Ken Lay indicted - Power to the People!

[Andrew Mayer]

http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/nm/20040707/amdf621446.jpg
Was it all just a dream?


Here (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=568&e=3&u=/nm/20040707/bs_nm/enron_lay_report_dc)

[Dirt]

I'll be surprised if he sees jail time.

[noun]

I hate news stories like this. All the sites say the orders are still SEALED and that it MAY be Ken Lay's indictment.

[jeffd]

http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/nm/20040707/amdf621446.jpg
Was it all just a dream?


Here (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=568&e=3&u=/nm/20040707/bs_nm/enron_lay_report_dc)

Didn't a couple of people on this board have a bet about whether or not Lay would ever be indicted?

JD

[Brian Rucker]

Looks like Kenny Boy is finally and for sure getting his just desserts.
For a change the speculation was right on.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3875297.stm

[noun]

Didn't a couple of people on this board have a bet about whether or not Lay would ever be indicted?

Sort of. I bet $100 that Ken Lay, if indicted, would be pardoned by President Bush on his way out of office. Tyjenks took that bet. So far the first half of the bet requirements has been met.

[Anaxagoras]

Didn't a couple of people on this board have a bet about whether or not Lay would ever be indicted?

Sort of. I bet $100 that Ken Lay, if indicted, would be pardoned by President Bush on his way out of office. Tyjenks took that bet. So far the first half of the bet requirements has been met.

You do realize that this leaves you in the rather bizarre position of hoping that Bush behaves like a bastard.

Most of us dread and fear that he'll be a bastard, but you're now actively rooting for him.

"C'mon, Bush. Daddy needs a new pair of shoes!"

[noun]

Heh.

Actually, it's not so much hoping he'll be a bastard, it's more like this administration has so surpassed my expectations and fears that they'd abuse their power, I fully expect Bush to pardon Lay on his way out the door just because he fucking can.

[Tyjenks]

:D I had forgotten about the bet, but I thought I remembered the claims about Bush interference and Lay never being indicted. When I first heard about this yesterday, I immediately thought about that discussion.

This is my only problem with some of the discussion with regard to politics on this board and with friends. People can make negative claims with regard to or just rail on about how poorly our leaders conduct themselves and the terrible things they are doing. Because _______ screwed up with this or that or because I don't agree with these policies every single thing that the politician does is evil or at the very least only done for his own personal gain. All of these accusations often take place before the events in question have even transpired or completely unfolded. By the time things play out, those claims are forgotten.

I certainly do not have a problem with people having doubts and disliking/hating all our representatives. I do daily. My point then and now is that it is too easy to make a, many times, baseless claim against someone you dislike that you will never have to be held accountable for on down the road.

I understand the need for a healthy distrust and cynicism where politicians are concerned, but am I wrong for wanting to wait for things to complete themselves before I place blame or accuse?

[Andrew Mayer]

Doin' the walk...

http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2004/images/07/08/top.lay.cuffs.ap.jpg

Doin' the Perp Perp walk...

[Duality]

Doin' the walk...

http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2004/images/07/08/top.lay.cuffs.ap.jpg

Doin' the Perp Perp walk...
I'd have a shit-eating grin on my face if a beautiful woman cuffed me, too.

[Midnight Son]

He just had a press conference. The gist: "I didn't know what my most trusted advisors were doing while getting rich off what I didn't know they were doing. Why you pickin' on me? It was all Fastow!"

I'm glad he finally got some balls! :roll:

[Duality]

You forgot, "I take responsibility for what happened while I was in charge. But I wasn't responsible."

[Midnight Son]

Then he crossed his arms and ejaculated: "See, what had happened wuz...."

[Andrew Mayer]

Doing the walk... Doing the Jerk Jerk walk! (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/040708/photos_ts_afp/040708125254_jg418y7h_photo1)

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/afp/20040708/capt.sge.llr96.080704125246.photo01.default-384x381.jpg

US President George W. Bush walks away from a briefing with the media, refusing to answer questions after he was asked about Enron and the reported indictment of former CEO Kenneth Lay, who was a close adviser and fund-raiser for Bush and his father, earning him the presidential nickname of 'Kenny Boy.

