Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : The Donkey's Inn -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: zonkie who wrote (2961)	2/21/2002 7:12:18 PM
From: Mephisto	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15516

Zonkie, I hadn't heard of Koch but as we can see the Justice Department cannot be trusted since Ashcroft dropped all charges against Koch. I'll have to finish reading the article later. Glad you found it. BUSH CARRIES FOR KOCH: CASES DISMISSED "Throughout the 2000 campaign, candidate Bush promised he would loosen environmental protections and limit jury awards against corporations found guilty of wrongdoing. But scant notice as paid to the continuing federal prosecution of Koch – or the heavy Koch donations to Bush, the Republican Party, and various conservative political action committees. David Koch and his wife Julie alone have $487,500 in campaign contributions to the Republicans – and absolutely nothing to the Democrats. The Koch case was headed for trial last spring – just after Bush took over the White House. But then the funniest thing happened, on the very day that the jury was to begin hearing the case. On April 9, 2001, the Department of Justice announced that it was dropping all charges against Koch Industries and its employees, in exchange for a one-time $20 million fine. In dollar amounts, the company wound up paying about 5% of what its liability could have been, with no jail time for anyone. And David and Julie Koch’s investment in the Republican Party paid off by a factor approaching one thousand to one. Not surprisingly, the Bush Department of Justice made it sound as if it had scored a great environmental victory, as did Texas officials. (See official DoJ press release: usdoj.gov:80/opa/pr/2001/April/153enrd.htm/) But Koch could hardly contain its satisfaction. Koch spokesman Jay Rosser noted the government did not win convictions for alleged air pollution violations against Koch and the four individuals originally charged. And more good news was to come for Koch. The very next month, Koch announced it has reached a payment settlement of its conviction on charges it had underreported its drilling on Federal land. Justice Department officials later confirmed that the settlement had been for $25 million – about one-tenth of what the company was liable to pay. kochind.com southflorida.bizjournals.com In Part III of “Koch Industries and the Pollution of the Bush White House,” learn how Koch and its Big Oil friends helped the Bush Administration gut environmental laws and regulations – posing a clear and present danger to public health and safety. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- KOCH INDUSTRIES AND THE POLLUTION OF THE BUSH WHITE HOUSE Part I Koch Industries, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, is the nation’s largest privately-held energy and energy-investment company, with annual revenues of more than $25 billion. It is one of the world’s premier convicted air and water polluters. It is also a huge financial backer of the Republican Party and George W. Bush, as well of numerous right-wing think tanks and “grassroots” front groups. And, in direct return for its gigantic contributions, Koch (pronounced “Coke”) has received extraordinary financial and legal breaks from the Bush Administration – including efforts to gut existing environmental protection laws and regulations. In 2000, Koch settled a case involving hundreds of oil leaks and millions of gallons spilled oil in six states with a record $35 million payment to the government. And it pleaded guilty in Minnesota to discharging oil into streams, paying an $8 million penalty. But that was not all. When George W. Bush assumed the presidency, Koch was fighting an even bigger 97-count federal indictment, charging it with gross legal violations in connection with concealing from state and federal authorities the release of 91 metric tons of benzene, a known carcinogen, from its Corpus Christi, Texas, refinery in 1995. Under Environmental Protection Agency regulations enacted by the Clinton Administration in 1995, the plant was allowed to release only up to six metric tons of benzene, a colorless petroleum byproduct – only 1/16 of what it actually released. Suddenly, however, in April 2001, the Bush Justice Department reached a deal with Koch, dropping ALL outstanding environmental charges against the company in exchange for a one-time fine of $20 million – a paltry sum considering what the company could have been forced to pay, and no more than chump change for a $25 billion firm. Even more alarming is the fact that the Bush Administration, with heavy input from Koch Industries and its subsidiaries, has systematically gutted precisely those provisions of the Clean Air Act , the Clean Water Act, and other environmental laws and regulations that caused Koch such difficulties. What Enron was to the Bush energy policy, Koch was, and is, to Bush environmental policy, posing an enormous clear and present danger to public health and safety. It is one of the greatest political scandals in American history, fusing financial corruption, extremist right-wing politics, and the most compromised White House in living memory." mediawhoresonline.com

