Posted on 01/10/2002 6:17:17 PM PST by Liz
WASHINGTON - "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall." --SNIP---
Enron had the best brains that money could buy, but gave the word "ethics" a whole new meaning. The cowboys of Dumpty Enron talked up a storm about ethics; but only a few at the top realized that "ethics" was an acronym for "Enron thinks how income can (be) stolen."
That's a stretch; but look at their 1994 sales team - Clinton, Gore and the late Ron Brown - a trio unlimited and uncontrolled in their cunning and greed.
In what seems to be eons ago, before Gov. Bill Clinton became president, the late, much loved and little lamented Ron Brown was Clinton's good friend and a power broker in the National Democratic Party. Ron Brown had a friend, a congressman from Houston, the late Mickey Leland, who died in 1989. Until his passing, Leland was a shining light in the Congressional Black Caucus and a dedicated socialist, who was one of the Institute for Policy Studies' delights.
From 1984, when Enron was conceived, Brown and Leland were there snapping up unconsidered trifles of money for use in their campaigns against the free market. Mickey was able to ease a lot of Enron's early problems through the Houston City Council by playing his "equal opportunity card." He had also become an African expert who initially took the Enron message to that continent, a chore that was taken on by Ron Brown, Clinton's secretary of commerce, before the latter met his untimely death in a highly controversial plane crash in Croatia. (Untimely, because had Secretary Brown lived, he would have faced multiple criminal indictments that could have precipitated an even earlier fall for Bill Clinton and his gang.)
Now we get to that old puzzle about chickens and eggs, and what came first! Ron Brown, Al Gore and Bill Clinton introduced Enron to market managers in Russia, China, Indonesia and India. In India, Enron quickly became involved in one of that country's most massive corruption investigations, contracts were canceled and Enron was out.
On the other hand, Enron introduced the Clinton team to Lippo Industries and thence to China's People's Liberation Army (a wonderful source of political cash), to John Huang, another good provider and to nameless, numberless Arabs who never arrived with empty pockets. If we look at a list of those attending coffee klatches at the White House, we can learn why a storm of doubtful deals enabled Enron to quickly control one-quarter of the world's electricity and natural gas. But, that wasn't enough. The ever-so-greedy Dumpty moved in to water deals in Massachusetts and Europe, paper mills in Canada, gas pipe lines throughout the world, fiber optics, television, mutual funds and information gathering. In turn, that led to risk analysis, a name that those clever Texans quickly changed to "reward realization!"
The rewards were good! Enron, with sales assistance from Tony Lake, then Clinton's national security adviser, persuaded the impoverished, war-torn country of Mozambique to sign a $770 million electric power contract. Mozambique signed because Tony's salesmanship was persuasive. If the Mozambicans didn't sign, he indicated that their congressionally approved $44 million U.S. aid payment would never be made.
And there was the Croatian caper. In the days when Franjo Tudjman was Croatia's dictator and pretending to be both a reformed communist and best friend of America in the Balkans, poor Franjo had a problem. He and some of his very best friends were wanted as war criminals by the Hague's International Court of Justice. Enron wanted a power contract with Croatia. Enron offered a deal to Tudjman. Sign up with us and we will use our gang in Washington to make sure you and your friends don't go to jail.
Tudjman signed. Enron made a heap of money. Nobody went to jail. Everyone was happy - until Tudjman died of cancer. Then the lid was off, his Croatian Democratic Union was defeated and the new boys in power in Zagreb could not believe how much of their budget went to pay the electricity bills from Enron.
Somebody - probably another Dr. Spock child eager to tell on his peers - prattled! Under quiet pressure from the Croats, another deal was made and a couple of guys were charged as war criminals. Electricity costs went down (but not to the consumers) and as a part of the deal nobody talked, except about the wonderful vacations that they were enjoying in the Caribbean.
This could be called a "cautionary tale." There are two cautions. The first: Beware of the Spock babies now that they are nearing retirement and losing whatever sense they had. The second: Investigators all, beware, as you look into the depths and shallows of Enron you may, if you are truly unlucky, find the truth. And, if you do, these truths won't make you free, just well informed.
"Dateline D.C." is written by a Washington, D.C.-based British journalist and political observer.
So, so true......coincidence.....that's all. All depends on what the meaning of "corruption" is.
Show ....or don't tell.
I'll also repeat my public recommendations for NO career governmental employment leading to a pension, elected, hired on or appointed, and an end to corporate or organizational political contributions (call them bribes, that's what they are), and to reserve political contributions from single named human beings only, with a very low figure cap. The latter might require an additional constitutional amendment I'm sure, it would be worth it to end government by the bribe as we know it today.
Thanks for the high-five.
