Bush Live - Speech on Corporate Responsibilty

MSNBC

[Eva]

Thanks for the lyrics. I has given up that someone would help me out, and I was just doing a search. I didn't find them, though. It seems that with a few changes we could make that song fit Tommy Daschle very well. We need Doug from Upland or one of our other poets or ryhmers.

[Carolinamom]

I heard a local jocktalker on radio this morning tell a caller that if he respected Ashcroft, then he'd also have to respect Reno because it was the Office that deserved his respect. Logical? HA

[cactusSharp]

I was shaking violently as i wrote it...
I may never heal

[Dales]

Tommy is one of my all time favorite albums :-)

Hmm, some lyric transmorgification eh? If I get done with this coding, maybe I will give it a whirl.

[JohnHuang2]

You're welcome, my friend.

With Bush's speech, corporate fraud is essentially neutralized as a campaign issue for the fall.

El hombre de Tejas co-opts his adversaries, yet again.

That -- and not Wall Street miscreants -- is why the press is breaking into hives.

But it won't work.

Polls will continue to show Bush benefiting from enormous public confidence.

[Dales]

You know where to put the caulk

Jeeze. I just did a copy and paste. That website should have the right lyrics. It is you know where to put the cork!

[JohnHuang2]

Thank you very much.

Corrupt corporate leaders watched in awe as x42 and PIAPS became serial felons and repeatedly skated from the law. Naturally, the corporate types emulated them but failed to recognize that the Clintons had a 24/ 7 legal defense firm known as the United States Dept of Justice, headed by the most corrupt Attorney General in history, to protect them.

You hit the nail on the head.

[CDHart]

"Or are you gonna tell me you liked and trusted Clinton???"

Good Lord, no! I couldn't even watch him on TV -- I literally became ill if I watched him. But the legitimacy of EOs should not be dependent upon the character of the person issuing them.

Carolyn

[mombonn]

I've been on hold for several minutes, so decided to refresh the speech thread. Glad I did - as soon as I started reading #381, I knew it was you!

Excellent, as always.

[JohnHuang2]

Well, gotta run :^(

Be back later.

[JohnHuang2]

Thank you, thank you, friend =^) Glad you liked it.

[RISU]

Now what we need to see is a couple of corporate bodies hung out to dry on the fence. Take away all their ill gotten gains, and wipe them out totally, and MAYBE the corporate state will stop lying, stealing, and cheating. Maybe.

...at least until the next time.

[CDHart]

"I'll have to read it more carefully later though."

Please do. I would be interested in your determination. I just have a problem with people (and there are many) who approve of Bush and Ashcroft doing things that, if Clinton and Reno had done them, would have had them screaming and climbing the walls.

Carolyn

[demlosers]

You know, the presentation from a good chunk of the media today indicates to me that they are either stupid or liars. There is no other choice.

I pick answer C: all of the above. ;)

[caddie]

I believe I understood your post full well.

I respect the fact that you think more of the President than I do, which is fine.

I am glad to hear he is, behind the scenes, rooting out government malfeasance.

How come we never hear about that?

How come he doesn't bring up the things that you mentioned?

Seems to me they are his PRIMARY responsibilities.

And this CEO bashing is a straw man made to appease the Rats and the press.

And JH2's observations are right in their own context, but JH2's take is pure Beltway praise for Bush's technical political skills.

As if the whole game was to play Punch and Judy with the Rats.

I am tired of monomaniacally-political, Beltway persons (I am not referring to you or JH2 here, please do not be offended) determining what the criteria are for a good or a bad President, and I don't buy into it.

I don't vote for Presidents so they can either combat, or be smooth and slick with the opposition.

I don't vote for them so that they can frustrate liberal journalists or courtesan Beltway politicians on the other side.

I vote for them because I want them to "preserve, protect, and defend, the Constitution of the United States..." in their STRICTLY DEFINED ROLE AS POTUS.

I don't see this as a game where ANYTHING and EVERYTHING is done, and all compromises made, just so that, we, as Republicans, can eke out a two-term President to match Clinton's two terms.

As if it's tennis, and now Bush is tying up the set with Clinton.

This approach totally neglects the Constitution, our people, our history, and our freedoms.

It is a dehumanizing approach to governance, where the only players are those in the Beltway.

And we in flyover country are chopped liver.

