"...most of all, we believe that God, in fact, is in control, and indeed He does work all things for good for those who love the Lord. And we love our Lord, and ultimately all of these things will work for good." Ken Lay on the steps outside the courthouse where he was convicted.
Boy, if that wasn't sick enough, I heard president Bush say this week, after Lay's unexpected death, that he hopes Lay found Jesus! Wow! With Christians like Lay and Bush, who the hell needs religion?
Well, Lay may be seeking like hell to find Jesus, but in my heaven the Lord wouldn't have shit to do with Lay.
That aside, my immediate reaction to the news of Ken Lay's death was, "Shit!" We all know the littany of wrongs committed: of Californians from whom Lay bilked billions in Enron's phony energy crunch scheme , to the millions in compensation and stock sales he reaped as his 4,000 employees lost their jobs and many their life savings shortly after he urged them to buy more Enron stock while dumping his.
Then there were the millions of stockholders and pension funds that saw the value of Enron stock go from $90.75 a share to $.25 in a little over a year's time. And now, in his death, as in his life, Lay has won another one. He's succeeded in screwing us! Again!!
That's because Lay escaped without serving a day in prison which he so richly deserved to experience. I was really looking forward to Lay living out his last 15-20 years behind bars. But maybe, in the neo-conartist's heaven, Lay and Jesus are hitting the links, hot-tubbin' it after 18 holes, sipping cool margaritas and plotting. Their idea of god seems to condone screwing the little people, be it with worthless stocks or bunker busters. Why hell, it's even commendable!
But if I was feeling badly, others were feeling worse at the news of Lay's leaving. As Frank Ahrens suggested in the Washington Post, other theories were circulating, to wit:
* He killed himself because he couldn't face prison.
* He was killed by someone (from disgruntled former Enron shareholders to anyone else you could think of).
* He faked his death and he's sipping mojitos in Buenos Aires.
My disappointment at his death before he ever got to hear the clanking of the bar doors behind him was bad enough, but here were some folks saying he took the easy way out by offing himself!
And then there's the stories that Lay's death may save him having to repay the $43.5 millions the government assessed him as a result of his conviction. His estate will likely now retain that tidy sum. Could it be, the bastard plotted his demise to save paying those millions?
Or worst of all, could Lay, as Ahrens' article suggests, be in Argentina sipping mojitos? Talk about the ultimate slap in the face. To assuage our fears of this worst of all possibilities, let's hope before it's forever sealed, someone checks inside the coffin.
4 comments:
yeah, it is a little hard to believe either that he died so quickly of a massive coronary OR any of the conspiracy theories. First, a man of his wealth & power would have been diagnosed & under treatment for any heart condition by the best docs, so a surprise coronary should not have been a surprise. He would have gotten those suspicious arteries unblocked or bypassed yrs ago.
If he got the minimum 10-yr sentence (assuming it held up on appeal), that means what, 5 or 6 before release? So I don't buy suicide to avoid prison even at age 64, EXCEPT if he had been diagnosed with imminent heart failure (let's see his health record) which was untreatable with either meds or surgery (unlikely) AND he felt it better for his estate to use his life insurance proceeds than deplete their assets to pay his debt. Assuming suicide non-coverage, he would've then gone the make-it-look-like-a-natural-death route (like exotic south american drugs to fool a quickie autopsy). Not too hard to imagine, but depends on so many "ifs" & other people being involved.
Now the option of being killed by someone else has appeal & a small sense of justice, but I have to believe that would be such BIG news, it would get some coverage. I don't want to go all vince foster with ken lay. Same for faking his death ... surely a medical examiner would be verifying that is in fact his dead body in the casket. Won't the feds will be watching the family for a long time for any untoward communications, esp now they've made such spying a priority? Or pics of a Lay-like lowlife whooping it up down in Mengele territory -- nah, that's too juicy to hope for.
So, in the end, I come around to to feeling he was just another rich shithead who managed to make his fortune while destroying many other people's lives & fortunes, and then escaped an unpleasant few yrs by instantly & painlessly stepping into eternity. Life ain't fair, as any smartest guy in the room would appreciate. D.K.
What does it matter? It's not like (if he really is dead, which I almost doubt) he's been freed from anything. Mr. Ken Lay will get his own in his next life or soon thereafter. Death doesn't really matter very much when one comes to believe in reincarnation, because by Buddhist standards, each person is reborn in 49 days or less, depending on wether they find the correct situation to be born into.
nina, any ideas what he might return as? Hmmm, maybe an intestinal parasite whose whole existence involves endless blind cloacal attachment & excreta. former enron victims would probably have more graphic ideas. D.K.
A friend of mine sent me an email on why Sinatra went to Harry Cohn's funeral -- "to make sure the SOB was dead".
I'd like to see Lay's corpse myself, for the same reason!
My money says the vile bastid is slurping down margaritas by some distant seashore, papasita. A new twist on the 'dissapeared'.
Remember, folks, sometimes when you are paranoid, it's valid; and if it's valid, that ain't paranoia!
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