Free Republic

Olivia Newton-John's partner 'staged his own death to avoid debt repayments and is alive and well,' U.S. investigators claim By DAILY MAIL REPORTER 27th January 2009 The former partner of Olivia Newton-John, who was believed to have drowned at sea nearly four years ago, staged his own disappearance, private U.S. investigators have claimed. Patrick McDermott is said to be travelling along the Mexican and South America coastline under an alias to avoid paying debts and enable his teenage son to cash in on a $151,000 insurance policy. McDermott was 48 years old when he disappeared after boarding a fishing charter...

The Federal Communications Commission is probing New York financier Daniel Zwirn and his $5 billion hedge fund, D.B. Zwirn, concerning an alleged improper transfer of radio licenses, The Post has learned. The nine licenses were owned by Tama Broadcasting - which ran a group of radio stations spread across Georgia and Florida known as the "voice of the Southern black community" - which is accusing Zwirn of transferring ownership of the licenses from Tama to Zwirn without the approval of the FCC.

Blackwill stays India's key lobbyist17 Dec 2007, 0247 hrs IST, Indrani Bagchi, TNN NEW DELHI: With a firm eye on the nuclear deal and its future passage through the international and US system, the government has renewed the multi-million dollar contract of its favourite lobbyist in Washington. Robert Blackwill's firm Barbour Griffith & Rogers will be India's sole lobbyist in the US for 2008 for the second consecutive year. In 2006, India had added Venable, another law firm engaged in Washington advocacy, to work the US Senate when the Hyde Act was doing the rounds of Capitol Hill. India is...

When Bill and Hillary Clinton did their online "Sopranos" spoof after the HBO show's finale, they may have been trying to tell us something more than we realized. The Clintons, sans the New Jersey accent, subtly yet unmistakably were announcing: "We and our posse are back. Burglars and all." In fairness to the Clintons, Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger is just one burglar, but when we're talking about national-security information, a single thief is all you need to question a candidate's credibility. That the Hillary Clinton campaign would even take Berger's phone calls, never mind hold him close as an adviser,...

Congressmen press Justice to test Sandy BergerStill no polygraph as agreed in plea deal, 'national security' at issue Posted: October 12, 2007 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2007 WorldNetDaily.com Two years after agreeing to a polygraph in a plea deal, former National Security adviser Sandy Berger still has not taken the test, prompting 23 Republican Congress members to demand action by the Department of Justice. The aim is to determine "what documents were stolen and how our national security was compromised," said the letter by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., to the acting attorney general. Berger – who was placed on probation,...

Missing Elderly Woman Found Alive in Oregon Mountains Friday, September 07, 2007  BAKER CITY, Ore.  —  A 76-year-old woman missing for almost two weeks in the Wallowa Mountains of Eastern Oregon has been found alive, the Baker County Sheriff's Office said Thursday.Ora Doris Anderson of Sandy had a hip injury and was dehydrated when she was found just after 2 p.m. But she was conscious and alert, the sheriff's office said in a news release. A helicopter team went to extricate her from the rugged terrain, and she was airlifted to a Baker City hospital.George Winn, the CEO of...

FOX News Special Report 'Socks, Scissors, Paper: The Sandy Berger Caper' Questions Probe of Theft at the National ArchivesFriday, March 30, 2007 By Edward Barnes Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., is charging a cover-up by the Justice Department in connection with the 2003 theft and destruction of top secret documents by Clinton National Security Advisor Sandy Berger. Davis also told FOX News that he is not convinced that Berger was not acting under direction from the Clinton Administration. "I'm not convinced that he was acting alone," Davis said. "They could have well said, ‘Sandy, do you remember that document way back...

Damage from Berger's theft understated, Davis saysBy Jerry Seper THE WASHINGTON TIMES January 10, 2007 Samuel R. Berger's theft of documents from the National Archives compromised national security "much more than originally disclosed" and resulted in "incomplete and misleading" information being given to the September 11 commission, says the former chairman of the House Government Reform Committee. "It is now also clear that Mr. Berger was willing to go to extraordinary lengths to compromise national security, apparently for his own convenience," Rep. Thomas M. Davis III, Virginia Republican, said yesterday. "No one ever told the commission Mr. Berger had access...

Note the difference between the WSJ's editorial on April 8, 2005 and its editorial now, as seen in the Jan. 7, 2007 editorial posted below. Where is the WSJ's apology for its April 8, 2005 editorial? http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110006534 REVIEW & OUTLOOK The Berger File Sandy Berger didn't destroy documents with notes in the margin. Friday, April 8, 2005 12:01 a.m. Some people won't let a bad conspiracy theory go. We're referring to those who loudly assert that former NSC adviser Sandy Berger was trying to protect the Clinton Administration when he illegally removed copies of sensitive documents from the National Archives...

WASHINGTON -- While reviewing national security documents from the Clinton Administration in preparation for his appearance before the 9/11 Commission hearings, the Clinton administration's former national security adviser, Mr. Samuel R. Berger, was observed stuffing them in his socks by employees at the National Archives. Soon he was accused of taking these documents -- memos, draft documents, e-mails, that sort of thing -- from the Archives in breech of the law, and he was duly charged. All of this took place a couple of years ago, and those of us who had followed the Clinton high jinks with more diligence...

<p>Did the 9/11 Commission receive all the documents it requested?</p> <p>Washington, D.C. – Oversight and Government Reform Committee Ranking Member Tom Davis (R-VA) released the following statement today on a committee report that sheds important new light on Sandy Berger’s theft of classified documents from the National Archives. The report makes it clear that the full extent of Mr. Berger’s document removal can never be known, and consequently the Department of Justice could not assure the 9/11 Commission that it received all responsive documents to which Mr. Berger had access.</p>

In fact, a 1999 Clarke after-action memo - the one top Clinton aide Sandy Berger later stole from the National Archives - identified national-security weaknesses so "glaring" that only sheer "luck" prevented a cataclysmic attack back then. And, as Clarke told the 9/11 Commission publicly, there was nothing the Bush administration could have done that would have prevented the attacks. Sure, he tells a different story now. But that, he admitted, is because of his opposition to the Iraq war, which he believes distracted from the War on Terror. Secretary Rice was a lot more honest, explaining yesterday that there...

Shocking /sarc

Sandy clues to ancient climate Sid Perkins The orientation of these dunes in north-central Nebraska provide a clue that the climate there a millennium ago was much different than it is today. The Nebraska Sand Hills have been frozen in place by vegetation for 800 to 1,000 years, says David B. Loope, a geologist at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. Loope and J. Mason The 12-to-15-meter-tall dunes, which run from west-northwest to east-southeast, couldn't have been formed by modern wind patterns, which bring plant-nurturing moisture to the region from the Gulf of Mexico in the springtime. Loope and his...

High-ranking members of Bill Clinton's national security team have joined together to defeat Pennsylvania Republican Curt Weldon's House re-election bid this November - in what looks like retaliation for Weldon's efforts in exposing the Clinton administration's Able Danger scandal. In June 2005, Weldon went public with news that Clinton administration lawyers prevented the Defense Intelligence Agency's Able Danger group from blowing the whistle on two al-Qaida terrorists who would later pilot the planes that destroyed the World Trade Center. Though the media downplayed Weldon's bombshell, a number of high ranking Clinton officials apparently haven't forgotten - and they're pouring money...

Mueller: FBI Probes Classified Data Leaks By TIM WHITMIRE, Associated Press Writer 12 minutes ago The FBI is conducting investigations similar to the one that resulted in last week's firing of a senior CIA analyst who acknowledged leaking classified information, director Robert Mueller said Monday. "We do have investigations going," Mueller said following a visit to the FBI's Charlotte office, which oversees the agency's operations in North Carolina. "Leaking of classified materials is a concern for those agencies that have classified materials." Mary McCarthy, who was nearing retirement at the CIA, has been identified as being fired after leaking information...

