ken lay

Kenneth Lay, the Pastor's son, George W. Bush benefactor, Bible-carrier into court, corporate thief, died yesterday, evidently from a heart attack or related illness (so sayeth the Atlanta Journal Constitution and USA Today) . Already, conspiracy theories are being spun through this very blogging medium that, no, "Kenny Boy" isn't dead. He faked it and may well be living on an island somewhere far away from the Federal authorities who would otherwise send him to prison. Maybe, so the thinking goes, he paid someone to "represent" him in the funeral (a la JR Ewing in the Dallas remake), allowing an escape to that same island or perhaps even the mountains of Pakistan. On and on the thinking goes, as always generating press for themselves and distracting us from the major issues at hand.
Kenneth Lay, Pastor's Son, was a thief, pure and simple. He enriched himself through the slimiest of means, defrauding thousands of his employees of their life-savings by creating the conditions under which his "house built on (electronic) sand" collapsed. He refused to listen to the all-too-few responsible accountants who saw just how shaky was his sand, instead pursuing Mammon with a "let them eat cable television" mentality. His treasure, as his Scriptures told him, rested in his wallet, bank statements, fradulent balance sheets and his ability to charm politicians (one in particular) through campaign contributions. If the conspiratorial blogging multitudes would concentrate on Lay's behavior, both personal and representative (or, more likely, if the "mainstream media" would report it and ignore the "He's alive!" stuff), maybe some learning and--more important--political, business and economic memory--can arise from Lay's burial plot. The one in the cemetery and the one at Enron Headquarters.