Re: Politics

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President Obama arrives in SF to jeers, not cheers he received in past


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By: Ari Burack | 10/25/11 7:17 PM



As President Barack Obama made a brief fundraising visit to San Francisco Tuesday, citizens who voted overwhelmingly for him in 2008 gave him an earful — though he probably didn’t hear it.

Hundreds of people angry about federal raids on medical marijuana dispensaries, a proposed oil pipeline from Canada, Wall Street bailouts, the war in Afghanistan and much, much more waited outside the W Hotel, where Obama attended a lunchtime fundraiser.

But Obama’s motorcade was escorted to the hotel via a route away from the protesters, who were left to shout and chant among themselves behind police barricades.

“I was a supporter of Obama, but I’m so disillusioned right now,” said protester Catherine Woods. “And it seems to be getting worse and worse.”

Woods was one of dozens of people carrying signs opposing the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry oil from Alberta, Canada, to the Gulf Coast. And she said Obama’s failure to raise taxes on the wealthy and implement a public health care option was “bit by bit, chipping away, eroding the whole platform he campaigned on: Change that you can believe in.”

Some of the loudest protests came from medical marijuana supporters, who at an earlier news conference decried an apparent federal policy change under which U.S. attorneys recently threatened to seize property owned by landlords of pot clubs.

State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, who has supported the legalization of marijuana, said he was “disappointed and confused” by the Justice Department’s recent shift on medical cannabis dispensaries. He called it a “very, very heavy-handed strategy that is going to make a lot of innocent people suffer.”

Tuesday’s protests included chants of “DEA, go away” and “We’re patients, not criminals.”

Later in the day, Supervisor David Campos introduced a resolution at the Board of Supervisors calling on the federal government to “respect state law.”

As participants in San Francisco’s Occupy movement complained outside about Obama’s coddling of the “1 percent,” Obama spoke to a 200-person crowd, each of whom paid at least $5,000 to attend.

Obama drew a distinction between his economic plans and those of his Republican rivals, whom he said are only interested in cutting taxes for the wealthy and eliminating regulations.

“It’s not as if we haven’t tried what they’re selling,” Obama said. “We have. And it didn’t work.”
Other protesters focused on the state of health care in the country.

“As nurses, we see broad declines in the health status of our communities, and all the administration’s been talking about are cuts,” said DeAnn McEwen, who works at a Southern California trauma center.

Pipeline opponents Sue and Bob Shattuck, a married couple from Danville, also said they had serious concerns about Obama preserving Social Security for future generations.

“I haven’t heard definitive statements from him that he will protect it, no matter what,” Sue Shattuck said.
Yet the Shattucks, both 70 years old and retired teachers, worked for Obama’s presidential campaign and agreed they will vote for him again.

“What would be the alternative?” said Bob Shattuck.

Read more at the San Francisco Examiner:

http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/2011/10 ... z1bxZvr5wp

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LOL!

San Francisco is an attractor for single issue motivated voters.

When Gavin Newsome was elected, he truly was the "most conservative" candidate in the multiple player race.

Current front runner, interim city mayor, is the current frontrunner in a big pack of candidates. And he too is the most conservative.

Re: Politics

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Coming home from The Browns game at Candlestick in San Francisco I was on a BART train from San Francisco. At one of the Oakland stops some long haired, scraggly guy came onto the train and walked through placing an adhesive flyer on the BART instructions by each door. It's common for BART to do temporary fixes and adjustments by modifying the posters so when I exited the train I took a moment to read.

It was a flier in Spanish.

Here's the translation:


_________________________________________________________________________


Liberate Oakland

Shut Down the 1%


General Strike & Mass Day of Action
called for by Occupy Oakland


Wednesday November 2, 2011

Everyone to the Streets!
No Work! No School!

