Kenneth Lay had a massive heart attack yesterday day and died.
North Korea finally launched some test missiles. The one we were most worried about failed early in flight. The Japanese are a little ticked off to have missiles lobbed in their general direction.
In Gaza, the Palestinians finally got one of their rockets to hit its target. Still, no one was harmed.
We continue to play with fire by launching space shuttles without having solved the protective foam problem. I hope this shuttle comes home safely, but I think the program should be shut down.
Hillary Clinton says Lamont is her man if he wins the primary. Sorry Joe.
Jesus General reports on a pogrom in Delaware. How did I not hear until now that Madalyn Murray O’Hair’s body was found dismembered. I thought she was on the lam. Anyway.
Atrios and Christy Hardin Smith will be on the radio at 11:40 AM (EST).
Susie says, about Lieberman:
It’s like the Seinfeld episode where a fire breaks out at a children’s birthday party and George manages to push his way out ahead of everybody else. It’s got the same kind of desperate self-justification at its core.
That seems about right. But, on another matter, are Democrats doomed to lose elections because we have scruples? Seems so.
Captain Future thinks about poverty, riches and happiness.
And world o’ crap tackles a hot topic. Is Lois Lane a slut? I haven’t seen the movie, so I can’t tell you.
what’s on your blogdar?
Re: Ken Lay. I guess he wasn’t heartless after all.
Seriously, I offer my condolences to his family and to any one else who loved him. For them this is an awful conculsion to what must have been a horrible chapter in their lives.
It won’t be the easiest eulogy to write and it will be interesting to see who shows up at his funeral/memorial.
I’m sorry about Ken Lay – always have been, but I don’t believe this story.
Don’t believe he’s dead? Don’t believe it was a heart attack? What is it you don’t believe?
meant, but I certainly don’t believe that Mr. Lay died of a heart attack.
No, of course I don’t have any “proof”, other than the man was about to go to prison for the rest of his life, and the government was beginning the process to take all his property.
No, no “proof”, just rather remarkable timing.
If he pulls off this one last scam, maybe his wife will get an insurance settlement, if the government doesn’t take that, too.
Okay. The timing of this is incredible. I would think it is not inconceivable that Lay had a heart attack. Even as evil as his actions were, I can’t believe he wasn’t under a lot of stress.
I will admit though, that I briefly wondered if his death was self-induced or if someone wanted him out of the way. Absent any proof, I dismissed those ideas.
He moved to Switzerland to live on that “special” estate with Elvis, JFK, Bobby, and MLK!
I think Jim Morrison is there too!
And I thought this thread would focus on Lois Lane’s virtue, or lack thereof. Silly me.
That word, slut, has always bugged me. It’s nasty. It’s a rotten word. I remember asking my Dad about sluts once, when I was 12, because a bunch of kids at my bus stop had called another kid’s Mom a slut. I asked him why anyone would call another person a slut. He said that anyone who would do that was just jealous because that person was more free and having more fun than they were. I thought it was a good answer. i still think it’s a good answer that explains much about how some people try to force their values onto others. And in the case of women, and gays too, it’s all about shaming and labeling as a way to keep them as a lower class. As servants to men. Dad’s answer wasn’t all that articulate, but it was right on the money.
Thanks super for your post here on the word slut..I feel the same way about the word(and of course only women can be sluts I guess). I’ve never used it and never will(the exception being in applying it to my ex-husband). I’ve gotten to a point in my thinking that if someone- a single man or women wants to sleep with someone different every night…so what that’s their business and doesn’t have to be a bad thing for them nor is it automatically going to make them a bad person.
Sorry Boo – I just know that if I had Ken Lay’s fortune and were facing spending the rest of my life in prison, I’d be calling in an awful lot of debts. I haven’t read anything to convince me that he is dead. Not gonna be distracted by speculation about anybody’s sluttishness.
Now the sudden departure of our VP wouldn’t be a surprise – he’s been building us up to it.
You always knew I was a tin-foil dame, right?
Well for what’s it worth, she is kinda hot. I think she’s just been living life large.
I wonder how they’d all feel about their new estate-mate.
Jimi?
I think Kenny Boy will be going to a different estate.
The timing of Lay’s death is incredible, but absent proof I don’t see any point in speculating that he killed himself or was the subject of foul play. I think it’s entirely possible that the knowledge that he would serve time in prison was enough stress to cause a heart attack, especially if he was depressed and/or had stopped taking care of his health.
I’m very happy that he didn’t die before the trial was finished and the conviction was obtained.
but I believe I’ve stated — as Kahli above has admitted — what seems to be crossing many people’s minds at the moment.
Mr. Lay was a royal scam artist, so “remarkable timing” may lead many to believe that one more scam is in the offing.
I’m not to the point of being suspicious without some evidence of foul play, but it is convenient that someone who was deeply involved in Texas campaign financing (which seems to have been extremely corrupt) has died without giving away any of his secrets. I don’t think he was the type of person to blab anyway, but we’ll never know now.
I would bet everything I own that Lay had knowledge of numerous ethical violations involving a host of Republican politicians, and any knowledge he had has probably died with him.
“Let’s just call it karma.”
