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November 7, 2001
Cockburn/St. Clair
Greens, Airports
and
National ID Cards
Dr. Susan
Block
Ayatollah
Asscroft
Brian J. Foley
Bombing Campaign
Not "Self-Defense" Under International Law
November 6, 2001
Mark Scaramella
Where's
That Red Cross Money Going
C.G. Estabrook
Our Torturers
Sheperd
Bliss
Scott
Nearing on War
Rep. Ron Paul
Underwriting
the Taliban
Tariq
Ali
The
General Who
Came to Dinner
Evan Ravitz
Stop the War
Through
Direct Democracy
Steve
Perry
Hunger
in Afghanistan
November 5, 2001
Patrick Cockburn
Living
in the Minefields
David Price
Terror
and Indigenous People
November 3, 2001
Declan McCullagh
Nancy Oden Interview
Daniel
Wolff
The
Memphis Blues Again
Mark Weisbrot
War on Civilians
Dave Marsh
How
the RIAA (and the FBI) Cheat Musicians
Robert Jensen
Speaking
Out Against
War on Campus
November 2, 2001
CounterPunch
Wire
Green
Party Leader Detained at Maine Airport; Prevented from Boarding
Any Plane
Alexander Cockburn
FBI Eyes
Torture
November 1, 2001
Dean Baker
Dying
for Patents
Sami Amarah
US Attempts
to Recruit
Russian Vets of Afghan War
Molly Secours
Where
Are the Voices of Reason? Let the Women
Be Heard
William Blum
Unleashing the
CIA
October 31, 2001
Tom Turnipseed
Terrorize
the Poor,
Subsidize the Rich
Chris Clarke
Thank God
for Berkeley
Steve
Perry
The
Silent Genocide
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War Diary
CIA's Assassination Plan a History of
Torture in US Prisons
bin Laden and Bush
Business Connections
Aisha Ikramuddin on the Hidden Hype
of US Food Bombs
Peter Linebaugh on
Pakistan
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Jiang Zemin Tells Bush:
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CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The Memphis Blues Again:
Six Decades of Memphis Music Photographs
Photos by Ernest Withers
Text by Daniel Wolff
The New Intifada:
Resisting Israel's Apartheid
Edited by Roane Carey
A Pocket Guide to
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by James Ridgeway
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The
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by Douglas Valentine
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November 7,
2001
Paying Back Big Energy Evil-Doers
Giving Billions
To Bush's Buddies at Enron, But Shunning the Middle-Class Turned
Jobless
By Tom Turnipseed
The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives
narrowly passed a "trickle-down" economic stimulus
package on a party-line vote that is now on the Senate's agenda
for consideration. The contentious issues boil down to a classical
haves vs. have-nots conflict as the House-passed bill gives
fat tax cut giveaways totaling $70 billion to big corporate and
wealthy elites rather than helping out unemployed workers by
increasing unemployment and health benefits.
The House-passed stimulus package gave
the Enron Corporation a $254 million dollar tax relief gift.
Enron is a Houston-based energy giant headed by Kenneth Lay,
who has been a close friend of George W. Bush and a principal
financier of Bush's political endeavors. When Bush was Governor
of Texas, Lay recommended appointments to state boards and called
on Bush to meet with dignitaries from countries with whom Enron
was hoping to do business. The longstanding corporate/political
relationship goes back to the first Bush Administration when
George W. used the family name to promote Enron's ventures in
Argentina. Enron was the major supplier of gas to California
and, in the fourth quarter of last year, their revenues had tripled
from a year earlier as energy prices soared in California's deregulated
market.
Enron was the largest contributor from
the oil and gas industry in the 1999-2000 election cycle, giving
$2.3 million in contributions. In that election cycle the oil
and gas industry gave 78% of their contributions to Republicans
and Bush got $1.8 million, which was more than any federal candidate
received in the last 10 years. There was much speculation that
Lay would become Bush's Secretary of Energy and he has been a
key advisor in shaping the Bush/Cheney energy policy that has
come under legal attack by the Congressional Office of Management
and Budget for being designed in secrecy by big energy executives
and the White House. It calls for vastly increased gas and oil
production in the United States, but belittles conservation and
developing renewable energy sources.
In a rapid reversal of fortunes, it appears
that Enron, the big energy insider, is running on empty. There
is mounting evidence of indictable evil-doing by top officials
of Enron, causing the N.Y. Times to report on November 7 that
"various off-balance-sheet debts and related-party transactions..have
drawn the attention of the S.E.C.(Securities and Exchange Commission).
On November 5, the Wall Street Journal reported that "the
company in March made a $35 million purchase from an entity run
by a company officer." The Journal said the payment was
part of a complex series of transactions that allowed Enron to
keep "hundreds of millions of dollars of debt off its balance
sheets the past three years, during which the energy-trading
giant has grown rapidly." And, "In recent weeks, Enron's
labyrinth of financial transactions, particularly with members
of company management, has come under intense scrutiny from investors
and regulators." Enron admitted the S.E.C. has begun a formal
investigation. The Journal also reported that Enron's auditor,
Arthur Andersen, could face legal scrutiny on the clarity of
Enron disclosures.
The Wall Street Journal also reported
on the gloomy employment picture on November 5 in a front page
story with headlines reading, "Slow Economy Takes Unusually
Heavy Toll On White-Collar Jobs" and "As Service Sector
Weakens, Once-Hot Labor Market Is Quickly Turning Cold."
On November 6, the Journal again reported on the worsening job
market with a story headlined with, "Small Businesses Do
What Big Firms Have Done-Cut Jobs." The N.Y. Times told
about job losses in the Cincinnati area under a headline "The
Heartland Hunkers Down" and U.S.A. Today had a story entitled,
"Recession Conditions Sink Several Sectors."
On November 5, I received an e-mail from
a women in Wisconsin who had just read an essay I wrote about
the unfairness of the House version of the stimulus package.
She wrote, "Dear Tom: I was just forwarded your article-Terrorizing
the Poor and Subsidizing the Rich. I found it to be so true.
My husband lost his job on September 19 and still hasn't found
another. He has sent out many, many resumes and has agencies
also looking for him. We live 20 miles north of Milwaukee, WI.
and the job market is very slim. Our unemployment check is $266
a week. The amount doesn't even cover our mortgage payment.
We don't have any health insurance because there is no way we
can afford it. My husband has been looking for agencies that
might help us. He is a Vietnam Vet. So much for giving to your
country when they need you. I can't tell you how stressful this
has been. Every single day it's a worry how we will pay our bills
and will we end up losing our house we have worked our entire
lives for. What can we do, who can we write to and who will
listen???"
Write your U.S. Senators and demand they
stand up to corruption and evil-doers like Enron. The Senate
should take away Enron's $254 million gift and most of the $70
billion given to business interests in the House-passed stimulus
bill. Jobless workers deserve the stimulus money to pay their
bills and survive with dignity. CP
Tom Turnipseed
is an attorney, writer and civil rights activist in Columbia,
South Carolina. Visit his website at: www.turnipseed.net
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