Tue Sep 23, 12:20 PM
{The White House pressed the U.S. Congress publicly and privately Tuesday to pass a $700-billion US bailout package it hopes will contain a spreading financial crisis.
Congressional leaders - especially those who oppose the package - are being asked whether they want to be responsible for even greater economic harm than has occurred so far, the CBC's Henry Champ reported from Washington.
"And the whispers always include references to Oct. 29, 1929, the Great Depression and things of that nature," he said.
Although no one can be certain what would happen if the package is not passed, the threat is likely to carry the day, Champ said.
U.S. President George W. Bush said Tuesday he's confident that Congress will reconcile differences and come together to pass the bailout package.
Bush, who's in New York to address the UN General Assembly, said he has spoken with world leaders and assured them that the United States was taking the right steps to deal with the financial crisis.
"And I've assured them as well, having spoken to the leaders of Congress of both political parties, that there is the desire to get something done quickly," he said.
The package would rescue financial firms from hundreds of billions of debt that plummeted in value when housing prices began to fall in 2006.
The Treasury Department's first draft said that only mortgage-related assets would be purchased. But in a later version, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson asked for the power to expand purchases to troubled assets beyond real estate.
That could conceivably leave taxpayers picking up the tab on things like bad car loans and credit card debt.
Democrats are calling for the measure to limit pay packages for executives of companies helped by the bailout and to allow judges to rewrite mortgages to lower the monthly payments of bankrupt homeowners.
Publicly, Paulson and Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke urged Congress to quickly pass the bailout package, warning that letting problems persist would have dire consequences for the national economy.
In an appearance before the Senate banking committee, Bernanke said failure to pass the bailout plan could trigger a recession and more home foreclosures.
"The financial markets are in quite fragile condition and I think absent a plan, they will get worse," he said.
"I believe if the credit markets are not functioning, that jobs will be lost, that our credit rate will rise, more houses will be foreclosed upon, GDP will contract, that the economy will just not be able to recover in a normal, healthy way," he added.
In his testimony, Paulson struck a similarly grave note.
"We must do so in order to avoid a continuing series of financial institution failures and frozen credit markets that threaten ... American families' financial well-being, the viability of businesses both small and large, and the very health of our economy," he said.
Paulson objected strongly when Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer asked if $150 billion might be enough to get the program started, with a promise of more to come.
That would be a "grave mistake," Paulson said, and would fail to give the markets the confidence they need to rebound.
Members of both parties voiced their displeasure with being faced with the massive bailout request.
"Nobody is happy," said Steny Hoyer, House majority leader and a Democrat, although he said it was possible legislation could be passed by the weekend.
"Nobody wants to have to do this," said Representative John Boehner, the Republican leader, who added that he was hopeful of a quick agreement.
The plan would enable the government to buy bad mortgages and other troubled assets held by endangered banks and financial institutions.
Getting those debts off their books should bolster their balance sheets, making them more inclined to lend and easing one of the biggest choke points in the credit crisis. If the plan works, it should help lift a major weight off the sputtering economy.
The U.S. has taken extraordinary measures in recent weeks to prevent a financial calamity that would have devastating implications for the broader economy. It has, among other things, taken control of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, provided an $85-billion emergency loan to insurance colossus American International Group Inc. and temporarily banned short selling of hundreds of financial stocks.
Wall Street has been dramatically reshaped amid all the fallout.
The Fed agreed to let Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley - the country's last two investment banks - become bank holding companies so that they can take deposits, like a commercial bank, in a bid to survive. Merrill Lynch agreed to be bought by Bank of America, Lehman Brothers sought bankruptcy protection and Bear Stearns was taken over by JPMorgan Chase.
The tone struck by Bernanke suggests that the Fed still has an eye on inflation, but is increasingly worried about the credit crisis, Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, wrote in an early note to clients.
"Failure to quickly pass the rescue plan, or ongoing credit market stress after it is passed, could spur the need for further rate cuts."
Guatieri said a 44 per cent chance of an October rate cut by the Fed currently seen by the futures market "seems about right."}
http://ca.news.finance.yahoo.com/s/23092008/3/finance-business-white-house-whispers-1929-style-crash-bailout-blocked.html
With files from the Associated Press
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
Bush says government role essential to ease crisis
By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer
{WASHINGTON - President Bush on Friday asked Congress to approve extensive federal intervention in financial markets that he said is both warranted and essential to halt the worst financial crisis in decades. "We must act now," he said.
"America's economy is facing unprecedented challenges. We're responding with unprecedented measures," Bush declared, standing in the White House Rose Garden with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Christopher Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Shortly after his remarks, Bush called congressional leaders with whom the administration would be negotiating through the weekend to devise a rescue package. He spoke to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. He planned to reach House Republican leader John Boehner later in the day.
The administration wants to see a package emerge from the weekend, to lend calm to Monday morning's market openings, said Keith Hennessey, the director of the president's economic council. The goal is to have something passed by Congress by the end of next week, when lawmakers recess for the elections.
"This is a pivotal moment for America's economy," Bush said in his most extensive remarks this week on the crisis. He said that a financial contagion that began with low-quality home mortgages had "spread throughout our financial system" and frozen many financial transactions.
The president said the federal government should interfere in the marketplace "only when necessary," and that this is one of those times. "Given the precarious state of today's financial markets, and their vital importance to the daily lives of the American people, government intervention is not only warranted, it is essential," he said.
Hennessey said fears that there was going to be a run on money market funds was one but not the only reason that drove the administration to make the proposal to Congress.
Bush said the authorities the administration wants Congress to approve — which Paulson said earlier Friday could entail "hundreds of billions" of dollars — was not without risk. But he said that because "the vast majority of assets the government is planning to purchase have good value over time" he expects the money to be paid back to the federal government.
Even if it isn't, he said "the risk of not acting would be far higher."
Bush spoke in unusually stark terms about the problems facing the economy and the dangers of not acting, which he attempted to frame in terms relevant not just to Wall Street, but to ordinary Americans, too.
He said "the gears of our financial system ... were at risk of grinding to a halt." If this were allowed to happen, the president predicted it would "cause massive job losses, devastate retirement accounts and further erode housing values, as well as dry up loans for new homes and cars and college tuitions."
The president also appeared to go out of his way to reassure Americans that money in traditional checking accounts, savings accounts and certificates of deposit is safe.
"Every American should know that the federal government continues to enforce laws and regulations protecting your money," he said.
He noted that, through the Federal Deposit Insurance Company, "every savings account, checking account and certificate of deposit is insured by the federal government for up to $100,000. The FDIC has been in existence for 75 years, and no one has ever lost a penny on an insured deposit, and this will not change."
