|
Bush Turns Enron's
Afghanistan Interests into His Own
By Harry Neville tech2see@yahoo.com
George W. Bush is absorbing the Afghanistan interests of
the now-bankrupt Enron and making them his own - while
claiming to advance the national interests of the United
States.
For a number of years, Enron sought U.S. Government support
for projects involving the harvesting of oil and gas from the
Caspian Sea region near Afghanistan.
As early as last year, Bush publicly supported such
projects. For example, on 11/28/01, he issued a statement
saying, "These [Caspian Pipeline Consortium pipeline]
projects will help diversify U.S. energy supply and enhance
our energy security, while supporting global economic
growth."
That consortium wants to harvest the huge oil and natural
gas reserves of the Caspian Sea region near Afghanistan and
build pipelines to transport the oil and gas to neighboring
countries.
A Unocal-led consortium proposed a pipeline route that
would stretch across several areas and end in Pakistan. In
1996, Unocal was negotiating with Uzbekistan to connect
Uzbekistan's pipeline network to a Unocal pipeline that would
end in Pakistan. A "second proposed" Unocal pipeline
would have transported natural gas from Turkmenistan through
Afghanistan and ended in Pakistan, near which is India, home
of Enron's natural gas Dabhol power plant.
As recently as 4/19/02, Dow Jones Business News reported
that Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan were
"expected" to meet to discuss a natural gas pipeline
that would route gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to
Pakistan. Dow Jones said the pipeline could extend to India,
which is home of the Dabhol power plant.
Bordering on Turkmenistan and the Caspian Sea is
Uzbekistan, a Central Asian Republic that is one of the
largest producers of natural gas in the world.
A 10/22/98 article from Alexander's Gas & Oil
Connections shows that Enron tried to gain access to
Uzbekistan's natural gas supplies. Enron needed the supplies
in order to fuel its Dabhol natural gas power plant in India,
which borders on Pakistan, a country that could be connected
to possible gas and oil pipelines from Uzbekistan.
On its Web site, Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw Project
Finance Practice Group listed Enron and Uzbek Oil and Gas (Uzbekneftegaz)
as a "joint venture to develop an oil and gas deposit in
Uzbekistan."
The Houston Chronicle reported on 2/15/02 that
"President Bush as Texas governor personally pushed Enron
Corp.'s business interests with the Uzbekistan ambassador and
[with then-]Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge."
Tom Ridge is now director of the Office of Homeland
Security.
A WashingtonPost.com article entitled, "Uzbekistan
Thanked For Role In War," mentions the fact that Bush met
with the president of Uzbekistan, Islam A. Karimov, on
3/12/02. The article says that Karimov…"allowed U.S.
troops to use an air base in his country for the war in
neighboring Afghanistan…"
So, Bush placed U.S. troops in a region that could supply
the Dabhol power plant with natural gas: Uzbekistan.
General Electric (GE), a company that worked in partnership
with the Saudi Bin-Laden Group on Riyadh Power Plant 9 in
Saudi Arabia, owns 10% of the Dabhol power plant and is
currently trying to complete and retain control of the Dabhol
plant.
GE also owns NBC News. On election night of the year-2000
presidential election, then-GE CEO Jack Welch allegedly
pressured NBC to declare that George W. Bush had won the
election, bringing Bush one step closer to the presidency and
thus to control over Central Asian Republics such as
Uzbekistan.
Journalist Mike Ruppert says in his article, "A War In
The Planning For Four Years," that former National
Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski views Uzbekistan as the
key to controlling the other Central Asian Republics.
As evidence of this view, Ruppert gives the following quote
from page 130 of Brzezinski's book, "THE GRAND
CHESSBOARD": “Uzbekistan is, in fact, the prime
candidate for regional leadership in Central Asia.” And
U.S.-controlled regional leadership in Central Asia would make
it possible for the U.S. to control the Central Asian
Republics that surround the Caspian Sea, source of huge
amounts of oil and gas.
So, if Bush can control Uzbekistan, he can control all of
Central Asia and all the oil and gas that comes with it. And
if Bush can control one of the world's largest supplies of
untapped energy--energy from Central Asian gas and oil-- he
can control the world's energy.
On 4/30/02, in an article entitled "Pentagon
Considering Ways To Keep Military Presence In Central Asia For
The Long Run," the Associated Press reported that the
U.S. currently has thousands of military forces in Pakistan,
Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and
Afghanistan, and that the Pentagon is "drawing up a plan
for a long-term military 'footprint' in Central Asia,"
the area comprising Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan, and Kazakstan.
That same article referred to Uzbekistan as being
"among the [Central Asian] region's most politically
influential nations…"
Though U.S. forces are in Uzbekistan and Afghanistan to
allegedly clear away Osama bin Laden's forces, Enron - the
source of many Bush Administration employees - did business
with the Saudi Bin-Laden Group, the Bin-Laden family's
construction company.
Alexander's Gas & Oil Connections noted on 11/26/97
that Enron submitted a bid in cooperation with the Saudi
Bin-Laden Group for the Shuaiba power plant project in Saudi
Arabia.
