Californians: If this doesn't mean war.... (Enron)

[Taverner]

More Enron Tapes, More Gloating


(CBS) The Department of Justice reportedly has thousands of hours of Enron employees recorded during the West Coast power crisis. Now, some in Congress want all the tapes released.

"I want to make sure that no federal agency suppresses this information, makes the case harder for us to get relief," says U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.

After CBS broadcast the voices of Enron energy traders gloating over the crisis they helped create, more tapes were released.

In one tape, an employee says, "You gotta think the economy is going to f------g get crushed, man. This is like a recession waiting to f-----g happen."

The tapes show Enron tried to bring California to its knees.

Elsewhere on the tapes, another employee says, "This is where California breaks."

"Yeah, it sure does man," says another.

And they proposed to do that by exporting energy out of the state so the company could drive up prices even more.

"What we need to do is to help in the cause of, ah, downfall of California," an employee is heard saying on the tapes. "You guys need to pull your megawatts out of California on a daily basis."

"They're on the ropes today," says another employee. "I exported like a f------g 400 megs."

"Wow,'' says another employee, "f--k 'em, right!"

<SNIP>


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/06/08/eveningnews/main621856.shtml

If this doesn't enrage us Californians, then FUCKALL I don't know what will....

ON EDIT: This fucking pisses me off so much...I'm unable to type...

How could ANY Californian vote for Bush after this...they should just get their asses out of our state and move to Texas or something....

[Cleita]

1. Would this be grounds for secession from the union until the

union kicks these bastards out of Washington and puts the rest of them on trial? I think so.

[freetobegay]

2. They can't secede!

We need the 54 electoral votes!

[Taverner]

4. We won't secede...

If we can pelt Ken Lay to death with used AA batteries....

[5thGenDemocrat]

11. Screw the AAs

I live in Michigan, but I've got an old, dead Wonch 12-volt bus battery you can drop on him if it'll make you feel any better. Thing weighs about 60 pounds and'll knock him flatter than piss on a platter.
John
It is now eight days, 11 hours and 13 minutes to FUNDAY. Come to the party and you can take it home with you.

[taquinas101]

5. With the current corrupt regine, the Feds won't lift a finger unless . . .

California becomes a red state.

[Sirveri]

7. I think we should, and I would sign any petition to do so.

Hell just throw a provision on there saying that we'll have a vote to come back after 5 years. What's the worst that could happen, Mexico tries to annex us? They'd get their asses kicked pretty hard if they tried any of that.

So yeah, lets secceed, I'm sick of this crap. The rest of the country tries to pull all the money it can out of us and won't give us any support, F 'em. We'll file for foreign aid and get more money than we do now!

[SoCalDem]

3. Remember, Ahhhnold was "invited" to the energy meetings

that KennyBoy was in charge of.. The fact that Davis won, is what precipitated this whole thing.. Enron was hoping to stay solvent through these shenanigans, but Davis and Bustamante knew what was going on, they just could not prove it.. It was VITAL that Davis be recalled.. They set up the trap, and then got him booted out for doing the only thing he could do in response..

Ahhhnold was going to be "selected" all along, but the charade of him getting in at the last minute was crucial... They could not allow a long campaign , where his "foibles" would have come to light and damaged him.. He needed a truncated run... These tapes should have been out BEFORE the recall.. Hmmmm wonder why THAT didn't happen :eyes:

[VOX]

30. Arnold, Richard Riordan, Michael Milken and Kenny Boy met in May 2001

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0817-07.htm
Published on Sunday, August 17, 2003 by CommonDreams.org
Ahnuld, Ken Lay, George Bush, Dick Cheney and Gray Davis
by Jason Leopold

Arnold Schwarzenegger isn’t talking. The Hollywood action film star and California’s GOP gubernatorial candidate in the state’s recall election has been unusually silent about his plans for running the Golden State. He hasn’t yet offered up a solution for the state’s $38 billion budget deficit, an issue that largely got more than one million people to sign a petition to recall Gov. Gray Davis.

