I Return

To My Loyal Reader:

I've been slacking in updates for no particular reason. Maybe the transition from winter to summer has made me feel less creative/productive.

On that front, I'm really looking forward to this summer in the City. Last summer I was dealing with a bed bug infestation and the accompanying move. I spent May/June/July sleeping on Ashley's parents' couch and on a crappy sofabed in my sweltering, windowless apartment. I spent most of the month of July searching for apartments, and a good bit of July/August moving into the substantially larger apartment where I currently reside.

This summer I'll be free from the bedbugs and I won't be moving, so I'll have a lot more time to devote to pleasurable activities: hanging out, going to the beach, lounging, seeing concerts, and doing all the other free stuff that NYC is supposedly famous for. I'm sure there will be plenty of updates to be made. In addition, I have several vacations planned: North Carolina with my grandparents in July, Ocean City with Ashley's parents in early August, and a late-August trip to Mt. Tremblant with Ashley.

Anyway, here's to summer. And screw the swine flu.

Colbert being funny

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Better Know a District - New York's 25th - Dan Maffei
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor NASA Name Contest

Cats are Hilarious

Banquet at Delmonico's - Barry Werth

I recently read a book by Barry Werth entitled Banquet at Delmonico's. It purports to explain the big debate in this country about evolution at the end of the 19th century. That debate, after all, was extremely important. Edmund Spencer's phrase "survival of the fittest" was used to justify imperial expansion all over the world. Both Spencer and Darwin himself were extremely famous and influential men on both sides of the Atlantic.

Werth attempts to describe the debate as it moved to this side of the Atlantic and increasingly became accepted not as a fantastic theory, but as solid fact. To do that, he follows the lives of several men over a span of more than a decade.

He does a good job explaining their daily movements and personal correspondences, but the book mystifyingly lacks any detailed discussion of the particularities of either Spencer or Darwin's ideas. He sets up an ideological competition between Darwin and Spencer, but the reader is never treated to its nuances. We assume it exists, but we never learn its particularities.

Instead, Werth primarily concerns himself with where the main characters were, who they were debating with, and what books they were writing. He spends chapter after chapter describing in exhaustive detail about the alleged affair between Henry Ward Beecher and one of his female parishioners without explaining why the affair was important to the debate concerning evolution. Was it because the affair had a transformative effect on Beecher himself? Did it discredit him? Did it change his viewpoints concerning evolution? Werth never explains.

It's a well researched, pretty well written book. But Werth's apparent insecurity with discussing the ideological debate - the very subject of his book, no less - is a big flaw. It's interesting to read about the comings and goings of famous men, but in the end that's all the book has to offer.

Broadway in Front of my Office

This is a glary, but pretty accurate, photo of Broadway in front of my office.

Bruce Springsteen Covers

If you're into Bruce, which I'm not really, you might be into this. Lots of covers of his songs by more contemporary bands. Even if you're not a fan, some of the interpretations are interesting.

http://www.brucespringsteen.net/news/hanginout.html

Old Color Photos

A collection of old color photos, circa 1910, from Russia. So, so sweet:

http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2009/03/some-of-worlds-first-color-photographs.html

Europe in 1914

Europe, circa 1914:



Over the past few weeks I've been writing an essay about a subject that has links to World War One. I did a lot of research about that war in college, and I'm endlessly interested by the incredible effects it had, and still has, on the entire world. Nothing drives the point home more, I think, than to look at a map of Europe pre-WWI. So much has changed. So many problems that we're currently dealing with have their roots in the WWI area. It's mind-boggling to think about.

SoHo when it Snows

Took this with my Blackberry a few weeks ago when it snowed. I have a pretty cool, though very short, walk from the subway to my office. I thought it looked neat with the snow on the cobbled streets.

Beautiful Weather Weekends

Friday at work I was sick as a dog. I might be exaggerating, but that's sort of the way it felt. I went to bed early and woke up at a decent hour on Saturday and prepared myself, and the apartment, for the arrival of some college friends, Tom and Abby (aka TomAbby). Tom was unlucky enough to live with me and Tyler senior year and as a result was subjected to all the filth that we senior college dudes could generate. Which was a lot, if you were wondering.

But I cleaned the apartment sufficiently that when Tom and Abby arrived promptly at noon, they weren't thoroughly disgusted. I took that as a compliment. Tyler, Ashley and I led them on a pretty decent walking tour of the Park Slope neighborhood. Abby got us free pizza at a place on 7th Ave. called Roma Pizza which is TERRIFIC because she knew the owner's daughter. After that, we got Gorilla coffee and also some chocolate and beer from a really cool local beer botique.

We watched a bit of baseball on TV and drank the beer at our apartment, then walked over to Prospect Park to play frisbee. We discovered a squirrel who had met his unfortunate end in the middle of a field. Lacking the proper equipment for a formal funeral, I wanted to put him in the garbage but the girls thought that was mean and gross, so we left him there to await his fate.

We got bored with frisbee after a while so Alex climbed a tree. After that we walked home and watched a bit of Die Hard with a Vengeance. In the right situation, i.e. with friends and over beer, that movie can be pretty entertaining.

Eventually we got ourselves out the door and met Tyler's girlfriend and a girl that Alex is dating at a bbq joint in Chelsea called Rub BBQ. After a 40 minute wait we got a table for all 8 of us and feasted on bbq'd pork, beef, and chicken with a healthy dose of cornbread and baked beans. It was terrific, and even with drinks and tip the total was under $25 per person. I'd wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who likes the bbq genre. Even if you're on the fence about it, this place is great.

After dinner we all split up. Ashley and I walked with Tom and Abby all the way up to Grand Central. It took us nearly an hour but it was a pleasant evening and we weren't in a hurry. We talked about a possible group trip to Las Vegas over the July 4th weekend. It might just happen. We dropped the pair off in time for an 11:17 train and retired ourselves for the night.

