I am on CNN!

They are all like, "We asked The Mayoress* what she** thought about Obama's performance in the speech and here is her answer.***" It is so about time.

* Facebook users
** they
*** their poll responses

Prime Time President

Thoughts during Obama's first presidential address...

And they're still clapping. Hells yeah.

Very positive start - "We will rebuild, we will recover."

Visit www.recovery.gov to find out where your money's going.

Nancy Pelosi looks fablous in olive green.

Call to personal responsibility.

"Because nobody messes with Joe." Lolz - how many quotes will that get over the next 4 (8) years?

Urgent need to restore credit -- 1) starting loan fund. 2) starting home fund to help responsible families.

Increased bailout accountability for banks. "This time bank CEOs won't be able to use taxpayer money to pad their paychecks, buy fancy drapes, or run off in a private jet. Those days are over."

Obama says government's job is to "solve the problem" - not play politics.

"It's not about helping banks, it's about helping people."

Michelle is killin' it in a royal purple dress. She's very fond of sleeveless regardless of season. I'm down.

Need to cut healthcare costs, dependence on oil, debt for next generation.

Obama summarizes bold forward steps that happened during tough times in our history.

A lot of "It begins with..." I like this continued reference to a beginning when everyone's feeling like things are ending, crashing, foreclosing.

Energy: "It is time for America to lead again."

Health insurance for children whose parents work full time! Funds to cure cancer!

I think this Senator they just showed is pretending to read his booklet so he can nap.

Schools need reform, not just resources. Investment in programs that are working, commitment to charter schools. Asking every American to commit to at least one year of post-HS training. Goal of having highest proportion of college grads in the world by 2020. Tuition $$ for those who volunteer in their communities.

Necessity for parental involvement in child development. "I speak to you not just as a President, but as a father." "Responsibility for education begins at home."

Bringing down our deficit. Big cheers for "With the deficit we inherited..."

Eliminating no-bid contracts in Iraq. (This got loud cheers and a whoop from yours truly. Watch out Cheney.)

Restoring fairness to tax code by eliminating tax breaks to those who ship jobs oversees and ending tax breaks for top 2% of Americans.

Campaign promise repeated! "If your family makes less than 250K a year, you will not see your taxes raise a dime."

Pledge to no longer hide the price of the Iraq War. Now reviewing options for ending Iraq War and promise to soon reveal plan as well as have allied plan for Middle East. Raising pay for our troops and expanding benefits.

Wait a second. This speech is now cutting into Law & Order: SVU. Not cool, Barack. Oh wait -- now he's talking about Guantanamo! Good compromise!

Honoring timely heroes in attendance - a CEO who distributed his bonus to all employees, a Kansas town that's rebuilding after a tornado, an 8th grader that wrote Obama to help fix her school (this one gave me chills), a NYC blogger who gives of her time to help her friends know what's going on in news and politics... what?!

And IT'S OVER! Good job Barack! Nancy you were very attentive! Joe, give 'em hell. Michelle, keep stylin'. America: do it. I'm out.

Read entire transcript. Although of course, now you don't need to. You're welcome.


*Quotes not necessarily exact. What do I look like, a court stenographer?

Dambisa is not impressed with your celebrity cause.

This was the most interesting article to me in Sunday's Times...

You argue in your book that Western aid to Africa has not only perpetuated poverty but also worsened it, and you are perhaps the first African to request in book form that all development aid be halted within five years. Think about it this way — China has 1.3 billion people, only 300 million of whom live like us, if you will, with Western living standards. There are a billion Chinese who are living in substandard conditions. Do you know anybody who feels sorry for China? Nobody.

Also, killer shoes!!

Read more from diva-conomist Dambisa Moyo.

And why do people like me have to pay taxes again?

The 2004 memorandum, for instance, described how UBS created hundreds of “dummy” offshore corporations where its clients could hide money from the I.R.S. An e-mail message sent that year captured some of the coded language used by UBS bankers. In their world, “one nut” meant $250,000, while “one swan” meant $1 million. Colors were used to designate certain currencies. Orange, for example, represented the euro; blue, the British pound. Several messages described UBS actively referring clients to outside lawyers and accountants in Switzerland and elsewhere who set up secret accounts for them.

