Obama Visits the S(lush) F(und) Bay Area
On April 20, President Obama arrived for yet another whirlwind wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am through the the S.F. Bay Area (the “S.F.” in this case an abbreviation for “Slush Fund”). He comes here for fundraisers so often now that locals have started referring to San Francisco as “the president’s ATM.”
The “White House Dossier” blog was the only site which published the full schedule for April 20:
Obama Schedule || Wednesday, April 20, 2011
1:30 pm || Arrives in San Francisco
1:45 pm || Participates in Town Hall on bringing down the deficit
6:15 pm || Delivers remarks at DNC fundraiser – private residence; San Francisco
8:30 pm || Delivers remarks at second DNC fundraiser- Nob Hill Masonic Center; San Francisco
These events were to be followed up with yet another fundraiser at the city’s St. Regis Hotel the next morning.
This report will cover each stop on Obama’s visit to the Progressive Piggy Bank.
Stop #1: Facebook HQ, Palo Alto
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This was the headline event which got most of the press coverage. Obama had some kind of “townhall” meeting streamed live from Facebook headquarters which he billed as a “discussion with the voters” rather than just a one-way dictation from The One to us peons. Problem is, it turned out to be such a boring, staged event with softball questions and a brown-nosing host that it had basically no effect on the culture or on anyone’s perception of the president.
Any pretense of authenticity or spontaneity was wiped away in a surprisingly frank AP account of the aftermath:
Afterward, employees were quickly shuttled out as they rebuffed reporters’ attempts to interview them. Facebook is known for its rigorous effort to control its media image, and Zuckerberg seldom grants interviews.
An employee offering a glowing review of his employer and Obama’s visit was interrupted by a company spokesman, who declined to give media access to audience members.
It was a stark contrast to Obama’s easygoing introduction…
Wow. Even the guy who was lavishing sycophantic praise on his bosses was shut up and probably later admonished for speaking without permission. One word summation: Control.
There was also a multifaceted protest outside the Facebook townhall, including a Tea Party contingent, but I skipped the event myself, so instead I’ll present here a couple of snaps from dinab’s Flickr set and from Nina Pelligrini covering the protest:
(Photo © Dina Boyer 2011)
The crowd was a mix of Obama supporters and detractors; among the detractors, half were attacking him from the far left, and half from the right. Here we see part of a Tea Party contingent.
(Photo © Nina Pelligrini 2011)
Best use of a dunce cap I’ve seen in a long time.
(Photo © Nina Pelligrini 2011)
Code Pink and the Tea Party in agreement? Obama makes strange bedfellows.
(Photo © Dina Boyer 2011)
Obama fans go wild as the president’s motorcade drives by.
But to get the real flavor of the Facebook protest, watch this fascinating 6-minute video, featuring interviews with Obama supporters who seem to have no clue about his policies or how the economy works:
Pay especial attention to the segment starting at 2:05, in which one Obama voter proposes, in all seriousness, her solution to the U.S. going into debt: “That’s an absolute shame. And I don’t think we need to borrow any money. We print the money. So why do we need to borrow the money? Just print some more!” Why didn’t I think of that? Economics 101!
The final segment of the video is also chilling, when Facebook commands the Palo Alto cops to keep Obama skeptics off its property, but allow Obama fans to approach freely. As the videographer points out: Facebook is now a vital communication tool in the U.S. and worldwide — and yet its management has an obvious pro-Obama bias. How does that reflect on their policies for allowing or forbidding certain political content on its site?
Stop #2: $35,800/plate dinner, Marc Benioff’s home, San Francisco
After satiating the hoi polloi with his Facebook stagecraft, Obama set off for some hardcore fundraisin’ — the real point of the visit. The first, and swankiest, of his three whirlwind back-to-back-to-back fundraisers was a $35,800/plate (not a typo) dinner at the Presidio Heights home of billionaire Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff.
This time I was waiting for him. But here there were no large crowds, no organized protests — because the exact location of the fundraiser had never been released. I myself uncovered it through a bit of detective work, but just about everyone else there were passersby who stumbled on the event by accident.
At first, the only people on hand were a TV news crew, a schoolgirl on her way home, and a couple neighbors.
Behind barricades, an “arrival tent” had been set up in front of Benioff’s home to receive the president’s limousine.