10 years after Ron Brown Sunday, April 9, 2006 WASHINGTON On April 3, 1996, 35 people died in the crash of a U.S. Air Force plane in Croatia. Among them was Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, whom then-President Bill Clinton claimed as a close and dear friend. There are many indications that could suggest Ron Brown was killed before or during the crash to protect not only the Clinton presidency but also Hillary Clinton's future. **SNIP** Let's start at the beginning, a decade ago. **SNIP** The meeting between two rogues took place in the White House family quarters and Ron Brown...

Amitai Sandy (29), graphic artist and publisher of Dimona Comix Publishing, from Tel-Aviv, Israel, has followed the unfolding of the “Muhammad cartoon-gate” events in amazement, until finally he came up with the right answer to all this insanity - and so he announced today the launch of a new anti-Semitic cartoons contest - this time drawn by Jews themselves! “We’ll show the world we can do the best, sharpest, most offensive Jew hating cartoons ever published!” said Sandy “No Iranian will beat us on our home turf!” The contest has been announced today on the www.boomka.org website, and the initiator...

Not A Good Thing Ibd Wed Nov 2, 7:00 PM ET Politics: If stealing and destroying secret documents, stuffing them into your pants and then lying about it isn't a crime worthy of jail time, why is having a different recollection of events than Tim Russert? If the charges swirling around Scooter Libby -- that he deceived those investigating a crime for which he was not charged -- seem familiar, they should. Not long ago Martha Stewart was indicted and convicted, not of insider trading in a suspiciously timed stock sale, but of deceiving investigators into a crime for which...

A federal judge yesterday ordered former national security adviser Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger to pay a $50,000 fine and give up his security clearance for three years as the penalty for smuggling classified terrorism documents out of the National Archives in 2003. The sentence was much more severe than the $10,000 fine that Justice Department prosecutors and Berger's attorneys had jointly proposed after Berger pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge. But Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson said the punishment, which also included two years of probation and 100 hours of community service, would more "sufficiently reflect the seriousness of the...

'DOCS IN SOCKS' BERGER RAPPED By DEBORAH ORIN September 7, 2005 WASHINGTON — The feds yesterday recommended that former Clinton National Security Adviser Sandy Berger get at least a year's probation and do community service — but no jail time — for stealing top-secret memos and lying about it. Berger pleaded guilty last April to taking the documents — and reportedly hiding them in his pants and socks — from the National Archives while vetting them to refresh his memory before testifying before the 9/11 commission. He's to be sentenced tomorrow. The memos were versions of a report that Berger...

Once again, ‘the official government story’ is leaking like a colander. I just read the August 12th ‘Kean-Hamilton statement on ABLE DANGER’ from the 9/11 Commission…henceforth to be referred to as ‘Commission CYA Addendum (Revised)’. Recently two separate groups of 9/11 widows articulated their shock and horror that the 9/11 Commission ignored significant and critical evidence. Duh! Hell-o? The 9/11 Commission’s decision to flat out ignore testimony that military intelligence had identified Mohamed Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi in 1999 as terrorist threats already in the U.S. but was specifically ordered not to tell the FBI suffers an adequate adjectives to...

Bush faulted on postwar planning REUTERS WASHINGTON - An independent assessment of the tumult in Iraq led by two top former presidential advisers found that the Bush administration was unprepared for postwar Iraq and underestimated the number of troops needed in a miscalculation that helped fuel the insurgency. The report by a Council on Foreign Relations task force, released Wednesday, concluded that the failure to prepare properly for the period after the war had given "early impetus for the insurgency" now gripping the country. The task force was headed by two former national security advisers, Democrat Samuel "Sandy" Berger and...

White House overhauls spy agencies The move was spurred by questionable prewar Iraq intelligence. The Associated Press June 30. 2005 6:01AM AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite FBI Director Robert Mueller discusses President Bush's decision to create a national security service within the FBI, during a press conference at the Justice Department in Washington, Wednesday, June 29, 2005. Mueller, who will share authority for choosing the head of the new service with National Intelligence Director John Negroponte, added that he does not regard the new agency as an infringement on the FBI's independence. President Bush granted the new national intelligence chief expanded...

