Phibro (and Andrew Hall) go to Occidental Petroleum (OXY) at a seeming bargain.  (Clusterstock, 24/7 Wall St., WSJ, DealBook, Felix Salmon) Jim Simons is retiring from his hedge fund firm.  (DealBook, WSJ, Zero Hedge ) As Zoe Cruz jumps into the hedge fund game.  (WSJ, DealBook) David Rosenberg vs. Eddy Elfeinbein on market valuations.  (The Money Game, Crossing [...]

“There’s never been a level playing field in markets.”  (Clusterstock) Second-tier firms are benefiting from the challenges at top Wall Street firms.  (WSJ) Good ideas in the world of distressed debt are becoming scarce.  (Distressed Debt Investing) What do you get when you put two hot trends together?  The Claymore/AlphaShares China Real Estate ETF (TAO), that’s what.  (VIX [...]

The linkfest is a bit earlier (and less comprehensive) than usual today. Long term charts of the real price of silver and the Dow.  (Fundamental Insights, Chart of the Day) Which “golden cross” is more effective?  (MarketSci Blog) Revisiting the performance of some ‘lazy portfolios.’  (World Beta) “To criticize ETFs is a little like criticizing cars – just because [...]

I was intrigued by two articles this morning reviewing the Buffett/Berkshire (BRK) shindig over the weekend by Doug Kass and David Morrow.

Both point out that Buffett gets a free pass at these get-togethers over the years (as well as from the press in general). Neither says this out of malice. They are stating fact.
Buffett himself did not conjure this reality up. He has simply done his job over the years with his colleagues at Berkshire and is living with the widespread media interest around him and the firm.

Yet if we've learned anything from the last year, it's that investors and the media need to do a much better job at being skeptical of conventional wisdom, of not being afraid to skewer a few sacred cows here and there.

I recall in 2004 the tempest in a teapot over whether Buffett should continue to serve on Coke's (KO) board of directors because he was on the audit committee who authorized their auditors at the time do some non-audit work. There were howls at the time against CalPERS and others who supported Buffett's removal from the board. The counterargument went something like: "It's Warren Buffett. How could you possibly oppose his re-election?" That's not a fair argument in my view.

I'm not suggesting a smear job of Buffett or Berkshire, or that he shouldn't have been re-elected to KO's board. I'm suggesting we not worship false idols. I'm suggesting we ask tough questions when they deserve to be asked, no matter who's being put on the spot to answer them. When there are legitimate questions to ask, investors and the press should ask them. The press shouldn't be afraid of losing their access to future interviews.

No one deserves a free pass after what we've witnessed in the last 18 months in the capital markets -- and Warren Buffett would be the first to agree.

Position: None.

Originally published in RealMoney.com on 5/4/2009 9:34 AM EDT

For real-time updates, subscribe to RealMoney.com

Remember Sue Decker? She was formerly the next CEO of Yahoo! (YHOO). That was until a tough 18 months following Terry Semel's abrupt departure after shareholders voted against his re-election in large numbers at the 2007 annual meeting.

Decker came to Yahoo! from DLJ, as the Internet analyst who used to throw tough questions at Tim Koogle and Jerry Yang. She took over as CFO and, by all accounts, did a great job in that role.

When she got promoted to president, the problems started. She's very bright, but seemed to not grasp the technology as well as she might have and didn't manage the business as well as was required. She left under a cloud a few months ago when Carol Bartz was given the top job.

She's taken on a number of directorships over the years: Intel (INTC), Costco (COST) and Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A). She'll be in Omaha this weekend for that annual fiesta. She got on to the Berkshire board, after serving with Charlie Munger on the Costco board and getting to know him.

She's serving time in the penalty box now after her Yahoo! experience, but there's no question she'll be back at a firm soon. However, I believe (and stated so after her departure from Yahoo!) that she's more likely to end up in a financial role (or financial firm) next than a tech firm.

I think Berkshire would be a good fit for her -- not to take over for Warren, but for an important senior role. Omaha's a little different from NYC or the Bay Area but I think she would love the opportunity to be part of the Berkshire team and prove to the world how good she is. I expect some kind of announcement in the next six months.

Position: None.

Originally published in RealMoney.com on 5/1/2009 4:39 PM EDT

To get Eric Jackson's real-time updates, subscribe to RealMoney.com