Something Very Dangerous is Happening

Wisdom from Thomas L. Friedman today:

I have no problem with any of the substantive criticism of President Obama from the right or left. But something very dangerous is happening. Criticism from the far right has begun tipping over into delegitimation and creating the same kind of climate here that existed in Israel on the eve of the Rabin assassination.

What kind of madness is it that someone would create a poll on Facebook asking respondents, “Should Obama be killed?” The choices were: “No, Maybe, Yes, and Yes if he cuts my health care.” The Secret Service is now investigating. I hope they put the jerk in jail and throw away the key because this is exactly what was being done to Rabin.

Even if you are not worried that someone might draw from these vitriolic attacks a license to try to hurt the president, you have to be worried about what is happening to American politics more broadly...

Full article.

Jail Time

How is it at all okay that Roman Polanski hasn't served time for raping a 13-year-old girl? Oh, because you like his movies? Oh, okay then.

I'm pretty far on one side of the Famous People Committing Crimes debate. Or not acting responsibly when they're related to one. I seriously can't even hear Rihanna's voice anymore... wait, that's pretty much the same as before the whole Chris Brown thing. Love your style though girl, keep it poppin'!

Article.

Savage:Santorum::Pressler:Bloomberg

In this week's Savage Love:

Ben Smith at Politico reported last Tuesday that Republican former U.S. senator Rick Santorum plans to run for president. Political Wire linked to Smith's post and added that "Santorum has a serious Google problem." Truthdig linked to Political Wire's post and spelled out Santorum's Google problem: "The former senator's rampant homophobia inspired sex columnist Dan Savage to launch a campaign to usurp the conservative's name. The result: If you type 'Santorum' into Google, you'll find that it refers not to a former senator, but 'that frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex.'"

Get Your Own Box!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The New York Times reports today that Bloomberg's favorite snack is...

Cheez-Its.

What! Everyone knows Cheez-Its are MY favorite snack. I once bought 10 boxes simply because they were on sale! I use them to carb up when running long distances! I use them to sober up after a night out! I can tell the difference between a perfect box and one that's slightly over-baked! I'm eating them right fucking now!!

Cheez-Its may be the most mayoral food, but they're property of The Mayoress, not the illegally-running-for-third-term mayor. This is personal now. All summer I was wondering: If I was a superhero, who would be my archnemesis? I guess we know now, Meet the Presslerians, I guess we know.

This is IT, Michael B. You are SO. GOING. DOWN.

Blog of the Day

Check this out! A whole blog devoted to explaining why Bloomberg is ridiculous! It's called No Power Grab, and has such gems as:

Here is a clip from an email I received from Dan Cantor, WFP Executive Director:

Thompson has a clear message. He believes that city government must always put the middle class and working families first - above the real estate developers and corporate interests that have dominated our city for too long. In a Thompson Administration, Wall Street won't be the only street that matters anymore. Flatbush Avenue, Queens Blvd., The Grand Concourse, Victory Boulevard, and 125th St will have a real voice in City Hall.

At last Thursday's Forum, in question after question, Thompson spoke boldly about his support for our values and issues. The Mayor mostly did not. (You can watch the highlights here.)

When asked about campaign spending, Mayor Bloomberg told the hundreds of WFP supporters watching in the room and online: "rich people don't always win."

Our job now is to prove him right.

Only prob is that it seems to be anonymous - hey No Power Grab blogger(s)! Email me so I can buy you a virtual drink or something!

Obama at the UN

I love how Obama just loves to be in NYC. He's at the UN right now, about to give a speech to the general assembly. You can listen to it here.

Today in Bloomberg Is Stupid News

I'm all a'Twitter(ing)! Brian Lehrer is doing a segment on Bloomberg right now, including where his money goes. Turn on WNYC right now or listen online!