The Washington Post said on 3/2/02 that a "key
investor" in Enron's Gaza Strip power plant project was
Sheik Mohammed Imran Bamieh, "a prominent investor in the
Saudi Binladen Group."
So, it seems that Enron and the Bin-Laden Group shared the
same interests, and Bush filled his Administration with Enron
employees and Enron investors.
"Shareholders In The Bank of Terror," a 3/15/02
article from Salon.com, shows that, as of 1999, two of Osama
bin Laden's sisters were still shareholders in Al Taqwa bank,
which finances Osama's Al Qaida terrorist network. Osama's
family, owner of the Saudi Bin-Laden Group, is therefore
sharing its money with Osama. And Enron, Bush's campaign
financier, did business with the Bin-Laden Group, supporter of
terrorism.
In a move akin to re-shuffling a deck of marked poker
cards, Enron announced during the first week of May 2002 that
it was negotiating with creditors to get out from under
bankruptcy and might soon re-emerge under a different name:
OpCo Energy Company. Enron says the new company could have
"15,000 miles of pipeline assets."
What would prevent a newly resurrected version of Enron
from re-claiming its Dabhol power plant and from making
natural gas pipelines leading to the Dabhol plant into part of
the company's pipeline assets?
http://www.democrats.com/view.cfm?id=7079
5/12/02
Top
David Corn is the Washington editor of The
Nation. His first novel, Deep Background, a
political thriller, was published recently by St. Martin's
Press.
How does the Bush administration
take care of valuable public property? It hands the asset to a
private corporation and allows that business to exploit away.
That’s precisely what the Bush gang did with an important
piece of Internet real estate.
On April 24, while you were busy reading e-mail or perusing
Web sites, you probably missed the biggest electronic land
rush in years. That day NeuStar, a Washington-based firm,
started selling, via 70 online retailers, e-mail and Web
addresses in the .us domain. (Think of yourname.us.) This was
a big deal, as e-speculators rushed to grab addresses, and the
public -- and the public interest -- was largely cut out of
the picture.
Thanks to Bush's
Military Spending Spree, Another Carlyle-Owned Defense
Contractor Gets Rich
On April 30, United States Marine Repair, Inc. announced it
will release 9.3 million shares of common stock at an
estimated price of $14 to $16 for its initial public offering.
In a report in the Virginia-Pilot, company officials said they
"chose to offer its stock to the public now because of
expectations that federal defense spending will grow in the
next several years." Gee - that's awfully confident for a
fledgling company right now, with a bearish stock market. Do
they have a crystal ball? Nope - better than that! They have
inside information - the company is owned by the Carlyle
Group, which, of course employs George Bush, Sr. Nothing like
a little inside trading, eh?
(Top)
Judicial Watch "will launch an investigation of how the
Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)
manages the Indian Gaming License process... The April 11, 2002
edition of the Wall Street Journal contained a report from Jim
Vandehei entitled, 'Wealthy Tribes Give More to GOP As Desire for
Tax Breaks Increase' ... Interior Secretary Gale Norton reportedly
met with tribal leaders of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw, and
the Coushatta and Chitimacha from Louisiana last fall at a private
home in Washington DC's exclusive Georgetown neighborhood. The
tribes are represented by Jack Abramoff, a fundraiser for Bush.
The Wall Street Journal reports that each tribe has agreed to
contribute as much as $1 million dollars to Republican 2002
campaigns. Another meeting with Bush and a small group of tribal
leaders was reportedly arranged by Grover Norquist of Americans
for Tax Reform, a group the Wall Street Journal reported is partly
funded by the Indian tribes."
According to Hugh Kaufman, an in-house watchdog and longtime EPA
critic, Christie Whitman is letting her family's financial ties
to Citigroup influence EPA decisions. "Kaufman said Whitman
falsely assured New Yorkers that the air around the World Trade
Center was safe in the days after the structures were leveled by
the Sept. 11 attacks. That, he said, saved Travelers Insurance
-- owned by Citigroup -- millions of dollars. And he said
Whitman tried to dissolve the EPA national ombudsman's office,
where he works, so it wouldn't interfere with a court settlement
with Citigroup about Shattuck." Whitman's husband worked
for Citigroup and still owns stock in the company. The probe is
being conducted by the Justice Department, a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Enron.
(Top)
LA Times columnist Robert Scheer writes, "Since the election
of Ronald Reagan, the apostles of an unregulated market, lavishly
financed by business lobbyists, have demolished barriers to
corporate greed and corruption that for most of a century had
served this country well. The Enron debacle is just the most
damning in a long list of evidence that the zealots of
deregulation did this country, and its free-enterprise system, a
terrible disservice. The financial markets are now roiled and may
be permanently damaged by profound suspicion of corporate
practices on the part of investors, who now realize they have good
reason to fear the worst. The deregulation ideology of modern
conservatism, endorsed mightily by our current president, who
cited Enron as a model, holds that big business can best police
itself." Like its absolutist counterpart Communism, Reaganism
is dead - thanks to Enron.
