Monday, May 29, 2006
How to Convict an Enron Fraud Part One Last week was a good one for my friend Andrew Nisbet and the energy market research firm he works for, McCullough Research. Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling were convicted of a variety of charges stemming from driving a culture of fraud to tremendous wealth. Much of the testimony that has put Enron frauds in jail was discovered by the people at McCullough Research. Andrew is a not entirely satisfied, though, because the culture of fraud still exists. There is a list of 58 people who were on the Enron trading floor in Portland, Oregon. After reading their email, diaries, and spreadsheets for the last four years, Andrew is convinced that all of them were engaged in securities fraud. Less than one in five has been successfully prosecuted. Most of those not in jail are still engaged in energy trading. This is part one of an interview with Andrew on the occasion of Lay and Skilling's conviction. Meaningful Distinction: Why aren't the regulators catching these people? Andrew Nisbet: The people who are supposed to regulate it have a vested interest in not admitting that there's a problem. The people who are supposed to catch Enron, and for that matter the big five producers in California, built the system and they have a vested interest right till this day in telling you that the system worked just fine. FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) was in the process of doing what I actually think in a very real extent was a good thing, deregulating the energy markets. They have a vested interest in saying, to the extent that there was a problem it wasn't what we were doing and it certainly has been dealt with it already. One of the reasons I don't have complete confidence that just making things transparent would work is that you have to be motivated to deal with things. MD: Additional checks and balances? AN: During the middle of the California power crisis one of the big five who owned most of the generators in the LA area, suddenly on their EPA reporting forms cut the amount of pollution the produced by a factor of ten. MD: One tenth of the... AN: Suddenly by magic, the amount of pollution those plants were producing dropped....when they running. Not because sometimes they weren't running. We're not talking about the amount of pollution that they produced over average, we're talking about when they were turned on. The amount of pollution... MD: Ten times as clean? AN: Ten times as clean. They didn't change fuel sources. Because they would have had to note that. They put in no new equipment, they would have had to tell us. Just by magic, that happened. Now, you can believe, if you choose that a sudden decision that instead of having the plant manager sign the forms they have to send to the EPA that gives the amount of pollution, having a central official sign all the forms that they sent to the EPA from all the plants decreased the amount of pollution. Or you can believe that magic decreased the pollution. Or possibly the immaculate polluter pole was suddenly used, or something... Or you can believe that they lied. I know which one of those things I believe. When it was pointed out to EPA, who has an immense budget and whose job it is... MD: To find this? AN: Well, I don't know what their job is. You would think, that if you worked at EPA you would care about pollution. But the fact of the matter is that when things like this were pointed out to the people who run the EPA's Acid Rain Database, they remarked, “Oh. Well that does seem odd.” And to the best of my knowledge, no one has even been questioned about this. The people that collect the information, EPA keeps track of hourly production at all of the plants, they don't care. As long as the forms come in...he's a bureaucrat. Forms come in, boxes mainly filled out right. MD: So, they could have no pollution protection, at all, right now and short of having giant gouts of black smoke? AN: No one would give a shit. Nobody. The people who are bureaucrats, care that the paperwork is filled out right. MD: Would you buy green power from Enron or any of the other big five? AN: No, I wouldn't buy green power from anybody. If you're going to buy green power, what you're saying is that somehow electricity comes around in discreet packages. MD: So is there any incentive for the power producers to actually generate honest numbers when reporting about green power sales? AN: None that I can think of. More Soon...
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
How to Catch a Fake Veteran Since there are people out there willing to lie about their military service for personal and political gain, it is the patriotic duty of people who support the troops to find the frauds and ridicule them. Unlike lying about your military service, ridicule is protected speech, even when extreme. To help you find and flush these miscreants, there are a few simple steps you can take. 1. Ask Direct Questions. When were you there? What unit were you with? Who was with you? Where were you at? Why did you take those obviously illegal orders? How many times did this happen? Were the goats consenting adults? These are the sorts of things that imposters give vague and implausible answers to that can be checked afterwards. 2. Record All Answers. If they are speaking in public or posting their comments online, they have no expectation of privacy. When you have them recorded, share the media online so everybody can review their statements, not just the gullible few. It will come back to haunt them in a manner reminiscent of Genghis Khan… 3. Keep Them Talking. The longer they talk the further off the rails they go. Fake veterans make stuff up as they go along, it is central to their pathology. Eventually they will blather something utterly irreconcilable with reality and you can nail them. This part is hard because it involves a delayed gratification in exchange for immediate boredom and tripe. Try to bear up like a soldier, because they usually aren't. 4. Use Research Tools. The Internet is a wonderful thing if you want to expose fraud. Calculators and spreadsheets help a lot, too. Frauds rarely do the math. Calendars with timelines are exceptionally helpful, but relatively rare online. Compare uniform regulations with photos provided by the frauds. Nobody in the US armed forces is authorized to wear leopard-skin accessories, for instance. 5. Learn About the Military. The best way to discover a fraud is to know more about the subject than they do. The best way to do this is to spend some time in military service, but if that is not available to you, do some reading. CentCom (Central Command) has an excellent web site, and they are covering many of the most lied about places in the world right now. The US military is currently the most trusted group in the country, and a lot of unscrupulous people are trading on that. Anytime someone identifies themselves as a veteran when speaking publicly, they are borrowing authority from the sweat and blood of a lot of good people, many of whom will never get to speak for themselves again. We owe it to the real veterans to be skeptical of outrageous claims and denounce fraud far and wide. Patrick S Lasswell is a veteran, as was his father and a grandfather before that.
