re CE moving to arkansas

San Francisco CA

Description

bye bye. move to arkansas... almost last in healthcare, education, one of the highest in low wages and opportunity, with one of the worst food security states in the union. gosh. sounds great Despite all the chaos and destruction, the storm and the floods came with a silver lining for people like Shellnut. "Most importantly, the hurricane drove poor people and criminals out of the city," he says, "and we hope they don't come back." Shellnut has even conjured up ancient Gallic legend to support his theory of Katrina's supposedly sanitizing effects. He says that the name "Katrina" once symbolized a kind of cleansing process that only leaves behind the purest elements of a society. But that's not where we leave Finis Shelnutt. Hopsicker also recognized the name from Iran Contra drug smuggling and the Clinton's Arkansas Mafia. "His real claim on notoriety," writes Hopsicker, "came when he was identified as the man who picked up the duffel bags filled with cash dropped by CIA Drug Pilot Barry Seal at the Triple S Ranch near Hot Springs, Arkansas. An estimated $9 million per week fell out of the sky." Terry Reed's Compromised, which details the bonds of crime and deep politics between the Bush family, the CIA and the Clintons, has much to say about Shelnutt. In the 1980s he was the son-in-law of Seth Ward, owner of the Triple S Ranch, which made him the brother-in-law of future number three man in the Justice Department Webster Hubbell. The connections didn't end there. Shelnutt was also employed by Clinton's close associate Dan Lasater, whose company was in direct receipt of drug "tithes" from Seal. A particular passage in Compromised describes a conversation between Reed and Seal, in which Reed suggests Ward was threatening to blackmail the agency for what he knew of the drug operation. Seal was surprised; he'd thought the Triple S Ranch was Lasater's, and had no idea Shelnutt also worked as Ward's "go-fer," in Reed's words. Seal's reported as saying, "I know this guy, Finis. He works for Dan as a bond salesman. Now ain't that interestin'." When a man like Barry Seal can be taken aback by someone's deep political pedigree, that's very interesting. And he soon had hopes of exploiting it. Later in the book Seal tells Reed, "when ya told me that Finis Shelnutt was the guy at the ranch [where the "green flights" dropped their money in Arkansas] dollar signs started dancin' in my head. I saw an immediate way to get some white stuff up some noses around Bill Clinton real fast." But that isn't where we leave Shelnutt, either. Because in 1990 Finis married Clinton's former mistress Gennifer Flowers. They lived for a while in Denver, where Shelnutt was described as a "stockbroker," before turning to restaurants and real estate in New Orleans. (Here's the website for "Gennifer Flowers Kelsto Club," situated "in the heart of the New Orleans French Quarter.") So where do we leave Finis Shelnutt? The Iran Contra go-fer, the former brother-in-law of Webster Hubbell and bagman for Dan Lasater who was so well-connected even Barry Seal was impressed, turns up on FoxNews lying about looters shooting policemen in New Orleans, and days later appeals to mythology in Der Spiegel regarding how the city had been "cleansed" of its underclass. And where do people like Finis Shelnutt leave us? I was going to say that if America didn't exist, someone would have to invent it. But you know what? Maybe that's precisely what happened. http://rigorousintuition.blogspot.com/2006/01/ballad-of-finis-shelnutt.html Jeff said... Some other post-Katrina appearances of Shelnutt Finis Shelnutt is enjoying a beautiful September day. The sun is blazing hot, the sky perfectly clear, and he has a table with a tidy white tablecloth all to himself in front of Alex Patout's Louisiana Restaurant. His moustache is perfectly trimmed. Not a hair is out of place. His collarless striped shirt hangs comfortably open at the neck. And he gazes serenely out at the world through tinted glasses. "Beautiful day," he nods in greeting as two people walk past. What's wrong with this picture? From desertnews.com Finis Shelnutt, who owns a building that houses the Alex Patout's restaurant in the French Quarter, watched [Bush's New Orlean's] speech on a small battery-powered television as he sat outside at a table with a white linen cloth, a bottle of Schramsberg champagne and a beer. "This is a powerful speech," he said. "What I'm concerned about is that some of the programs he mentioned need to be monitored closely. New Orleans has a reputation for funding disappearing." And from newhousenews.com, Sept 20: "The Quarter is going to be fine," Shelnutt says in a honeyed drawl. "The entire city is going to be a much better place. People have been living in poverty for generations. They don't know any better. They got into a rut, like a bad marriage, and needed to have a light shined on it.... Truly, I think this is going to be a blessing for some of them." Anonymous said... Every time I think things can't get much weirder, something like this comes along... Okay, I know there's no limit to weirdness, but this one was still pretty crazy--even to a jaded so-and-so like me. If anyone ever traced everyone involved with Mena, I imagine it would be pretty incredible to see all the other operations they were a part of. Of course, you'd probably be dead if you did that...