Talk:Arbusto Energy

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I know that one major oil company-- Amoco-- had been working a deal with Banoco the state oil company for the same acreage Harken suddenly got, just before the Iraq war started. We had worked with Banoco for a year and had a proposal in to them to lease the acreage. Banoco told us they supported the proposal and then suddenly Harken received the same acreage. It was very fishy. We were told the Emir was involved, and I guessed that the Bahrainis wanted to have the US president's son tied to them during the Iraq war. Bahrain is one of the US's major military ports and and needs the US to have any kind of defense. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.23.198.162 (talk) 18:23, 10 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Wasn't a brother of Osama bin Laden one of the company's investors? Salem bin Laden I believe it was. MichaelD 00:43, 24 Jun 2004 (UTC)

"At the time that Bath made an investment of $50,000 he was representing Salem bin Laden's interests in Texas. When Salem Bin Laden died in 1988, his interest in Arbusto (along with other Bin Laden Group assets) passed to Khalid bin Mahfouz."

To answer the first poster and add to it, no and the above paragraph makes a logic and factual leap that is in error. Bath represented a Bin Laden but claims (and has income tax documents to back the claim... which have been reviewed by Time magazine) he invested his own money in Arbusto.

"The name Arbusto is Spanish for "shrub", but the Bush family interpret it as "bush"."

Arbusto and bush are of cognate etymology and mean the same thing (shrub is just a synonym of bush, too), so GWB is correct here (for once!). - MPF 23:25, 27 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I know this isn't scientific but I don't have access to any paper Spanish->English dictionaries around here. Google language translator here: http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en and the AltaVisto translator available here: http://world.altavista.com/tr both translate "Arbusto" to "shrub". Anyway I'm happy with the page as it stands. AlistairMcMillan 20:34, 28 Oct 2004 (UTC)

My Spanish-English dictionary gives both, hardly surprising as 'shrub' and 'bush' both mean the same. - MPF 21:23, 28 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Date of Arbusto-Bath document?[edit]

Here is a transcription of the arbusto-bath money document - does anyone know the year it covers? Various wikipedia articles reference it without providing a date.

                           SCHEDULE 4
STOCK    DESCRIPTION                     COST    PRESENT       INCOME 
SHARES                                           MARKET VALUE  LAST 
    120  Continental Airlines        $  1,000    $  2,100      $ -
    160  Browning Ferris                1,800       6,920        12.
      6  Northeast Airlines CV Deb      6,000       5,100       360.
    675  Alaska Airlines                2,500      10,800       240.
  15000  Eastern Jet Aviation          30,000      20,000        -
    100  JB & A Aircraft, Inc                     250,000    96,000.
                                                             (Divide
     16  Consolidated Fibres, Inc         160         160
    100  Southwest Airport Services, Inc   -      250,000        -
         (Wholly Owned)
    100  Southwest Airlease, Inc           -          -          -

180,000  Charter Bancshares            180,000    402,000     2,600.
                                                 --------    ---------
                                                  947,080    99,212.50
         OIL & GAS
         ----------
  5%     Bush Energy Oil & Gas          50,000     25,000     7,000.
           Partnership
         Royalty Under Gas Well,                    7,850     4,700.
           Desoto Parish, LA
  3.75%  Roden & Associates             75,000    100,000       -
                                                ---------   ----------
                                                1,079,930   110,912.50
                                                =========   ==========

This shows Alaska Airlines valued at $16 and paying dividends totalling 0.355 per share in the year (though maybe the last column isn't a year?). Similarly Continental Airlines was valued at $17.5 with no dividends.

Yahoo Finance only shows historical share prices for Continental back to 1993 July ($28.50), and prices for Alaska Airlines back to 1983 January ($11.35). -Wikibob | Talk 22:12, 2005 Mar 4 (UTC)

Price of Oil at time of sale[edit]

Someone (24.211.205.127) added this line:

With this in mind, one must also consider that this was near the all-time peak of oil prices of $80-90/bbl, inflation adjusted. People were surely in a speculative mood, not imagining the price drop in the following 10 years.

But according to the data they linked, the price of Oil was actually in a dip, at $22.60 in Jun 1990. And apart fro, the spike due to the first gulf war a few months later, the price of oil seems relativly stable for the next eight years. MickWest 18:07, 17 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Bush v. Shrub[edit]

Understand:

The words "bush" and "shrub" are synonyms in English.
The Spanish word "arbusto" is the equivalent of the English words "bush" and "shrub". Either word is a suitable translation.
Bush is the last name of George W. Bush, principal partner in Arbusto Energy.
"Shrub" is a fairly common pejorative nickname for George W. Bush.