It was absolutely great to see those two. I've been remiss about visiting them. Tom's got a job in Westchester that puts him within an easy train ride, so I really hope to see him/her/both more often. I'll tell you what, though. Good weather does wonders for my disposition.

"Requiem for a Day Off"

Via SpliceToday:

Mechanical Bulls and Happy Hours

There's a bar in midtown Manhattan called Johnny Utah's that's known for having a mechanical bull. Some friends of mine chose this particular bar to host a happy hour fundraising event to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. $10 cover to go to the LLS, a few drink specials, and a big group of friends. And a mechanical bull.

I got to the bar around 6:30, had a $4 can of PBR but quickly decided that PBR should never be worth $4. Other than that, though, the whole thing was a lot of fun. Between 40 and 50 people showed up, which means between $400 or $500 went to the LLS.

I saw a lot of familiar faces, mostly people from college who I don't keep in touch with anymore. It was strange to see them all at a "fundraising event" and not in a dingy frat house basement. Whatever friendship we had back then didn't make the transition from beer-soaked kitchen floors to the real world.

And to be honest, I'm not too sad about it. You're friends with people whom you get along with in particular circumstances. When circumstances and/or locations change, you lose some of those friends and you make new ones. The people you keep in touch with despite changing circumstances are your "true" friends. And we all need as many of those as we can get.

Speaking of true friends, my roommate from college, Tom, and his girlfriend Abby (known affectionately in college as Tomabby) are coming down to New York this weekend for a visit. I'm wicked psyched because I haven't seen them in nearly a year.

I'll leave you with this, the aforementioned mechanical bull. Yee hah!

More On Jindal

There’s a new twist to all the fuss surrounding Bobby Jindal’s rebuttal to Obama’s speech on Tuesday night. There were all kinds of negative responses to Jindal’s speech itself. But this article talks about something much weirder: an exorcism that Jindal claims he participated in during college. Alternet.org reports:

During his years at Brown University, Jindal pursued his Catholic faith with unbridled zeal. Jindal became emotionally involved with a classmate named Susan who had overcome skin cancer and struggled to cope with the suicide of a close friend. Jindal reflected in an article for a Catholic magazine (called "Beating a Demon: Physical Dimensions of Spiritual Warfare") that "sulfuric" scents hovered over Susan everywhere she went. In the middle of a prayer meeting, Jindal claimed that Susan collapsed and began convulsing on the floor. His prayer partners gathered together on the floor, holding hands and shouting, "Satan, I command you to leave this woman!"

So Jindal thought The Exorcist was actually a documentary?

The Insanity of Greg Anderson

For most of us, choosing between testifying at a trial about things most people already know you did, and spending an indefinite amount of time behind bars, would be pretty simple. We'd tesfiy. But Greg Anderson, Barry Bonds' disgraced former trainer and alleged provider of steroids, apparently would rather go to jail than testify against Bonds. According to ESPN, Anderson has once again refused to testify about Bonds' alleged steroid use, this time in Bonds' perjury trial that's scheduled to start in March. Mind you, Anderson has already spent a year in jail when he refused to testify in front of a grand jury investigating Bonds for steroid use a couple of years ago.

No one understands why Anderson won't testify: loyalty to Bonds? fear? insanity? Maybe he's afraid that once he testifies, the Feds will charge him with distribution of steroids. But it also seems crazy that the Feds wouldn't have offered Anderson a deal to avoid jailtime in exchange for testifying against the guy that the government really wants: Bonds.

For my money, I'd bet that all the steroids that Anderson dealt, and presumably did himself, have somehow warped his brain, shrinking it along with his cojones to the size of a pea. Or maybe he's just not afraid of prison because the steroids have made him so strong that he'd dominate any prison they threw him into.

It can't be that he's just saving the details for a future book deal, can it? That would be too cynical, too unbelievable...but then again, it'd sell millions.

Doggie Dreams

Because this will never get old...

O.K. Go's "Here it Goes Again."

Caffeine

A transcript of my recent interaction with the woman behind the counter at the place where I get coffee:

Me: You're not getting decaf anytime soon, are you?
Her: Well we have decaf espresso that we can make into an Americano for you.
Me: Maybe next time. I just don't like to get so wired.
Her: What, you don't like the shakes?
Me: No, not really.
Her: You're the only one.


By the way, a woman gave birth in the lobby of my office building today. And I finished 100% of my crossword puzzle.

Cool Ad

Man, I'm in a groove today. This comes from Andrew Sullivan:

If you Love Coffee...

You HAAAAAAAVE to watch this video. Via SpliceToday.Com:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6jluj_oldelaf-le-cafe-english-subtitles_music

Shutting Down Broadway (Avenue)

According to the New York Times, Mayor Bloomberg will announce today (Thursday) that Broadway Avenue around Times Square will be closed to traffic beginning in May and lasting at least until the end of the year. The cross streets and 7th Avenue will be open to traffic, but the closed portions will be filled with benches and cafe tables with umbrellas. I guess they're going for the European look.

This sounds cool, but it's a shame that the only people who'll get to enjoy the new plazas will be the throngs of tourists that make Times Square totally unappealing to the rest of us. That place is mobbed enough as it is.

UPDATE: Apparently they're doing the same thing to Herald Square, which is around 33rd and Broadway. Cool.

Chinese Food

Who among us doesn't like Chinese food? I, for one, have always been a fan. My favorite kind of Chinese food, however, is not the kind that you can get at a semi-nice sit down restaurant. No, the best kind of Chinese food to be had, especially here in New York City, is of the take-out-only variety.

I'm talking about the kind of Chinese food where 9 bucks (in NYC no less!) will buy you an entree, an eggroll, a soda and a fortune cookie. The kind of food where you recognize the ridiculously high MSG and sodium content, but love it anyway. From the kind of place where you can barely understand the person taking your order, and they can barely understand you.

When our favorite Chinese take-out place, conveniently located across the street from our apartment, closed down unexpectedly about a month ago, we roomates panicked. Where would we get our belovedly awful Chinese food?! We tried a few other local places, but the quality was too high; the order-takers too fluent in English.