"We have a flexible and resilient system that absorbs challenges and makes corrections and bounces back," Bush said. " ... Our economy has weathered every one of these challenges and still managed to grow. We will weather this challenge, too, and we must do so together."
He warned Democratic leaders against adding "controversial provisions" to the rescue package "that could delay action." White House press secretary Dana Perino would not comment on what sorts of provisions would be considered unacceptable to the president, and Hennessey said there would be room for negotiation with lawmakers on how the package would look.
"This is not a time for partisanship," Bush said.
He spoke after the administration said it would safeguard assets in money market mutual funds and temporarily banned short-selling of financial company stocks, a trading technique that bets on stocks declining in value. The Treasury Department has asked Congress to give it sweeping power to buy up toxic debt that has nearly paralyzed Wall Street.
Bush also has authorized Treasury to tap up to $50 billion from a Depression-era fund to insure the holdings of eligible money market mutual funds. And the Federal Reserve announced it will expand its emergency lending program to help support the $2 trillion in assets of the funds.} http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080919/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_markets
-
Government plans bold financial rescue
Paulson says handling banks’ bad assets costly, but needed
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26787984?GT1=43001
{WASHINGTON - President Bush on Friday asked Congress to approve extensive federal intervention in financial markets that he said is both warranted and essential to halt the worst financial crisis in decades. "We must act now," he said.
"America's economy is facing unprecedented challenges. We're responding with unprecedented measures," Bush declared, standing in the White House Rose Garden with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Christopher Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Shortly after his remarks, Bush called congressional leaders with whom the administration would be negotiating through the weekend to devise a rescue package. He spoke to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. He planned to reach House Republican leader John Boehner later in the day.
The administration wants to see a package emerge from the weekend, to lend calm to Monday morning's market openings, said Keith Hennessey, the director of the president's economic council. The goal is to have something passed by Congress by the end of next week, when lawmakers recess for the elections.
"This is a pivotal moment for America's economy," Bush said in his most extensive remarks this week on the crisis. He said that a financial contagion that began with low-quality home mortgages had "spread throughout our financial system" and frozen many financial transactions.
The president said the federal government should interfere in the marketplace "only when necessary," and that this is one of those times. "Given the precarious state of today's financial markets, and their vital importance to the daily lives of the American people, government intervention is not only warranted, it is essential," he said.
Hennessey said fears that there was going to be a run on money market funds was one but not the only reason that drove the administration to make the proposal to Congress.
Bush said the authorities the administration wants Congress to approve — which Paulson said earlier Friday could entail "hundreds of billions" of dollars — was not without risk. But he said that because "the vast majority of assets the government is planning to purchase have good value over time" he expects the money to be paid back to the federal government.
Even if it isn't, he said "the risk of not acting would be far higher."
Bush spoke in unusually stark terms about the problems facing the economy and the dangers of not acting, which he attempted to frame in terms relevant not just to Wall Street, but to ordinary Americans, too.
He said "the gears of our financial system ... were at risk of grinding to a halt." If this were allowed to happen, the president predicted it would "cause massive job losses, devastate retirement accounts and further erode housing values, as well as dry up loans for new homes and cars and college tuitions."
The president also appeared to go out of his way to reassure Americans that money in traditional checking accounts, savings accounts and certificates of deposit is safe.
"Every American should know that the federal government continues to enforce laws and regulations protecting your money," he said.
He noted that, through the Federal Deposit Insurance Company, "every savings account, checking account and certificate of deposit is insured by the federal government for up to $100,000. The FDIC has been in existence for 75 years, and no one has ever lost a penny on an insured deposit, and this will not change."
"We have a flexible and resilient system that absorbs challenges and makes corrections and bounces back," Bush said. " ... Our economy has weathered every one of these challenges and still managed to grow. We will weather this challenge, too, and we must do so together."
He warned Democratic leaders against adding "controversial provisions" to the rescue package "that could delay action." White House press secretary Dana Perino would not comment on what sorts of provisions would be considered unacceptable to the president, and Hennessey said there would be room for negotiation with lawmakers on how the package would look.
"This is not a time for partisanship," Bush said.
He spoke after the administration said it would safeguard assets in money market mutual funds and temporarily banned short-selling of financial company stocks, a trading technique that bets on stocks declining in value. The Treasury Department has asked Congress to give it sweeping power to buy up toxic debt that has nearly paralyzed Wall Street.
Bush also has authorized Treasury to tap up to $50 billion from a Depression-era fund to insure the holdings of eligible money market mutual funds. And the Federal Reserve announced it will expand its emergency lending program to help support the $2 trillion in assets of the funds.} http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080919/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_markets
-
Government plans bold financial rescue
Paulson says handling banks’ bad assets costly, but needed
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26787984?GT1=43001
Thursday, September 18, 2008
In hard times, tent cities rise across the country
By EVELYN NIEVES, Associated Press Writer
Thu Sep 18, 1:03 PM ET
{RENO, Nev. - A few tents cropped up hard by the railroad tracks, pitched by men left with nowhere to go once the emergency winter shelter closed for the summer.
Then others appeared — people who had lost their jobs to the ailing economy, or newcomers who had moved to Reno for work and discovered no one was hiring.
Within weeks, more than 150 people were living in tents big and small, barely a foot apart in a patch of dirt slated to be a parking lot for a campus of shelters Reno is building for its homeless population. Like many other cities, Reno has found itself with a "tent city" — an encampment of people who had nowhere else to go.
From Seattle to Athens, Ga., homeless advocacy groups and city agencies are reporting the most visible rise in homeless encampments in a generation.
Nearly 61 percent of local and state homeless coalitions say they've experienced a rise in homelessness since the foreclosure crisis began in 2007, according to a report by the National Coalition for the Homeless. The group says the problem has worsened since the report's release in April, with foreclosures mounting, gas and food prices rising and the job market tightening.
"It's clear that poverty and homelessness have increased," said Michael Stoops, acting executive director of the coalition. "The economy is in chaos, we're in an unofficial recession and Americans are worried, from the homeless to the middle class, about their future."
The phenomenon of encampments has caught advocacy groups somewhat by surprise, largely because of how quickly they have sprung up.
"What you're seeing is encampments that I haven't seen since the 80s," said Paul Boden, executive director of the Western Regional Advocacy Project, an umbrella group for homeless advocacy organizations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Calif., Portland, Ore. and Seattle.
