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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (2245)	7/16/2002 12:36:27 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Threatened by Congress By Robert Novak July 15, 2002 townhall.com WASHINGTON -- As President Bush prepared last week to go to Wall Street and lecture corporate corrupters, a prudent financial adviser for major industrial firms e-mailed a warning to his network of associates around the country: the sleeping giant of Congress has been awakened, and that is reason for the economy to shudder. "A witch hunt by Congress may be unstoppable at this point," the e-mail warned, adding that the Bush administration "now appears ready to join this 'inquisition' by holding executives criminally liable for false disclosure." The result, he said, is contributing to a deepening liquidity crisis. This adviser (who asked that his name not be used) told me of a potential double-dip recession ahead and even used the d-word -- "depression" -- as a possibility. While the federal government is frustrating when it treats economic problems with nonchalance, it is terrifying when it gets involved. The failure of President Bush's New York speech to calm markets provoked a feeding frenzy in Congress. The government seldom makes the right response to economic crisis, and the horrible example came in the 1920s when the executive and legislative branches collaborated to help turn the stock market crash into the Great Depression. The question is whether George W. Bush, so loath to exercise the veto, will stop a criminalization of business that is ravaging stock prices. The problem is politics. Democrats, who have been brooding about fading 2002 election prospects, see their great opportunity in tying corporate corruption to Bush and the Republicans. Agreeing, Republican senators, chatting in their cloakroom last week, mourned their opportunity to regain control slipping away. Thus, the two parties engaged in a competition for who could come across as most hostile to business. A relatively harmless manifestation was the comic opera session Tuesday by the House Financial Services Committee, when witnesses who agreed to testify were interrupted by legislators such as Rep. Maxine Waters of California, interested only in hearing themselves. Since two former WorldCom executives were invoking the Fifth Amendment, Chairman Michael Oxley was ready to let them leave in disgrace rather than waste the committee's time. But members could not resist the opportunity to badger millionaire businessmen unable to reply. Many Republicans and Democrats wanted instantly to vote a contempt of Congress criminal citation against ex-WorldCom CEO Bernie Ebbers and perhaps incarcerate him. Republican Chairman Oxley got needed support from liberal Democratic Rep. Barney Frank, who patiently explained to his colleagues that they are supposed to be legislators, not prosecutors. Actually, Congress is most frightening when it is legislating. On Tuesday, senators who usually cannot agree on the time of day were acting like a totalitarian state's parliament: 97 to 0 to punish securities fraud with 10 years imprisonment; 96 to 0 for longer prison sentences; 97 to 0 for tougher treatment of document shredding. It raises the specter of businessmen fearing a term in prison if their accountant makes a mistake. "In the environment we are in, virtually anything can pass," Republican Sen. Phil Gramm told reporters. Nobody can keep up with the flood of legislation pouring out of both sides of the Capitol -- some of it threatening Article I of the Constitution prohibiting ex post facto legislation. "What companies now face is potential criminal liability for accounting errors that will only be discoverable when new final rules are adopted," said one private memorandum by a financial analyst. Supply-side consultant Jude Wanniski, in a letter to clients last Thursday, said: "There is absolutely no doubt that the beating Wall Street is taking is the result of the frenzy in the U.S. Senate to make it a crime to do business in the United States." He sees the two big political parties competing "to see which can force more morality on the American businessman." What will the president do about it? Earlier, Wanniski asked: "Will GWB be the (Herbert) Hoover of his age?" Bush is in a dreadful situation. He did not address corporate corruption until the market had gone into a free fall and now seems to have lost control of what's happening in Congress. Can he dare veto the criminalization of business? Does he dare sign it? Contact Robert Novak \| Read his biography ©2002 Creators Syndicate, Inc.

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (2245)	7/16/2002 2:41:12 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 89467

Report: Bin Laden Alive, Healthy Mon Jul 15, 4:58 PM ET By RAWYA RAGEH, Associated Press Writer CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Osama bin Laden ( news - web sites) was wounded in a U.S. bombing raid on Afghanistan ( news - web sites) in December but is in good health, the editor of a London-based Arabic newspaper said Monday. Abd al-Bari Atwan, the editor of the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi, said sources close to the al-Qaida leader "confirmed to me that the man is in good health." There was no way to verify Atwan's information. U.S. officials say they have no evidence bin Laden was wounded but acknowledge it is a possibility. While the Bush administration has said publicly it does not know whether bin Laden is alive or dead, U.S. counterterrorism officials privately acknowledge they believe he is alive. In Washington, Pentagon ( news - web sites) spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said she was aware of the report "but we don't have anything to add to it." On Saturday, the head of Germany's Federal Intelligence Service, was quoted in the Welt am Sonntag newspaper as saying bin Laden is alive and hiding along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Atwan gave several interviews Monday to promote the newspaper's story, which is to appear in Tuesday's editions. Atwan said bin Laden was wounded during a U.S. bombing raid in December in Tora Bora, where al-Qaida members were thought to be hiding out. "It happened during the American carpet-bombing of Tora Bora in Afghanistan," Atwan said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. He said bin Laden underwent surgery to remove shrapnel from his left shoulder. Bin Laden has been videotaped at least twice since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. Atwan said he had been told that al-Qaida supporters were planning new attacks and that bin Laden was planning to capitalize on a possible U.S. strike on Iraq.