If I made that kind of money, I wouldn't even shop at Target, let alone shoplift.
Naturally, many now scurry to discover whatever they can about Mr. Allen. Hmm...a black aide to Jesse Helms...a Dominionist...a fierce opponent of gays...ah yes. This is an interesting fellow. By definition, a Dominionist does not believe in democracy. How can a man with such views achieve the necessary clearance for so august a position?
The item in his resume that intrigues me most, at the moment, is the stint he did at Baker and Botts from 1991 and 1995. That law firm belongs to Bush family consigliere James Baker, the man who helped "arrange" the presidential selection of 2000.
Baker/Botts founding member Robert Jordan is now the ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Not coincidentally, the Saudi royal family hired this firm to defend them against the private suit filed by families of the 9/11 victims. The lawsuit occurred well after Allen left the firm, of course. Still, the royal ties precede 1991. As far back as the 1970s, Baker and Botts worked closely with James R. Bath, the shady character associated with W in his early business ventures -- the man widely believed to have directed Bin Laden family investment capital into Arbusto energy.
Since James Baker is also the senior counsel to the Carlyle Group -- and thus to the Bin Laden family interests in that group -- we can't help but wonder just how much Mr. Allen knows about the milieu that led to 9/11.
In the 1990s, B&B also supplied legal counsel to Enron, as well as to the oil firms which once intended to build a pipeline through Afghanistan.
Another B&B star was James Doty, who was the not-terribly-effective SEC General Counsel probing the Harken Energy insider trading scandal. Remember that one? Recall how W sold his shares at just the right moment? Remember how he had previously received loans to buy Harken stock? Had that bad business received the attention it deserved, W might not be president today.
Of course, Dubya claims he did nothing wrong -- after all, he was cleared by the SEC!
Bottom line: Baker and Botts functions as an arm of the Bush family, and Allen owed his high position to the associations forged during the 1991-1995 period.
Personally, I wish authorities could offer Allen leniency in exchange for some candid talk about the things that truly matter. We may snicker at the image of an affluent fundamentalist Christian in his mid-40s using a high-schooler's gambit to heist a DVD player from Target. But I want to do more than snicker. I want to learn more about what really goes on at the law firm of Baker and Botts.
Note: This aspect of the Claude Allen story deserves attention. Unfortunately, this site attracts a smaller number of visitors during the weekend. Perhaps interested readers will help out by passing this piece along to others...?
Update: When Allen worked for Jesse Helms, the notoriously reactionary senator was a leading member of the ultra-secretive, ultra-radical Council for National Policy, which seeks to overturn our traditional liberal democracy and transform America into a fundamentalist nightmare. Interestingly enough, another black Republican given to far-right theology -- Ken Blackwell, the Ohio Secretary of State who (according to the John Conyers report) broke the law in order to ensure W's election in 2004 -- recently spoke at a meeting of this conspiratorial power group. A post referring to this speech was mysteriously scrubbed from Blackwell's blog.
For more on this matter, see this important Daily Kos diary. From that account, we derive this telling quote:
Alongside figures like LaHaye and leaders of the anti-abortion movement, the nascent CNP also included Joseph Coors, the wealthy beer magnate; Herbert and Nelson Bunker Hunt, two billionaire investors and energy company executives known for their advocacy of right-wing causes, and William Cies, another wealthy businessman.By "outer reaches," the writer presumably means the racist and conspiratorial fringe: The Coors family funded "Aryan" supremacist Roger Pearson, while LaHaye and the Birchers bear primary blame for resurrecting the "Illuminati" myth, which had previously circulated only in neo-Nazi circles.
Interestingly, the Hunts, Cies and LaHaye all were affiliated with the John Birch Society, the conspiracy-obsessed anti-communist group founded in 1959. LaHaye had lectured and conducted training seminars frequently for the Society during the 1960s and '70s a time when the group was known for its campaign against the civil rights movement.
In 1988, writer Russ Bellant noted in his book The Coors Connection . . . that many CNP members have been associated with the outer reaches of the conservative movement.
At a later time, we will discuss the Moon connections to this crowd -- especially to LaHaye and James Dobson, another CNP star.
What on earth attracts Kapo Kenny and Klepto Klaude to such an obnoxious milieu?
4 comments:
Allen really screwed the pooch by selecting Target as his target.
Target is the owner of one of the most advanced crime labs in the country.
From the Washington Post:
In the past few years, the retailer has taken a lead role in teaching government agencies how to fight crime by applying state-of-the-art technology used in its 1,400 stores. Target's effort has touched local, state, federal and international agencies.
Besides running its forensics lab in Minneapolis, Target has helped coordinate national undercover investigations and worked with customs agencies on ways to make sure imported cargo is coming from reputable sources or hasn't been tampered with. It has contributed money for prosecutor positions to combat repeat criminals, provided local police with remote-controlled video surveillance systems, and linked police and business radio systems to beef up neighborhood foot patrols in parts of several major cities. It has given management training to FBI and police leaders, and linked city, county and state databases to keep track of repeat offenders.
Allen seems to be another in a long line of strange characters associated with the Bushes and the radical right. Oh, the stories I'm certain he could tell.
I'm glad you brought this up Joseph, something is definitely fishy here. Bush's comments about Allen, who resigned suddenly just a short time ago, were totally out of place. He said something along the line that he was extremely disappointed and that, if the allegations were true, that Allen had somehow taken a very wrong turn in his life. Compare that initial response to his defending comments on Libby along the lines of "let's wait and see, nothing has been proven, etc."
I think Allen was set up. I think Allen is being punished. I wonder how and why...
BTW, and not that this is related but, Hecht's has a very bad habit of leaving anti-theft tags on their garments after purchase. I've personally had to return something that I didn't try on that still had the anti-theft tag on it. My son and I had great laughs walking in to return this item - I knew full well how bad it looked and told him to stick by me and that if they put me in cuffs, to run like the wind. They did look at me like I was a criminal as if they "knew what I was up to," but what else could I do?
Another time they left the tag on but I didn't want to return it, I just wanted to wear the damn thing and couldn't. But that's another story. Lot's of others have the same stories.
~Miss Persistent
One small point, and one small correction: first, someone must have tipped off the White House that the arrest was coming, giving Allen time to resign. This is itself a scandal -- gaming the judicial system for political benefit. If Bush himself knew of the delay, this alone is an impeachable offense (or would be, in a country governed by laws and not the Bush family).
Second, you write:
"Of course, Dubya claims he did nothing wrong -- after all, he was cleared by the SEC!"
In fact, even his father's SEC didn't clear Dubya, despite the fact that a Bush family retainer was in charge of the investigation. The SEC never actually ruled one way or the other on Dubya, and made a point of saying so, and that Dubya was not in the clear. Dubya was never "exonerated" even by his father's flunky, though he claimed as much several times.
He was also caught telling brazen lies about when and if he made the required filing to the SEC, and changed his story several times.
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