The relatively tony city of Santa Barbara has given over a parking lot to people who sleep in cars and vans. The city of Fresno, Calif., is trying to manage several proliferating tent cities, including an encampment where people have made shelters out of scrap wood. In Portland, Ore., and Seattle, homeless advocacy groups have paired with nonprofits or faith-based groups to manage tent cities as outdoor shelters. Other cities where tent cities have either appeared or expanded include include Chattanooga, Tenn., San Diego, and Columbus, Ohio.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development recently reported a 12 percent drop in homelessness nationally in two years, from about 754,000 in January 2005 to 666,000 in January 2007. But the 2007 numbers omitted people who previously had been considered homeless — such as those staying with relatives or friends or living in campgrounds or motel rooms for more than a week.
In addition, the housing and economic crisis began soon after HUD's most recent data was compiled.
"The data predates the housing crisis," said Brian Sullivan, a spokesman for HUD. "From the headlines, it might appear that the report is about yesterday. How is the housing situation affecting homelessness? That's a great question. We're still trying to get to that."
In Seattle, which is experiencing a building boom and an influx of affluent professionals in neighborhoods the working class once owned, homeless encampments have been springing up — in remote places to avoid police sweeps.
"What's happening in Seattle is what's happening everywhere else — on steroids," said Tim Harris, executive director of Real Change, an advocacy organization that publishes a weekly newspaper sold by homeless people.
Homeless people and their advocates have organized three tent cities at City Hall in recent months to call attention to the homeless and protest the sweeps — acts of militancy, said Harris, "that we really haven't seen around homeless activism since the early '90s."
In Reno, officials decided to let the tent city be because shelters were already filled.
Officials don't know how many homeless people are in Reno. "But we do know that the soup kitchens are serving hundreds more meals a day and that we have more people who are homeless than we can remember," said Jodi Royal-Goodwin, the city's redevelopment agency director.
Those in the tents have to register and are monitored weekly to see what progress they are making in finding jobs or real housing. They are provided times to take showers in the shelter, and told where to go for food and meals.
Sylvia Flynn, 51, came from northern California but lost a job almost immediately and then her apartment.
Since the cheapest motels here charge upward of $200 a week, Flynn ended up at the Reno women's shelter, which has only 20 beds and a two-week limit on stays.
Out of a dozen people interviewed in the tent city, six had come to Reno from California or elsewhere over the last year, hoping for casino jobs.
"I figured this would be a great place for a job," said Max Perez, a 19-year-old from Iowa. He couldn't find one and ended up taking showers at the men's shelter and sleeping in a pup tent barely big enough to cover his body.
The casinos are actually starting to lay off employees.
"Sometimes I think we need to put out an ad: 'No, we don't have any more jobs than you do,'" Royal-Goodwin said.
The city will shut down the tent city as soon as early October because the tents sit on what will be a parking lot for a complex of shelters and services for homeless people. The complex will include a men's shelter, a women's shelter, a family shelter and a resource center.
Reno officials aren't sure whether the construction will eliminate the need for the tent city. The demand, they say, keeps growing.} http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080918/ap_on_re_us/tent_cities
Thu Sep 18, 1:03 PM ET
{RENO, Nev. - A few tents cropped up hard by the railroad tracks, pitched by men left with nowhere to go once the emergency winter shelter closed for the summer.
Then others appeared — people who had lost their jobs to the ailing economy, or newcomers who had moved to Reno for work and discovered no one was hiring.
Within weeks, more than 150 people were living in tents big and small, barely a foot apart in a patch of dirt slated to be a parking lot for a campus of shelters Reno is building for its homeless population. Like many other cities, Reno has found itself with a "tent city" — an encampment of people who had nowhere else to go.
From Seattle to Athens, Ga., homeless advocacy groups and city agencies are reporting the most visible rise in homeless encampments in a generation.
Nearly 61 percent of local and state homeless coalitions say they've experienced a rise in homelessness since the foreclosure crisis began in 2007, according to a report by the National Coalition for the Homeless. The group says the problem has worsened since the report's release in April, with foreclosures mounting, gas and food prices rising and the job market tightening.
"It's clear that poverty and homelessness have increased," said Michael Stoops, acting executive director of the coalition. "The economy is in chaos, we're in an unofficial recession and Americans are worried, from the homeless to the middle class, about their future."
The phenomenon of encampments has caught advocacy groups somewhat by surprise, largely because of how quickly they have sprung up.
"What you're seeing is encampments that I haven't seen since the 80s," said Paul Boden, executive director of the Western Regional Advocacy Project, an umbrella group for homeless advocacy organizations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Calif., Portland, Ore. and Seattle.
The relatively tony city of Santa Barbara has given over a parking lot to people who sleep in cars and vans. The city of Fresno, Calif., is trying to manage several proliferating tent cities, including an encampment where people have made shelters out of scrap wood. In Portland, Ore., and Seattle, homeless advocacy groups have paired with nonprofits or faith-based groups to manage tent cities as outdoor shelters. Other cities where tent cities have either appeared or expanded include include Chattanooga, Tenn., San Diego, and Columbus, Ohio.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development recently reported a 12 percent drop in homelessness nationally in two years, from about 754,000 in January 2005 to 666,000 in January 2007. But the 2007 numbers omitted people who previously had been considered homeless — such as those staying with relatives or friends or living in campgrounds or motel rooms for more than a week.
In addition, the housing and economic crisis began soon after HUD's most recent data was compiled.
"The data predates the housing crisis," said Brian Sullivan, a spokesman for HUD. "From the headlines, it might appear that the report is about yesterday. How is the housing situation affecting homelessness? That's a great question. We're still trying to get to that."
In Seattle, which is experiencing a building boom and an influx of affluent professionals in neighborhoods the working class once owned, homeless encampments have been springing up — in remote places to avoid police sweeps.
"What's happening in Seattle is what's happening everywhere else — on steroids," said Tim Harris, executive director of Real Change, an advocacy organization that publishes a weekly newspaper sold by homeless people.
Homeless people and their advocates have organized three tent cities at City Hall in recent months to call attention to the homeless and protest the sweeps — acts of militancy, said Harris, "that we really haven't seen around homeless activism since the early '90s."
In Reno, officials decided to let the tent city be because shelters were already filled.
Officials don't know how many homeless people are in Reno. "But we do know that the soup kitchens are serving hundreds more meals a day and that we have more people who are homeless than we can remember," said Jodi Royal-Goodwin, the city's redevelopment agency director.
Those in the tents have to register and are monitored weekly to see what progress they are making in finding jobs or real housing. They are provided times to take showers in the shelter, and told where to go for food and meals.