Former adviser Berger expects another domestic terrorist attack BY KEN MCLAUGHLIN Knight Ridder Newspapers Posted on Wed, May. 11, 2005 SAN JOSE, Calif. - (KRT) - Two former national security leaders say they are perplexed that suicide bombers have not targeted Americans on U.S. soil. "The threshold of entry into this business of suicide bombs is not very high," said Sandy Berger, national security adviser in President Clinton's second term. "All you need to do is strap something to you and walk into some place where there are a lot of people. It's a little bit of a mystery to...

Sandy Berger... former National Security Advisor and Thief of Classified Documents, Receives slap on the Wrist As Bureaucracy covers for "it's own" DojGov.net Newswire 6 April 2005 The Justice Department said yesterday there was no evidence that former national security adviser Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger was trying to conceal information when he illegally took copies of classified terrorism documents out of the National Archives in 2003. This is in spite of the fact that he stole classified documents, destroyed them and lied about his actions in an attempt to revise historical events. Under an agreement with US Department of Justice...

Shalala, Thompson To Open Panetta Lecture Series First Lecture To Address Baby Boomers, Retirement POSTED: 10:23 am PST March 8, 2005 MONTEREY, Calif. -- Two former secretaries of health and human services -- Donna Shalala and Tommy Thompson -- will open the 8th Annual Leon Panetta Lecture Series, titled "Defining Issues of the 21st Century." The first lecture is schedule for March 28 and will address baby boomers and retirement. Other guest this season include CNN's Judy Woodruff and former White House National Security Advisor Sandy Berger. Each lecture begins at 7 p.m. at the Steinbeck Forum at the Monterey...

Indict Sandy Berger now Posted: March 7, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern WorldNetDaily.com "To me the great danger is the complacency we have fallen into three and half years after 9-11." Who said that? A. Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff B. CIA Director Porter Goss C. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez D. FBI Director Robert S. Mueller Any of those choices would have been a good guess. But none of those men made that statement. Instead, it was made, in my estimation, by a most unlikely character – former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger. He made the comment a week ago...

United States still faces obstacles after tackling many security issues By Adam Hines Staff Writer The United States has hit and destroyed the terrorist beehive, but there are still bees left to kill, said a former national security adviser. Sandy Berger, who served with the Clinton administrations, said that America has made a lot of strides when it comes to homeland security and the war on terror, but it’s not done yet. "To me the great danger is the complacency we have fallen into three and a half years after 9/11," she said. Berger was part of a cast that...

National Terrorism, Technology Experts to Speak at Purdue Source: Purdue University Released: Wed 09-Feb-2005, 16:30 ET Description National government and industry experts, including former nuclear weapons inspector David Kay, will speak during a panel discussion on Feb. 24 at Purdue University about new technologies needed to protect America from terrorist attacks. Newswise — National government and industry experts, including former nuclear weapons inspector David Kay, will speak during a panel discussion on Feb. 24 at Purdue University about new technologies needed to protect America from terrorist attacks. "Homeland Security: Engineering a Safer Tomorrow" will begin at 7 p.m. in the...

[snip] First, Berger "knowingly" stuffed handwritten notes he'd made from the documents down his socks without submitting them for a required review. Then he took original classified documents out of the archives entirely. When officials demanded their return, he said some of them had been destroyed. Everything, he says, was "inadvertent," or the result of "sloppiness." Among the missing documents are multiple drafts of an after-action memo by Richard Clarke reviewing al Qaeda attempts to attack America during the millennium celebration. The memo reportedly identified weaknesses so "glaring" that only "luck" prevented an attack on Clinton's watch. Instead of being...