I saw a mini-flurry of activity down the block. Turns out there was a second barricade where they were letting guests into the back of the house one intersection further north. I went over and encountered a lone Obama fan displaying her sign to arriving dignitaries. A small cluster of people there said Obama had been spotted getting off a helicopter down at Chrissy Field, a former military runway turned into a park nearby in the Presidio. So they expected him to show up here sometime soon. The girl with the sign said she had just made it on the spur of the moment when she heard from a friend that Obama was arriving.
A lone counter-protester came prepared with a pre-printed sign that said “Fund Schools Not War!” As far as I could tell, she was the only other person (aside from me and two TV crews) who figured out ahead of time the location of the fundraiser. She was joined by a passerby who scribbled her own quickie sign that seemed (???) to call for a primary challenge against Dianne Feinstein: “Save Social Security, Primary Feinstein 2012.” (Since California confirmed its status as a solid blue state in the 2010 elections, the only way now to unseat Democratic incumbents is to defeat them in the intra-party primaries.)
An explosives-sniffing dog checked out every single arriving vehicle, no exceptions.
A White House staffer checked every arrival against an official guest list.
Even if you arrived on foot, you still had to be on the list, and were given a once-over by the Secret Service.
I began to notice that the White House staffer was being very lackadaisical about protecting the list. She often stood just a few feet from us rubberneckers with the list dangling in plain view. Could I resist snapping a couple pictures of it? Of course not!
The guest list
I already made a separate blog post about the guest list; click here if you want to read it or link to it as a stand-alone entry. Otherwise, just keep reading below since I’ve pasted that separate post in its entirety here. (And if you’ve already read it, then skip the next few photos and scroll down for the continuation of this report — there’s plenty more!)
Obama’s $3 million S.F. dinner — the complete guest list
Craig Newmark, Cissie Swig, Steve Westly and will.i.am each happily dropped $35,800 to dine with President Obama at billionaire Marc Benioff’s San Francisco home Wednesday evening. These are just some of the 85 famous names on the fundraiser’s guest list which was plainly visible to rubberneckers as attendees checked in. Combined, Obama’s take for the 90-minute event was a cool $3 million — or $3,043,000 to be exact (85 guests x $35,800 each).
The record-setting price tag for the dinner was part of Obama’s highly profitable fundraising swing through the San Francisco Bay Area on Wednesday, April 20.
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A small cluster of onlookers — a few Obama fans, a few protesters, but mostly local residents who happened to pass by — watched and waited on the sidewalk at the intersection of Presidio and Pacific avenues for the President to arrive. While his motorcade was delayed for hours, a steady stream of well-dressed guests showed up and were let in one by one. Each name was checked on a master list of attendees held by a staffer who (unintentionally, one presumes) allowed nearby rubberneckers to get a glimpse of it as she flipped the pages.
The photographs below were taken of the fundraiser’s official guest list as the staffer checked the ID of each arrival. In total, 85 entries are visible on two different pages, though only about 50 of the names are fully legible.
Craig Newmark is the founder of craigslist and is a well-known internet entrepreneur. Cissie Swig is a wealthy philanthropist and a member of San Francisco’s famous Swig clan. Steve Westly is a California politician, candidate for governor, venture capitalist, and ardent Obama supporter. And will.i.am is a musician and producer, best known as the leader of the Black Eyed Peas.
Several other famous names are on the list. Readers interested in seeing who can afford to spend $35,800 for a 90-minute dinner can scan the photos below.
The full list of legible names (and the rest of this report) is presented after the photos.
[Click on each image to see it in higher resolution.]
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List of attendees at Marc Benioff’s $35,800/plate Obama fundraiser:
| Page 1
Denise Bauer |
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Lisa O… |
Here’s the only report I could find from a pool reporter allowed into the event. A snippet — yes, that really is the “Stevie Wonder” on the list!:
The press corps was ushered into a large tent set up in the courtyard in the middle of Benioff’s block-wide residence, to find Stevie Wonder entertaining the crowd; his final song was a new one composed for the occasion, entitled “Ten Billion Hearts,” about joining together to heal the world.
The President was seated at Benioff’s table; Wonder returned to sit at the President’s side as Benioff introduced POTUS, saying that in a time of many crises, “we have the right person to lead us here.” Recording artist Will.I.am was seated at the same table.
