Source: ABC
Hundreds of supporters donating millions of dollars came to hear President Barack Obama speak in San Francisco on Thursday night, but not everyone came to cheer. A huge crowd of protesters also turned out to deliver messages of their own.
By 11 p.m. many of the protesters cleared out, but many of them acknowledge the president probably never saw them. Some protesters said they still feel good that they go their opinion out there, hoping someone in the crowd heard or saw their message.
People started lining up a few hours before Obama was scheduled to arrive at the Westin St. Frances Hotel. Protestors had a lot to say about health care and the war in Afghanistan. They argued with each other and held signs with strong messages for the president.
"People in this country had a lot of trust to vote for him to make a change and they really didn't know what kind of change," said Pleasanton resident Karla Bruen.
The majority of the protestors didn't vote for Obama, but some of them did. They said when it comes to health care reform, Obama isn't leaning as far left as they would like.
"I feel that he could be doing a lot more. I feel that Obama needs to come forward and support single payer health care," said Petaluma resident Stan Gold.
But the president missed the messages; his motorcade slipped him into a hotel side entrance, away from the masses waiting on Powell Street. Inside, he acknowledged the debates raging around the issues.
"I believe in a two party system (Exactly, one party parading as two, and has been getting us no where for over 50 years... and he likes it that way. Time to allow 3rd party candidates into the debate) where ideas are tested and assumptions are challenged because that's how we move this country forward, but what I reject is when some folks decide to sit on the sidelines and root for failure," said Obama.
He told the crowd to get ready for some intense arguing around health care.
"We are closer than we have ever been to passing health insurance reform. Health insurance reform that will finally make quality care affordable for people who don't have it, and bring stability and security to people who do, and slow the skyrocketing health care costs that are crushing our families and businesses and our state and our federal government," said Obama.
Those inside said they liked what they heard.
"I think that he said everything I would like him to say and I believe in him and think he's going to do everything we can hope for our country," said Berkeley resident Marika Shaub.
Supporters paid a lot to hear the president tonight. It was a $500 minimum to get into the VIP reception. Some paid around $30,000 to go to the dinner. The Democratic Party estimates it raised $3 million Thursday night.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Stunning Secrets of Kubrick's 'The Shining'
I never gave much thought to the subject of the moon landings being faked, but this article has some really incredible information.
The Shining is surely Stanley Kubrick's most misunderstood masterpiece.
I use the word 'masterpiece' guardedly because I have never really thought that The Shining was a very good film.
At the time, in 1980 when I first saw it, I didn't like it at all. The way that Kubrick threw out so much of Stephen King's great source material and replaced it with a lot of things that just didn't seem to make any sense, really bothered me.
Hopefully, before I am finished with this essay, the reader will see it is only when Kubrick dramatically alters the script from Stephen King's novel that we can begin to understand what Stanley Kubrick is trying to tell us in his version of The Shining.
It should be understood from the beginning that The Shining is Stanley Kubrick's most personal film (outside of, possibly, Eyes Wide Shut). Before we are done here it will be easy to see that Kubrick was only using Stephen King's novel as a launching pad (excuse the pun) to be able to tell a completely different story under the guise of making a film based on a best-selling novel. He did this for a very important reason - mainly to save his life.
continue reading ------->
http://www.jayweidner.com/ShiningSecrets.html
The Shining is surely Stanley Kubrick's most misunderstood masterpiece.
I use the word 'masterpiece' guardedly because I have never really thought that The Shining was a very good film.
At the time, in 1980 when I first saw it, I didn't like it at all. The way that Kubrick threw out so much of Stephen King's great source material and replaced it with a lot of things that just didn't seem to make any sense, really bothered me.
Hopefully, before I am finished with this essay, the reader will see it is only when Kubrick dramatically alters the script from Stephen King's novel that we can begin to understand what Stanley Kubrick is trying to tell us in his version of The Shining.