Sylvia Flynn, 51, came from northern California but lost a job almost immediately and then her apartment.
Since the cheapest motels here charge upward of $200 a week, Flynn ended up at the Reno women's shelter, which has only 20 beds and a two-week limit on stays.
Out of a dozen people interviewed in the tent city, six had come to Reno from California or elsewhere over the last year, hoping for casino jobs.
"I figured this would be a great place for a job," said Max Perez, a 19-year-old from Iowa. He couldn't find one and ended up taking showers at the men's shelter and sleeping in a pup tent barely big enough to cover his body.
The casinos are actually starting to lay off employees.
"Sometimes I think we need to put out an ad: 'No, we don't have any more jobs than you do,'" Royal-Goodwin said.
The city will shut down the tent city as soon as early October because the tents sit on what will be a parking lot for a complex of shelters and services for homeless people. The complex will include a men's shelter, a women's shelter, a family shelter and a resource center.
Reno officials aren't sure whether the construction will eliminate the need for the tent city. The demand, they say, keeps growing.} http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080918/ap_on_re_us/tent_cities
Monday, September 15, 2008
Hackers 'find black hole in atom smasher computers'
Sat Sep 13, 7:37 AM
{LONDON (AFP) - Hackers claim they have broken into the computer system of the Large Hadron Collider, the mega-machine designed to expose secrets of the cosmos, British newspapers reported on Saturday.
A group calling itself the Greek Security Team left a rogue webpage mocking the technicians responsible for computer security at the giant atom smasher as "schoolkids", the Times and Daily Telegraph reported.
The hackers vowed they had no intention of disrupting the experiment at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) on the Swiss-French border, they just wanted to highlight the flaws in the computer system's security.
"We're pulling your pants down because we don't want to see you running around naked looking to hide yourselves when the panic comes," they wrote, according to the Daily Telegraph.
The hackers claimed to have gained access to a website open to other scientists on Wednesday as the LHC passed its first test with flying colours, the reports said.
They appear to have tried to gain access to the computer system of the Compact Muon Solenoid Experiment, one of the four detectors that will be analysing the progress of the experiment.
James Gillies, a spokesman for CERN, told the Times: "We don't know who they were but there seems to be no harm done. It appears to be people who want to make a point that CERN was hackable."
Scientists hailed the success of the start of the experiment on Wednesday in the Large Hadron Collider, the 27-kilometre (16.9-mile) circular tunnel in which parallel beams of protons will be accelerated to nearly the speed of light.
Superconducting magnets will then steer the counter-rotating beams so that strings of protons smash together in four huge laboratories, fleetingly replicating the conditions that prevailed at the "Big Bang" that created the Universe 13.7 billion years ago.}
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/080913/technology/science_physics_cern_computer
{LONDON (AFP) - Hackers claim they have broken into the computer system of the Large Hadron Collider, the mega-machine designed to expose secrets of the cosmos, British newspapers reported on Saturday.
A group calling itself the Greek Security Team left a rogue webpage mocking the technicians responsible for computer security at the giant atom smasher as "schoolkids", the Times and Daily Telegraph reported.
The hackers vowed they had no intention of disrupting the experiment at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) on the Swiss-French border, they just wanted to highlight the flaws in the computer system's security.
"We're pulling your pants down because we don't want to see you running around naked looking to hide yourselves when the panic comes," they wrote, according to the Daily Telegraph.
The hackers claimed to have gained access to a website open to other scientists on Wednesday as the LHC passed its first test with flying colours, the reports said.
They appear to have tried to gain access to the computer system of the Compact Muon Solenoid Experiment, one of the four detectors that will be analysing the progress of the experiment.
James Gillies, a spokesman for CERN, told the Times: "We don't know who they were but there seems to be no harm done. It appears to be people who want to make a point that CERN was hackable."
Scientists hailed the success of the start of the experiment on Wednesday in the Large Hadron Collider, the 27-kilometre (16.9-mile) circular tunnel in which parallel beams of protons will be accelerated to nearly the speed of light.
Superconducting magnets will then steer the counter-rotating beams so that strings of protons smash together in four huge laboratories, fleetingly replicating the conditions that prevailed at the "Big Bang" that created the Universe 13.7 billion years ago.}
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/080913/technology/science_physics_cern_computer
Friday, September 12, 2008
Price of oil rises as hurricane Ike bears down on Texas coast refineries
Fri Sep 12, 8:16 AM
By Louise Watt, The Associated Press
{LONDON - Oil prices rose over US$102 a barrel Friday as hurricane Ike swept up from the Gulf of Mexico, prompting companies along the Texas coast to shut down refining and drilling operations.
By midday in Europe, light, sweet crude for October delivery rose $1.38 to $102.25 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.71 overnight to settle at $100.87 after dropping as low as $100.10 per barrel. The last time Nymex crude traded below the $100 mark was April 2.
Exxon Mobil Corp., Valero Energy Corp., ConocoPhillips and Marathon Oil Co. have begun halting operations as Ike headed straight for the region's biggest complex of refineries and petrochemical plants. U.S. wholesale gasoline prices spiked 30 per cent Thursday.
"According to estimates made by the Minerals Management Service, about 97 per cent of crude production and more than 93 per cent of gas output in the U.S. part of the Gulf of Mexico were idle in preparation for the storm," wrote analysts from JBC Energy in Vienna, Austria.
"In addition, some 11 refineries, which represent more than 16 per cent of total U.S. refining capacity, have shut down operations."
"You have some refineries shutting to prepare for hurricane damage," Tetsu Emori, a commodity markets fund manager with ASTMAZ Futures Co. in Tokyo. "That's triggered some buying, especially in oil products such as gasoline and heating oil."
Early Friday, the storm was centerd about 595 kilometres southeast of Galveston, Texas, moving to the west-northwest at 19 kilometres per hour. Top sustained winds were 160 km/h.
The storm was expected to strike the Texas coast late Friday or early Saturday. Forecasters said the storm was likely to come ashore as a Category 3, with winds up to 210 km/h. The upper Texas coast accounts for one-fifth of U.S. refining capacity.
Ike is huge, taking up nearly 40 per cent of the Gulf of Mexico. The National Hurricane Centre said tropical storm-force winds of at least 63 km/h extended across more than 820 kilometres.
Ike, along with last week's hurricane Gustav, have helped keep oil prices from falling faster, as concerns over a slowdown in global economic growth have pushed prices down from a record $147.27 set on July 11.
"Oil demand on a global basis is quite pessimistic," Emori said. "If it wasn't hurricane season, crude would be under $100 already."
