Washington Post has competition in the full-ad-news-organization biz from The Atlantic

I guess I’m a bit late getting to this one after my bitchy/sarcastic post about The Washington Post’s for-pay brainstorming sessions (see said bitchy/sarcastic post here).

Apparently, The Atlantic Monthly (I will never feel comfortable calling it The Atlantic.  I think the body of water had the name first, so should get dibs) has a long history of such influence-peddling sessions of their own, according to Talking Points Memo.  It seems like The Washington Post hasn’t broken a story or even made a meaningful news innovation since Watergate…  Key snippet will follow, but please read the entire article.  It’s not long and touches on some of the broader reasons why these ’salons’ are held and how some journalistic integrity is maintained by The Atlantic Monthly and others:

“These aren’t one-off events, by a long shot. The Atlantic has held approximately 100 of them since 2003, according to Zachary Hooper, a spokesman for the magazine.

And they’re by and large initiated by the corporation that pays for them, according to Hooper. “The corporate sponsor” — with whom the magazine generally has a longstanding business relationship — “comes to us and says, ‘We’re interested in having a discussion on a certain topic.’” The magazine’s business staff, said Hooper, takes things from there.“

TPM was nice enough to link to a copy of the flyer so you can see what those wishing to purchase advertising time within a respected journal’s editorial get to see.  Former Massachusetts governor and one-time Presidential nominee Michael Dukakis is listed among the past attendees.  They make no mention if tank rides were included.

… and the cow goes moo

Harry Markopolous, the man who revealed Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, in Fraud Magazine

For those who are still waiting for their issue of Fraud Magazine in the mail, Bob Morris at Polizeros produces some rather shocking excerpts from their article about Harry Markopolous.

My favorite excerpt:

“Her supervisors told her to stop her Madoff inquiry and work on mutual fund investigations instead. Her supervisor was Branch Chief Mark Donohue, who answered to Eric Swanson, director of the department, according to Post reports. Eric Swanson is the one who later married Madoff’s niece.”

Alliances formed through marriage.  How old-timey.

(Note to self:  Father many attractive daughters and marry them to the dim-witted and morally-suspect guardians of the nation’s wealth)

At least that relationship hasn’t escaped the scrutiny of law enforcement, according to the Wall Street Journal Law Blog.  No news yet on whether or not Eric Swanson managed to marry off a daughter to a higher-up at the SEC or the Justice Department in-time to save his skin.

Check out the article and Bob’s post if you find the whole “Bernie Madoff stealing tens of billions of dollars over decades with no real scrutiny by law enforcement” thing interesting.  It’s nice to have a blogger whose partner is a Certified Fraud Examiner who reads something like Fraud Magazine.

Though I do wonder how Markopolous feels about posing for a magazine with a big “FRAUD” over his head.  I guess it’s a good thing the magazine probably doesn’t have much newstand presence.

… and the cow goes moo

So long, Robert McNamara

Long villainized and rightfully so, Mr. McNamara managed to live to 93 and change many of our conceptions of him in his later years (the documentary film of which he was the subject, The Fog of War – Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara, introduced me to the New McNamara, so much more human than the one that still resides in history).

He struggled with difficult decisions to his final years in regards to his crucial role, but perhaps not quite as great a role as suggested my the moniker “McNamara’s War”, in the prosecution of the War in Vietnam under JFK and LBJ.

Many of the decisions he made in the ’60s seem barbaric and callous to those of us with the benefits of hindsight, and millions at the time who would be considered dovish to the war.  But as time passed, and political and personal restrictions seemed to loosen, Mr. McNamara was able to voice the reservations he had about the nation’s course that he hid behind a politically-necessary facade at the time of its persecution.

In The Fog of War as well as his books (such as In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of the Vietnam War), McNamara discloses some of his decision-making processes and mounts a convincing partial-defense.  He doesn’t abdicate responsibility, nor hide regrets, but he does fill some of the holes in the public story.