Finally, about a week ago, my roomate Alex discovered, via MenuPages.com, a sufficiently hole-in-the-wall Chinese takeout place where the MSG content is high, the English skills are low, and the prices are just right. If you ever visit, we'll have to get some.


Ah, Chinese food in its rightful habitat: plastic bags and cheap takeout boxes.

But Don't Take My Word For it...

This is David Brooks' reaction to Jindal's speech, via TNR:

"We Believe Americans Can Do Anything"

That was the recurring catchphrase from Bobby Jindal's GOP response to Obama's speech. And it didn't get much smarter from there. Jindal's speech felt like it could have been directed towards middle schoolers - the type of audience that Karl Rove believes America is. If anything, it demonstrated the GOP's inability to engage and help solve the current problems plaguing the country.

Dance Mix

Ely Kim's BOOMBOX. This will probably be all over the net within the next couple of days.


BOOMBOX from Ely Kim on Vimeo.

Good Mark Twain Quote

I empathize with him:

"What is the chief end of man?--to get rich. In what way?--dishonestly if we can; honestly if we must."

Holocaust Oscars

Kate Winslet explains why she decided to do The Reader. So true, so true.

What's Government Good For?

Leon Weiseltier, literary editor at The New Republic, ventures into the political arena with this article encouraging Obama to, in a word, be more liberal. If you’re someone who appreciates government’s role in society, you’ll love this sentence:

"I want the president to tell the American people that, contrary to what they have been taught for many years, government is a jewel of human association and an heirloom of human reason; that government, though it may do ill, does good; that a lot of the good that government does only it can do; that the size of government must be fitted to the size of its tasks, and so, for a polity such as ours, big government is the only government; that strong government comports well with strong freedom, unless Madison was wrong; that a government based on rights cannot exclude from its concern the adversities of the people who confer upon it its legitimacy, or consign their remediation to the charitable moods of a preferred and decadent few; that Ronald Reagan, when he proclaimed categorically, without exception or complication, that "government is not the solution to the problem, government is the problem," was a fool; and that nobody was ever rescued, or enlarged, by being left alone."

Liberalism, at its heart, is about guaranteeing the greatest amount of freedom for the greatest number of people. For liberals, government isn’t about suppressing liberty; it’s about ensuring opportunity.

Government will never be perfect, but as Weiseltier writes, “For all its grotesqueness, American government is a beautiful thing.”

Journalism

Everyone knows that the field of journalism is rapidly changing these days. Everyone also seems to agree that "old" media, like newspapers and print magazines, are going to die and that some as-yet-unknown "new media" platform will emerge triumphant. No one really knows what journalism will look like in the 21st century; just that it will look different than it has in the past.

That being the case, why would a timid 24 year old stuck in an entry-level job consider entering the field when everything is in flux? I don't know. I don't have a vision of what the journalism field should look like; conversely, I don't have a clear sense of how old media might yet be saved.

I'm envious of my peers who truly love their jobs, though if forced I could only name two or three who really do. What about the rest of us?

As a history and english major I've always been fascinated by two things: writing and facts. A straight-up history degree provides plenty of both but I imagine it could easily become too stifling. An english degree...well, there aren't enough facts.

In my fantasy world, journalism provides both writing and facts. In addition, it provides constantly evolving challenges. As a history person, you're dealing with events that have already finished. As a journalist, you're dealing with events that are constantly evolving. In my mind, the latter seems more exciting than the former. Plus, I think switching from journalism to history would be easier than the opposite route. Robert Caro, author of the Lyndon Johnson biographies I like so much, started out as a journalist.

But are all these tiny reasons reason enough for me to really pursue journalism as a career? I have basically no experience. I have few friends in the field. And the more well-established people I've spoken to usually say something like "well...things are different now than they were when I was coming up." Would I be a good journalist?

What next?

Bathroom Poster

Should I buy this?

Who's More Snooty?

Someone who reads The New Yorker or someone who reads The Economist?

The results of my informal poll:

New Yorker - 4 votes
The Economist -4 votes

A tie. That's disappointing and surprising. I would've thought it would be The New Yorker in a landslide.

Best President Ever

C-Span published a poll of 65 historians ranking our Presidents in order. My first response was: Truman and Kennedy above Jefferson?! WTF?!?!?!

I'll give my own personal Top 5 here:

1. Washington
2. Lincoln
3. FDR
4. Jefferson
5. Teddy Roosevelt
Hon. Mention: George W. Bush. Just kidding.

It's also sad for me that the only US President Dickinson College ever produced is pretty much the consensus "Worst President Ever." I guess that's why you never hear him mentioned in Dickinson's recruiting literature.

Japanese Finance Minister Drunk at G-7

Apparently Hoichi Nakagawa had about 10 too many drinks before taking the stage at the recent G-7 summit. According to the NYTimes, he ended up resigning. But really, can you blame the guy?

The Myth of the Centrist

Ross Douthat doesn't buy the myth of the magical centrist Senator. At best, Douthat thinks that centrist Senators make extremists a tiny bit less extreme:

“In this world, centrist Senators exist to take politics as usual - whether it's tax cuts in Republican eras, or spending splurges in Democratic ones - and make it ever so slightly more fiscally responsible. So if the GOP wants, say, $500 billion in tax cuts, the country clearly needs $400 billion in tax cuts - but not a penny more! And if the Democrats want $900 billion in stimulus, then the best possible policy outcome must be ... $800 billion in stimulus! To read this Arlen Specter op-ed, justifying both the stimulus package and the cuts the "gang of moderates" have attempted to impose, is to encounter a mind incapable of thinking about policy in any terms save these: Take what the party in power wants, subtract as much money as you can without infuriating them, vote yes, and declare victory.”

Centrists: make up your mind!

Pavarotti - Nessun Dorma

For the younger crowd out there...