[Tyjenks]

He just had a press conference. The gist: "I didn't know what my most trusted advisors were doing while getting rich off what I didn't know they were doing. Why you pickin' on me? It was all Fastow!"

This is exactly what Richard Scrushy, creator and former CEO of Healthsouth (Birmingham's Enron), is saying. Approx. 20 people under him have been indicted and found guilt on numerous charges and he said he had no idea. They can all rot.

[Andrew Mayer]

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/graphics/art/bushlay5.gif

[Duality]

Did he just write his first name with a J?!

[Exodor]

I'm guessing W wrote that letter all by himself.

Too bad you don't have the original crayon version.

[milo]

Did he just write his first name with a J?!
Jeez, who taught you penmanship? That is clearly a Z.

[Duality]

You're right. :oops:

[noun]

Please tell me that letter's a forgery. I'm begging you.

[Andrew Mayer]

Love...
(http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/DailyNews/enron011210.html)
The Houston-based company was among the first to back Bush when he ran for governor of Texas. Enron and its executives went on to become the largest source of financial support for Bush's gubernatorial campaigns, giving more than $500,000, according to a study by the Center for Public Integrity.

"Enron was the number one career patron for George W. Bush," said center director Charles Lewis. "There was no company in America closer to George W. Bush than Enron." Lewis says the company's goal in backing Bush and other politicians was to encourage further deregulation of the energy industry.

"Enron made a decision that they needed government to go their way and they put the money out to make sure that happened," he said.

Love will keep us together... (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A8848-2002Mar23?language=printer)


In his extensive correspondence with then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush, Kenneth L. Lay did not always sound like a family friend. Sometimes, Enron Corp.'s CEO came across like a nudging lobbyist, pressing the governor on the minutiae of pending bills.


"Dear George," Lay handwrote in dozens of letters before launching into a bullet-point description of a tax bill that might save his company millions, or a tort bill that might shield his company from large jury awards, or an electricity deregulation bill that would open new markets for Enron.

At other times in the letters, released last month under the Texas open-records law, Lay sounded more like "Kenny Boy," as Bush called him, plying the governor with invitations to galas, magazine articles he wanted to share, Christmas gifts, goofy get-well cards or a CD collection featuring Travis Tritt, Kenny Rogers, and Hootie and the Blowfish.
.....

Bush has said that as governor, he inherited Lay from Richards, who had appointed Lay to a state business council. But the Lays and the Bush family had been friends for years, at least since 1992, when Lay co-chaired the Houston host committee for the Republican National Convention.

In the 1994 governor's race, Lay and Enron executives donated $146,500 to Bush, nearly seven times more than they did to Richards. Enron's political action committee and executives were the largest donors to Bush's campaign, just as they would be to his presidential campaign six years later. Equally significant, Lay was Bush's earliest donor, signaling to the business community a year before the 1994 election that it was acceptable to move away from the incumbent, according to Craig McDonald of Texans for Public Justice, a group that tracks money in Texas politics.

Through all sorts of weather...

[Andrew Mayer]

Till some sweet talking girl comes along...

(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3668-2004Jun24.html)Bush retained a private lawyer, James E. Sharp, for the interview. Sharp did not return calls seeking comment yesterday.

Singing her song... (http://cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0407/12/lkl.00.html)

KING: Who's your -- who's the main lawyer?

LAY: Mike Ramsey, as far as the activities...

KING: He's criminal...

LAY: ... here in Houston. He's criminal. He's here in Houston. But we have a whole team -- Earl Silbert in Washington, D.C...

KING: You have Earl?

LAY: We have him. And...

KING: Former prosecutor.

LAY: Former U.S. prosecutor for over 20 years. Jim Sharp, former assistant U.S. prosecutor for a long time. We have Carrington, Coleman in Dallas, which has some excellent lawyers on the civil side. So, we have a number of really key advisers here that are involved.

[Damien Falgoust]

So they both hired a well-known, talented defense lawyer. Big deal.

Hell, one of my old law school friends works at Carrington Coleman. Does that make me part of the Bush-Lay axis of evil?

[Peter Frazier]

You are, Damien, you just don't realise it. :wink:

[Bullhajj]

Shush! Could you guys please hold it down until after the refrain? It's my favorite part!