In a message dated 10/6/03 1:47:03 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Grasso Pushed Specialist to Boost AIG Stock
Fri Oct 3, 2003
Former New York Stock Exchange Chairman Dick Grasso pressured a major
Big Board floor firm to increase its purchases of shares of giant
insurer American International Group Inc. after Mr. Grasso received
written complaints from AIG Chairman Maurice "Hank" Greenberg,
Friday's Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with
the matter.
The unusual move involving buying of one of the Big Board's largest
stocks raises questions about whether Mr. Grasso favored AIG because
of Mr. Greenberg'sprevious role as an NYSE director and member of the
board's compensation committee. Mr. Greenberg was on the NYSE's
compensation committee when the controversial employment contract
that ultimately led to Mr. Grasso's ouster was developed and
approved.
In an Oct. 23, 2002, letter to Mr. Grasso, Mr. Greenberg complained
that the " specialist," or NYSE floor-trading firm responsible for
keeping orderly markets in AIG stock, needed to commit more of its
own money to buy AIG shares, which had been volatile. People familiar
with the matter say that on a number of occasions after receiving
complaints like this from Mr. Greenberg, Mr. Grasso would
subsequently go to the NYSE trading floor and suggest that the AIG
specialist, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s Spear, Leeds & Kellogg unit,
buy more AIG shares to prevent Mr. Greenberg from moving his company
to a rival exchange. Spear would then step up its buying of AIG
shares, temporarily stabilizing the stock, the people said. Such
purchases were costly for Spear, resulting in roughly $14 million in
trading losses on AIG shares for the specialist firm over the past
couple of years, and additional losses in previous periods, the
people say.
The 211-year-old Big Board uses the specialist system to provide
liquidity, or ease of trading, in its listed stocks. Each specialist
firm serves as a market maker in specific assigned stocks, matching
buy and sell orders from investors. When buyers and sellers can't
agree on a price, specialists are required to step in with their own
capital to buy or sell shares to facilitate trading.
Any additional buying by Spear of AIG shares could have artificially
boosted the insurance company's shares.
Mr. Grasso, 57 years old, was ousted two weeks ago as NYSE chief
after an outcry over his retirement pay that totaled $187.5 million,
including a $48 million future retirement package, which he said
initially he would forgo.
Through a representative, Mr. Grasso declined to comment.
Edward Kwalwasser, NYSE's executive vice president for regulation,
said he was unaware of any conversations between Mr. Grasso and
Spear. He says the exchange receives about 560 letters a year from
firms questioning trading in their stocks. Such concerns, whether
sent to Mr. Grasso or others, typically are routed to the NYSE's
market-surveillance unit, which would then investigate the matter.
Wall Street Journal Staff Reporters Kate Kelly, Susanne Craig and
Theo Francis contributed to this article.
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--- Begin Message ----Caveat Lector- ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> <FONT COLOR="#000099">Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada. </FONT><A HREF="http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511";><B>Click Here!</B></A><FONT COLOR="#000099"> </FONT><A HREF="http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/zgSolB/TM";><B>Click Here!</B></A> ---------------------------------------------------------------------~->Please send as far and wide as possible. Thanks, Robert Sterling Editor, The Konformist http://www.konformist.com Michael Moore's New Book, "Dude Where's My Country?" Hits the Streets This Tuesday October 3, 2003 I have written a new book, and this Tuesday it's being released. It's called, "DUDE, WHERE'S MY COUNTRY?" Because its content is likely to upset more than a few people, the publisher has "embargoed" the book until midnight Monday (which means no store or media outlet or anyone has access to a copy of the book until then). They have taken these measures because I have written a book that seeks not to defeat the Bush people next year, but to have them removed from Washington right now. I know, I'm not asking for much. But I have spent the better part of the past year researching and writing this new book, and when you read it you'll see why the current criminal investigation of the White House for outing a CIA agent in revenge is, in my opinion, just the tip of the iceberg. I can only hope that my book will make a small contribution toward that day when we'll see one long perp walk of administration officials in handcuffs being led out of the White House and into a waiting paddy wagon. Like I said, I'm not asking for much. "Dude, Where's My Country?" is also my humble attempt to violate the Patriot Act on every single page of the book. And, I have learned that many want to get on John Ashcroft's evildoer list with me. There are already a record number of orders from bookstores across the country. The first printing alone is