For the benefit of the many or the few?

SF Chronicle, page A-19 ^ | 8-6-02 | Al Gore

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Nashville -- THERE HAS ALWAYS been a debate over the destiny of this nation between those who believed they were entitled to govern because of their station in life, and those who believed that the people were sovereign.

That distinction remains as strong as ever today. In every race this November, the question voters must answer is, How do we make sure that political power is used for the benefit of the many, rather than the few?

[A Vast RightWing Conspirator]

This article is farther proof, if any more proof was needed, that Algore knows how to write. It also proves that he is a boring, marginally insane moron who probably continues to believe that he is the president of the United States, or Al(exader) the Great. Or something like that.

Or, as the Tinman used to sing... "if I could only grow (and keep) a beard".

[governsleastgovernsbest]

"It's not just the stock market that has gone down. It is confidence in the honesty of our government."

Of all the absurdities in Gore's column, this one takes the cake. Gore essentially claims that people believe that Bill Clinton was more honest than George Bush. To quote Bob Dylan: "Nurse, get your pad, the boy's insane!"

[meenie]

A pretty good piece on communist theory. Karl Marx would have been proud. Government is not to cater to every whim of the public but to get out of the way and let the citizens improve their own lot.

I can fault every administration in present history for trying to be the nanny of every special interest that wishes to suck on the hind teat of government. Al gore's article encourages further advancement of this philosophy. For that I say: Go home and take your philosophy with you.

[GailA]

owlbore is delusional

[Alberta's Child]

So have thousands of honest American corporations and the people who manage them, own stock in them and depend upon them for a livelihood, for sending their children to college and for their retirement.

On a boring old financial note, this kind of statement has been heard increasingly over the last few months as the stock market has declined. It speaks of an attitude that can best be described as "delusional ignorance" -- these people actually thought of U.S. stocks as low-risk investments like U.S. treasury bills but with immensely higher returns.

[Aunt Polgara]

Geese...Where's the barf alert????

You could have at least warned us! All of a sudden I feel the nausea coming on! I haven't even had breakfast yet!! :-)

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Geese...Where's the barf alert????

Please refer to FR Policy #AG-782000-ABA-002 which states anything written by Albert Arnold Gore II does not require a visible BARF ALERT.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

I believe Bill Clinton and I were right to maintain, during our 1992 campaign, that we should fight for "the forgotten middle class" against the "forces of greed."

Oh, and I quite agree. We do differ, however, somewhat on what the most dangerous form of greed, and who personifies it. Lust for power is the worst form of greed, and it is personified by the typical Democratic politician in general and the Democratic presidential candidate in particular.

Such people get in cahoots with the greedy in corporate life, leading the the spectacle of a former Secretary of the Treasury making self-interested pleas to his successor.

Given the number and size of the contributions to each party it's clear that the Republican Party basically is the middle class. The Democratic Party is an elite exploiting the voting strength of least-informed and educated half of the population. That voting strength might have won Gore the presidency if they were smart enough to punch a hole in a piece of paper.

[facedown]

"After ten long years they let him out of the home, excitable boy, they all said."

[MissAmericanPie]

Reading this with a Cockney accent, it brings to my mind take outs from "A Clockwork Orange".

[boris]

Keep whining, little man. You still will never be President.

[ravingnutter]

If Bush wants to pursue honesty and integrity in the White House, he should make public the names of the energy company lobbyists who met with Cheney to help draft energy and environmental legislation, and he should call for the release of the Securities and Exchange Commission files on the controversy surrounding his role in certain stock sales.

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black...

"In 1997 the White House announced a plan to sell the Navy's Elk Hills oil and gas reserve, one of the nation's most substantial energy resources, to Occidental Petroleum.

"It was the largest privatization of federal property in U.S. history, one that tripled Occidental's U.S. oil reserves overnight," reported the Center for Public Integrity's Charles Lewis in his recent book, "The Buying of the President 2000."

The Elk Hills buyout was great news for Occidental stockholders, of whom the most prominent was Albert Gore Sr., the vice president's father. Upon his father's death in 1998, Gore took control of his estate, including $500,000 worth of Occidental stock.