Michael Bloomberg claims that the upcoming election is a referendum on his record. So, what does the record tell us? The New Yorker’s Joyce Purnick has just published the sweeping biography Mike Bloomberg: Money, Power, Politics, which tells his story from childhood in Boston through his controversial bid for a third term. She examines the Bloomberg record and what’s at stake this fall.

I like this Joyce Purnick lady already. Some points being made:

Bloomie gets testy with journalists and refuses to answer when they ask about his third-term grab.

Fact that he was a former chain smoker and has a "constant struggle with weight" may have been the selfish reasons for the smoking ban and the calories on menus (both things I support, but seriously, NYC as B's personal playground? we should all be so lucky).

Is his "improvement of education" actually making kids smarter, or sacrificing learning to testing?

Heyyy, remember when the Republican convention was in NYC back in '04? You know, our city, that's 5-to-1 Democrat, where Bloomberg appeared as a Republican, when the NYPD cracked down big time on anyone protesting? Go America! The lawsuits that resulted cost the city a fortune. Bloomberg still contends protesters should have stayed home.

Whatever happened to the (totally elitist) plan for congestion pricing?

From the excellent comments section: "Since Bloomberg started pursuing politics his reported net worth has gone up 10 times. He has gone from a moderately wealthy man to the richest New Yorker while ignoring proscriptions from the City Conflict of Interest Board about how he should not be involved with his business and its client companies, nearly all of whom also do business with the city. Bloomberg has also, since he started pursuing politics in 1977, has been using his own charities and those run under the auspices of the city for political purposes which has skewed honest debate."

Two words: 2012 Olympics.

Better and Far More Useful than Ice Cream Dots

The fine folks at Slate have invented News Dots! No, it's not gummy candy, it's an interactive graph! What, graphs don't get you off? Get thee behind me, Type B personality.

NYC Election Results and Call to Action

Here are your Democratic Nominees -

Mayor - Bill Thompson
Comptroller - Runoff election between John Liu and David Yassky (Yassky is my pick)
Public Advocate - Bill de Blasio
Manhattan DA - Cy Vance

And if you had a City Council race, you can pretty much assume your incumbent won. Mine did by only 2 percentage points.

But let's talk about the real problem. Excuse me while I climb onto my high horse.

So many of you did not vote yesterday. I know you're registered because you were oh so hyped up about Obama last fall. And you've had 10 months to switch your registration to your zip code of residency if you were previously registered in your home state.

Something like 300,000 voters turned out in a city of over 8.25 million. Sure, you can subtract those not eligible for this election like children and Independents, but come on: in November, over 2.3 million of you showed up.

I feel very strongly about this: there is no excuse for not voting. The NYC primaries is the place your vote counts the most. The only place your vote will count in November is the race for mayor because the Democrat always wins in the other offices. And the mayoral race is vital but because Bloomberg can outspend any opponent several times over, Bill Thompson is up against Goliath. And know what? Your ignorance and inaction is telling our politicians it's okay to do politics as usual.

I wanted to puke last night when I listened to Bloomberg say "I only take a salary of $1 a year, I work for YOU!" Um, hello? If we're not paying you, you're not working for us. You're volunteering. So this is all about your ego, and the billions that make you the richest man in NYC come from private interests. That's not the mayor I want. I'm not saying money always equals evil - if Bill Gates ran for office I'd be the first to vote for him - because he is a true progressive who spends his money helping people. Bloomberg spent his money contributing to Bush's 2004 campaign.

I will do everything I can to get as many votes for Thompson between now and November 3. I hope you find your city, the amount of taxes you pay and where they go, how tourism is handled, services for the poor, law enforcement, the environment, MTA fare hikes, real estate development, the arts, and all the other things the local governement decides, worth it.

VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE

Don't even take the time to read this if you haven't voted yet! New York Primaries! SO IMPORTANT!! GO!!

My endorsements:
http://meetthepressler.blogspot.com/2009/09/mayoress-endorsements-nyc-primary-915.html

What are you waiting for?!