almost one million copies (my last book's first printing was 50,000). Chapters include "Oil's Well That Ends Well," "The United States of BOO!", "How to Talk to Your Conservative Brother-in-law," and more. (To see the cover that will win me a free ticket to Gitmo go here: http://www.michaelmoore.com/books- films/dudewheresmycountry/bookcover/index.php) If you get the New York Times, you may have noticed a mysterious ad for the past four days in the Arts section. Each day, the ad simply asks a new, pointed question of Mr. Bush. They are questions from my new book, from a chapter entitled, "Seven Questions for George of Arabia." We are running one ad each day until the book comes out on Tuesday. In case you've missed them, here are the first four: 1. Dear Mr. Bush, is it true that the bin Ladens have had business relations with you and your family off and on for the past 25 years? 2. Dear "Mr. President," what is the "special relationship" between the Bushes and the Saudi royal family? 3. Dear "Mr. President," who attacked the United States on September 11th - a guy on dialysis from a cave in Afghanistan, or our friends, the Saudi Arabians? 4. Dear "Mr. President," why did you allow a private Saudi jet to fly around the U.S. in the days after September 11th and pick up members of the bin Laden family and then fly them out of the country without a proper investigation by the FBI? In my book, I provide some of the answers and all of the background evidence. It is astounding, and it is criminal. Will there be one Democrat in Congress willing to begin the investigation? After the book's release, I take off on a 30-city tour over 25 days. Many of these dates are already sold-out; so check my website first to see where you can find me. I will also be on the "Today Show" on Tuesday, and "The View" and "Conan" on Wednesday. You may want to stay in touch with my website (www.michaelmoore.com) as I'll be putting up a lot of new stuff over the next few days and weeks. I'm also planning to keep a diary of my tour, complete with photos from the road. For me, this is the kickoff of a 12-month campaign for regime change in Washington, DC. I hope you can join me and the millions of other Americans who are committed to Bush Removal in '04. "Dude, Where's My Country?" is my guidebook on how to create a majority of sane Americans who are increasingly fed up and want their country back. You can get your copy by going to this here: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/- /0446532231/qid=1065193336/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/103-7823063-0692614? v=glance&s=books&n=507846 I hope to see you somewhere across this great land in the next month. Yours, Michael Moore www.michaelmoore.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] PS. As I head into the release of this new book, I want to thank EVERYONE who read "Stupid White Men" and made it the largest selling non-fiction hardcover book of the year. It is now in its 53rd printing in the U.S., with over 4 million copies sold worldwide. This success only strengthens my resolve that things are getting better and we are not alone. PPS. For my friends outside the U.S., "Dude, Where's My Country?" is being published in over four dozen countries this autumn. In the UK and Ireland, it's coming out this Tuesday. That's one of the perks you get when one of you are in the Coalition of the Willing! ***** Arnold's New Battle Schwarzenegger Apologizes for the Way He Treated Women in Past By Linda Douglass ABCNews.com SAN DIEGO, Calif. Oct. 2, 2003 California gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger kicked off his bus tour of California today amid allegations of sexual harassment and anti-Semitism. In a front-page story, the Los Angeles Times, California's largest newspaper, quoted six women who claim Schwarzenegger groped or made sexually offensive remarks to them. One woman told ABCNEWS she encountered Schwarzenegger in the 1970s when he was a bodybuilder. "The gym was quite full and Arnold was there and I remember him passing by me and groping my breast," Elaine Stockon told ABCNEWS. "And I was just in sheer shock." Of the six women who spoke to the newspaper, four would not give their names. One claimed that 20 years ago, Schwarzenegger "grabbed and squeezed" her left breast. She told the Los Angeles Times she "just started crying and crying." She said he did not rape her, but he humiliated her. The Los Angeles Times also quoted a woman, who asked not to be named, who worked on the movie Terminator 2 and claimed Schwarzenegger "would pin me against the corner of the elevator" and try to pull off the straps of her bathing suit. The story broke just as Schwarzenegger was kicking off his bus tour of California - an event that was supposed to be the crescendo of his campaign. He confronted the allegations directly today. At first he appeared to deny them: "A lot of those what you see the story, is not true." But he then added, "I have done things that at the time I thought then was playful but now I recognize that I have offended people. And those people that I have offended, I want to say to them I am deeply sorry about that and I apologize." `I Admired Hitler' Yet even as he