Media Mute On Oil Slick Covering White House, Supreme Court

Ah..the trials and tribulations of the American news media as they strive to find their core of integrity again.

A simple suggestion: Tell the truth and report the FACTS, as in Journalism 101 - who,what, when, where, why and how - not are they democratic or republican, white or black....with us or against us... GAWD

Please American media ..commit to truth.

Try Saddam (if you must), but then try Rumsfeld too OK?

Show the photographs of Rumsfeld shaking Saddam's hand and selling him the chemical weapons. I know Rumsfeld will explain (as only his psychopathic logic can), that the weapons were only for defense and one can make brownies with them when not in use - BUT some of us are not brainwashed and can still think. It is so painful to watch the destruction of the free press and a free America right before our eyes...please STAND.

How about reporting truth, that the Saddam trial is the latest STAGED distraction from the criminal Bush administration and the Plame Inquiry - and report BOTH.


The White House press core has denied its reponsibility for far too long, operating as a complicit stooge to a warlord with the intellect of Mugabe. The really sad, sad part ...watching...observing...these hollow men in empty suits...men who never have enough is for example, Cheney, who had over $220 million dollars BEFORE weedling his way into office. How much is enough? Just how much do these cretins each need before they FEEL human or even pleasant about themselves or anyone else? They seem to be bottomless pits of greed, standing ...glazed at the slot machine...chanting "it's the American way.." waiting for the next PAY OFF.

Africa is staggering under the yolk of abuse by American,Arab oil companies (either directly or indirectly) driving indigenous people off their own land. The media needs to cut through this fog of feigned innocence and look in the mirror - then stand and fight for individual integrity and any sense of self, because without either you have nothing. You will go to your grave the rote machine (following orders) of a monster.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Enron#Government_officials_who_worked_for_Enron



a project of the Center for Media & Democracy

Enron Corporation
From SourceWatch
(Redirected from Enron)
Adapted from the Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enron_Corporation):
The ENRON Corporation is an energy trading and communications company based in Houston, TX employing around 21,000 people (mid-2001). Careful accounting allowed it to be listed as the seventh largest company in America, and it was expected to dominate the trading it had virtually invented in communications, power and weather securities. Instead it became the biggest corporate failure in history.
Table of contents
showTocToggle("show","hide")
[showhide]
1 The fall of Enron
2 Dabhol
3 PR companies and people who worked for or on Enron accounts
4 Government officials who worked for Enron
5 Follow the Money
6 Other Related SourceWatch Resources
7 External Links
[edit]
The fall of Enron
After a series of scandals involving irregular accounting procedures bordering on fraud involving it and its accounting firm Arthur Andersen, Enron stood at the verge of undergoing the largest bankruptcy in history by mid November 2001. A white knight rescue attempt by a much smaller energy company, Dynegy, was not viable.

The fall of the value of investors' equity per share in Enron during 2001 was from $85 to 30 cents. As Enron was considered a blue chip stock, this is an unprecedented and disastrous event in the financial world. Enron's plunge in value occurred after it was revealed that many of its profits and revenue were the result of deals with limited partnerships which it controlled. The result of this is that many of the losses that Enron encountered were not reported in its financial statements.

The firm's European operations filed for bankruptcy on November 30, 2001, and sought Chapter 11 protection in the US. The long term implications of Enron's collapse are unclear, but there is considerable political fall-out both in the US and in the UK relating to the monies Enron gave to political figures (around $6m since 1990).

Enron was formed in 1985 with the merger of Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, engineered by Houston Natural Gas CEO Kenneth L. Lay. It was originally involved in the transmission and distribution of electricity and gas throughout the United States and the development, construction and operation of power plants, pipelines, etc. worldwide.
Enron grew wealthy through its pioneering marketing and promotion of power and communications bandwidth commodities, and related risk management derivatives as tradable securities, including exotic items such as weather derivatives.

As a result Enron was named "America's Most Innovative Company" by Fortune magazine for five consecutive years, from 1996-2000. It was on Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work for in America" list of 2000, and was legendary even amongst the elite workers of the financial world for the opulence of its offices.

Its global reputation was undermined, however, by persistent rumours of bribery and political pressure to secure contracts in Central and Southern America, in Africa and in the Philippines. Especially controversial was the $30bn contract with the Indian MSEB (Maharashtra State Electricity Board), where it is alleged that Enron officials used political connections within the George Walker Bush administration to pressure the Indians. On January 9, 2002, the United States Department of Justice announced it was going to pursue a criminal investigation of Enron and Congressional hearings began on January 24.