In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures rose 2.75 cents to $2.943 a gallon, while gasoline prices gained 5.87 cents to $2.807 a gallon. Natural gas for October delivery fell 1.6 cents to $7.232 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, October Brent crude rose $1.42 to $99.06 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange, after it closed overnight at a six-month low.}
http://ca.news.finance.yahoo.com/s/12092008/2/biz-finance-price-oil-rises-hurricane-ike-bears-texas-coast.html
-
Gas prices shoot up across Canada on Friday as U.S. refineries affected by Ike
By Kristine Owram, The Canadian Press
{TORONTO - Motorists across Canada were hit with sharply higher gasoline prices Friday as hurricane Ike shut down some refineries on the U.S. Gulf coast, a jump that Prime Minister Stephen Harper said suggests gouging may be going on in some markets.
The price for gas at stations throughout southern Ontario soared by about 13 cents a litre at midnight to more than $1.36 a litre. Prices in Ottawa were also up by 13 cents.
In Vancouver, prices rose to more than $1.40 a litre at some stations, while Montreal prices jumped about a dime to $1.38 a litre. Halifax prices were up to about $1.33 a litre.
GasBuddy.com, a website that monitors North American fuel prices, said the average price Friday in Canada was nearly $1.33 a litre, compared with $1.05 a litre a year ago.
At a federal election campaign stop in Halifax, Harper said it "appeared" to be the case, when asked if there was price gouging going on.
Harper did not promise any immediate action, saying the Conservatives would make related policy announcements later in the campaign.
"We are prepared to take steps. I'm not going to make up policy on a day-to-day basis. We do have some announcements in this area that we'll be making as the campaign progresses."
Earlier this summer, criminal charges were laid against 13 people and 11 companies for fixing gasoline prices in Quebec. Three of the companies pleaded guilty and were fined a total of $2 million.
Peter Boag, president of the Canadian Petroleum Products Institute, said the price spike is the result of an integrated North American fuel market, not price fixing.
"There's no unique Canadian market for fuels, we operate in the context of a North American market for fuel, so things that happen anywhere in North America have an impact on fuel prices in Canada," said Boag.
Refineries shutting down in the face of hurricane Ike, combined with other refineries that are only now coming back online after hurricane Gustav, means North American refining capacity has been reduced by 15 to 20 per cent in the last couple of days, said Boag.
"We've got a significant supply issue as a result of those weather conditions," he said.
"Supply goes down at the wholesale level, prices go up."
Boag said it's difficult to know when prices will drop again, but he said past experience indicates this will be a "short-term issue."
Liberal MP Dan McTeague, who has gained a reputation for predicting pump price increases based on the wholesale market in the United States, predicted more increases for Canadian motorists later Friday.
News of the looming increases had motorists lining up past gas stations in several Canadian cities as they tried to beat the jump in price.
The threat of hurricane Ike to Gulf Coast oil refineries, mostly in Texas, sent wholesale gasoline prices in the U.S. soaring Thursday over supply concerns.
As well, U.S. gasoline supplies have dropped by several million barrels over the last week, according to data released by the U.S. Energy Department.
While McTeague said the threat posed by the hurricane was the "spark" that triggered the increase, he also pointed the finger at the Canadian oil industry.
"The proverbial fuel on the fire is in fact the distortions by an unresponsive, uncompetitive market that has actually been diminishing its output," McTeague said in a phone interview from his Toronto-area riding where he was campaigning for re-election Thursday night.
Federal competition reviews of the Canadian industry have repeatedly determined it is highly competitive and reacts to changes in the continental market for gasoline, which is traded as a commodity just like wheat, grain, nickel and oil.
Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE:XOM), Valero Energy Corp., ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) and Marathon Oil Co. were among the companies halting operations at refineries on the Texas coast as Ike churned toward the state.
Refineries along the upper Texas Gulf Coast account for about one-fifth of U.S. refining capacity. Exxon Mobil's refinery in Baytown, outside Houston, is the largest in the United States.
In a related development Friday, a North Carolina-based convenience store chain asked U.S. customers in 11 states - mostly across the Southeast - to limit gasoline purchases to 10 gallons to avoid a run on supplies.
Another veteran gas-price watcher, Jason Toews, who runs GasBuddy.com, said fear of Ike carried over the border to Canada.
"With the hurricane in the gulf certainly going to cause some problems with supplies of crude oil and gasoline, mostly refined gasoline, in the U.S... it may have ripple effects all the way up to Canada," Toews said.
"What they have to do to fill that void is bring in gas from neighbouring states, and it has a ripple effect because those neighbouring states all of sudden don't have enough gas and they have to bring in gas," he said.
"Gas is trucked in from across the region, and across the (United States), and from Canada."}
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080912/national/gas_prices
By Louise Watt, The Associated Press
{LONDON - Oil prices rose over US$102 a barrel Friday as hurricane Ike swept up from the Gulf of Mexico, prompting companies along the Texas coast to shut down refining and drilling operations.
By midday in Europe, light, sweet crude for October delivery rose $1.38 to $102.25 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.71 overnight to settle at $100.87 after dropping as low as $100.10 per barrel. The last time Nymex crude traded below the $100 mark was April 2.
Exxon Mobil Corp., Valero Energy Corp., ConocoPhillips and Marathon Oil Co. have begun halting operations as Ike headed straight for the region's biggest complex of refineries and petrochemical plants. U.S. wholesale gasoline prices spiked 30 per cent Thursday.
"According to estimates made by the Minerals Management Service, about 97 per cent of crude production and more than 93 per cent of gas output in the U.S. part of the Gulf of Mexico were idle in preparation for the storm," wrote analysts from JBC Energy in Vienna, Austria.
"In addition, some 11 refineries, which represent more than 16 per cent of total U.S. refining capacity, have shut down operations."
"You have some refineries shutting to prepare for hurricane damage," Tetsu Emori, a commodity markets fund manager with ASTMAZ Futures Co. in Tokyo. "That's triggered some buying, especially in oil products such as gasoline and heating oil."
Early Friday, the storm was centerd about 595 kilometres southeast of Galveston, Texas, moving to the west-northwest at 19 kilometres per hour. Top sustained winds were 160 km/h.
The storm was expected to strike the Texas coast late Friday or early Saturday. Forecasters said the storm was likely to come ashore as a Category 3, with winds up to 210 km/h. The upper Texas coast accounts for one-fifth of U.S. refining capacity.
Ike is huge, taking up nearly 40 per cent of the Gulf of Mexico. The National Hurricane Centre said tropical storm-force winds of at least 63 km/h extended across more than 820 kilometres.