tried to put out that fire, another broke out. ABCNEWS obtained a copy of an unpublished book proposal with quotes from a verbatim transcript of an interview Schwarzenegger gave in 1975 while making the film Pumping Iron. Asked who his heroes are, he answered, "I admired Hitler, for instance, because he came from being a little man with almost no formal education, up to power. I admire him for being such a good public speaker and for what he did with it." He is quoted as saying he wished he could have an experience, "like Hitler in the Nuremberg stadium. And have all those people scream at you and just being total agreement whatever you say." The author of the book proposal, Pumping Iron's director, George Butler, told ABCNEWS today that the quotes needed to be seen in context, and that Arnold never said anything anti-Semitic. "I cannot remember any of these," Schwarzenegger told ABCNEWS. "All I can tell you is that I despise everything Hitler stood for. I despise everything the Nazis stood for, everything the Third Reich stood for." In the final days of his campaign, Schwarzenegger may be battling yet another opponent: his own past. ***** It's Hasta La Vista To $9 Billion If The Governator Is Selected By Greg Palast http://www.gregpalast.com/ 10-3-3 It's not what Arnold Schwarzenegger did to the girls a decade back that should raise an eyebrow. According to a series of memoranda our office obtained today, it's his dalliance with the boys in a hotel room just two years ago that's the real scandal. The wannabe governor has yet to deny that on May 17, 2001, at the Peninsula Hotel in Los Angeles, he had consensual political intercourse with Enron chieftain Kenneth Lay. Also frolicking with Arnold and Ken was convicted stock swindler Mike Milken. Now, thirty-four pages of internal Enron memoranda have just come through this reporter's fax machine tell all about the tryst between Maria's husband and the corporate con men. It turns out that Schwarzenegger knowingly joined the hush-hush encounter as part of a campaign to sabotage a Davis-Bustamante plan to make Enron and other power pirates then ravaging California pay back the $9 billion in illicit profits they carried off. Here's the story Arnold doesn't want you to hear. The biggest single threat to Ken Lay and the electricity lords is a private lawsuit filed last year under California's unique Civil Code provision 17200, the "Unfair Business Practices Act." This litigation, heading to trial now in Los Angeles, would make the power companies return the $9 billion they filched from California electricity and gas customers. It takes real cojones to bring such a suit. Who's the plaintiff taking on the bad guys? Cruz Bustamante, Lieutenant Governor and reluctant leading candidate against Schwarzenegger. Now follow the action. One month after Cruz brings suit, Enron's Lay calls an emergency secret meeting in L.A. of his political buck- buddies, including Arnold. Their plan, to undercut Davis (according to Enron memos) and "solve" the energy crisis -- that is, make the Bustamante legal threat go away. How can that be done? Follow the trail with me. While Bustamante's kicking Enron butt in court, the Davis Administration is simultaneously demanding that George Bush's energy regulators order the $9 billion refund. Don't hold your breath: Bush's Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is headed by a guy proposed by Ken Lay. But Bush's boys on the commission have a problem. The evidence against the electricity barons is rock solid: fraudulent reporting of sales transactions, megawatt "laundering," fake power delivery scheduling and straight out conspiracy (including meetings in hotel rooms). So the Bush commissioners cook up a terrific scheme: charge the companies with conspiracy but offer them, behind closed doors, deals in which they have to pay only two cents on each dollar they filched. Problem: the slap-on-the-wrist refunds won't sail if the Governor of California won't play along. Solution: Re-call the Governor. New Problem: the guy most likely to replace Davis is not Mr. Musclehead, but Cruz Bustamante, even a bigger threat to the power companies than Davis. Solution: smear Cruz because -- heaven forbid! - - he took donations from Injuns (instead of Ken Lay). The pay-off? Once Arnold is Governor, he blesses the sweetheart settlements with the power companies. When that happens, Bustamante's court cases are probably lost. There aren't many judges who will let a case go to trial to protect a state if that a governor has already allowed the matter to be "settled" by a regulatory agency. So think about this. The state of California is in the hole by $8 billion for the coming year. That's chump change next to the $8 TRILLION in deficits and surplus losses planned and incurred by George Bush. Nevertheless, the $8 billion deficit is the hanging rope California's right wing is using to lynch Governor Davis. Yet only Davis and Bustamante are taking direct against to get back the $9 billion that was vacuumed out of the state by Enron, Reliant, Dynegy, Williams Company and the other Texas bandits who squeezed the state by the bulbs. But if Arnold is selected, it's 'hasta la vista' to the $9 billion. When