More important, however, Schwarzenegger still won’t respond to questions about why he was at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills two years ago where he, former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and junk bond king Michael Milken, met secretly with former Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay who was touting a plan for solving the state’s energy crisis. Other luminaries who were invited but didn’t attend the May 24, 2001 meeting included former Los Angeles Laker Earvin “Magic” Johnson and supermarket magnate Ron Burkle.

While Schwarzenegger, Riordan and Milken listened to Lay’s pitch, Gov. Davis pleaded with President George Bush to enact much needed price controls on electricity sold in the state, which skyrocketed to more than $200 per megawatt-hour. Davis said that Texas-based energy companies were manipulating California’s power market, charging obscene prices for power and holding consumers hostage. Bush agreed to meet with Davis at the Century Plaza Hotel in West Los Angeles on May 29, 2001, five days after Lay met with Schwarzenegger, to discuss the California power crisis.
<snip>

[BillZBubb]

6. Kahl-ee-forn-ee-uns voted for Arnold

And he was up to his eyeballs in dealings with Ken Lay and the energy industry. Gray Davis was the only politician that stood up to them and called them on their crimes. See what it got him from the "intelligent" voters?

The sad thing is, they'll re-elect muscle-head in a landslide.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

8. Then I will say,

"FUCK CALIFORNIA"!!!!!

:grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr:

:grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr:

[Taverner]

14. Dont fuck us too

That would put you in the company of Bush, Kennyboy Lay and Ashcroft.

You don't want to keep company with them do you?

[PROGRESSIVE1]

15. Well if Cali gives the SOB another 4 years then too bad!!!

[Taverner]

17. By that logic

Can we say fuck America if Bush is re-elected?

Does that mean we all deserve to die in horrible terrorist attacks?

Your logic is warped, my friend.

[democracyindanger]

19. Logic?

You're giving him/her too much credit. ;)

Three thoughts:

1. I want the identities of all the assholes on the tapes that are being released. I want names and pictures.

2. It's not necessarily bad that Lay hasn't been indicted yet, and Skilling and Fastow haven't been convicted yet. Two words: Presidential pardon. I don't want * to have the opportunity to pardon any of these scumbags.

3. I will willingly offer my services to beat any of these *uckers to death with watch batteries. It might take a while, but I'll clear my schedule.

[Taverner]

20. Agreed

1. I want the identities of all the assholes on the tapes that are being released. I want names and pictures.

Yes, names, pics, glossy 8x10's - I want those bastards FUCKED!


2. It's not necessarily bad that Lay hasn't been indicted yet, and Skilling and Fastow haven't been convicted yet. Two words: Presidential pardon. I don't want * to have the opportunity to pardon any of these scumbags.

Yes that pardon would be worse than the Iran Contra Christmas pardons...

3. I will willingly offer my services to beat any of these *uckers to death with watch batteries. It might take a while, but I'll clear my schedule

Let's all throw batteries - it could be fun!

[Art_from_Ark]

25. bu$h could pardon them even if they hadn't been convicted

Think of Gerald Ford pardoning Richard Nixon, or bu$h Sr. pardoning Casper Weinberger. If junior is kicked out of office, you can be sure that before he leaves, the pardons will be flowing like wine at a Roman orgy.

[leesa]

18. Hello...can you say voter fraud and media bias??

California was taken just like the rest of the US was 'taken' in 2000 and 2002.

[delete_bush]

9. Are any of these voices

recognizable, or will they always just be anonymous?

[seabeyond]

10. californians go after arnold now

will go thru google and see if i can find the info i read on arnold at those meetings. get him, get him.........

impeachment, stole florida, possibly geogia, redistricting of texas and the recall.............

get arnold

[NecessaryOnslaught]

12. I hear ya Taverner

I live in PA, but when I read that article yesterday I was fucking hot. The worse part is they already got away with it, case closed. :mad: :nuke:
http://www.thestreet.com/markets/matthewgoldstein/10041194.html

[Taverner]

16. Exactly

And the worst part? Everyone brays about how fucking great a leader Ahhhnold is....