My 9/11 Story

I was in New York on September 11, 2001. I sometimes feel like I don't have as much right to the day as those who were actually at the towers, but like any thinking, feeling American (and beyond), the day changed me forever. No longer did I feel the invincibility that had previously been characteristic of my still-young generation.

Here's a portion of the email I send to everyone I knew later that day. After a bit of thought, I'm not including the last section which is a statement of faith that doesn't quite describe what I believe eight years later. Anyway, here it is:

Tuesday morning. I got off of the subway on the corner of Broadway and Prince, half a block from where I work in Manhattan. For those of you who are not familiar with the geography of Manhattan, it's a very long island and Broadway runs vertically the entire length of it. My office is in SoHo, very far down, but not in the area considered "downtown," where all the financial buildings are. I was walking down the west side of the street with another woman from my work when I saw a small but growing crowd on the east side of the street looking south. I thought they must have been looking at some movie shoot or celebrity down the street, as SoHo frequently sees that kind of activity. Except that they were, strangely, looking up. We did too and saw smoke in the sky. The woman I was with walked partway into the street and said, "It's the World Trade Center." I though for sure she was joking, so I crossed the street too and as I did, saw the sky fill with white dots and sparkles. Paper and glass. Soon I'd learn this was debris from the second plane hitting the south tower.

As some of my colleagues and I went up to the seventh floor of my building (east side of the street on Broadway) we heard a rumor of a plane crash. All we could say was how it was like something out of a movie, and how stupid could someone be to fly into the WTC. If you've never been here, it's hard to convey how massive these buildings are. Look at the remaining buildings on the news. Those are about the size of the tallest buildings in Seattle. Now look at how the WTC overshadows them. To stand underneath them was so overwhelming; all you could do was marvel at their size. You can see them from miles around, the only point in Manhattan visible from all the boroughs and NJ. Our Towers of Babel.

Once in the office, the 11 of us who made it there were glued to CNN. By now it was determined that two passenger planes were hijacked and flown in to the buildings. Overwhelming. We were in shock. I opened the windows and leaned out, looking south down Broadway, and saw the smoke billowing out. It was surreal. We drank coffee and tried to make phone calls, to little avail, all trying to glean more information from the newscast. Now the Pentagon was hit. One of my coworkers remarked that if this were a movie, no one would believe it. Then they announced the crumbling of the South Tower. Unbelievable. I ran to the window and saw the image firsthand of just one tower standing. This, to me, was more poignant than both of them gone. They're always seen as a unit, and to see neither of them feels more like a hallucination than reality. But the image of just one standing, and the smoke that began to crawl up the street and settled just six blocks down, is what really hit me. Each time we thought that we’d had the final hit, something even bigger happened. What was next? I was just a mile away. A bomb or missile hit that just barely missed another downtown or midtown target could easily hit where I was. I was alive, but a deep feeling of my own mortality hit me. The glass bubble of invincibility that my generation lives in was shattered. All I could do was drop to my knees and whisper to God, “Thank you, thank you.”

Looking down at the street, emergency vehicles tried to get past the few cars that remained. The exodus of people walking north was chilling. We soon joined them and I walked with co-workers past lines of people at pay phones and crowds of people in stores, silent as they tried to hear radios or watch televisions. It’s hard to describe the looks on the faces of people I passed. Shock, sickness, inability to understand what was taking place.

I waited at my co-worker’s apartment on 13th Street, stranded in Manhattan until the trains were running again to Brooklyn. I got home around 4:00 and spent the night at Tina’s down the street. All of us were and still are unable to peel our eyes off of the television.

I am so grateful to you all. Six calls that went through on my cell phone, 12 new messages at home, and 36 new emails. I’m sorry, but it’s a lot to try to return them all individually right now. I’m okay, as is everyone I know. But so many people are not. Aparna has people staying with her who are now homeless, their apartment buildings victim to the falling debris.

Funny how drastically your perspective of what's urgent changes all in a moment. I can’t go to work today, but at least I still have a company to go to. I have a home. I have my friends and loved ones.

