Barry Bonds And The CIA

Barry Bonds today pleaded not guilty to perjury charges stemming from his denial of using steroids and so forth during testimony before a federal Grand Jury. His plea came a day after the CIA disclosed it had destroyed tapes showing its interrogation of prisoners held at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp.

Same thing going on in both.

If Bonds goes to trial, his only defense will be that all the other witnesses are lying or misguided. During the inevitable congressional hearings, the CIA will have to persuade lawmakers and the American people it never tortured people so the destruction of the recordings was simply an oopsie.

Neither will prevail and for the same reason: an utter lack of respect for the average person's innate intelligence and common sense.

Dumb Corporate Email No. 1,256

How many times do I have to tell you senior execs to stay away from emails doing something shady? When will you start to listen?

The latest alleged miscreant to ignore my advice is Greg Reyes, former CEO of Brocade Communications, whose options backdating case goes to a federal jury tomorrow. If he goes down, it will be due to the fact he, like so many others, decided it was less work to use email than dial the phone.

Evidence of my wisdom, and his folly, is this from The Wall Street Journal’s reportage of closing arguments. Note that Reyes is accused of illegally backdating options 2000-2004.

“In summarizing the government's case, Mr. Reeves ran through evidence for 10 reasons why prosecutors allege Mr. Reyes knew full well that backdating was illegal. As the prosecutor spoke, he left a large whiteboard on an easel facing the jury, displaying the government's Reason No. 1: An October 2004 email that Mr. Reyes sent to another company's board member in which the Brocade CEO wrote, in capital letters: "IT IS ILLEGAL TO BACK-DATE OPTIONS GRANTS.''

Scooter's Commuted Sentence

He doesn't have to go to prison.

But he remains a convicted felon, which means his law license is toast, his right to vote is gone and he can't go quail hunting with his former boss because he can't be in possession of a firearm.

Sounds like enough for now. For a guy like him.

Is Nothing Sacred?

NEW YORK -- Colgate-Palmolive Co. said counterfeit toothpaste falsely packaged with a Colgate label is being recalled because it may contain a poisonous chemical.
-- The Wall Street Journal

End of the Sopranos

It wasn't a hit. No way.

First, you only send one guy in a controlled situation like that. Second, a hitter doesn't sit around drinking coffee so a dozen citizens can get a look at him. Third, Tony scoped them all and didn't blink.

It wasn't an FBI bust. No way.

First, they wouldn't have to use undercover because Tony had no bodyguards. Second, there was no hint of media coverage. Third, it would have been more dramatic to bust him at home -- as in the past.

What was it? To quote Tony's most repeated line: "Who the hell knows?"

Felons Among Us

I'm beginning to wonder if anyone today can say they have never known a convicted felon.

The number of successful business people, political leaders, moral paragons, neighbors and acquaintances among us who have done time seems to expand so rapidly that, soon, we'll be friendless if we exclude them from our circles.

My personal count is nine, two in the last six years. Their crimes included burglary, drug dealing, armed robbery, fraud and murder. One awaits a surrender date to the federal Bureau of Prisons. Four built decent lives after their release. The fate of the other four, including the murderer, are unknown to me.

A friend wrote me recently about a former colleague police say is a "person of interest" in a murder: "I sure hope he was not involved, but I've have had a bunch of shocking discoveries recently about people I know turning out to be child molesters and such, so who knows."

How many people among the political and media elite can say they've never done business with someone later convicted of a felony? How many degrees of separation are there between dozens of Fortune 500 CEOs and people currently wearing khaki or orange jumpsuits?

Either the moral fabric of our society is fraying badly, or prosecutors and judges are putting far too many people behind bars. Set aside the underlying reason and the fact remains many people are beging forced to re-think their opinions about people who commit crimes.

More Corporate Miscreants

Most Americans believe in capitalism because they know it offers the most opportunity and individual freedom. That, not class anger, is why regular folks hate corporate leaders who lie, cheat and steal.

I'm no different. But what really drives me nuts is the arrogance and stupidity of the corpo-thieves, something I noted in an earlier post.

Now, I come across the story of Gary Min who pleaded guilty to stealing an estimated $400 million in DuPont technology. There's no evidence that Min tried to transfer the information to anyone, but he faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. In contrast, pioneer corporate thief Michael Miliken emerged from two years in prison with $500 million in the bank. That's the dumb part.

Then there's the arrogance factor. According to The Wall Street Journal, prosecutors are considering filing criminal charges against former Broadcom CFO William Ruehle (photo above) who emailed a colleague:

"I VERY strongly recommend that these options be priced as of December 24."

As the newspaper noted: "Broadcom's share price rose 23% between the two dates. The pretense that the options had been granted on the earlier date made them extra valuable."

If nothing else, Ruehle should be convicted of being too lazy to pick up the phone.

My Thought Crimes

I am acquainted with more than one Saudi citizen who (to put it mildly) questions the U.S. government’s foreign policy in the Middle East.

I once shared a meal with two members of the Chinese Communist Party.

I have attended social events alongside drug addicts, Iranians, illegal immigrants and people carrying guns.

I believe it is wrong for my Internet service provider to cooperate with the National Security Agency in monitoring calls, emails, and anything else that travels along phone lines.

I believe it is unconstitutional to throw people into prison simply to coerce them into giving up information. That includes news reporters.

Now that I’ve posted this and the tags below, I wonder who might knock on my door.

This could be interesting.

Wookie's Gotta Get Out More

"I couldn't believe that anyone could do that to a Yale student."

-- Wookie Kim commenting about the assault on fellow Elis travelling in San Francisco. (SF Chronicle.)

Enough With The Execution Debate

The Iraqi government says its decision to hang two of Saddam's convicted cronies is irrevocable. The pundits will once again decry what they believe is an injustice. I don't get it.

1. Yes, the death penalty is wrong, stupid, and accomplishes nothing. Why anyone would expect the Iraqis to agree with that statement is beyond me.

2. Yes, their trial was a sham. So were the Nuremburg and Tokyo trials after World War II.

3. Yes, Saddam's execution was undignified. By definition, all executions are undignified.

Stupidity Is No Defense

The Wall Street Journal today chronicles the resignations of two more corporate executives who guaranteed themselves big profits by backdating options grants. This time it was Mark King, CEO of Affiliated Computer Services Inc., and Warren Edwards, the company's CFO.

Edwards lawyer says, "He engaged in no intentional misconduct and acted in good faith at all times in connection with the company's longstanding and historic options granting practices." King’s lawyer says, "He acted at all times in good faith and did not engage in any intentional misconduct."

These lads were running a $5.4 billion corporation. Now they declare they were too dumb or too naïve to understand that backdating option grants is illegal unless fully and promptly disclosed to shareholders.