(Top)
After the GOP takeover of Congress in 1994, "The number
of Americans with million-dollar incomes more than doubled
from 1995 through 1999, as their salaries and their profits
from stocks soared... The percentage of their income that went
to federal income taxes, however, fell by 11%... For those
with million-dollar incomes, the share of their income that
went to taxes fell to 27.9% in 1999, from 31.4% in 1995. For
those Americans who did not make a million dollars, the
portion of their income going to taxes edged up in those
years, to 12.8% from 12.5%... The capital gains tax cut of
1997 appeared to favor the 400 richest taxpayers most of all.
Harvesting 7% of all capital gains in 1998, these very rich
Americans paid just 22% of their incomes in taxes that year,
down from 30% in 1994... Wealth in America is more highly
concentrated today than at any time since 1929." So
reports the NY Times.
Bush's Budget Motto is
'Leave No Defense Contractor Behind'
"The events of Sept. 11 shocked and horrified the nation;
they also presented the Bush administration with a golden
opportunity to bury its previous misdeeds. Has more than $4
trillion of projected surplus suddenly evaporated into thin air?
Pay no attention to the tax cut: it's all because of the war on
terrorism. In short, the administration's strategy is to prevent
criticism of what amounts to a fiscal debacle by wrapping its
budget in the flag. And I mean that literally: the budget report
released yesterday came wrapped in a red, white and blue cover
depicting the American flag. No politician hoping for re-election
will dare to say it, but the administration's new motto seems to
be 'Leave no defense contractor behind.'" So writes NY Times
columnist Paul Krugman.
According to the LA Times, "When President Bush declared
war on terrorism in September, few were better poised than
Carlyle to know how and when to make money. On a single day last
month, Carlyle earned $237 million selling shares in United
Defense Industries, the Army's fifth-largest contractor.
The stock offering was well timed:.. The stock sale cashed in
on increased congressional support for hefty defense spending,
including one of United Defense's cornerstone weapon programs.
'It's the first time the president of the United States' father
is on the payroll of one of the largest U.S. defense
contractors,' said Charles Lewis, director of the Center for
Public Policy and one of Carlyle's most ardent critics. 'Between
Baker and Carlucci, not to mention dear old dad, the
relationship of the president with this particular company is as
tight and close as, well, anyone can imagine.'"
 | Cheney Makes a Rare Appearance |
Opposition Leader Meets with US Vice-president -
Grand National Party leader Lee Hoi-chang met with US
Vice-president Richard B. Cheney at the White House, Thursday,
where they shared various opinions with regard to the Korean
peninsula.
| Carlyle says to invest $80 million in Korea tech
firms |
1/17/02 6:20 PM
Source: Reuters
SEOUL, Jan 18 (Reuters) - U.S. private equity fund Carlyle
Group will pour $80 million, a fifth of its $400 million Asia
investment plan, into Korea's information technology sector
over three years, its Korea branch said on Friday.
"We see increasing investment opportunities in
Korea," James Park, director at Carlyle Technology
Venture Fund Asia's Korean branch, said in a statement.
Carlyle launched its Korean branch on Thursday. (posted
1/25/02)
####################
Clean Air Trust Names Wendy Lee Gramm as 'Clean Air Villain of
the Month'
"What does a sunset cocktail party in ritzy Naples,
Florida, have to do with an oil company indicted for
'environmental crimes' and a soon-to-be-announced Bush
Administration plan to weaken enforcement of the Clean Air Act?
They all involve Wendy Lee Gramm, named today by the nonprofit
Clean Air Trust as its 'villain of the month' for January. Gramm
is director of the 'regulatory studies program' at the Mercatus
Center of George Mason University. Mercatus is an increasingly
influential, anti-regulatory 'think tank' created by and
subsidized by polluter money." So declares the Clean Air
Trust.
Abraham got thousands from nuke biz - Energy Sec. says 'sound
science' drove Nevada choice
LAS VEGAS (CBS.MW) -- Although Enron's large contributions to
key legislators and members of the Bush Administration
apparently were not enough to pull its financial fat out of the
fire, one group of major energy-business political donors just
hit the jackpot. ( More)
#####################
Bush Makes Two Recess Appointments
"Circumventing Senate opposition, President Bush
(news - web sites) signed recess appointments Friday
for conservatives Otto Reich and Eugene Scalia."
Bush's rosy 2001 forecast
yields to reality of '02 in red
by
Jules Witcover
WASHINGTON - The start of a new year is supposed to be a time
to put the past behind us and look to the future.
...
In the first eight months of 2001, we were a country that was fat,
dumb and happy, even as the state of our economy was sliding
downhill fast. .... ...
The new president had campaigned in 2000 on the issue of a tax cut
because, amid an era of unimagined surpluses, the American
taxpayer simply deserved one.
Then, when the economy turned sour, he switched his rationale for
the cut, saying it would help put the brakes on the slipping
economy. ... ...
In fact, in the context of providing an economic stimulus needed
in the wake of the attacks, Mr. Bush called for even more tax cuts
to provide even more relief for the biggest taxpayers who, not
coincidentally, make and have the most money in America.
.... More
....JK, 1/06/02
(Top)
"It was a classic stealth maneuver -- and it worked. Two
days after Christmas, with President [sic] Bush at his Texas ranch
and most of official Washington on vacation, the White House
announced the rejection of regulations that would have barred
companies that repeatedly violate environmental and workplace
standards from receiving government contracts. Few in the press
noticed, and those papers that printed anything about the decision
buried the stories on inside pages. But this was no trivial
matter. A congressional report had found that in one recent year,
the federal government had awarded $38 billion in contracts to at
least 261 corporations operating unsafe or unhealthy work sites.
The regulations Bush killed were designed to stop that. This is a
classic example of the difference between the parties." So
writes David Broder. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49723-2002Jan1.html
(Top)
Television journalist Bill Moyers, speaking Friday at the LBJ
Library, exhorted Americans to save democracy after the Sept. 11
attacks by working for humility amid growing religious pluralism
and said they should join the loyal opposition if greedy
politicians try to keep doing their corporate-financed business
as usual.
"Religion may well replace race as the most predominant
issue facing the 21st century," he said. "We're
entering a new religious landscape in this country. In
pluralistic America, what faith requires is humility. Your
neighbor's faith in democracy (not his religion) is
paramount."
http://www.buzzflash.com/alerts/2002/01/010502_Daschle_Plan.html
As
presented by Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, January 4, 2002:
1.
Jobs Creation Tax Credit
"available
to every business in America"
"if
you increase your payroll -- if you hire new people, restore
hours that have been cut, or give your workers a raise -- youll
be reimbursed for all of the extra payroll taxes"
"A
robust depreciation bonus gives companies an incentive to make
investments now; 40 percent bonus depreciation for the first six
months and 20 percent for the next six months"
2.
Homeland Security Funding
"weve
done practically nothing since September 11th to improve cyber
security, rail security, or security at Americas nuclear and
chemical plants. These gaps in our homeland security are
unacceptable"
3.
Fiscal Responsibility
"and
most important thing we should do is restore long-term fiscal
integrity to our budget, so we can bring long-term interest
rates down; In a real sense, low interest rates are the best
possible tax cut"
"federal
government needs to show the markets that it has not abandoned
fiscal discipline"
4.
Education, Training, and Technology Investments
"invest
in education, training, and technology to promote job creation
and economic growth."
"renewing
our commitment to training and lifelong learning."
"re-authorize
our bipartisan welfare reform laws this year to ensure that
people who have made the transition from welfare to work can
remain in the workforce and not slide back into dependency"
"make
the research and development tax credit permanent"
"create
tax credits, grants, and loans to make broadband service as
universal tomorrow as telephone access is today"
"double
civilian R&D funding, including funding for the National
Science Foundation. And we should fully fund the Advanced
Technology Program -- to speed these innovations to market"
5.
Open Global Markets and Help Workers Hurt by Trade
"support
fast track and intend to bring it up for a vote in the full
Senate early this year."
"as
part of our consideration of fast track, Senate Democrats are
proposing to expand Trade Adjustment Assistance; expand
assistance to all workers who are hurt by global production
shifts"
6.
A Balanced National Energy Plan
"an
energy plan that truly moves us towards energy
independence"
"Democrats
have a plan that reduces our dependence on foreign oil, balances
production and conservation, and creates hundreds of thousands
of jobs in the process"
"an
incentive to build a natural gas pipeline to bring 35 trillion
cubic feet of natural gas from Alaska to the lower 48
states"
"provisions
to improve the supply and distribution of traditional energy
resources like oil and gas, improve the efficiency of Americas
electrical transmission system, and invest in clean coal
technologies"
7.
Retirement Security
"support
private accounts to supplement -- not replace -- Social
Security; We need both, and we can have both."
The
complete transcript can be read here:
http://www.cnponline.org/Press%20Releases/Transcripts/Daschle%20Speech.htm
(Top)
You don't need to look here for this. Just
listen in to most TV and Radio talk shows, or read most newspapers
and you get the "big business plan" sales rap.
(Top)
| ENRON and the
WhiteHouse
"The head of a congressional inquiry into the Bush
administration's energy proposals said yesterday he would
sue the White House next week if the administration does not
comply with his demands, in what would be the first legal
action of its kind between the legislative and executive
branches of government.....
Former Enron executives disclosed yesterday that a top Bush
campaign adviser, Edward Gillespie, served as the company's
key conduit to the White House and House leaders.
Gillespie's firm received $525,000 over nine months last
year from Enron for lobbying that included the energy task
force and economic stimulus legislation with tax provisions
that would have helped Enron....
whether Karl Rove, Bush's top campaign adviser, arranged for
an Enron consulting contract for strategist Ralph Reed
instead of paying him from campaign funds. The White House
and Reed yesterday denied a charge, made by an anonymous
source in a New York Times article, that Reed's contract was
arranged to keep his allegiance to Bush during the early
days of the Texas governor's presidential bid....
New information was released yesterday showing that the
White House amended a draft energy proposal by the State
Department to include a provision favorable to Enron. Rep.
Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), the White House's main
antagonist over the energy task force records, released
papers indicating the White House added to the final report
a call to boost energy production in India. In between the
draft and the final report, Enron officials had met with the
task force, Waxman's staff said.