In a brief interview on Thursday, one UBS client said the bank also provided wealthy clients with electronic devices with coded computer chips that enabled them to gain access to their accounts and transfer money secretly. The passwords changed each time the accounts were accessed.

Read full article.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Do not, I repeat, do not lend your hard-earned recession era money toward the box office gross for terrible-on-several-levels flick "He's Just Not That Into You."

I sat through it, but like lunch at the sketchy Chinese place on 7th Avenue, I felt a certain discomfort afterward. I couldn't put my finger on it, but the review I read in L Magazine explained it perfectly.

It takes 2 minutes to read - better than wasting 2 hours of your life trying to figure out when Johannsen got her boob job.

Read it here.

Guest Post: Bret on Why the NY Post Sucks and You Should Never Buy It or Any Other Murdoch Owned Media

Today's NY Post cartoon is absolutely terrible. How the Post's idiot-in-chief didn't kill this before it went print, I have no idea. I'm pretty sure the comic's intent was to show that the Obama / Stimulus plan was on par with the intelligence of a monkey, but how could he not have not figured people are uber sensitive to the black male / monkey stereotype & that people from all walks of life would be extremly offended by his bigoted depiction??

"It's also extemely offensive how it plays into the troubled relations between the police and minorities. What is it?..A year after Sean Bell, 6 months after they tazed mentally ill guy off a a building & here they are depicting the shooting death of a "monkey who wrote the stimulus bill?"

You bet the Posts office is being inundated w/ emails this AM.

Bad news bears.

See Bret's Blog As Long As You Don't Like It Better Than Mine

Snowfall Investigatory Journalism

I couldn't believe it last week (why is blogger spellchecking the word 'couldn't'? it just did it again! spellchecking the word 'spellchecking' i can understand, but 'couldn't'?! wait, it didn't do it that time. crap! it checked 'didn't'! for heavens.) when I read in Time Out that the biggest one-day snowfall on record in NYC history was 25 feet, 6 inches. That's impossible unless it's a movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal. Mmm, Jake Gyllenhaal.

So I did a little investigating.*

Gothamist says the record was set on February 11, 2006 with over two feet, which hadn't happened since 26 inches in 1947.

The Times echoes that, calling '06 a "record-breaking snowfall."

Bret confirms this because it was on his birthday. He couldn't get a cab. And he's white!

I can't for the life of me remember where I was that weekend, and it was just 3 years ago.

The online version of the article has it in inches (damn updateable internet!) but says the 1947 date is the record.

Et tu, Time Out fact-checkers? It's even in Wikipedia (which the subheader of the article disses as being nonfactual). Or maybe the editors should watch their decimal points?

Or maybe I should get back to real reportage?

*googling

Du-Bye Bye

So check this out:

Dubai's going bust, big time. Remember how all the Westerners flocked to its high-paying jobs and dirt cheap luxury living? Hell, even I considered moving halfway around the world for that instant upgrade.

Well, now there are massive layoffs, which means foreigners lose their work visas. Which means they must leave the country within one month.

BUT - they have cars, mortgages. And they can't sell. So the story is that thousands of cars are just sitting in the Dubai airport lot, abandoned with maxed out credit cards inside. And what about the condos? Well, not paying your debt, aka mortgage, can land you in p-r-i-s-o-n.

AND - Dubai's a shroud of secrecy, and considering enacting a law that makes damaging its reputation or economy punishable by a fine of up to $272K - not exactly inspiration for fair & balanced reporting about what's really happening on the ground.

So, for today at least, let's breathe a collective sigh that things could be a whole lot worse.

Read the full article.

Unfuckingbelievable

The bank CEOs are in DC right now totally evading every question about where our money went.

May the following men be sued for all they're worth by the American people and spend the rest of their lives performing community service and living in subsidized housing: Kenneth D. Lewis of Bank of America, Robert P. Kelly of Bank of New York Mellon, Vikram Pandit of Citigroup, Lloyd C. Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, John J. Mack of Morgan Stanley, Ronald E. Logue of State Street, and John G. Stumpf of Wells Fargo.

Live blogging at The Times.

