Obama Did Not Say What I Thought He Said, or Did He?

I watched some of the very puzzling 60 Minutes interview with President Obama. I so wanted his explanations to make sense. Steve Kroft seemed to repeat the Prez's poll numbers endlessly, as if that was the only issue worth asking about. Then I thought I heard something that made my brain hurt.

I checked the transcript, and here's the part of the exchange I needed played back:

KROFT: One of the things that surprised me the most about this poll is that 42%, when asked who your policies favor the most, 42% said Wall Street. Only 35% said average Americans. My suspicion is some of that may have to do with the fact that there's not been any prosecutions, criminal prosecutions, of people on Wall Street. And that the civil charges that have been brought have often resulted in what many people think have been slap on the wrists, fines. "Cost of doing business," I think you called it in the Kansas speech. Are you disappointed by that?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, I think you're absolutely right in your interpretation. And, you know, I can't, as President of the United States, comment on the decisions about particular prosecutions. That's the job of the Justice Department. And we keep those things separate, so that there's no political influence on decisions made by professional prosecutors. I can tell you, just from 40,000 feet, that some of the most damaging behavior on Wall Street, in some cases, some of the least ethical behavior on Wall Street, wasn't illegal.

That's exactly why we had to change the laws. And that's why we put in place the toughest financial reform package since F.D.R. and the Great Depression. And that law is not yet fully implemented, but already what we're doing is we've said to banks, "You know what? You can't take wild risks with other people's money. You can't expect a taxpayer bailout. We're gonna ask you to set up a living will, so that if you are going down, we've already figured how to break it up, without harming the rest of the economy."

[...]  [emphasis mine]

Wait, if there were settlements signed, usually without admission of any wrongdoing, then only the settlements' terms clear the companies of criminality!

He's basically saying what the SEC usually says: Hey, we can't prosecute, because we don't have the time, resources, or people to do it. Therefore, company X, sign here, here, and here, and go with our blessing. All we want it a check.

This is a surprisingly tone-deaf statement, especially with the Occupy Wall Street movement proving at last that, yes, people are paying a tiny bit of attention.

Got to hand it to the companies that get charged, they simply pay the government to complete their coverups for them. Nice.

And as long as we've "changed the laws," we can now prosecute a greater volume of no one at a much faster pace! We can sell these settlements just like the Medieval church sold indulgences. No crime involved: Just sign here, here, and here.

JOBS, OUR BIGGEST EXPORT. FREE TRADE FOR ALL!

Headlining the keynote speakers at the forum was renowned economist Dr. Lawrence Summers, former director of the White House National Economic Council under Barack Obama. Summers, who served as president of Harvard University from 2001-2006, said in his speech that global sourcing is a key to economic success.
“There are those today who would resist the process of international integration; that is a prescription for a more contentious and less prosperous world,” stated Summers. “We should not oppose offshoring or outsourcing.”

Jobs, our biggest export!

OBAMA'S (AND DEMS') BAD MESSAGING. INTENTIONAL OR STUPID?

Okay, hurricane Irene and Obama's Huge Speech have now blown over. Let's examine the wreckage and damage caused by the latter.

I realized in a phone conversation that the Dems in general, and Prez O in particular, have a gigantic problem with messaging. Take this snippet from the New York Times:

Mr. Obama went before Congress in September to push for a $447 billion package of tax cuts and new government spending.

The centerpiece of the bill, known as the American Jobs Act, is an extension and expansion of the cut in payroll taxes, worth $240 billion, under which the tax paid by employees would be cut in half through 2012.

Opinesters are opining away over whether these tax cuts will create any jobs at all. Consumer confidence is extremely low. So, the misnamed payroll tax cut (really a cut to contributions to Social Security) might not stimulate much.

But a point is being missed by anyone I can see: When Pres. G.W. Bush eased the heavy burden on the pitiable and downtrodden wealthy, he and his amen-chorus Repubs called it a TAX CUT. When Prez O and the Dems put forth the same plan, albeit for greedy and overprivileged working people, they happily call it SPENDING which has to be PAID FOR. That's not a subtle distinction, that's an encapsulation of the last 30 years of conservative framing of the argument! The Democrats spend. Spend, spend, spend. Even when they cut taxes, that's spending. And you wonder why it's a no-win every time. The Dems are playing uphill with this brainless messaging.

Worse, in this case, it could be intentionally put that way in order to puff up a jobs bill that really spends far less than half of its total on putting anyone to work. At the center of the bill is a vacuum that must be now filled with other CUTS. Cut, cut cut. Is this a never-ending rerun?

HIGHLINE, PART II (An Updated Review)

Part 2 of the Highline gets a rave review from the NY Review of Books.

Once again, Oudolf’s selection of botanical material is superb. This summer it featured such flowering perennials as allium, catmint, coral bells, cranebill, rosemary, salvia, and yarrow, along with trees and shrubs including chokeberry, holly, magnolia, redbud, roses, sassafras, and shadblow. His random-looking (though deliberately composed) planting beds simultaneously pay homage to the wildness of the High Line in its gone-to-seed phase and seamlessly accommodate the many functional requirements of a heavily trafficked pedestrian concourse

Take an elevating walk when you can.