Cat Leaps to Freedom

Steve-O's out!

There are few who can appreciate the amazingness of this line from an MSNBC article:

"Former "Jackass" star Steve-O is celebrating his release from a California mental institution, where he spent four months recovering from drug abuse last year, by appearing on the eighth season of "Dancing With the Stars."

From: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29017688/

National Geographic has some sweet pics

Turned onto this link by my friend J.

http://books.nationalgeographic.com/visions-of-paradise/voting-machine

Drugs are Bad, mmkay?

"Why is this happening to me?" says the drugged out kid.

So you're supposed to PAY your taxes?

Tom Daschle, former Senate Majority leader from South Dakota and Obama's nominee for director of Health and Human Services, pulled out of the running today a week or so after it was revealed that he failed to pay more than $100,000 of taxes over the past several years. So, apparently, ends the nascent second-chance political career.

This in addition to the withdrawl from consideration by Nancy Killefer, White House performance officer, earlier in the day, also for tax reasons. I guess Tim Geithner, the Treasury Secretary nominee whose tax problems have been well documented over the past several weeks, got lucky because he was the first one we learned about. Things might've been different if Daschle's and Killefer's problems had preceded him.

So Obama's honeymoon officially lasted about a week. Since then, problems with his nominees and the looming fight over the stimulus plan have given him loads of problems. How will he handle it? There's nothing we can do but wait and see.

More Winter? Dang...

Punxatawney Phil saw his shadow, I'm afraid. Six more weeks of winter. And on such a nice day, too.

High Fructorse Corn Syrup: "The Facts"

My girlfriend sent me a link to this website - http://www.hfcsfacts.com/ - which purports to "correct the record" regarding high fructorse corn syrup's bad reputation. The website looked a bit too slick, so I looked into who owns the site, and it turns out that it's run by the Corn Refiners Association, which is a corn industry trade association that represents, among other companies, Archer Daniels Midland.

A Wikipedia search says this about ADM:

"Archer Daniels Midland has been the subject of several major federal lawsuits related to air pollution. In 2001 the company agreed to pay a $1.46 million fine for violating federal and Illinois clean-air regulations at its Decatur feed plant and to spend $1.6 million to reduce air pollution there. [6] Based on year 2000 data,[7] ADM was listed as the tenth largest air polluter in the USA by the Political Economy Research Institute.[8] In 2003, ADM settled federal air pollution complaints related to the company's efforts to avoid New Source Review provisions of the Clean Air Act that require pollution control upgrades when a plant is modernized."

The Corn Refiners Association also represents Cargill, which is the largest privately held company in the world and, also according to Wiki, is responsible for 25% of all US grain exports. Michael Pollan mentions the company frequently, and not in a good way, in Omnivore's Dilemma because it refuses to divulge information about its foodmaking processes.

An interesting website, nonetheless. But I hesitate to trust "facts" that are coming from a source with such a clear bias.

The Morality of Abortion

Damon Linker, following up on his earlier post about the end of the culture wars, offers a useful insight:

"A final point. As a (moderate) liberal, I feel the force of the classic rallying cry with which Ed ends his post: "Oppose abortion? Don't have one!" We liberals love this argument because it makes us feel like we're being morally neutral on the issue: whereas abortion opponents want to force all women into one box, the pro-choice position can be affirmed by those who for moral reasons would never choose to have an abortion as well as by those who wish to undertake the procedure. Who but a misogynistic tyrant could argue with such an open-minded position?

But here's the problem: the position isn't morally neutral at all. Consider: Can you think of any other matter in which the state grants individuals the right to determine for themselves what does and what does not constitute murder? Of course not. It only does so on the issue of abortion because (since Roe) the Constitution implicitly denies the humanity of the fetus. Don't think so? How would you feel about a slogan like this: "Oppose slavery? Don't own one!" You'd probably find it morally offensive. Why? Because you think that owning slaves is just plain wrong and that failing to publicly affirm this principle is tantamount to saying that owning slaves is a matter of moral indifference."

Linker has a point, but certainly there are more than two sides to the moral debate. Comparing the issue to slavery is a bit inaccurate because the crushing moral inequality is borne only by the slave, not by his/her master. When it comes to abortion the moral, and physical, burden is shared by both mother and fetus.

Choosing not to have an abortion is different than choosing not to own a slave because if you choose not to own a slave, then your responsiblity ends -- you simply don't own one and you go about your business. If a woman chooses not to have an abortion, then she bears the emotional and physical responsibilities of bearing and rearing a child.

I'm not saying that I'm disagreeing with Linker's point that the abortion issue is a moral one. I'm just saying that I think the issue is a bit more dynamic than he makes it out to be.

Leningrad Then and Now

Really cool website where the photographer has superimposed images of Leningrad circa WWII with pictures from today:

http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/leningrads-past-haunt/6938

Oil Companies are Screwing Us

This really pisses me off:

"But in a year where oil rose to a record before having its steepest-ever collapse, Exxon still managed to set a record as the most-profitable American corporation. The company earned $45.2 billion in 2008, up from $40.6 billion in 2007."

Cool Stop Motion Video

Via SpliceToday.com

Does Obama Sound 'Elitist' Now?

Now this is a guy that we can relate to.

'“Even as he is sober about these challenges, I have never seen him happier,” Mr. Axelrod said. “The chance to be under the same roof with his kids, essentially to live over the store, to be able to see them whenever he wants, to wake up with them, have breakfast and dinner with them — that has made him a very happy man.”'

You Shouldn't Be Against Immigration in NY

Not if you're the recently appointed Senator, that is. According to the Times, Kirsten Gillibrand's anti-immigrant stance is drawing fire from immigration groups. She opposes any type of amnesty for illegal immigrants; sought to make English the official language of the US; opposed giving drivers' lisences to illegal immigrants; and was, according to the Times, given a "B" grade from Americans for Better Immigration, which supports tougher immigration laws.

