Leroy, Oracle, CIA & the Jewish Defense League

Sat Jul 12 12:19:03 PDT 2003

I find this posting disturbing, especially on the heels of your 
posting the other day.  While I didn't agree with everything you
said in the previous message, there were some interesting elements
in it.  I find this one much more problematic.

> There's an interesting article making the rounds, on Craigslist, 
> suggesting that the Oracle Corporation (if I interpret it correctly) has 
> its roots in the Central Intelligence Agency (this is a matter of 
> record) and Jewish Defense League (an outlawed terrorist group).

As we all know, these sorts of things *usually* turn out to be hoaxes.
This has all the hallmarks of an urban legend.  It's an extraordinary
claim which requires extraordinary proof.  I have no information one
way or another regarding this letter, so I'll let others evaluate it.
But I'll need some serious convincing before I believe it.

> Given my comments a few months back regarding the dubious ethics of 
> Oracle's management, I cannot say that I am entirely displeased to see 
> this story finally becoming public.

Well, if it's true, I'm glad it is public.  If it's untrue, then it's
too bad that it's making the rounds.  I think folks can have fair differences
on whether Oracle has been "aggressive" or "unethical" or somewhere 
in between in its business practices, but I'd like to see the truth 
win out.

This includes the PeopleSoft bid.  It's certainly aggressive, arguably
it's unethical.  I can believe that the point of it is as much to 
disrupt PeopleSoft as it is to acquire the assets of the company.  
Oracle is certainly not above such things.

> Just about the time this hit the 'Net, about a week ago, so did the 
> story about Leroy frothing at the mouth over his urgent desire to 
> purchase JD Edwards and PeopleSoft. Suddently I haven't heard a word 
> about the PeopleSoft fracas; it just disappeared from the news as if it 
> had never even occurred. 

No, it hasn't disappeared.  Heck, NewsFactor, ON24, and TheStreet.com
had articles on this topic just on Friday.  That's just the most 
recent business day.  Many other articles have appeared over the last 
week.  Yes, the intensity of this news item has died down.  Is this 
because of CIA influence?  Hardly.  It's simply because there's no 
change in the status of the story.  Remember the early Saturday Night
Live episode where on Weekend Update Chevy Chase announces, "This just
in: Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead?"  This is at least
allegedly humorous because "nothing has changed" rarely makes it very 
high up on the news cycle.  There's no reason to suspect a conspiracy.

> This suggests - lacking evidence to the 
> contrary - that the details provided in the article are correct, and 
> that the unfavorable attention Oracle was getting killed the deal.

This is simply not a rational conclusion.  Making this leap is illogical
at best.

> I have it from a reliable source that a copy of the article was sent to 
> Craig Conway, CEO of PeopleSoft.

I would expect that he has seen it.

> If you're interested in reading the article, it's at the following URL:
> 
>     http://www.craigslist.org/sfc/for/13243191.html
> 
> 
> Yours for a workplace free of coercion, fraud, and racism ...

These are laudable goals.  Any interest in adding "hyperbole" to this
list?

-- 
Nick Christenson
npc at gangofone.com