Posts by Brickley Paiste

Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First

  • Hard News: Where the crazy comes from,

    If people want to read about blatant non-tenuous conspiracies, read Judge Rocker's decision from this week.

    Basically, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), along with Bank of America Corp (BOA), went along to he Court -- a la Kang and Kodos -- and wanted his Honour to rubber stamp a little settlement deal (the joint application) deal they'd written on the back of an envelope.

    What was the deal?

    Well, when BOA bought Merrill Lynch it told its shareholders, don't worry, none of the money you approve for the purchase will go toward bonuses for Merrill Lynch people.

    What was the reality?

    They paid $5.8 billion of those funds the shareholders approved in bonuses to those people.

    HOWEVER, the SEC and BOA, in the joint application, wanted the Court to endorse a settlement whereby the BOA would pay $33 million as a fine without having to admit or deny that they lied to their shareholders.

    Where was that $33 million going to come from? THE SHAREHOLDERS!

    As the District Court Judge says on page 2

    In other words, the parties were proposing that the management of Bank of America -- having allegedly hidden from the Bank's shareholders that as much as $5.8 billion of their money would be given as bonuses to the executives of Merrill who had run that company nearly into bankruptcy -- would now settle the legal consequences of their lying by paying the SEC $33 million more of their shareholders' money.

    This proposal to have the victims of the violation pay an additional penalty for their own victimization was enough
    to give the Court pause.

    Rocker, er, rejected the joint application.

    His Honour draws attention to the other obvious piece of shit on the carpet: where's your bailout money, you fucktards?

    I'll be sure to think about this case the next time I file my GST return...

    What was it Steinbeck said about banks? What's the definition of chutzpah?

    Since Mar 2009 • 164 posts Report

  • Hard News: Where the crazy comes from,

    is there anyone else in Act whose alarming anti-Semitic beliefs we should know about?

    That isn't yet clear but obviously their reach is international.

    Since Mar 2009 • 164 posts Report

  • Hard News: Where the crazy comes from,

    Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein tops the list...

    Blop! Blop!

    Hey mon, seen. Still!

    Since Mar 2009 • 164 posts Report

  • Hard News: Where the crazy comes from,

    What I can't figure is why Act's embrace of these people is never cause for comment in the media.

    I've often asked myself the same thing.

    Do you think someone could ask Rodney Hide about Petersen in Parliament?

    Ibid.

    A hobby horse is a steed worth keeping well fed and close at hand...this just wouldn't wash in other countries just like Lockwood's fruit picker comments/cheeky darky/etc. Cf Trent Lott. Now shoo! Back to the barn with you!

    Since Mar 2009 • 164 posts Report

  • Hard News: Where the crazy comes from,

    from which Sarah Palin herself emerges as mendacious, stupid, lazy and vain. Oh, and greedy.

    In other words a mendacious sybarite?

    It's unlikely that this kind of "thought" will ever gain much political purchase in New Zealand – Act remains the only viable political party weird enough to accord senior office to someone like Loudon – but it is certainly handy to be able to make the connections.

    ACT ran this guy in Rotorua, I think in 2005. Jeepers.

    Since Mar 2009 • 164 posts Report

  • Hard News: Be the party of good science,

    That's so utterly appalling as to be newsworthy.

    There are entire rape trials that go on in Auckland that don't even merit a brief anymore from our fearless outsourced subbies and composing room people.

    I talked to a guy recently who unsuccessfully defended a man on a statutory rape charge. He was 28. The girl was two weeks shy of 16. Not a great situation but by all accounts they were in love. She was expecting their baby. They had moved in together. He had a job.

    The judge sentenced him to an entire year. No previous.

    No appeal because the defendant couldn't be fucked with it.

    Happens all the time.

    Since Mar 2009 • 164 posts Report

  • Hard News: Undie Wankers,

    But South Auckland is not a red herring when you bear in mind the leeway that's been shown here over the years. There are a lot of kids who endure police attention for a lot less than two nights of deliberate and dangerous rioting.

    Couldn't the issue actually be the lack of leniency shown toward the poor kids rather than the leniency shown to rich ones?

    The kids have acted like dolts but the cops did bill it like a celebrity boxing night.

    Any protestations of police provocation or heavy-handedness would be laughed at, as would any calls for leniency.

    Unless of course the facts demonstrated that such protestations and calls had merit in them. No one is ever a lone wolf from the law.

    Since Mar 2009 • 164 posts Report

  • Hard News: Undie Wankers,

    And on the point about police going OTT, didn't some of these students get done for sedition a while back before that offence was repealed?

    The cops don't have a good track record of disinterested law enforcement here.

    Since Mar 2009 • 164 posts Report

  • Hard News: Undie Wankers,

    If this had occurred in South Auckland and the kids involved were first-time offenders they probably would get diversion. I find it ironic that people seem to think these Otago students should be punished because they're white and middle class.

    I think that is a fair point. Then again, the diversion scheme is about prosecutorial discretion. I think in these circumstances it would be fair, legal and rational to not exercise that discretion especially if it is to discourage the collective idiocy that Russell has described.

    On the compliance point, has Greg O'Connor been summoned yet to argue that the riots are another reason that the police need Taser guns? Someone start an egg timer...

    Since Mar 2009 • 164 posts Report

  • Hard News: Be the party of good science,

    A dead worldview of DWM union bosses

    What is that dead worldview according to you?

    Since Mar 2009 • 164 posts Report

Last ←Newer Page 1 4 5 6 7 8 17 Older→ First