Comments for Stephen F. Diamond

Comment on The “Renaissance” of Bill Ayers by The Truth about Common Core (Bill Ayers) | askmarion

The Truth about Common Core (Bill Ayers) | askmarion — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 02:17:43 +0000

[...] and law professor, Stephen Diamond, noted that no one asked why Ayers would even be in Washington, D.C. It turns out that Ayers was one of [...]

Comment on Did President Obama really save General Motors? Or, “Al Qaeda lives, and GM is moving to China” by Dick Danjin

Dick Danjin — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 16:20:19 +0000

Steve,I have often wondered what happened to you.I believe that I read most of what you wrote.I am a retired International Rep.Worked in the GM department from1985 until Yokich became president and asked me to work in the Research department until I retired in 1999I read most of the bankruptcy dockets.Between the VEBA and the 2011 contract the UAW is almost unrecognizable when viewed from the perspective of it;s constitution.Glad you have re appeared.

Comment on CTU’s VP fails to impress teachers with Occupy “Mic Check” b.s. by Pat Hickey

Pat Hickey — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 21:10:30 +0000

Thanks for dropping by Doc! I wish they’d give Jesse Sharkey a close look -whoever they are.

Comment on You’re so Bain – Mitt’s OJ problem and missing link in PE furor by Stephen Diamond

Stephen Diamond — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 15:00:28 +0000

Actually, in his interview with Jan Crawford Greenberg on CBS, which I now link to in the post, Romney accurately stated that he owned the management company that ran Bain. However, he tried to contend that he played no active role in that entity. That is, indeed, very hard to accept because as CEO he would have had to make certain key decisions even if he really wanted to be off playing golf all day (or running the Olympics) and let someone else handle the details. Romney also tried to steer the discussion towards his role as the general partner of the limited partnerships where outside investors placed their capital. But by definition the “GP” of an LP typically has certain powers over that LP entity. These can be delegated to others, but the GP would remain the principal in charge of that agent and retain the authority to control that agent in key ways.

Comment on You’re so Bain – Mitt’s OJ problem and missing link in PE furor by Craig

Craig — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 08:39:51 +0000

….why didn’t Romney say anything like this when he had his big chance. He is lying about something.

Comment on Barack Obama’s Visit to the Other Ayers House by joshua

joshua — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 13:32:28 +0000

A commen sense question that comes to mind is “Who is behind Dohrn and Ayers to have made it so easy for them to get back on their feet and have a relationship with a future president?”

Comment on Is the audit of the SAG pension and health plan really “much ado about nothing”? by Lucky Happy

Lucky Happy — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 04:13:22 +0000

I worked at the Plans. When Karimi left the company, the CEO put out an email and said Karimi left for “family reasons” in 2008 and now everyone knows that is not true. The emblezzment had to be close to 10 mill or even more but it’s very difficult to track. At the time I was there, Karimi was locking up these huge IT contractors with vendors for millions and millions of dollars and had over paid IT contract workers every where. In fact, after he was let go, he was probably still collecting because SAG used the same vendors. The IT dept had the largest budget of all depts now we all know why.

EDITOR: I have recommended that this commenter report any allegations to the Department of Labor.

Comment on Is the audit of the SAG pension and health plan really “much ado about nothing”? by Cliff Emmich

Cliff Emmich — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 00:22:27 +0000

Just returned from SAG-Aftra’s so called information meeting.Lots of scripted propaganda spewed forth from a dais holding the power and pretentious pro merger speakers but little,if any,information.I brought up the issue of the reported embezzlement of anywhere between 5 to 10 million dollars in SAG’s pension plan.A trustee of the plan ,on the dais,was adamant that the 5 to 10 million dollar figure is a fabrication put out by bloggers .He stated in 2008 two million was embezzled and insurance coverage put the lost money back in and this is old news.

Comment on Is the audit of the SAG pension and health plan really “much ado about nothing”? by Tom Ligon

Tom Ligon — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 23:01:09 +0000

Third, the plan never admitted “weaknesses in internal controls.” It did NOT take Simmons’ letter begging for a settlement to discover the case. It had long been discovered and investigated and paid for by insurance….

EDITOR: This comment has been edited to prevent Mr. Ligon from being accused of slander but not for accuracy. SAG Watch reported that the plan admitted weaknesses in internal controls and as my post indicated, a new layer of controls has been added.

Comment on Is the audit of the SAG pension and health plan really “much ado about nothing”? by Tom Ligon

Tom Ligon — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 22:49:07 +0000

…. In his article, Diamond mentions the word “routine” four times in his article, emphatically, in a specious attempt to color SAG P&H’s attitude toward the audit as casual or off-hand. Diamond spends half the article taking SAG P&H to task for seemingly SAG P&H’s lackadaisical drift through a ho-hum process. That is NOT what SAG P&H stated at all. Not in the least stated or implied. They said: “Field audits of multiemployer plans of this sort are routine for benefit plans across the country.” They ARE important, and SAG P&H states they have given it appropriate attention, and they HAVE become “routine” in this area.

Secondly, Diamond states: “…SAG went into the merger negotiations with AFTRA at a time of weakness. If the merger is approved there will be very difficult internal battles to resolve the problems that merger does not touch, including the future of the vitally important health care and pension plans…”

Since when is it a “time of weakness” to submit your pension and health plans to intense scrutiny? I would say that, in full confidence of the plan’s strength and integrity, SAG said: “Let’s do this.”