Now would be a good time, as many of you have already, to pray for all these people who have been the victims of hate, for their families, for the world-altering decisions that are going to be made very soon.

I love you all, and am praying for you.
Ciara

Olbermann Puts Another Nail in the GOP Coffin

Oh man, this is gold:

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

Joe the Asshole

Facebook: one point.

Check this status & comment thread:

Henry
Where USA is: a republican interrupts Obama's speech to call him a liar. Meanwhile they send hecklers to town halls to compare him to hitler

Ciara

brilliantly put. it's embarrassing, isn't it?

Alfred

(202) 225-2452 is Congressman Joe Wilson's phone number if you want to call him and tell him what you thought of him heckling the President. I already left a message.

Adam

First it was "Joe the Plumber", now it's "Joe the Asshole"

Ian

Belly laugh from the UK laugh too...........

Davida

Henry, not only are you articulate, but, your friends are incisive, too. Yup, way to go Adam.

And way to go, Alfred. Pick up your iPhones, kids, it's time to call Mr. Wilson.

And Pundits... Go!!

Punditry from both Keith Olberman and Rachel Maddow post-speech, be still my heart!

Gotta love how immediately following the Republican response Olberman points out that not only was Doctor and Representative Charles Boustany of Louisiana sued three times for medical malpractice, he also tried unsuccessfully to buy the title of "Lord." He's also a birther (hate that term), which pretty much invalidates anything he has to say in my opinion. Um, hello, I would imagine the state of Louisiana has some more pressing issues to deal with?

God, GOP, Boustany is the best you can do? I guess all the money in the country can't buy decent speakers.

Olberman also points out that Boustany's speech makes claims that are the exact opposite of what the President actually said. My god, it's like he came straight from the Jindal School of Speechwriting.

My main problem is that there is a Republican response at all. Obama is the President of the entire country, all parties included, so there's no longer a need for a partisan response.

Mayoress Endorsements: NYC Primary 9/15

Okay, New York City Democrats. You're voting on Tuesday 9/15, and at the risk of repeating myself for the umpteenth time:

Why is the primary MORE important that the general election, class?

BECAUSE, my dear readers, in New York, the Democrat almost always gets elected, so choosing WHICH Democrat is MORE important, and that happens on Tuesday, September 15. This is also why you must register as a Democrat, not an Independent.

>Visit the Official NYC Voter Guide

MAYOR: WILLIAM C. THOMPSON
From the start, Thompson has been speaking out against Bloomberg's continued ridiculousness. He recognizes that NYC is more than just the affluent neighborhoods and believes in creating jobs and backing social services. Our current Comptroller (and therefore well acquainted with our city's fiscal position), he's also really good at using Facebook appropriately as an elected official, which sets my marketer's heart a-twitter (hee!).

PUBLIC ADVOCATE: ERIC GIOIA
I'll be honest, this is my toughest category, so I opted for advice from the politically active people I admire most (props, Babs Chen and Matt Silverstein). There are several strong choices here so go ahead and check them all out. And don't fault Gioia if he's suddenly scarce over the next few days - his wife's nine months pregs.

COMPTROLLER: DAVID YASSKY
I'm a Yassky fan going back 4 years. When I was going through my career change and considering politics, city council worker and friend Emily Merrill cited Yassky as one of the few who was progressively representing his district, which includes my neighbors just a few blocks west in the 'burg. I worked on his campaign for Congress, which he lost, but I'm glad he's now running to keep serving the city. He's a champion of green energy and seems pretty genuine for a local politician, so he's my pick.

CITY COUNCIL
I urge you to find out who your incumbent is and NOT vote for him or her. Why? Because he or she helped Bloomberg overturn the law that NYC voters established overturning term limits. None of them deserve to be re-elected after committing such a heinous crime against their constituents. This is also why Bloomberg must be voted on on November 3.