To: zonkie who wrote (2961)	2/22/2002 6:40:39 PM
From: Mephisto	Respond to of 15516

Ain't no stopping US now The Bush administration sees no particular virtue in seeking global consensus in its war on terrorism, because it has limited respect for governments whose opinions differ from its own, writes Julian Borger The Guardian Wednesday February 20, 2002 After all the talk, George Bush actually came face to face with the "axis of evil" today, peering into the demilitarised zone between South and North Korea, a frontier known in the president's increasingly Reaganesque rhetoric as "the line dividing freedom and oppression". Echoes of Ronald Reagan have reverberated through Mr Bush's week-long Asia tour, but never louder than at the DMZ. It was Mr Bush's version of the former president's "tear down this wall" speech in Berlin 15 years ago, and White House aides have been advertising its iconic significance. To heighten the anticipation Bush even described it as "one of the most dangerous places on earth". The DMZ is at the same time one of the quietest places on the globe, and surrounded by the encouraging glow of some 37,000 US troops, it is one of the least challenging stops on the president's three-nation trip. The visits to both Tokyo and South Korea were polite but strained by the hosts' uneasiness over the whole "axis of evil" idea. The White House retinue toned down the oratory, and Bush went so far as to undertake not to attack North Korea, but on the other hand there is no doubt that this administration stands by its frank warnings to Iraq, Iran and North Korea. In Seoul, President Kim Dae Jung was doubtless wondering what Bush had against him and his flagship "sunshine" policy of dialogue with the North. Mr Bush chose Kim's visit to Washington nearly a year ago to declare an end to the Clinton policy of engagement with Pyongyang. Then, just as Kim was reshuffling his government to prepare for a new diplomatic initiative, Mr Bush placed North Korea on the "axis of evil" list in his January 29 state of the union speech. The Japanese, as aware as anyone in the region of the dangers posed by Pyongyang, had also invested hope in Kim's "sunshine" initiative. Even before Bush arrived on Sunday, Japan's prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, had made it clear that he did not support the evil axis approach, and only endorsed it through gritted teeth when asked. The private reservations expressed in Tokyo are likely to come out in public when Mr Bush arrives in China at the end of the tour. Chinese officials have publicly cautioned the US against unilateral intervention in Iraq and will repeat those warnings to the president's face. China's concerns over US interventionism are likely to have as much impact as Japan's and South Korea's - that is to say, none at all. When the Europeans plead for caution, the Bush administration sees only lack of resolve. Privately, the president rails against spineless "European elites", the contemptuous phrase increasingly used in the conservative press to refer to European governments. The decision to topple Saddam Hussein was based on pure national security calculations, almost in isolation of the views of the rest of the world. Simply put, the Bush team decided in January that the very cause for extreme caution over Iraq was paradoxically the reason why action had to be taken sooner rather than later, this year rather than next. Saddam's chemical and biological weapons render any assault on his bunker a perilous affair, but putting off an attack will only make it more dangerous. The Iraqi dictatorship will have had more time to prepare. In a few years, it could even have a nuclear bomb. Only Saddam's absolute and unconditional acceptance of international weapons inspectors could muffle the drums of war in Washington, as unfettered inspections could potentially wreak more damage on the regime's arsenal than weeks of bombing. But for that very reason, the Iraqi dictator is unlikely to give the inspectors a free run. Washington has already declared its intention to topple him, and he surely knows his fearsome weapons are just about the only defences that make even the mighty Pentagon pause. The most likely scenarios are either an Iraqi refusal to accept inspectors or an initial acceptance followed by a return to Baghdad's policy of "cheat-and-retreat" over site visits. Either way, military action is all but inevitable by the end of the year, and the US central command has moved its service headquarters to the region in preparation. The marines are going to Bahrain where the navy is already based. The army is in Camp Doha, in Kuwait, and according to unconfirmed reports the special operations forces are setting up in Oman. The Saudi government is unlikely to allow the air force to use its state-of-the-art command centre at the Prince Sultan air base, but other Gulf garrisons could be pressed into service. Qatar is one option, increasingly mentioned in Washington. The Iraq invasion plan drawn up by the US joint chiefs of staff Email julian.borger@guardian.co.uk