Converge on Downtown Oakland
to help shut down the city

mass gatherings at 14th & Broadway:

9:00am • 12 noon • 5:00pm


All banks and corporations must close down for the day or we will march on them


• Solidarity with the worldwide Occupy Movement
• End Police Attacks on Our Communities
• Defend Oakland Schools & Libraries
• Against an economic system built on inequality & corporate power that perpetuates racism, sexism & the destruction of the environment

occupyoakland.org/strike


_________________________________________________________________________
from the occupyoakland.org/strike site:
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Blockade Port of Oakland During Nov 2 General Strike

October 29, 2011

Resolution passed unanimously by the Occupy Oakland strike assembly on Friday October 29




On Wednesday, November 2nd as part of the Oakland General Strike, we will march on the Port of Oakland and shut it down. We will converge at 5pm at 14th and Broadway and march to the port to shut it down before the 7pm night shift.

We are doing this in order to blockade the flow of capital on the day of the General Strike, as well as to show our commitment to solidarity with Longshore workers in their struggle against EGT in Longview, Washington. EGT is an international grain exporter which is attempting to rupture longshore jurisdiction. The driving force behind EGT is Bunge LTD, a leading agribusiness and food company which reported 2.4 billion dollars in profit in 2010; this company has strong ties to Wall Street. This is but one example of Wall Street’s corporate attack on workers.

The Oakland General Strike will demonstrate the wide reaching implications of the Occupy Wall Street movement. The entire world is fed up with the huge disparity of wealth caused by the present system. Now is the time that the people are doing something about it.The Oakland General Strike is a warning shot to the 1% – their wealth only exists because the 99% creates it for them.

Re: Politics

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NBA Stars to Play in Obama Campaign Basketball Fundraiser

Published November 19, 2011 | Associated Press

WASHINGTON – President Obama's re-election campaign is bringing together more than two dozen National Basketball Association stars for a fundraising basketball game next month.

Obama's campaign says Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks, Ray Allen of the Boston Celtics, Chris Bosh of the Miami Heat and many others will headline the "Obama Classic Basketball Game" on Dec. 12 in Washington.

With the NBA season in jeopardy because of the lockout, the game will serve as a fundraising All-star game. Others confirmed to play include Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant, New Orleans Hornets guard Chris Paul and Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard.

Tickets range from $100 to $5,000 for courtside seats. The money will go to the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fundraising account by the Democratic Party and Obama's re-election campaign.

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VT'er wrote:To answer your wife's question: Gates, Jobs, and Streisand actually created new stuff that people wanted.

I was at the San Francisco "Occupy" tent city in San Francisco last week.

I didn't hear any Streisand being played.

My most striking take away from going down for the sake of personal observation was that I was there for their "meat and potatoes" presentation time labeled "Teach In." There was a lighted platform about 200 feet from the encampment, and a series of "Occupy Notables" taking the microphone to offer anecdotes and diatribe.

Seriously, no exaggeration, there were no more than a dozen people at the stage and listening.

All of the other "Occupy campers" were still back in tent city sleeping or doing whatever they do around 4:30PM.



99% plus another .9% of the hundreds if not thousands of tourists and workers in the area just walked by at rush hour without paying any attention to the shouting and shrill "Occupy" speakers.

I did go down to listen for a bit, because I like to think I have an open mind and appreciate and will protect public discourse. I maybe brought the listeners to a total of 13.

At dark fall, the Disney on Ice outdoor Christmas dress rehearsal began as planned and announced weeks ago. Behind the "Occupy speakers."

The Occupy speakers were drowned out by the sound, and I left.

If the Occupy speakers would have used devices introduced by Jobs and Gates, they could have known well in advance the Disney sound system was going to be cranked up behind their makeshift stage in prep for the public Holiday Season presentation.

Big attempt to make noise, and little to no effort at prep.

It's a small world after all.

Lucy Van Pelt: Look, Charlie, let's face it. We all know that Christmas is a big commercial racket. It's run by a big eastern syndicate, you know.

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<

The English language has some wonderfully anthropomorphic collective nouns for the various groups of animals. We are all familiar with a:

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Herd of cows,

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A Flock of chickens

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a School of fish

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and a Gaggle of geese.