…and the rest seemed to be not much more than a boilerplate stump speech. But…will.i.am at the table of honor?
Amongst the celebrity names, I personally only spotted one arriving — Craig Newmark, founder and namesake of craigslist.
He may not be that well-known in the rest of the country, but around here he’s an A-list celebrity. As he first arrived (on foot), a woman screamed “Oh my God — it’s Craig!” Down-to-earth guy that he is, he came over and chatted to her, and as you can see, she was absolutely starstruck.
Even the cops wanted to shake his hand. Of all the billionaires and celebrities showing up, Craig Newmark was the only person the police acted like fans around.
As the minutes passed, the crowd began to swell — a little. From 10 to maybe 20 people. The girl with the pro-Obama sign became a prop used in souvenir photographs by passing tourists. (And notice the teenagers in the background mugging for the camera.)
A dour-faced single-payer advocate showed to up express her displeasure with Obama’s half-measure health care reform.
Another passerby came over to investigate the hubbub, and I have no real reason to post her picture except to lure in as much male Web traffic as possible. In fact, I might as well not even write a caption for this picture, because I know you’re not reading it.
I waited as long as I could for Obama, but from overhearing snippets of conversations between the Secret Service and police, I scried that he wasn’t going to show up anytime soon, despite being just a short distance away. It never was explained how he spent the intervening three hours between landing at Chrissy Field and showing up at the Benioff residence which is only a five- or ten-minute drive away.
Anyway, I bailed out before the president showed up (not that there was going to be much to see anyway — I knew from experience that his limo with tinted windows would just drive into the tent and we’d never even get a glimpse of him; the spectacle surrounding the president is the point, not Obama himself), and headed over to the site of the main protest action — the Masonic Auditorium on Nob Hill, which was the public event next on Obama’s schedule, after the private dinner.
Stop #3: Masonic Auditorium fundraiser, San Francisco
This was intended to be the headline event of the evening (no one aside from the invited guests was even supposed to know about the Benioff fundraiser).
It was advertised as a fundraiser for the regular folks, but still had a graduated price structure — the more money you have, the closer you get to the president (surprise, surprise):
*VIP reception there for 50 who’ll pay $10,000 each; they’ll get a photo with the president. The take: $500,000.
*Up front seating in Masonic: There will be opportunities for the seats in the first three rows for about 100 at $2,500 a piece. Total take: $250,000.
Next best seating: There will be somewhere between 200-300 seats in the next up front rows available for $1000 per person.The take: $200,000-$300,000.
Rest of the Masonic’s 2,150 seats go for anywhere from $25 to $250. The low end tickets in the balcony are already sold out. Total take: Minimum $53,000.
‘
$500,000 + $250,000 + $300,000 + $53,000 = $1.1 million.
Just as this report was going to press, I got the following email — judge for yourself:
Obama fails to fill the house….in SF
Zombie: I was at the Obama 2012 SF campaign kickoff rally Weds evening at the SF Masonic Center. The first sign that the event was in trouble was an urgent email on Monday announcing a “limited” number of tickets being made available at $25 (down from $250). Even so, the event was far from sold-out (notwithstanding being reported that way in http://sfappeal.com/news/2011/04/obama-warmly-received-at-masonic-hall-event-wednesday-night.php) at all levels. The attached photos speak for themselves. Definitely not the look or feel of Obama 20008 where this would have been one of the hottest seats in town. And this in San Francisco.
Furthermore, the reports of Obama’s speech eliciting several standing ovations were arguably only true in the balcony if you included us getting up to leave. A perfunctory speech, a lackluster response…and noticeable grumblings and lack of enthusiasm from his base. The press reports made it seem otherwise, but if last night was any indication of where things are going, then Team Obama is in deep trouble.
The following attached photos taken inside the Masonic event offer supplemental proof:
But as usual, I’m less interested in what goes on inside these events than I am in what goes on outside. Because the Masonic event was widely publicized, the protest crowd was naturally much larger.
Protesters focused on all sorts of lesser-known causes showed up outside the fundraiser. These ladies, for example, want to save the burros! Wild and free!
