SECTION FOURTEEN
EMAIL PAGE FIVE
sm
COLUMN
SIXTY-NINE, MARCH 1, 2002
(Copyright © 2002 Al Aronowitz)
MORE ABOUT THE ENRON
SCANDAL
AND A BANNED DEAD PREZ VIDEO
Subject:
softskull-announce message
Date: 29 Jan 2002 02:08:41 -0000
From: "softskull-announce" <tennessee@softskull.com>
Organization: softskull-announce
To: info@blacklistedjournalist.com
Message
from Sander@softskull.com
Two
things you should know?
A
lot of people on the list asked if the Enron report would be published somewhere
online. It DID get picked up at www.manateebound.com.
Have
you heard?according to the New York Times, two days before he was found dead,
Enron's Cliff Baxter stated that he wanted to get a bodyguard. Hmmm, that
doesn't sound too suicidal, does it?
Also,
the video for revolutionary hip hop group Dead Prez's track "They
Schools" has been banned from all television stations and even the
mainstream hip hop sites. I DID find it for yall recently at http://www.geocities.com/itzliehecatl/music.html
and scroll down.
Check
it out. It's well worth viewing and rocking to.
S ##
* * *
DID MOLLY IVANS GOOF?
Subject:
molly ivans
Date: Sat, 02 Feb 2002 16:09:35 -0500
From: Tom Todd <twtodd@dmci.net>
To: Address: info@blacklistedjournalist.com
She
has gone over the line with her commentary on the status of the criminals in
Cuba.
Insisting
that they be called POW's is really an act of treason on her part. Granted, her
agenda is very political, like so many others on the left and right, but the
thought that she would want these thugs to be POW's boggles even the most
liberal of minds. Giving them POW status would almost assure they be freed at
some point in the near future. Can even liberals take that chance? I think not.
She in essence wants to have these people let go to commit further acts of
terrorism. Lets get real with our priorities, keep the politics out of the war
on terrorism.
THANKS, BUT WE DON'T LIVE IN NYC ANY MORE
Subject:
Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2002 20:49:36 -0500
From: "Trace Richardson" <tracedef@nyc.rr.com>
To: <info@blacklistedjournalist.com>
So
do you live in NYC? How's life these days? I've enjoyed your writings.
Trace.
NYC
* **
PLEA FOR FINANCE REFORM
Subject:
WE NEED REFORM!!!!
Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 18:32:20 -0500
From: "vanna" <malicia@ntrnet.net>
To: david.price@mail.house.gov, senator@edwards.senate.gov,Elliek@ncleg.net,
governor.office@ncmail.net, Verlai@ncleg.net,Howardl@ncleg.net, governor.office@ncmail.net
CC:
chnclerk@nando.com, editor@citizen-times.com, forum@nando.com,letterbox@hpe.com,
letters@wilmingtonstar.com, letters@jdnews.com,letters@herald-sun.com,
letterbox@hpe.com,news@hendersondispatch.com, reflector.letters@coxnews.com,jackson@indyweek.com,
backtalk@indyweek.com, editors@indyweek.com,actnow@indyweek.com, 71224.2557@compuserve.com,
devans@nando.com,forum@nando.com
-------
Forwarded message follows -------
Checkbooks
and Balances
January
29, 2002
By
Margie Burns
In
the stampede of scandals associated with Enron, the issue of campaign
finance
has fallen behind, in a cloud of dust; the topic of Bush's
nominations
for judgeships may fall there too. But these topics should not
be
lost sight of, especially when a law-lobbying firm that both supported
George
W. Bush financially and represented Enron in court is also poised
to
produce a federal judge. The nominee in question is Texas Supreme Court
Justice
Priscilla Owen, for the Fifth Circuit, which covers Texas,
Louisiana
and Mississippi and which used to be a good court.
Notwithstanding
all the publicity over trial lawyers' donations to
Democrats,
numbers from the Center for Responsive Politics show that the
big
winner in donations from lawyers in the 2000 election was George W.
Bush.
Contributions to Bush from attorneys and firms totalled almost $6M
--
$5,948,854 -- edging out even Al Gore, #2 on the list of top
recipients;
Bill Bradley, 3rd; Hillary Rodham Clinton, 4th; John McCain,
5th;
and somebody named Rick Lazio, 6th.
In
fact, lawyers and law firms topped the CRP list of "Top Industries"
for
Bush;
his only higher donor category was "retired," often a code for
managers
and/or attorneys who prefer not to specify corporate affiliation.
