LAW AND LAUGHTER

KEN LAY EXPLAINS CONDUCT WITH POEM FROM CHILDHOOD: "NOW I LAY ME DOWN TO SLEEP."

Ken Lay, the famously charming Texan from dirt-poor beginnings, who rose to be the toast of Houston before Enron, the company he founded, became toast, finally took the stand this week and, as expected, performed in his winning manner.

He based his defense for the debacle that occurred under his chairmanship on a poem that he maintains has shaped his behavior since his mother first read it to him when he was just wee high to an oil pump.

The poem is the famous, “Now I lay me down to sleep.”

He claims that, as of result of its perpetual influence on his life, while all the shenanigans were going on, he was asleep at the oil tank.

Well, it takes a lot of charm, even when you’re a former multimillionaire, to be convincing to a jury that’s probably worrying about lost income while they sit through the trial.

But when you’ve got a name like Lay and a touching poem to fall back on there’s no telling how much you accomplish.   

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