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Anyone read "The Informant" or "Rats in the Grain......

Feb 7, 2004 1:05PM PST

a real eye opener when it comes to Big Business, Politics and the "American Way" of Justice....?

Discussion is locked

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Re: Anyone read 'the Informant' or 'Rats in the Grain?'
Feb 7, 2004 1:19PM PST

Hi, DavEx.

Those (the cigarette industry and ADM) are old news now. The new story is Halliburton, the energy companies' rape of California while Bush & co. did nothing, and big pharma. Not coincidentally, all darlings of (and big contributors to) the Republican Party, which they feel makes them immune from government action. Unfortunately, so far they've been right -- but that may change.
I just got a mailing from "the Committee to re-defeat the President." Their motto: "We beat him omce, we can beat him again!"

-- Dave K, Speakeasy Moderator
click here to email semods4@yahoo.com

The opinions expressed above are my own,
and do not necessarily reflect those of CNET!

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They're going to have to beat him more soundly this time ...
Feb 8, 2004 2:43AM PST

If they can't beat him more thoroughly than last time then Bush will still be in the White House.

Personally I think that the SCOTUS ruling re: the Florida recount was wrong. It's a bit much when the conservative justices use the logic of the liberals to defeat a liberal candidate even though they reject the same logic the rest of the time. Despite that, the rhetoric about how Gore beat Bush is getting awfully tiresome.

The whole point to our constitutional system is that there are rules for how we do things and those rules have to be followed. That is the only way we can protect our rights. Under the rules we have established, Bush won. That should be the end of the discussion even for those of us who are skeptical of the appropriateness of the conclusion.

It may be reasonable to debate whether Gore would have won if the ballots had been tallied more accurately, but he didn't win and claims to the contrary are both disingenuous and inflammatory. IMO it is not either reasonable or appropriate to prolong the debate about who 'really won' Florida specifically or the election generally.

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Re: They're going to have to beat him more soundly this time ...
Feb 8, 2004 6:07AM PST

Hi, Dr. Bill.

Well, even if he runs again Nader is likely to be a non-factor this time. And the result is likely to energize a lot of those who dislike Bush and said "what does my vote matter?" The Democratic primaries are setting record numbers in most places...

My biggest problem with how things are working out is that Bush is acting as if he had a mandate (in terms of extreme nominees to all positions in his control), rather than being a minority President. yet the same Republicans who justified blocking Clinton's judicial nominees (more than half) because "he didn't get a majorty of the popular vote" are whining and complaining about the Dems blocking the most extreme nominations (<5%) by a president who didn't even win a plurality of the popular vote. The hypocrisy is mind-boggling!

-- Dave K, Speakeasy Moderator
click here to email semods4@yahoo.com

The opinions expressed above are my own,
and do not necessarily reflect those of CNET!

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No matter who wins this fall
Feb 8, 2004 6:33AM PST

Even if is someone I disapprove, I hope it's a clear win.

I don't particularly demand an overwhelming one, but if there is any question, the losing side (no matter who) is going to gripe for the next 4 years again. Now that there has been one (ok, a recent one) election vote result that was largely questioned, any close election for a decade or more will be endless debated about whether the voting method affected the results, etc.

So no matter who wins, let's hope it's a clear win.

roger

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Book? Magazine? Article? Link? -nt
Feb 7, 2004 1:20PM PST

.

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Book, Rosalie...
Feb 7, 2004 1:46PM PST

It's a book. The basic book seller info is:
"Lieber, James B. Rats in the Grain: The Dirty Tricks and Trials of Archer Daniels Midland. New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2000. 428 pages.
In 1995 Archer Daniels Midland Company, the "Supermarket to the World," had its Decatur, Illinois headquarters raided by 70 FBI agents. ADM was accused of price fixing, and the feds had a mole by the name of Mark Whitacre, who had recorded some conspiratorial meetings between ADM officers and Japanese companies. All the defense had was the best lawyers that ADM's money, and the political connections of CEO Dwayne Andreas, could provide. In earlier years, ADM paid fines on other price fixing charges, but this case was different: Michael (Mick) Andreas, who was expected to succeed his father to the throne, was among those indicted on criminal charges. In 1998 he was convicted and sentenced to 24 months by judge Blanche Manning. Whitacre, who was already in prison for extorting money from ADM, had his sentenced extended. (Once the FBI had the tapes, Whitacre was charged anyway, because by then he seemed unstable and posed a threat to the prosecution.) Dwayne Andreas resigned in 1998 at age 80, and his nephew became CEO.
The author, who practices law in Pittsburgh, spent three years tracking this case and sat through the two-month trial. This book is meticulous in a way that would delight most lawyers. Others, however, may start yearning for a larger social and ethical perspective.
ISBN 1-56858-218-8 ".
Notice the date of 1995? That's why Dave K. doesn't want to go there.

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Re:Book, Rosalie...
Feb 7, 2004 2:16PM PST

and if you really wanted to "pretend" that you knew what the H you were talking about you would have read and mentioned the first book "The Informant" by Kurt Eichenwald..which was a little bit more "revealing" .Then again, you also could have mentioned that Mark Whitacre(after helping the FBI for years)received triple the sentence that the real crooks got and committed suicide in prison 2002...that's what you get for being a rat?? And you have the ......to call Dave K on something?

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And maybe, Dave...
Feb 7, 2004 3:11PM PST

Dave, and maybe if you had mentioned that you were refering to two books, people wouldn't have had to do a Google to try to figure out what you were talking about. BTW, the latter book title gives a Google return that was manageable to get an idea.

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You might like these books...
Feb 8, 2004 6:43AM PST