In reality, the Beltway is not America, but an aberration of America.

Flyover country is more like the real America.

There is room for praising someone who is politically adroit: I praise George Washington, who was an adroit politician, but, to him it was a means to an end: the creation and survival of the infant Republic and its ideals.

But this nonsense of making political savvy the ONLY criterion for judging a President's worth is crazy.

It lowers our political community to the level of the French, or the British, or other Third World countries.

It is simply un-American.

We Americans believe in ideals that are much grander than petty political victories.

And, when a President resonates with this truth, he is a great President.

But this POTUS is not resonating, he is hollow and tinny, and reacts to the polls, the breezes in Washington, and whatever some third-rate journalist says.

He is an approval-seeking person, not a true leader.

Your post suggested to me that you recognized that there was a cadaver at the dinner table that Bush lacked the temerity to address: The prodigious, gargantuan waste and fraud of the whole US government.

And he, disingenously, focuses on a sliver of a sliver of a small sector of the economy, nay, a few companies, and a few villainous executives.

And he is doing it to parry with Daschle, to foil the press, to pander to the socialists and the envious among us, and to build for reelection.

It's posturing, IMHO.

And, once again, he is alienating another sector of his base, the honest businessmen who will be harassed by more of his paperwork, agents, investigations, and interference in their proper corporate affairs.

I don't like the way he so easily uses the phrase "financial crimes".

Reminds me of people in the former Soviet Union sent to the Gulag for "economic crimes".

[Dales]

OK, I just looked at it more closely. It looks like the full thing is posted in #210. I'll excerpt the meat of it:

Section 1. Establishment. The Attorney General shall immediately establish within the Department of Justice a Corporate Fraud Task Force (Task Force). Without regard to any other provision of this order, the Task Force shall be subject to the authority of the Attorney General under applicable law.

So far so good. Talking about the organization of a task force that will operate under applicable (existing, passed by Congress) law.

Sec. 2. Membership and Operation. Subject to section 4 of this order, the Task Force shall have the following members:

Then a list of who will be involved. No problem so far.

The Deputy Attorney General shall convene and direct the work of the Task Force in fulfilling all its functions under this order. The Deputy Attorney General may permit, when he deems it appropriate, the designee of a member of the Task Force, including those designated under section 4 of this order, to participate in lieu of the member. The Deputy Attorney General shall convene the first meeting of the Task Force within 10 days of the date of this order and shall thereafter convene the Task Force at such times as he deems appropriate.

Again, still dealing with how the executive branch will perform its duties in accordance with the law. Still ok as far as an EO is concerned, IMO.

Sec. 3. Functions. Consistent with the constitutional authority of the President, the authorities assigned to the Attorney General by law, and other applicable law, the Task Force shall:

(a) provide direction for the investigation and prosecution of cases of securities fraud, accounting fraud, mail and wire fraud, money laundering, tax fraud based on such predicate offenses, and other related financial crimes committed by commercial entities and directors, officers, professional advisers, and employees thereof (hereinafter "financial crimes"), when such cases are determined by the Deputy Attorney General, for purposes of this order, to be significant;

Seeing as these are duties which, as things currently stand, are already under the Executive branch (namely the DOJ), this is still fine.

(b) provide recommendations to the Attorney General for allocation and reallocation of resources of the Department of Justice for investigation and prosecution of significant financial crimes, recovery of proceeds from such crimes to the extent permitted by law, and other matters determined by the Task Force from time to time to be of the highest priority in the investigation and prosecution of such crimes; and

No problem.

(c) make recommendations to the President, through the Attorney General, from time to time for:

followed by a list of things that they will make recommendations on. Again, this is fine constitutionally, IMO.

Sec. 4. Additional Participation for Specified Functions. In the Task Force's performance of the functions set forth in subsection 3(c) of this order, and to the extent permitted by law, the following officers of the executive branch shall be members of the Task Force in addition to such other officers of the Federal Government as the Deputy Attorney General deems appropriate:

More about the structure of the task force. Still fine.

Sec. 5. Internal Management Purpose. This order is intended to improve the internal management of the Federal Government. This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or equity or otherwise against the United States, its departments, agencies, entities, instrumentalities, officers, or employees, or any other person.

Emphasis mine.

Sec. 6. Termination. The Task Force shall terminate when directed by the President or, with the approval of the President, by the Attorney General.

