The Bush Administration spent more time chasing Clinton than it did chasing terrorists.

February 14, 2001 St. Valentine's Day Massacre

Not since the St. Valentine's Day Massacre of February 14, 1929, has the world witnessed a more brutal campaign to obliterate the power and the authority of a hated rival. On the same day in 1929, five men driving a police car lined up rival gangsters against a wall and opened fire with submachineguns, and the only reason that the current effort to lynch Clinton is not an apt comparison is because the fight is not over. This is a cruel mockery of the unspoken betrothal between the public interest and the assigned duties of the President of the United States. Clearly, the stark contrast between the Clinton and the Bush Justice Departments has come home to roost. Indeed, the absence of a single, high-level official like Janet Reno has clearly highlighted the difference between reasonable conduct and clueless extremists like John Ashcroft.

Valentine's Day, February 14, 2001, and the Senate is currently holding hearings over the controversy created by Clinton's decision to pardon Marc Rich. Widespread disapproval over the decision has energized Clinton's enemies and a Lewinsky-style media frenzy is seeking to manufacture another typical, anti-Clinton scandal. George Bush is now the President of the United States but Bill Clinton is still the target.

Marc Rich is a fugitive because he evaded Justice Department efforts to destroy him through the tactics that are deployed to prosecute racketeers. It was an extremely disproportionate and heavy-handed approach, given the tax charges at the heart of the Marc Rich indictment and faced with the prospect of becoming a Jim McDougal-style victim, Marc Rich left the sledgehammer that pursued him in the United States and that is the only reason that he is still a free man. If Mark Rich was a Clinton hater like Richard Melon Scaife, he would not be a fugitive today, and that is the only scandal that reasonable people see. To be sure, there are thousands of worthy pardon candidates in the United States who did not receive any attention at all, and given the time, there is no reason to believe that a workaholic like Bill Clinton would not have acknowledged every single one of them, given the time.

In retrospect, pardoning Marc Rich was a courageous and independent decision which has clearly betrayed the hypocricy and ignorance at the heart of every so-called Clinton scandal. Former President Bill Clinton is currently being denounced because the decision to pardon Marc Rich was made on the merits rather than upon the delusions that reside in the minds of people like Dan Burton and Arlen Specter, and that makes President Clinton look very good indeed. And now that Attorney General John Ashcroft welcomes and encourages these delusions, the worst fears of Ashcroft's critics have proven to be legitimate concerns and Janet Reno's capacity to restrain the abuse of Justice Department power, is already missed.

History is the only memory that maintains objectivity. President Bill Clinton was denied the opportunity to pardon victims like Jim McDougal, and in the context of this anti-Clinton Inquisition, the pardon of Marc Rich was essentially poetic justice. To be sure, Marc Rich is called a traitor, but he minded his own business when Republican operatives like Bill Casey were in Iran, delaying the release of American hostages for the sake of denying President Carter the opportunity to claim the credit. The non-stop media campaign which seeks establish the fact that Marc Rich is the unpardonable traitor from hell has certainly dominated the news, but these are the same people who have been calling Bill Clinton a traitor since the day he entered the White House. To be sure, when Republicans seek to create the impression that they are objective, they quote Democrats who echo the charge that Marc Rich is an unpardonable bum. They should be careful. If they remind people that Democrat Al Gore received most of the votes, they may very well remind the people that they voted for a Democratic administration. And isn't that what this Marc Rich scandal is all about -to create the impression that Republicans are better than the Democrats?

Marc Rich faced more than 50 counts of racketeering charges because he was allegedly a traitor who evaded the full grasp of the taxman. It is absolutely preposterous to face the prospect of over 600 years in prison, simply because billionaires rely upon creative accounting to pay as little tax as possible. The government can and should hold tax evaders accountable, but to treat Rupert Murdoch, Marc Rich and Richard Melon Scaife differently simply because their politics are different -that has absolutely nothing to do with justice. That is about a politically motivated witchhunt.

Senator Arlen Specter betrayed every motivation when he claimed the fantasy that Clinton could be impeached for the Rich pardon and stripped of ex-presidential benefits like his pension, his taxpayer-funded office space and staff and Secret Service protection. That is the state of the current, Republican wet dream and they do not even require a Monica Lewinsky to produce this one. This is evidently President Clinton's third term in office. The Congress and the Senate are still under the influence of the relentless campaign to destroy his legacy. Will Clinton be granted the opportunity to be the ex-President of the United States or will he continue to be the source who betrays the bigotry and the hypocricy of his enemies?

This just in, just in time to give the former President of the United States a reason to celebrate Valentine's Day. The Bush Justice Department has opened a preliminary criminal investigation into the circumstances of President Bill Clinton's pardon of Marc Rich. Initiated by Mary Jo White, a US Attorney in New York, this bimbo clearly proves that murderers have absolutely nothing to worry about, as long as the Justice Department spends its time investigating President Bill Clinton's absolute power to pardon Marc Rich. Since this Justice Department evidently does not understand the difference between lawful and criminal behavior, let us offer them our assistance. Need something to do? Investigate the murder of Steve Kangas.

"Steve Kangas was found dead on the 39th floor of his enemy's doorstep at 11:30 PM on February 8 1999. In the bathroom of the offices of Richard Mellon Scaife, 2000 miles from home, -- in Pittsburgh PA. Shot (twice?) in the head. Due to obstructions of justice, local police investigating the wrong circumstances quickly ruled it a suicide. There are over 1000 heated Usenet posts on this topic, dated from eleven days after his death. How did he die?"

JFK Jr., who had interviewed Scaife in the tightly secured building where Kangas was shot in the head, was a witness to the fact that Kangas could not have possibly been an uninvited guest in the building where he was murdered. Kangas was allegedly trespassing, and whoever is responsible for promoting that fraud is responsible for covering up the truth about the murder of Steve Kangas. Steve Kangas did not kill himself.

Most reasonable people reject the frivolous claim that Steve Kangas committed suicide. Arriving at One Oxford Centre at 2:45 p.m., [as recorded by security cameras] he was in the same building until about 11:30 p.m., when he was shot dead, and the claim that he was trespassing in a private Office tower building armed with security cameras and security guards for 9 hours prior to committing suicide is absolutely preposterous. Moreover, the fact that the media has not explained the death of Steve Kangas is absolutely unpardonable.