It should be understood from the beginning that The Shining is Stanley Kubrick's most personal film (outside of, possibly, Eyes Wide Shut). Before we are done here it will be easy to see that Kubrick was only using Stephen King's novel as a launching pad (excuse the pun) to be able to tell a completely different story under the guise of making a film based on a best-selling novel. He did this for a very important reason - mainly to save his life.
continue reading ------->
http://www.jayweidner.com/ShiningSecrets.html
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Dollar loses reserve status to yen & euro
Source: NY Post
Ben Bernanke's dollar crisis went into a wider mode yesterday as the greenback was shockingly upstaged by the euro and yen, both of which can lay claim to the world title as the currency favored by central banks as their reserve currency.
Over the last three months, banks put 63 percent of their new cash into euros and yen -- not the greenbacks -- a nearly complete reversal of the dollar's onetime dominance for reserves, according to Barclays Capital. The dollar's share of new cash in the central banks was down to 37 percent -- compared with two-thirds a decade ago.
Currently, dollars account for about 62 percent of the currency reserve at central banks -- the lowest on record, said the International Monetary Fund.
Bernanke could go down in economic history as the man who killed the greenback on the operating table.
After printing up trillions of new dollars and new bonds to stimulate the US economy, the Federal Reserve chief is now boxed into a corner battling two separate monsters that could devour the economy -- ravenous inflation on one hand, and a perilous recession on the other.
"He's in a crisis worse than the meltdown ever was," said Peter Schiff, president of Euro Pacific Capital. "I fear that he could be the Fed chairman who brought down the whole thing."
Investors and central banks are snubbing dollars because the greenback is kept too weak by zero interest rates and a flood of greenbacks in the global economy.
They grumble that they've loaned the US record amounts to cover its mounting debt, but are getting paid back by a currency that's worth 10 percent less in the past three months alone. In a decade, it's down nearly one-third.
Yesterday, the dollar had a mixed performance, falling slightly against the British pound to $1.5801 from $1.5846 Friday, but rising against the euro to $1.4779 from $1.4709 and against the yen to 89.85 yen from 89.78.
Economists believe the market rebellion against the dollar will spread until Bernanke starts raising interest rates from around zero to the high single digits, and pulls back the flood of currency spewed from US printing presses.
"That's a cure, but it's also going to stifle any US economic growth," said Schiff. "The economy is addicted to the cheap interest and liquidity."
Economists warn that a jump in rates will clobber stocks and cripple the already stalled housing market.
"Bernanke's other choice is to keep rates at zero, print even more money and sell more debt, but we'll see triple-digit inflation that could collapse the economy as we know it.
"The stimulus is what's toxic -- we're poisoning ourselves and the global economy with it."
Ben Bernanke's dollar crisis went into a wider mode yesterday as the greenback was shockingly upstaged by the euro and yen, both of which can lay claim to the world title as the currency favored by central banks as their reserve currency.
Over the last three months, banks put 63 percent of their new cash into euros and yen -- not the greenbacks -- a nearly complete reversal of the dollar's onetime dominance for reserves, according to Barclays Capital. The dollar's share of new cash in the central banks was down to 37 percent -- compared with two-thirds a decade ago.
Currently, dollars account for about 62 percent of the currency reserve at central banks -- the lowest on record, said the International Monetary Fund.
Bernanke could go down in economic history as the man who killed the greenback on the operating table.
After printing up trillions of new dollars and new bonds to stimulate the US economy, the Federal Reserve chief is now boxed into a corner battling two separate monsters that could devour the economy -- ravenous inflation on one hand, and a perilous recession on the other.
"He's in a crisis worse than the meltdown ever was," said Peter Schiff, president of Euro Pacific Capital. "I fear that he could be the Fed chairman who brought down the whole thing."
Investors and central banks are snubbing dollars because the greenback is kept too weak by zero interest rates and a flood of greenbacks in the global economy.
They grumble that they've loaned the US record amounts to cover its mounting debt, but are getting paid back by a currency that's worth 10 percent less in the past three months alone. In a decade, it's down nearly one-third.
