RIP, Kenny-boy and WTF with Rush?
This afternoon, I found out that Kenneth Lay, the founder and chief rat scoundrel of Enron, died. My husband, upon hearing the news, said something to the effect of, "Gee, one more Bush cronie to die conveniently before he could reveal potentially incriminating evidence on our president-select." I'm not big on conspriacy theories, and neither is he, for the most part. What I do find compelling, however, is that most of the "reactions" to Lay's death have been regret that he won't be serving the lengthy jail term which was presumably to follow from his conviction.
For his victims, and I know that there are many, and they have suffered grievous harms, I feel sorrow mixed with some degree of incredulity. I have read enough John Douglas and Ann Rule to be able to say this with conviction: Kenneth Lay was a sociopath, and if he grieved anything while serving out his sentence in some minimum-security "Club Fed," it would have been purely in the "poor, poor, pitiful me" vein. Sociopaths do not grieve their actions as they might have wronged others, they grieve that they have been caught.
I wonder, too, just how much shorter Kenny's dance around his economic house of cards might have been without the support of George "Attaboy, Kenny" Bush and his other highly-placed friends. You can only play Texas hold-em for so long before the current of the river sucks you under and you drown, but I tend to think that Ken had a mighty raft, or even a riverboat, to keep him afloat for much longer than others in a similar situation. (John Rigas, anyone?)
Later, I read on my Yahoo homepage that (ahem) Rush Limbaugh will not be charged for possessing prescription drugs which did not have his name printed clearly on the bottle. Again, I believe that had anyone other than a fat, rich, white, Conservative hate-monger been stopped for a similar offense, they'd be rotting in jail right now. Instead, we seem to get the tittering, "Oh, that Rushie, caught with some little blue pills -- ha ha, ho ho and hee hee -- he's such a little bad boy" slap on the wrist reaction, even though he is in direct violation of the terms of his parole. I'm sure erectile dysfunction is a real and serious concern for many men his age, but the fact that this piggish, prudish, morals-spouting ass was caught with a bottle of stiffie-inducers yet will walk free (to be cock of the walk?) is just begging for comment.
This rant isn't working quite as well on the computer screen as it was sounding in my head, but I'm sure my beloved Nation magazine will do it all justice next week, or the week thereafter. It's just too damned much to stay silent about.
For his victims, and I know that there are many, and they have suffered grievous harms, I feel sorrow mixed with some degree of incredulity. I have read enough John Douglas and Ann Rule to be able to say this with conviction: Kenneth Lay was a sociopath, and if he grieved anything while serving out his sentence in some minimum-security "Club Fed," it would have been purely in the "poor, poor, pitiful me" vein. Sociopaths do not grieve their actions as they might have wronged others, they grieve that they have been caught.
I wonder, too, just how much shorter Kenny's dance around his economic house of cards might have been without the support of George "Attaboy, Kenny" Bush and his other highly-placed friends. You can only play Texas hold-em for so long before the current of the river sucks you under and you drown, but I tend to think that Ken had a mighty raft, or even a riverboat, to keep him afloat for much longer than others in a similar situation. (John Rigas, anyone?)
Later, I read on my Yahoo homepage that (ahem) Rush Limbaugh will not be charged for possessing prescription drugs which did not have his name printed clearly on the bottle. Again, I believe that had anyone other than a fat, rich, white, Conservative hate-monger been stopped for a similar offense, they'd be rotting in jail right now. Instead, we seem to get the tittering, "Oh, that Rushie, caught with some little blue pills -- ha ha, ho ho and hee hee -- he's such a little bad boy" slap on the wrist reaction, even though he is in direct violation of the terms of his parole. I'm sure erectile dysfunction is a real and serious concern for many men his age, but the fact that this piggish, prudish, morals-spouting ass was caught with a bottle of stiffie-inducers yet will walk free (to be cock of the walk?) is just begging for comment.
This rant isn't working quite as well on the computer screen as it was sounding in my head, but I'm sure my beloved Nation magazine will do it all justice next week, or the week thereafter. It's just too damned much to stay silent about.