Further pressed, Rove claimed that it was a paperwork issue, and that he had applied at the federal Office of Government Ethics for the "certificate of divestiture" needed to divest from his holdings. But when asked, an ethics office spokesman said Rove hadn't submitted the request for such a document, and that if he would, it would only take only a few days to process. Just in case anyone smelled something here, the White House's Anne Womack quickly swept it under the rug. "In the meantime," she claimed, "Rove said he's been skipping discussions that could have a direct impact on his stocks. He told me, 'There have been conversations I just walked away from.'"

The bare falsity of this statement is proved by the White House's own statement twenty-one days later. On Friday, 29 June, the White House admitted that Rove "participated in meetings on the administration's energy policy while he owned stock in energy companies such as Texas-based Enron Corp," according to a bulletin from ABCNews. This time, White House lawyer Alberto Gonzales claimed that the meetings were general enough to prevent a crossing of the conflict-of-interest lines clearly spelled out in the Federal Code. Yet the White House still refuses to release the attendance lists of their Energy Task Force lists. What are they hiding?

In closing, I'm reminded of the words of Jim Hatfield, a friend of this reporter, who wrote one of the best, most balanced books on young Bush, but was vilified through the cagey destructive tactics of Karl Rove and the hypnosis of a compliant Bush-friendly media. Before Jim took his own life this past July, he gave an interview to the lefty website Buzzflash.com.

With his trademark, smart-aleck irony, Jim commended Bush thusly: "He made a campaign promise 'to do for America what I have done for Texas.' And he sure as hell is trying his best to honor that pledge with tax breaks for the rich that will eventually consume the surplus, turn the country into a toxic waste dump, push a conservative agenda through the legislature, and screw the poor and middle class."

The Conclusion

Some day, Enron executives and the entire ruling class will have to face justice. But that day is not today. We hope that the U.S. Senate will deliver justice, but 71% of this same Senate has received Enron money in the past. No, the only way we're going to see justice in this country is after we have a workers revolution. We need to use everything we have--our politics, our history, and our art--to rip the pigs from power and create a just world. Sander Hicks is founder of Soft Skull Press and plays in White Collar Crime. Here is an excerpt from the recent interview in www.ActionAttackHelicopiter.com:"I think this country needs a revolution more than it needs a better president. The entire system has to be dismantled from top to bottom and a new political system needs to be put in its place. I'm a Marxist, so I believe that economics impact every aspect of society. The core values of society are based on economic values. So, to really dismantle the state, you have to create a whole new economic ethos or core principle. I voted for Nader, but I don't think Nader would even begin to be the solution that we need. It's a sad state of affairs when reform doesn't even work. Even today at dinner with Aunt Phyllis I had a moment of clarity because she's a big admirer of McCain even though she's more of a Democrat and I talked to her about Karl Rove and how he spread the rumors of McCain's temper after McCain won New Hampshire. Rove was able to scuttle his campaign through outspending him and also spreading rumors about his supposed temper that comes from being locked up in Vietnam. . . . I was telling Aunt Phyllis that it's a sad state of affairs when the system cannot reform itself. When you have a charismatic leader come out and say that we need campaign finance reform and this guy is not necessarily a left-wing political thinker . . . [but] he sees that the system is oligarchic and corrupt and not fair. It's not fair when someone can't run on the strength of their ideas, but they also need a huge chunk of capital. I said that if the system can't reform itself, then we need new methods. We need direct action, general strike and we need revolution. And that means militant revolution."