Ellen Podgor has the sentencing memos in regard to former Refco CEO Phil Bennett’s plea deal. They are interesting reading, but what they do not answer is the most intriguing question that remains unanswered from the entire Refco affair:
Why did Bennett risk taking Refco public in the first place?
The always-alert Ellen Podgor notes that former Enron Task Force chief Andrew Weissmann (see also here and here) recently wrote an amicus brief on behalf of various business and defense-oriented organizations in the United States v. Ionia Management, S.A. case currently pending at the Second Circuit.
In the brief, Weissmann advocates that the appellate court “adopt a standard for vicarious corporate criminal liability” . . . that limits “the application of respondeat superior.”
As you may recall, Weissmann promoted precisely the opposite standard while engineering the destruction of enormous wealth and tens of thousands of jobs in prosecuting Arthur Andersen out of business.
It’s better late than never that Weissmann apparently now understands the error of his prior ways. I wonder whether he will admit that to the Second Circuit panel?
Golf course author and blogger Geoff Shackelford is blogging the U.S. Open this week at Torrey Pines in San Diego in the same manner as he blogged The Masters earlier this year, and he kicks off the U.S. Open week with this email interview of the best golf writer of the past generation, Dan Jenkins. As usual, Jenkins is in mid-season form:
GS: Are you excited about visiting California, where we treat smokers like lepers?
DJ: I would be more excited about going to California if I was 20 years younger and sitting in the Polo Lounge.
Read the entire interview here. Also, check out this interesting map of Torrey Pines and the slick USGA course overview while perusing Jay Flemma’s and Daniel Wexler’s reviews of the course.
Through 40% of the season, the Stros’ record is precisely what you would expect from a club that struggles to maintain National League average performance — 32-32, including 15-16 in the second fifth of the season. That’s about the same as the first fifth of the season and a bit better than my pre-season forecast. The Stros are in 4th place in the National League Central, 8 games behind the Cubs (40-24) and only 1.5 games out of last place in the division. Any early-season hope that this club could contend for a playoff spot is now a pipe dream.
Frankly, there is little reason to be optimistic about the Stros’ prospects for the remainder of the season. While the pitching staff has performed better than expected and is a dramatic improvement over last season’s staff at a comparable stage of the season, the club’s overall hitting — outside of Lance Berkman’s Bonds-like performance (47 RCAA/.458 OBA/.723 SLG/1.181 OPS) — has been abysmal. The Stros’ hitters rank 12th out of the 16 National League clubs in runs created against average (-23 RCAA) and only one hitter other than Berkman is creating more runs than an average National League-hitter would produce using the same number of outs. Moreover, two regular Stros players — CF Michael Bourn (-16 RCAA/.281 OBA/.309 SLG/.590 OPS) and recently-demoted C JR Towles (-13 RCAA/.270 OBA/.282 SLG/.552 OPS) — are among the least productive hitters in the National League. LF Carlos Lee (-5 RCAA/.301 OBA/.469 SLG/.770 OPS) is showing why he is one of the most overpaid players in Major League Baseball, while the declining SS Miguel Tejada (-1 RCAA/.335 OBA/.466 SLG/.801 OPS) has cooled considerably after a hot start. As noted in the first season review, Bourn, Towles and Hunter Pence (-2 RCAA/.339 OBA/.478 SLG/.817 OPS) have all showed signs of their lack of Triple-A seasoning, while neither 3B Ty Wigginton (2 RCAA/.368 OBA/.448 SLG/.817 OPS) nor 2B Kaz Matsui (-3 RCAA/.353 OBA/.352 SLG/.705 OPS) are difference makers. Where would this bunch be without Berkman?
Steve Winwood sounded good back in the 1960’s and 70’s during his days with the Spencer Davis Group and Traffic. I’ll be darned if he doesn’t sound even better now.
Clear Thinkers favorite Stephen Colbert finally meets his match — syndicated columnist George Will:
By the way, check out Will’s latest on Obama and McCain:
On Obama: "Obama’s words mesmerize a nation accustomed to leaders who routinely use words with antic indifference to their accuracy."
On McCain: "If he really opposes torture, he will take pity on the public and master the use of a teleprompter."
Check the following out on Google Earth. Go to "Tools" in the top navigation bar, click "Options" and then the "Touring" tab. Down below, you will see "Driving Directions Tour Options. " Input the following settings:
Click "Apply" and then "OK" to close out that box, then hit the "Directions" tab in the "Search" box on the upper left side of the Google Earth screen. Input a couple of addresses in your community and then allow Google Earth to prepare the directions for the route between those addresses. After Google Earth prepares the directions, hit the play button just below the directions. Then, sit back and enjoy the ride! (H/T GoogleEarthHacks.com).
The strangely obsolescent presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton is one of the most intriguing stories of this political season. The Financial Times’ Clive Cook provides a spot on foreigner’s perspective:
[Clinton’s] performance last night was stunningly ill-judged, and speaks volumes about her fitness to lead—or lack of it. Under the circumstances, one can understand, maybe, a reluctance to concede. But to declare moral victory; to insist, knowing that she had lost, that she remains the stronger candidate; to start positioning herself to demand the VP slot as of right: all this was not just remarkably ungracious, it was also patently counter-productive from a strictly selfish point of view. Can’t she see that she has made it easier, not harder, for Obama to keep her off the ticket?
One of the CNN analysts debating Hillary’s non-concession speech mentioned emails coming in which said that Tuesday “needed to be her night.” At this one of the others spluttered, “It had to be her night? Obama just won!”… before, in a valuable moment of reckless honesty, referring to “the Clintons’ deranged narcissism”. Yes, I thought (recalling, incidentally, Alistair Campbell’s comment that Gordon Brown was “psychologically flawed”). Read her speech, and compare it with Obama’s. His extravagant (and tactically shrewd) praise of her; a speech addressed not just to the whole Democratic party but to the whole country; calculated, of course, calibrated—with nothing in it that was smug or self-regarding or sectarian. Contrast that with her perfunctory acknowledgement of him, followed by a recitation of her achievements and the obstacles that had been put in her way: Enough about our nominee, this is my night and I want to talk about me.
Something tells me that she is not cut out to be Obama’s deputy. If he puts her on the ticket, I think he will be making a big mistake.
Clinton’s inability to compete with Obama’s charismatic articulation of a vision for the country definitely worked against her in the campaign. But my sense is that the genesis of her downfall was voters’ distrust of her inner Tracy Flick.
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