The development could be significant because the change was
made at about the same time the White House was expanding an
effort to aid Enron in India."
.. from
GAO
Vows to Sue For Cheney Files
, posted 1/26/02
|
|
The recent controversy over the demise of the energy
giant, which contributed millions to both Republicans and
Democrats, helped supporters of a Senate-passed campaign
finance bill attract four additional lawmakers this
afternoon to their discharge petition despite the GOP
leadership's opposition to the measure. Under House rules,
the leadership now has no choice but to bring the
legislation up for a vote. ... 1/24/02
|
|
The Star-Telegram reports, "Phil Gramm was
among the lawmakers who fought a 2000 proposal by the SEC
that would have prevented an accounting firm to audit a
company's books while providing consulting work. While the
debate raged, Gramm lobbied on behalf of the accounting
firms, which successfully fought the proposal. Gramm sent
out several news releases on his Banking Committee Web
site demanding that the SEC provide 'proof' of problems
with auditor independence. 'You can make the argument that
any time you are paying an auditor, there is a conflict of
interest,' Gramm said in one news release during the 2000
battle. 'But if you are going to make the kind of changes
that we are talking about, you have to do more than argue
that there might be a conflict and that conflict might
override the credibility of the people who are leading
these firms.'" Credibility??? Yours is as bankrupt as
Enron, Phil! http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/2489039.htm
|
|
Salon's Jake Tapper reports that a mid-level Enron
attorney, Jordan
Mintz, secretly hired the New York law firm Fried Frank
Harris
Shriver & Jacobson to review the legality of
partnerships created by
Enron's CFO, Andrew Fastow. FFHS&J urged Mintz to stop
Enron from
creating such partnerships, and Mintz succeeded. This
appears to be
the cause of CEO Jeffrey Skilling's mysterious departure
on 8/14/01 -
he must have figured that without these debt-hiding
partnerships,
Enron's ponzi scheme was finished. Before he left,
Skilling demoted
Treasurer Jeff McMahon, who probably secretly approved
Mintz's hiring
of FFHS&J, and demanded that Skilling take corrective
action. McMahon
replaced Fastow as CFO in October, when Fastow was finally
fired.
McMahon is now desperately trying to keep Enron from
liquidation, as
previously secret debts continue to be revealed.
|
|
In December, Phil Gramm's press secretary said
"Senator Gramm took no role, had no say, and did not
vote on the energy futures provisions." But "on
December 15, Gramm curiously turned up as co-sponsor of a
bill with the same name, the Commodity Futures
Modernization Act, which did deregulate energy futures and
which, without undergoing the usual committee hearings and
preliminary votes, was immediately attached as a rider to
an 11,000-page appropriations bill." So reports James
Ridgeway in the Village Voice.
|
|
According to Salon's Anthony York, "The real smoking
gun for Enron could be its role in the California energy
deregulation debacle. Vice President Cheney has already
admitted that he and Enron CEO Ken Lay discussed the
California situation in some of their six meetings last
year, leading some critics to believe that Bush's
hands-off policy toward the Golden State's energy meltdown
was adopted at the bidding of Enron, whose profits soared
during the crisis. Lay was also instrumental in replacing
the chairman of the federal commission that regulates
energy issues with his own nominee, after the original
chairman refused to kowtow to Enron's wishes on
electricity deregulation. A California state Senate
committee is currently calling for depositions of Enron
and Arthur Andersen officials to find out if the former
energy giant or its auditors willfully destroyed documents
that were under subpoena from the committee." And
there's more - better keep those pretzels away from
Cheney!
|
|
Not only did Enron screw its employees and shareholders -
it also screwed the taxpayers. "Enron paid no income
taxes in four of the last five years, using almost 900
subsidiaries in tax-haven countries and other techniques,
an analysis of its financial reports to shareholders
shows. It was also eligible for $382 million in tax
refunds. The company used strategies common among
businesses to avoid taxes. It also used some unusual
methods, among them the creation of 881 subsidiaries
abroad, including 692 in the Cayman Islands, 119 in the
Turks and Caicos, 43 in Mauritius and 8 in Bermuda."
An NY Times editorial on 5/26/01 stated, "the Bush
administration is backing away from a three-year effort by
the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
to crack down on tax havens. The administration's decision
to withdraw American support for essential elements of the
effort undermines what had been a successful international
campaign." How con-veen-yent! Congress must close
offshore tax loopholes now!
|
|
D. Stephen Goddard, managing partner of Arthur Andersen's
Houston Office (where the documents may have been
destroyed) is a Bush "pioneer" who raised over
$100,000 for the 2000 campaign
"July 28, 2000 - A new study analyzing the 212
Pioneer fundraisers that have delivered at least 24% of
Bush's $90 million war chest concludes that their ranks
are dominated by corporate executives and special interest
lobbyists. The Pioneers group includes a host of
polluters, corporate welfare recipients and trade group
leaders who seek special favors for their particular
industries. The report by Texans for Public Justice is the
first in-depth look at each of the Pioneers."
What's the common denominator: the Bush family and
Bush/Cheney contributions and Bush/Cheney influence.
It's damn incestuous.