Across the street, a more somber protest: Armenians calling on Obama to officially recognize the Armenian genocide (at the hands of the Ottoman Turks). When he was just a senator, Obama joined the overwhelming majority view in the U.S. that the Armenians were the victims of genocide, but ever since he became president, he has backed off his position and refused to use the word “genocide” in reference to the Armenians — undoubtedly fearful of offending Turkey. In fact, as far as I can tell, among U.S. presidents only Ronald Reagan characterized what happened to the Armenians as “genocide” — everyone else before and since has kowtowed to the Turkish lobby.
As usual in the Bay Area, the single-payer advocates were out in force. Good luck with that!
A far-far left protester stated “Obama = Bush = Torture, War, Corporate Rule,” which must have pissed off the thousands of Obama fans pouring into the auditorium.
I haven’t posted a picture of Frank Chu for a while, so here he is once again — San Francisco’s resident all-purpose protester, who shows up at literally every single political event with his trademark indecipherable signs (and yes, he is completely serious about them).
The lefties always have some grandiose plans up their sleeves. Most of them completely fizzle and you never hear about them; but on occasion (global-warming legislation, for example) what started out as an obscure scheme reaches national significance. The most recent ploy, as seen here courtesy of Code Pink, is to have a general strike starting on May 1, 2011, culminating in the strikers “occupying” the state capitol in Sacramento (to protest liberal Democrat Jerry Brown’s “right-wing austerity measures”). Anyone taking bets on how successful this general strike will be?
An Indian-American Obama fan made what looks like a paint-by-numbers portrait of Obama with the national flags of India and the United States. He brought it to the event in hopes of presenting it to the president.
He signed the back and even wrote “Thank you sir.” Not sure how successful he was in his quest.
That wrapped things up for Obama’s first day in San Francisco. But his visit was not over yet; he had one more stop the next morning at the St. Regis on Third Street.
Stop #4: St. Regis Hotel fundraiser and Bradley Manning song
Obama’s final ATM stop in the Bay Area was yet another fundraiser Thursday morning at the St. Regis Hotel, where guests paid anywhere from $5,000 to $35,800 each to hear him give yet another stump speech. But — as reported at Gateway Pundit, Drudge, SFGate and HotAir — things did not go quite as planned.
Several members of the so-called “Fresh Juice Party” — yes, another totally lame attempt to hijack the energy of the Tea Party — paid a grand total of $76,000 to get into the fundraiser so they could interrupt Obama with a song complaining about the jailhouse conditions of traitor Bradley Manning.
Yes, really.
To make it even more pathetic, they promise in the lyrics of the song to vote for Obama no matter what he does, which totally removes any motivation he might have to pay any attention to their protest.
You want video? I got video (exact transcription with full lyrics below):
Obama: [in the middle of a speech] …the hopes and dreams of ordinary folks.
Protester #1: Mr. President? We actually wrote you a song. Can we sing it?
Obama: Well, let me –Protesters: (singing)
Dear Mr. President we honor you today, sir.
Each of us have given you $5,000.
It takes a lot of Benjamins to run a campaign.
We paid our dues, where’s our change?
We’ll vote for you in 2012, yes that’s true:
Look at the Republicans – what else can we do?
Even though we don’t know if we’ll retain our liberties
In what you seem content to call a free society.
Yes it’s true that Terry Jones is legally free
To burn a people’s holy book in shameful effigy.
But at another location in this country
Alone in a 6×12 cell sits Bradley.
23 hours a day is night,
The 5th and 8th Amendments say this kind of thing ain’t right.
We paid our dues, where’s our change?
We paid our dues, where’s our change?Protesters: Thank you.
Obama: That was nice.
Protester #1: Thank you. We worked hard on it.
Obama: You have much better voices than I.
Protester #1: Free Bradley Manning.
Obama: OK, thank you very much.
Protester #2: Thank you for listening
Protester #3: We love you.
Obama: Well, I appreciate it. Now, where was I?
Audience: [Laughter. Applause.]
Protester #2: Respond to this.
Obama: [...continues prepared speech.]
I don’t know whether to laugh, cry, or just feel embarrassed for everybody involved.
Imagine this: You pay $76,000 for the privilege of interrupting the president to inform him that you’re going to vote for him anyway, you don’t like the Koran getting burned, but would he please let a confessed traitor out of prison?
This is what happens when you become literally addicted to protesting: You run out of things to complain about, so you end up undermining your anger with praise while at the same time conflating two unrelated topics and then championing utterly futile and deservedly unpopular causes.