MANHATTAN D.A.
I'm in Brooklyn but for all my city peeps, a word of caution before you vote for Cy Vance Jr. because the Times told you to: his primary legal experience is defending white collar criminals. Is that really the influence we want at city hall? So, as always, everyone vote for Sam Waterston 4evah! YAY!! (But seriously, here's some good info on the candidates.)

Okay, players - go VOTE!

LiveBlogging the President's Health Care Speech

Tune in now!

Gasp! CNN has been replaced on channel 10 with FX! Actually, I support that decision - on to MSNBC.

Michelle looking FABULOUS in vintage-y salmon-colored retro suit. Que Kennedy!

Crap! I suck - I missed the Mayoral Debate on ABC at 7pm - did anyone catch it? (Don't worry, my appearance isn't until 2028.)

Am I wrong to assume that the procession of lawmakers coming into the room would be FAR less diverse were we still under the Republican regime? So nice to see representation that actually looks like America today.

I still get chills when they announce "The President of the United States" and Barack Obama walks out!

And the speech...

Good opener prioritizing economic concerns, positing that his administration has "pulled this economy back from the brink."

"I am not the first president to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last." HO!!

Nancy Pelosi just looks so happy. Maybe because she and Hil are matching in their adorable red power suits? Yikes, I hope they don't stand next to Michelle, clashorama.

Thank you, Barack, for explaining that those of us who are self-employed often can't afford to purchase health care on our own.

There are over 30 million citizens who cannot get coverage. 14,000+ lose their insurance every day. "It can happen to anyone."

WHAT. A woman couldn't get her double mastectomy because she didn't claim a case of acne when signing up for her insurance! Disgusting.

Prez now spelling out for the town hall idiots that the insured are already paying for the uninsured, and just how much - $1,000 per year for emergency & charitable care.

"These are the facts, and nobody disputes them. We know we must reform the system, the question is how."

Health care represents one-sixth of our economy!

Prez is recommending fixing/reforming what we have now vs building over from scratch.

"The time for games has past. Now is the time for action."

Summary of the features of Obama's proposed plan, paraphrased from speech text:

• If you already have health insurance through your job, Medicare, Medicaid, or the VA, nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have.
• It will be against the law for insurance companies to deny you coverage because of a pre-existing condition.
• it will be against the law for insurance companies to drop your coverage when you get sick or water it down when you need it most.
• They will no longer be able to place some arbitrary cap on the amount of coverage you can receive in a given year or a lifetime.
  
• We will place a limit on how much you can be charged for out-of-pocket expenses, because in the United States of America, no one should go broke because they get sick.
• insurance companies will be required to cover, with no extra charge, routine checkups and preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies – because there's no reason we shouldn't be catching diseases like breast cancer and colon cancer before they get worse.
• if you're one of the tens of millions of Americans who don't currently have health insurance, the second part of this plan will finally offer you quality, affordable choices... This is how large companies and government employees get affordable insurance. It's how everyone in this Congress gets affordable insurance. And it's time to give every American the same opportunity that we've given ourselves.
• If you lose your job or change your job, you will be able to get coverage.
  
• If you strike out on your own and start a small business, you will be able to get coverage.
• For those individuals and small businesses who still cannot afford the lower-priced insurance available in the exchange, we will provide tax credits, the size of which will be based on your need... This exchange will take effect in four years, which will give us time to do it right.
• individuals will be required to carry basic health insurance – just as most states require you to carry auto insurance.
  
• Likewise, businesses will be required to either offer their workers health care, or chip in to help cover the cost of their workers. There will be a hardship waiver for those individuals who still cannot afford coverage, and 95% of all small businesses, because of their size and narrow profit margin, would be exempt from these requirements.

Obama just gave props to McCain and McCain is smiling like crazy and everyone gave him a standing ovation - it's a total lovefest in there!

"Some of people's concerns have grown out of bogus claims spread by those whose only agenda is to kill reform at any cost. The best example is the claim, made not just by radio and cable talk show hosts, but prominent politicians, that we plan to set up panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens. Such a charge would be laughable if it weren't so cynical and irresponsible. It is a lie, plain and simple."

