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Enraged by the bailout? The several thousand dollar brunch is on us!

March 16, 2009, 1:32PM

In the Times this weekend, Katherine Bindley did an article on the young and rich who spend several thousand dollars on Saturday brunch here in Manhattan:

"As for how he and his fellow Wall Streeters could still afford such afternoons, he said: "We all made so much money in the past five years, it doesn't matter."

Maddening enough, but she saves the best line for last:

"A 29-year-old man who works for a large investment management firm and was at Bagatelle's brunch one recent Saturday and at Merkato 55's the next, put it another way: "If you'd asked me in October, I'd say it'd be a different situation, and I don't think I'd be here. Then the government gave us $10 billion."

What's the opposite of 'dog-whistle'? Steve Clemons of the Washington Note goes there

November 18, 2008, 10:13AM

From Helene Cooper's White House Memo in today's NY Times:

"Barack Obama is bringing in all of the pit bulls and attack dogs and spear hunters into his administration," said Steve Clemons, a fellow at the New America Foundation who also writes a blog called The Washington Note. "We all thought he was going to be a 'tending the fields' type."

"Spear hunters?" A 'tending the fields' type?" Wasn't this sh*t supposed to magically disappear after we elected an African-American?

My problem with Dennis Miller

November 15, 2008, 7:16PM

Reading Digby, who is smartly, rightly, appropriately small-tent when it comes to Dennis Miller, I see that the one-time comedian said this:

But I will not turn my back on George Bush. Today, 2,619 days since a domestic terror attack on this soil. Thank you to my commander in chief, and thank you to the troops for providing us the safety to have an election like that.

Yes, but what if, instead of starting the count on 9/12/01, we started it one day earlier? Or you know what, how about we start it on 8/6/01? remember this?

"Bin Laden Determined to Strike U.S.

...his followers would follow the example of World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef

...Bin Ladin told followers he wanted to retaliate in Washington

...Al Qa'ida members - including some who are U.S. citizens - have resided in or traveled to the U.S. for years

...FBI information since that time indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York."

You know, Bush and his minions seem laughable now that they're on their way out, but if I think too hard about the last 8 years, I'll start to cry.

My problem with Bloomberg

November 15, 2008, 10:44AM

Bloomberg is often right on the issues. (He's wrong quite often, too, of course, but we can save that for another post.)

But even when he's right, his rightness is like the pine-scented air freshener that can't quite conceal the stench of his underlying pigheadedness.

Financial incentives to encourage taxi owners to buy more efficient vehicles? Sounds great! But here's our mayor in today's NY Times:

The mayor lashed out at critics, saying that the pollution from gas-guzzling taxis hurt city children. Told that critics found the new incentives "deeply troubling," the mayor snapped, "I think it's more deeply troubling that they're trying to kill our kids."

That's right, "trying to kill our kids." Got it? Now shut up and sit down.

On Lieberman

November 11, 2008, 6:44PM

Obama is right not to want to punish Joe Lieberman by removing the privileges of power.

However, it's not a question of punishment or privileges. It's a question of judgement and power. Why would Obama want someone with such spectacularly bad judgement to have ANY power at all?

So, let's not punish Lieberman. Let's just remove him from power to the degree that we can.

Obama's "Perfect" Campaign

November 9, 2008, 1:43PM

Obama's campaign has already been and will undoubtedly continue to be dissected ad nauseam. And it was truly one for the books. But all this talk of perfection obscures what was the truly remarkable thing about Obama and his campaign team, at least to my eyes: How clearly imperfect they were at the beginning, and how formidable they became as they learned from their mistakes.

In the primaries, the Obama campaign seemed like what it was: Amateur Hour. Samantha Power trying to take her decidedly on-the-record comment about Hillary off-the-record, the "bitter"-gate comment that Obama thought would only be heard by supporters, the campaign's admitted lack of awareness that there were DVDs of Rev. Wright's incendiary sermons, New Hampshire, etc., etc., etc. Hardly anyone's idea of perfection.

But when I look back, (and setting aside the to-be-expected slips of the tongue) I see only one instance of each type of mistake. Each time a mistake was made, the campaign seemed to acknowledge it, deal with it, and make sure that it never happened again. Amazing! If only I could do half as well in my own life!

DC hardcore band Bad Brains to play Obama's inaugural gala?

November 7, 2008, 11:32AM

Has DC hardcore band Bad Brains, who were famously "Banned in DC" almost thirty years ago, been asked to play President-elect Obama's inaugural gala? Of course not. So far, there's no evidence that they're even being considered. But you can help change that by joining my all-in-good-fun Facebook group, 300 million strong to get Bad Brains to play Obama's inauguration:

http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=93269030062

We've only got 3 members so far, which means we're 1/100,000,000th of the way there! Can you feel the, um, Mosh-mentum?