Sigh...someone tell me I shouldn't try to fuck them back?

[TriMetFan]

13. The Whole West Coast Needs to Secede!

Up here in Oregon and Washington we got screwed by them too. I feel bad for what they did to California. I hope they fry in Hell and are made to Beg on their knees.:mad:

[TexasMexican]

21. Yall got screwed...

but you all also need to build more powerplants, you cant rely on outsiders too much.

[Trajan]

26. You bought the GOP lie ...

CA has enough power plants (Thanks to Davis) ...

ENRON was shipping power OUT of the state ....

Seems you would know that ...

[TexasMexican]

29. How would I know that...

I dont live in California, I dont know how the energy market works.

However I assume that if California has enough power they wouldnt need to use an out of state energy company.

So please tell me how it works?

[ibegurpard]

33. If you didn't know that

why are you making comments about it?

[TexasMexican]

35. some people have a problem with reading.

"However I assume that if California has enough power they wouldnt need to use an out of state energy company."

That is my basis for believing that California doesnt have enough power plants.

I figured if it were wrong someone would correct me.

No one has correct me yet.

Please feel free to educate me on the subject.

[SoCalDem]

38. Pete Wilson started deregulation..phase 1

It REQUIRED that the state and municipalities divest themselves of the power generation facilities that they OWNED.. Part 2 was supposed to mean LOWER rates because the state would no longer have to pay the people to maintain and generate the energy..

In reality, the people who he conveniently lined up to BUY our facilities (Duke-Enron-Reliant) were all crooks..

In case no one noticed, as soon as they stopped ripping us off, we managed just fine, thankyou...just as we had before... We know how to conserve....But when someone is stealing the power and then selling it back to us at 1900 times the "real cost", is it any wonder that we are pissed???

[TexasMexican]

39. Thanks for the info.

so you had the plants but had to sell them to people who screwed you all over. Damn.

So what happened now? Who owns the plants, they got sold to companies that arent going bankrupt now I assume?

[SoCalDem]

41. Some went bankrupt, but in the "fast lane"

they declare BK, change the name, and just keep on doing business..

We stayed with Edison, but even our rates went up.. Electricity runs us about $250 to $300 a month, and we don't use the AC unless we have to..

Gasoline (my husband has a 45 min each way commute) now runs us about $280 a month.. THAT really sucks :(

[Union Thug]

22. This would be a good use for the Death Penalty...

Enron execs and their punk-ass goonboy traders SHOULD BE facing the firing squad. Fuck 'em. If I made the rules, they are the one who would be FUCKED.

[Trajan]

27. OK: .. someone HAS to say it ...

I was under the impression that WE, as Liberals, were AGAINST capital punishment ..

I certainly am ..... would ANYONE here actually KILL someone for this ? ...

Prison isnt bad enough ?? ..

Cmon ...

[OnionPatch]

23. Boy did this piss me off!!!

I remember those days and the outrageous electric bills. And you're so right about Ahnold and the Enron meetings. I think Greg Palast did a story on this on the eve of the election but not enough people read it or knew about it.
Secede? Wouldn't that be the best!? Except that having the US as neighbors...they'd probably end up bombing us. :nuke:

[Warren DeMontague]

24. The lights went out, the oil ran dry... we blamed it on the other guy

You know, I've been sitting here in Northern CA waiting for the outrage over this. (and bitching about it on my blog, of course) Or the acknowledgement, even, of the magnitude of what it proves. The anger at these starch shirt yuppies gloating that they "f*cked grandma millie up the @$$ for $250 a megawatt hour". I'm waiting, but apparently there are more important things to talk about, like how "honored" Reagan's mortician is that he got to do the embalming job on Ol' Dutch (yukkk...)

