While awaiting FL-19's special election results, I thought I'd take a look at the WaMu testimony, and got distracted by this. The court-appointed examiner of the Lehman Brothers failure has reported back to the court that the investment house's directors did not breech their fiduciary responsibilities. Of greater interest however was this little gem:
'A 2,200-page report by a court-appointed examiner says executives of Lehman Brothers manipulated the now-defunct company's balance sheet, using a "materially misleading" accounting trick to temporarily remove $50 billion of troubled assets, The New York Times and The Washington Post report.
The examiner's report says that then-Lehman CEO Richard S. Fuld Jr. was "at least grossly negligent" and that the accounting firm Ernst & Young could be accused of professional malpractice.'
It turns out that Lehman used a shell to hide it's toxic assets, trading them for cash out of a small company it owned on the side. This maneuver allowed Lehman to improve the appearance of its books. WaMu's whining to Congress notwithstanding, it seems less and less certain that any of these firms deserved the rescues they received in 2008 & 2009.
1. From the NYT (of course): 'Gentle White House Nudges Test the Power of Persuasion'
'Tempers were fraying in the White House Cabinet Room as night turned into morning on Jan. 15. President Obama had been cloistered nearly all day with House and Senate Democrats, playing “marriage counselor,” an aide said, as he coaxed, cajoled and prodded them on a health care overhaul. As the clock neared 1 a.m., the two sides were at an impasse. Mr. Obama stood up.“ ‘See what you guys can figure out,’ ” one participant remembers him saying, adding that the failed effort left the president mad. Another Democrat who was there, Representative Henry A. Waxman of California, said Mr. Obama left “frustrated that while he was putting out ways to bridge the problem, we hadn’t reached a conclusion.” Ever since his days as a young community organizer in Chicago, Mr. Obama has held fast to the belief that by listening carefully and appealing to reason he can bring people together to get results, an approach that in Washington has often come up short.'
I fail to see how leaving in a snit, ordering others to figure things out, qualifies as gentle or persuasive.
2. From Fox News: 'NAACP to Honor Van Jones as 'American Treasure' The title alone makes me think of the PBS ads for 'Antiques Roadshow' ("... well sir, you have a national treasure, a national treasure'), putting Van Jones on the level of a well-preserved textile.
'But Jones still has his share of outspoken supporters, and one of them is Benjamin Todd Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP. "Van Jones is an American treasure," Jealous writes in an opinion piece posted at CNN.com. "He is quite simply one of the few Americans in recent years to have generated powerful new ideas that are creating new jobs."
Ahh - for that to work as an accolade, one would have to demonstrate that at least one job had been generated by these 'powerful new ideas' something I doubt Mr. Jealous (I had to write it) can prove.
With apologies to all of my Air Force friends, only an Air Force officer could have come up with a apologetic for accepting a nuclear Iran (and only the NY Times would have published it). The strangest point in the whole ludicrous article?
'Third, Israel has made clear that it feels threatened by Iran’s nuclear program. The Palestinians also have a reason for concern, because a nuclear strike against Israel would devastate them as well. This shared danger might serve as a catalyst for reconciliation between the two parties, leading to the peace agreement that has eluded the last five presidents. Paradoxically, any final agreement between Israelis and Palestinians would go a long way to undercutting Tehran’s animosity toward Israel, and would ease longstanding tensions in the region.'
There are no easy responses to Iran's nuclear ambitions, but rolling over, or taking a lordosis position, are the worst of them.
The New York Times has posted an article with the title, Early Voting in Iraq is Mostly Smooth. The usual problems with a young state exist, but an actual democratic election seems to be underway. Any bets on when they'll post an apology for their coverage of the prior administration?
The New York Times published an article today on President Bush's last use of his authority to commute and pardon, by reducing the sentences of two border agents convicted of shooting an unarmed and fleeing drug dealer. The dealer apparently had 743 pounds of marijuana, and the agents shot him while he was 'running away.' It's true that they shot an unarmed man who was fleeing, and that there was no imminent danger to themselves or fellow agents. It's also true that the long-term effect was to protect the American public, and to keep our borders secure. Even Sen. Feinstein seemed to troubled by the continued prosecution of these agents. I think it's an appropriate use of his authority to pardon. It's surely a better use of that authority than the pardon of Mark Rich.
