Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2002 12:57:20 -0600
Reply-To: Stan Wilder <wilden1@JUNO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Stan Wilder <wilden1@JUNO.COM>
Subject: Re: FW: George W. in the Garden of Gethsemane (Micheal Moore)
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Not a lot of Vanagon content but I'm going to add my 2 cents worth.
All Energy, Oil, Gas, Defense Contractors, Airlines, Major Highway
Contractors, Banking, Railroads, Media, Advertising, Oil Producer
companies should lease their space for four years and just follow new
Presidents from State To State.
Texas has had a fair run at the White house over the last twenty years
and getting elected is primarily a money issue so by heavy contributions
it saves these companies millions in moving cost to get another Texas boy
in the White house.
Just think of the exodus of Texas Companies to Tennessee if Al Gore had
won, every large company would have had to have at least some office
space in Tennessee with a few hundred local employees.
I'm sure someone eventually will come up with a four letter for
Politician.
As far as ENRON is concerned; with over 2200 Houston employees .......
didn't anybody think about contacting the SEC when they were banned from
selling their stock?
Some of my stocks (never Enron) went into the crapper and got below fifty
cents but my brokers will still sell them for me even though they have in
house restrictions against over the counter stock sales at below a buck.
I just can't buy anymore of the same stock.
Stan Wilder
On Mon, 4 Feb 2002 17:27:06 +0000 "Christopher J. Fryer-Edwards"
<christopherfryer@HOTMAIL.COM> writes:
> >George W. in the Garden of Gethsemane
> >
> >An Open Letter to George W. Bush from Michael Moore
> >Dear George,
> >
> >When it's all over in a couple months, and you're packing up your
> >pretzels and Spot and heading back to Texas, what will be your
> biggest
> >regret? Not getting out more often and seeing the sights around
> Rock
> >Creek Park? Never once visiting the newly-renovated IKEA in
> Woodbridge,
> >Virginia? Or buying your way to the White House with money from a
> >company that committed the biggest corporate swindle in American
> >history? I got a feeling you didn't miss much by not spending an
> entire
> >Saturday afternoon assembling a Swedish bookcase -- but you should
> have
> >known that there was no way you would ever finish your term by
> hopping
> >into bed with Kenneth Lay.
> >
> >It's kind of sad when you think about it. Here you were -- the
> most
> >popular president ever! -- the recipient of so much good will from
> your
> >fellow Americans after September 11, and then you had to go and
> blow it.
> >You just couldn't stay away from your old cowpoke friend from
> Texas,
> >Kenneth Lay.
> >
> >Kenny has always been there for you. You needed a way to fly around
> to
> >all the primaries and campaign stops in the 2000 election -- so
> Kenny
> >gave you his corporate jet. Did you tell the voters when you
> arrived in
> >each city that the bird you flew in on was from a billionaire who
> was
> >secretly conspiring to give the bird to all his employees and
> investors?
> >He flew you around America on the Enron company jet, and for that
> favor
> >you touched down on tarmac after tarmac to tell your fellow
> citizens
> >that you were "going to restore dignity to the White House, the
> people's
> >house." You said this standing in front of an Enron jet!
> >
> >Man, you loved Lay so much, you not only affectionately referred to
> him
> >as "Kenny Boy," you interrupted an important campaign trip in
> April,
> >2000, to fly back to Houston for the Astro's opening day at the
> new
> >Enron Field -- just so you could watch Kenny Boy Lay throw out the
> first
> >pitch. How sentimental!
> >
> >I mean, you loved this man so intensely that, when you were awarded
> a
> >set of keys the Supreme Court had made for you so you could live in
> the
> >White House, you invited Kenny Boy to set up shop -- at 1600
> >Pennsylvania Avenue! He interviewed those who would hold
> high-level
> >Energy Department positions in your administration.
> >
> >You not only let Kenny Boy decide who would head the regulatory
> agency
> >that oversaw Enron, you let him hand-pick the new chairman of the
> >Securities and Exchange Commission, Harvey Pitt -- a former lawyer
> for
> >his accountant, Arthur Andersen! Kenny and the boys at Andersen
> also
> >worked to make sure that accounting firms would be exempt from
> numerous
> >regulations and would not be held liable for any "funny
> bookkeeping"
> >(don't you wish you were this forward-thinking?).
> >
> >The rest of Kenny Boy's time was spent next door with his old
> buddy,
> >Dick Cheney (Enron and Halliburton, as you'll recall, got the big
> >contracts from your dad to "rebuild" Kuwait after the Gulf War).
> Lay and
> >Dick formed an "energy task force" (Operation Enduring Graft) which
> put
> >together the county's new "energy policy." This policy then went on
> to
> >shut down every light bulb and juicer in the state of California.
> And
> >guess who made out like bandits while "trading" the energy
> California
> >was in desperate need of? Kenny Boy and Enron! No wonder Big Dick
> >doesn't want to turn over the files about those special meetings
> with
> >Lay!