Obama's Huge Jobs Speech Promises ... Jobs?

Looks like a round of election-year promises are packed into Obama's coming speech. This speech will be the Huge Jobs Speech, you might know.

He's given up most leverage I can think of with Congress, so I don't see much coming out it. Hope I'm proved wrong.

From Bloomberg:

“You say you’re the party of tax cuts?” Obama said before the annual Metro Detroit Central Labor Council rally. “Well then, prove you’ll fight just as hard for tax cuts for middle- class families as you do for oil companies and the most affluent Americans.”

[...]

“We’ve got roads and bridges across this country that need rebuilding,” Obama, 50, said. “We’ve got more than 1 million unemployed construction workers ready to get dirty right now. There is work to be done and there are workers ready to do it. Labor’s on board, business is on board. We just need Congress to get on board.”

What's coming up this week may turn out to be his best speech for 2009 or even 2010. In fact, I think I heard him speechifying the above points in those years. And then... drumroll... nothing.

This is the Obama pattern. Crisis, build-up to Huge Speech, delivery of the Huge Speech, nodding heads and cries of "We're saved!" and then ... nothing much of anything. Rinse, repeat.

I will not watch this next Huge Speech. At this point they're huge rehashes of past Huge Speeches, and are completely divorced from the Administration's policy making. Or lack thereof.

Not an Onion headline:

"REGISTERING THE POOR TO VOTE IS UN-AMERICAN"

Registering them to vote is like handing out burglary tools to criminals.  It is profoundly antisocial and un-American to empower the nonproductive segments of the population to destroy the country -- which is precisely why Barack Obama zealously supports registering welfare recipients to vote.

In which alleged human Mathew Vadum lashes out at the unfortunate, a favorite punching bag of the right.

The man needs to get out of his cave more.

Don't mess with the sorcerers of the East Village. You have been warned.

Obama: We Don't Need No Stinkin' Regulations

Obama overrules the EPA's clean-air regulations.

President Barack Obama on Friday scrapped his administration's controversial plans to tighten smog rules, bowing to the demands of congressional Republicans and some business leaders.

Obama overruled the Environmental Protection Agency — and the unanimous opinion of its independent panel of scientific advisers — and directed administrator Lisa Jackson to withdraw the proposed regulation to reduce concentrations of ground-level ozone, smog's main ingredient. The decision rests in part on reducing regulatory burdens and uncertainty for businesses at a time of rampant uncertainty about an unsteady economy.

That last line is a verbatim quote of the recent Republican line. Don't believe me? Try this NY Times piece:

On Monday, Mr. Perry called on Mr. Obama to halt all regulations because, Mr. Perry said, “his E.P.A. regulations are killing jobs all across America.

Wait, before you say "pre-emptive strike," read the article. Even the more moderate Republicans quoted seem to think Perry is off his rocker on this one, although I'm not sure he is on his rocker about much of anything.

So, if the Obama Administration gives in to every extreme Republican demand, the crazies won't have a platform to run on? In what world is that even close to logical?

How Reality TV Eats Its Own

Fairly good piece up on Reuters about the reality tv genre, making the claim that it killed the Real Housewives guy who committed suicide.

When I heard that Russell Armstrong, the estranged husband of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Taylor Armstrong, committed suicide, the first thing that came into my head was “the show killed him.”

I was discussing this issue with a pal, who pointed out that perhaps a majority of the Housewives (who I've given up watching) have been through some sort of financial ruin, whether bankruptcy or foreclosure, and another huge number have had their marriages ruined.

She wanted to understand who would put themselves up on tv, break the bank to show off imagined wealth, to prove exactly what?

I think it's a pure snapshot of America, where the American Delusion replaces the American Dream. The real estate bubble is mirrored here. People finally reach some height, have a fame-whore wish to show it all off to the world, and then roll back down the hill like a stalled car. Most of these people don't get their own shows, however.

We revel in watching the delusions of others, branded as real.

Earthquake?

New York is rockin', and not in a good way, although it's bouncy!

SEC Shreds, Burns, and Zaps Evidence of Past "Non-Investigations"

Matt Taibbi reveals a whistleblower's case of dark doings at the SEC, where cover-ups are job one, and no evil deed goes unrewarded.

Flynn discovered a directive on the enforcement division's internal website ordering staff to destroy "any records obtained in connection" with closed MUIs. The directive appeared to violate federal law, which gives responsibility for maintaining and destroying all records to the National Archives and Records Administration. Over a decade earlier, in fact, the SEC had struck a deal with NARA stipulating that investigative records were to be maintained for 25 years – and that if any files were to be destroyed after that, the shredding was to be done by NARA, not the SEC.

But Flynn soon learned that the records for thousands of preliminary investigations no longer existed. In his letter to Congress, Flynn estimates that the practice of destroying MUIs had begun as early as 1993, and has resulted in at least 9,000 case files being destroyed. For all the thousands of tips that had come in to the SEC, and the thousands of interviews that had been conducted by the agency's staff, all that remained were a few perfunctory lines for each case. The mountains of evidence gathered were no longer in existence.

