more that 60 hours of services to Whitewater and seemed to contradict earlier testimony.  Both of the Clintons were privately interviewed by Kenneth star and later in 1996, the First Lady gave a deposition for an Arkansas court. The deposition was conducted by Hickman Ewing, Kenneth Starr’s deputy, who would later testify in court that Hillary Clinton used the term “I don’t recall” more than 50 times and graded her as an “F” proposing that she be indicted though none was issued.

The Whitewater saga would continue until 1998. In 1997, Kenneth Starr drafted an impeachment referral but decided that there was not sufficient evidence to send the referral. Clintonous-nefariosa had survived as a strain.

But according to the Naferio Principle, the inverse proportion of the shrink ray must wear off at some point and the true proportion of the original mass, Whitewater Gate in this case, will be revealed.

In 1996, William Safire would publish an essay in the New Yorks times called “Blizzard of Lies”. The essay begins with the following assessment of Hillary Clinton:

“Americans of all political persuasions are coming to the sad realization that our First Lady — a woman of undoubted talents who was a role model for many in her generation — is a congenital liar.”

Clintonous-nefariosa continues the incubation process that will ultimately result in death of four patriots in Benghazi and the email cover up that now swirls around Hillary. The strain has evolved from questions like; “What did the president know and when did he know it?” to ”What difference does it make?” and “What, with a cloth?”.

In the news, these days, I keep hearing the phrase “You just can’t make this stuff up.” When you read through the Washington Post Whitewater time-line you can’t help but find yourself uttering that phrase time and again.

Who knows what will emerge next from the Clintonous-nefariosa petri dish?