> >
> >The only thing that surprises me more than all the Enron henchmen
> who
> >ended up in your cabinet and administration is how our lazy media
> just
> >rolled over and didn't report it. The list of Enron people on your
> >payroll is impressive. Lawrence Lindsey, your chief economic
> advisor? A
> >former advisor at Enron! Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill? Former
> CEO of
> >Alcoa, whose lobbying firm, Vinson and Elkins, was the #3
> contributor to
> >the your campaign! Who is Vinson and Elkins? The law firm
> representing
> >Enron! Who is Alcoa? The top polluter in Texas. Timothy White, the
> >Secretary of the Army? A former vice-chair of Enron Energy! Robert
> >Zoellick, your Federal Trade Representative? A former advisor at
> Enron!
> >Karl Rove, your main man at the White House? He owned a
> quarter-million
> >dollars of Enron stock.
> >
> >Then there's the Enron lawyer you have nominated to be a federal
> judge
> >in Texas, the Enron lobbyist who is your chair of the Republican
> Party,
> >the two Enron officials who now work for House Majority Leader Tom
> >DeLay, and the wife of Texas Senator Phil Gramm who sits on
> Enron's
> >board. And there's the aforementioned Mr. Pitt, the former Arthur
> >Andersen attorney whose job it is now as SEC head to oversee the
> stock
> >markets. George, it never stops! My fingers are getting tired
> typing all
> >this up -- and there's lots more.
> >
> >Don't get me wrong, George -- I do not think you're an evil man.
> You
> >don't need any crap from people like me -- heck, you got
> mother-in-law
> >problems! Now, I have a very good relationship with my
> mother-in-law,
> >but then, I never told her to put $8,000 of her money into a
> company my
> >administration knew was going belly-up.
> >
> >You say you didn't know? Your bag man -- Don Evans, the man who
> squeezed
> >all that money for you from Enron as your campaign finance chairman
> (and
> >is now collecting his reward as your Commerce Secretary) -- has
> admitted
> >that he got calls from Enron begging for help last year because
> they
> >were going under. Didn't he tell you this?
> >
> >Then Paul O'Neill, your Treasury Secretary, admitted that Enron
> and
> >Kenny Boy called him, too, for some special favors to save Enron.
> Didn't
> >he mention this to you? They claim to have called your chief of
> staff,
> >Andrew Card, and he said he didn't bother to inform you. What does
> your
> >mother-in-law think about these boys her daughter's husband
> consorts
> >with?
> >
> >I love watching the O'Neill and Evans show. What a couple of
> cut-ups!
> >They're, like, all proud of themselves for "not doing Enron any
> favors."
> >Actually, I think it's more like they didn't do your MOTHER-IN-LAW
> any
> >favors. Enron got LOTS of favors. And why not? Kenny Boy has been
> your
> >number one financial backer since you ran for governor. No other
> >American or Saudi has given you more money than Kenny Boy and his
> gang
> >at Enron. O'Neill, Evans, Cheney, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham
> --
> >ALL of them gave Lay and Enron special favors from day one. The New
> York
> >Times last May was so concerned about how Kenny had the run of the
> place
> >(1600 Pennsylvania Ave.), they referred to Lay as the "shadow
> advisor to
> >the president."
> >
> >And what advice! Who was it that wanted you to deregulate the
> energy
> >industry further? Kenny Boy! Who was it that convinced you to
> explore
> >the sick idea of PRIVATIZING our water supply and then allow
> private
> >corporations to "trade" it in the future? Kenny Boy! Who was it
> that
> >wanted Social Security to be tied to the stock market? Yup, Kenny
> Boy!
> >(Imagine, if you will, what would have happened to our precious
> Social
> >Security funds had they been invested in Enron stocks as you,
> George,
> >suggested be done during your campaign as yuppies everywhere
> clucked
> >along in agreement over that genius idea.)
> >
> >O'Neill's and Evans's admission that they "did nothing" when Enron
> told
> >them of the company's shell game and impending collapse is reason
> enough
> >for you and yours to hit the Beltway and never return to that
> sacred
> >trust we call Our American Government. They are proud of "doing
> >nothing?" By doing nothing, millions of Americans have been
> swindled.
> >Tens of thousands have lost their jobs. Thousands more have lost
> their
> >savings and their retirement. Yet your cabinet secretaries gloat
> over
> >what a "good job" you and they did by "doing nothing."
> >
> >Let me ask you this: If someone was setting a house on fire, and
> they
> >called you to help them set it on fire, and you said no you
> wouldn't
> >help them -- BUT then you also DIDN'T call 911 and inform the
> police
> >that someone was going to burn down a house, do you think you would
> have
> >committed a crime?