Yesterday, the dollar had a mixed performance, falling slightly against the British pound to $1.5801 from $1.5846 Friday, but rising against the euro to $1.4779 from $1.4709 and against the yen to 89.85 yen from 89.78.
Economists believe the market rebellion against the dollar will spread until Bernanke starts raising interest rates from around zero to the high single digits, and pulls back the flood of currency spewed from US printing presses.
"That's a cure, but it's also going to stifle any US economic growth," said Schiff. "The economy is addicted to the cheap interest and liquidity."
Economists warn that a jump in rates will clobber stocks and cripple the already stalled housing market.
"Bernanke's other choice is to keep rates at zero, print even more money and sell more debt, but we'll see triple-digit inflation that could collapse the economy as we know it.
"The stimulus is what's toxic -- we're poisoning ourselves and the global economy with it."
Geithner 'Ultimately Responsible' For AIG Missteps
Source: NPR
The special inspector general for the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program said Wednesday a "failure" of oversight at the Treasury Department was to blame for regulators' not reining in retention bonuses at American International Group.
Neil Barofsky told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that the Treasury Department paid little attention to the executive compensation structure at AIG.
"Our audit concludes that this was a failure," Barofsky testified, saying the Treasury Department abdicated its oversight role to the Federal Reserve. Barofsky said that move turned out to be a mistake "as reflected perhaps most clearly by the fact that its agreement with AIG included no provisions relating to executive compensation."
Barofsky was on Capitol Hill to answer questions about a report released Tuesday that outlines events leading up to AIG's payment of $1.75 billion in bonuses, retention payments and deferred compensation to executives and other workers. About $168 million went to employees of AIG Financial Products, the unit that lead the company to the brink of failure.
In the report, Barofsky wrote that Treasury did not understand AIG's pay structure when it gave the firm billions in aid last fall. On Wednesday, he said that officials at the New York Fed were still struggling with AIG's compensation structure when he finished his audit last month.
Officials discovered 620 bonus programs totaling $455 million, and 13 retention plans allocating $1 billion, according to the report. The company has asked employees to return some of the money voluntarily.
Barofsky criticized the Treasury, under then-Secretary Henry Paulson, for "outsourcing" its oversight duties to the Fed, which he said had different priorities from Treasury.
Barofsky said Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke were aware of AIG's bonus plans, but they were not aware of the size and scope of the bonuses that were going out to AIG employees in March 2009 until shortly before they were paid.
Geithner was president of the New York Federal Reserve in September 2008 when it gave AIG its first bailout, $85 billion. Later, AIG got a bailout of $180 billion from taxpayers.
"Our audit also concludes that Secretary Geithner did not find out, did not learn of these bonus payments until just days before they were made, but this too is a failure. It was a failure of communications, and it was a failure of management," Barofsky told the House panel.
He said some executives at New York's Federal Reserve knew that AIG was contractually obligated to make the bonus payments in the fall of 2008, but they did not alert Geithner.
"What they explained to us was, in substance, they didn't think it was such a big deal — $168 million was a drop in the bucket," Barofsky told lawmakers.
Barofsky's report said the Obama administration's pay czar has asked AIG to withhold some of the millions in bonuses promised to its employees.
Kenneth Feinberg, the special master for executive compensation, has "informally" advised AIG not to pay the full $198 million employees expect to receive, according to the report.
Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) suggested that the government look for legal ways to force AIG to return some of the money spent on executive compensation.
But Barofsky said that could be difficult. However, he said it is possible that monies could be recovered through forfeiture if a recipient of the bonuses was involved in the fraud that led to a bonus being paid out.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) faulted Geithner for failing to keep himself apprised of how AIG was spending the money that provided the company's first lifeline.
"We have a secretary of the Treasury who failed to know when he should have known and failed to give us transparency," Issa said. He asked Geithner to meet with the committee to answer questions at a future date.
The special inspector general for the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program said Wednesday a "failure" of oversight at the Treasury Department was to blame for regulators' not reining in retention bonuses at American International Group.