I've never heard such disrespect from the floor during a President's speech. I have my theories. You?

Great analogy likening private insurers + public options to private/public college system.

What is the paper the people in the back row are holding up?

"I will not back down on the basic principle that if Americans can't find affordable coverage, we will provide you with a choice. And I will make sure that no government bureaucrat or insurance company bureaucrat gets between you and the care that you need."

This one's for my mom: "I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits, now or in the future. Period. ...Reducing the waste and inefficiency in Medicare and Medicaid will pay for most of this plan. Much of the rest would be paid for with revenues from the very same drug and insurance companies that stand to benefit from tens of millions of new customers."

MAJOR DISS! "Part of the reason I faced a trillion dollar deficit when I walked in the door of the White House is because too many initiatives over the last decade were not paid for – from the Iraq War to tax breaks for the wealthy." True that, Obama, let's overturn those crap decisions while we're at this!

Seniors: "Not a dollar of the Medicare trust fund will go to pay for this plan."

Creating a panel of experts to identify waste. Love it!

Bipartisan leap! Re-assessing medical malpractice laws, a big Republican push.

"Add it all up, and the plan I'm proposing will cost around $900 billion over ten years – less than we have spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and less than the tax cuts for the wealthiest few Americans that Congress passed at the beginning of the previous administration."

"I will not waste time with those who have made the calculation that it's better politics to kill this plan than improve it. I will not stand by while the special interests use the same old tactics to keep things exactly the way they are. If you misrepresent what's in the plan, we will call you out. And I will not accept the status quo as a solution. Not this time. Not now." Don't mess with the O!

WHOA - powerhouse closer: letter to Obama from Ted Kennedy, requested to be delivered upon his death, calling health care "that great unfinished business of our society... it concerns more than material things.... What we face is above all a moral issue; at stake are not just the details of policy, but fundamental principles of social justice and the character of our country."

Obama is saying that caring for others is not partisan. I disagree based on evidence, but it's big of him to say so.

"When facts and reason are thrown overboard and only timidity passes for wisdom, and we can no longer even engage in a civil conversation with each other over the things that truly matter – that at that point we don't merely lose our capacity to solve big challenges. We lose something essential about ourselves."

Yep, Obama's a bigger man than I am. Still working on a bipartisan solution. Still believing that most of us care about others who are sick or in need. This is one of those rare times when I hope I'm wrong.

Complete transcript.

In Which Senator Gillibrand Emails The Mayoress

Remember when I told you guys to email all your reps re health care? Did you do it? Hmm. Well, I did, and here's what one of my senators sent back. It is DEFINITELY hand-typed by the Senator herself and NOT a form email. And I will forgive her for addressing me as "Ms" instead of my proper title.

Dear Ms. Pressler:

Thank you for writing to me about the current state of our healthcare system. I share your concerns and am committed to finding a solution that will give quality, affordable health care to every American.

I believe that by opening up a not-for-profit public health plan like a "Medicare for all," we can ensure that every American has access to quality, affordable healthcare where anyone could buy in at an affordable rate, such as 5% of their income. In the world's wealthiest nation, it's unconscionable that people are turned away from coverage because of a pre-existing condition and that families are just one illness away from bankruptcy.

Offering a public health care plan option to compete with private insurers is the best way to truly lower health costs, improve quality of care and ensure access to care in rural and other underserved areas. Injecting healthy competition into the health care market is the only way to achieve real health care reform. I am committed to addressing this important issue and will work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle toward a bipartisan solution.

Again, thank you for contacting me about health care. Please keep in touch with my office regarding any future legislation and concerns you may have. For more information on this and other important issues being discussed in the United States Senate, please visit my website http://gillibrand.senate.gov and sign up for my e-newsletter.

