The Bush Administration goes the Extra Mile for Enron, page 1

Conventional widom was that President Bush refused to become embroiled in Enrons problems. Not so, says Robert Parry in his article "Bush's Enron Lies." He lays out in detail how the Bush Administration did in fact attempt to help Enron at several junctures over its last two years. Ken Lay had great power to influence who got government energy positions and had the ear of many in the Administration. Parry traces Bush and Lay's relations back to 1994 when Bush first ran for governor of Texas. He also details large donations to Bush's first presidential bid from both Lay and Enron. The details of this relationship and the governments active support of Enron belie the notion that President Bush was above the fray.

consortiumnews.com
As Enron’s crisis worsened through the first nine months of Bush’s presidency, Lay secured Bush’s help in three key ways:

--Bush personally joined the fight against imposing caps on the soaring price of electricity in California at a time when Enron was artificially driving up the price of electricity by manipulating supply. Bush’s resistance to price caps bought Enron extra time to gouge hundreds of millions of dollars from California’s consumers.

--Bush granted Lay broad influence over the development of the administration’s energy policies, including the choice of key regulators to oversee Enron’s businesses. The chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was replaced in 2001 after he began to delve into Enron’s complex derivative-financing schemes.

--Bush had his NSC staff organize that administration-wide task force to pressure India to accommodate Enron’s interests in selling the Dabhol generating plant for as much as $2.3 billion.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

Fascinating little expose by Parry, by using FOIA requests and numerous other new sources he constructs a convincing piture of the true relationship between President Bush, his Administration and his friend 'Kenny Boy.' One really can't help but to conclude that it's all about the money. Perhaps the most pertinent fact uncovered by Parry is this, "Still, the administrations rear-guard defence of deregulation had bought Enron and the other energy traders precious months to reap hundreds of millions of dollars in trading profits in California." That sounds eerily familiar. Read "Pain at the Pump" at supporting link.

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[edit on 6-6-2006 by polanksi]

[edit on 7-6-2006 by UM_Gazz]