ass kissing Wash Post

LOL, pathetic Dumbya will stop at nothing to divert attention from Enron. Expect to hear more on the "axis of evil". ROTFL.

-- (Dumbya fascist scum @ wagging.the dog again), February 11, 2002

Answers

Did you see his fat cow wife on Repug flimflammers@work.conning Amerikkka), February 11, 2002.

Jay Leno

-- (pissed@html.saboteurs), February 11, 2002.

Yep, keep harping on the axis of evil, keep the public in fear, pull the wool over their eyes, help them forget about the Chenron corruption fiasco.

BTW, what's the story with Dickhead? Isn't he supposed to go to court and turn over the infromation he's been concealing? It seems that the repugs have ordered the media not to print anymore on this subject, hoping it will all be forgotten.

-- Be very afraid people (but don't worry @ your hero. Dubya will protect you), February 11, 2002.

Monday February 11, 7:42 pm Eastern Time

Senate panel head slams SEC chief on Enron response

(UPDATE: Adds House bill)

By Kevin Drawbaugh

WASHINGTON, Feb 11 (Reuters) - The chairman of a key Senate panel said he would turn ``a suspicious eye'' on any response from America's top markets cop to the Enron Corp. scandal, on the eve of a controversial appearance before Congress by the bankrupt company's former chairman.

At the same time, a key House of Representatives panel took the lead in Congress' search for answers to Enron by floating the first comprehensive post-Enron legislative package.

Zeroing in on old business ties between Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Harvey Pitt and Enron's former auditor Andersen, Sen. Ernest Hollings, Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, told Reuters on Monday he was unhappy with Pitt's handling of Enron and its fallout.

``I'm not satisfied,'' said the South Carolina Democrat, who has charged the Republican Bush administration with running a ``cash and carry government'' for former energy trader Enron.

``Whatever he (Pitt) would recommend, I'd look at with a jaundiced eye,'' Hollings said in an interview, sharpening criticisms of Pitt simmering below the surface of the Enron controversy as he tries to formulate a policy response.

Pitt, reacting to the Enron affair, made a proposal of his own on overseeing the accounting profession, which he once represented as a private attorney. Corporate auditors such as Big Five firm Andersen -- once Pitt's client as well as Enron's auditor -- have come under fire for bungled audits.

On Hollings' barbs, SEC spokeswoman Christi Harlan said, ``Chairman Pitt has said all along that he now represents the best client in the world and that's the investing public.''

AN OVERSIGHT BOARD WITH TEETH

Overshadowing Pitt's modest proposal, the House Financial Services Committee on Monday floated a bill to set up an accounting oversight board with a two-thirds majority of non-accountants and a 60-percent boost to the SEC's budget.

A Republican committee source provided Reuters with a discussion draft of the legislation calling for a body directly answerable to the SEC with teeth enabling it to sanction not only accountants, but also companies that hire them.

Sweeping together several ideas making the rounds in Congress for weeks, the bill also would require faster disclosure of financial data and insider trading, as well as some limits on accounting firms doing audit and non-audit work for the same company. It would set the SEC's fiscal 2003 budget at $700 million, up from $438 million in fiscal 2002.

The Senate Commerce Committee, chaired by Hollings, was expecting former Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay -- who has dodged previous congressional invitations -- to appear before it under subpoena on Tuesday morning, but to refuse to testify under his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

``He'll come in and he'll have to be sworn. He'll make his statement that he's going to take the Fifth. That will be it,'' said Hollings, one of dozens of members of Congress who got campaign donations from Enron but is now investigating it.

Enron has preoccupied Congress since the company filed the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history on Dec. 2, devastating investors, destroying thousands of jobs and prompting investigations by nine congressional committees .

Seeking to bring some order to lawmakers' inquiries, Hollings called again for a select committee or a special prosecutor, but conceded, ``It's not a popular idea.''

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST?

In addition to expressing concerns about Pitt, Hollings suggested the Justice Department's criminal probe of Enron, still months from conclusion, could be open to question.

Attorney General John Ashcroft, who heads Justice, has recused himself from its inquiry because he took campaign contributions from Enron. He has named Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson to head the probe. Thompson's former law firm once represented Enron. Thompson has refused to step aside.

Pointing to Thompson's connections, Hollings said, ``If that isn't a taint of a conflict, what's a taint of a conflict?''

A Justice Department spokesman said the department saw no need for a special counsel. ``There is no conflict of interest,'' said spokesman Byron Sierra. He said the department's ethics lawyers had examined the circumstances.

Hollings said Enron represented a massive political scandal with deep roots across the Bush administration, but he complained the president's wartime popularity has restrained others from asking tough questions about the affair.

``Everybody says there's a halo over there (at the White House). I don't see any halo,'' said the senator.

In what could shape up as an historic clash between Congress and the president, the General Accounting Office has threatened to sue in court for access to records of Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force's Enron dealings.

Hollings said the GAO has the authority and responsibility to ask for the task force documents. He said he was confident a court would rule in favor of Congress' investigative arm.

-- get scared (wag the dog @ hide. the dick), February 12, 2002.

We've got one poster here, pretending to be a crowd. That is a very tired old ploy which has never worked for anyone.

As far as anything damping down the Enron scandal, no it won't. The scandal will go on for months, and it deserves to.

-- Peter Errington (petere7@starpower.net), February 12, 2002.

Wrong again, Errorton. I posted the last article and the post before that, but I didn't post the others. Check with Unk again if you don't believe me. You need to get a brain before you draw your conclusions, smartass.

-- lol (errorton @ strikes. again), February 12, 2002.

I think Unk is MIA

-- (one@who.cares), February 12, 2002.