During the Reagan and Bush administrations, Congress had resisted similar attempts to privatize the nation's energy resources, but it relented when the $3.65 billion Occidental buyout was proposed as one of Gore's "reinventing government" plans.

The oil company has a long and mostly overlooked relationship with the Gore family, with Gore's father becoming known inside the halls of Congress as "the Senator from Occidental."

Not only did the relationship enrich Gore Sr., but Occidental has donated more than $470,000 in soft money to various Democratic committees since Gore Jr. became Clinton's sidekick in 1992, reported Lewis. The VP himself has received over $35,000 in Occidental contributions.

With the quid pro quo so apparent, why hasn't the media shown a sliver of the interest in Gore's Elk Hills jackpot that it has in Cheney's Halliburton stock?

Newsmax

Where are the records for these meetings?...

An August 4, 1997 meeting in the Oval Office between a few high rolling CEOs such as Enron's Ken Lay, and President Clinton and Vice President Gore, addressing possible Clinton administration's positions at the upcoming (December 1997) treaty negotiations in Kyoto, Japan.

• A July 1997 meeting for select, invited industry participants (e.g., Enron) hosted by the White House, including Clinton and Gore, regarding that administration's case for policy action on the theory of man-made climate change.

• A 1997-98 outreach campaign by the Clinton administration, employing Cabinet officials to recruit further "responsible" industry, detailing the fortunes to be made from instituting the theory of man-made climate change as government policy.

• President Clinton's Council on Sustainable Development, an exclusive panel to which he named Enron CEO Ken Lay in the first months of his presidency.

• A February 20, 1998 meeting between Ken Lay and Energy Secretary Federico Pena, staffed by Dan Adamson (Special Assistant to Deputy Secretary Betsy Moler), and L.G. Holstein (Pena Chief of Staff). This meeting addressed Enron's lobbying/policy desires regarding the Clinton administration's approach to restructuring the electricity system, specifically legislative positions and strategies and whether to include "climate change" policies in any such effort.

• Ken Lay's February 20, 1998 correspondence to President Clinton "to ask for [Clinton's] personal involvement in passing [electricity] legislation...", written at the request of Energy Secretary Pena during their closed-door meeting earlier that same day.

• The "Clean Power Group," including Enron, El Paso, Calpine, NiSource, PG&E National Energy Group, and Trigen Energy, whose internal documents reflect they coordinated with Environmental Defense, Natural Resources Defense Council, Clean Air Task Force, Sierra Club, and the following industry trade groups among others: Interstate Natural Gas Association, Gas Turbine Association, Solar Energy Industry Association, American Wind Energy Association, American Gas Association, Business Council for Sustainable Energy. This coalition sought policies in effect implementing the Kyoto Protocol's energy-use limitations without first obtaining Senate ratification.

• Private administration meetings with the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. Enron was the marquee member of this group's Business Environmental Leadership Council, and they worked together on certain of Enron's lobbying goals.

• Private meetings between Enron employees John Palmisano and/or Mark Schroeder, and senior government officials Dirk Forrester (DOE), Dan Reifsnyder (State Department), Howard Gruenspecht (DOE), T. J. Glauthier (OMB), Rafe Pomerance (State Department), David Doniger (EPA), David Gardiner (EPA), Rob Walcott (EPA), William White (EPA), Nancy Kete (EPA), Joe Kruger (EPA), Jane Leggett-Emil (EPA), and Lisa Carter (EPA). This request particularly seeks information regarding specific discussions that occurred during the first two weeks of October 1997, as the Clinton administration finalized its Kyoto position.

Competitive Enterprise Institute

[Free the USA]

Index Bump

[ex-snook]

"In 2000, I argued that the Bush-Cheney ticket was being bankrolled by "a new generation of special interests, power brokers who would want nothing better than a pliant president who would bend public policy to suit their purposes and profits." "

Sure it's true but so is your old man. The election is now between the Party of Government Control and the Party of Corporate Control. Citizens can only pick from Column A or Column B - choose your medicine or alternate which seems to be the pattern.

[Kerberos]

"what has been put at risk is nothing less than the future of democratic capitalism. "

Democrats arguing for capitalism. They really are desperate.