There's a good list of some buried cases, but it looks like there was a whole lotta greasing of wheels and other objects involved.

Shocking, but not surprising. I predict a full inquiry, and try not to laugh too loud.

Another Hypocrite Anti-Gay Closet-Case Lawmaker Flushed Out in Indiana

He voted for an anti-gay-marriage bill, but then offered, allegedly, money to an 18-year-old male for his companionship.

Is this getting to be a dog-bites-man story?

Via indystar.com:

Emails shared with The Indianapolis Star suggest that state Rep. Phillip Hinkle -- responding to a local posting on Craigslist -- offered a young man $80 plus tip to spend time with him Saturday night at the JW Marriott hotel.

The emails, sent from Hinkle's publicly listed personal address, ask the young man for "a couple hours of your time tonight" and offer him cash up front, with a tip of up to $50 or $60 "for a really good time."

 The guy, who said he was 20 in his ad, gets offered hush money via his sister, who somehow "intervenes." Those details look VERY dodgy, since the sister goes to meet the guy's daughter in a hotel, apparently to prove she has the e-mail evidence.

Obama Admin Set to Kick Out Married Gay Partner

First we heard they'd hold off on these expulsions, now they're going right ahead. Via SF Gate:

 Citing the Defense of Marriage Act, the Obama administration denied immigration benefits to a married gay couple from San Francisco and ordered the expulsion of a man who is the primary caregiver to his AIDS-afflicted spouse.

"Bradford Wells, a U.S. citizen, and Anthony John Makk, a citizen of Australia, were married seven years ago in Massachusetts. They have lived together 19 years, mostly in an apartment in the Castro district. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services denied Makk's application to be considered for permanent residency as a spouse of an American citizen, citing the 1996 law that denies all federal benefits to same-sex couples.

So, let me get this right. The administration is refusing to defend DOMA in court, saying to the world that it is unconstitutional. WHILE at the same time, using it against a couple where one is the primary caretaker for his in-need spouse?

Obama Plans to Put Pentagon on a Diet of Growth Hormones

An old Soviet tank rusts away in Afghanistan.

(Nothing to do with today.)

Missed this one, amidst all the austerity and shared sacrifice. From Army Times (which I've never heard of, honestly, but assume is something).

 "The Obama administration’s five-year defense plan is putting the Defense Department on a path toward serious budget problems in the future, according to new Congressional Budget Office estimates of long-term defense costs.

"Citing increased costs for operations, support and weapons, a new analysis from the nonpartisan budget office predicts the Defense Department will need a $631 billion base budget in 2015 and a $735 billion budget by 2021. The administration’s five-year defense plan proposes a $611 billion budget in 2015, growing to $694 billion by 2021."

I must research this more. If it's true, this is my vote for most under-reported.

I suppose one can say this is just a report, but then, during all the deficit hysteria, the House voted a Pentagon budget of $649B, up $17B. That was in early July, and almost completely unreported!

The recent "debate" and talk of the family budget would make sense if your family had an arsenal in the back yard while the garage and porch were falling in, the house's plumbing and heating needed fixing, and the wiring was frayed and sparking away.

Suspected Psychopath on the Loose and in Search of Writers

From Craigslist. I quote in full (emphasis mine):

Anonymous Writer (and Others) on the Verge of Suicide (National) (Upper West Side)

---

Date: 2011-07-29, 12:21PM EDT
Reply to: [withheld]

---

Anonymous Writer (and Others) on the Verge of Suicide (National)

NATIONAL SEARCH FOR WRITER (OR ANYONE ABLE TO EXPRESS THEMSELVES IN WRITING)
who is at the end of their rope and contemplating killing themselves - for real.

If your story is genuine, you could be part of a very special project by best-selling nonfiction author.

This opportunity is not for someone who is looking for it to be a conventional paycheck or immediate compensation. You will need another job for that. However, the rewards can be very worthwhile in the long run in more ways than one.

You will not be required to reveal your identity, however you must convince and verify that your circumstances are real and that you have come to the realization that ending your life is an option for you.
You will not come into direct contact here with any doctors, psychologists, counselors, life coaches or experts in suicide prevention. You are encouraged to seek professional help elsewhere to save your life. You will not be required to meet anyone in person.

To apply, please (1) introduce yourself by reply e-mail (gender, age, city of residence, profession, first name or pseudonym), and (2) go to the web address below to share your true story that lead you to the point of seriously contemplating suicide:

[deleted. not giving this alleged human the time of day.]

We will match your e-mail with your posting and you will be contacted with additional information about this project.

Compensation will come contingent on the project moving forward and based on a portion of potential grant or other project monies. This is an invitation for you to express your deepest feelings and share your experiences and thoughts ... to be heard and acknowledged anonymously. Again, this is for someone who wants to be involved in something unique, positive, and rewarding beyond the possibility of monetary payment. (If you need a GUARANTEE of payment from this, please do not reply.)

APPLY NOW
Reply to e-mail in this ad and post comment at:

[link deleted.]