.... a Buzzflash ENRONomics alert, 1/13/01
|
Ken
Lay, Enron, and the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (FERC)
http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/2002/01/011102_Lay_Enron_FERC.html
January
11, 2002
Remember
last Summer's California energy crisis? Well...Ken Lay
put some pressure on FERC Chairman Curtis Hebert to
play ball, or Enron would not back him for his job.
http://www.senate.gov/~feinstein/releases01/ferc_investigation.html
"And
now, we have a report in today's New York Times that
Enron's Chairman Mr. Kenneth Lay told Curtis Hebert
Jr., the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, that Enron would support him in his job if
he backed a national push for retail competition in
the energy business and a faster pace in opening up
access to the electricity transmission grid to
companies like Enron."
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/briefings/20010531.html#Enron
Coincidentally,
or not, Hebert wound up RESIGNING from his
Chairmanship a few months later, after he snubbed
Lay's attempt at extortion.
http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/utilities/st/st001839.php3
"California
is not losing a friend of the consumer with the
announced resignation of Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission Chairman Curtis Hebert. Nonetheless,
Hebert's resignation is troubling because it reveals
the workings of the invisible hand of Kenneth Lay,
head of the Enron Corporation. In Washington, people
don't just give up their powerful positions. People
resign because somebody above them tells them to
resign. Back in June, it was reported in the New York
Times that Lay was putting the heat on Hebert to
pursue a more federally-oriented deregulation stance
(Enron-style -- see above) in return for Lay's
endorsement; the energy executive, after all, has
enjoyed legendary influence with the President, who
appoints Commission members and names the Chairperson.
But Hebert snubbed Lay, who views the pro-dereg
outgoing commissioner as not pro-dereg enough. Lay has
been a long-time supporter of fellow Texan Pat Wood,
who is expected to take over Hebert's post."
--Hesiod
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|
Ari Fleischer, that simpering twit of a White House spokesman,
urged Thursday that the Enron debacle not be turned into a
partisan witch hunt. OK, Ari, let's make it a bipartisan witch
hunt.
But all the news seems so Republican-specific at the moment. You
know they're getting edgy at the White House when both President
Bush and Fleischer -- within about 30 minutes of each other --
try to blame Enron Chief Executive Officer Ken Lay (the single
largest contributor to Bush's political career) on Ann Richards.
Whoever wrote that talking point needs to be sent to the
correspondence pool. It, at least, was not a good day to try the
line. .... (More)
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"What it is about... is how business gets done down in
Texas. How a small group of business leaders exert enormous
clout over Bush and his team in getting the rules changed to
their benefit. It will explain why Bush has locked up
presidential records, locked out any voices opposed to his
pro-business agenda and rammed through an expensive economic
plan that wiped out the budget surplus but to date hasn't had
any positive effect on the economy. It will explain what
influence Enron Chief Executive Ken Lay and his advisers had
with Cheney and his energy task force when they met six times
last year while the vice president was putting together the
administration's energy policy. And it will explain why Bush is
now thinking about acting on a proposal from that very task
force that seeks to roll back a key provision of the Clean Air
Act that helps keep factory pollution down by requiring new
controls when old plants are upgraded." So writes CBS.MarketWatch.com
Editor David Callaway.
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"The media, which had hounded Bill Clinton on his
Whitewater connections, have allowed Bush to maintain the
fiction that his--and his father's--administration had
nothing to do with the debacle that is Enron. Given the
intense interest in the list of those who slept over in
the Clinton White House, it's odd that no attention has
been paid to Kenny Boy's sleepover in the early years of
the senior Bush's White House. Those early Bush years were
crucial for Enron, beginning with the passage of the 1992
Energy Policy Act, which forced the established utility
companies to carry Enron's electricity sales on their
wires... There is a cancer growing on the presidency, but
in this case it's name is Enron, and it won't go away by
being ignored." So writes LA Times columnist Robert
Scheer. http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0102-06.htm
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|
"...If Enron's board, its top management, or its
auditors did break any laws -- and it's important to
remember that there's no hard evidence so far that they
did -- the best response is a simple one: Put them in
prison. It will, to borrow a phrase, discourage the
others.
Securities & Exchange Commission Chairman Harvey Pitt
has the right idea when he says the point of
investor-protection laws isn't to bust crooks after
they've ripped off their victims, but to stop them from
trying. To do that, state and federal authorities need to
send a tough message: Whether you're working out of teak
boardrooms or basement boiler rooms, if you do fraud,
you'll do time. Says Indiana Securities Commissioner Brad
Skolnick: "The increased likelihood of jail time is
the only thing that will deter investment scams."
RARELY CHARGED. Unfortunately, this country has a
long and sad history of letting hustlers, stock market
manipulators, and other white-collar con artists off the
hook. Unlike the lowlifes who smash windows and swipe CD
players, crooks whose weapon of choice is an annual report
rarely go to jail...."
