WTF Is It Now?!?

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Wilcommen, bienvenu, welcome....anyone there? It's bitterly cold and windy outside. Sort of what I picture Trent "Crybaby" Lott's office to be like.


Senate Panel Says Enron Must Detail Policy Role - Subpoenas Shift Probe To White House Contacts

Congressional probes into Enron Corp. turned for the first time to the White House yesterday. A Senate committee issued subpoenas to the collapsed energy company and its accountant to see what role Enron had in creating the administration's energy policy.

The batch of 29 subpoenas significantly expands the Enron investigations in Congress to examine not only the firm's corporate failings but also its political contacts. The subpoenas add a new front in the battle to obtain information about the White House's energy task force

The move by the Senate committee escalates Congress's challenge to the Toxic Tinhorn's administration. Until now, the congressional committees examining Enron had not looked at the company's interactions with the White House. The GAO's lawsuit is not specific to Enron; it is seeking to identify all interested parties that had contacts with the task force. The administration has said the task force met with Enron officials six times.

Lieberman's committee demanded all documents from Enron and its directors regarding communications between Enron and the White House or other federal agencies about the national energy policy, which was drafted by a task force led by Vice President “dick” Cheney.

The whole story at The Washington Post


Enron’s Sec. Of the Army Used Military Jet for Colorado Visit, Stiffing US Taxpayers

Earlier this month, Army Secretary Thomas E. White and his wife flew to Colorado on an Army jet and closed on the sale of their three-story Aspen house, according to Army officials and sources in Colorado.

An airfield operator there who did not want to be identified said he saw a jet with the words "United States of America" emblazoned on its side arrive about 4:30 p.m. After the landing, he said, he saw White and his wife leave the jet and get into one of two sport utility vehicles with government plates and a security detail. The SUVs, he said, then drove off in the direction of Aspen.

White, who was an executive with Enron Corp. for 11 years before he was appointed Army secretary last spring, and his wife are trying to sell a town house in the ski resort.

A DoD directive notes that the Army secretary is required to use military aircraft for travel on official business but specifies that authorizing officials "shall ensure that an official, rather than personal, purpose is served" by the travel. "As a general rule, a family member may not accompany his or her DoD sponsor who is traveling on official business," the directive says. Exceptions are made, however, "where there is an unquestionably official function in which the family member is actually required to participate in an official capacity."

Because Army officials declined to disclose the nature of White's business during the trips, it was unclear how his wife's presence was justified. Estimates of the hourly cost of operation of the Gulfstream range from $1,200 to $6,000 an hour, but, hey - we're all patriotic, red white 'n' blue Amurkins, right?

Another story of honor and integrity from The Washington Post, via BuzzFlash