You will be contacted.

Thank you for your sharing and trust.
________________

PERSONAL NOTE / CLARIFICATION:

I want to express that I am aware this ad - especially the headline - is extreme, blunt, harsh, and can be offensive to some. I didn't know any other way to express what this is and who I am looking for than to be direct and honest ... and use the word "Suicide." Let me be clear that this project is for a good cause, is sensitive, and comes from a good place with wonderful intentions. I have a history of doing impactful and inspirational projects. I believe it will touch many people in a positive and powerful way, and, hopefully save lives. If it generates revenues, those who participate will benefit in this way too. The Project was sparked by the loss of my childhood friend who killed himself - it is my way of hopefully helping others in his name. Thank you.

• Compensation: Payment Contingent on Project Green Light (Portion of Grant or Other Monies)
• Telecommuting is ok.
• Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
• Please, no phone calls about this job!
• Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

Telecommuting? Like with an ipad from a bridge?

Archaeology in Central Park: Digging Up the Remains of an African-American Village

Before there was Central Park, there was Seneca Village, largely African-American.

I knew there were displaced communities, but did not know that!

Turns out, they've dug up some artifacts, and they will be looking them over now that the digging's done.

There's a great deal more about this village here, courtesy of Columbia University. Learn something new today.

Iceland's 'Open-source Constitution' Handed In

Islandia map by Abraham Ortelius ca 1590

A committee of 25 put its proposals on-line. They the People responded with comments and suggestions.

The committee waded through the suggestions, responded, and then put forth the results of this unique diaolgue. They've now handed in the final draft to Iceland's parliament, called the Althingi - a name I can't even read without chuckling.

Iceland’s constitution was barely adapted from Denmark’s when the island nation gained independence from the Scandinavian kingdom in 1944.

"Since then, a holistic re-examination of the constitution has always been on the agenda, but always halted because of political infighting in the parliament," committee member Eirikur Bergmann, a political science professor at Iceland’s Bifroest Unioversity who also tweeted his way through the committee’s work, told AFP.

But after Iceland’s economic collapse in 2008, which triggered massive social movements, pressure mounted for a revamp of the constitution and for the process to be led by ordinary citizens, he said.

Now, a few months back, could Congress have taken the same approach to this manufactured debt crisis? Could it do this with other needed programs? Yes. It should be happening now to answer the many real crises we face.

The fact that they're still playing ping pong with the economy lets you know that they don't want anything approaching functionality in legislating. That would not allow for all the behind-the-curtains dirty dealing.

Go Iceland!

Bachmann Took Half a Mil in Fed Home Loans From Programs She Despises!

The Washington Post has it:

Just a few weeks before Bachmann called for dismantling the programs during a House Financial Services Committee hearing, she and her husband signed for a $417,000 home loan to help finance their move to a 5,200-square-foot golf-course home, public records show. Experts who examined the loan documents for The Washington Post say that they are confident the loan was backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

Okay, it's shy of half a million, but still. I guess the devil made her do it, or an alternate personality signed off on the paperwork. I'm sure her campaign war room is hard at work on an excuse. Here's my bet:

"She was unfortunately forced to use this program, as no other was available, blah blah blah...," even though she got some other funding at the same time. Or: "I didn't know where this was coming from, since it went through the bank, etc."

She has an excuse factory cranking them out day and night lately.

Gigantic Solar Tower for Arizona

Twice the height of the Empire State Building. Able to power 150,000 homes. Heck, why not build 200 of the things while they're at it.

If this lives up to its billing, why bother with more nuclear power plants?

Washington Post Understatement of the Year: Possible Conflict of Interest at the Fed

Read it and steam.

Phone Hacking: What Did Piers Morgan Know/Do?

Nice little morsel commenting on a paragraph from Piers Morgan's book, based on his diaries:

Apparently if you don’t change the standard security code that every phone comes with, then anyone can call your number and, if you don’t answer, tap in the standard four digit code to hear all your messages. I’ll change mine just in case, but it makes me wonder how many public figures and celebrities are aware of this little trick.

Then on Monday, July 18, 2001, he goes on his own show on CNN and defends our dear Rupert:

I just cannot accept — although there is this huge witch hunt going on to bring him down personally — I don’t accept that he himself would be party to illegal activity."

Well, well, well.

He was editor of the Daily Mirror, and may have picked up the scoop of the year in 2002, based on phone hacking.

That last is not confirmed officially, but with Rebekah Brooks' computer somehow lost in the trash and other developments, it's sounding like the botched cover-up is failing badly.

I'm betting there will be another round of auditions for the new Larry King, as if that story didn't bore everyone enough the first time around.

Prohibition is Back in Minnesota

Not fully, but the beer is running out in some bars. Star-Trib:

Of the roughly 10,000 establishments that sell liquor in Minnesota, most of those who needed to renew their buyer purchasing cards managed to do so before the July 1 shutdown started. About 300 were caught with cards that expired on June 30 and no way to renew the permits.

I guess this becomes a rolling drought, as these licenses come up for renewal.