Predictably,
Houston lawyers donated copiously. Houston firm Vinson &
Elkins
ranks 17th on the list of top 20 contributors over-all, with
$529,263
reported so far, 68% of it to Republicans. Vinson & Elkins also
ranks
2nd in donations to Bush individually ($202,850)-- with Baker Botts
(another
Houston law firm, the one with which Andrews Kurth is most
closely
affiliated) 9th, and Jenkens & Gilchrist 15th. Partners Joe B.
Allen,
Robert H. Whilden, and Thomas P. Marinis, Jr., of Vinson & Elkins,
were
Bush "Pioneers" -- volunteer fundraisers who, according to the Bush
campaign,
raised at least $100,000 apiece. Members of Haynes & Boone,
Bracewell
& Patterson, and Jenkens & Gilchrist were also Pioneers.
At
least neither Vinson & Elkins nor Baker Botts is netting a federal
judgeship.
But in a quid pro quo of Texas-sized obviousness, Bush has
nominated
at least six of his campaign donors, including one from Houston,
to
the federal bench.
Houston's
nominee, Priscilla Owen, practiced commercial litigation for
seventeen
years, according to her bio, as a partner in the Houston firm of
Andrews
& Kurth. As is typical for this batch of nominees, she gave $1000
to
Bush individually. But the $1000 legal maximum is just the cover
charge;
Andrews & Kurth also gave $4500 to Bush and $6300 to Republicans
through
its PAC (0 to Democrats), and $20,000 to Bush through individuals.
That's
$38,000 to Bush and the GOP, not counting other individual
donations.
The
firm's donations are dwarfed by those of its major clients. According
to
public records in the Lexis-Nexis database, Andrews-Kurth clients in
federal
courts include Aetna, Occidental Chemical Corporation, American
Express,
Amway, El Paso Energy, Salomon Smith Barney and - is anyone
surprised?
- Enron.
Can-of-worms
time. Predictably, George W. Bush was the top recipient of
oil
& gas contributions in the election, with $1,889,206 in donations
(Rick
Lazio was 3rd; oil men must really hate Hillary). On the CRP top 20
list
of oil & gas donors, Enron was #1 ($2,237,598 donated; 72% of it to
Republicans),
Exxon Mobile second, BP Amoco third, and El Paso Energy was
#4
($1,116,495 donated; 83% of it to Republicans).
Since
1997, Enron has given over $2.4M in soft money, over $1.8M to
Republicans;
it has given over $520,000 through its PAC, and over $100K to
Bush
through individuals; not surprisingly, Enron ranks 12th on the list
of
top Bush contributors. Kenneth Lay, of Houston, is also a Bush Pioneer
from
Enron, and just to put the icing on the cake, Enron managers also
contributed
at least $300,000 to the Bush inauguration, including another
$100,000
from Kenneth and Linda Lay.
El
Paso Energy has given $460,395 to the GOP in soft money, $383,755
through
its PAC, and another $90K to Bush through individuals. Salomon
Smith
Barney was a piker in comparison, giving $63K to Republicans in soft
money,
$107K through its PAC, and $36K in individual donations to Bush.
Anything
Salomon Smith Barney didn't give, however, Amway did --
$1,138,500
to Republicans in soft money, another $20,000 through its PAC,
and
at least $12,000 through legal-max individual donations to Bush,
totalling
about $1.17 million. Then there's Aetna -- $315,90 to the GOP in
soft
money, another $50,000 through its PAC, and at least $10,000 in
individual
Bush donations, totalling $375,000. American Express rings up
at
over $315,000; Occidental Chemical at $40,000. J. Roger Hill of
Occidental
Chemical is another Bush Pioneer.
Mindboggling
as it is, let's tote up some of these numbers. At a
conservative
(if that's the word),
bending-over-backward-to-the-point-of-neckbreaking estimate,
Enron gave
over
$2.4M to the GOP/Bush; Amway $1.17M; El Paso Energy $930K; Aetna
$375K;
American Express $315K; Conoco $313K; and Salomon Smith Barney
$206K.
With the comparatively dainty contribution from Andrews & Kurth,
that's
a corporate halo effect of over $6M for Justice Owen, coming in for
Bush
and the GOP. This list does not include other Pioneers, friends, deal
partners,
relatives and spouses.
In
anybody's book, this is buying and selling a judgeship - regardless of
whether
the judgeship is a reward, an inducement, or simply an enabling
device.
Barring
some of the oil company donations, this is par for Bush's judicial
nominees.
