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The Clinton Foundation goes from strength to strength, raising $135 million last year, up 70% from 2005. The Foundation has paid off debts incurred building the Clinton Library, although it owes $1.9 million on a loan to renovate the Library gift shop.

Like all not-for-profits, the foundation reports income, not donors. Plans were different once:

“Officials said when Clinton’s presidential library opened in 2004 that it would include a wall recognizing contributors. So far, that wall has not been installed.”

If you were a wall, what would you be?

What we know of Clinton’s Library donors comes largely from Josh Gerstein in the New York Sun. When the Library opened he found a computer terminal on an upper library floor with donor information. The terminal has since been yanked.

If the wall of names ever rises it would include Steven Spielberg, the Saudi royals, the King of Morocco, and the governments of Dubai, Kuwait, Qatar, Brunei, and Taiwan.

Papa Bush’s Library has some big donors’ names displayed, many of them the same governments and access seekers as Clinton’s. But there is no overall disclosure, and Bush’s foundation is squirrely with names and numbers too. According to the Dallas Morning News,”Only five major donors and four minor ones asked to remain anonymous, said Roman Popadiuk, executive director of the Bush library foundation in College Station… “We never hid who donates,” he said. “Some donors want to be anonymous. Others for privacy reasons just don’t want it advertised how much they give.”

Sometimes anonymity helps the recipient as well.

God, Prophet and Washington Times impresario the Reverend Sun Myung Moon wasn’t satisfied paying Bush senior for some appearances, so he disguised a million dollar donation to the Bush Library by funneling it through the Greater Houston Community Foundation.

Savvy re-branding or desertion under fire?

Where do you go when your champion has become America’s Not Keen Model? The smarties at Blogs for Bush are throwing in the towel, repositioning themselves as “Blogs for Victory”

And Their Flag Is Still Here

Miami may be knocking down the Orange Bowl, the sports stadium storied in legend and song, and the site of John Kennedy’s 1962 encounter with Bay of Pigs veterans ransomed from Cuba.

Shadow of a Gunman

The event came off despite exile claims Kennedy sabotaged the invasion by withdrawing American air support, and Kennedy received the Brigade 2506 flag.

The Orange Bowl will now miss another event, the planned celebration of Castro’s death.

Teddy Roosevelt may not take Oyster Bay New York as easily as Kettle Hill. Local residents are beginning to question the need, size, and location of the Theodore Roosevelt Association’s proposed museum.

Newsday reports the natives growing restless, with one resident leading off a community forum with

“How do we stop this? I got the impression this was being rammed down our throats.”

If TR Association Executive Director James Bruns fails he will at least fail while daring greatly:

“to do a presidential museum of a figure as prominent as Theodore Roosevelt you need a minimum of 80,000 square feet.”

How the Bush Library copes with 21,000 square feet, and the Clinton with 20,000 is unknown. And even if they are fudging their numbers, are they doing so by a factor of four?

Good Points?

Unclear where the budget fight is going after the House failed to override President Bush’s veto of the Labor-HHS Appropriations Bill. Republicans highlighted selected earmarks they could mock, while ignoring Bush’s own little requests.

The administration’s $8.9 million request for Dad’s Points of Light Foundation was cut before the vote.

Trade?