Sincerely yours,

Kirsten Gillibrand
United States Senator

Next Time, Try To Have an *Actual* Bomb

Based on early reports, it seems like these hijackers in Mexico didn't really have much of a game plan. Hello, guys, in a post-9/11 world, just saying you have a bomb when you don't and making demands on the pilot without actually having access to the cockpit and causing so little of a disturbance that the other passengers didn't even know the plane was under attack just makes you look amateur.

Call me insensitive (Hello, I'm Ciara, have we met?), but I hear "trouble in Cancun" and think "cheap flights to Quintana Roo." Hello, weekend in Playa del Carmen! And to the actually dangerous drug cartel guys: what happens on the Yucatan Peninsula stays there, you don't need to worry about me. As far as I'm concerned, my friend in Isla Mujeres (pictured) knew all those things about how drugs get into the country purely by hearsay. Margaritas on The Mayoress!

Thoughts from Outside the Bubble

I personally think we need to go to a deal like when I broke my back and I went to the military hospital ... Brooke Army Medical Center, in San Antonio, Tex. Cost me a flat rate, $1,200 a day, and I spent the first six days in I.C.U.... them guys get paid a flat rate; it’s not like they’re trying to rape me to make more money to pay their Mercedes-Benz bills or whatever they got.

I said: “Look, buddy, your lobby is full of illegals and park bums. They’re bouncing off the wall. I’m dying here. My wife’s been working here 18 years. I got the same insurance you got.” He said, “Well, you got to wait behind the rest of them.” I said: “Let me get this straight — not only am I buying all their health care, and I got to stand behind them too? There’s something wrong with that.”

Much of what I have done in my professional career is looking at health care in Latino children. Clearly they don’t have health care... It doesn’t become an issue, unless it becomes an issue in the white kids.

Props to Anna Deveare Smith's editorial that covers the wide range of American opinions on health care. Ms. Deveare Smith not only proves that there are plenty of stupid and selfish or stupidly selfish people in this country, but also that biracial people like herself are clearly unbelieveably smart and good at writing. Quote that, future political foes!

Labor Day Indeed

Finally, someone spells out the real numbers.

Do not miss the incomparable Robert Reich's post on the real labor and wealth stats, on his blog and also on HuffPo.

ROBERT REICH: The Real News About Jobs and Wages -- An Ode to Labor Day

Let's hope the media and lawmakers are reading too.

Good Thing I Went To A Christian University... Oh Crap.

Robert McDonnell, the Republican candidate for governor in Virginia, is now in the unenviable position of defending his master’s thesis 20 years after he wrote it... According to the Washington Post, which broke the story on Sunday, “McDonnell submitted a master’s thesis . . . in which he described working women and feminists as ‘detrimental’ to the family.” He said government policy should favor married couples over “cohabitators, homosexuals or fornicators.” He described as “illogical” a 1972 Supreme Court decision legalizing the use of contraception by unmarried couples.

More...

I'd Rather Just Know You on Facebook

You probably read Virginia Heffernan's article in the Sunday Times on the Facebook Exodus - people leaving FB for various reasons, like overshare, property issues, lack of Scrabulous.

But... not so fast. Here's an interesting video/stat list from a related presentation:

Video: Still think social media is a fad?

Erik Qualman, the author of Socialnomics, recently released some remarkable data in a short video called "Welcome to the Revolution." Some data included in his presentation (running time: 4 mins, 22 secs) is listed below:

• By 2010 Gen Y will outnumber Baby Boomers.
• 96% of them have joined a social network.
• 1 out of 8 couples married in the U.S. last year met via social media
• Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months.
• If Facebook were a country it would be the world's 4th largest. China's QZone is [even] larger, with 300 million using their services.
• More than 1.5 million pieces of content are shared on Facebook. Daily.
• 25% of search results for the World's Top 20 largest brands are links to user-generated content.
• 70% of 18- to 34-year-olds have watched TV on the Web. Only 33% have ever viewed a show on DVR/TiVo.
• 25% of Americans in the past month said they watched a short video...on their phone.

(Thanks to Thomas Cott for this tip.)