PINE BLUFFS – Here are five late-breaking news items – all of them important – which I’ll bet you have not seen. Reason? Major news outlets (The Washington Times excluded) have either not reported them or buried them on the back pages where they’re difficult to spot. They don’t want you to think about the implications.

Item #1: Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR), Oregon's only statewide elected Republican Senator, has become one of the top targets of liberal Democrats in the 2008 elections, as Democrats seek to expand their slim majority in the senior chamber. Because of major media indifference, you may not know that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), led by ultra-liberal New Yorker Chuck Schumer, has poured more coordinated money into the Oregon Senate race than any other race in the country so far. In just three months, Schumer and liberal Democrats spent $93,000 in support of Oregon House Speaker, Jeff Merkley's campaign to defeat Smith. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Since Smith, 55, is one of the national Democrats chief targets this year, far-left liberals are prepared to spend millions in this race to defeat him. What might stop them? A demonstration of strong Republican support for Smith, evidenced by his ability to raise significant campaign funds. So if you want the Republicans to take back their majority in 2008, he could use some immediate help. Send what you can to: Friends of Gordon Smith, 121 S.W. Salmon St., Suite 1137, Portland, OR 97204.

            Item #2: Talk about David battling Goliath; thanks to Judicial Watch’s persistence, Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2000 Senatorial campaign has been fined $35,000 by the Federal Elections Commission (FEC), for accepting $2 million from Hollywood producer Peter Paul to finance the campaign event, “Hollywood Tribute,” a star-studded August 2000 benefit for Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign. That show cost a total of $2 million to produce; $1.176 million in cash, plus perks to many performers. Problem? Her campaign reported and disclosed receipt of only $401,500 in donated goods and services. For his role in this debacle, David Rosen, Hillary’s former national finance director, was indicted in 2005 on four counts of filing false reports with that body.

Judicial Watch has now discovered evidence indicating that Mrs. Clinton was personally involved in events leading up to the failure to disclose. They’re now probing to discover the full extent of her involvement in this still unfolding scandal.

During former President Clinton’s administration, a Justice Department campaign finance task force charged more than two dozen individuals and two corporations with fund-raising abuses from the 1996 election cycle. Many of the charges involved Democrat fund-raising.

            Item #3: Remember “Chinagate”? That was the most serious recent scandal in U.S. history, involving the transfer of our most sensitive technology - including nuclear missile and satellite technology - to the Chinese in exchange for millions of dollars in illegal campaign contributions, which the Chinese government and other Asians sent to the 1996 Clinton-Gore Re-election Campaign, and the Democrat National Committee (DNC).

            In 2003, my book about “Chinagate,” The China Connection, was one of several which exposed much of the illegal shenanigans engaged in by the above-named organizations and the Clinton Legal Defense Fund as recipients of bribery-inspired contributions from the Communist Chinese government and a couple of unscrupulous American corporations.

            Most Americans have heard of the "Chinagate" scandal, but few understand its deadly import. In a nutshell, when Bill Clinton took office in 1993, China presented no threat to the United States. Chinese missiles "couldn’t hit the side of a barn," notes Timothy W. Maier of Insight magazine. Few could reach North America and those that made it would likely miss their targets. Thanks to Bill Clinton, China can now hit any city in the USA, using state-of-the-art solid-fuel missiles with accurate, computerized guidance systems and multiple warheads.

Well, “Chinagate” is back. In spades. Only this time it’s not John Huang, Johnny Chung, Charlie Trie, Ted Sioeng, Maria Hsia, and the former cast of Asian characters which violated FEC laws back in the mid ‘90s. Instead, it’s Democrat fundraiser Norman Hsu (pronounced Shaw). Exposed in early 2007, Hsu has now been indicted by a federal grand jury in New York for violating campaign financing laws and overseeing a massive $60 million dollar fraud.

Ever wondered how Hillary’s 2008 presidential campaign surged so far ahead of the other presidential candidates in raising money? Well, maybe this’ll shed some light on the subject. Hsu, 56, who raised $850 thousand for Ms. Clinton’s presidential campaign, was a fugitive who evaded capture for 15 years before his apprehension and arrest on August 31, 2007. This Hong Kong native had failed to appear in court for sentencing in 1992, after pleading guilty to a felony charge of defrauding investors of $1million in a bogus investment. As if that wasn’t enough, Hsu failed to appear at a bail reduction hearing following his most recent arrest, but was apprehended again in Colorado after falling ill while on a train bound for Canada.

According to the 15-count indictment, Hsu violated the Federal Elections Commission Campaign Act by asking persons to make contributions to designated federal candidates totaling more than $25 thousand each, in the names of others during 2005, 2006, and 2007. Hsu then directly reimbursed them for the contributions they had made on his behalf. This is called “bundling” and is illegal. As in ’96, the Clinton campaign made no move to return the funds until after this mess was exposed publicly. Makes you wonder why all these shady fundraiser folks turn up close to Democrats as they do their dastardly deeds.    

Item #4: Senator Clinton really knows how to make news. Here she is again, proposing a government take-over of America’s health care system. Since beginning her campaign for president, she has proposed various parts of her failed 1993 plan, hoping to sneakily pass separately the items which she could not sell to the people as a package deal back then. Either way, her plan is bad news for Americans.

Personally, I hope Democrats give her their Party’s nomination. The Republican base, which George W. Bush’s immigration folly partially drove away, needs an issue behind which it can once again unite. Hillary will serve the purpose nicely. That’s good for the Republican Party, and good for America.

     Item #5: One final thing. Listening to people like Lou Dobbs, and Democrat presidential hopeful John Edwards, one might believe that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. In fact, that’s a common liberal mantra. Has been for the past 20 years or so. Is it true? No. Walter Williams, in his article, The Poor Aren’t Getting Poorer any More (Washington Times, 12/10/07), quotes a November 13, 2007 Wall Street Journal editorial reporting on a U.S. Treasury study of income tax returns from 1996 to 2005, “…which tracked tax filers 25 years of age and older during this 10-year period. Controlling for inflation, nearly 58% of the poorest income group in 1996 moved to a higher income group by 2005. Twenty-six percent achieved middle or upper middle class income, and more than 5 percent made it into the highest income group.”

     What may we conclude from this? Well, here’s Williams again: “Demagogues duping Americans about stagnant and declining income gives politicians justification for raising taxes and placing regulatory obstacles in the path of risk-taking, productivity and hard work that will impede the enviable income mobility that has become part of the American tradition. Raising taxes on capital formation reduces the rate of capital formation. Raising taxes on income reduces incentives to work. Unfortunately, because so many Americans buy into the politics of envy, politicians have a leg up in enacting measures that cripple economic growth.”