West Virginia is an important factor in the Electoral
Collge Math...It has been a blue state, but the
_resident and the _resident's brain covet it, and,
indeed in 2000, they added it to their Expanded
Confederacy, BUT that was before the _resident's
CREDIBILITY, COMPETENCE and CHARACTER were revealed to
be so terribly lacking, that was before the deaths of
550+ US soldiers in a foolish military adventure, that
was before the _resident's TWO tax cuts for the
wealthiest among us turned an extraordinary Federal
surplus into a $520+ billion federal deficit and a
multi-trillion dollar national debt, that was before
Sen. Robert Byrd (D-Constitution) rose again and again
to deliver historic speeches on the Senate floor,
denouncing the _resident's many BETRAYALS of our
common good, that was before Pvt. Jessica Lynch had
the conscience and courage to speak out on the
Pentagon propaganda story of her "rescue," that was
before the Democratic Party nominated a decorated
Kennedy-style Vietnam war hero and political street
fighter to challenge the _resident...West Virginia is
back in play...Here is an important editorial from the
Charleston Gazette, its important because of where it
from and its important because of its
insightfulnesss...
Charleston Gazette (WV): Homeware queen Martha Stewart
has been convicted of using insider knowledge to dump
her ImClone stock in 2001 the day before a major
setback caused the price to plunge — thus buyers who
purchased her shares were cheated. Most Americans
don’t know that President Bush was involved in a
similar situation in 1990. Here’s the story...On June
7, two weeks before Bush sold all his shares, a new
memo from the president warned of a “Harken
International shutdown effective June 30, unless
third-party funding [is] obtained.” Salon.com said the
note discussed plans to lay off 40 employees. It said
the firm had lost $28.5 million in trade credit since
Jan. 1, and $11.8 million more was “in jeopardy.”
According to Salon.com, the insider memo said other
companies that had seen Harken’s annual report “are
nervous.” A week later, on June 15, Harken’s lawyers
warned directors and executives: “If the insiders
presently possess any material non-public information,
a sale of any of their shares could be viewed
critically.” But Bush sold everything a week later. If anyone can explain how the current president’s 1990 stock sale differs materially from Martha Stewart’s 2001 sale, we’d like to hear it.
Cleanse the White House of the Chickenhawk Cabal and its
Corrupt Cronies, Show Up for Democracy in
2004: Defeat Bush (again!)
http://www.wvgazette.com/section/Editorials/200403098
March 10, 2004
Stock-dumping
Unsuspecting buyers hurt
WHEN a corporate insider learns of impending events
that will send a firm’s stock price plummeting — or
soaring — it’s a crime for the insider to cash in on
this private information. If the insider sells shares
just before bad news becomes public, unsuspecting
buyers are stuck with the ensuing losses. If the
insider buys shares before good news is known,
unsuspecting sellers are robbed of gains that were
just around the corner.
Homeware queen Martha Stewart has been convicted of
using insider knowledge to dump her ImClone stock in
2001 the day before a major setback caused the price
to plunge — thus buyers who purchased her shares were
cheated.
Most Americans don’t know that President Bush was
involved in a similar situation in 1990. Here’s the
story:
After graduating from Yale, Bush entered the Texas oil
business, mostly using investment money from his
father’s wealthy Republican backers. The son was
largely a failure. His first firm, Arbusto (Spanish
for bush) Energy Inc., drilled numerous wells, but
lost money. His rich backers wrote much of the loss
off their taxes.
New backers put the younger Bush in command of another
drilling outfit called Spectrum 7, which also lost
money. He was heading for bankruptcy when more GOP
bankrollers in Harken Energy absorbed his firm and
gave him fat holdings. He was made a Harken director
and named to the corporation’s audit committee. Behind
the scenes, calamity was growing inside Harken.
On June 11, 1990, Bush and other members of the audit
committee met with the Harken president and auditors
from Arthur Andersen & Co. Eleven days later, on June
22, Bush sold all 212,140 of his Harken shares for $4
each — reaping $835,307. Although federal law required
Bush to notify the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission of this insider sale immediately, he failed
to do so for eight months.
Eight days after Bush sold his stock, Harken finished
the quarter with $23.2 million losses. The public was
informed on Aug. 20, and the share price fell,
eventually losing three-fourths of its value.
Almost a year later — while the elder Bush was
president — the SEC opened an investigation of the
son. The younger Bush swore that he had no inkling
that Harken was in trouble when he sold his stock. The
SEC said it could find no evidence to contradict the
president’s son. Case closed.
However, various news reporters later found Harken
memos which Bush had received before his sale,
implying that Harken was about to take a fall.
Salon.com reported that the corporation president
warned directors on April 20 that new events
“drastically affect Harken’s current strategic plan
with regard to seeking public funds to reduce our
debt.” His memo said the development “greatly
intensifies our current liquidity problem.”
On June 7, two weeks before Bush sold all his shares,
a new memo from the president warned of a “Harken
International shutdown effective June 30, unless
third-party funding [is] obtained.” Salon.com said the
note discussed plans to lay off 40 employees. It said
the firm had lost $28.5 million in trade credit since
Jan. 1, and $11.8 million more was “in jeopardy.”
According to Salon.com, the insider memo said other
companies that had seen Harken’s annual report “are
nervous.”
A week later, on June 15, Harken’s lawyers warned
directors and executives: “If the insiders presently
possess any material non-public information, a sale of
any of their shares could be viewed critically.” But
Bush sold everything a week later.
If anyone can explain how the current president’s 1990
stock sale differs materially from Martha Stewart’s
2001 sale, we’d like to hear it.