Sunday, October 26, 2003

There is a great article in the New Yorker this week about how Ken Lay will likely never be convicted for Enron (sorry, it isn't online).  Inside the article is an amazing statement from the judge who presided over the trial of Fastow, Enron's CFO.  It is an amazing indictment of American civilization that a judge with these malformed attitudes ascended to preside over the most important (and complex) case of corporate malfeasance in a century. One of the few African-Americans appointed to the bench by President Reagan, Hoyt had a reputation for eccentricity.  In a 1997 case involving alleged environmental contamination in a largely minority neighborhood, the Judge asserted that physical differences between races were the product of their environment.  "Why do you think Chinese people are short?"  Hoyt told the lawyers in the case.  "Because there is so much damn wind over there they need to be short.  Why are they so tall in Africa?  Because they need to be tall.  It's environmental.  I mean, you don't just jump up and get a banana off a tree if you're only four feet.  If you are seven feet tall and standing in China, then you're going to get blown away when that Siberian wind comes through."    7:42:44 AM    Comment_ Trackback []