Today, I feel ashamed to be from the San Francisco Bay Area. And I blame the Fresh Juice Party!
Afterward, Obama fled, wallet bulging, to yet more fundraisers in Reno and Los Angeles. And I bet he was glad to get out of here.
Ohhh….wow. Just wow.
The other day in Dolores Park they had some kind of “Stop the Wars” rally.
But the only people i saw were pro-union or saying “Tax the Rich.”
Once more, zombie, thanks. It’s great to know you’re out there taking pictures.
The “Fresh Juice” Party coughed up $76,000 for this nonsense? These are bored socialites, with an emphasis on “light.”
Ummm, one small edit.
The dour-faced “woman” with the singlepayernow.net sign?
That’s actually John Kerry in drag.
LMAO at the John Kerry in drag comment…truly the delighted and joyful face of liberalism.
Jimbo, I saw that immediately. Couldn’t miss it.
Why is he dressed like Pippi Longstocking?
Fresh Juice Party?
We love you?
And today, Fox reported on how one of the recent fundraising stops had a children’s choir singing “I want to shine like Barack Obama”.
It’s gotta be hard waking up as a Leftist every day.
“And I blame the Fresh Juice Party!”
There you go again – blaming the Juice.
Leave O.J. alone!
To put it in perspective, Simpson killed two people, one more than Teddy Kennedy.
Actually, I was thinking more along this line: http://www.jihadwatch.org/2008/12/death-to-all-juice.html
EXCELLENT!!!
– as one born and raised in S.F., who still works and has a pied a terre there, I confer upon you, from today and in perpetuity, the title of MR. SAN FRANCISCO. It may sometimes be a burden, but carry it nobly.
{Note to readers: I didn’t write the comment above — it was written by someone with the username “Zombie…” including the three dots. Just to be clear! As if I would give myself a gender-specific title like “Mr.”!}
Oh dear. I was afraid of this. I’ve been wondering whether you are male or female for some time, and suspected the ambiguity is part of your blog persona.
Consider telling me anyway?
Regardless, I’m sure an admirer of your writing and grateful for the info you provide. As I’ve gotten into the blogs, I’ve found myself wanting to create a mental picture of those who I read regularly, that’s all.
Cheers
Dayum, that “passerby investigating the hubbub” is scorching.
Just goes to show that sometimes even just random people on the street can be more beautiful than world-famous celebrities.
And you were right about that caption. I’m still not reading it.
Looks like the average age is about, oh, eighteen, in the Facebook audience. Not a very experienced group to discuss economics. And you can’t risk one of those kids saying something outside towing the party line, so you had better keep the press from talking to them. I don’t know how long O’s clan can keep up this type of campaigning. The kiddies probably don’t even know they were blocked out.
Stevie Wonder was at the dinner party. Why do I doubt that he paid for his plate?
You do great work, Zombie. Better than any MSM reporter.
Doug Santo
Pasadena, CA
I’m glad you gave Frank a photo/plug.
He’s gained weight, looking healthy.
At this point, I’d rather have him in the WH.
As always, Zombilicious.
He seems to have the rich left hornswoggled still. I suspect there is a mixture of crony capitalism and confidence that his attacks on the economy will not touch them. They’ve got their money and it is out of his reach.
Wow…Ms. Passerby is FINE. Like…Ultra Fine.
I’m wondering how much foreign money will come in to influence this election. The truth has never come out as to how much foreign money influenced the last election. How the Saudis bought and paid for this President.
The other day a friend directed me to an assortment of Youtube videos, “Obama the Antichrist”. Creepy stuff, and rather scary if you buy into that particular Christian fantasy. But then I got to thinking: if Obama is the current manifestation of the Antichrist, then he is a sorry excuse for one. Isn’t the Antichrist supposed to be this brilliant, charismatic, silver-tongued devil who has the ability to lure billions of humans to their doom? I don’t know who that guy is, but he sure ain’t Barack Obama. Our current president is anything but a leader. His ineptitude and obvious lack of common sense have made him a laughingstock around the world. Aside from the sock puppets in the Old Media Propaganda Machine, there are only two types of people who still love Obama: dirt-poor losers who resent anyone who has even a little more than they do, and self-destructive moonbats with mental issues who have a desire to be controlled. You know, the Jim Jones/Heaven’s Gate types. Unfortunately, there are still enough of those fools left to be a nuisance in the next presidential election. But the thought of Barack Obama as a brilliantly evil global tyrant is just laughable. Some of his actions and policies border on the irrational. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Secret Service has hidden the Football from him by now.