Former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow, alleged mastermind behind Enron's complex network of offshore partnerships and questionable accounting practices, was indicted on November 1, 2002, by a Federal grand jury in Houston on 78 counts including fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy.
[edit]
Dabhol
[edit]
PR companies and people who worked for or on Enron accounts
Diane Bazelides Enron managing director of marketing and PR
Mark Palmer is Enron Vice-President of PR.
Don Middleberg
Hirst Co., Albuquerque had a $5,000 per year account for media and community relations for the division Enron Transportation and Storage.
Bates Churchill, Houston
Bitner.com Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. [1] (http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/archived_stories_2001/december/1204enron.htm)
[edit]
Government officials who worked for Enron
Also see Bush administration and the Enron connection.
Enron cultivated a long list of former government officials to lobby on behalf of the company's interests, including the following:
J. Bennett Johnston, former U.S. Senator who chaired the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
Robert Mosbacher, former Commerce Secretary
Brent Scowcroft , National Security Adviser to former President George Herbert Walker Bush
Marc F. Racicot, chairman of the Republican National Committee
Wendy Gramm, head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Linda Robertson, Bill Clinton administration Treasury official
Elizabeth Moler, chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Charles E. Walker, former deputy secretary of the U.S. Treasury
Thomas F. McLarty III, former White House chief of staff
Frank Wisner, former U.S. ambassador to India
Mike Andrews, former Democratic member of Congress from Texas
Ed Bethune, former Republican member of Congress from Arkansas
Ed Gillespie, former communications director at the Republican National Committee and a top communications advisor to Bush during the campaign
Gene E. Godley, former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Jimmy Carter administration
Greg Simon, media and telecommunications adviser to former Vice President Al Gore
Ken Raisler, former general counsel of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Edwin A. Buckham, former chief of staff to House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas
Michael Lewan, chief of staff to Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) from 1989-92
[edit]
Follow the Money
Molly Ivins, Enron-gate. Where are the investigations of Bush's liaison with the bankrupt company? (http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemId=12461), workingforchange, December 12, 2001.
Enron in 1997 saw that the Oregon Legislature was so easy to buy that Enron dissolved itself and reincorporated in Oregon! Yes, Enron is an Oregon corporation -- not just Portland General Electric (PGE), but Enron itself. [2] (http://www.voters.net/mind/cfr-spiel.html)
[edit]
Other Related SourceWatch Resources
investor relations
Bush Dynasty
Follow the money
Oil industry
[edit]
External Links
Press Releases
ENRON Board Approves Proposal to Create New Pipeline Company (http://www.blackstone.com/news/press_releases/03-19-03.pdf), Blackstone Group Press Release, March 19, 2003.
General
The Enron homepage (http://www.enron.com)
Enron News, News Sources, News Searches, and Business Research: (http://www.HavenWorks.com/business/research/enron)
Enron, Wikipedia
Enron (http://dmoz.org/Society/Issues/Business/Allegedly_Unethical_Firms/Enron/) ODP links about the scandal
The Fall of a Giant: Enron's Campaign Contributions and Lobbying (http://www.opensecrets.org/alerts/v6/alertv6_31.asp)
News
"Enron starts dumping PR firms (http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/archived_stories_2001/december/1204enron.htm)", O'Dwyers PR Daily, December 4, 2001.
Joshua Lipton, "Enron's Helpers (http://www.cjr.org/issues/2002/2/ethics-lipton.asp)", Columbia Journalism Review, Issue 2, March/April 2002.
Scott Sherman, "Gimme an 'E'!: Uncovering the uncovered story (http://www.cjr.org/issues/2002/2/enron-sherman.asp)", Columbia Journalism Review, Issue 2, March/April 2002.
Kurt Eichenwald, Enron Seeks Millions for Power Never Delivered to Sierra Pacific (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/06/business/06PLAC.html?th), New York Times, October 6, 2003.
Vince Gonzales, "Enron Traders Caught On Tape," (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/06/01/eveningnews/main620626.shtml) CBS News, June 1, 2004: "When a forest fire shut down a major transmission line into California, cutting power supplies and raising prices, Enron energy traders celebrated."
Frank Rich, "[http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/20/arts/20Rich.html?ex=1111813200&en=d9d952719e29a102&ei=5070
Enron: Patron Saint of Bush's Fake News]", New York Times, March 20, 2005.
Retrieved from "http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Enron_Corporation"
Categories: Oil industry George W. Bush Scandals


This page was last modified 20:53, 31 May 2005.
This page has been accessed 6409 times.
Content is available under GNU Free Documentation License 1.2.
About SourceWatch
Disclaimers
SourceWatch is an encyclopedia of people, issues and groups shaping the public agenda. It is a project of the Center for Media & Democracy; email bob AT sourcewatch.org
Antispam note: To avoid attracting spam email robots, email addresses on the SourceWatch are written with AT in place of the usual symbol, and we have removed "mail to" links. Replace AT with the correct symbol to get a valid address. We regret the inconvenience this entails. Lobby your government for more effective antispam regulations.
CMD Navigation
CMD Home
SourceWatch
PR Watch
Spin of the Day
Forum
Volunteer
News Feeds
Donate
Navigation
Recent changes
Random page
Help
Send this page to a friend
Search

Toolbox
What links here
Related changes
Special pages
Center for Media & Democracy
About CMD
Sign up for our free Weekly Spin
If you find SourceWatch useful, please consider making a donation to its sponsor, the Center for Media and Democracy.
Views
Article
Discussion
Edit
History
Personal tools
Create an account or log in

Perhaps when millions march ...carrying white candles, our light will finally expose the deep oil slick covering the highest office in the land - a sludge passed to us as high octane fuel, laden in decency.