Prohibition hasn't exactly returned, but partially so.

Time for enterprising Minnesotans to stockpile for the coming Alcoholypse.

Bachmann Clinic Overdrive

The Bachmanns' clinic promises to turn over your drives!

Story plus undercover videotape via Nightline.

Looks like the denial that they "pray the gay away" is nonsense.

Murdock Paper Tried to Listen to 9/11 Victims' Phone Recordings

Or maybe The News of the World did pull it off by other means. It did just as bad in the home country. One article in the UK Mirror tabloid, not terribly well confirmed, yet.

From the story:

A source said: “This investigator is used by a lot of journalists in America and he recently told me that he was asked to hack into the 9/11 victims’ private phone data. He said that the journalists asked him to access records showing the calls that had been made to and from the mobile phones belonging to the victims and their ­relatives.

“His presumption was that they wanted the information so they could hack into the ­relevant voicemails, just like it has been shown they have done in the UK. The PI said he had to turn the job down. He knew how insensitive such research would be, and how bad it would look.

There's a lot of talk about the Murdock empire crumbling, but it's this and the other instances of deep creepiness that are setting people's teeth on edge.

Murdock has spilled a lot of ink and unleashed a storm of photons lecturing me on what's right and moral (anything ultraconservative), what not to do (there's a long list), and what I'm supposed to believe to be patriotic. (Ahem, Congressional citizenship, anyone?)

It may be tempting to enjoy watching him fall on his face, but the gritty, dirty, low reality of this scandal should be taken on its own merits. It's all seedy and disgusting.

Good Alternet Piece on the Meaning of the WH's Social Security Trial Balloon

Here, following up on the Social Security drama of the past couple of days, is the Alternet article that seems to attempt to answer the questions I asked yesterday.

Joshua Holland's article posits three possibilities of why the admin floated this, and then backpedalled without entirely taking cuts off the table. It is not a reassuring scenario.

If the urge is to look tougher and meaner than the opponent in order to score points (with whom?), then they've succeeded. At what cost, though? The destruction of the party?

I just cannot fathom the goal here, and I do see a skating away from principles and promises that have been stated again and again.

The article provides write-back links for Congress, etc.

Obama Steps on Third Rail Without a Parachute

Oh yes he did! Unless there's a denial of the plain wording of the Washington Post article by Lori Montgomery:

“Obviously, there will be some Democrats who don’t believe we need to do entitlement reform. But there seems to be some hunger to do something of some significance,” said a Democratic official familiar with the administration’s thinking. “These moments come along at most once a decade. And it would be a real mistake if we let it pass us by.”

Rather than roughly $2 trillion in savings, the White House is now seeking a plan that would slash more than $4 trillion from annual budget deficits over the next decade . . .

Privately, some congressional Democrats were alarmed by the president’s proposal, which could include adjusting the measure of inflation used to determine Social Security payouts.

Stephen Ohlemacher via AP seems to confirm this:

One option includes a new inflation measure for Social Security that could produce savings close to $200 billion through a combination of reduced benefits and higher taxes, White House officials said Thursday.

 Low- and middle-income families could be hit.

The proposal would represent a reversal for Obama. In contrast to his pledge to target tax increases at the wealthy, high-income families would largely be spared from tax increases that would result from changing the way inflation is measured.

Looks like it's time for some magic book-cooking to will away that pesky inflation. Reversal? I've seen milder reversals in skateboard championships.

At which Nancy Pelosi goes mildly ballistic:

“You want to take a look at Social Security then look at it on its own table, but do not consider Social Security a piggy bank for giving tax cuts to the wealthiest people in our country.”

I don't know what else you'd call what's described above but that! But we've had clues for a year and a half that this has been Obama's intention all along, all the while saying the opposite over and over again. I don't know if this outrage is truly outrage, or just a bit of a dust-up so we'll think the Dems give a damn. Why is there a Democratic Party at all at this point, when all they can seem to accomplish is Stealth Republicanism(TM)?

Dominique Stauss-Kahn Off the Hook?

Looks like it. I don't know what happened, but the prosecutors say the maid admitted lying to a grand jury. That's a big no-no. Oddly, this official reason bears little relationship to the Times story of her fading credibility.

I only know the verdict in the U.S. court of public opinion will be that, once again, there seem to be two sets of rules. There are, indeed, but that may not apply here, where the entire case rests on witness credibility. Why, oh why, didn't she just tell the story as it happened?

I think the only testimony we'll get will be on some newsy talky interview, with the woman giving an exclusive framed by dim lighting. Let the network bidding begin.

Rhode Island Civil Unions. Is the Good the Enemy of the Perfect?

Rhode Island will have civil unions, but marriage advocates are not celebrating. They see this as a "less than" approach, an untenable compromise, and they are right.
 
Office-holders are touting this as "incremental progress" that will lead to a later, better outcome. They may be right, too.

I say, in classic "Let's Make a Deal" fashion, "Take the Civil Unions." Nothing is nothing, and if this doesn't go through, any marriage bill is likely to collect dust on the shelf. Not good enough? Certainly. Progress? Yes.

