-Caveat Lector- I just updated http://leviathan.weblogs.com with, among other things GW Bush Cash Linked To Death Hospitals by Ed Vulliamy in New York America's President-elect, George W. Bush, held an investment in a company that leased a chain of psychiatric hospitals where patients died and the conditions were so appalling that many were shut down, The Observer reveals today. The hospital chain - Charter Behavioral Health Systems - was exposed by a CBS television documentary last year after the deaths were reported. CBS had filmed widespread malpractices, acknowledged by government regulators. This led to a criminal investigation of Charter, which continues. What was not revealed was the fact that Charter's hospitals were leased to the company by a property trust, Crescent, in which Bush purchased shares in 1994. The Charter connection leads to the heart of Bush's business network in Texas. Crescent was founded by his closest business partner and the man who made him rich: genius investor and Texas bil lionaire Richard Rainwater. Rainwater was the major investor with whom Bush bought into the Texas Rangers baseball team in 1989 during his father's presidency. The investment was the source of Bush's biggest windfall and his folk hero status in Texas. He sold the baseball stock for a profit of $14.9 million, and Rainwater became part of the Bush circle. Bush sold his shares in Crescent at a profit of $114,000 in 1988, after they had been put into a blind trust following his election to the governorship of Texas in 1994. The Charter hospital scandal connects Bush's Crescent investment to the squalid story of its tenant's hospitals, and focuses attention on policies to which the Bush administration in Texas has been committed - self-regulation in private health care, the environment, energy and guns . There was no reason why, or suggestion that, either Bush or Rainwater knew what was happening inside Charter's hospitals. Charter filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. During the election hiatus, Bush's Vice-President-elect, Dick Cheney, committed the upcoming administration to forging ahead with its proposals for reducing government's role in health care. Rainwater's office referred The Observer' s calls to Crescent, where a spokeswoman, Sandra Porter, said Charter was a tenant and separate from the property company, as was Crescent Operating. Crescent was 'not calling the shots' in Charter hospitals, but acting only as landlord. Crescent, she said, 'works in partnership with people that we believe to be experts in what they are doing' . � Guardian Newspapers Limited 2000 <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
