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Bauer denies adultery reports
The GOP presidential candidate schedules a Wednesday press conference to refute the new rumors swirling around his campaign.
By Anthony York
[09/28/99]

L.A. not so confidential
A police informer blows the whistle on some old news -- no one has been able to police the LAPD.
By Marc Cooper
[09/28/99]

Let it be me
Wherein the author travels back in time to encounter "Morris" as he brushes up against "Reagan" -- and the rest is "history."
By David Corn
[09/28/99]

McCain steps up attacks on Bush
In his official campaign kickoff, the Arizona senator comes out swinging against the Texas governor and GOP presidential front-runner.
By Jake Tapper
[09/28/99]

Don't mess with Texas
New evidence in the Waco firestorm may have been leaked as a result of a tiff between the FBI and the Texas Rangers.
By Robert Bryce
[09/27/99]

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Like most of our fellow Americans, we funeral directors know very little about Bush beyond, of course, his huge campaign war chest, the unstoppable juggernaut of his candidacy and the apparent inevitability of his nomination. Since most of us are small-business types with Republican tendencies and hometown duties, we are glad that the media and the politicos are taking care of matters such as these for people such as us.

Also Today The dying giant With a growing market share and high-level politicalconnections in both political parties, Service Corporation International is fighting off lawsuits and government regulators. By Robert Bryce

But Waltrip of Service Corporation International in Houston, is no stranger to us. He and SCI are to funeral service what McDonald's is to the local diner: a multinational mergers-and-acquisitions firm that has bought up funeral homes and cemeteries on five continents, including something like one in five here in the good old USA, where good old George W. will maybe be president if everything goes according to plan.

Of course, Waltrip is a Big Mac that comes disguised as the burger you get from your local diner. SCI has made a fortune trading on the long-established names of local funeral directors, who never made in a year what Waltrip has given to the Bush campaigns. To be sure, these firms sold willingly for good money with their eyes wide open. For many funeral directors, as for many Republicans, it all seemed unstoppable, inevitable -- SCI was everywhere, lavishing free booze and finger food on us at our state and national conventions, offering cash and stock options and a "bigger is better" view of the future.

This is not evil. It is the late-century American way: to merge and acquire, to buy and sell. And there is nothing inherently wrong with corporate ownership, nor anything especially noble about independent ownership. In every field, there are sloppy independent operators and exemplary corporate ones.

In practice, however, they are organized around essentially different principles. The publicly traded, corporate enterprise is accountable to the international headquarters, the sales quota and the stockholder, while the independent is accountable to the local consumer, including very often the local loan officer. The privately owned firm cannot attribute its prices to some distant "home office" or the "district manager." It cannot blame shortfalls in service on "company policy." The privately owned firm must make up in local public trust what it lacks in multinational corporate cover.

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