Thinking about it, he’s actually not that far off as one- facilitating the continued weakness of our economy, and all the interdependant links therein, facilitating futher and more complete unrest in the middle east and north Africa- which further hurts our economy, and the world economy, due to the insecurity of oil production that most of us rely on. Israel is in a really tough place, and I could see Iran or Syria trying to stay their populace by launching a first strike (probably both, and timed with a push of militants from both southern Lebanon and the west bank…possibly egypt, depending on how their elections/regime changes go)- The whole region is just unstable as hell, and we keep supporting groups we don’t know in the face of dictators we do know and understand.
Basically, his ambivalence and general lack of a) leadership, b) experience, c) credibility, and d) capability are adding to the general chaos in the world. If the middle east, and the not-so-middle east (Pakistan/Afghanistan) drop too much further into tribalism, a large amount of the world’s oil supply is hampered, and with faltering economies, I could see mass protests, food production/delivery problems, etc. I’m not even bringing up China, a resurgent and totalitarian Russia, the various South American totalitarian regimes and a N. Korea that might have something to prove as Dear Leader’s health continues to fail due to age (or his son/sucessor might have soemthing to prove).
So…being the ambivalent, no-talent leader of the US at this uncertain time could very well be the unmaking…then again, being agnostic I can look back at history and see that well…hummanity has always been a bit of a cluster-f…k (just look at the 19th and 20th centuries for insecurities and instabilities), we just hate to see it happen to ourselves.
@ Tommy : Looks like the average age is about, oh, eighteen, in the Facebook audience. Not a very experienced group to discuss economics.
Perfect audience for O, since his grasp of economics is on par with an 18-year old.
I’m thinkin’ even the 18 year olds had an advantage over O discussing economics. I’m thinkin’ any one of my cats would score higher on a standardized test, regardless of the level of deemed cultural bias. The degree of ignorance exhibited by today’s liberals as to fundamental, common sense principles of economics is truly astounding….
It never was explained how he spent the intervening three hours between landing at Chrissy Field and showing up at the Benioff residence which is only a five- or ten-minute drive away.
Vedddddy Interestink !
Obviously, the Double Super Secret No-Limits Fundraiser. Does anybody know where Saudi King Abdullah or Hugo Chavez were during those 3 hours?
Great undercover journalism, o blogancestor!
Hmmm… he can’t fill an auditorium in SF?! He may be in even bigger trouble than we think.
He’s still got the rich left, but methinks he’s hemorrhaging support everywhere else.
And will.i.am at the same table? I like the idea. Birds of a feather — nontalents fallen upward, one thanks to Autotune, the other thanks to the teleprompter, both thanks to media spin.
I understand that $38K per head for some snacks and wine can raise quite a few bucks however has anyone ever really tried to investigate how Obama raised a billion dollars in the last election and it looks like he’s going to do the same this time. A billion dollars for a political campaign is obscene and it strikes me that it could only be raised illegally yet nobody seems to really dig into this.
re: “scr_north, I understand that $38K per head for some snacks and wine can raise quite a few bucks however has anyone ever really tried to investigate how Obama raised a billion dollars in the last election and it looks like he’s going to do the same this time. A billion dollars for a political campaign is obscene and it strikes me that it could only be raised illegally yet nobody seems to really dig into this.”
Well-said. I have made very much the same observation. Is there anyone who cares that our elections have become de facto auctions selling political access to the highest bidders, or that Obama’s campaign has accepted millions in illegal foreign campaign contributions? That his campaign committed open and notorious electoral fraud, via ACORN? In a nation that cares about the rule of law, these things should vacate the results of the election; “you cheat, you lose and then go to jail,” but since no one seems to care about the law or the constitution these days, guess this is the new normal. Our nation has become a criminal oligarchy, and it is bipartisan. We the people have become sheep, and sheep get sheared.
Liberals do not give money to church or charity They give to leftist political canditates.
Are you sure that was the real page one? Couldn’t there have been another “real” page one that had the name “Jack Bauer” as the last name at the bottom of the page?