These views are fine to have, but not if you live in a state where more than 16% of the residents are Hispanic, according to the US Census Bureau. On top of that, New York is a very liberal state: only 3 of its 29 congressional delegates are Republican. What means is that some New York Democrats are more conservative than, say, their California counterparts.

But it also means there's not much room to maneuver to the right. Representing a conservative Congressional district in eastern New York, with approximately 600,000 constituents, is a lot different than representing a whole state, especially when you've got a city of 8,000,000 very liberal people to consider.

I'm not saying that Gillibrand will fail. But I am saying that, in light of her pretty conservative views towards gun control and immigration, she's got a lot of political reconsideration to do. Her constituency just changed dramatically and if she wants to represent New York State as a whole, she'll have to change her viewpoints. She's a politician, she can do it. The only question is whether she will.

THIS is What's Wrong With New York:

The poor trophy wives who married Wall Street bankers are having troubles of their own, according to the New York Times. About 30 of the poor gals have started meeting regularly, and they even have their own blog:

'In addition to meeting once or twice weekly for brunch or drinks at a bar or restaurant, the group has a blog, billed as “free from the scrutiny of feminists,” that invites women to join “if your monthly Bergdorf’s allowance has been halved and bottle service has all but disappeared from your life.”'

Their lives sound so tragic. It always amazes me that people like this exist. But there are lots of them, and their population density is high in these parts. Lucky me.

So This is what "Increased Government Spending" looks like...

The proposed economic stimulus that’s currently sitting in Congress waiting for votes is, by any measure, huge. The New York Times reports that the bailout promises to reshape government roles in both education and healthcare.

Education:

"The proposed emergency expenditures on nearly every realm of education, including school renovation, special education, Head Start and grants to needy college students, would amount to the largest increase in federal aid since Washington began to spend significantly on education after World War II."

And healthcare:

"As Congress rushes to inject cash into a listless economy, it is setting aside many of the restraints that have checked new domestic spending for more than a decade. The White House said the changes contemplated by Congress would provide coverage for nearly 8.5 million newly uninsured people who had lost their jobs and would protect Medicaid for many more whose eligibility would otherwise be at risk.

Of the $127 billion cost, the Congressional Budget Office said, $87 billion would be used to increase the federal share of Medicaid, $29 billion would subsidize private insurance and $11 billion would finance Medicaid for unemployed workers who could not otherwise qualify."

This is the first in-depth look many non-experts have had at the bill, and even for someone who wholeheartedly supports Obama and the bailouts, these numbers are just enormous and give one pause. Doubling the federal budget on education? Providing 8.5 million uninsured people with insurance? Incredible.

I’ve been so used to government refusing to spend more money on education and healthcare for the past 8 years that these statistics are a bit shocking. I hope the Democrats know that they’re talking about. If not, we’re all in trouble.

Andrew Cuomo on the Attack

Andrew Cuomo, NY State's Attorney General and until recently one of the frontrunners for the just-filled New York Senate seat, has subpoenaed John Thain. Thain is the ex-Merrill Lynch CEO who allegedly authorized bonus payments worth some $3 billion mere days before Merrill was acquired by Bank of America.

Problems at Merrill Lynch have been a primary cause of Bank of America's current problems, which have led to BoA requesting billions of dollars in bailout money. Indeed, Merrill Lynch's losses, according to the New York Times, were more than $15 billion. Those losses are now on BoA's books. Aware of the losses, Thain nonetheless doled out the company-wide bonuses before BoA could do anything to stop them.

Cuomo wants to find out why the bonuses were paid out nearly a month earlier than they had been in previous years. I don't know the specific legal issues involved, but I'm guessing that it's probably not OK to knowingly give out billions of dollars in bonuses when your company is losing money by the fistful, knowing full well that taxpayers are going to be on the hook.

This makes me really despise Thain.

It also makes me like Cuomo. I wasn’t a big fan of Caroline Kennedy and I don’t know much about Kirsten Gillibrand, but Cuomo seems to be more than competent at his job. He was the one who took the lead in investigating the Long Island Railroad retirement scandal, which has actually led to charges against ex-L.I.R.R. officials.

After the recent Senate appointment debacle, Gov. Paterson is the one who comes out looking like a doofus. Cuomo is untainted by Paterson’s screw-up and he’s now out with his guns blazing. Not a bad day’s work for the current AG and potentially soon-to-be-governor-of-New York.

SpliceToday blog

To My Loyal Reader,

Starting this week, I'm going to start doing a bit of blogging for SpliceToday.com. Both in content and form, the postings will be substantially similar to this blog. There are several bloggers that will be contributing, and eventually we'll all coalesce into something that we're tentatively calling Gray Matter. I'm more than excited for the opportunity. The upshot is that, for the time being, I'll be posting less frequently on here. That could change as I get my legs under me at SpliceToday and figure out the types of things they want to cover, but for now it might be a little quieter around here.

Cheers,
Ian

The Floodgates Have Opened....for now

In this joyful article, the Washington Post recaps Obama's first week in office:

"In his first seven days in office, Obama has banned the use of controversial CIA interrogation tactics, ordered the closure of the U.S. military prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and begun planning for the drawdown of troops in Iraq. He also imposed stringent limits on lobbyists, unveiled an $825 billion stimulus plan, and ordered a halt to any last-minute rules and regulations put in place by his predecessor."

Music to my ears/eyes/senses. Eventually his ambitions will run up against reality, but for now let's enjoy the sensation of an elected official following through on his promises.

Weekends in New York

Friday was a teaser: 50 degrees and sunny. Then it got progressively colder as the weekend dragged on. Contrary to popular opinion, I think that warm days in the middle of January are depressing. You're given one really nice day but the niceness only makes you think how crappy it's going to be the next day, when you're freezing again. It's like being given slice of pizza but only being allowed to eat one bite.

