Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Heckling Obama: the Difference between the US and Russia & China

Yesterday in San Francisco, President Obama was interrupted by hecklers during a speech about immigration.  Read "Obama Confronts Hecklers At Immigration Speech" in the Huffington Post.

Watch the clip below and then consider how President Putin of Russia would have handled this, or Chinese President Xi Ping. Whatever your political affiliations or views about President Obama's policies, you'd agree that hecklers in Russia or China wished they would get this same treatment in their own countries.

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Diamonds and Art Are Forever, What About Health and Work?

Diamons/WikimediaSwamibu
Just reviewing the news in one single week this November, shows a picture of the world that says there is something wrong going on. Let's have a look at some of the "highlights":

The Wall Street Journal reported: "Pink Star' Diamond Fetches Record $83.2 Million"
"Sotheby's Geneva on Wednesday night sold a cotton-candy-hued diamond for a record $83.2 million. The sale smashed the previous world auction record for jewelry, which Sotheby's set in 2010 upon selling a $46.2 million, 24.78-carat pink diamond once owned by jeweler Harry Winston.........."

"World's largest orange diamond fetches record $35.5M" in The New York Daily News:
 " A spectacular and rare orange diamond, the largest known gem of its kind, was on Tuesday auctioned for a record $35.54 million in Geneva........"

The New York Times reported the following two articles:
"At $142.4 Million, Triptych Is the Most Expensive Artwork Ever Sold at an Auction"
"It took seven superrich bidders to propel a 1969 Francis Bacon triptych to $142.4 million at Christie’s on Tuesday night, making it the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction. William Acquavella, the New York dealer, is thought to have bought the painting on behalf of an unidentified client, from one of Christie’s skyboxes overlooking the auction.......... "      

"Grisly Warhol Painting Fetches $104.5 M, Auction High for Artist"
"One of Andy Warhol’s more powerful and provocative images — a lifeless body amid the gruesome wreckage of a car crash — sold for $104.5 million at Sotheby’s contemporary art auction on Wednesday night, making it the highest price ever paid at auction for the Pop artist......."       

Then there was the story of Richard Pulga, one of the victims of Typhoon Haiyan. "At a Philippine Hospital, Survivors Face Quiet Despair", The New York Times reported on November 13 from the Philippines: