Enron Execs Found Guilty

Well, it's over (for now). Lay and Skilling have been found guilty. Now I am wondering how long the appeals are going to drag out and at what point they will actually serve their sentence. I'm curious...why don't people ever take responsibility for what [bad things] they have done and just say "yeah, I did something wrong and screwed a lot of people." Instead, those who blatantly harm others deny all culpability...it's like they have a sense of entitlement that makes them think "as long as it benefits me, there's nothing wrong with it." It's unfortunate.

Did you know that Mr. Lay made a large donation to the University of Missouri around the time the Enron story broke and now he has requested that they return it to him because he needs the money for lawyers? First of all, a donation is unconditional; he gave them the money and they don't have to give it back, and they won't. The other thing I am wondering is if MU will change the name of the endowed chair they set up with the money...I mean, wouldn't it be really weird to be the professor holding the Kenneth L. Lay endowed chair. Does that mean you are a quality professor deserving extinguished tenure, or one who has done everything just to get ahead without regard for ethics? ...just something to think about.

Using Terrorism to Sell Ethanol

Ethanol ads fuel controversy

Couldn't this be considered terrorism? It's inciting unnecessary fear (and racism) to encourage people to buy ethanol. I know what they're trying to say, but they are going about it in all the wrong ways.

Here's what I'm talking about, new billboards in MO:

About the picture: The top portion ("Who would you...") is the controversial ad (the questionmarked outline contains the photo of King Fahd on the actual billboards). The remainder is explanatory info. See the enlarged picture.

From the article linked above:

James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, called the billboards "offensive" and "nothing more than Arab baiting" and asked Marshall to take them down.

...

"The more legitimate target is Exxon Mobil and other major oil companies in America that are making huge windfall profits right now," Zogby said. "Make a case on sound facts and not based on bigotry."

I am incredibly embarrassed that people in my state go about things in such an offensive manner (though not surprised). On the other hand, the economics of the matter indicate that ethanol is certainly not a viable replacement for gasoline, so I guess it's OK if they shoot themselves in the foot...