This thread shows how the conniving Clintoons -
who (barf) "cared" (hurl) about the working class conducted themselves.
Cheney, staff met with Enron 6 times
IN A LETTER to Congress, vice presidential counsel David Addington disclosed the number of meetings between the Bush White House and the former energy giant whose CEO, Ken Lay, has been among President Bush’s top political supporters. The company became the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history on Dec. 2.
With support like that a US President should go far!
By the way, 'Norn Iron' is based on the Belfast working-class pronunciation of Northern Ireland.
Others who were supposed to be on the plane and canceled out were: Ronald B. Woodward, Boeing Commercial Airplane Group, Renton, Wash. and Alfred Checchi, co-chairman, Northwest Airlines.
Canceled Trip at Last Moment: Daniel R. Bannister, president and chief executive officer of DynaCorp, Reston, Va.
Guess they didn't want to hobnob with the elite. How lucky for them.
sw
Those two totalitarian-socialist shitholes' mix of a shared race to surrender their sovereignty to invading turd-wurld pagan-heathens; their mix of the pong of other unwashed bodies with the rank odor of having had the mob rule that squandering the confiscated wealth of those who earn it upon the upkeep of the bureaucracy to be in charge of the unwashed ill should be called "health care," would make the endemically-alcoholic soccer hooligan Limes -- and both of their rotten rabbits' teeth -- feel -- and smell -- right at home! © Life of Brian
Now that's a lame flame. Here, let me post some for your later use. And please, if you're going to flame make it count. Here ya go lucky Dave:
You're a fool, an ignoramus. Monkeys look down on you. Even sheep won't have sex with you. You are unreservedly pathetic, starved for attention, and lost in a land that reality forgot. And what meaning do you expect your delusionally self-important statements of unknowing, inexperienced opinion to have with me? What fantasy do you hold that you would believe that your tiny-fisted tantrum would have more weight than that of a leprous desert rat, spinning rabidly in a circle, waiting for the bite of the snake? You are a waste of flesh. You have no rhythm. You are ridiculous and obnoxious. You are the moral equivalent of a leech. You are a living emptiness, a meaningless void. You are sour and senile. You are a disease, you puerile, one-handed, slack-jawed, drooling, meatslapper. On a good day you're a half-wit. You remind me of drool.
Now go sober up.
The x42 junta sure took care of them. A while ago we were wondering what OPIC's exposure is with the Enron Bankruptcy. Since OPIC can cook its books beyond anything achieveable by Enron and Anderson, an army of backroom gnomes are working diligently in cubicles somewhere in Virginia to make sure that we never know about the Federal Treasury's exposure.
However, we can explore what has been written:
U-S / UZBEKISTAN (L) BY MAXIM KNIAZKOV (WASHINGTON)
DATE=6/24/96
INTRO: THE PRESIDENT OF UZBEKISTAN, ISLAM KARIMOV, IS IN THE UNITED STATES TO COURT U-S INVESTMENTS FOR HIS COUNTRY'S STRUGGLING ECONOMY. AS V-O-A'S MAXIM KNIAZKOV REPORTS, MR. KARIMOV HAS ALREADY SECURED SIX AGREEMENTS THAT MAY LEAD TO A TRIPLING OF U-S INVESTMENTS IN UZBEKISTAN.
TEXT: STANDING OUT OF THESE ACCORDS ARE TWO MAJOR DEALS BETWEEN UZBEKISTAN AND THE U-S ENRON AND TEXACO CORPORATIONS. THE FIRST CALLS FOR 400 MILLION DOLLARS IN U-S GUARANTEES AND FINANCING FOR DEVELOPING GAS RESERVES IN UZBEKISTAN. THE SECOND WILL HELP TEXACO MANUFACTURE AND MARKET OIL PRODUCTS THROUGHOUT CENTRAL ASIA.
RUTH HARKIN, THE PRESIDENT OF THE OVERSEAS PRIVATE INVESTMENT CORPORATION, AN INDEPENDENT U-S AGENCY THAT SIGNED ON AS THE RISK INSURANCE PROVIDER, HAILED THE ACCORDS.
IT IS CERTAINLY THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION'S PRIORITY TO SUPPORT CONTINUED ECONOMIC REFORMS IN THE REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN, AND FOR OPIC'S PART THIS MORNING, I'M DELIGHTED THAT OPIC WILL BE ABLE TO SIGN PROTOCOLS AND AGREEMENTS WITH THE ENRON CORPORATION AS WELL AS WITH THE TEXACO CORPORATION.