I don't see anything improper in this Executive Order. It is the President, as head of the Executive branch, ordering how the branch is going to address its charge in upholding the laws passed by Congress.

[Grampa Dave]

I hope that you are sore for months for posting this terrible word picture:

Honestly,I'd rather watch Hillary put on pantyhose!

[Miss Marple]

Just a human interest anecdote: Jim Angle reports President Bush has been getting calls from disgruntled CEO's who are complaining about how hard it will be to explain their compensation.

President Bush told them it will be a "useful exercise."

HAR!

[section9]

I don't get it.

Your post suggested to me that you recognized that there was a cadaver at the dinner table that Bush lacked the temerity to address: The prodigious, gargantuan waste and fraud of the whole US government.

And he, disingenously, focuses on a sliver of a sliver of a small sector of the economy, nay, a few companies, and a few villainous executives.

George W. Bush is about the business of doing what Bill Clinton, in his eight years, never did. He is going to prosecute corporate offenders and put them in prison.

If this is not done, the public will rightly take Bush to task for allowing lawbreakers to skip prison time becuase of their power and influence. It is no good to point to government malfeasance as a way of saying that the issue of corporate malfeasance does not really matter. If your only excuse is "well, he ain't doin' it to the gummint, so it's pure posturing!", then your political tin ear is showing. The public is not listening. They are rightfully concerned that the 401-K accounts that swelled so gloriously during the Clinton Tulip bubble have now shrunk, some evaporating altogether.

You would, perhaps, have Bush ignore this altogether, simply because so much more money is wasted in Government? That is not an answer to the problem that is on many American's minds. Out there in flyover country: the Real America.

Then you said something I found quite curious:

And, once again, he is alienating another sector of his base, the honest businessmen who will be harassed by more of his paperwork, agents, investigations, and interference in their proper corporate affairs.

I don't like the way he so easily uses the phrase "financial crimes".

Reminds me of people in the former Soviet Union sent to the Gulag for "economic crimes".

Now wait a minute. At once you both accuse him of being a poll-driven follower while at the same time you accuse him of pursuing policies that are guaranteed to poison his standing with his base. How can he be one and do the other? If he was so poll-driven, why would he deliberately alienate his base this way?

Can it be that his base wants this done as much as any? The business community wants the Augean Stables cleaned out and the rats sent to the prison ship. I will bet you that businessmen across this country want the pinstriped crooks to go down for the count, as do the rest of the people.

Finally, you speak of the ease at which Bush spoke of "financial crimes". Well, it was easy to say, because that is exactly what happened. It is almost axiomatic that one can steal more money with a briefcase than one can steal with a pistol.

Those who have struggled to get to the top of the corporate ladder must, of needs be, set an ethical example for those on their way up. Above all, that is what Bush said today and what he will do in the future. That you chose not to see this is somewhat disappointing.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[Republic]

I can't read about EO's without thinking about clinton's last (and full of depravity) days in office. His attempts to sign EO's that would hamper the incoming President, impede our nation and perhaps result in personal benefits, down the road, for himself. What a pig he was and is. (And I know full well the meaning of the word is. Trust me.)

President Bush blew his speech out of the park. Talk about gravitas! Talk about leadership! Talk about common sense!!!! And mostly, talk about statesmanship!

As long as I live, I will never forget the moment at his press conference yesterday, when a reporter asked him if the current crisis within corporations, the corruption, could be blamed on bill klinton. President Bush, without one moment of hesitation, without on second of twinkling or telling humor, said a powerful, forceful 'NO'.

This is man modeling proper tone. This is a real leader in action. And this is evidence of a man practicing what he is preaches. It had to be HARD for our President to say that.

And what has this gracious comment garnered from the filthy dem leaders????
Exactly what we would expect. Typical dem grunts, complaints, sneers, accusations and nasty innuendos.

I almost regret that these tiny little men and women on the dem side get to benefit from the grace and brilliance, steadiness and directness, respect and integrity of our President - like the rest of us do. They truly don't deserve to be treated with such dignity.

What a bunch of malcontent, angry, hate-mongering, willing to do anything to win bunch of sorry excuses for human beings these jealous creeps are.

Daschle, Gephardt, Hillary, Leahy, etc could be poster children for the corrupt CEO's now on the hot seat.