Open Threads

The Chicago Tribune on Enron and Campaign Finance Reform:

They gave to some 71 senators and 188 House members. They gave some $600,000 to George W. Bush. And the Bush administration has plenty of top officials with Enron ties–including Army Secretary Thomas White, a former company executive; chief economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey, a former consultant; and political adviser Karl Rove, who owned a lot of Enron stock.

By now, though, former chairman Kenneth Lay must be wondering why he bothered.

The company stood to make a lot of money from the Kyoto treaty on carbon dioxide emissions, but the president rejected it. Enron lobbied Congress to change the tax laws so its foreign subsidiaries could conceal their debts, and Congress refused. Lindsey, asked to do an analysis of the damage that an Enron bankruptcy would do to the economy, concluded it was nothing to worry about.

And when the meltdown finally began, all the people who had gotten help from Enron turned a deaf ear to its pleas for help. Lay phoned Commerce Secretary Donald Evans to ask for help in preventing a downgrade of Enron’s bond rating. Evans recalls, “I listened to him and told him thank you very much.”

The Chicago Tribune on EnronPost + Comments

U.S. Forces and Allies Storm Afghan Hospital, Killing 6

That is how you handle terrorist Islamo-fascist thugs. You send them to meet Allah. The world is a better and safer place already.

U.S. Forces and Allies StormPost + Comments

Drudge is reporting that Terry McAuliffe turned 100k into 18 million with the now bankrupt Global Crossing.

Drudge is reporting that TerryPost + Comments

Hamid Karzi ‘Gets it.” Too bad he is busy rebuilding Afghanistan, and not doing something really important, like writing op-eds in the U.K. or for the NY Times. Check out this exchange with Peter Jennings:

JENNINGS Do you think that the prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba should be classified as prisoners of war?

KARZAI They’re terrorists. They have not been captured in a regular war. They were there to kill Afghan people. They did kill Afghan people, positively. They destroyed my country.

We’re not at war with them … I would not classify them as prisoners of war, but I would treat them nicely, properly.

JENNINGS Would you treat them under the, under the rules and regulations of the Geneva Convention?

KARZAI I would treat them, I would treat them … within the framework of that Convention, but I would treat them nicely. They’re not prisoners of war. They’re terrorists.

JENNINGS Are you aware of the prisoners being held at Sheburgen who were fighting with the Taliban and are now in custody largely of the Northern Alliance? And do you think you have the authority and the strength to do something about that from the government’s point of view in Kabul?

KARZAI Yes, surely. Definitely.

JENNINGS And what do you think should be done?

KARZAI Well, we will provide them [with] … better living conditions and give them the rights that they should have of prisoners in that prison … Whether they will believe it or not is depending upon the situation of terrorists or collaborators …

Hamid Karzi ‘Gets it.” TooPost + Comments (1)

Hanan Ashrawi from the ‘Palestinian Legislative Council’ was just on MSNBC excusing terrorist suicide bombers “This is what happens when you punish people beyond the breaking point,” she said with a straight face. All I can say is that I wanted to backhand her as hard as possible.

Hanan Ashrawi from the ‘PalestinianPost + Comments

Yasser Arafat is finally acting on the arms ship incident (Karine-A).

Yasser Arafat is finally actingPost + Comments

Blame Saudi Arabia. According to this report, 100 of the detainees in Gitmo’s Camp X-ray are Saudi Arabians.

Blame Saudi Arabia. According toPost + Comments (1)