> >
> >Of course you would have! You had prior knowledge and then you
> knowingly
> >and purposefully HID this information from the authorities and the
> >people living in the house! You only admitted that you knew a house
> was
> >going to be torched when you were confronted by the police. Are
> you
> >complicit? Yes! Are you an accessory? Yes! Who would even think of
> going
> >around boasting, "Hey, look what a great guy I am -- a friend of
> mine
> >told me he was going to commit an act of arson, and then I decided
> NOT
> >to tell ANYONE about it!! WHOO-HOO!!"
> >
> >Enron and Kenny Boy bought your silence and the silence of your
> cabinet
> >members. You yourself didn't have to actually raid the 401(k)
> accounts
> >of those poor people in Houston (many of whom probably voted for
> you
> >every time your name was on a ballot). All you had to do was
> remain
> >silent, change the government regulations that let them get away
> with
> >it, and install their hand-picked cronies to sit on the
> "oversight"
> >boards which were supposed to be keeping an eye on them.
> >
> >While doing all this, you told the American people that these rich
> >friends of yours were not getting any special breaks -- when, in
> fact,
> >Enron had already scammed their way out of paying NO taxes in four
> out
> >of the last five years. Your economic "stimulus" bill that you got
> the
> >House to pass after 9-11 had a section that would give Enron a gift
> of
> >$250 million of our tax money. You were pushing this bill in
> November
> >and December, long after your administration knew that Enron was
> raiding
> >the vault and screwing its workers and investors.
> >
> >You and your Republican friends are quick to point out that Enron
> had
> >their claws into the Democrats as well. Yes, they did, and thank
> you for
> >making the case why we not only need an alternative to the current
> >make-up of the Democratic Party, we need private money removed from
> our
> >electoral process ASAP.
> >
> >But, George, let's be real -- the Democrats only got a pittance
> from
> >Enron compared to the millions you and the Republicans received.
> >Democrats just don't have the killer instinct to do anything right,
> and
> >they certainly don't know much about making money the old-fashioned
> way,
> >one off-shore tax shelter at a time. I would expect nothing less
> from a
> >Party that couldn't even put their candidate in the White House
> after he
> >had already won the election.
> >
> >The Democrats are like a Yugo -- you know it won't last long or
> work
> >well, but it will occasionally get the job done. Fat cats know they
> can
> >buy the Democrats at discount prices, and so they do. Anyone who
> tries
> >to deflect this scandal away from you, George, or away from the
> >Republicans, or away from the whole dirty way we elect our leaders,
> is
> >someone who is desperately trying to cling to what's left of a
> very
> >crooked system that has to go and go now.
> >
> >The saddest part of this whole affair was the day the scandal was
> >revealed
> >-- and you denied that you even knew your good friend, Kenneth Lay.
> "Ken
> >who?" you said. Oh, he's just some businessman from Texas. "Heck,
> he
> >backed my opponent for governor, Ann Richards!" was your way of
> trying
> >to deflect the truth that was hitting you like a Mack truck. You
> knew
> >that he, in fact, endorsed YOU and gave you THREE times the money
> Ann
> >Richards ever saw from him.
> >
> >I hardly ever talk to the guy, you said. You were like Peter
> outside the
> >walls of Herod after they grabbed J.C. from the Garden of
> Gethsemane.
> >Three times he denied he knew Jesus, and three times the cock
> crowed.
> >But Peter, unlike you, felt shame and wept, and then ran away.
> >
> >What shame do you feel tonight, George, for the lies you have told?
> What
> >shame do you feel using the dead of 9-11 as a cover for your
> actions,
> >hoping that our sorrow for those lost souls and our fear of being
> killed
> >by terrorists would distract us from what your boys and Kenny Boy
> were
> >up to during those horrific weeks in September and October?
> >
> >It was during those very days, while the rest of us were in shock
> and
> >sadness, that the executives at Enron were selling off their stock
> and
> >shifting assets to their 900 phony partnerships overseas. Did they
> >notice the remains of the dead being pulled from the rubble while
> they
> >were downloading their millions, or were their eyes glued only to
> the
> >bottom third of the TV screen as the stock ticker with the rigged
> Enron
> >price crawled across the images of firemen desperate, in tears, to
> find
> >their fallen brothers?
> >
> >The country was behind you when you said you were fighting the
> evildoers
> >who did this. In fact, all the while, the real fight your friends
> at
> >Enron were conducting was the fight against the clock, to see how
> fast
> >they could transfer all the loot to their personal accounts and
> run
> >away. Those were the evildoers, George, and you knew it. And
> because
> >you, by design or negligence, allowed this to happen, it is time
> for you
> >to resign. The cock has crowed for the last time.
> >
> >At the very least, your mother-in-law deserves better.
> >
> >Yours,
> >
> >Michael Moore
> >American
> Son-in-Law
> >Owner of 7th LARGEST COMPANY IN AMERICA! (revised ranking)
> >mmflint@aol.com http://www.michaelmoore.com
> >
>
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