Suddenly, Ben Stein cares about conflicts of interest

Ben Stein is a droll little fellow, and apparently not without a sense of irony. In the new issue of Fortune, the former Nixon speechwriter and game show host asks, "Does Dick Parsons Have a Conflict of Interest?"

Stein's answer: Yes. Parsons, the former chairman of Time Warner (TWX) (which, as Stein notes, publishes Fortune, and which also owns DailyFinance parent AOL), is guilty of scrambling his obligations by simultaneously serving as chairman of Citigroup (C) and a senior adviser to Providence Equity Partners, a client of Citigroup's.