Neil Barofsky told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that the Treasury Department paid little attention to the executive compensation structure at AIG.
"Our audit concludes that this was a failure," Barofsky testified, saying the Treasury Department abdicated its oversight role to the Federal Reserve. Barofsky said that move turned out to be a mistake "as reflected perhaps most clearly by the fact that its agreement with AIG included no provisions relating to executive compensation."
Barofsky was on Capitol Hill to answer questions about a report released Tuesday that outlines events leading up to AIG's payment of $1.75 billion in bonuses, retention payments and deferred compensation to executives and other workers. About $168 million went to employees of AIG Financial Products, the unit that lead the company to the brink of failure.
In the report, Barofsky wrote that Treasury did not understand AIG's pay structure when it gave the firm billions in aid last fall. On Wednesday, he said that officials at the New York Fed were still struggling with AIG's compensation structure when he finished his audit last month.
Officials discovered 620 bonus programs totaling $455 million, and 13 retention plans allocating $1 billion, according to the report. The company has asked employees to return some of the money voluntarily.
Barofsky criticized the Treasury, under then-Secretary Henry Paulson, for "outsourcing" its oversight duties to the Fed, which he said had different priorities from Treasury.
Barofsky said Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke were aware of AIG's bonus plans, but they were not aware of the size and scope of the bonuses that were going out to AIG employees in March 2009 until shortly before they were paid.
Geithner was president of the New York Federal Reserve in September 2008 when it gave AIG its first bailout, $85 billion. Later, AIG got a bailout of $180 billion from taxpayers.
"Our audit also concludes that Secretary Geithner did not find out, did not learn of these bonus payments until just days before they were made, but this too is a failure. It was a failure of communications, and it was a failure of management," Barofsky told the House panel.
He said some executives at New York's Federal Reserve knew that AIG was contractually obligated to make the bonus payments in the fall of 2008, but they did not alert Geithner.
"What they explained to us was, in substance, they didn't think it was such a big deal — $168 million was a drop in the bucket," Barofsky told lawmakers.
Barofsky's report said the Obama administration's pay czar has asked AIG to withhold some of the millions in bonuses promised to its employees.
Kenneth Feinberg, the special master for executive compensation, has "informally" advised AIG not to pay the full $198 million employees expect to receive, according to the report.
Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) suggested that the government look for legal ways to force AIG to return some of the money spent on executive compensation.
But Barofsky said that could be difficult. However, he said it is possible that monies could be recovered through forfeiture if a recipient of the bonuses was involved in the fraud that led to a bonus being paid out.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) faulted Geithner for failing to keep himself apprised of how AIG was spending the money that provided the company's first lifeline.
"We have a secretary of the Treasury who failed to know when he should have known and failed to give us transparency," Issa said. He asked Geithner to meet with the committee to answer questions at a future date.
EVENT: Ralph Nader in the Bay Area Oct 16th!
Ralph Nader will be in the Bay Area on Friday October 16, 2009.
Ralph will be speaking about single payer and about his new book (his first work of fiction) -- "Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us!"
If you have any questions, please contact Matt Zawisky at zawisky@gmail.com
Here's the schedule for the Bay Area:
San Mateo, CA
Oct 16, Friday
4:30pm
Barnes & Noble Book Store
11 West Hillsdale Blvd
Palo Alto, CA
October 16, Friday
7:00 pm
Commonwealth Club
Cubberley Theater
4000 Middlefield Road
Hope to see you there.
Onward to Single Payer
Matt Zawisky
Ralph will be speaking about single payer and about his new book (his first work of fiction) -- "Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us!"
If you have any questions, please contact Matt Zawisky at zawisky@gmail.com
Here's the schedule for the Bay Area:
San Mateo, CA
Oct 16, Friday
4:30pm
Barnes & Noble Book Store
11 West Hillsdale Blvd
Palo Alto, CA
October 16, Friday
7:00 pm
Commonwealth Club
Cubberley Theater
4000 Middlefield Road
Hope to see you there.
Onward to Single Payer
Matt Zawisky
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