Failing is legal; lying isn’t
Enron’s downfall
Regarding “20 years ago, fraud destroyed Enron and ruined lives. But Houston survived — and thrived.” (Dec. 1): The article on Enron was interesting and fair, but it may lead the reader to believe that Enron failed as a result of fraud.
Certainly there was fraud and phony accounting involved, but that was part of a cover-up rather than the cause. The Chronicle’s headline, “Lives were upended by Enron’s collapse,” is certainly accurate, but the Enron leaders were not convicted of upending lives or of causing the collapse.
They were convicted, essentially, of lying about the condition of the company. Yes, Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling caused Enron to fail by undertaking a number of bad projects. But mismanagement is not a crime and that is not what they were convicted of. If Andrew Fastow had presented Enron’s financial statements in accord with traditional accounting standards, and Lay and Skilling had accurately reported the condition of the firm, Enron would still not be here today.
It would have failed earlier than it actually did, and the losses would be distributed differently (those who bought Enron stock in its last years would have escaped loss), but the losses would have been large.
Paul Horvitz emeritus professor of finance, University of Houston
Abortion debate
Regarding “Editorial: Roe v. Wade isn't all 'pro-choice' or all 'pro-life.' That's why the Supreme Court should keep it.” (Dec. 2): During Wednesday’s oral arguments in the Mississippi abortion case, Justice Brett Kavanaugh questioned why the Supreme Court should not be “neutral” on the issue of reproductive choice and leave the decision to the state legislatures, as “there will be different answers in Alabama and California … (as) the people in those states might value those issues somewhat differently.”
American history provides a damning answer to that question, as it was the same specious argument that was behind 80 years of Jim Crow laws across the South. If the Constitution’s guarantee of “liberty” is to have any meaning, it surely must demand that the states’ legislative elites (be they Southern whites or conservative men) be prohibited from stripping freedom and the right of personal bodily autonomy from their fellow citizens.
Sherri Taxman, Bellaire
COVID and politics
Regarding “Unlike its hosts, COVID knows what it’s doing,” (Dec. 2): Kathleen Parker’s column was a welcome antidote to the front-page article: “Roy leads shutdown push over vaccine mandate.” Reading about Rep. Chip Roy’s and Sen. Ted Cruz’s latest efforts to oppose President Joe Biden’s mandate to require federal contractors’ employees to get vaccinated or regularly tested made me wonder why such insanity still goes on in light of another variant of the virus threatening the public health and our economy.
These two representatives of the people persist in exaggerating the threat the mandate has on personal freedom while they ignore personal responsibility. Parker on the other hand recognizes the reality we face in a world under siege by a virus that seeks out unvaccinated and under vaccinated populations.
While Roy and Cruz falsely elevate a commonsense directive to get vaccinated or regularly tested to a major threat to our freedom, Parker welcomes the limiting of travel to slow down spread of omicron as a necessary act to protect us from those who would jeopardize the health and welfare of others.
Alice Lively, Kingwood
Once again, the 40-year-long Republican strategy of seeking political gain by making an enemy of the American government rears its ugly head.
This strategy suggests that Americans should disregard any policy, law or suggestion emanating from Washington since it a priori interferes with personal freedom.
What if Americans had always accepted this antisocial view of public policy? Refusal to cooperate in fighting deadly diseases would mean that polio and smallpox would still be ravaging the nation and the world.
On Jan. 6, 40 years of sedition against the U.S. government became treason when a violent anti-government mob attempted to take over Congress, which was in session to routinely affirm Joe Biden’s 7 million vote victory over Donald Trump.
Clearly something must be done or the “nation” is doomed to disintegrate into 50 bickering countries, each upholding its own views of rights and economic policy.
I suggest that the American government pass a federal law requiring everyone who can physically do so to inhale and exhale regularly.
Only when the sociopaths proclaim their “personal freedom” and refuse to breathe will we be able to reclaim an America where people work together in good faith.
Michael Douglas Gilbert, Houston
Clarification: An editorial published Wednesday chiding NASA Administrator Bill Nelson for appearing to shrug off a Russian anti-satellite missile test after he talked with his Russian counterpart should have noted that Nelson strongly condemned Russia’s actions before and after the call and urged nations to work together to prevent future incidents.