I’m not sorry for Ken Lay. Nor am I sorry for his wife. I am sorry for the hundreds, if not thousands of his former employees who’s life savings he stole so that he and his wife could live an opulent lifestyle. I think Enron’s manipulation of the California energy crises had something to do with Gray Davis being recalled and having another Hollywood republican placed in the governor’s mansion.
And I’m also sceptical about his death, or how he died. Before they announced the cause this morning, the first thought I had was that he commited suicide.
I saw Superman, liked it a bunch. Lois, not a slut. I was very happy to see Jimmy Olsen using Nikon gear too 🙂
You want to talk about Ken Lay?
Who was probably just a front man in the whole scam?
George W.
Junior.
“Ah wuz SO surprised!!!”
W. faces the same sort of fate, eventually. One way or another. When the BIG scam for which he fronts takes its dive. It’s inevitable, y’know…they always do eventually. Ponzi only goes so far, and no further. Not ever in history.
Yup.
“Ah wuz SO surprised!!!”
Plonk.
AG
P.S. Or…and all the tinfoil in the WORLD couldn’t cover THIS Rigorous Intuition-style idea…as a functionary of the alien forces (From other galaxies? Other dimensions? What’s the difference?) that are literally hell-bent on conquering this planet, his work was done and he was called back to the MotherShip for some well deserved R + R.
Yup.
That too.
Rest In Peace, Ken Lay.
We hardly knew ye.
For REAL.
As I posted elsewhere on this fine blog:
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Hillary…the REAL news here today.
Political parsing.
Dem division.
The Great Centrist moves away from Lieberman. On subtle little cat feet. Because he is now a loser. And she is NEVER a loser.
It has been said that God lives in the details?
Well, winning lives in the details, too.
She’s good at her game.
Always a half step ahead. And half steps win races.
Clinton Draws Line on Backing Lieberman
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton Says Sen. Joseph Lieberman on Own if He Loses Party Primary
By MARC HUMBERT
The Associated Press
ALBANY, N.Y. – Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a longtime supporter of Sen. Joseph Lieberman, said Tuesday she will not back the Connecticut Democrat’s bid for re-election if he loses their party’s primary.
“I’ve known Joe Lieberman for more than thirty years. I have been pleased to support him in his campaign for re-election, and hope that he is our party’s nominee,” the former first lady said in a statement issued by aides.
“But I want to be clear that I will support the nominee chosen by Connecticut Democrats in their primary,” the New York Democrat added. “I believe in the Democratic Party, and I believe we must honor the decisions made by Democratic primary voters.”
There was no immediate comment from Lieberman.
Facing a stronger-than-expected Democratic primary challenge from millionaire businessman Ned Lamont and sagging poll numbers because of his support of the Iraq war, Lieberman said Monday he’ll collect signatures to assure an independent ballot spot for the November election if he loses the Aug. 8 primary.
The move has complicated life for Lieberman’s fellow Senate Democrats, including Clinton, who has been under attack from some Democrats for her own vote to authorize the Iraq war and her continuing refusal to back a specific timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops despite her criticism of President Bush’s handling of the conflict.
“The challenges before us in 2006 call for a strong, united party, in which we all support and work for the candidates who are selected in the Democratic process,” Clinton said in her statement of Tuesday.
Democrats hoping to win back the Senate have been looking to win seats in states such as Pennsylvania, Montana, Missouri, Virginia and Tennessee, and Lieberman’s decision to begin collecting the 7,500 signatures needed to assure a separate spot on the November ballot could complicate things.
Both Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said they are backing Lieberman in the primary.
“We aren’t going to speculate about what happens next because that would undermine our candidate,” said DSCC spokesman Phil Singer.
“There was no immediate comment from Lieberman.”
Does the corpse comment when yet another nail is driven into its coffin?
There was no immediate comment from Reid and Schumer, either. Because Hillary stole a march on them.
She is doing the Pontius Pilate on Reid. Distancing herself while not taking responsibility for his demise.
She’s good. You have to give her credit for that. She is VERY good.
PERFECTLY done.
“YO YO, Joe.”
“Y’on y’own.”
I sometimes think that I am witnessing the equal of FDR politically, here. She is JUST as adept as he was at getting elected without tipping the social and tactical agenda behind the political hand.
We shall see.
You know…LIKE FDR she too stands a chance of having been for all intents and purposes President of the United States for four terms as well.
1992-2000, 2008-2016.
We shall see…
Purely as a fan of the game…the political game…she deserves her props, as far as I am concerned.
That “reality” show? Survivor? It’s got NOTHING on her.
Later…
AG
This just HAS to be savored:
In Washington, White House spokesman Tony Snow said he had not spoken to Bush about Lay’s death, but distanced the president from the former Enron chief who was once a major contributor to the Bushes’ political campaigns.
“The president has described Ken Lay as an acquaintance, and many of the president’s acquaintances have passed on during his time in office,” Snow told reporters.
It does not get any better than that.
“… many of the president’s acquaintances have passed on during his time in office.”
Man…you can say THAT again.
And a lot of his non-acquaintances, too.
Many, MANY of them quite unexpectedly.
Deep, this country.
VERY deep.
AG