But I knew it when the so-called "energy crisis" was going on, and the usual suspects started to blather about how it was the fault of the "environmentalists" and how we just "needed more power plants". Bull. The same goons who wrote the 1996 Energy Deregulation Bill.. the one that Pete Wilson signed.. were the folks who profited from the very game they set up. Now, to the misguided folks here who say "f*ck california"... Um, excuse me- but Al Gore won in this state by over a million votes. George Bush is almost certainly going to get his butt creamed here again, even worse this time. Ahem. We are not responsible for the nightmare in this country, and if you look at the record, we usually vote pretty well, thank-you-very-much. I was totally appalled that the Recall succeeded, and I think it was a total setup and another case of the GOP overturning an election they didn't like, but I have to say that Gray Davis didn't do himself any favors by being such a weenie, pissing off the left, and for five years basically fellating the prison guard's union. There weren't too many folks in the Dem. Base that were very enthusiastic about sticking up for the dude.

Anyway, I am waiting for the outrage, or even a little connectiong of the dots by the public (I've given up on the media), i.e. Bush<--->Cheney<--->Ken Lay<--->Enron<--->Arnold<--->California<--->Recall.

[VOX]

28. And Democrat Gray Davis was made the sacrificial lamb...

The power crisis was a cornerstone of the right-wing led (and financed) 2003 "recall effort" (read "power grab") in CA.

Dick Cheney lied like a lowdown dog on this issue. And as usual, our worst suspicions have been confirmed.

Note that the following is from 2003:
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0817-07.htm
<snip>
Published on Sunday, August 17, 2003 by CommonDreams.org
A couple of weeks before Lay met with Schwarzenegger in May 2001, the PBS news program “Frontline” interviewed Vice President Dick Cheney, whom Lay met with privately a month earlier. Cheney was asked by a correspondent from Frontline whether energy companies were acting like a cartel and using manipulative tactics to cause electricity prices to spike in California.

“No,” Cheney said during the Frontline interview. “The problem you had in California was caused by a combination of things--an unwise regulatory scheme, because they didn't really deregulate. Now they’re trapped from unwise regulatory schemes, plus not having addressed the supply side of the issue. They've obviously created major problems for themselves and bankrupted PG&E in the process.”
<snip>

[Joanne98]

31. Use the tapes to go after Ah-nold

He was at a secret meeting with Ken Lay. The California left needs to start a recall. Don't advertise it just quietly start taking signatures. The shit is going to fall on Ah-nold just like Bush. He's a Bush gang member. What's San Francisco's problem? They only need 2 million sigs? Go for it.

[ibegurpard]

32. how could any Californian vote for BUSH? How about their own

fucking Governor?! He's the one that settled the lawsuit against Enron. He needs to go DOWN over this.

[DaveSZ]

36. Reagan was the prototype for the corporations

The corporations saw how successful Reagan was as their puppet front man, and so they've continued this strategy with Ahnult and *.

They see how gullible the American people are when voting as long as they put a guy out there with charisma.

Bring back TR I say!

http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/tr26.html

Oh what I wouldn't give to have a real trust-busting environmentalist about now!

At least Kerry is an environmentalist, but perhaps if we put enough pressure on him, we can get him to do some slicing and dicing as well.


The worst thing would be if Kerry were another corporate whore like Clinton, but let's hope that's not the case.

[Robin Hood]

34. Bush Co. was behind the downfall of California.

It is obvious from these quotes that Enron was under instruction from ken Lay/Jeffrey Skilling via Bush Co. to kill Clinton/Gore's budding Tech economy.

This is outrageous. This goes all the way to the White House.

[DaveSZ]

37. Check this out too:

I'm sure you'll be as outraged as with the California incident:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1762063

[Jose Diablo]

40. Why are gasoline prices so high?

It's outragous what Enron did.

Keep your eye on the ball though. Where are these energy traders today?

Could they now be trading oil? Laughing about screwing America?

[Moderator]

42. Taverner

Per DU copyright rules
please post only four
paragraphs from the
news source.

Thank you.

DU Moderator