.... http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/jan2002/nf2002012_5188
1/5/02
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"One place to start untangling the Enron tale might
be the moment in early 1993 when Bush appointees on the
Commodity Futures Trading Commission voted to exempt
energy traders from its anti-fraud regulations. The
commissioner who initiated that convenient rule-making
process, following a post-election request from Enron and
several similar companies, was Wendy Gramm, wife of the
Texas Senator. She left the CFTC just before the actual
vote and, five weeks later, joined the Enron board of
directors. This was merely a coincidence, as she and her
benefactors in Houston later explained. Coincidence or
not, that decision pulled open the 'regulatory black hole'
in which Enron thrived and connived. It also represented
the beginning of an unwholesome pattern that culminated
earlier this year, when Enron’s generosity to the
Bush-Cheney campaign evidently won its executives the
right to choose their own regulators in Washington."
So writes Joe
Conason. http://www.observer.com/pages/conason.asp
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"...Enron also had significant input into the
administration's national energy plan, including personal
meetings between Lay and White House energy task force head
Vice President Dick Cheney. Lay and Cheney are old
acquaintances. While Cheney was CEO of Halliburton, his
Houston-based Brown & Root subsidiary built Enron's new
baseball park in Houston, modestly named Enron Field.
Numerous other administration officials have either worked
for Enron or have owned Enron stock. Secretary of the Army
Thomas E. White, a retired brigadier general, was the vice
chairman of Enron Energy Services, while economic adviser
Lawrence Lindsey had a $50,000-a-year consulting job with
the firm. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick served
on Enron's Advisory Board. Both White House Chief of Staff
Karl Rove and the Vice President's Chief of Staff Lewis
"Scooter'' Libbey, owned significant amounts of Enron
stock. ....For the Bush Administration, it's not just a
conflict of interest, it's a conflict with reality. For the
nation, it's a disaster, which must be reversed
immediately."
Bush
Crew and Enron: Conflict Of Interest and Reality
....sdehart, 11/15
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Robert Scheer: 'Connect the Enron Dots to Bush'
"Enron is Whitewater in spades. This isn't just some
rinky-dink land investment like the one dredged up by
right-wing enemies to haunt the Clinton White House--but
rather it has the makings of the greatest presidential
scandal since the Teapot Dome...[Chairman] Kenneth L. Lay,
was a primary financial backer of...Bush's rise to the
presidency...So greedy was Enron that it locked its own
workers into a pension plan based on inflated company stock
values and suspect hidden partnerships, while the top
leadership led by Lay made out like bandits. Bush should be
called as a witness in the congressional hearings scheduled
to unravel this mess. One thing that should come up in the
hearings is then-Gov. Bush's October 1997 telephone call on
behalf of Lay to then-Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge to help
Enron crack into the [state's] tightly
regulated…electricity market...What was Lay's role in the
sudden replacement of Curtis Hebert Jr. as" FERC chair?
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-
|
| "Jeb was ... savvy when it came to cashing in on his
name...As we have seen, so were Neil (of Silverado claim)
and George W. On another occasion, their lobbying teamwork
helped Enron, this country’s largest natural gas pipeline
company, win a multi-million-dollar contract to build a
pipeline linking Argentina and Chile. Enron showed its
gratitude by giving $100,000 to George W.’s gubernatorial
campaign."
http://bushfiles.com/bushfiles/fertilize_bushes.html
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| George
W. Bush Gets Layed
This investigative report the uncovers close ties between
the GOP candidate and Enron Corportations CEO. |
| Enron:
Facts and Figures
Here are some facts and figures about Enron. As of June
2000, Enron had contributed $10,265 to Sen. Slade Gorton 's
Campaign (Center for Responsive Politics). - lots of shady
dealings and Bush connections... |
| Speaking
of the California energy crisis,
" ... President George W. Bush is an outspoken
proponent of deregulation. It's no coincidence that the
natural gas giant Enron, gave the Republican Party more than
$1 million last year, and the company is the president's
biggest lifetime campaign contributor. Since taking office,
Bush has urged California to gut its landmark environmental
laws to facilitate faster construction of more natural gas
plants. He also contends the state's energy crisis shows the
need for opening Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to
oil drilling. For his part, Vice President Dick Cheney says
California companies should seriously explore building power
plants in Mexico, where environmental rules are weaker.
After initially balking at the idea, Mexican President
Vicente Fox has given his tacit endorsement to the
plan." |
| The
U.S. Coalition of Service Industries is the top lobby group
in the November WTO meeting in Qatar. The table below looks
at 12 heavy hitters in the 67 member Coalition. Enron is
#3 and in very impressive company...
|
| " ... Enron is not just another energy corporation.
It has recently reorganized to become one of the largest,
multi-sector, private service providers in the world. While
specializing in energy services, Enron's product lines now
include a broad range of services from transportation to
electronic commerce. Since Enron markets its services on a
global basis, the GATS rules being negotiated at the WTO
provide the power tools that can be used to knock down any
barriers that may exist to profitable cross border
trade-in-services.
