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"A Multigenerational Family of Fibbers" - Fmr.
Top Republican Strategist Examines the History of the Bush
Family
Halliburton Hires Bush Family Lawyer To Conduct Internal
Probe Over Nigeria Bribes
The 10 Worst Corporations of 2003
Dem Candidates Debate Iraq Intelligence, Whether Bush Lied
and Voting For War
"A Multigenerational Family of Fibbers"
- Fmr. Top Republican Strategist Examines the History of the
Bush Family
INTRO: We hear a speech by Kevin Phillips, a former top
Republican strategist, who was generally acknowledged as the
Republican party's principal electoral theoretician after
Ronald Reagan's election in 1980. His latest book, "American
Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune and the Politics of Deceit in
the House of Bush" examines how the Bush family has been
consolidating its power for four generations.
An alleged one-year gap in President Bush's Texas Air National
Guard service during the early 70s has once again come to
the mainstream media's attention.
The controversy has been dubbed AWOL-gate and is coming under
increasing scrutiny. But what is not being widely reported
is that AWOL-gate is only the latest in a series of scandals
within the Bush family, such as Iraq-gate, Iran-Contra, that
date back generations.
Well today we take a look at the Bush Dynasty with author
and former top Republican strategist Kevin Phillips.
Kevin Phillips first became well known in 1969 with the publication
of his book "The Emerging Republican Majority" which
Newsweek described as "the political bible of the Nixon
Administration."
After Ronald Reagan's election in 1980, Phillips was generally
acknowledged as the Republican Party's principal electoral
theoretician. In 1982, the Wall Street Journal described him
as "the leading conservative electoral analyst -- the
man who invented the Sun Belt, named the New Right, and prophesied
'The Emerging Republican Majority' in 1969."
He has since become a prolific writer and a critic of the
current state of the Republican Party. Among his books are
"Wealth and Democracy" and "The Politics of
Rich and Poor."
His latest book is "American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune
and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush." It
examines how the Bush family has been consolidating its power
for four generations and how the Bushes have been staging
their ascent to national power since World War I.
He spoke at Berkeley Community Theatre last month along with
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman and comedian and political
commentator Al Franken.
- Kevin Phillips, former top Republican strategist and
author speaking at Berkeley Community Theatre on January
18, 2004.
Halliburton Hires Bush Family Lawyer To Conduct
Internal Probe Over Nigeria Bribes
INTRO: Halliburton hired James Doty of the law firm Baker
Botts to conduct an internal investigation into allegedly
corrupt payments the company made in Nigeria in the late 1990s
when Vice President Dick Cheney was CEO. We speak with Russell
Mokhiber of Corporate Crime reporter about how both the lawyer
and the law firm have close ties to the Bush family and administration.
Halliburton has hired an attorney to conduct an internal
investigation into allegedly corrupt payments the company
made in Nigeria during a period in the late 1990s - when Vice
President Dick Cheney was CEO of the company.
The SEC, the Justice Department, French prosecutors and Nigerian
authorities are all investigating whether Halliburton was
involved in the payment of 180 million dollars in possible
kickbacks to obtain contracts to build a natural gas plant
in Nigeria. Cheney was Halliburton's chief executive at the
time and may face prosecution in France on the grounds of
complicity in the misuse of corporate assets.
It turns out that both the lawyer and the law firm Halliburton
hired to conduct the internal probe have close ties to the
Bush family and administration.
The lawyer's name is James Doty, lead partner in the Washington,
D.C. office of Baker Botts.
Doty has a long history with the Bush administration including
representing Bush Jr. when he bought the Texas Rangers and
acting as general counsel to the Securities and Exchange Commission
under Bush Sr.
His law firm Baker Botts is headed up by none other than
James Baker. Baker is a lawyer-politician who is a former
White House Chief of Staff, Treasury Secretary, Secretary
of State and various other things. He is a trusted friend
of the Bush family and has been called up before in times
of political need. He ran Bush Senior's presidential campaigns
and was President George W Bush's man in Florida during the
recount in 2000.
Halliburton announced earlier this month that it had hired
an outside law firm to conduct an internal investigation into
the brewing scandal, but the company refused to name the law
firm or the lawyer conducting the inquiry.
- Russell Mokhiber, editor of Corporate Crime Reporter who
first broke this story. He joins us on the phone from Washington
DC.
Link: www.corporatecrimereporter.com
The 10 Worst Corporations of 2003
INTRO: Russell Mokhiber of Corporate Crime Reporter and
Robert Weissman of Multinational Monitor sift through all
the corporate schemes, scandals and crimes of 2003 to pick
their top 10 worst corporations of the year.
Russell Mokhiber of Corporate Crime Reporter and Robert Weissman
of Multinational Monitor list in alphabetical order the 10
worst corporations of 2003:
Click here to read full article.
Link: www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17783
Bayer
Boeing
Brighthouse
Clear Channel
Diebold
Halliburton
HealthSouth
Inamed
Merrill Lynch
Safeway
Dem Candidates Debate Iraq Intelligence, Whether
Bush Lied and Voting For War
INTRO: As voters head to the polls in Wisconsin we hear
an excerpt of the five remaining candidates debating each
other in Milwaukee on intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq
invasion, whether President Bush lied to go to war and why
Senators John Kerry, John Edwards and Joseph Lieberman voted
to authorize the invasion.
In campaign news, voters head to the polls today in Wisconsin
in the 17th contest of the Democratic presidential race.
Front-running Senator John Kerry has won 14 of the first
16 contests and a series of polls show him in the lead in
Wisconsin.
Meanwhile, North Carolina Senator John Edwards declared that
he would not quit the race and said he was now looking forward
to what he said would be a two-way contest with Kerry heading
into March.
Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean has vowed yesterday to
continue his campaign beyond Wisconsin saying "Whatever
happens tomorrow, we are going on." This comes after
his national campaign chairman said he plans to shift his
support to Kerry if Dean loses in Wisconsin.
The final two candidates Dennis Kucinich and the Rev. Al
Sharpton have yet to win a primary and are still in the race.
All five candidates were in Milwaukee yesterday for a debate
held at Marquette University and sponsored by the Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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