Michelle Obama’s now-famous Jason Wu gown isn’t the only piece of Inaugural fashion that is headed for the Smithsonian. The museum is also requesting the now-iconic hat that Aretha Franklin wore while singing at the swearing-in. Aretha, however, is still undecided about parting with her Luke Song-designed hat.
this is a new blog (to me)---some good stuff in the links, too:IN THE CONTINUING SPIRIT OF COMITY. In one of those bones she periodically throws the punters to prove she's no elitist, Megan McArdle sniffs that churlish New Yorkers like to make fun of bankers. But "then," she says, "there would be a recession, and everyone in New York would realize that all those overpaid weasels were, um, paying our bills." She doesn't say what we did in such cases; I can tell you from experience we didn't weep and beg them to get rich and waddle around with cigars again (though maybe she did). First of all, that's the Mayor's job; secondly, we are intrinsically ungrateful; and thirdly, our ancestral memory recalls that it was the willful destruction of manufacturing and other bases for a healthy lower-middle-class that made us so reliant on the financial sector in the first place, and we retain an institutional resentment about it.
i could gin up an atlanner-centric version of this gripe if i were so inclined
i have sorta backed off the total engagement with the news cycle, but it’s aggravating that all the republicans’ bitching has defined what should and should not be part of the “stimulus package” ----if it doesn’t involve a shovel and isn’t “shovel- ready,” it ain’t real work and doesn’t deserve any attention----they negate all of the time, energy, and resources that go into research, development, planning, and all, and along with it the employment of architects, engineers, draftspersons, and a gazillion other professions----and of course, as they always do, they negate the humanities and the arts by implying that money there would not stimulate anything----all us worthless artists and humanists spend money, too, you stupid twits---and god forbid that any part of the "stimulus package" relate to sex cause then nobody would be able to talk about it with a straight face---any kind of family planning out the window---no jobs there, move along----the republicans are nothing but a bunch of penny-pinching, sex-obsessed philistines, oblivious to what is by far the biggest problem we’ve got right now, which is how to get some economic activity going on---
bb&t at atlantic station is finishing up, with only one crane left, while the atlantic is within a very few floors of being finished---
i like our little canyon on ninth street
i've been sitting here cleaning up some drawings, which is a fairly mindless activity, and watching the far horizons, a 1955 production that is, quite possibly, among the ten most dreadful movies of all time----it's the story of the lewis and clark expedition---with fred mcmurray as meriwether lewis, charlton heston as william clark, and donna reed as . . . sacajawea----it's all a little bizarre
that's 12th and peachtree on the left, which is soon to be the last of the cranes in midtown for awhile
in addition to renouncing torture, promising greater transparency, etc., he's now eliminated the ban on federally funded stem-cell research and the gag rule in third world countries that prohibited any discussion whatsoever of abortion by any of the private family-planning groups if they accept federal funds---and dept. of interior (i.e., national park service) is doing a "study" (probably the standard public process required of most federal actions by the national historic preservation act and the national environmental policy act) with a goal of re-opening the crown of the statue of liberty, which bush had closed after 9/11 in order to "protect america"---obama is ending bush's "war on terror," clearly headed toward the diplomacy and police action they should've followed in the first place---
random fact: tourists could climb to the torch until they closed it during world war 1
hillary got a rousing welcome at state this morning----woo woo
and salazar, sans cowboy hat, met with the staff at interior in d.c. this morning, which was telecast to the regional offices and parks----he got a rousing welcome, too----and big applause when he promised that respect for science is back---he's a westerner, his family having moved to what is now new mexico 400 years ago, but every sec. of int. for the last 100 years has been from west of the mississippi---he probably likes drilling for this and that too much, but a damn sight better than whichever republican i can think of----he won't be another coloradan, james "i-know-watt's-wrong" watt, who led one of the earlier assaults on the department----i guarantee that the great majority of federal employees are ecstatic at this changing of the guard
but the greatest thing has to be obama's statements about the u.s. setting a "moral example" and explicitly renouncing torture, closing guantanamo----america is back
president obama was all about ethics today---talked about the freedom of information act, which bush and virtually every federal agency abused---now "something can't be with-held just because i say so"---
.jpg)
that he is our first half-breed muslin president is the best part i think---he did, in fact, use his entire given name, even the terrorist part----
"On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics."
