The United States vs. George W. Bush et al" and government as business?

[question everything]

Yesterday on CSPAN we watched the writer Elizabeth de la Vega talking about her book: "The United States vs. George W. Bush et al"

She was a federal prosecutor and is charting the reasons why Bush, Cheney, Rice and others committed fraud, as we define fraud: claiming a certain knowledge by individuals on whose knowledge we rely to make a decision. She compared them to the Enron case where, at the end, the judge said that Enron was not Ken Lay, was not Jeffrey Skilling, but was of the shareholders. Similarly, the United States is not Bush's or Cheney's but ours.

Her most compelling story is about the tubes used for centrifuge - I think - that were used to convince us that Hussein was getting ready to make nuclear reactors. The tubes, de la Vega said, were not sought in secret, but in public, over the Internet. And they were anodized, the wrong length and the wrong width to be used for making nuclear reactors. There would have been no way to modify them for the reason that we said they were needed.

This morning, my spouses concluded that, as with Enron, we have to hold the leaders of government to the same standards as we hold leaders of business.

Wait, I commented. I remember when Ross Perot ran in 1992. I think that he, too, wanted to run a government like business. Except, in terms of business, we should not "waste" funds on caring for the sick and the poor, the old and the unemployed. These would be considered "bad assets" that no business would fulfill its responsibility for shareholders by holding to them.

This, of course, is the problem with health care being handled by "business." Insurance companies cannot afford to hold on the sick people who drain its cash reserves.

If any one watched or read the book, I will be interested in additional comments.

[lligrd]

1. I Heard Her On The Radio Today

on LA's progressive talk channel with Mario. She was great. I can hardly wait to get the book.

[question everything]

2. She pointed that the administration hinted about Iraq

invasion when they were talking about Afghanistan as the "first stage."

I was thinking about it now, seeking hints for "next stage - Iran."