Gay Marriage in New York: Dates to Know and Where to Go.

July 5th is the first date that you can obtain a marriage license. The City Clerk's office has the details of what to do to get one. We hear they've been running the presses to get gender-neutral language copies printed, whatever those might look like. I don't think they will be available in colors or anything. Note that the license requires a wait of 24 hours afterward for the actual marriage ceremony, and it is only good for sixty days, unless you are in the military (in which case, DADT has not been implemented, so you can't actually invoke that provision without another kind of headache). Marriage itself becomes legal on July 24th, 2011, 30 days after the signing of the bill by Gov. Cuomo.

That's why, perhaps, you should look into scheduling the actual ceremony to fall within that scope. You can line up for a marriage ceremony at the same office of the City Clerk. No reservations are required or accepted. There are fees that seem to add up to about $60, but please read any details for yourself.

There's also a fun option I heard about. The Pop-up Chapel, which will do weddings for free, with some trimmings, in Central Park. It looks like it's only serving cupcakes during the first weekend after marriage becomes legal. Read up on this option, since I have no idea whether this will be slammed with couples who heard about it on twitter.

Do whatever you like, where gay marriage is concerned, whenever you want to, but do some research first. Rushing into these things is for drunken celebs in Vegas!

Half a Billion Dollars "Tainted" in CityTime Scandal

I'm surprised the press hasn't linked the CityTime scandal to the massive cutbacks. Or maybe not so surprised:

 Reddy Allen and Dr Padma Allen have been indicted on federal fraud and kickback charges in relation to the scandals surrounding Mayor Michael Bloomberg administration's CityTime project to modernise the municipal payroll system.

A grand jury said on Monday that more than $600 million of the project's bloated budget is "tainted" by fraud. The couple secured a lucrative, no-bid subcontract for the CityTime that made it look like their firm, TechnoDyne, was "a successful and fast-growing company," the New York Post
reported.

Gee, another "no-bid" contract. How did that happen? Anyone know?

Gov. Cuomo's Marriage Equality Speech.

 

A stunning, moving speech by Governor Cuomo, setting the marriage equality victory in the context of history.

Worth ten minutes of your time.

In New York, Marriage Has Always Been a Function of the State. Period.

Even in early Euro-American history, marriage was regarded as a state function. Churches, even official ones, married couples, but only under the laws of whatever colony it was. Other officials were also allowed to marry people.

No one could just go around marrying people without recognition by law, and that is true to this day.

I know of at least one case where a very minor official tried doing it. It was beyond his office and he was immediately up on charges. The marriage was also considered null and void.

Nontraditional forms of other-sex marriage also had to gain approval over time.

At least in this country, marriage has always been a function of the state to define by its own rules. Anyone pretending otherwise is lying to you.

Sheldon Silver Gives Away the Store on Rent Regs.

He seriously sent me an email touting this gawdawful deal on rent regs.

I wrote him back that it had to be some sort of joke. 2500 is the threshold or 200K income? Not indexed?

I told him the message to anyone who works for him was that they should move. Maybe he'll be able to get recent immigrants sleeping in shifts to staff his office.

Democrats... NOW FIVE PER CENT BETTER THAN REPUBLICANS!

New Music Venue on Ave. A?

Not so fast.

Disclosure. I got a letter to go down to the meeting and speak in support. I'm not at all against having a new serious music venue for alternative performance, since we've lost so many. I really did not know enough about the plans to show up in support. Having that over a sports bar? Sure.

There's so much nonsense coming from the opposition to all bars in the neighborhood that denies the reality of what's happening here. Building owners charge so much that the only businesses that can make enough are bars. People can't stand the noise on the weekends from all these bars, but when they are denied a license, absolutely nothing ever fills the empty space. (Although this particular case is quite different.)

Why are the owners never mentioned or engaged in a solution to the broader issue at hand?

Calgary Zoo's Blatant Animal Exploitation Is Fun!

Yeah, I know. Post anything entertaining about an animal, and draw the wrath of somebody, but the breakdancing gorilla is dumb and fun.

NY Airport Geese to Be Cooked and Given Away

Not a bad idea. But isn't this fowl socialism?

Republicans, Catholic Church Still Blocking Gay Marriage in New York

photo Roger D in NYC. Gov.'s office detail.

The Times seems to think it will turn around, saying Gov. Cuomo is sounding confident.

I'm thinking that the Republicans went from 'this is a vote of conscience,' to, 'OMG, some gay people will try to rent out St. Pat's Cathedral.' The Senate majority is stuck in a dilemma: Let the bill go forward and the far right will blame the whole R delegation, regardless of the lack of a called party-line vote. Stop the bill, and several Senators in downstate districts are in jeopardy of losing their seats and tipping the majority away.

The Republicans seemed to have it in hand last week, but then big bad Bishop Dolan chimed in with Medieval-style bombast, threatening to rend his garments and call down clouds of locusts.

To wit:

Please, not here!  We cherish true freedom, not as the license to do whatever we want, but the liberty to do what we ought; we acknowledge that not every desire, urge, want, or chic cause is automatically a "right." And, what about other rights, like that of a child to be raised in a family with a mom and a dad?

