NPR hourly news Thursday had a snippet from Ken Lay's attorney, basically saying that Mr. Lay founded Enron, nurtured it and watched it grow. He would never do anything underhanded to jeopardize his creation; in fact, he lost millions when it went bankrupt. I couldn't help but think of that statement again when I came across a New Yorker cartoon of a small man in a business suit sitting across a table from an outsized, angry creature--a hybrid of a dragon and Satan himself. The man is protesting defensively: "No, no, I like you. I only meant that we have to make you likable to a jury."
They wouldn't want me on that jury. I don't favor capital punishment, but for a man who ruined the retirement of thousands of ordinary workers, I'd consider it.