Lord knows I am no fan of W. The man is a total idiot whose policies helped drive this country into the ground, but last I checked, he is still the president and in charge of this economic shit storm we’re in, right?

I ask because this story about a new economic bailout–this time to the tune of $800 BILLION–announced today, leads the NYTimes, runs two pages and never once mentions the current president. At all. Not even to say that he has effectively given up power and moved to Crawford, Texas. Since the only president we seem to discuss anymore is the President-elect because W doesn’t seem to be doing a dam thing, why doesn’t he just resign and let the rest of us move on?

Anyone? Please?

So I am in New York City as I write this. Lex and I have been here a full day now and it’s pretty dam great. There are some things about it that are driving me crazy already but the joy and energy that I am getting by being surrounded by so many people using a city wisely and well is overwhelming that frustration.

I had to do some work today in the form of an interview (writing off this trip! yeah!) and then some writing so I spent a bit of time in a mid-town coffee shop. Besides watching a first date between a couple of people who had obviously met online (I think they hit it off. It was cute.), the coffee shop scene in Midtown is very 1995. There was wi-fi, but you had to sign on to it and it was wonky, the coffee was burnt and though I asked for it “for here,” it was given to me in a styrofoam cup.

Which leads me to my first real frustration: New York is completely not sustainable. I knew this, but it’s always shocking to re-discover and even more so now that I am so steeped in the subject everyday at work. It’s like the city just discovered recycling and still doesn’t quite get it. I mean, is it weird when I go to throw out something that I am taken aback to see wasted food, Styrofoam cups, glass bottles and discarded newspapers all mixed in the same bin together?

Sure, NYC residents have a smaller carbon footprint than most Americans thanks to their reliance on mass transit (which is phenomenal, natch), but when no one bats an eye at the fact that the bar (Volde Nuit) where we spent $120 on dinner (mussels, Beligan Frites and Belgian beer) uses plastic forks and plastic cups for the dips and everyone leaves lights on with wild abandon, they lose whatever green points they had scored. The vast majority of your electricity comes from coal people! Coal. Ever read anything by Dickens? Coal sucks!

On the other hand, NYC feels amazing to me right now. There’s two reasons for this. First, I love the energy that is ever present in this city that comes from the mass of humanity that is always everywhere on every street. I know that by the end of this trip I’ll feel a bit peopled out and will be craving some space from others, but I’ll still think it’s totally wonderful how the residents of this city use this city. My favorite part of it is how it’s all connected. Unlike Seattle, which is made up of discreet neighborhoods that one passes through, New York’s neighborhoods all melt together. That makes it okay, and even enjoyable, to interact with the city as you get from one area to another.

Also wonderful in this city right now (and this is new to me) is a burgeoning politeness going on. I know. It’s New York City. People are supposed to be rude and brusque and have no time for niceness. But it’s there nonetheless. Maybe it’s a high from the Obama win (I see many signs of joy about that, not just the one above.) For example, on the subway today, I saw a guy offer his seat to a woman. She wasn’t old or infirm or anything. She was just a woman and he was just being polite. Earlier in the day, someone actually said “Excuse me,” when she bumped into me! “Excuse me!” In New York. Something us up here. Don’t ask me what, but something is up.

Anyway, that’s my report from day one. I love the feel in the streets and soaking in the life that surrounds me at every step. Now, if it would just stop raining.

These three photos are of a guerilla installation at Melissa’s subway stop at Dyckman and 200th St. Totally awesome:

I get so angry when I hear Republicans talk about Obama as an elitist. People have such a skewed vision of who is actually looking out for the best interests of the people who need the most help these days, and I just don’t understand that.

McCain is a rich, lying, old white man who wants nothing more than the power that comes with the presidency. Of course, Obama wants power too, but I honestly believe he has the best interests of the majority of Americans at heart: That is, those of us who make less than six figures a year, work hard everyday and feel blessed to own even one home, let alone eight.

