smCOLUMN SEVENTY, APRIL 1, 2002
(Copyright © 2002 The Blacklisted Journalist)
SECTION
FIFTEEN
EMAIL PAGE FIVE
sm
COLUMN
SEVENTY, APRIL 1, 2002
(Copyright © 2002 The Blacklisted Journalist)
PLEASE HELP A NEEDY ENRON EXECUTIVE
Subject:
FW: please look into your hearts......
Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 18:30:50 -0800
From: "Paul McDonald" <paulmcd@bellsouth.net>
To: info@blacklistedjournalist.com
Now
that the holiday season has passed, please look into your heart to help those in
need.
Enron
executives in our very own country are living at or just below the seven-figure
salary level...right here in the land of plenty!
And,
as if that weren't bad enough, they could be deprived of even that as a result
of the bankruptcy proceedings and potential outcome of current SEC and other
investigations.
But
now, you can help! For only $20,835 a month, about $694.50 a day (that's less
than the cost of a large screen projection TV) you can help an Enron executive
remain economically viable during his time of need. This contribution by no
means solves the problem, as it barely covers their per diem, ...but it's a
start!
Almost
$700 may not seem like a lot of money to you, but to an Enron exec it could mean
the difference between a vacation spent sucking ass in DC, golfing in Florida or
a Mediterranean cruise. For you, seven hundred dollars is nothing more than
rent, a car note or mortgage payments.
Your
commitment of less than $700 a day will enable an Enron exec to buy that home
entertainment center, trade in the year-old Lexus for a new Ferrari, or enjoy a
weekend in Rio.
HOW
WILL I KNOW I'M HELPING?
Each
month, you will receive a complete financial report on the exec you sponsor.
Detailed information about his stocks, bonds, 401(k), real estate, and other
investment holdings will be mailed to your home.
You'll
also get information on how he plans to invest his golden parachute.
Imagine
the joy as you watch your executive's portfolio double or triple!
Plus,
upon signing up for this program, you will receive a photo of the exec
(unsigned-for a signed photo, please include an additional $50.00). Put the
photo on your refrigerator to remind you of other peoples' suffering.
HOW
WILL HE KNOW I'M HELPING?
Your
Enron exec will be told that he has a SPECIAL FRIEND who just wants to help in a
time of need.
Although
the exec won't know your name, he will be able to make collect calls to your
home via a special operator just in case additional funds are needed for
unexpected expenses.
YES,
I WANT TO HELP!
I
would like to sponsor an Enron executive.
My
preference is checked below:
[
] Mid-level Manager
[
] Director
[
] Vice President (Higher cost; please specify which department)
[
] President (Even higher cost; please specify which department)
[
] CEO (Contribution: Average Enron janitor monthly salary x 700)
[
] I'll sponsor the Exec most in need. Please select one for me....
Thank you.
* * *
AN APPARENT FAR-LEFT FUNDAMENTALIST WEIGHS IN ON THE PEARL KILLING
Subject:
DANIEL PEARL EULOGY
Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2002 12:19:41 -0500
From: "vanna" malicia@ntrnet.net
To: info@blacklistedjournalist.com
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/feb2002/pear-f23.shtml
The
killing of Daniel Pearl
By
David North
23
February 2002
For
reasons that have nothing to do with jingoism, let alone sympathy for the war
policies of the Bush administration, the murder of reporter Daniel Pearl has
been met not only with revulsion, but also with deep sadness. From the release
of the initial photos that showed Pearl as a captive. With his hands bound and
with an automatic weapon pointed at his head, the young man was seen as a human
being in a desperate situation, held responsible for events over which he had no
control.
Now
comes the news that Daniel Pearl has been killed, and many people, far beyond
the sphere of his family, colleagues and friends, mourn his death.
A
review of Pearl's writings shows that he maintained an objective and
independent attitude toward the events that he covered, and was willing to
present information that challenged the claims of both the US government and
editorialists of the Journal. In 1998 Pearl traveled to the Sudan in the
aftermath of the destruction of the El Shifa Pharmaceutical Industries plant by
US cruise missiles. The Clinton administration had justified the attack on the
grounds that the plant was engaged in the production of chemical weapons [as per
information supplied to the Clinton Adminstration by the Central Ignorance
Agency].
Pearl's investigation called the administration's claims into question.
He
wrote that "links in the chain of evidence outlined by US officials are weaker
than past reports have suggested." Pearl noted that much of the information
used by the administration to justify the attack had been obtained from Sudanese
dissidents, who had their own interests and axes to grind. Another notable
series of articles dealt with allegations of Serbian genocide in Kosovo. While
acknowledging that the Yugoslav forces had done "heinous things," Pearl (in
an article co-authored with Robert Block) wrote that "other allegations of
indiscriminate mass murder, rape camps, crematoriums, mutilation of the dead?
haven't been borne out in the six months since NATO troops entered Kosovo.
Ethnic-Albanian militants, humanitarian organizations, NATO and the news media
fed off each other to give genocide rumors credibility.
Now,
a different picture is emerging. It is highly doubtful that Pearl's killers
were in the least interested in what he wrote or thought. Those who murdered
Pearl demonstrated not only an appalling degree of callousness, but also
political bankruptcy. Even if one were to leave aside all considerations of a
moral and humane character (which is hardly possible in serious politics), the
murder of Pearl does not, in any conceivable way, undermine the war policies of
the Bush administration. The cruel and pointless killing of an individual,
"one who obviously bears no responsibility for the actions of the American
government," serves only to provoke disgust and perpetuate a political
environment that facilitates far more terrible acts of mass violence by the
United States against the people of Central Asia and the Middle East.
The
efforts of the US government and the media to use the death of Pearl for their
own reactionary and militaristic purposes must be resisted and rejected. To
recognize that the murder of Pearl has political causes whose roots go far
deeper than the immediate motives of those who plotted his kidnapping is to
provide neither an excuse nor a justification for terrorism. The terrible truth
is that Pearl's tragic end, however unjust and undeserved, is the consequence
of the policies of American imperialism. When the Wall Street Journal writes in
its eulogy of Pearl that "Danny is no different from the thousands of
Americans who died on September 11," it is saying far more than it intends.
Daniel
Pearl, like the 3,000 innocent people who died in the terrorist attack on the
World Trade Center, is a victim of policies pursued by the United
To
cite one small example of American arrogance and brutality: on the very day that
Pearl's murder was confirmed, US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld admitted
that US troops had mistakenly killed 16 anti-Taliban Afghan fighters, but
refused to apologize. It does not require exceptional political insight to
realize that in the decision to murder Pearl, the desire for revenge was a major
subjective factor. At least in this respect, the outlook of Pearl's killers is
not all that different than that of the most widely read columnists in the
United States. Just one week ago, in a column praising Bush's "axis of
evil? speech, Thomas L. Friedman of the New
'sept.
11 happened because America lost its deterrent capability. We lost it because
for 20 years we never retaliated against, or brought to justice, those who
murdered Americans ... innocent Americans were killed and we did nothing." So
our enemies took us less and less seriously and became more and more
emboldened..."America's enemies smelled weakness all over us, and we paid a
huge price for that."
By
changing only a few words, the Pakistani terrorists could use Friedman's
argument to justify their murder of Pearl: "We have failed to retaliate
against
The thought patterns of the pompous and belligerent American columnist and the Islamic terrorist have far more in common than either imagine. Both think in terms of ethnic, religious and national stereotypes. Both believe in and are mesmerized by violence. And neither imagines for a moment that there exists the possibility of a world liberated from the quagmire of communal strife, based on genuine social equality and solidarity and cleansed of all violence and oppression ##.
* * *
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