Not all of them are six-million-dollar women (most are not
women),
but at least six of them are down in the public records as
contributors,
along with their law firms and their firms' major clients.
Justice
Deborah L. Cook of the Ohio Supreme Court is nominated for the
Sixth
Circuit (KY, MI, OH, TN). She donated $1000 to Bush and $6700 to
other
Republicans. (Bush relatives have deeper ties in Ohio than in
Texas).
With her husband, Robert F. Linton, also a Bush donor, Justice
Cook
was a longtime partner in Akron law firm Roderick, Myers & Linton,
whose
clients include Ohio Edison, Provident Life & Accident, and Aetna.
Aetna
is also a client of Los Angeles-based law firm Gibson, Dunn &
Crutcher,
in which DC attorney Miguel A. Estrada, nominated for the
federal
Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, is a partner. Estrada donated
$1000
to Bush, among other contributions; Gibson, Dunn donated $28,000 to
Bush
through individuals, $5000 through its PAC, and another $11,000 to
the
GOP. Gibson, Dunn partner Theodore Olson is now Solicitor General
(endorsed,
incidentally by the Washington Post, a former Gibson Dunn
client);
Mr. Olson donated $1500 to Mr. Bush (circumventing the $1000
legal
max by donating through two "committees"), and about $23K to
Republicans
over-all. Mr. Justice Scalia's son Eugene, in the same firm,
gave
Bush another $500, not that that was Bush's largest gift from the
Scalias.
Eugene Scalia is now Solicitor of Labor, the government's top
lawyer
in the Labor Department.
Other
Gibson, Dunn clients include Intel Corporation and Enterprise
Rent-A-Car.
Intel's PAC has donated $231,088 to the GOP since 1997, and
Intel
executives gave $10,000 to Bush individually. Enterprise Rent-A-Car
donated
$130,000 in soft money to Republicans, another $118,992 through
its
PAC, and another $22,000 to Bush through individuals; executive Ray
Wagner
is also a Bush Pioneer. When Enterprise Rent-A-Car was sued in
Tampa's
federal court by its employees over unpaid overtime, its attorney
was
(Gibson Dunn's) Eugene Scalia.
Gibson,
Dunn partners are also on the boards of directors of both 3M
Corporation
and Transocean Sedco Forex, called the world's largest
offshore
drilling contractor. With Olson as solicitor general, it will be
interesting
to see what cases get ushered into court, concerning drilling
offshore
or drilling in a "harsh environment," Transocean Sedco's other
specialty.
From
vetting Richard M. Nixon's finances in preparation for the famous
"Checkers"
speech in 1952, to offering an LA internship last year to the
"muy
guapo" young George P. Bush, the president's nephew and son of
Florida
Governor Jeb Bush, Gibson, Dunn has been connected.
It's
not the only hive of lawyer-lobbyists to serve as a talent pool for
the
first round of judicial nominees, however. Utah law professor Michael
W.
McConnell, affiliated with Mayer, Brown & Platt (his resume with the
Justice
Department lists him as a "Special Consultant" for Mayer, Brown
since
1989), is nominated for the Tenth Circuit (CO, KS, NM, OK, UT, WY).
McConnell
also donated $1000 to Bush individually, as well as to Orrin
Hatch
(and Rick Lazio). Mayer, Brown & Platt made CRP's list of top 20 law
firm
contributors in 2000, donating at least $478,505 in the last
election,
44% to Republicans, with over $20,000 to Bush by individuals and
$61,000
to Republicans in soft money. Mayer, Brown's clients include Dow
Chemical
Corporation ($241,000 to Republicans in soft money, $150,000
through
its PAC) and Novartis AG (parent to crop dusting companies;
$256,180
in soft money, $120,000 through its PAC).
Another
Mayer, Brown client is giant accounting firm Arthur Andersen, now
famously
linked with the Enron debacle. In a particularly smarmy
connection
-- without even the excuse of happening in Texas -- Arthur
Andersen
and Mayer Brown also signed off on the peculiar arrangements of a
Tulsa-
based company called Commercial Financial Services, controlled by
Andersen
and Mayer Brown. CFS filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
in
1999; the Bank of Scotland sued Andersen and Mayer, Brown among others,
with
allegations of fraud, in federal court in Oklahoma. (CFS seems to
have
had good and sufficient reason to go bankrupt, since its assets were
accounts
receivable from bad debts; this corporate venture was signed off
on
by Arthur Andersen and was represented by Mayer Brown as counsel; where
are
those hardnosed, rockribbed business types when we need them?)