His adult life was a testament to intellect and cold calculation:  His last years were a testament to the regrets that come from his years of great power, which he wielded to great effect.

His life, taken as a whole, reveals many of the once-secret processes of the executive, and attempts to reveal some of the still-secret processes of the exceptional individuals whose name are used to recall great events and great tragedies.

Let us hope that death shall salve the regrets that haunted McNamara for the past half-century, and let us hope the story of his life serve as a lesson for those who to accomplish great things without repeating all of his mistakes.

“Robert S. McNamara, Architect of a Futile War, Dies at 93 By TIM WEINER

Mr. McNamara helped lead the U.S. into the Vietnam War and spent the rest of his life wrestling with its moral consequences.”

… and the cow goes moo

ESPN.com: Toronto Raptors set sights on 2010 draft

Or so I can only assume reading this article on ESPN.com about our latest, greatest acquisition:  The over-rated chucker who shot 42.7% and scored 15.8 ppg during the just-completed playoffs.  Bravo, Bryan Colangelo.  We’re now ready to compete against powerhouses like Maccabi Tel Aviv and CSKA Moscow.  We need clawback provisions now for both Colangelo’s Executive of the Year and Sam Mitchell’s and Coach of the Year awards…

During the deepest recession since WWII, with something like half the teams in the NBA losing money (some like the Indiana Pacers losing in the neighborhood of $30m per year), the overpaid-at-$6.864 million Hedo Turkoglo decided to opt-out of the final year of his contract and ask for an offensive $10 million per year.  This, despite displaying clutch but overall middling offensive prowess during the season and his playoff run, disappearing during some of the biggest games, and playing defense with a level of effort that made Pau Gasol look like Kevin Garnett.

And which group of jackasses apparently actually pays his asking price? My hometown Toronto Craptors.

To top it off, Hedo Turkoglu is an unathletic 30-year old (claimed… but we all know enough to be suspicious of the ages of foreign-born players.  A safer bet may be 32) who now has a guaranteed paycheque for the next five years, despite his stats having declined across-the-board from the 2007-2008 season to the 2008-2009 season.

We not have a starting five of Jose Calderon (one of the worst defenders in the league whose main strength is high-percentage shooting), a yet-to-be-named shooting guard, Hedo Turkoglu (one of the worst defenders in the league whose main strengths are clutch shooting, pushing off to create a shot, and being from Turkey), The RuPaul of Big Men (a mediocre defender who doesn’t want to be in Toronto anymore, tends to be a mismatch for heavier PFs, and whose greatest skill is a very reliable 17ft jump shot), and Andrea Bargnani (who has poor defensive mobility, and whose only real strength is his 3-point shooting).  We might need to add another digit holder for the visitor’s scoreboard.

I can’t wait until 2013 when we’ll have his juicy expiring contract to deal to a team desperate to save money.  Maybe we can get a one-legged Amare Stoudamire in return?

… and the cow goes moo

Washington Post expands it’s classified section to its new and editorial divisions

I’ve been following this story since I heard about it a couple of days ago, waiting to see how it played out.  It seemed to outrageous to warrant an immediate action.  Now that it’s had time to simmer (and boil over), it seems like we’ve arrived at an appropriate time to comment.

Please see this good quick ‘n’ dirty summary post with relevant links at your favorite econoblog, Naked Capitalism.  Politico has all the juicy parts.

I feel Edward Harrison is being a smidge unfair.  If I can  go to cafepress.com and spend $30 to have a photoshopped image of me and Gandhi tandem-JetSkiing emblazoned on a tee shirt, why can’t I pay spend a few thousands dollars for the Washington Post to customize an news article or editorial to depict an event of comparable accuracy to me and my boy Gandhi enjoying summer at the lake?

Harrison and those blabbermouth, self-righteous health care lobbyists are such prudes.

… and the cow goes moo