Ike, along with last week's hurricane Gustav, have helped keep oil prices from falling faster, as concerns over a slowdown in global economic growth have pushed prices down from a record $147.27 set on July 11.
"Oil demand on a global basis is quite pessimistic," Emori said. "If it wasn't hurricane season, crude would be under $100 already."
In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures rose 2.75 cents to $2.943 a gallon, while gasoline prices gained 5.87 cents to $2.807 a gallon. Natural gas for October delivery fell 1.6 cents to $7.232 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, October Brent crude rose $1.42 to $99.06 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange, after it closed overnight at a six-month low.}
http://ca.news.finance.yahoo.com/s/12092008/2/biz-finance-price-oil-rises-hurricane-ike-bears-texas-coast.html
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Gas prices shoot up across Canada on Friday as U.S. refineries affected by Ike
By Kristine Owram, The Canadian Press
{TORONTO - Motorists across Canada were hit with sharply higher gasoline prices Friday as hurricane Ike shut down some refineries on the U.S. Gulf coast, a jump that Prime Minister Stephen Harper said suggests gouging may be going on in some markets.
The price for gas at stations throughout southern Ontario soared by about 13 cents a litre at midnight to more than $1.36 a litre. Prices in Ottawa were also up by 13 cents.
In Vancouver, prices rose to more than $1.40 a litre at some stations, while Montreal prices jumped about a dime to $1.38 a litre. Halifax prices were up to about $1.33 a litre.
GasBuddy.com, a website that monitors North American fuel prices, said the average price Friday in Canada was nearly $1.33 a litre, compared with $1.05 a litre a year ago.
At a federal election campaign stop in Halifax, Harper said it "appeared" to be the case, when asked if there was price gouging going on.
Harper did not promise any immediate action, saying the Conservatives would make related policy announcements later in the campaign.
"We are prepared to take steps. I'm not going to make up policy on a day-to-day basis. We do have some announcements in this area that we'll be making as the campaign progresses."
Earlier this summer, criminal charges were laid against 13 people and 11 companies for fixing gasoline prices in Quebec. Three of the companies pleaded guilty and were fined a total of $2 million.
Peter Boag, president of the Canadian Petroleum Products Institute, said the price spike is the result of an integrated North American fuel market, not price fixing.
"There's no unique Canadian market for fuels, we operate in the context of a North American market for fuel, so things that happen anywhere in North America have an impact on fuel prices in Canada," said Boag.
Refineries shutting down in the face of hurricane Ike, combined with other refineries that are only now coming back online after hurricane Gustav, means North American refining capacity has been reduced by 15 to 20 per cent in the last couple of days, said Boag.
"We've got a significant supply issue as a result of those weather conditions," he said.
"Supply goes down at the wholesale level, prices go up."
Boag said it's difficult to know when prices will drop again, but he said past experience indicates this will be a "short-term issue."
Liberal MP Dan McTeague, who has gained a reputation for predicting pump price increases based on the wholesale market in the United States, predicted more increases for Canadian motorists later Friday.
News of the looming increases had motorists lining up past gas stations in several Canadian cities as they tried to beat the jump in price.
The threat of hurricane Ike to Gulf Coast oil refineries, mostly in Texas, sent wholesale gasoline prices in the U.S. soaring Thursday over supply concerns.
As well, U.S. gasoline supplies have dropped by several million barrels over the last week, according to data released by the U.S. Energy Department.
While McTeague said the threat posed by the hurricane was the "spark" that triggered the increase, he also pointed the finger at the Canadian oil industry.
"The proverbial fuel on the fire is in fact the distortions by an unresponsive, uncompetitive market that has actually been diminishing its output," McTeague said in a phone interview from his Toronto-area riding where he was campaigning for re-election Thursday night.
Federal competition reviews of the Canadian industry have repeatedly determined it is highly competitive and reacts to changes in the continental market for gasoline, which is traded as a commodity just like wheat, grain, nickel and oil.
Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE:XOM), Valero Energy Corp., ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) and Marathon Oil Co. were among the companies halting operations at refineries on the Texas coast as Ike churned toward the state.
Refineries along the upper Texas Gulf Coast account for about one-fifth of U.S. refining capacity. Exxon Mobil's refinery in Baytown, outside Houston, is the largest in the United States.
In a related development Friday, a North Carolina-based convenience store chain asked U.S. customers in 11 states - mostly across the Southeast - to limit gasoline purchases to 10 gallons to avoid a run on supplies.
Another veteran gas-price watcher, Jason Toews, who runs GasBuddy.com, said fear of Ike carried over the border to Canada.
"With the hurricane in the gulf certainly going to cause some problems with supplies of crude oil and gasoline, mostly refined gasoline, in the U.S... it may have ripple effects all the way up to Canada," Toews said.
"What they have to do to fill that void is bring in gas from neighbouring states, and it has a ripple effect because those neighbouring states all of sudden don't have enough gas and they have to bring in gas," he said.
"Gas is trucked in from across the region, and across the (United States), and from Canada."}
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080912/national/gas_prices
Fellow critic hits Ebert during film festival in TO
Thu Sep 11, 11:21 PM
By The Associated Press
{CHICAGO - Film critic Roger Ebert on Thursday confirmed that a fellow critic yelled at him and whacked him on the knee with a program during a movie screening at the Toronto Film Festival last weekend, but said the incident was "blown out of proportion."
"It has been blown out of proportion. It is of little interest," Ebert said in a column posted Thursday on the website of the Chicago Sun-Times, where he has been a critic since 1967.
Ebert, who has battled cancer in recent years and was left unable to speak, did not name the other critic involved in the incident. But he said an account published in the New York Daily News that named the other man as rival New York Post movie critic Lou Lumenick was "truthful."
Lumenick did not return an e-mail from The Associated Press after business hours on Thursday.
Saturday's incident began, Ebert said, when he could not see subtitles for the film "Slumlord Millionaire" because the man sitting in front of him was leaning into the aisle.
"In my medical condition I cannot speak, I tapped him lightly on the shoulder, and gestured him to move over a little. He said, 'Don't touch me!' and remained in position. I tapped him lightly again. 'I said - don't touch me!' He leaned further into the aisle, as if making a point of it. I tapped him a third time, and he jumped up and whacked me on the knee with whatever it was," Ebert said.
Ebert wrote that he tapped the man a fourth time, "just to show I wasn't intimidated." The man was later moved to another seat.
"This whole matter was embarrassing, because it drew attention to me and invited pity, which makes me cringe," said Ebert, former host of the syndicated show "At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper."