Friday night I saw that Leo/Kate reunion movie, Revolutionary Road. It was pretty good. Kate Winslet is a terrific actress, and Leo's pretty good too. I've always liked both of them, but I felt that the transition from book to movie was a bit awkward this time. I went with a friend who's read the book and she said quite a bit was missing. The night as a whole was fun though, as I spent time with some friends I haven't seen in a while.

Saturday night I was supposed to hang out with Ashley and some of her girlfriends but instead hung out with two of her male roomates. I hadn't met them before but we had a good "dude" time.

Yesterday I was ridiculously productive: cleaned the apartment; went grocery shopping; got some stuff with Ashley for her new apartment; helped make dinner; packed lunch for today...the list goes on. Anyway, a good weekend that happily wasn't ruined by teasingly warm weather.

Coffee Prevents Dementia??

So says at least one study:

"After controlling for numerous socioeconomic and health factors, including high cholesterol and high blood pressure, the scientists found that the subjects who had reported drinking three to five cups of coffee daily were 65 percent less likely to have developed dementia, compared with those who drank two cups or less. People who drank more than five cups a day also were at reduced risk of dementia, the researchers said, but there were not enough people in this group to draw statistically significant conclusions."

The study makes no mention of the social repurcussions: legions of red-eyed coffee maniacs swamping local Starbucks' and roaming the streets late at night in search of their next caffeine fix.

Fox News is Scared of Obama

Stewart: "If you don't stick to your values when you're being tested...they're not values! They're hobbies."

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Fox News Fear Imbalance

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Oh Boy...Did I Speak Too Soon?

A list from Eve Fairbanks of 10 Things We All Didn't Know About Kirsten Gillibrand. As you'll see, it's not too comforting for we NYC libs:

"2. She bucked House leadership by voting against both versions of the TARP bailout bill in the fall.

3. A big gun supporter, she's been given a 100% approval rating by the NRA -- she's one of the extremely few Democrats on a federal level to win official NRA endorsement -- and, this fall, she voted in favor of a controversial bill to repeal District of Columbia laws prohibiting the possession of semiautomatics."

From the sound of this my grandfather would love her. As for me...well, at least she's a Democrat, right? Still, it looks like she tacks farther to the right than Hillary did, and it's a shame to have a moderate Democrat come from such a liberal state as New York. She'd fit better in, I don't know, Virginia or New Mexico or something.

I guess it came down to political calculation for Paterson. He wanted votes from upstate NY, where she's from, in his coming re-election battle in 2010, and he wanted support from women. Hopefully for him and for the rest of us Gillibrand doesn't turn into Sarah Palin of the Left. What a scary thought.

And the Next Senator from New York IS:

Kirsten Gillibrand. According to the Times, she was chosen by Gov. Paterson to replace Hillary's seat in the Senate. She'll have to run for reelection in 2010 and 2012. I know nothing about her except the fact that 1) she's a Democrat; and 2) she's a woman.

I'm glad that Paterson chose a woman to replace Hillary. The Senate is one of the last vestiges of Old White Dude political power. There's only one black man in the Senate, and now only 17 women. Now that the presidency can no longer be considered a WASP position, and the House has got its share of minority and female members, it's time to fully integrate the Senate. Good job Paterson!

Well, This Complicates Things...

The New York Times reports that Said Ali al-Shihri, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee that was released to Saudi Arabia in 2007, has become al-Qaeda's head honcho on Yemen. Yikes. Maybe the closing of Gitmo really isn't going to be as simple as most of us want it to be. There are some undeniably bad people down there, people that are our enemies and that should be either put in prison or otherwise neutralized.

So Bush/Cheney was right about one thing - we are being threatened by nasty, potentially unreformable people. But by torturing the detainees and leaving them in legal limbo, Bush/Cheney jeopardized the very thing that they were trying to protect: our safety. As more Guantanamo and other secret prison torture cases come to light and more of them are thrown out of court, like this one, you have the potential that really dangerous guys get put out on the street and end up as al-Qaeda commanders.

Now that Obama wants to close Guantanamo, the thorny question of what to do with these prisoners becomes a real problem. The Bush administration refused to deal with the question, as it refused to deal with all other questions, and was happy to hold the men indefinitely. It's not going to be that easy for Obama. Do you let these guys out on the street and cross your fingers that they don't become terrorists? Do you try them in civilian court and risk losing? What if you "know" that someone is a terrorist but, due to torture or other evidence problems, you can't "prove" it. Then what?

These are tough questions and they make me glad that I'm not in Obama's shoes right now.

Rich People Always Forget to Pay Taxes

I was wrong about Caroline Kennedy. She didn't drop out, according to the New York Times, because she couldn't take the heat. She dropped out due to "problems involving taxes and a household employee." I guess she, like Timothy Geithner, failed to pay enough taxes on her considerable (though still-secret) income. Also like Geithner, it's possible she employed an illegal immigrant as a housekeeper. In national politics, that's a no-no.

For me, this only confirms that Kennedy was a bad choice for NY Senator. At least Geithner has the job of Chairman of the New York Fed on his resume. His errors probably weren't due to incompetance. Hers...well you can't be sure one way or the other.

Her candidacy has been a joke from the beginning, from her liberal use of the phrase "you know" in an interview to her disastrous response to reporters' queries about her motivations - she angrily asked why the reporters didn't write for a women's magazine. Doesn't sound very feminist to me. Doesn't sound very senatorial, either.

The Oscars

The Oscar nominations were released today. Looks like Benjamin Button is the big winner thus far with 13 nominations. The other nominations for Best Pic are Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader, and Slumdog Millionaire.

I saw one pretty good movie (Gran Torino) and one really good movie (The Wrestler) over the weekend. Clint Eastwood (directed and starred in Torino) is simply The Man. A real-life BAMF. Half of his lines in his newest movie are, literally, growls, but he's the one guy that could pull that off. Mickey Rourke, who is the wrestler in The Wrestler, is amazing, and he was rewarded with a nomination for Best Actor. His was the best movie I've seen this year.

