Clinton Co. a wholly owned subsidiary of the PRC

From The Los Angeles Times:

NEW YORK -- Something remarkable happened at 44 Henry St., a grimy Chinatown tenement with peeling walls. It also happened nearby at a dimly lighted apartment building with trash bins clustered by the front door.

And again not too far away, at 88 E. Broadway beneath the Manhattan bridge, where vendors chatter in Mandarin and Fujianese as they hawk rubber sandals and bargain-basement clothes.

All three locations, along with scores of others scattered throughout some of the poorest Chinese neighborhoods in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx, have been swept by an extraordinary impulse to shower money on one particular presidential candidate -- Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Dishwashers, waiters and others whose jobs and dilapidated home addresses seem to make them unpromising targets for political fundraisers are pouring $1,000 and $2,000 contributions into Clinton's campaign treasury. In April, a single fundraiser in an area long known for its gritty urban poverty yielded a whopping $380,000. When Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) ran for president in 2004, he received $24,000 from Chinatown.

At this point in the presidential campaign cycle, Clinton has raised more money than any candidate in history. Those dishwashers, waiters and street stall hawkers are part of the reason. And Clinton's success in gathering money from Chinatown's least-affluent residents stems from a two-pronged strategy: mutually beneficial alliances with powerful groups, and appeals to the hopes and dreams of people now consigned to the margins.

Clinton has enlisted the aid of Chinese neighborhood associations, especially those representing recent immigrants from Fujian province. The organizations, at least one of which is a descendant of Chinatown criminal enterprises that engaged in gambling and human trafficking, exert enormous influence over immigrants. The associations help them with everything from protection against crime to obtaining green cards.

Many of Clinton's Chinatown donors said they had contributed because leaders in neighborhood associations told them to. In some cases, donors said they felt pressure to give.

The other piece of the strategy involves holding out hope that, if Clinton becomes president, she will move quickly to reunite families and help illegal residents move toward citizenship. As New York's junior senator, Clinton has expressed support for immigrants and greater family reunification. She is also benefiting from Chinese donors' naive notions of what she could do in the White House.

Campaign concerns

As with other campaigns looking for dollars in unpromising places, the Clinton operation also has accepted what it later conceded were improper donations. At least one reported donor denies making a contribution. Another admitted to lacking the legal-resident status required for giving campaign money.

Clinton aides said they were concerned about some of the Chinatown contributions.

"We have hundreds of thousands of donors. We are proud to have support from across New York and the country from many different communities," campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson said. "In this instance, our own compliance process flagged a number of questionable donations and took the appropriate steps to be sure they were legally given. In cases where we couldn't confirm that, the money was returned."

The Times examined the cases of more than 150 donors who provided checks to Clinton after fundraising events geared to the Chinese community. One-third of those donors could not be found using property, telephone or business records. Most have not registered to vote, according to public records.

And several dozen were described in financial reports as holding jobs -- including dishwasher, server or chef -- that would normally make it difficult to donate amounts ranging from $500 to the legal maximum of $2,300 per election.

Of 74 residents of New York's Chinatown, Flushing, the Bronx or Brooklyn that The Times called or visited, only 24 could be reached for comment.

Many said they gave to Clinton because they were instructed to do so by local association leaders. . .

And in a RELATED STORY:

After five years in power, President Hu Jintao has finally gained unquestioned control of China's massive military while transforming it into wealthy, high-tech fighting force, analysts said.

[. . .]

"It looks like he has full control over personnel now. He has continued to raise the military budget and will continue that. He's well established in power now," said Arthur Ding, a Chinese military expert at Singapore's Nanyang Technology University.

Hu's military priorities were shown in the selection of General Chen Bingde as general chief of staff, observers said.

Chen previously directed the unit that controlled the country's fast-developing space programme, and was a top commander of eastern China forces viewed as crucial to a potential conflict with Taiwan. [And we know where they got the technology to do all that modernizing, don't we]

"(Chen's selection) was a tough signal to Taiwan and it emphasises the military's modernisation in the high-tech era," said Cheng Li, a scholar with the US Brookings Institution.

Hu's predecessor, Jiang Zemin, upped spending to lift the PLA from a backward, bloated force to a modern military, and Hu has taken the baton with gusto.

The armed forces received 45 billion dollars in funding this year, an annual 17.8 percent increase and Hu has promised more in future years.

The spending [spending like on contributions to the Clinton Library and Massage Parlor] has opened new high-tech vistas for the former peasant force.

Last year it unveiled an advanced new homegrown fighter and in January made China only the third country to successfully test a satellite-killer missile, among other new high-tech toys. [Thank you Billy Blowjob]

"China's technology level is still below that of the United States and Europe [But not for long, if they can just get Hillary elected], but they are making steady progress," said Kevin Pollpeter, a China military expert at the US-based Centre for Intelligence Research and Analysis.

We really want Mrs. Bill Clinton in the White House come next year.