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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ish who wrote (450786)	8/30/2003 11:58:03 PM
From: E	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

Does Halliburton ring a bell, Ish? Some links and excerpts. The Cheney Energy Plan: Technically Unsound and Unsustainable: ieer.org and "When money determines who has access, it can determine whose interests are nourished." - Houston Chronicle editorial on the Bush-Cheney energy plan (5/28/01) The energy industry contributed tens of millions of dollars to federal candidates in the last election cycle. Roughly 75 percent of that money - more than $48.3 million - went to Republicans,... Vice President Cheney declined to meet with environmentalists because he said he did not have the time.... "Just because somebody makes a campaign contribution doesn't mean that they should be denied the opportunity to express their views to government officials." - Vice President Dick Cheney[23 ]... Shortly after his inauguration, Bush formed an energy transition team dominated by corporate representatives, most of whom gave generous campaign contributions to Bush and the Republican Party... Where the George H.W. Bush administration developed a national energy policy with open proceedings and held 18 public hearings across the country, George W. Bush's administration conducted its three months of work behind closed doors.[19 ] NRDC submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of Energy asking for information about the identities of task force staff members, outside participants, meeting schedules and deliberations, but the agency has yet to provide this information. Other agencies involved in energy policy formulation have rebuffed inquiries from members of Congress (through the General Accounting Office) who have voiced similar concerns about the task force's undemocratic process.[20 ]... For companies seeking federal subsidies, expanded access for fossil fuel development on public lands, and relaxed environmental regulations - the very policies outlined in the Bush-Cheney energy plan -making contributions to the GOP may turn out to have been a profitable investment... As a result of a relentless campaign by fossil fuel companies - which, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, contributed $25.5 million to Republican campaigns in 2000 - the White House has lobbied the Justice Department to drop enforcement lawsuits against these polluters. Bush's energy plan directs the Justice Department to consider reversing "existing enforcement actions" against power plants that are facing federal lawsuits for violating air quality standards. Three of the companies - FirstEnergy, Southern Co. and Cinergy - collectively gave more than $2 million to the Republican Party and the Bush presidential campaign last year.[30 ] Pete Burg, CEO of Akron-based FirstEnergy, which pumped more than $449,000 in soft money into Republican coffers last year, personally lobbied Vice President Cheney etc..... ...Lawyers at Justice were "astounded" that the administration would blindside them on a law enforcement issue that was "supposed to be out of bounds from politics."... nrdc.org

To: Ish who wrote (450786)	8/31/2003 12:16:56 AM
From: E	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

More excerpts... ....To add to Halliburton's troubles, The SEC is currently investigating the company's book cooking practices. Over a four year period with Cheney as chief executive, Halliburton inflated profits by at least $234 million. The SEC was not kept in the loop, and investors were not told for more than a year how poorly the corporation was really performing. Several lawsuits are pending as a result... One pending class action lawsuit is being pursued by Larry Klayman at Judicial Watch. When Klayman sent a courier to the White house to serve the lawsuit on Cheney the courier was denied entrance and threatened with arrest. Wasn't it the Republicans who were the ones three years ago chanting, "nobody is above the law?"... The former Secretary of Defense helped his company obtain 812 Defense Department contracts for the year 1999 alone -- at a cost to the U.S. government of $664,669,000. Halliburton and its subsidiaries also had contracts in 1999 with NASA ($53 million), the State Department ($31 million), and even with the National Institutes of Health ($40 million). The Center for Public Integrity describes Halliburton during the Cheney years as "a corporate welfare hog."... Under Cheney's direction Halliburton and its subsidiaries did business with two of the seven nations listed as " State Sponsors of Terrorism." The Halliburton subsidiary Brown & Root was fined $3.8 million for violating sanctions against dealing with Libya. Halliburton sold more than $73 million in services to Saddam Hussein's Iraq. When questioned on ABC-TV, July 30, 2000, Cheney said "We've not done business in Iraq since U.N. sanctions were imposed on Iraq in 1990." That statement was not true! Three weeks later he was forced to recant when records surfaced in the media disputing his claim. He could not bring himself to admit an outright lie or deception. Instead he said, "We inherited [bought!] two joint ventures with Ingersoll-Rand that were selling some parts into Iraq, but we divested ourselves of those interests." He forgot to mention that the divestiture occurred 18 months later, after $30 million in new contracts had been negotiated with Baghdad.... norcaldem.com

To: Ish who wrote (450786)	8/31/2003 12:25:16 AM
From: E	Respond to of 769667

These are interesting, too. Not new, but a reminder about Chaney and energy and money....: . As a board member of Union Pacific in 1997, Cheney helped Drew Lewis get a windfall of $7.65 million upon his departure from the company. In 1998 Cheney and the board of Electronic Data Systems let Lester Alberthal, Jr. leave that corporation with a $35 million severance package. On the board of Proctor and Gamble in 2000, Cheney recommended $9.5 million plus stock options for retiring CEO Durk Jager. The story behind those stories is that Alberthal and Jager were both being forced out for failure to do a good job. The sad reality is that Cheney and his corporate board cohorts let the stockholders, including owners of 401k plans, pay for those unearned golden parachutes. Pay and parachute combined, Cheney himself gouged Halliburton for $35 million in 2000, the year he stepped down to run for the vice presidency. Even George Bush, who sucked $14 million out of the Texas Rangers, condemned "excessive executive pay" on 13 August, 2002. Whatta laugh.... ... Multiple meetings were held with Ken Lay and other representatives of Enron. The conflicts of interest are numerous, and neither the Senate committee investigating Enron nor the GAO can gain access to 13,000 pages of committee papers.... The GAO investigation regarding Enron and the Cheney Energy Task Force has been stonewalled and misinformed by Cheney and his chief advisor, Mary Matalin. Rep. Henry Waxman (D, CA) has provided a fact sheet listing 14 misleading and untrue statements from Cheney and Matalin. It makes you wonder what there is to hide. norcaldem.com