I've been wanting to see Slumdog for quite a while but the girlfriend has been less than enthusiastic about joining me. Now that the nominations are out I think I can convince her to go with me. I guess I'll have to see Ben Button, too, now that it's so nomination-heavy. And The Reader too. Ah, the cultural conscience of an uppity white kid.

Can't Stand to Lose, Can We?

Caroline Kennedy officially withdrew from the pseudo-race for Hillary Clinton's vacated NY Senate seat due to "personal reasons." This shouldn't come as a surprise. All her life, Kennedy's been riding the coattails of her famous name and relatives. She thought that all she had to do to become a Senator was declare that she wanted to be one.

When she realized it would actually take hard work and a bit of skill that she seemed to lack, she did what you'd expect any self-entitled child to do: she quit. New Yorkers should breathe a sigh of relief. After all, if a Senatorial candidate can't take the stress of a campaign, how is she going to take the stress of the job itself? What if one of her bills didn't pass; would she just 'quit' the Senate?

Of course there might be other reasons why Kennedy withdrew her name from consideration. Maybe her kids really didn't want her to run. Maybe she's concerned about her uncle, Ted Kennedy, and wants to spend more time with him and the rest of her family. But even if that were the case, shouldn't she have made that decision back in December rather than half-assing it until the end of January?

The Bailout needs Bailing Out

Timothy Geithner, PRESIDENT Obama's Treasury Secretary nominee, said today during testimony before a Senate panel that the bailout measures passed late last year needed serious overhauling:

"'Many people believe the program has allowed too much upside for financial institutions, while doing too little for small business owners, families who are struggling to keep their jobs and make ends meet, and innocent homeowners,' Geithner said."

I don't think bailing out big financial institutions was a mistake. After all, look what the collapse of Bear Sterns and Lehman Bro's did to the economy as a whole. But I find it refreshing that a powerful government official is actually concerned about helping individuals. Not out of charity, but out of necessity.

That's something that the Bush administration and the rest of the neocons refuse/d to acknowledge. Helping individuals helps everyone, including the Fat Cats. Only helping the Fat Cats doesn't necessarily help anyone else out. Trickle down doesn't work. It didn't work in the 1930s and it didn't work in the 2000s.

The Inauguration

What else can I say other than it was awesome?

I Joined Twitter

...and I'm not sure how I feel about it. My friend Dave encouraged me to sign up. I haven't updated my status and don't feel the need to. Everyone says it's easy to get addicted, but I don't see it yet.

A Ridiculous Ant Colony

Via SpliceToday

The Supreme Court Sucks

The Supreme Court ruled today, in a 5-4 decision along the usual idiot/liberal lines (Kennedy going with the idiots), that evidence collected by police due to police mistakes can be used against defendants.

The decision came in a case where police mistakenly arrested a man named Bennie Herring of Alabama. During the arrest, they found meth and an empty gun in his car. It turned out, however, that the arrest warrant that the officers used to arrest Herring had been revoked months before. The police's database had not been updated to reflect the change.

I'm no legal scholar, and I'm not saying that Herring is a good guy. I mean, anyone who's driving around with meth and a gun in their car is probably up to no good. But the greater point is that now anyone, including you and me, can be arrested "by mistake" and whatever evidence is collected can be used against us.

The police are powerful enough as it is. We shouldn't be giving them even more power by rewarding their ineptitude. You might hear people argue that "you shouldn't be carrying any illegal stuff on you at all, or keep anything bad in your house." But that's missing the bigger point. This case was about more than drugs and guns. It was about taking away rights from the people and giving it to the government.

In a democracy you can't keep giving government more power at the expense of citizens. That isn't the way democracy should work, and it's contrary to the American idea of individual freedom. Of course you shouldn't be carrying unregistered guns or drugs, but I think it's just as obvious that the police shouldn't be able to hold that against you if they discovered it by mistake.

There are certainly limitations to my argument. If you're kidnapping someone or if you're carrying a bomb, that's an entirely different story. But are we really ready to give up a right as important as the right to a competent police force? Over a small amount of meth and an unloaded gun?

It's About Time

According to the Washington Post, Susan B. Crawford, who's in charge of prosecuting the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, determined that the supposed "20th hijacker," Mohammed al-Qahtani, had been tortured while in US custody:

"His treatment met the legal definition of torture. And that's why I did not refer the case" for prosecution.

More from the WaPo:

"For 160 days his only contact was with the interrogators," said Crawford, who personally reviewed Qahtani's interrogation records and other military documents. "Forty-eight of 54 consecutive days of 18-to-20-hour interrogations. Standing naked in front of a female agent. Subject to strip searches. And insults to his mother and sister."

At one point he was threatened with a military working dog named Zeus, according to a military report. Qahtani "was forced to wear a woman's bra and had a thong placed on his head during the course of his interrogation" and "was told that his mother and sister were whores." With a leash tied to his chains, he was led around the room "and forced to perform a series of dog tricks," the report shows."

It's about time that we fessed up. I can't be the only one who's ashamed and astonished by the fact that Americans, on an American military base, would do such things to our prisoners - even ones who tried to attack us. Part of what makes us Americans is our morality. It's disgusting and shameful and should be punished.

After 7 years of torture, Qahtani isn't the same person he was in 2001. His lawyers, according to the New York Times, say he is a "broken man" and has attempted suicide. Having read about the effects of torture on people in college and in Naomi Klein's book "The Shock Doctrine," I don't doubt that his lawyers are telling the truth.

In more practical terms, our decision to torture Qahtani prevented us from prosecuting him for his alleged crimes. So by torturing the guy we actually made ourselves less safe because now we have someone whom we can't try in a court of law, but who at one time was a grave threat to all of us. How can the interrogators have believed that what they were doing was acceptable? That it was even useful? Such a belief could only have come from the very top.

What do we do with him now? Crawford herself isn't sure. She doesn't want to just let him out on the street, and military prosecutors plan to bring other charges that rely on evidence other than the interrogations. Adding a big new wrinkle is Obama's plan to close Guantanamo Bay as soon as he can. But before he does that he's going to have to figure out what to do with people like Qahtani.