When Jack Bauer is subjected to that level of torture, it usually ends with a lot of people dead. He’s just not a good invite to an Obama fundraiser.
Those two “Wild and free!” women protesting the Bureau of Land Management are incredible. They look like equine identical twins.
I saw the tag at the bottom of one of the signs for “Phyisians for National Health Program. I became curious. Just how many actual WORKING phyisicians are members of that organization. Their front page had a lot of names with “Dr.” or “MD” but no real clue as to how many of them are actually retired and from what sort of practice.
I’m not a phyiscian, just someone who works with them day in and day out. Most of them consider Medicare a necessary evil and Medicaid too evil to put up with. I’ve known some other doctors who won’t deal with any insurance agency at all, directly billing the patient and expecting them to pay the full bill in whatever way they can. If you have insurance, fine, have the insurance company pay you back. Not covered? Not the doctor’s problem.
The doctor has a very good point. When she goes to the gas pump she doesn’t get to say “I don’t think I should have to pay $50.00 for this tank of gas. I’m only going to pay you $27.45.” Why should an insurer, be they Medicare or some private insurer get to negotiate the price of the doctor’s services?
The point is that I doubt that very many actual WORKING physicians would be so happy at having a national health in this country. They would have incurred tons of debt to do gruelling work and get a degree and suddenly be told by a pantywaist beauraucrat that they are going to earn slightly more an hour than a hostess at a VIP club whose major talents are the work of a plastic surgeon.
For an organization with 18,000 members you would think they could include a breakdown of how many are actually putting their future lack of income where their mouth is.
Oh, and I favor letting Bradley Manning out of his cell, too.
Out of his cell and in front of a firing squad.
Conserve ammo. Have Nidal Hassan stand behind him.
They’d have to put Manning on his knees in order to get Hassan too, as he’s permanently in a wheelchair. Sad, isn’t it. Not.
Or just put Hassan in front. I haven’t seen proof that Manning got anyone killed, but Hassan is a self-confessed mass murderer.
A treasury of delectable impressions. I especially enjoyed the grim, beetle-browed crone with the single-payer poster.
Help start the boycott…. Obama bundlers need to feel the consequence of their decisions in the only place they can feel: pocketbooks.
http://wwwtwosetsofbooks.blogspot.com/2011/04/ebay-hyatt-marriott-general-dynamics.html
Please forward
My idea for a protest sign:
Obama 2012 – GWB deserves a 4th Term
The true leftists will hate it. The Obama fanatics will argue with you.
Just keep asking which Bush foreign policies that Obama has not adopted in whole or in part.
If they talk about the Obama domestic/energy policy, then you ask if they support a 3rd term for James Earl Carter and a return of Stagflation.
So Obama arrives down the street by helicopter and disappears for several hours.
In SF.
Maybe those rumors floating all over Chicago are true.
Hmmmm, B.O. didappeared in SF for several hours before the event ???Maybe Big Barry O pulled a Marion Barry and detoured to Hunters Point to get his rock on…
Obama has turned the term of the Office of President into a two year term. Do you honestly think he will do anything but campaign from now ’til 2102?
He can sign legislation in mid-flight between campaign stops. Or even on a golf cart. Not that he will read any of it.
He’s nothing but an appliance for the Democrat/Socialist Party and media.
Which begs the question; Why is this Party and media at war with America and our values?
Obumbles is an appliance all right… just plug him into some juice ($$) and he lights up!
In his case, the appliance is ready for the trash heap…
Great reporting, Zombie. So one of Obama’s ATM (SF) is tired of him too? Excellent. Imagine if it had been a debate between Obama and Paul Ryan, would not have been an empty seat anywhere.
Zombie;
Didn’t you find it strange that with the advertising for Facebook, and the Campaigns use of other ‘social media’, that they used a printed paper list of authorized guests?
They trust Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn for every day use, but not this?
No internet in the parking lot, maybe?
I am not surprised at all. They know that information through those sites does not stay private. Look at Weinergate. Meanwhile, I find it creepy that yahoo, facebook and a host of other sites keep trying to get me to share information about myself and my friends between different sites. Everyone is compiling information on groups of people. Who you know, how you are connected to them, detailed personal information and so forth. Much of this pattern is just an extension to the nature of the internet and our drive to increase our social networking. But at times it concerns me that organizations like facebook know so much about individuals, their family and friends connections. It’s information that has been used to manipulate and has the potential for harm.
