Tim Allen had this to say about Martha Stewart:
“Boy, I feel safer now that she’s behind bars. O.J. Simpson & Kobe Bryant
are walking around; Osama Bin Laden too, but they take the one woman in America willing to cook and clean and work in the yard and haul her ass to jail.”
Whew! I feel better already! 
HeySue!
Yes, I must say that I feel safe and secure as well.
This is an off-topic that deserves a rant, but in the Christmas spirit, I’ll pass, almost.
I will add that the most of the senior executives of Enron and Worldcom are enjoying the holidays at home too, while the thousands of employees and investors they robbed are worrying about how to save their homes, pay their bills etc. It is not a coincidence that the Enron folks were among the largest contributors to the Bush team in 2000.
Martha will do her time and come back, and help folks decorate for the next Christmas. She’ll be okay and her company will proposer.
The whole Enron thing makes me retch with anger. It’s such an obvious case of people buying their way out of trouble I can’t believe it has been allowed.
“Money doesn’t talk,it swears…”
Bob Dylan.
Slan,
D.
… and yet, we keep electing the fools who make it possible… (that’s the blanket “we”, not the individual “we”, as I know many of us make it a point to vote against the current power structure)… why do we so enjoy being lied to and manipulated that even when we know that’s what’s being done, we smile and go along? I think it’s a drug effect … sigh.
Does anyone have the figures of how much they contributed to the Gore team? People like that are usually in EVERYONE’S pocket and would have gottent he same result whomever was “elected.” That is just how they work. Fun, isn’t it?
That would be interesting to know as well. You are right… they tend to play both sides of any fence and tap all sources to gain and maintain power.
I believe if memory serves me, that although the contributions to the Democrats were sizable, contributions to the GOP was around six times as much.
Someone show me the bill Bush vetoed that would have put the Enron guilty in jail and then I’ll blame the president. Congress makes the laws. Blame the Republican congressmen, not the president.
So, what you’re saying is that the democratic party can be bought more cheaply than the republican party?
Jeeze guys, it was just a little funny! 
HeySue!
Just a little funny.
I don’t have the exact figures at my fingertips, but I saw an interesting figure for the last election cycle (and the one before, though not quite as pronounced): per/contributer donations to the Democratic party were MUCH bigger than to the Republicans - a factor of 5x or 10x as much. The average contribution to the Republicans was well under $1000 - the average contribution to the Democrats was well over that figure.
Don’t really know which party had more overall money - but it’s entirely possible that the Republicans had 6x as many contributors, even if they had less money (though my gut suspicion is that the parties were at rough parity).
But the largest donations, both average and individual (by George Soros) were to the the Democrats.
I’m not sure I trust either party when they’re raising funds. But the available evidence doesn’t point at the Republicans being the main offenders.
C’mon, Sue -
You play in the politico/religio/ethics thread. Surely you know that there is no such thing here as “just a” anything.
Actually, I always found Martha just a little unsettling. Anybody that perfect has to be either an android, a Stepford wife, or a televangelist.
I’ts been going on forever…people buying themselves out of trouble that is.It’s pervasive..reaches into the left and right as well as the centre of society…It’s what happens…it’s the’ power corrupts’ thing.It’s up to the individual to live above it…and get on with their whistle playing! Happy new yeasr. Les. 
I think Martha is a genius, kinda. She’s using her jail term to promote herself and her business. I get the feeling that she’s going to get even more popular after this. “Ohhh the cutie-pie, she went in jail and cooked for the other prisoners, what a sweetie!”. I say “kinda genius” because it doesnt look that hard to manipulate people in her country.
Point. I was just kinda amazed I’d started another political thread!
And as for Martha, I vote for android! 
HeySue!
Naw, if she was an android, she’d be a lot warmer and more human.
I’m voting for “alien” 
I don’t think Bush has ever exercised his veto power. But administration ties to Enron are deep.
raenergy.igc.org/EnronFamilyBush.pdf