Keeping the above facts in mind, how can it be anything but an egregious violation of NPOV to translate the word "arbusto" as "shrub" rather than "bush"? Clearly, the name was chosen because it is the Spanish word for Bush, the last name of one of the company's principal partner. TacoDeposit 21:10, 3 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I completely agree and am rather surprised that this has even been a matter of question or debate recently gaillimh^{Conas tá tú?} 11:44, 4 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It only became a pejorative nickname for him after it was correctly pointed out by a newspaper columnist that Arbusto translates accurately to "shrub" and not "bush", so this is poor logic. You are obviously correct that they are synonyms, but any Spanish speaker or Spanish dictionary will tell you that "shrub" is the correct tranlation. -- Why was the correct translation removed from the article?

Hmm, in response to this, I haven't heard that "bush" wasn't a valid translation, but I have heard from Spanish speakers that both terms are plausible translations , and that "Arbusto Energy" has an unintendedly self-deprecating ring to it (like so many loosely translated product names that end up sonding different than they were intended). Online dictionaries list both terms, anyway. Whiskey Pete 02:06, 16 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Okay. For the sake of accuracy I'd rather see the most accurate translation used, and not an alternate "plausible" translation simply because it makes a politician somebody favors look better, but I don't really care enough to keep arguing. I was just looking for accuracy.

I agree that the debate is rather pointless; if a word has two roughly similar, and in your words, "equally suitable" translations in English, then it would seem most helpful, encyclopedic and NPOV to just put down both (I never said that arbust translates to shrub "rather than" bush, btw), and let the able and alert Wikipedia reader decide what significance this may have. --Whiskey Pete, 02:48 4 February 2007 (UTC)

Question About the Word Currently As Used In The Following Sentence:[edit]

"Another investor was Ghaith R. Pharaon, a partner of Bakhsh's, who would later be involved in the Bank of Credit and Commerce International scandal, and is currently the target of an international dragnet."

The word "currently" in the quoted section needs to be clarified. When was the article written? Are there plans to delete this sentence when the investigation is concluded? When did the investigation start, and when did it end. If I come across the answers in my research then I will happily fill in the blanks. Meanwhile, maybe somebody already knows and will be willing to fill in the blanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by IPanurge (talk • contribs) 13:48, 9 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Article[edit]

This article states some uncomfortable things about the Bush family. I think some references are needed to back it up. 71.86.156.73 (talk) 04:19, 8 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

No/bad references[edit]

It is not a question of whether the article says uncomfortable things about the Bush family. Wikipedia requires reliable sources. This article, unfortunately, looks like non-existent/unreliable/circular sourcing. The only reference in the article AT ALL is to support the seemingly irrelevant claim that the company's chief financial officer was K. Michael Conaway. The reference is to a self-published ebook from 2015 whose bibliography lists mostly wikipedia articles and youtube videos. The statement that Conaway was chief financial officer was added in 2008; classic circular reporting. I have deleted this.

None of the books mentioned in further reading are cited in the article. I have access to Rutledge's book, Addicted to Oil. Arbusto is mentioned once. Rutledge says Lewis Lehrman invested in Arbusto, then notes that Lehrman also signed the statement of principles of the project for the new American century, which he says was a neo-con something or other. That's it. Since it discusses almost nothing related to the contents of this article, I have deleted this reference.

I don't have access to Hatfield's Fortunate Son, but here's what the Publisher, Soft Skull, says on the book's Amazon page:

Why was this book burned? What is in it that warrants censure? Despite a spectacular thrashing in public after Fortunate Son was first released by St. Martin's Press, author J.H. Hatfield has retracted nothing. He stands by his three sources that allege Bush was arrested for cocaine possession in 1972. Underneath heavy fire in the media, the former publisher panicked. But as Jenny Lyn Bader points out in The New York Times, "If he's merely a convicted felon...that doesn't preclude him from being a successful writer. Indeed, St. Martin's Press underestimates the forgiveness of the American people. People might not mind a former convict writing a book as long as the book is really good." Fortunate Son was #30 on The New York Times Hardcover Nonfiction Best-Seller list. Reader responses on the web show Americans outraged at this title's suppression: some saying that this book has changed their vote, while others don't accept that a meticulous, fact-checking biographer should be "baby seal-clubbed" with allegations about his past.

