“We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst.” C.S. Lewis

Posted on July 26, 2010 by mmjdiary
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Just Ask His Mother

Posted on July 25, 2010 by mmjdiary

Mark S. Kirk is a candidate for the U.S. Senate in the grand state of Illinois.  He has been spinning some yarns about, what else?  Military Service.  His Naval Reserve service statements have raised some fact checkers’ eyebrows. Big deal, take a number on telling stories about candidates “misspeaking” about their military service.  Yes, but Mr. Kirk had more. His tales of working in a nursery school found the fact checkers wagging a finger and shaking their heads. So, the little senate candidate who cried wolf or coyote or really big dog one too many times had skeptics emerge with demands for proof of the tale of his boating accident in 1976 Continue reading →

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Ex-Wife Gets a Cool Mil For Reporting Her Ex-Husband to the SEC for Insider Trading

Posted on July 25, 2010 by mmjdiary

Hell hath no fury.  Never mind that. No fury needed here — just cull through your ex’s e-mails during divorce discovery!  Karen Kaiser used to be married to David Zilkha who used to work for Microsoft who then went to work for Pequot Capital Management, which was founded by Arthur Samburg who agreed to pay the SEC a $28-million fine to settle charges that he obtained inside information from David Zilkha who was married to Karen Kaiser, oh, and there you Continue reading →

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“To those here tonight who feel the need to contradict my memories with the truth, remember, I was there, too. I have stories on all of you — photos on many —and know a Rolling Stone reporter.” Gen. Stanley McChrystal on the occasion of his retirement ceremony following 38 years of honorable service and one last run-in with said Rolling-Stone reporter and one commander-in-chief.

Posted on July 25, 2010 by mmjdiary
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The Rangel Round-Up Update

Posted on July 25, 2010 by mmjdiary

The Barometer has been covering each painful incident about Representative Charles Rangel as they percolated out in dribs and drabs.  Rangel is now in settlement contentions (apparently not talks) with the ethics committee on his pending ethics charges and hearings.  Here are some classic quotes from the former chair of the House Ways and Means Committee:

  • He has referred to the proceedings as “a boil that needs to be lanced.” Always the charmer with the right words for the occasion.
  • “It’s kind of awkward to explain to your kids and grandkids but, hey, I’m in the kitchen and I’m not walking out.”[1] Yes, and something’s boiling.
  • “Nobody in his right mind would be looking forward to something like this in public.  But frankly I knew one thing, when a person is elected to public office, there is a higher level of honesty and openness and transparency that is on him rather than just the ordinary citizen.”[2] Yes, so many of us ordinary citizens get away with not reporting rental income to the IRS.  The Barometer wishes she had a nickel for every New York City resident who has 4 rent-controlled properties. Oh, what times are these when the man who writes the Internal Revenue Code is expected to abide by it.  Who could live up to the standards this House ethics committee seeks to impose on Mr. Rangel?

 

[1] Devlin Barrett and Brody Mullins, “Democrats Press Rangel to Settle,” Wall Street Journal, July 24-25, 2010, p. A3.

[2] David Kocieniewski and Eric Lipton, “Rangel in Talks on Settlement of Ethics Cases,” New York Times, July 24, 2010, p. A1.

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Goldman To Pay SEC $550 Million: Chump Change

Posted on July 16, 2010 by mmjdiary

The SEC announced the Goldman fine with fanfare.  But the amount Goldman Sachs will ante up for its role in the Abacus mortgage fund was small potatoes.  Howard Chen, a banking analyst, had the best take on Goldman’s lack of remorse and unlikely damage:  (1)  He observed that there would be no management changes at Goldman; and, (2)  “We do not anticipate any material long-term impact to the firm’s client franchise.”  Mr. Chen is right, of course, but those who step in line with his conclusions are the chumps. The tale Continue reading →

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Just Can’t Help Themslves — Michael Vick

Posted on July 16, 2010 by mmjdiary

Michael Vick, who entered a guilty plea to federal charges related to a dogfighting enterprise,  got back into the NFL on a lick-and-a-promise.  Following his release from prison, the Philadelphia Eagles took on the quarterback  with the NFL’s imprimatur, provided he could live the clean life.  The promise was licked on Vick’s 30th birthday celebration in Virginia Beach.  Keeping company with one of the co-defendants in his dog-fighting case, the celebration somehow reached a point of exchanging gunfire.  Vick’s role remains unclear Continue reading →