Any
case of this sort heard in Oklahoma, if it goes to the appeals court
--
inevitably -- will be heard by McConnell if he's appointed and doesn't
recuse
himself.
Arthur
Andersen was also a Gibson, Dunn client. Speaking of bankruptcies,
Gibson
Dunn is also counsel of record for a Cayman-based bankrupt wireless
company
with big investors called NextWave Communications, in ongoing
litigation
with the FCC in federal courts. (NextWave hit its last wave
when
it bid billions on airwave frequencies in a federal auction, and then
went
bankrupt when unfortunately it noticed it didn't have the money to
pay
for same. See hardnosed, rockribbed above.) However, the court noticed
--
and commented on -- the fact that a former partner at Gibson, Dunn is
now
a judge on the appeals court there, and initially dismissed the firm
rather
than have the judge recuse himself.
NextWave's
counsel in this effort, by the way, was Houston-based Andrews &
Kurth
- home to Justice Owen, 5th Circuit nominee. Two of the Gibson, Dunn
lawyers
brought on board were Theodore Olson and Miguel A. Estrada.
NextWave's
investors/creditors in the ongoing litigation are represented
by,
among others, Jones, Day - home to Jeffrey S. Sutton, Bush's nominee
to
the 6th Circuit. Other creditors are represented by Hogan & Hartson -
home
to Bush's other nominee for the DC Circuit, John G. Roberts, Jr. At
stake
are billions of dollars in value in the publicly-owned airwaves;
NextWave,
designated in print as a "makeshift" corporation by that notable
pinko
Robert Novak, has now been awarded $5B by the courts for the
licenses
it was never in a position to develop.
Were
you beginning to believe that this large country of ours was divided
up
into hopelessly separate regions?
John
G. Roberts, Jr., the Hogan & Hartson partner nominated for the DC
Circuit,
also donated $1000 to Bush -- this really is starting to look
like
a cover charge -- with $3000 to other Republicans and $3900 to Hogan
&
Hartson's PAC. The PAC gave $136,000, aside from individual donations,
and
$30,000 in soft money. Roberts then donated $1000 to the Bush recount
effort.
Hogan & Hartson clients include Mobil Oil Corporation, 3M, and
Hartford
Accident & Indemnity.
Ohio
attorney Jeffrey S. Sutton, the partner in Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue
nominated
for the 6th Circuit, also donated $1000 to Mr. Bush. Individual
donations
to Bush from Jones, Day attorneys total over $38,000. Jones, Day
clients
include RJ Reynolds Tobacco, Sherwin-Williams (think: lead paint),
and
Eli Lilly -- all Bush contributors, for obvious reasons. At least Bush
didn't
appoint Sutton to consumer safety or the EPA.
In
a recent development, the Andrews Kurth law firm has now merged with
Houston
law firm Mayor, Day, Caldwell & Keeton (announced June 19, 2001;
final
on October 1, 2001). The combined firm, operating under the Andrews
Kurth
name with 335 lawyers, will be the seventh largest law firm in
Texas,
according to its statements by press release and public contact
Donna
Anderson. It will also join Andrews Kurth clients with those of
Mayor,
Day, including Kaiser Aluminum, KCS Energy, and Charles Hurwitz's
Maxxam
Corporation.
Imagine
walking into a courtroom knowing, from public record, that your
judge
gave money to George Bush and got his/her judgeship immediately
afterward.
Funny; it seems like only yesterday that Republicans were
criticizing
President Clinton for "renting out the Lincoln bedroom" --
giving
VIP treatment including invitations for White House overnights in a
quid
pro quo for campaign contributions. Assuming they were right, does an
overnight
at the White House even begin to compare to a lifetime as
federal
judge?
If
we're going to reform campaign finance, it only makes sense to limit
benefits
received by the donor, along with limiting donations received by
the
candidate. Instead of always placing the burden on the public of
having
to prove some perhaps-nebulous influence, surely federal law could
more
easily just prohibit self-evident benefits like federal jobs or
contracts
from going to campaign donors in the first place.
If
donating is going to be called "free speech," then let's keep it free
of
White House jobs, ambassadorships, judgeships, and cabinet positions.
By
all means, let's ensure that it be a form of expression rather than
payola:
no federal contracts for the donor corporation, no federal hiring
from
the donor law firm.
Some
parts of campaign finance reform are easy: give if you wish, but --
as
Seinfeld's soup Nazi would say -- no judgeship for you.