obama is having open house at the white house on wednesday, something all presidents used to do, although now they can't just let anybody in who shows up---they don't want to risk a repeat of andrew jackson's inauguration when "disorder was considerable" and rowdy guests almost wrecked the east room---
in a cnn interview just now, barack said he is keeping at least one of his two blackberries---he wants "to break out of the bubble"---
check out "change.gov, the office of the president-elect"----i guess we can all be cynical about it, but you know how it is with ol' hopie---
they have a "citizen's briefing book," where people submit their ideas and they get voted up or down, just like on the teevee!!!
anyway there are some good ideas, most of which have already been discussed
We should pony up a few tens-of-billions -- or mare -- toward the development of new energy sources. This could include the effort to create successful nuclear fusion; the development of cheap, environmentally friendly fuel cells; research into more efficient photovoltaic cells; significant subsidies for homeowners who want to get off "the grid" by using geothermal, wind and solar power; investment into new, non-grain-based renewables such as switchgrass and industrial hemp; replacing diesel buses with LNG buses (short term), and, ultimately, light rails (longer term).and, with almost as many votes:
Every city has countless pockets of real estate activity: a seperate area for residential space, another for commercial. You drive past miles and miles of stores before you see anywhere to live. Or past subdivision after subdivision before you see any retail. And far too many cities have 4, 6, or 8 lane highways with no way for pedestrians or people on bikes to cross without treat of death.
It's time to charge higher taxes for any developments that don't include mixed use spaces: let's stop encouraging developers to build spaces that are only good for one thing, and require us to drive miles for anything else. There are countless cities in Europe where people don't even need a car, because they can walk or take a train or bus. Americans deserve the same.
from americablog:John Berry has been chosen to head the Office of Personnel Management. I'm pretty sure he's the most senior gay person ever appointed to a position in any administration (closeted cabinet appointees don't count). He is to be the head of a large agency, and that's a good thing. I'd still like to see us advance from here and in the future get an openly gay person heading an agency that handles substantive policy outside of the administration.
they haven't quite got all the pavement down, but the re-do of the fifteenth and p'tree intersection is almost done----still don't like the regularization of the intersection
republicans never would have done this:Remember that big $700 billion bailout package that Congress passed? There were all sorts goodies tucked inside, including one for bicyclists. Yes, bicyclists. It's called the Bicycle Commuter Act and goes into effect January 1. While employers can already dole out tax-free funds to employees for parking and public transportation, this Act permits companies to provide $20 a month tax free to employees who bike to work, allowing the money to be used for bicycle purchases and bike upkeep. Spearheading the campaign for a bike commuter bill was Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon. "We have legislation that is designed to promote cycling and to provide a little equity for the people who burn calories instead of fossil fuel," he says.
plus congress has a list of $2 billion in bike lane projects just waiting to be funded
if you haven't seen this already, it's pretty good----there's a web site: www.wherethehellismatt.com
i think part of what is wrong right now is there's too much fear-mongering---i think this is a pretty good guess:
I don't think this is or will be "Great Depression II," and even "worst recession since the Great Depression" can be true without it being anywhere near as bad as the Depression. Still I think there's a good chance we're in for a period of economic and social upheaval which won't leave the country quite the same once it's over.
the rain was good, putting the lake up two feet i think, but it's nice to see the sun again
with the fog still impacting the view, i descended to street level and walked over to the botanical gdn. this morning----i almost had the place to myself
----
the party of ignorance, intolerance, jingoism, and general retardedness is finally fading, but krugman is right: a lot of people haven't figured that out yet---hell, a lot of republicans would deny everything he says
The fault, however, lies not in Republicans’ stars but in themselves. Forty years ago the G.O.P. decided, in effect, to make itself the party of racial backlash. And everything that has happened in recent years, from the choice of Mr. Bush as the party’s champion, to the Bush administration’s pervasive incompetence, to the party’s shrinking base, is a consequence of that decision.
an atheist makes an excellent point:
Those who want Africa to walk tall amid 21st-century global competition must not kid themselves that providing the material means or even the knowhow that accompanies what we call development will make the change. A whole belief system must first be supplanted. And I'm afraid it has to be supplanted by another. Removing Christian evangelism from the African equation may leave the continent at the mercy of a malign fusion of Nike, the witch doctor, the mobile phone and the machete.