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Scrushy Asks for Early Release: Let Him Out

Posted on July 16, 2010 by mmjdiary

Richard Scrushy, the former CEO of HealthSouth who was acquitted of the criminal charges  related to his role at that company but later convicted of bribery, has asked for an early release from prison based on the U.S. Supreme Court decision on “honest services fraud.”  The Barometer says, “Let him out!”  If you give him freedom, he will spend.  Continue reading →

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Toyota and Its Gas Pedal, Apple and Its Antenna, and Dell and Its Computers

Posted on July 14, 2010 by mmjdiary

The consumers are different and the products worlds apart but there is a common thread.  When the sudden acceleration issues with Toyota vehicles first emerged, the company hedged on a floor-mat cause, opted not to make disclosures and filings, and generally hoped the problem would just go away.  It did not, has still not, and the recent data concluding that drivers are to blame in some accidents should not result in oh-what-a-feeling there at Toyota. When Apple customers, emerging from the queues with their latest iPhone, began to complain that the phone antenna did not work as they held the phone a certain way, Apple gave a classic Henny Youngman one-liner in response, ‘Well, then, don’t hold it that way!”  Apple also hoped that the whole thing would just go away.  Continue reading →

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RE: Business, “The Authoritarian Way” (7/14/10) Ian Bremmer, “BP Is Lucky It Spilled in US Waters, Not Chinese,” USA Today

Posted on July 14, 2010 by mmjdiary

Not so fast, Mr. Bremmer.  In comparing China and the United States, your categories on statist vs. rule of law are correct.  However, the United States’ political philosophy has shifted.  The facts and logic point to the U.S. as the statist nation. China renders the death penalty for bribery.  Thankfully, the United States does not go that far or we might lose a good portion of Congress and most municipalities. But China makes no bones about Continue reading →

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Repo Sleight of Hand

Posted on July 10, 2010 by mmjdiary

Bank of America has joined the ranks of companies ‘fessing up to “repos.”  “Repos” do not mean the same thing to banks as they do to those rather large fellows with tow trucks and crow bars.  To the latter, repos are the honest work of repossessing cars from deadbeats.  To the former, repos are the dishonest practice of hiding debt in order to avoid being a deadbeat.  BofA had admitted to the SEC that it used some “window dressing” transactions to make its balance sheet look better at the end of the quarters in 2007-2009.  Repos are becoming a daily event.  The bankruptcy trustee let loose on Lehman Brothers Continue reading →

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“As I read the decision by the NCAA, I read between the lines, and there was nothing but a lot of envy. They wish they were all Trojans.” USC Coach Mike Garrett, in his best “They’re just jealous mode,” on the NCAA report that cost USC two years of post-season play, 10 scholarships for each of the next three years, and the loss of 14 victories from 2004 and 2005. The report documents USC NCAA violations related to players receiving money from sports agents. There’s a tone-at-the-top problem there that USC cannot solve unless and until Garrett goes. The NCAA found academic fraud in 2001 as well. But Garrett can raise money . . .

Posted on July 8, 2010 by mmjdiary
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“There have been numerous, repeated instances in the past when prior Administrations — both Democratic and Republican, and motivated by the same goals — discussed alternative paths to service for qualified individuals also considering campaigns for public office. Such discussions are fully consistent with the relevant law and ethical requirements.” Robert F. Bauer, White House Counsel, offering an “Everybody does it,” and “That’s the way it has always been done” explanation for the offer of an advisory board position to Congressman Joe Sestak in exchange for his pulling out of the Pennsylvania Senate Democrat Primary. Mr. Sestak won the race and ended Sen. Arlen Specter’s long-term career.

Posted on July 8, 2010 by mmjdiary
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Johnson & Johnson’s McNeil and the 2010 Tylenol Recall

Posted on July 8, 2010 by mmjdiary

The conduct is different from McNeil’s 1982 recall when the 8 cyanide poisoning deaths occurred in Chicago. In that situation, McNeil earned the praise of the president, the loyalty of customers, and a get-out-of-jail free pass on everything since that critical decision to recall without hesitation $150 million in Tylenol.  How the mighty art fallen! In 2010, the FDA found metal particles Continue reading →

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