Great publisher's note, I'll consider sending my own books there. Still, if I can get access to the thing, I'll check so see whether something in the article comes from there. Beaty and Gwynne is a real book, but again no access. The google books preview shows one reference to Arbusto, dealing with Harken, unfortunately not fully available. If any of this other stuff is in there, I'll eat my fedora. Anything without RS goes. Rgr09 (talk) 12:34, 19 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Arbusto and Bin Laden[edit]

The article originally stated:

 It was later revealed that Bush made an investment of $50,000 while representing Salem bin Laden of the Saudi Binladin Group. This fact became controversial after the September 11, 2001 attacks due to Salem bin Laden being an older, half-brother of Osama bin Laden, who is alleged to have planned and financed the attacks. Upon Salem bin Laden's death in a 1988 airplane crash, in Texas, his interest in Arbusto (along with other Binladin Group assets), passed to Khalid bin Mahfouz.

This laughably incoherent statement accusing Bush of investing $50,000 in his own company on behalf of Salem bin Laden is a typical example of how a bad article turns into a hilariously bad article. Originally the sentence stated that James R. Bath, a Texas businessman who represented Salem bin Laden in a number of business deals, invested $50,000 in the company. Bath was changed to Bush by an anonymous IP who left the note "Bath???? Bush!!!! I swear to God, I'm so sick of the main stream media hiding the truth" Let this be a lesson to all who edit Wikipedia right after they wake up on Saturday morning with a hangover. What's sad is that this stayed in the article for a year.

I'm working on the Bath article now; when I have sources I'll put in a paragraph based on them. Rgr09 (talk) 02:32, 21 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Arbusto, Spectrum 7, and Harken[edit]

Arbusto ceased to exist in 1984 when it was bought by Spectrum 7. There is a separate article on Spectrum 7 which repeats most of the information in this article. Spectrum 7 was bought in 1986 by Harken Energy. There are two articles on Harken Energy; one on the company itself, now know as HKN, Inc., and one on the "Harken Energy Scandal" All three of these articles cover all of the material in this article's "Controversy" section, and in much greater detail. In addition, all of this material is also covered in the George W. Bush article. I will remove the duplicated material from this article and see what's left. It looks to me like this article is a candidate for merger. Rgr09 (talk) 00:17, 22 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Harken exploration in Bahrain[edit]

The article originally stated:

 In January 1990 with the company in the same state as its previous incarnations, it was awarded a contract to drill for crude oil off the coast of Bahrain, a move that shocked industry insiders as Harken had no previous experience outside of the US or of drilling offshore.

This paragraph is about Harken Energy, not Arbusto. There is an article on this in the Washington Post: The Harken-Bahrain Deal: A Baseless Suspicion. I have removed the paragraph here, and will add it plus source to Harken Energy where it belongs. Rgr09 (talk) 00:52, 22 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Ownership changes in Harken[edit]

The article originally stated:

 In 1987 the Saudi investor Abdullah Taha Bakhsh bought most of Union Bank of Switzerland's shares in Harken becoming its third largest investor owning 17% of the company. He was represented on the board by Talat M. Othman. Another investor was Ghaith R. Pharaon, a partner of Bakhsh's, who would later be involved in the Bank of Credit and Commerce International scandal, and is currently the target of an international dragnet.

I believe most of the information in this paragraph comes from The Dubya Report, which in turn seems to have gotten some of it from an article in the Asian Wall Street Journal. I don't have access to the WSJ article, but The Dubya Report does not say that Ghaith Pharaon was an investor in Harken Energy. In any case, all this is twice removed from Arbusto. I have deleted the paragraph from Arbusto and will move what information I can verify to the Harken Energy article. Rgr09 (talk) 03:12, 22 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Rewrote lead, restructured article[edit]

I rewrote the lead to give the beginning and end dates of the company, changed the main section heading to "Company history", and removed the further reading section and external links section, which included Hatfield's Fortunate Son, and an article in Harper's by Joe Conason, since neither were used in the article. If either has relevant information, please leave a note here.

Possibly will add another section to the article on the claims about James Bath's investment in Arbusto and the claim that he was acting for Salem bin Laden when I find reliable sources for this. Rgr09 (talk) 04:37, 22 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Bath paragraph[edit]

Paragraph on Bath and Arbusto done. The sources are the same ones in the article on James R. Bath. I will move on to Spectrum 7 next. [Arbusto Energy]], Spectrum 7, and Harken Energy Scandal all belong in the article on Professional life of George W. Bush. Alternatively, we could have see main page links for the first three paragraphs there. Rgr09 (talk) 08:19, 28 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]