Need Debunking help!

[devilgrrl]

Howdy folks!

The following drivel, which has been floating around the web for awhile and needs to be debunked. Anyone have any info/links handy?

The drivel...
How Enron Worked The President
This is an interesting bit of information that you don't hear much about.
a.. Enron's chairman did meet with the president and the vice president in the Oval Office.
b.. Enron gave $420,000 to the president's party over three years.
c.. It donated $100,000 to the president's inauguration festivities.
d.. The Enron chairman stayed at the White House 11 times.
e.. The corporation had access to the administration at its highest levels and even enlisted the Commerce and State Departments to grease deals for it.
f.. The taxpayer-supported Export-Import Bank subsidized Enron for more than $600 million in just one transaction. Scandalous!!
g.. BUT...the president under whom all this happened WASN'T George W. Bush.
h.. SURPRISE ......... It was Bill Clinton!
Please pass this on so the whole Country will Know. The Media Won't!

[muchacho]

1. heh?

what drival?

btw - your animated gif freaks me out.

[creativelcro]

2. The following is the debunking help you need

[ComerPerro]

3. Consider it debunked

I don't understand the question. What needs debunking?

[devilgrrl]

4. So, I f***ed up

:shrug:

[HootieMcBoob]

5. here you go

snopes. the first place to look whenever you need a good debunking.

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/outrage/enron.htm

[devilgrrl]

6. kick...

:kick:

[procopia]

7. I debunked this one on the Yahoo message bd:

Actually, about the contributions, Snopes said even IF the figures were correct, the amount was far less than those for Republicans. Snopes was sloppy on this one. I had to do the research myself.


>> a. Enron's chairman did meet with the president and the vice-president in the Oval Office.<<
True, but irrelevant
“Global Warming: On August 4, 1997, Ken Lay met with president Clinton, Vice President Gore, and Treasury Secretary Rubin to discuss the U.S. position on the Kyoto conference on global warming. Enron supported agreements that would create an emissions trading system. The United States supported this concept and signed the Kyoto Protocol”
http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/5185

Do you think Clinton might have signed the Kyoto Protocol anyway, without pressure from Lay? I think he might have. Regardless, that’s one for Clinton and 19 for Bush:

“There were at least 19 meetings between White House and Enron officials—including five meetings with Vice President Cheney's energy task force in 2001.“
Richard A. Oppel Jr., "White House Acknowledges More Contacts With Enron," The New York Times, 22 May 2002.

>>b. Enron gave $420,000 to the president's party over three years.<<

This is difficult to disprove since the writer didn’t specify which 3 years. Regardless:

“From 1989 to 2002, Enron and its employees gave $5.95 million in individual, Political Action Committee (PAC) and soft money contributions to federal candidates and parties, 74 percent to Republicans and 26 percent to Democrats. (Source: Center for Responsive Politics) “


>>c. It donated $100,000 to the president's inauguration festivities.<<

False. From 1989 through 2000, Enron’s contributions to Clinton totaled $11,000.
http://www.opensecrets.org/alerts/v6/enron_pres.asp

>>d. The Enron chairman stayed at the White House 11 times.<<

False. (Snopes)

>> e. The corporation had access to the administration at its highest levels and even enlisted the Commerce and State Departments to grease deals for it.<<

Clinton was helpful to Enron on the Dabhol project, as was the Bush administration. However, I doubt if Clinton’s motive was payback for Enron’s $11,000 contribution to him. Rather, Clinton saw benefits from U.S. companies gaining access to business in India.
"India has become one of the few emerging Asian markets where American companies have bounded in ahead of Japanese competitors, with Clinton administration officials regularly leading groups of executives there," reported the New York Times.

>>f. The taxpayer-supported Export-Import Bank subsidized Enron for more than $600 million in just one transaction.<<

False.

"1994-1995: Enron seeks and obtains $635 million in financing, insurance, and loan guarantees from Bank of America, ABN Amro, a group of Indian banks, the U.S. Export-Import bank, and OPIC.

http://www.house.gov/reform/min/pdfs/pdf_inves/pdf_admin_enron_dabhol_fact_sheet .pdf.

[devilgrrl]

8. Thank you!!!!

:-):bounce::-)

[procopia]

9. You're more than welcome

I hate these GOP poopaganda emails :grr:

[Dr Fate]

12. Hit "Reply all" when you send it...

...

[Oilwellian]

10. A couple of things about Enron's deal in India

The Enron thugs created such a diplomatic nightmare in India, they had to enlist the help of Clinton's Dept of Commerce to try and help smooth over the tensions. Lay signed the deal with India to build the plant BEFORE Clinton even entered office.

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2001/123001a.html

Also, loans from OPIC are NOT backed by taxpayer money as the flying monkeys claim. OPIC's website claims the following:

"Because OPIC charges market-based fees for its products, it operates on a self-sustaining basis at no net cost to taxpayers."

http://www.opic.gov/

[ComerPerro]

11. Ken Lay??? Who the fuck is that?

Jesus, I have seen this shit before, and as people here have already mentioned, it is debunked on snopes. I suggest you copy and paste the snopes rebuttal into an email, reply all, and tell whoever sent this load of crap to you to either start thinking for themselves and stop believe everything they read in an email, or to shut the fuck up and not waste your time anymore.

And, besides, if these assholes have so much rage about Ken Lay and Enron, why aren't they upset that Chimpy is protecting him?