Watch/listen live on MSNBC.com.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Tragedy on an Operatic Scale

Posted on the Los Angeles Times "Culture Monster" blog, 2/10/09

Come November, Sarah Coburn (pictured left), a rising soprano, is scheduled to sing her first L.A. Opera role in Handel's "Tamerlano," playing opposite Placido Domingo as the beleaguered daughter of a conquered Turkish potentate. Culture Monster wonders whether any semblance of that tale's turbulence is stirring within Coburn's own family these days considering that her dad, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), has led the charge to keep federal economic stimulus money from landing in the pockets of artists such as, well, his daughter. On Friday, the Senate voted 73-24 in favor of Coburn's amendment "to ensure that taxpayer money is not lost on wasteful and non-stimulative projects," such as funding museums, theaters and arts centers. "It's been ... Sarah's longtime policy not to comment on her father's career," said Stuart Wolferman, a spokesman for her New York management company.

Break Out

An interesting one on The Takeaway this morning:

Healthcare is so underfunded in California that they estimate that one prisoner dies unnecessarily every week. No one's getting any money soon, so the only solution is to release upwards of 50,000 criminals. But before you start replacing your white picket with barbed wire, keep in mind that a disproportionate number of people are incarcerated due to minor parole violations or sentences to 5, 10, even 20 years for something like drug possession. In fact, a certain worshipped Republican ex-president authorized a major prisoner release in during his tenure as Cali guvnah, to no ill effect on communities. Maybe it's time to reevaluate the actual dangers to society?

The Generalissimo

Someone has a blog totally devoted to keeping us all on top of the satanic doings of Bernie Madoff. Read such life-destroying gems as:

And the winner of the Madoff sob story of the day is Ian Thiermann. The 90-year-old had to leave retirement to work at a supermarket because his investments were tied into Madoff funds. He considers himself a “beginner” worker at the grocery store.

Check it.

A-DimRod

Did you see this one in the Times today?

Boo fucking hoo. Alex had his confidentiality breached. Well ALEX BROKE RULES, kids. Game over.

What I want to know is why Michael Phelps gets torn down over a stupid bong - hello, pot use makes his 17 golds that much more amazing - while A-Rod keeps his 10-year, $250 million-plus deal plus his MVP titles and endorsements?

Steroids are either against the rules or not. Same way bankers shouldn't get bonuses if they don't perform in a bonus-worthy way. FOR HEAVEN'S.

Things Are Getting Harder

A great quickie from New York magazine.

Like real porn, the economic variety gives you the illusion of control, and similarly it only leaves you hungry for more. But econo-porn also feeds a powerful sense of intellectual vanity. You walk the streets feeling superior to all these heedless knaves who have no clue what’s coming down the pike. By making yourself miserable about the frightful hell that awaits us, you feel better. Pessimism can be bliss too.

Read the full article.

Good Thing We Have a Billionaire Mayor to Empathize

Thanks to Kaki for this one from the NY Daily News:

A new report shows just how ugly — and expensive — New York City can be, especially for the middle class, squeezed by skyrocketing living costs and stagnant wages.

The study, released Thursday by the Center for an Urban Future, shows that New York City is hands-down the most expensive place to live in the country.

Among the findings:

• A New Yorker would have to make $123,322 a year to have the same standard of living as someone making $50,000 in Houston.
• In Manhattan, a $60,000 salary is equivalent to someone making $26,092 in Atlanta.
• You knew it was expensive to live in Manhattan, but Queens? The report tagged Queens the fifth most expensive urban area in the country.
• The average monthly rent in New York is $2,801, 53% higher than San Francisco, the second most expensive city in the country.

“Income levels that would enable a very comfortable lifestyle in other locales barely suffice to provide the basics in New York City,” the report concludes.

• Home heating costs have jumped 125% in the past five years and are up 243% since 1998.
• Full-time day care costs can run up to $25,000 a year for one child, depending on the neighborhood, or about as much as some college tuitions.
• Meanwhile, wages in the city have remained mostly flat in all boroughs but Manhattan — even during the boom years from 2003 to 2007.

Read full article.

Open Message to the Obamas

Hi guys,

I know you're probably super busy settling into the White House and fixing the country and whatnot, but can you let me know what time we're doing brunch on Saturday? I'm only going to be in DC for a day and a half and want to make sure we can get together. Call/text me.

Kthxbye!

Take That, Wall Street

Oh man, Obama is the top most raddest president ever. Capping bailout salaries??! You think McCain would have even entertained that? Now let's sue the banks for their '08 bonuses.