the electricity emperors whistle, Arnold comes -- to the Peninsula Hotel or the Governor's mansion. The he-man turns pussycat and curls up in their lap. I asked Mr. Muscle's PR people to comment on the new Enron memos -- and his strange silence on Bustamante's suit or Davis' petition. But Arnold was too busy shaving off his Hitlerian mustache to respond. The Enron memos were discovered by the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, Los Angeles, www.ConsumerWatchdog.org ***** Recount procedures questioned in California election RACHEL KONRAD, Associated Press Writer Friday, October 3, 2003 Political activists are planning to scrutinize punch-card ballot results in California's historic recall election, raising the likelihood of a recount if the outcome is close. But some computer scientists fear more trouble with electronic ballots. With almost one in 10 registered voters using touch-screen machines that don't automatically produce paper printouts, they say a legitimate recount would prove impossible. County registrars and executives at the companies that sell and update the electronic voting machines say scientists' concerns are overblown and irresponsible. None of the elections officials who supervise the 50,000 touch-screen machines serviced nationwide by Diebold Election Systems have reported glitches or hacks that have resulted in known miscounts or fraud, said Mark Radke, director of the voting industry division of North Canton, Ohio-based Diebold. But David Dill, a computer science professor at Stanford University and a leading skeptic of touch-screen voting, is urging voters in the four counties using touch-screen terminals -- Alameda, Riverside, Shasta and Plumas -- to vote with absentee ballots, which use optical scan systems and provide paper ballots. He fears falsification or deletion of votes on touch-screen systems. "You can't do a meaningful recount if the question is about the integrity of the voting machines themselves," Dill said. According to a July study by Johns Hopkins and Rice universities, which analyzed Diebold source code that had been posted anonymously on the Internet, any clever hacker could break into Diebold's system, which is based on Microsoft Windows, and vote multiple times. Researchers found it was theoretically possible to insert "back doors" into software code that would allow hackers -- or insiders -- to change future voters' choices and predetermine the outcome. In the case of the California recall, Dill said, changing code in a voting machine could make every "no" vote be recorded as a "yes," or vice versa. Every vote for Republican state Sen. Tom McClintock could be recorded as a vote for Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante -- and without a paper record, the voter would never know. Activists are demanding that ballot machine vendors include printers that produce paper receipts for every ballot, so citizens can confirm that paper results match their touch-screen choices. Receipts would go into a county lock-box for use in recounts. If voters spot a problem, they could destroy the bad ballot and make sure they've voted properly before leaving the polling station, scientists say. "It's horrifying and ridiculous that these machines don't have a voter-verifiable audit trail," said Rebecca Mercuri, a Harvard University research fellow who specializes in computer security and voting systems. "These four counties have taken the public's right to a re-count away." Riverside County registrar of voters Mischelle Townsend said she had "total confidence" in the electronic system used by the county's 650,000 voters. On election day before the polls open, the county tests all 4,250 touch-screens for logic and accuracy, confirming that a "yes" vote is recorded as a "yes," Townsend emphasized. "The candidates have been very pleased with all our results," said Townsend, who has supervised 19 touch-screen elections and five recounts since November 2000. "The machines have always been adjudicated to be reliable and accurate. There's never been a single incident of what the scientists fear." Electronic voting advocates acknowledge no system is perfect but say touch-screens are better than older technology. A survey by CalTech and MIT found 6 percent of votes cast nationwide in the 2000 presidential election may not have been counted because of problems with antiquated systems. Each touch-screen machine has an "integral thermal printer" -- the same technology handheld devices use to spit out credit card receipts. But in their current configurations, the printers cannot produce receipts for voters to verify at the polls. After polls close, elections officials make another accuracy check. They get printouts for 1 percent of voters in every precinct, and compare the digital record with the printouts. In some states, margins of less than 1 percent automatically trigger recounts. In California, a recount happens only when a candidate or party demands one. In a standard recount, officials would simply add up again the results recorded digitally on the machines' memory cards. If a more intense hand recount is ordered, as sometimes happens when the results are extremely close or differ from expectations -- officials would print the digital image of every ballot cast, and count them by hand. "It's in essence a hard copy of the ballot," Radke said. But simply recounting printouts wouldn't catch votes that were improperly recorded because of software bugs, malicious hackers or other abuses, activists say. "The only thing this process would show is if your printers were working," said Kim Alexander, president of the nonprofit watchdog group California Voter Foundation. "If the machines fail to capture ballots accurately to begin with, the printed images produced after polls close will only produce those erroneous records, and the voter is no longer around to correct it." The ACLU is watching closely for evidence of voter disenfranchisement, as is the California Democratic Party, which began soliciting $100,000 this week for a "No More Floridas!" campaign to scrutinize alleged violations. The computer scientists will be watching as well, looking for statistical anomalies in touch-screen counties. Threats of a recount worry election officials. Whoever requests the recount must pay for it, but the lengthy process could overlap with some county elections in early November. "The very thought of a re-count -- it's chilling," said Alameda County assistant registrar Elaine Ginnold. "We're all hoping there will be a huge margin because a recount would plug things up for quite a while." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- On the Net: California Voter Foundation: www.calvoter.org Diebold Election Systems: www.diebold.com Federal Election Commission: www.fec.gov ***** Grasso Pushed Specialist to Boost AIG Stock Fri Oct 3, 2003 Former New York Stock Exchange Chairman Dick Grasso pressured a major Big Board floor firm to increase its purchases of shares of giant insurer American International Group Inc. after Mr. Grasso received written complaints from AIG Chairman Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, Friday's Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The unusual move involving buying of one of the Big Board's largest stocks raises questions about whether Mr. Grasso favored AIG because of Mr. Greenberg'sprevious role as an NYSE director and member of the board's compensation committee. Mr. Greenberg was on the NYSE's compensation committee when the controversial employment contract that ultimately led to Mr. Grasso's ouster was developed and approved. In an Oct. 23, 2002, letter to Mr. Grasso, Mr. Greenberg complained that the " specialist," or NYSE floor-trading firm responsible for keeping orderly markets in AIG stock, needed to commit more of its own money to buy AIG shares, which had been volatile. People familiar with the matter say that on a number of occasions after receiving complaints like this from Mr. Greenberg, Mr. Grasso would subsequently go to the NYSE trading floor and suggest that the AIG specialist, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s Spear, Leeds & Kellogg unit, buy more AIG shares to prevent Mr. Greenberg from moving his company to a rival exchange. Spear would then step up its buying of AIG shares, temporarily stabilizing the stock, the people said. Such purchases were costly for Spear, resulting in roughly $14 million in trading losses on AIG shares for the specialist firm over the past couple of years, and additional losses in previous periods, the people say. The 211-year-old Big Board uses the specialist system to provide liquidity, or ease of trading, in its listed stocks. Each specialist firm serves as a market maker in specific assigned stocks, matching buy and sell orders from investors. When buyers and sellers can't agree on a price, specialists are required to step in with their own capital to buy or sell shares to facilitate trading. Any additional buying by Spear of AIG shares could have artificially boosted the insurance company's shares. Mr. Grasso, 57 years old, was ousted two weeks ago as NYSE chief after an outcry over his retirement pay that totaled $187.5 million, including a $48 million future retirement package, which he said initially he would forgo. Through a representative, Mr. Grasso declined to comment. Edward Kwalwasser, NYSE's executive vice president for regulation, said he was unaware of any conversations between Mr. Grasso and Spear. He says the exchange receives about 560 letters a year from firms questioning trading in their stocks. Such concerns, whether sent to Mr. Grasso or others, typically are routed to the NYSE's market-surveillance unit, which would then investigate the matter. Wall Street Journal Staff Reporters Kate Kelly, Susanne Craig and Theo Francis contributed to this article. The Konformist must make a request for donations via Paypal, at Paypal.com. If you can and desire, please feel free to send money to help The Konformist through the following email address: [EMAIL PROTECTED] If you are interested in a free subscription to The Konformist Newswire, please visit: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/konformist Or, e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject: "I NEED 2 KONFORM!!!" (Okay, you can use something else, but it's a kool catch phrase.) 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