Sandy Burglar? Thursday January 13, 7:00 pm ET Ibd Scandal: Anyone remember Sandy Berger? To the media, the former national security adviser who might have lifted sensitive documents is a forgotten man. Not entirely forgotten, though. A couple of media outlets -- the New York Post and Fox News -- say the criminal probe of the Berger case is in front of a federal grand jury. But then, no one would ever mistake the Post or Fox with being part of the establishment media. As Washington scandals go, the Berger case had a short shelf life. It was in the...

Berger '67 Lectures on Presidency, Security Mock Election results: Kerry wins with 70 percent October 22, 2004 by Erica Fink Sun Senior Writer "The fact is, that this may be the most consequential vote you'll ever cast," said former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger '67 of the upcoming presidential election. Berger spoke last night in Statler Auditorium on issues he believes to be most pressing for whomever will occupy the Oval Office come January. The first issue Berger addressed was Iraq and the Middle East. "The situation in Iraq is bad and not getting better," Berger said. He went on...

Sandy stuffed them in his socks copy after copy Dan owed his to Microsoft, “typed” forgeries from floppy. John slipped his, before the talks -- to keep from sounding choppy – from vest to podium, then coughed since Sandy was so sloppy.

Kerry Might Reconsider USFK Reductions: Sandy Berger WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Sandy Berger, former White House National Security Advisor and key foreign policy and security advisor to Democratic Party presidential candidate John Kerry, hinted Wednesday that should Kerry win the U.S. presidential election in November, it was possible that the decision to reduce U.S. troops in Korea would be reconsidered. In a keynote address for an international symposium entitled "Regionalism in Northeast Asia: Opportunities and Challenges," hosted by Johns Hopkins University and the Maeil Business Newspaper, Berger said USFK reductions were inappropriate, claiming that pulling 12,000 troops out of Korea at...

Profile: Speaker of the House Mon Aug 30, 9:40 AM ET By Rudolph Bush Tribune staff reporter Overlooking the vast lawn of an estate tucked against the blue-gray beauty of the Wasatch mountains, Dennis Hastert stood up in a rumpled suit, adjusted his oversized glasses and began to speak. There is a philosophical gap in this country, and the crossroads are just ahead, the speaker of the House told the small crowd of big-dollar donors sitting before him earlier this month. "We need to control the ball," said the one-time high school wrestling coach. "If the other guy controls the...

Demanding accountability Reporter Editor: The 9/11 commission's report has been rendered worthless by Sandy Berger, former President Bill Clinton's national security adviser. President Clinton and his attorney, Bruce Lindsey, picked Mr. Berger to screen the former administration's classified anti-terrorism documents and submit them to the 9/11 Commission. Mr. Berger had security clearance to examine code-level security documents held in the National Archives. Apparently, Mr. Berger not only reviewed the secret files, he allegedly stole and destroyed a large number of them on two separate occasions. The first time, he robbed the National Archives by ordering the guards who were monitoring...

Brown, Schweitzer, Velazquez and testosterone By ROB NATELSON It had to happen. Just when commentators – myself included – were talking about the “feminization” of our culture, here it comes: the testosterone election! First, there was Arnold Schwarzenegger. Next a firefight bursts out between George W. Bush and John Kerry over who will be tougher on terrorism. (It’s a clue that Bush will win this election that the focus has shifted toward the traditionally “Republican” issue of national defense and away from traditionally “Democratic” issues.) Now testosterone is pumping through the Montana governor’s race via the masculine issue of guns:...

The American way On the other side of the Atlantic, where juries are revered, UK lawyers’ squeamishness about serving is given short shrift, as everyone over there is expected to do their bit. “Juries are one of the hallmarks of a well-functioning democracy,” says Covington & Burling white collar crime partner Lanny Breuer, who is the lawyer who represented Bill Clinton in his impeachment proceedings. “A citizen can’t be imprisoned or have his or her liberty taken away simply by the act of an official such as a judge, and that’s why we put juries on such a pedestal.” In...

Good, despite themselves Article Last Updated: Thursday, August 05, 2004 - 12:54:17 PM MST By DONALD KAUL, Retired Washington columnist, Des Moines Register The Democratic National Convention got off to a rip-roaring start last week with its parade of Golden Oldies - President Jimmy, Uncrowned Prince Al and, of course, Big Bill. Taken together, their speeches constituted the best first day of a political convention in memory. The trio managed to offer a scathing critique of the Bush Administration's preemptive-war strategy, as well as his reverse Robin Hood economic policies, without getting too personal about the president himself (although Jimmy...

Berger still under investigation Washington, DC, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- The investigation of former national security adviser Sandy Berger's use of classified material "is ongoing and continuing," a U.S. official said Thursday. The Justice Department does not acknowledge that Berger is a target of an investigation, but the source told United Press International a report saying Berger has been "cleared" is untrue.

Matt Drudge sez he's breakin' the embargo on the new Kerry-Lied book "Unfit for Command" by John O'Neil... Looks like this is a job for Sandy Berger!!

Covering up? U.S. officials tell us that the FBI is focusing on a single document in its investigation of former White House National Security Adviser Samuel R. Berger. Investigators are trying to determine why Mr. Berger improperly removed a highly classified after-action report by Richard A. Clarke, an aide to Mr. Berger, that was harshly critical of the Clinton administration's response to the so-called millennium terrorist plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport and other targets in late 1999. Mr. Clarke was the National Security Council staff aide who ended up as a Democratic holdover in the Bush administration. He...

The Candidate With No Name By Andrew L. Jaffee, July 29, 2004 Home   Search   Forum   Terms ”Defeat Bush – VOTE In 2004!” I’ve seen more bumper-stickers with this platitude than I’ve seen ones that simply state, “Kerry/Edwards 2004.” While my liberal friends rarely mention Kerry and Edwards, they constantly remind me of how much they hate President Bush. This year, the politics of hate rule. The Left doesn’t even have a candidate. They are galvanized mainly by visceral hatred -- a hatred which stands on shaky assumptions, like the lies that Michael Moore sells as truths. In Fahrenheit 9/11, Moore insinuates that...

New film BOURNE SUPREMACY features a villain who looks like former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger...(Actor Brian Cox) Michael Medved made that observation on his radio show Friday. He gave BOURNE SUPREMACY a good review, 3 and 1/2 stars. Medved said that CATWOMAN was horrible...

dox in socks?(the kerry, clinton + sandy berger's pants series) by Mia T, 7.21.04   (viewing movie requires Flash Player 7, available HERE) johnkerryisdangerousforamerica.blogspot.com    "I wish I knew who leaked it. It's interesting timing." bill clinton   There were two major techniques that we used to implement McCurry's strategy of getting all the bad news out early and helping reporters write bad stories. The first was overt and fully approved within the White House chain of command... "document dumps." The second method was covert, both to the outside world and within the "official" channels of the White House -...

An editorial in the New York Sun details the dismal national security legacy of the Clinton Administration as Sandy Berger misses four separate opportunities to get Bin Ladin... opportunities for all the world to read about in the 9/11 Commission’s Report.Excerpt from editorial: "... his background as a trade lawyer and his dovish, legalistic and political instincts made him, in retrospect,the tragically wrong man to be making national security decisions for America in wartime. That Senator Kerry had Mr. Berger as a campaign foreign policy adviser even before the archives scandal is enough to raise doubts about the senator’s judgment."CLICK...

For Immediate Release August 7, 1997 STATEMENT BY THE PRESS SECRETARY National Security Advisor Samuel R. Berger announced today the appointment of Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council.

http://www.simonsays.com/content/content.cfm?sid=358&pid=479541&agid=2 Chapter 1 Whose Side Are You On? Mike McCurry was in a good mood. I was in his office on December 10, 1996, my second day in the White House, and he was trying to explain my job as the press's point man on scandal. He was grinning like a Cheshire cat -- as if he knew something I didn't know, saw something I didn't see. His feet were on his half-moon desk. Behind him were watercolor paintings by his children, giving a surreal impressionistic backdrop for a tutorial on how to handle the scandal machine. This is going...