THE DEALS ARE VIEWED AS A MAJOR BOOST FOR U-S BUSINESS IN UZBEKISTAN -- A LANDLOCKED CENTRAL ASIAN COUNTRY OF MORE THAN 22 MILLION PEOPLE. U-S COMPANIES HAVE MORE THAN 200 MILLION DOLLARS IN OPIC-BACKED INVESTMENTS THERE SO FAR. BUT THAT IS EXPECTED TO CHANGE DRAMATICALLY, IF THE DEALS ARE IMPLEMENTED.
UZBEKISTAN BOASTS MORE THAN 100 JOINT VENTURES WITH AMERICAN COMPANIES, PRIMARILY IN THE MINING SECTOR. SPEAKING THROUGH AN INTERPRETER, PRESIDENT KARIMOV MADE IT CLEAR HE IS ANXIOUS TO SEE THE U-S BUSINESS PRESENCE GROW.
UZBEKISTAN IS INTERESTED IN SEEING OUR RELATIONS WITH THE UNITED STATES STRENGTHEN AND GROW. AND WE ARE ALSO INTERESTED IN SEEING AMERICAN BUSINESS AND AMERICAN CAPITAL TAKE ITS RIGHTFUL PLACE IN THE UZBEK MARKET. UZBEKISTAN HAS NOW REACHED A POINT WHERE ALL THE NECESSARY PREREQUISITES ARE IN PLACE TO CREATE A DYNAMIC INCREASE IN INVESTMENTS IN OUR ECONOMY. I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO STATE THAT DOING BUSINESS IN UZBEKISTAN IS NOW VERY PROFITABLE.
MR. KARIMOV ARRIVED IN WASHINGTON ON SUNDAY, THE FIRST LEG OF HIS SIX-DAY VISIT. HE WILL DISCUSS REGIONAL AND BILATERAL ISSUES WITH U-S OFFICIALS AND ALSO TRAVEL TO HOUSTON, TEXAS, AND DENVER, COLORADO, FOR SEMINARS WITH U-S BUSINESS LEADERS.
THE HIGH POINT OF HIS TRIP IS EXPECTED ON TUESDAY, WHEN MR. KARIMOV -- FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE BECOMING THE LEADER OF AN INDEPENDENT COUNTRY IN 1991 -- WILL VISIT THE WHITE HOUSE FOR TALKS WITH PRESIDENT CLINTON.
In 1996, for example, OPIC sold $200 million in political risk insurance to Houston-based Enron Oil & Gas Company for an offshore oil and gas development project in India. Looking at supply orders and exports to date, we now know that the impact of this overseas project is being felt all across the U.S.
.....In a joint venture with U.S. companies General Electric and Bechtel, Enron created an Indian subsidiary, Dabhol Power Co. DPC, which was 65 percent owned by Enron, was to build the power plant. Enron was to develop and operate the plant. Bechtel was to design and construct it, with GE supplying the equipment.....
In April 1993, a World Bank analysis questioned the project's economic viability.....
In July 1994, the U.S. government extended a helping hand. The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), an independent agency established by the U.S. government to promote American business interests overseas, provided loan insurance and granted a $100 million loan guarantee to support the Dabhol project......
OPIC BOARD APPROVES $296 MILLION FOR PROJECTS IN LATIN AMERICA
Next, the board approved a $190 million loan guaranty to Sociedade Fluminense de Energia, for a project sponsored by Enron Corporation of Houston for the construction and operation of a 379-megawatt gas-fired power plant near Rio de Janeiro.
Clinton-Gore sales team eased Enron's path to success
....That's a stretch; but look at their 1994 sales team - Clinton, Gore and the late Ron Brown - a trio unlimited and uncontrolled in their cunning and greed.
In what seems to be eons ago, before Gov. Bill Clinton became president, the late, much loved and little lamented Ron Brown was Clinton's good friend and a power broker in the National Democratic Party. Ron Brown had a friend, a congressman from Houston, the late Mickey Leland, who died in 1989. Until his passing, Leland was a shining light in the Congressional Black Caucus and a dedicated socialist, who was one of the Institute for Policy Studies' delights.
From 1984, when Enron was conceived, Brown and Leland were there snapping up unconsidered trifles of money for use in their campaigns against the free market. Mickey was able to ease a lot of Enron's early problems through the Houston City Council by playing his "equal opportunity card." He had also become an African expert who initially took the Enron message to that continent, a chore that was taken on by Ron Brown, Clinton's secretary of commerce, before the latter met his untimely death in a highly controversial plane crash in Croatia. (Untimely, because had Secretary Brown lived, he would have faced multiple criminal indictments that could have precipitated an even earlier fall for Bill Clinton and his gang.)
Now we get to that old puzzle about chickens and eggs, and what came first! Ron Brown, Al Gore and Bill Clinton introduced Enron to market managers in Russia, China, Indonesia and India. In India, Enron quickly became involved in one of that country's most massive corruption investigations, contracts were canceled and Enron was out.
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