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However, less widely known is:

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a Pride of lions,

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a Murder of crows

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an Exaltation of doves

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a Parliament of owls.

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Now consider a group of Baboons. They are the loudest, most dangerous, most obnoxious, most viciously aggressive and least intelligent of all primates.

And what is the proper collective noun for a group of baboons?!?!?!?!?!?!

Believe it or not …….

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A CONGRESS OF BABOONS!

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You just can’t make this stuff up.

Go green – Recycle Congress in 2012 !!!
“Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday's success or put its failures behind and start over again. That's the way life is, with a new game every day, and that's the way baseball is.”
-- Bob Feller

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http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2011/1 ... /#comments

Gay Porn Video Shot At Occupy Oakland Encampment

November 23, 2011 11:48 AM

OAKLAND (CBS SF) — The Occupy Oakland encampment recently broken up outside City Hall was the setting for a gay pornography video apparently shot on site.

New York-based Dirty Boy Video set their latest flick, “Occupy My Throat,” at the encampment at Frank Ogawa Plaza, using footage of the protests in their B-roll before going X-rated.

Occupy Wall Street has grown significantly in two months from a movement grasping for media attention to a world-wide phenomenon that confronts many issues and inspires products that memorialize it — like the Occupy Wall Street coloring book and a t-shirt from Jay-Z’s Rockawear clothing line that reads “Occupy All Streets.”

Dirty Boy Video president Andy Fine addressed his company’s position and feelings regarding the movement in an open letter to Brandon Watts, an original member of the Wall Street occupation and the bloodied face of its “Day of Action.” A New York Times Magazine story about Watts losing his virginity while camping in New York City’s Zuccotti Park prompted Fine to offer him cash for the chance to tape his next experience.

“I offer you the opportunity to perform on our website, an opportunity to express yourself and your politics freely and without censor. Working together we can create a sexy, fun platform that inspires you, be that with other actors, actresses or both. Whether you choose to work with us or not, I salute your dedication and your courage,” Fine said in his letter to Watts.

Watts did not appear in the Dirty Boy Video production and was not available for comment.

Re: Politics

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2010 Turkeys Pardoned By Obama Died This Year

By Lauren Fox

November 22, 2011 RSS Feed Print

Thanksgiving can be tough for a turkey, but every year two birds get a lucky break thanks to the presidential pardon.

And for the pardoned turkey and its alternate, their large size makes life sweet—but short. Last year's presidentially pardoned turkeys, Apple and Cider, passed away within the year after President Obama pardoned them.

Susie Coston, national shelter director of the Farm Sanctuary, a farm animal rescue facility, says that the birds are bred for eating, which makes them fat and prone to heart disease, respiratory conditions, and strained joints. In order to dodge death, she says, the turkeys would need to be on a restrictive diet.

Apple and Cider's deaths, though, won't put a damper on this year's pardoning of the presidential turkeys, who will be named by President Obama. Even before heading to the White House tomorrow, both will get the star treatment with a night stay at the posh W Hotel in downtown Washington. "They might be too excited to even go to sleep," says Sherrie Rosenblatt, spokewoman for the National Turkey Federation, which helps to organize the yearly pardoning.

Why two birds? One is chosen as an alternate in case the other dies before the Rose Garden event. This year's birds are from Minnesota.

Rossenblatt says the birds are specially selected at birth to be part of the pardoning ceremony. They are exposed to music, hand feeding, cameras, and loud noises to prepare them for the event, covered by the White House press corps. [Bachmann’s Thanksgiving: Cheap Bird and ‘Turkey Bingo’.]

"It is kind of like a beauty pageant," Rosenblatt says. "The turkeys have to look good on camera, but also have a nice demeanor. They have to have pride in the honor that is bestowed upon them."

After the ceremony at the White House, both of the turkeys will be taken to George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate, Museum & Gardens in nearby Virginia, where they will live out the remainder of their lives. The pardoned turkey will be part of the Christmas display, where it is a "popular draw," says Rebecca Aloisi, vice president of marketing at Mount Vernon.