FINANCE
• Another woman joined the federal discrimination lawsuit against Bloomberg LP. After her first child in 2005, her pay fell and her colleagues turned into sharks. One supervisor even asked, “What is this, your third baby?” [NYT]
• More of the same on the Street: Bank of America wrote down $3 billion; Bear Stearns, $1.2 billion; and British bank HSBC took the cake with $3.4 billion, largely due to U.S. mortgage weaknesses. Meanwhile, Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein laughed in everyone’s face, predicting no more write-downs (not that they lost much in the first place) at the Teflon bank. [NYP, NYT, NYT, DealBreaker]
• Is the credit crunch just like Enron all over again? So says Bethany McLean, the reporter who first broke Ken Lay’s fraud wide open. [Fortune]
MEDIA
• New Yorker media reporter Ken Auletta plans to go on Imus’s new show, even though he promised last spring during the scandal that he wouldn’t. “I think people deserve second chances,” Auletta said. “If you believe in rehabilitation, if you don’t believe in the death penalty, you believe that some people can be reformed and changed.” That must be why Imus’s new backers have him on a 21-second delay — they’re trying to cure the poor guy! [NYO]
• Ron Burkle’s bid for AMI is looking less than certain, but Star’s newest feature should help. Apparently chubby-cheeked Burkle is now one of “America’s sexiest billionaire bachelors.” Can’t wait to see how Radar will flatter their mysterious backer, long-rumored to be Burkle, if he threatens to pull funding. Burkle superimposed on Brad Pitt’s body, anyone? [NYP]
• David Remnick and Richard Stengel attended the same summer camp as kids. How cute! [NYP]
LAW
• An unusually, well, ruly crowd of attorneys and judges gathered outside City Hall yesterday to protest the oppression of lawyers in Pakistan. Readings included Mandela, Shakespeare, and that great mine of American oratory, George W. Bush. [NYT]
• Justice O’Connor in a love triangle? Shut off your dirty mind for a moment; this is sadder than you’d think. [Above the Law]
• Sidley Austin announced special bonuses, but only for New York. Eat it, Chicago! [Above the Law]
FASHION
• Lululemon Athletica got busted by the Times for false claims. Wearing seaweed won’t make you into a superman after all. [Racked]
• Luella Bartley is designing for Disney. Somewhere, a 5-year-old girl doesn’t care. [Fashionista]
• Vivienne Westwood is showing one of her lines in London this coming fashion season. [WWD]