The Church is always a factor, but the bigoted shrieks have been deafening this week. After what this RICO-worthy institution has gotten away with? Who is Dolan fooling? No one around here. He could have just said: "It's a free country for the right people who do things our way."

Meanwhile, liberty waits for a reply.

Please! Here!

UN Human Rights Council Passes GLBT Rights Resolution

UN Human Rights Council passes gay rights resolution. Via CNN:

Suzanne Nossel, deputy assistant secretary of state for international organizations, told CNN, "It really is a key part in setting a new norm that gay rights are human rights and that that has to be accepted globally."

"It talks about the violence and discrimination that people of LGBT persuasion experience around the world," she said, "and that those issues ... need to be taken seriously. It calls for reporting on what's going on, where people are being discriminated against, the violence that is taking place, and it really puts the issue squarely on the U.N.'s agenda going forward."

Thanks for that, but it took long enough. I don't know if the entire General Assembly would pass something like this, but this at least requires reporting, so it's a step forward. It doesn't immediately change anything but perception, but that's a start.

Greenspan Emerges From Crypt to Utter a Curse Upon Us All

He's decided that the Greeks will default, after which everything else tanks. Even if such a scenario plays out, he knows full well that people take what he says as truth, and act accordingly. Can't he stop himself?

Then in the next interview he'll champion the virtues of no regulations on anything.

Can this man be shipped to St. Helena at long last?

Is Newt His Own Favorite Charity Case?

Looks like he may have funneled money from his "charity" to his for profit businesses.

ABC relates:

The charity, Renewing American Leadership, not only featured Gingrich on its website and in fundraising letters, it also paid $220,000 over two years to one of Gingrich's for-profit companies, Gingrich Communications. It purchased cases of Gingrich's books and bought up copies of DVDs produced by another of the former House speaker's entities, Gingrich Productions.

Renew that leadership with bales of cash, Newt. There's more heinous behavior of the kind in the article, including fundraising letters on his own stationery chopping up a quote from Pres. O. to state that ours is not a Christian nation. (Famous quote, very stirring, adding and including others, just like the founders expressly stated that they wanted.)

I ask you, Who would Jesus bilk?

Newt can also be found in many gardenscapes.

Percolating Now: Nasty Antigay Firing at a Starbucks in Long Island

There has been a huge dust-up in L.I., which has poured through the innertubes, over the nasty evil firing of a gay Starbucks employee in front of people, basically for being gay. The blogger became an instrument of change. She walked out of the shop to console the guy, and then described the scene via a letter to the company.

Seattle TV then covers it. Facebook protest ensues. Starbucks is on the defensive.

The blogger was courageous in standing up and speaking up, the only actions that begin to stop bullying and bigotry. Cowards depend on the silence of the crowd.

Robert Reich is Right, Again!

He asks, "Doesn't the White House get it?" Short answer: No. Long answer: Yes, but we can't do any of that.

Worse still, but most likely answer: Yes, and we can do some, most, or all of that for growth and job creation, but we don't want to go through the bother, and please stop asking for anything, you awful rabble who voted us in.

In Albany, a Day of Lobbying and Action for Stronger Rent Laws in NYS

The Local from the Times gives this story by Khristopher J. Brooks: "Locals Join Albany Rent Law Protests."

Good story, captures the essence of what's going on in this battle. The Assembly passed a decent bill, the Senate is pushing back with a tepid renewal of the weak law in place.

I took some pics and vids of my own.

photos: Roger D in NYC

The NONMIRACLE on the Hudson

Okay. I have to say it. A brilliant pilot landed a plane on the water. I saw the video. There were no angels waving him in. He did it. The plane is not made of magic nanoparticles, and it could not even survive a couple of geese vacuumed into its engines.

The incident does nothing to prove or disprove the existence of invisible beings. Stop trying to fit it into the wrong framework. Did angels also hurl the Canada geese into the jets in order to knock the plane down in the first place?

Newt's Entire Senior Staff Resigns

A summary courtesy of theatlanticwire.com (quoting a.p. and politico):

Just a day after he returned from vacation--and only a month into his presidential campaign--Newt Gingrich's senior staff has resigned "en masse," the Associated Press reports. Politico's Jonathan Martin says Rob Johnson, Sam Dawson, Dave Carney, Katon Dawson, and Craig Schoenfeld have all quit the campaign.

The Associated Press' David Espo says the resignations--which include staff in early voting states South Carolina, Iowa, and New Hampshire--leaves Gingrich's "hopes of winning the Republican nomination in tatters." Nevertheless, "Gingrich told the group he intends to stay in the race, they added."

Gee, wonder what made them all walk at once. Seems like a concerted effort, waiting until his cruise of the Greek isles docked. I think the major media tale about the cruise is rather soggy and squishy. The story runs something like Tiffany credit line payoff plus luxury cruise foils his "common man" image plan for the campaign. See my last post on this stuff.