For these reasons, Enron has positioned itself to be a
leading player in the major big business lobby machines
driving the GATS negotiations. But, on top of this, Enron
has enormous economic and political clout, even as it
currently faces serious troubles (October
25, 2001). Enron is still a player despite a
Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into
transactions by its former Chief Financial Officer. The free
fall in its stock prices and billion dollar losses Enron has
incurred, are set against a backdrop of skyrocketing
multi-billion dollar revenues in the last two years. More
importantly, Enron's connections with the Bush
Administration make it one of the most powerful corporate
players in Washington today. And these connections make it
an even more influential player in the WTO's service
negotiations....
http://www.corpwatch.org/issues/PID.jsp?articleid=343
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| USA:
Enron on Brink of Bankruptcy
HOUSTON -- The slick financing that helped turn Enron Corp.
into a mighty power-brokering dynamo became its Achilles'
heel, leaving the energy trader teetering toward bankruptcy
after a smaller rival abandoned plans to buy it. |
| Enron:
Pulling the Plug on the Global Power Broker
How could one of the most wealthy and powerful corporations
in the world go bust overnight? It turns out that the 7th
largest US business was mostly smoke and mirrors. |
| POWER
SCAM: THE ENRON BUSH CONNECTION
One of the prime beneficiaries of the
" crisis" is Enron Corporation and its Chairman
Ken Lay, a major corporate and personal contributor to
George Bush Jr.'s presidential campaign
|
| "In 1988, a few months before Menem was elected for
his first term, George W. Bush, the then oilman son of a
sitting U.S. President, had tried to pressure the
administration of outgoing President Raúl Alfonsín to
favor Enron, the Houston-based company, over other, more
qualified bidders to build a gas pipeline in Argentina. He
was unsuccessful, but the Bushes hit it off with the
high-rolling, big-spending Menem from the start. One of
Menem's first acts as President was to give Enron a
$300-million sweetheart deal on the pipeline project.
The Enron deal triggered a public outcry in Argentina. A
congressional inquiry was demanded, and a special prosecutor
launched a probe. But after Menem fired him, the probe
fizzled. Enron and its founder and CEO, Kenneth Lay, another
close friend of the elder Bush, were among the biggest
contributors to George W. Bush's presidential campaign, as
well as to his two gubernatorial campaigns.
George W. Bush's brother, Neil Bush, also had his fingers
in the Argentina pie. He jetted to Buenos Aires for a tennis
match with Menem the day after the latter was first elected,
in 1989. Earlier, Neil had been involved in a failed plan to
drill oil in Argentina, to be financed in part with a
$900,000 loan from the Silverado Savings and Loan Bank in
Denver, of which he was a director. The S&L collapsed in
1988 amidst a financial scandal, costing U.S. taxpayers more
than $1 billion."
http://www.thegully.com/essays/argentina/010607bush_menem.html
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| Here in the United States Enron has also been the subject
of criticism. For example activists point out that Enron has
used powerful friends in government to rewrite laws on the
energy futures markets (a major source of company income) so
that these markets are now exempt from federal government
oversight as well as from fraud laws. Meanwhile the company
has been forced to revise a natural gas power plant projects
in Boston because of the environmental impact on local
water.
Below are some more detailed examples of the impact of this
natural gas giant on communities in the last few years....
http://www.moles.org/ProjectUnderground/motherlode/enron.html
|
| A-Infos
(ca) La familia Bush y la corporación Enron
El gobernador de Texas George W. Bush barrió con su
contrincante John McCain en las primarias republicanas y su
nombramiento oficial como candidato presidencial de su
partido ya es inevitable. La relación del gobernador Bush-
y sus hermanos Marvin y Neil- con la corporación de gas
natural Enron es ilustrativa de la trayectoria, rica en
intrigas y conspiraciones nefastas, de esta poderosa familia.
--22 de mayo 2000
|
| "...the role of (corporate) contributors, their
influence permeates the Bush administration from cabinet and
sub-cabinet appointments, to energy policy. For example, on
May 25 (2001)The Guardian UK reported
that applicants for jobs with the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (FERC)
were being vetted by the Enron
corporation, the nation's largest electrical power
corporation.
 | According to a joint investigation by the New York
Times and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), Mr Lay and
other Enron executives interviewed other candidate
members of the regulatory commission and supplied the
president's personnel adviser, Clay Johnson, with a list
of the company's preferred candidates. |
Enron reportedly contributed $1.7 million to Republican
candidates last year, and was among the top 10 corporate
contributors to the Bush campaign. http://www.thedubyareport.com/money.html
See also:
The Enron Outrage - Thomas Frank http://www.salon.com/politics/feature/2001/12/14/enron/index_np.html?x
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(Top)
Missile
Defense System Canceled
Navy Program Woes Cause Bush Setback
The Pentagon, in a serious setback for the Bush
administration's missile defense plans, yesterday canceled a
multibillion-dollar missile defense system being developed by the
Navy, citing "poor performance" and 50 percent cost
overruns.
The surprise move to cancel the program, combined with the failure
Thursday of an interceptor rocket that was being tested for use in
a land-based missile defense system, called into question whether
the United States would be able to develop any missile defense
programs on the timetable projected by the Bush administration.
It came one day after President Bush formally notified Russia that
the United States would withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic
Missile Treaty to clear the way for unrestricted tests of missile
defense systems that he hopes ultimately will provide a protective
shield over the continental United States. ...12/15
(Top)
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