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May 26, 2006
You Can Enron, But You Can't Hide
Judge: Bailiffs, place the mayor under arrest.
Sideshow Bob: What? Oh yes, all that stuff I did.
Allow me to add my voice to the chorus of those cheering the convictions of those no-good bums from Enron, Jeff Skilling and W's friend "Kenny Boy" Lay. Convictions came on 25 of 34 counts, including all six that Lay was charged with. For what those bastards did -- to their investors, and (more importantly to me) to their employees -- they deserve not just a 200 year prison sentence, but a nightly visit to the weight room with Bull, Snake, and Razor. Thousands lost their life savings because of the greed and avarice of Lay, Skilling, and those they surrounded themselves with; no penalty could be too great.
I'm also frustrated with them on another level. I work in the corporate world; until I finally finish that Great American Novel and become everyone's favorite best-selling author, this is where I've chosen to make my way. I take pride in being a professional, and I like my company. And when gutless wonders like Lay and his pals behave like cartoonish stereotypes of rich white men, it gives the entire corpoate world a stain. In some eyes, we're all guilty by association. And while it's understandable, it's not fair -- no more so than associating all football players with OJ Simpson, all backup dancers with Kevin Federline, or all Texans with George W. Bush. Business is honorable, full of honorable people, for the most part. The few place the many under suspicion. And I resent them for it.
But most maddening was the inability of either Lay or Skilling to grasp that what they did was wrong. Even after the verdicts were returned yesterday, both men still clung like barnacles to the idea that they were innocent scapegoats caught up in a feeding frenzy.
“I firmly believe I’m innocent of the charges against me,” Lay said. “I believe that to this day.”
Outside the courtroom after court was adjourned, Skilling said, "We fought a good fight. Some things work. Some things don't."
There's a cognitive dissonance at work with those two -- indeed, it was pervasive throughout Enron's corner offices -- if they're still looking at what they did as "the good fight" and believe themselves innocent. They're in the same class as star athletes who seem to believe that the rules don't apply to them.
Then Lay walked outside the federal courthouse and declared himself blessed because “we believe that God in fact is in control, and indeed he does work all things for good for those who love the lord.”
Oh.... so God told you to screw thousands of people out of their life savings? Amazing how the conspicuously faithful can always invoke God no matter what they've done or how far they've transgressed.
Whatever, "Kenny Boy." I hope you spend thousands of long nights being made someone's bitch. And while you're in there, save a spot for Dick Cheney, will you?
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Comments
heh. can i pay you to tell people off for me so i don't have to worry about it and all i have to do is photograph pretty flowers and write verse drama?
Posted by: Jill at May 26, 2006 10:27 AM
You think that either of these two asswipes will spend even one minute in a *real* prison? They are far too well connected for that to happen, in my very cynical opinion.
Given what our country has become in the last thirty years or so, I'd be very surprised if either of them spent more than six years in some minimum-security facility.
As to the "Gawd" babble, well, they're just playing to an audience. Chances are, niether one of them is truly religious in any meaningful way.
Posted by: Mike at May 26, 2006 12:35 PM
This reminds me of a favorite movie. Yeah, I'm pretty sure they don't allow conjugal visits in a federal pound-me-in-ass prison. Those visits are all in-house.
Posted by: Brent at May 26, 2006 04:21 PM
Some folks are so deluded they believe that everything they do is justified. It's sad that even though these men were found guilty, the ones they hurt the most will never get back what was taken from them.
Posted by: Liz at May 26, 2006 11:04 PM
Either one could run for President, considering our recent election history.
Posted by: Cuzin Jose at May 27, 2006 07:24 AM