I hope that there's some sort of solution. We need to keep America safe but it undermines everything we stand for if we torture our prisoners. At the end of the day, we're safer if we use our power judiciously and not punitatively.

Toad the Wet Sprocket - Walk on the Ocean

A song from my favorite music era - the early to mid 90s. Enjoy.

Bush's Ignorance

A recently released study found that ideology affected hiring practices at the Justice Department from 2001 -2007. In particular, the study found that a man named Bradley Schlozman, a Deputy Assistant Attorney General, altered the hiring process to weed out candidates with perceived ties to liberal organizations.

I’d be shocked if this came as a big surprise to anyone. The Justice Department’s hiring process caused a scandal a few years ago and led to the resignation of then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. It was only a matter of time before investigations “proved” what everyone already knew.

If we take away any lessons from the past eight years, it should be that insulating oneself from dissenting opinions is an easy way to screw everything up. Bush, Cheney, and their cronies systematically eliminated dissenting opinions at all levels of government. Their willful ignorance led directly to the disaster in Iraq; to torture; to the failures during Hurricane Katrina, and maybe even to our current economic problems.

The Bush administration is so insulated from dissenting opinion that, even in his last press conference, Bush himself refused to admit that America’s standing in the world had suffered. He’s either lying or completely, blissfully ignorant. I’m not sure which is worse. But I am sure that the way the Bush administration went about governance was disastrous for America and harmful to the world. I hope Obama, and all of our future presidents, can learn from the terrible mistakes.

How City Life Isn't Good for Us

A couple of months ago I speculated about humans’ relationship with nature and the craziness of city life. Here, Jonah Lehrer does a better job:

"When a park is properly designed, it can improve the function of the brain within minutes. As the Berman study demonstrates, just looking at a natural scene can lead to higher scores on tests of attention and memory. While people have searched high and low for ways to improve cognitive performance, from doping themselves with Red Bull to redesigning the layout of offices, it appears that few of these treatments are as effective as simply taking a walk in a natural place."

Hitchens Hates Hillary

Christopher Hitchens at Slate wants the Senate to reject Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. He says:

"Why is Sen. Clinton, the spouse of the great influence-peddler, being nominated in the first place? In exchange for giving the painful impression that our State Department will be an attractive destination for lobbyists and donors, what exactly are we getting? George Marshall? Dean Acheson? Even Madeleine Albright? No, we are getting a notoriously ambitious woman who made a fool of herself over Bosnia, at the time and during the recent campaign, and who otherwise has no command of foreign affairs except what she's picked up second-hand from an impeached ex-president, a disbarred lawyer, and a renter of the Lincoln Bedroom."

The guy has a point. I’ve never been a big fan of H.C., and her ridiculous performance in this election cycle didn’t win me over. That being said, I think Hitchens underestimates Hillary’s abilities and overestimates Bill Clinton’s potential influence on Obama’s administration.

Since when does the Secretary of State dictate foreign policy? Condoleeza Rice is an extreme example of how impotent a Secretary can be. I doubt Hillary will be as toothless, but I can’t imagine her openly defying Obama on questions of importance. He’s the boss, and if she’s openly insubordinate to a successful and popular president, she’s not going to win herself any votes in 2012 or 2016. She’s smart enough to realize that, and so is Obama, and so is Bill.

I don’t think Obama’s team is, as Hitchens puts it, “wide eyed.” They dealt with the bad Bill Clinton during the primary, after all (I’m thinking of the “race card” incident). They know he has uncomfortably close ties with all kinds of shady foreign characters. Obama was adept at handling both Clinton’s during the primaries when he was their rival. What makes Hitchens so sure that he’ll be unable to manage them when he’s the Boss Man?

Goodbye to (hopefully) the last Bush

President Bush held his last press conference yesterday. When asked what he'd be doing in the future, he only said: “When I get out of here, I’m getting off the stage, I’ve had my time in the klieg lights.”

All I can say is thank goodness.

Oh yeah...Happy New Year

Wishing everyone a healthy and happy 2009. And what a season/year it's shaping up to be for Philadelphia sports fans. The Phillies send the Mets home and win the World Series...and the Eagles are in the NFC championship game after defeating the hated NY Giants. Man, you couldn't write this!

Go Eagles!

Back from Whistler

Well we all survived the week-long trip to Whistler, B.C. relatively unscathed. I learned how out of shape I've become over the past year. Apparently sitting in a cubicle 7 hours per day isn't very good for your leg strength. I learned a few more things, too:

--Delta sucks. They charge 50 bucks for extra bags, aren't very friendly, the seats are cramped, and it took our bags 1 hour to come to baggage claim when we arrived in Philadelphia.

--Southwest is as good as advertised. Tickets are cheap, no charge for extra bags, staff is friendly. The seats are pretty cramped, but they do give you cool little Ritz snacks for free.

--Seattle's pretty cool. At least I think it is, having driven past it twice.

--Washington State is beautiful. The whole Pacific Northwest has a very different feel than South Jersey. Very wet (it rained on the trip back), dark green, and lots of water. Plus the mountains. It made the 5 hour trip to and from Whistler easier to handle.

--Skiing rules. It just does. Tiring, but so relaxing. I feel much more refreshed after this week-long trip to Whistler than I did after my sojourn to England. Maybe it's the fact that it's my second week off in the past 6 weeks. But I do think that the skiing itself has something to do with it. That's a valuable lesson going forward, I think.

--Work isn't so bad. I mean...I have a job. I have an apartment. Life's good.

--New York is funny. I'm slowly getting into things over here. The heat in my apartment's out, I'm having a mini-dispute with my landlord over broken doors, and a coworker of mine complains constantly about the overly loud copulating couple in the apartment next to hers. Seems appropriate somehow.

--Anyway, back to work. Back to blogging (sort of). Back to reality.