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
How to Avoid Getting Caught as a Fake Veteran Recently a man named Jessie MacBeth was caught lying about his military service in a video where he described various atrocities committed in Iraq. Within one day, every aspect of his claims and public life were examined and found severely wanting. His attempt to discredit the war did a great deal of harm to the credibility of anti-war organizations that embraced his claims. If you want to avoid a similar fate, there are several basic steps you can take to avoid discovery. 1. Do Not Lie About Your Military Service. This step is so basic that many people forget it altogether. The easiest way to avoid discovery of your lies is not to lie. The truth is a much easier story to keep straight than lies and it often has a useful paper trail that you can point to when confronted. 2. Do Your Research. If you must lie about your military service, it will take a lot longer for you to be caught if you take some time and make sure the story holds together. Regrettably, the more detailed and factual your story is, the more likely it is that the people who were there will be contacted and out you for the fink you are. When discovered, you should be ready to disappear, even if you are in Congress. The easiest way to do your research accurately is to spend several years in military service…okay, maybe not the easiest, but certainly the best. 3. Do Not Say Your Unit Activities Were Classified. Especially if you are claiming a war that is more than ten years old, nothing is worse than the old line "I can't tell you, it's a secret." Real veterans grit their teeth the instant that line is told and start their search engines. A certain Republican Congressman from Oregon discovered the hard way how badly this line is received. If you were involved in a special-ops black bag program, you're probably either dead or making six figures still doing it. Either way, nobody who does super-secret stuff talks about it, ever. 4. Do Not Play Dress Up. There are these things called "uniform inspections" that everybody in the military goes through, a lot. In them, the slightest imperfection in uniform appearance is noted and commented upon. This is called "attention to detail" and the military is really big on it. They act like their lives depend on attention to detail, mostly because their lives depend on attention to detail. Showing up in costume may make you feel important, but it makes you look like a fool to real veterans who can spot an imposter from a mile away. Once again, the best way to avoid this faux pas is to spend some quality time in the military, learning by doing. 5. Do Not Slander The US Military. If you are going to lie about the military, do not give veterans, their friends, families, loved ones, and survivors a burning desire to discredit you. Military people have been known to carry grudges for decades after being slandered and libeled. They get really touchy about getting called "baby-killer", "rapist", "murderer", "mercenary", "traitor", and "coward". Actually, they get more than touchy; they become enraged by this kind of thing, especially because it is almost always a lie. Lying like this will tend to get you caught and publicly exposed at Internet speed these days. Veterans and their families will drop everything to shut this kind of slander down. Not just because this is hurtful, but because it saps the morale of those who need it most. Some people, including many who have actual military service, just can't help lying about their service…or at least improving on the truth to make things more interesting. Jessie MacBeth is only the latest to be caught lying about his service to gain attention, he won't be the last. Everybody has access to an Internet search engine if they don't have access to a real veteran, and fake veteran stories just don't hold up they way they used to. If you want a veteran who is opposed to the war speaking at your rally or for your organization, you owe it to your cause to make sure that they are authentic and actually speaking truth when speaking to power. Patrick S Lasswell is a Navy veteran of Operations Southern Watch and Uphold Democracy. He once sailed by Operation Restore Hope and went to the location of Operation Just Cause only seven months after it was over. He very nearly got to go move cargo for Operation Desert Storm and might someday get mobilized for Operation Iraqi Freedom…or not. http://pslasswell.blogspot.com Update: Thanks for the link, Sir! I suppose I should post a permalink to Milblogs, if only so I can find it faster.
Sunday, May 07, 2006
5 Reasons to Join Naval Coastal Warfare 5. People crazy like you are hard to find in other settings. 4. Camouflage is slimming. 3. Recognition for hard work happens...and then they give you more hard work. 2. You go places, get cold and wet, and not mind so much. 1. Where else can you find out that your best accessory is a string of 40mm grenades? 
Monday, May 01, 2006
Why Protests Fail The protest in Portland was pretty large, I'd estimate 10,000-15,000. The overwheming majority were there to gather peacefully. Lack of discipline allowed in some creeps in to what should have been a good thing.  She was on-topic and a helpful image.  They were on-topic but a harmful image.  She was off-topic and deeply offensive.  Somebody was very smart, though. They told supporters to wear white as color of unity. I'm not sure if this was done to deliberately marginalize the black block, but it sure made it easier for the police...  This guy shouting to the police that they were traitors was not doing the immigration rights people any favors.  Other folks were clearly using the demonstration for their own purposes, note the tissue thin attachment to the topic and the offensive fellow traveller from above.  The Wobblies attended and dreamed that someday they could get this good a turnout on their own, or maybe they thought they did...  I caught myself getting angry at the black block twit trying to incite the police, and so I left before I started a problem. About 20 minutes later I saw a riot team leave the reserve area at the Rose Quarter and start heading downtown, so maybe somebody else abandoned restraint. I leave you with this study in contrasts on May Day.
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