While Ebert said he thought the man was wrong for blocking his sight line, the Pulitzer Prize winner said he felt sorry for him.
"He had no idea who was behind him when he smacked me," Ebert wrote. "Now it looked like he was picking on poor me. I have had my problems, but I promise you I am plenty hearty enough to withstand a smack, and quite happy, after the smack, to tap him again."
Ebert ended the column with, "I had to see those subtitles. There was no pain. The incident is over. Peace."} http://ca.news.yahoo.com/indepth/id_to_film_fest/s/capress/080911/entertainment/tv_ebert_hit
By The Associated Press
{CHICAGO - Film critic Roger Ebert on Thursday confirmed that a fellow critic yelled at him and whacked him on the knee with a program during a movie screening at the Toronto Film Festival last weekend, but said the incident was "blown out of proportion."
"It has been blown out of proportion. It is of little interest," Ebert said in a column posted Thursday on the website of the Chicago Sun-Times, where he has been a critic since 1967.
Ebert, who has battled cancer in recent years and was left unable to speak, did not name the other critic involved in the incident. But he said an account published in the New York Daily News that named the other man as rival New York Post movie critic Lou Lumenick was "truthful."
Lumenick did not return an e-mail from The Associated Press after business hours on Thursday.
Saturday's incident began, Ebert said, when he could not see subtitles for the film "Slumlord Millionaire" because the man sitting in front of him was leaning into the aisle.
"In my medical condition I cannot speak, I tapped him lightly on the shoulder, and gestured him to move over a little. He said, 'Don't touch me!' and remained in position. I tapped him lightly again. 'I said - don't touch me!' He leaned further into the aisle, as if making a point of it. I tapped him a third time, and he jumped up and whacked me on the knee with whatever it was," Ebert said.
Ebert wrote that he tapped the man a fourth time, "just to show I wasn't intimidated." The man was later moved to another seat.
"This whole matter was embarrassing, because it drew attention to me and invited pity, which makes me cringe," said Ebert, former host of the syndicated show "At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper."
While Ebert said he thought the man was wrong for blocking his sight line, the Pulitzer Prize winner said he felt sorry for him.
"He had no idea who was behind him when he smacked me," Ebert wrote. "Now it looked like he was picking on poor me. I have had my problems, but I promise you I am plenty hearty enough to withstand a smack, and quite happy, after the smack, to tap him again."
Ebert ended the column with, "I had to see those subtitles. There was no pain. The incident is over. Peace."} http://ca.news.yahoo.com/indepth/id_to_film_fest/s/capress/080911/entertainment/tv_ebert_hit
Friday, September 5, 2008
Battlestar Galactica (2004 - 2009 TV series)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlestar_Galactica_(2004_TV_series)#Synopsis-
'Battlestar Galactica' franchise steams ahead
By CHRIS TALBOTT, Associated Press Writer
Mon Aug 25, 2:59 PM PDT
{Need proof the television ratings system is dead, a victim of the TiVo, the ubiquitous satellite dish and schizophrenic viewing habits? Take a look at what's happening with "Battlestar Galactica."
If the traditional ratings system is used to measure its success, well, the series is scraping bottom like a viper throwing sparks on a hot landing.
Yet the show's producers are moving forward with two post-"Galactica" projects that would never have seen the light of a cathode tube had ratings been the only factor in the decisions.
Jamie Bamber, the British actor who plays Lee "Apollo" Adama in the series, has a much better way to gauge ratings. Turns out, as the ratings plummet, the show's popularity continues to skyrocket as it reaches the end of its five-year run early in 2009.
"When the numbers were high I would get stopped in the street maybe once a week," Bamber said. "Now that the viewing figures are lower on the TV, everywhere I go someone will come up to me and say what a huge fan they are. That just tells me that people watch the show in a more modern way and that it has reached its sort of critical mass."
"Galactica" wrapped shooting in July and the final 10 episodes will begin airing in January. But the franchise won't stop there.
Producers recently announced end-of-the-summer production of a two-hour standalone "Galactica" prequel that will air in 2009 after the series finale. And they've also shot a pilot for a new series called "Caprica," which has yet to be picked up by the network but seems destined to air.
These things never used to happen. There never would've been a "Rhoda" had "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" tanked. "Fish" would've been fried had it not been for the popularity of "Barney Miller."
"Galactica's" numbers -- to put it politely -- have begun to stink. The latest Nielsen ratings seem to indicate the show's viewers are as hard to find as the fleet's mythical destination of Earth. The series averaged 2.8 million viewers an episode during Season 1. During the most recent run of 10 episodes, the show averaged 2.2 million viewers, a slight dip overall but up from Seasons 2 and 3. The series lost some of that steam by the midseason finale, falling to just 1.8 million viewers.
Co-executive producer Michael Angeli thinks the numbers are irrelevant, however. He believes most "Galactica" fans have atypical viewing habits and take advantage of new technology to watch the show whenever they want.
"I think we were one of the first ones," Angeli said. "TiVo had just sort of taken off. This was four or five seasons ago, and because we were on Friday nights most people, most fans don't watch it (on first run). They TiVo it and watch it a zillion times."
Others rent or buy the DVDs after the season is over and watch in long marathons. To take advantage of this group, producers will be releasing the two-hour movie on DVD shortly after it appears on SciFi.
The movie is a prequel that gives some insight into the machinations of the cylons before they unleashed the nuclear holocaust that wiped out all but 50,000 human inhabitants of the 12 colonies. "Galactica" star Edward James Olmos will direct and Dean Stockwell (Cylon No. 1), Aaron Douglas (Chief Tyrol) and Michael Trucco (Sam Anders) -- all "skinjobs," cylons who appear to be human -- will participate.
While the movie is a lock to air, the fate of "Caprica" remains to be decided. The pilot has been shot and screened, and there's a trailer up on YouTube. Angeli is helping with early scripts in case the series is picked up and said the show is an almost complete departure from "Galactica."
"In fact, I don't think we ever go into space," he said.
"Caprica" takes place 51 years before the events of "Galactica." It stars Esai Morales and Eric Stoltz as the heads of rival families who clash over the creation of artificial intelligence, which will eventually lead to the cylons.
Besides the robots and the location, the only real connection between "Galactica" and "Caprica" will be Joseph Adama, the character played by Morales. While Joseph Adama -- father and grandfather to the characters played by Olmos and Bamber -- never appears in "Galactica," his work as a lawyer provides a moral compass in a significant storyline and his name is often evoked.
Like "Galactica," which took on war, terrorism, torture, religion and questions of morality, the storyline in "Caprica" will have many things to say about our society.