Here’s an excellent video made by the AFL-CIO and the SEIU about McCain’s elitism in the wake of the foreclosure crisis. I hope it makes you think twice about voting for this man who says one thing and does another or, in some cases, says exactly what he thinks and somehow makes the people who he will trample on the most think he cares for them. Watch it, the please pass this video on.

Who would have thought that pool reports of lavish fund raising dinners for presidential campaigns (which I imagine are themselves tedious in the extreme) could be so entertaining?

There are oaks and Chestnut trees and then there’s the house, with four
Ionic columns and a slate roof and 17 windows across the front and the
Rockefellers apparently suffer no critical shortage of guest bedrooms.
It is a useful reminder that before the Gates and Bloomberg and Warren
B., there was old man John D. Rockefeller, who bequeathed successive
generations of descendants a truly astonishing boodle of money.

But I digress. The fundraiser was standard issue, if it’s Tuesday night
aren’t we dropping $28,500 per to dine with Barack? Your faithful
scribes sat outside in an air-conditioned van whilst drinks were
sipped. Then a staffer led us to an ante-room, where we noticed “The
Reclining Bather” by Pablo Picasso. Just a thought, but I’d place a
mid-two figures wager it was not a print.

Read more of last night’s pool report from the Obama fundraiser at the Rockerfeller’s and enjoy.

(via)

I think Hillary is proving the point that if she wins the nomination and the presidency, she is going to continue more of the same mud-slinging, partisan governing we’ve had for the past 16 years (at least). She tried to make it harder for workers in Nevada to caucus when a major union there endorsed Obama, she conveniently left her name on the ballot in Michigan where all the candidates vowed not to campaign and held fundraisers just ahead of the Florida primary in Florida where they also pledged not to campaign. Then she pledged to work to let the FLA and MICH delegates sit at the convention if she wins the nom (or needs their votes to win it).

Now she is trying to convince supporters in Washington to vote in our completely irrelevant Democratic primary in the hopes that she will win it and super delegates will use it as cover:

The Clinton campaign is encouraging Washingtonians to vote in the Feb. 19 primary—in the hopes that it will become a counterweight to Obama’s big Feb. 9 caucus win here.

The primary is pointless since no delegates are awarded. But Hillary supporters are sure to take her advice and probably will create a lopsided looking victory that means nothing and yet gives super delegates like Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray some cover not to change their votes.

Disgusting.

(via)

I’m pretty obsessed with the election and am very much a fan of Obama. I want to see him win it all. So you can understand why, when I was reading this NYTimes article I thought that this paragraph had to be the best news I’ve read in awhile.

“She has to win both Ohio and Texas comfortably, or she’s out,” said one Democratic superdelegate who has endorsed Mrs. Clinton, and who spoke on condition of anonymity to share a candid assessment. “The campaign is starting to come to terms with that.” Campaign advisers, also speaking privately in order to speak plainly, confirmed this view.

But the very next paragraph topped even that one:

Several Clinton superdelegates, whose votes could help decide the nomination, also said Monday that they were wavering in the face of Mr. Obama’s momentum after victories in Washington, Nebraska, Louisiana and Maine last weekend. Some of them said that they, like the hundreds of uncommitted superdelegates still at stake, may ultimately “go with the flow,” in the words of one, and support the candidate who appears to show the most strength in the primaries to come.

You see, I’m really concerned with the role super delegates may play in picking the Democratic nominee. I think the concept is really undemocratic (they were created to keep control of the party within its highest echelons) and worry that if Obama gets more delegates than Hillary but super delegates give her the nomination, new voters who are so excited about taking part in the process will become discouraged and give up and not vote in November.

Please, take a second to check this list to see if your representative or senator is pledged to Hillary and if so, ask him/her/them to commit to switching their vote to Obama. Demand that they do so if Obama wins the majority of votes or pledged delegates in your district/state (super delegates can change their vote at any time). It’s only right and fair for them to follow the will of the people. right?