This just in:
HOUSTON -- Former Enron Corp. chairman and founder Ken Lay died of a massive heart attack early Wednesday, KPRC Local 2 reported.Lay, 64, was admitted to the Aspen Valley Hospital with a massive coronary, sources told KPRC.
Doctors said his heart simply "gave out" and the death was unexpected.
Lay was found guilty on May 25 on six counts of conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud in a case born from one of the biggest business scandals in U.S. history.
The verdict put the blame for the 2001 demise of the high-profile energy trader squarely on its top two executives. It came in the sixth day of deliberations following a trial that lasted nearly four months.
We're waiting for the MSM to pick this up. This is huge.
The Administration of George Walker Bush can best be summed up as the Enron Administration. Ken Lay was George Walker Bush's biggest supporter. The massive debt piled up by the Bush Administration, based on a dustbowl economy which produces nothing but burgers and stock trades mimicks the empty dream of Enron.
What does this say about the future of the Bush Administration? Will they try to make a martyr of this convicted felon? Will George Walker Bush try to pardon him post-mortem?
[UPDATE: There are over 700 articles posted about Lay's death as of now. Check out Google for TONS of coverage.
[UPDATE 2: We have unconfirmed reports that Bush is disavowing Ken Lay. After decades of being Bush's top donor, supporter and sponsor. After being the "Pioneer" of "Pioneers", and giving more to Bush's campaigns than any other, how does Bush repay "Kenny Boy" on the occasion of his passing?
Asked to describe the president's reaction to the death of his "friend" Ken Lay, Tony Snow went to great lengths to correct the reporter asking the question..."...the president has referred to Ken Lay as an ACQUAINTANCE"...
That's Loyalty for ya. More here. We'll have to wait for published transcript of today's White House Press Conference to confirm.
[UPDATE 3: It's official, Tony Snow deems Lay an "acquaintance". Think Progress has the transcript up:
Q: I do not know. I don+óGé¼Gäót know him. The President was his friend, not me.]SNOW: No, the President has described Ken Lay as an acquaintance, and many of the President+óGé¼Gäós acquaintances have passed on during his time in office. Again, I think that it is sort of an interesting question but not answerable by me.
The energy turmoil of 2000-01 prompted Bush to establish a task force charged with developing a long-range plan to meet U.S. energy requirements. With the advice of his close friend and largest campaign contributor, Enron CEO, Ken Lay, Bush picked Vice President Dick Cheney, former Halliburton CEO, to head this group. In 2001 the Task Force formulated the National Energy Policy (NEP), or Cheney Report, bypassing possibilities for energy independence and reduced oil consumption with a declaration of ambitions to establish new sources of oil.The Bush Administration’s struggle to keep secret the workings of Cheney’s Energy Task Force has been ongoing since early in the President’s tenure. The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, requested information in spring of 2001 about which industry executives and lobbyists the Task Force was meeting with in developing the Bush Administration's energy plan. When Cheney refused disclosure, Congress was pressed to sue for the right to examine Task Force records, but lost. Later, amid political pressure building over improprieties regarding Enron’s colossal collapse, Cheney's office released limited information revealing six Task Force meetings with Enron executives.
Enron CEO Kenneth Lay knew he needed high-level help. So he arranged to meet with a man who had headed a corporation with extensive business ties to Enron and who had been a prime recipient of Enron's political largesse. Vice President Dick Cheney cleared his calendar for an April 17 private meeting with Lay regarding what aides described as "energy policy matters" and "the energy crisis in California." At the meeting Lay handed Cheney a memo that read in part: "The administration should reject any attempt to re-regulate wholesale power markets by adopting price caps...."The day after he met with Lay, Cheney gave a rare phone interview to the Los Angeles Times that had one recurrent theme: Price caps were out of the question. Dismissing the strategy as "short-term political relief for the politicians," Cheney bluntly declared, "I don't see that as a possibility."
Remember the refusal of handing over the names at the energy meetings?
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/may2002/enro-m10.shtml
And now Bush wants to be the ENERGY PRESIDENT. What a laugh!
Death is an unavoidable reality of life, not so corruption, cruelty, greed and downright abuse of every principle that makes America Great.
I don't mourn Benedict Arnold, and I'm not about to mourn Ken Lay.
There's no celebration here, but no eulogy either. This man was a convicted felon responsible for destroying thousands of lives. The Bush Administration may be counted upon to work tirelessly to mythologize Ken Lay into a hero of Corporatist politics.
We absolutely must not allow this to happen. We shouldn't celebrate his life, but we damned sure better not let the Bushists celebrate his life.
This, however, crosses a line for me. NGB, eat your heart out.
Let's please have some respectful period of non-attack that at least allows people to digest a death. I felt the same way when Reagan passed away, and some people seemed to want to snipe that very day, either that or bring out their pots and pans to bang like it was New Year's Eve. We do need more respect for one another in this country. That applies to me as much as anyone.
The BBC is all over it, actually. Sad that I heard about it first from them...
I feel for his family.
Just sayin....
(I never used to think this way...before Bush.)
This would take care of two problems:
1) Prison
2) The secrets of Cheney's Energy Task Force go to the "grave" with him.
Uh... that's actually my blog, but the link is in the post. Sorry, ya'll, the fact that I referenced Cynthia McKinney, Ken Lay and Tupac in one post is just too amazing and f-ed to pass up. :)