WTF Is It Now?!?

More Moments in Churchilliana: "Over 75 percent of white Americans own their home, and less than 50 percent of Hispanos and African Americans don't own their home. And that's a gap, that's a homeownership gap. And we've got to do something about it." - the Oaf of Office, Cleveland, Ohio, July 1, 2002.


The hypocrite-in-chief

'President' Bush is talking tough about pinstriped rip-off artists -- ignoring the skeletons in his and Cheney's own corporate closets. Although Bush evaded most of the political fallout from the Enron debacle despite his adminstration's close ties to that company, the growing scandal of corporate irresponsibility is threatening to engulf the business-friendly White House. And with every move Bush makes to respond, his own corporate past, and that of Vice President Dick Cheney, the former Halliburton CEO, may well come back to haunt him. - Anthony York, in Salon.


"Bush says that if they're removing 'under God' from the pledge of allegiance, they should also remove that hard word, 'indivisible.'" - Kilborn




'Administration Mauled by Own Dog Of Double Standards'

Remember Whitewater - that two-bit, failed Arkansas real estate deal that dominated much of the Clinton's eight years in the White House? Republicans felt it represented such a serious ethical marker that it required six years of investigating costing some $65 million.

GOP leaders like Dan Burton and Tom DeLay regularly climbed in front of TV cameras and worked themselves up into moralistic hissy fits over Whitewater. They justified their non-stop investigations by saying that a President who conducted himself badly in business was capable of, well, who knows what!

While Bill Clinton is gone, Dan Burton and Tom DeLay are still in office. But their views on business ethics must have softened. We have heard nary a peep out of either man about the current Vice President's now suspect behavior while CEO of Halliburton (1995-2000.) Halliburton is under SEC investigation for cooking its books, a la Enron, under Cheney's command.

The money involved in the Whitewater deal would not have been enough to buy a fixer-upper in Hope, Arkansas. But the Halliburton deals now under investigation can be measured in the tens of millions of dollars.

So, where is the outrage? Maybe it's "different." Let's see:

- Clinton's Whitewater business deal occurred before he was elected President

- Cheney's Halliburton deals occurred before he was elected Vice President

Check.

- The accounting for Clinton's Whitewater loans raised questions

- Halliburton's accounting methods under Cheney have raised questions

Check.

- The Whitewater loans to Clinton were part of a regulatory (S&L) investigation

- Halliburton's financial statements are part of a regulatory (SEC) investigation

Check.

- During Whitewater, Republicans argued that Executive Branch agencies could not be trusted to investigate their own boss.

- SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt, a Bush/Cheney appointee, is now investigating Halliburton and its former accounting firm, Arthur Andersen. (Andersen was one of Pitt's law clients before he was appointed to the SEC.)

Check.

- The Clintons lost money on the Whitewater deal.

- Cheney profited handsomely since his salary and bonuses were based on Halliburton's now-suspect financial statements.

No Check. Except for Dick Cheney - who received very large bonus checks for what is now alleged to have been artificially inflated Halliburton profits.

So, some enterprising reporter might want to ask Dan Burton and Tom DeLay to explain the differences - as they see them - between Whitewater and Halliburton.

- - Snipped from The Daily Enron.

Hey! Partisan politics! The politics of personal destruction! The "president" and vp can't be distracted at a time like this! Don't you know there's a war on?!


Quote of the Day: "Read our lips: The judge who wrote the opinion on the Pledge was a Republican, appointed by Richard Nixon. Is this really so hard?" - TAPPED