I see why you drink
I look at the Facebook photo and I am left wondering if they hire African Americans?
In a news discussion show on the local public televion station reporters complained about Obama’s frequent visits to the Bay Area being heavy on private fund raising events and extremely lite on public ones.
Drop some of the list pictures and free up space for more shots of Passerby Chick!
I guess Obama has been too busy trying to raise the billion dollars for his campaign to have to worry about such “minor” details as THREE WARS, the national budget, military spending, and a national deficit that is a disgrace. Yep, it’s good to be king.
Well, with the tight schedule between the last event in SF and the stop in Reno, it’s easy to understand why you missed the Reno stop. Travel on I-80 is tough these days with the CHP working lots of overtime to write more tickets to help balance the state budget. But, then, the Reno event was as lackluster as those in the Bay Area: a select group of green energy company employees (30 employees +1 guest each) and selected college democrats.
Lackluster is being generous. Same-old, same-old green energy crap about green cars and kill-the-gas-engine meaningless diatribe. Oh, he had all of the motorcade stuff for the 100′ trip from the stairs from AF-1 to the gate to the company. What a waste of $$$$, and will it ever end? No, he goes to Chicago and NYC this week.
Listening to Obama is like listening to Louie Louie – what did they say? And his message won’t have the staying power of that ’60s hit, for sure.
Hope he makes another trip to Hawaii soon so he can get a copy of his birth certificate and end that discussion, too.
Since this was SF, perhaps the lead sentence should have read:
On April 20, President Obama arrived for yet another whirlwind wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am-AND/OR-SIR …
Just trying to give SF credit where credit is due.
For anyone interested in Emperor Hussein’s illegal foreign contributions to his 2008 campaign, take a look at this monumental collection: http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2011/04/intellectual-theft.html
Zombie, the pic of the passer-by hottie was a treat, thank you. Noticing the angle from which you shot though, I wondered; were you on your knees?
Actually, the photo was an accidental “mistake” shot — I didn’t even intend to take it. I must have pressed the shutter button unintentionally when moving my hand around or whatever, because I don’t remember taking the picture at all. Didn’t notice it until later when I was sorting through them. But sometimes mistakes have serendipitous results.
A gay mafia rules America.
I was driving back from SF towards Palo Alto when I saw what I assumed was Marine 1 and escort choppers flying low and flying South. By the time I got down South, one of the choppers was doing circles around the city.
I was wondering what all this cost (not really) – and then I see now he was getting carted around in a limo too? So did they fly the damn limo around, or was it chasing him from North to South to North again? Assuming its only purpose was to take him from the helicopter to the event. Is it the West Coast limo, or does it come from DC? Betcha a nickel it gets around 8mpg.
Anyway, thanks for having the stomach to do this – I sure don’t have it in me!
How to remove yourself from Facebook:
http://www.groovypost.com/howto/security/permanently-delete-your-facebook-profile-account/
“We print the money. So why do we need to borrow the money? Just print some more!”
“Why didn’t I think of that? Economics 101!”
The sad part is that it seems to actually be part of US policy..
Not to mention all the aviation fuel and gasoline His Awesomeness burned this Erf Day weekend, just to raise some grubby sweaty re-election money
What this country needs is a well-placed asteroid strike- the only possible cure for Bizarro World USA
ditto on the pic with no caption. Well not done.
…too say nothing of the shaming the following weekend at AT&T Park. Rough week for you guys, Zombie…
Frank Q looks like Frank Quattrone. I guess you take the $35,800 donors as you find them.
Hey Zombie,
I wanted to give a head up that I’ve tried to play the vid on this post on three different computers, as well as trying to access it directly through youtube and have run into major problems. It won’t play on this site at all beyond the initial intro but finally played on the direct youtube site after a lengthy struggle The weirdest problem at youtube happens when you try to click the link. The link for your vid would jump around (move away from the curser), or outright disappear whenever I tried tried to click on it, NOT TO BE PARANOID or anything, but it seemed strange.
I wouldn’t be surprised. YouTube is jerking me (and everyone) around about my account. One day I expect ALL my videos to disappear.