"It's really about big business, the machinations and the subterfuge that go on inside of it when you have something that is groundbreaking and could change the nature of life and the future," Angeli said. "In this case, they're developing artificial intelligence."
Executive producer Ronald D. Moore described the show to reporters at the Television Critics Association meeting in Beverly Hills. While he was talking about the fictional colony Caprica, he could just as easily have been talking about today's America.
"It's about a vibrant society. It's really at the height of its power and the height of its decadence at the same time," Moore said. "So it's really a thriving, vibrant culture that's going to come apart as we watch, but it's sort of the roller coaster. It's thrilling at the top when you see how far down you've got to go."}
Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
http://ca.tv.yahoo.com/battlestar-galactica/show/36672/news/urn:newsml:tv.ap.org:20080825:ap_on_tv_battlestar_galactica__ER:79178
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What the frak? 'Battlestar Galactica' faux curse seeping into language
Tue Sep 2, 12:07 PM
By Chris Talbott, The Associated Press
{NEW YORK - Lee Goldberg thinks Glen A. Larson is a genius, and not because the prolific television writer and producer gave us "Knight Rider" and "B.J. and the Bear."
It was Larson who first used the faux curse word "frak" in the original "Battlestar Galactica." The word was mostly overlooked back in the '70s series but is working its way into popular vocabulary as SciFi's modern update winds down production.
"All joking aside, say what you will about what you might call the lowbrow nature of many of his shows, he did something truly amazing and subversive, up there with what Steven Bochco gets credit for, with frak," Goldberg said.
There's no question what the word stands for and it's used gleefully, as many as 20 times in some episodes.
"And he was saying it 30 years ago in the original goofy, god-awful 'Battlestar Galactica,"' said Goldberg, a television writer and novelist whose credits include "Monk" and "Diagnosis Murder."
The word is showing up everywhere - on T-shirts, in sit-coms, best-selling novels and regular conversation.
"I have to start by saying that I'm drinking coffee out of a mug that says 'frak off' on the side of it, so much has it seeped into my life," "Galactica" star Jamie Bamber said.
The word is insinuating its way into popular vocabulary for a simple reason.
You can't get in trouble. It's a made-up word.
"It may have been the great George Carlin who talked about these things so cleverly," Larson said. "He'd say, 'Mother would say shoot, but she meant . . . when she reached in and burned her fingers on the crocker.' And the child says, 'I know what you meant mom.' "
The word has slipped the bonds that tethered other pretenders like Mork's "shazbot" in "Mork & Mindy" or Col. Sherman T. Potter's "horse hockey" in "M.A.S.H." Its usage has moved from the small but fervent group of "Galactica" fans into everyday language.
It's shown up in very mainstream shows like "The Office," "Gossip Girl" and "Scrubs." One YouTube posting has two minutes of sound bites that cover the gamut.
"I'm in my own little cocoon of science fictiondom but it is certainly used around here and amongst the people I know," said Irene Gallo, art director at the sci-fi imprint Tor Books where employees held a "frak party" to watch the season premiere.
"It's sort of a way to be able to use a four-letter word without really getting into any kind of HR trouble or with people you're really not quite comfortable being yourself with."
The word has even appeared in the funny pages where Dilbert muttered a disconsolate "frack" - the original spelling before producers of the current show changed it to a four-letter word - after a particularly dumb order from his evil twit of a boss.
"Dilbert" creator Scott Adams calls the word "pure genius."
"At first I thought frak was too contrived and it bothered me to hear it," Adams said. "Over time it merged in my mind with its coarser cousin and totally worked. The creators ingeniously found a way to make viewers curse in their own heads - you tend to translate the word - and yet the show is not profane."
Best-selling novelist Robert Crais slips the word into the prologue of his latest Elvis Cole mystery, "Chasing Darkness." He did it because "Galactica" is his favourite show, like calling out in the wilderness to his fellow fans. But he sees the word popping up everywhere, even among those who have never watched the show.
"It's viral, it spreads like a virus," Crais said. "That first wave of people who use it are all fans. They use it because they're tickled by it and like me they're paying an homage to the show. When they're using it, they're probably doing it with a sly wink. But as it gets heard and people use it, it spreads."
The re-imagined "Battlestar Galactica" tells the story of the human survivors of a war with a robotic race known as the Cylons. Fewer than 40,000 humans remain in a ragtag fleet being pursued across space by the Cylons, who wiped out the 12 colonies in a surprise nuclear holocaust.
Their destination is the mythical planet Earth, a legend passed down in religious texts. Shooting wrapped in July and the final 10 episodes will appear beginning in January.
Larson, one of television's most prolific and successful writers, doesn't much care for the new series. He used frack and its cousin "feldergarb" as alternates for curse words because the original "Battlestar" was family friendly and appeared on Sunday nights. The words fit in with his philosophy that while the show was about humans, it shouldn't have an Earthly feel.
In what he said was his first interview about the series, Larson says there were no red fire extinguishers on his Battlestar Galactica and characters wore original costumes, not suits and ties.
"Our point was to whenever possible make it a departure like you're visiting somewhere else," Larson said. "And we did coin certain phrases for use in expletive situations, but we tried to carry that over into a lot of other stuff, even push brooms and the coin of the realm."
When new series producer Ron Moore first introduced frak in early scripts, Bamber said the actors were dubious. But as writers expanded its use, they caught on to the possibilities.
"I mean why are we not offended by 'frak' because it means exactly the same thing as the other thing?" said Bamber, who plays fighter pilot-turned-president Lee "Apollo" Adama. "So it raises questions about language and why certain words are offensive. Is it their meaning? . . . Clearly it's not their meaning. Clearly it's literally their sound."
Co-executive producer and writer Michael Angeli, an Emmy nominee for the episode "Six of One," said using the word in scripts is satisfying for anyone who's been censored over the years.
"It's a great way to do something naughty and get away with it," Angeli said. "One of the things that television shows do constantly is they battle with Standards and Practices over what can be seen and what can't be seen, what can be said and what can't be said.
"A lot of our characters are soldiers. That whole sort of view and that subculture, that's how they speak. They're rough and tumble, and they're bawdy and they swear."
He said producers have gotten no complaints from SciFi owner NBC Universal or the Federal Communications Commission.
Goldberg believes Larson should get more credit for frak and has posted an appreciation on his website. He even sought out Larson to let him know how he feels: "I told him, 'Frak is fraking brilliant, Glen.' "}
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On the Net: http://www.scifi.com/
http://www.leegoldberg.com/
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080902/entertainment/tv_what_the_frak
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