* * *
Contributed
by BuzzFlash Reader Margie Burns
Articles
by Margie Burns have appeared in Legal Times, Salon.com and the
Chronicle
of Higher Education among other places; she has a BA and
doctorate
from Rice; and she lives in Cheverly MD.
www.buzzflash.com
-------
End of forwarded message -------"Experience declares that man is the
only
animal which devours
his own kind; for I can apply no milder term to...the general prey
of the rich on the
poor"
-- Thomas
Jefferson
"We can have democracy in this country or we can have great
wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both."
--
Louis Brandeis
"[This country is headed toward a single and splendid
government of an aristocracy founded on banking institutions and
monied incorporations and if this tendency continues it will be the
end of freedom and democracy, the few will be ruling and riding
over the plundered plowman and the beggar... "
-- Thos. Jefferson
"I hope we shall take warning from the example of England
and crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed
corporations which dare already to challenge our Government
to trial and bid defiance to the laws of our country."
--
Thos. Jefferson
"I sincerely belive that banking establishments are more
dangerous than standing armies"
-- Thos. Jefferson
"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and
causes me to tremble for the safety of my country.
Corporations
have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will
follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to
prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people
until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is
destroyed."
-- Abraham Lincoln
"The corporate grip on opinion in the United States is one
of the wonders of the Western World. No First World country
has ever managed to eliminate so entirely from its media
all objectivity -- much less dissent."
-- Gore Vidal
"Who are the oppressors? The few: the king, the capitalist and a
handful of other overseers and superintendents. Who are the
oppressed? The many: the nations of the earth; the valuable
personages; the workers; they that make the bread that the soft-
handed and idle eat."
-- Mark Twain
"In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something
to be thankful for. As for me, I rejoice that I am not a
Republican." -- H.L. Mencken ##
* * *
COURT GAFFES
Subject:
The last few are hilarious
Date: Wed, 30 Jan
2002 13:28:07 -0500
From: "Julian Tepper" <jutepper@erols.com>
To: <jutepper@erols.com>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
COURT
JESTERS
UNBELIEVABLE!
These are from a book called Disorder in the Court. These are
things
people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and now
published
by court reporters - who had the torment of staying calm while
these
exchanges were actually taking place. Some of these are excellent
don't
miss the last one.
Q:
What is your date of birth?
A:
July fifteenth.
Q:
What year?
A:
Every year.
Q:
What gear were you in at the moment of the impact?
A:
Gucci sweats and Reeboks.
Q:
This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all?
A:
Yes.
Q:
And in what ways does it affect your memory?
A:
I forget.
Q:
You forget? Can you give us an example of something that you've
forgotten?
Q:
How old is your son, the one living with you?
A:
Thirty-eight or thirty-five, I can't remember which.
Q:
How long has he lived with you?
A:
Forty-five years.
Q:
What was the first thing your husband said to you when he woke up that
morning?
A:
He said, "Where am I, Cathy?"
Q:
And why did that upset you?
A:
My name is Susan.
Q:
Do you know if your daughter has ever been involved in voodoo or the
occult?
A: We both do.
Q:
Voodoo?
A:
We do.
Q:
You do?
A:
Yes, voodoo.
Q:
Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he
doesn't
know about it until the next morning?
Q:
The youngest son, the twenty-year old, how old is he?
Q:
Were you present when your picture was taken?
Q:
So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?
A:
Yes.
Q:
And what were you doing at that time?
Q:
She had three children, right?
A:
Yes.
Q:
How many were boys?
A:
None.
Q:
Were there any girls?
Q:
How was your first marriage terminated?
A.
By death
Q:
And by whose death was it terminated?
Q:
Can you describe the individual?
A:
He was about medium height and had a beard.
Q:
Was this a male, or a female?
Q:
Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition notice
which
I sent to your attorney?
A:
No, this is how I dress when I go to work.
Q:
Doctor, how many autopsies have you performed on dead people?
A:
All my autopsies are performed on dead people.
Q:
All your responses must be oral, OK? What school did you go to?
A:
Oral.
Q:
Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
A:
The autopsy started around 8:30 p.m.
Q:
And Mr. Dennington was dead at the time?
A:
No, he was sitting on the table wondering why I was doing an autopsy.
Q:
Are you qualified to give a urine sample?
Q:
Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
A:
No.
Q:
Did you check for blood pressure?
A:
No.
Q:
Did you check for breathing?
A:
No.
Q:
So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the
autopsy?
A:
No.
Q:
How can you be so sure, Doctor?
A:
Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
Q:
But could the patient have still been alive, never the less?
A:
Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law
somewhere. ##
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