The Beginning of the Enron Paper Trail
Belief:
Are the "New Atheists" As Bad as Christian Fundamentalists?
Frank Schaeffer
Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace:
How a Public Jobs Program Could Put America Back on Track
Julianne Malveaux
DrugReporter:
Pot Is More Mainstream Than Ever, So Why Is Legalization Still Taboo?
Steven Wishnia
Environment:
Why We Need Bees and More People Becoming Organic Beekeepers
Makenna Goodman
Food:
The Raw Milk Revolution: Behind America's Emerging Battle Over Food Rights
Makenna Goodman
Health and Wellness:
New York May Stop Heartless Health Insurers from Dropping Coverage When It Stops Being Profitable
William Ehart
Immigration:
NYC Marathon Raises Question of Who Is American Enough?
James E. Johnson, Jr.
Media and Technology:
Focusing on Fort Hood Killer's Beliefs Is an Easy Out to Avoid the Deeper Reasons for the Massacre
Mark Ames
Movie Mix:
The Yes Men: Pranksters Out to Fix the World
Mark Engler
Politics:
What Michelle and Barack's Marriage Has in Common with 56 Million Other Ones
Annabelle Gurwitch
Reproductive Justice and Gender:
Fetus-Shaped Potatoes? Going Undercover Inside the Weird World of Right-Wing Abortion Foes
Ann Neumann
Rights and Liberties:
"My Kids Want to Hide Their Identity; They're Scared Someone Will Attack Us": U.S. Muslims Being Targeted
Jaisal Noor
Sex and Relationships:
Instant Sex: Has the Digital Age Destroyed Relationships or Made Them Better?
Vanessa Richmond
Take Action:
G-20 Meetings: Nothing Much Happened in the Suites, and There Was Too Much Punch in the Streets
Laura Flanders
Water:
Why Natural Gas Is Not a Clean Energy Panacea
Stan Cox
World:
With Unemployment at 40 Percent, Afghan Teens Enlist in Army, Police
Lal Aqa Sherin
George W. is back-pedaling as fast as he can to distance himself from Enron and his former buddy, Kenneth Lay. To convince the American public that "Kenny Boy's" business scandal had nothing to do with his presidency, Bush has insisted that Kenny is just another supporter, one step above persona non grata.
But TheSmokingGun.com, a site owned by Court TV, has posted a series of original documents that paint a much cozier picture of Dubya and Kenny Boy. The letters range from jocular and handwritten notes, to invitations, to lengthy documents. It's a firsthand look at the tight friendship between the man responsible for our country's ugliest, largest and most damaging corporate bankruptcy to date, and our president.
Included in the bunch is the March 18, 1997 letter where Lay wrote to Bush, "Congress is considering the authorization and the appropriation legislation regarding the Oversease Private Investment Corporation... We respectfully request that you contact each Member of Congress in your delegation and detail why OPIC and EX-IM Bank are important to your state."
OPIC and the Export-Import Bank were crucial to Enron. Through those two institutions, the U.S. government became a major backer of Enron's overseas expansion. According to the Los Angeles Times, "Since 1992, OPIC provided about $1.7 billion for Enron's foreign deals and promised $500 million more for projects that didn't go forward. The Export-Import Bank put about $700 million into Enron's foreign ventures. Both agencies provide financing and political-risk insurance for foreign projects undertaken by U.S. companies."
That means taxpayer dollars went to help Enron, and even more may go to help bail Enron out.
Less than a month later, George Bush wrote a different kind of letter to Kenneth Lay:
Dear Ken:Are those the words of a president to a simple "supporter," as the administration would now have us believe?
One of the sad things about old friends is that they seem to be getting older -- just like you!
55 years old. Wow! That is really old.
Thank goodness you have such a young, beautiful wife.
Laura and I value our friendship with you. Best wishes to Linda, your family, and friends.
Your younger friend,
George W. Bush
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| More News and Analysis: | ||
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With Unemployment at 40 Percent, Afghan Teens Enlist in Army, Police World: In a matter of weeks, Afghanistan's boys can go from high school students, to uniformed soldiers. By Lal Aqa Sherin, IPS News. November 7, 2009. |
New York May Stop Heartless Health Insurers from Dropping Coverage When It Stops Being Profitable Health and Wellness: The proposed Ian's law, named after a victim of muscular dystrophy who requires an electronic device to speak would protect the most vulnerable from losing coverage. By William Ehart, Washington Times. November 7, 2009. |
What Michelle and Barack's Marriage Has in Common with 56 Million Other Ones Politics: The first couple has tried to preserve their "date night tradition." So have my husband and I. By Annabelle Gurwitch, AlterNet. November 7, 2009. |
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