Who on earth ever thought that Newt was a man-of-the-people, salt-of-the-earth type? In what universe? Right, the same one where he's a Washington outsider. Too much spin. I am dizzy. Isn't there a sex scandal we should be paying attention to somewhere?

So, the staff was angry that Newt wouldn't live in the fantasy world they were dreaming up for him, but preferred his own fantasy world? Come on! Who's fooling who? My intuition tells me there's more to it. Maybe even, gasp!, shirtless pics. I'm saddened, and wish he'd stick around, just to keep things interesting as we watch him turn beet red at each embarrassing event.

I'm waiting for someone to spill before I believe any of these yarns being spun on any side. In the mean time, have a good chuckle as the good ship Newt now circles the drain.

The Highline, Now Even Longer!

Curbed shows off the new Phase II of the Highline. The extension doubles the length of the unique urban park.

The park allows above-the-fray views that take in the west side and the Hudson. Enjoy.

From Discovery News: "Puzzle of the Week! Uranus Gas Mining"

I'm not making this up. That's what it says, right there on the page!

Insert your own, ahem, jokes here.

White Kiwi Chick. (Not a new movie.)

A rare white kiwi chick was born in N.Z., and it's adorable! Go look at it now. (Click the pic for a video.)

Mortgage Crisis, part 2. Securities based on dark matter.

Naked Capitalism collects the story well.

According to court testimony, it looks like a lot of notes did not get properly transferred into the securities, meaning many of those instruments were, perhaps, based on nothing. Let's call these things dark matter securities. That would mean that there's literally no there there, and the investors who bought pieces of these heaps of nothing now hold less than nothing, if I follow rightly.

Of course, some of those holders would have to enter the fray and find proof in their cases. Gov't looks like it's trying to frame a "settlement" that waves a magic wand over it all.

But what of the government resale of all this nonstuff? The repackaging of dark matter with a bow on it? Could be the biggest cover-up in history in progress. Nobody look behind the curtain, and somebody call the fabric store!

Newt by popular demand. All blinged out.

So now we know that Newt's wife had a big post at the committee overseeing MINING. And MINING leads to JEWELRY. And Tiffany sells JEWELRY. And Newt had a no-interest line of credit for thousands upon thousands, reportedly half a mil. This story has been circling the drain lately, but it seems that the pipes are starting to back up.

Tiffany's denial rings of tin rather than silver.

I'm sure Justice will get right on this, after the Edwards indictment.

(Link to Salon. Thanks to S.F. for the tip.)

John Edwards indicted.

Red hot details here.

Apparently, a plea deal fell through. There was alleged money shipped in chocolate boxes, and other sketchy behavior, according to the story.  What I don't get was why it cost hundreds of thousands to play hide the mistress. Couldn't they have just bought her a wig, oversized sunglasses, a big floppy hat, sweatpants, and stashed her in a series of moderately priced, but decent, traveler's hotel?

With all the sameness of American strips, anonymity seems much more easily done. I guess a candidate's mistress gets her hideouts gold-plated.

Tim Pawlenty Follows Fellow Sheep Off Cliff.

He'd sign Paul Ryan's Medicare decimation, according to ABC News.

He now joins Trump and Gingrich as stumblers out of the gate. This virtually dooms his prospects for getting voted for by actual people with hands.

I'm not sure what the Republicans get out of this besides a grand flame-out show of ideology. Doesn't large pharma, at least, love the program, especially without any negotiations allowed on price? What fictitious, invisible people benefit? Who is lobbying for it?

The near-universal doubling down on this strategy actually baffles me. It doesn't seem to poll well even among the base.

Computer error releases 450 violent offenders in California?

Computer error?

Reading down, it doesn't look like the "computer" had the full information on them to begin with. Tinfoil hats will assume this is a big hit-back against the Supreme Court ruling. Not ready to go there, but it makes you wonder what could be going on... ahem.

Mourning for demolition of history 35 Cooper Square

I was there yesterday. A rather somber gathering, and speakers vowing to preserve and landmark the rest of the Bowery, invoking its history.

Nice report here. Scroll down to see my hand holding an artwork sign showing the block before the bulldozers.

Sad we don't have a proper landmark review process in the city. I'm not for halting all development. In many cases, the historic sites can be integrated and repurposed. It's about keeping a sense of history and character, valuing what the past leaves us, not about stopping time.

We move toward a city that attracts people without keeping what attracted them here to begin with.

No end of the world in sight.

We all had a good laugh or twelve over the latest doomsday preacher last week. A fine May day failed to conjure much disaster beyond the usual volcano blast in Iceland.

And yet Hollywood recently birthed a movie about the other end of the world prediction, 2012, and all that. Why is that nonsense prognostication any different? Because it's based on the fact that the Maya counted. They counted obsessively. Therefore, based on the fact that they had a complicated calendar system, the world will therefore end when a cycle based on numbers ends?

Let's get this right. The Mayans were advanced, but no experts in plate tectonics. I suppose it's strangely comforting to have some final chapter for the messiness of human affairs. Of course, the earth will face fate in some billions of years, when the sun fails spectacularly, but don't expect me to stay up all night some winter eve in 2012. Fool me twice...