Pee-yoo

I have been part of some of the worst television shows ever produced. The debut of 20/20, for example. Or just about all of America's Talking.

But The Marriage Ref, aired tonight in truncated form right after the Olympics Closing Ceremony, takes the cake, wins the blue ribbon, is awarded the gold trophy.

The Marriage Ref, the brainchild of Executive Producer Jerry Seinfeld (actually I read somewhere it was his wife's original idea) is the worst show I've ever seen.

The idea is that a panel of three celebrities -- tonight it was Kelly Ripa, Alec Baldwin and Seinfeld -- are exposed to couples each of whom is in a funny predicament. The celebrities get to show where their sentiments lie, then host Tom Papa talks to the couple live, and tells them which one he thinks is in the wrong. He's the Marriage Ref

There were endless cutaways of Seinfeld, Ripa and Baldwin laughing uproariously (and falsely).

The predicaments tonight were caused by a hubby who had stuffed his beloved dog, and another who wanted to buy his wife a stripper pole. Thus, Marriage Ref stayed in the reality show tradition of making fun of ordinary people.

Not funny. Not Entertaining. Bad. Bad. Bad.

(Madonna will be a future guest. She'll save it all right.)

First Physical

Facts and figures about President Barack Obama's health, from a physical examination Sunday at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. Figures are compared with information from a January 2007 physical exam, which were released in May 2008 when Obama, then an Illinois senator, was running for president in 2008. Obama is 48; he was born Aug. 4, 1961. ------ Height: 6-foot-1 Weight: 179.9 pounds, including shoes and workout attire. Blood pressure: resting, seated 105/62 (previously 90/60). Below 120/80 is considered healthy. Heart Rate: resting and seated, 56 beats per minute. A rate of 60-80 bpm is normal, but heart rates are generally lower in physically fit people. Body Mass Index: 23.7. Under 25 is considered healthy. Cholesterol: High-density lipoprotein 62 (previously 68); low-density lipoprotein 138 (previously 96); total cholesterol 209 (previously 173). HDL of 60 and above is considered protective against heart disease. Under 100 LDL is considered optimal. Total cholesterol under 200 is considered desirable. Overall health: "The president is in excellent health and 'fit for duty.' All clinical data indicate that he will remain so for the duration of his presidency."-- from summary of exam. ------ Since his last reported physical in 2007, Obama's cholesterol has increased from the desirable 173 to the borderline high 209. Although the president's HDL (good) cholesterol is in the recommended range of 62, his LDL (bad) is in the borderline high range at 138. His doctor recommended dietary changes to bring this type of cholesterol down to below 130. Obama's blood pressure has also increased, from 90/60 to 105/62, although it is still in the healthy range. The president's doctor recommended that he continue his efforts to quit smoking. The post-exam report indicated that Obama uses a self-administered "nicotine replacement therapy" as part of this goal. He has said in the past that he chewed Nicorette gum. His doctor said Obama should change his exercise habits to strengthen his legs and prevent occasional pain from chronic tendinitis in his left leg. Obama should have his next physical when he turns 50 in August 2011, according to the doctor. By The Associated Press | February 28, 2010 ------ Figures for normal levels are from the American Heart Association Web site: http://www.americanheart.org

They're all so vain.

This is like a spy movie what with playing records backwards, but maybe now you know. But then, maybe you don't, according to this HuffTale.


Stolberg and Pear do a good job explaining the recalcitance Pelosi faces in trying to get the necessary votes despite anti-abortion and fiscal conservatives.



Tumulty repeats O.'s conclusion: We have honest disagreements about — about the vision for the country, and we'll go ahead and test those out over the next several months till November." It's a big and risky bet, and the Democrats are going all-in.

It looks like The Times won't rest until they get David Paterson to quit. It's not enough that he not run, the paper wants him out.



Once again, the earth cracks, and we all feel more vulnerable.

The R Word

"It could harm the future of our country and our institution."

That's Senator John McCain at yesterday's Blair House meeting, talking about reconciliation, which the Republicans suggest they will go to any length to stop.

Harry Reid spoke up for reconciliation, and even though Old Harry isn't the glibbest dude in the room, he is the Majority leader, and a majority is what they need.

O. says he'll chart a way forward sometime next week. Pelosi seems ready to play her part. She was swayed by O.'s 11-page summary, and now promises to get the Senate bill passed in the House.

Then it will be up to O. to figure out how to make a pitch for the "majority," without mentioning "reconciliation."

The Blair House Project

And the music went 'round and 'round. And it was pretty boring, except for a set-to between O. and Johnny-Mac.

Otherwise, it was pretty polite. The Dems kept emphasizing how much agreement there was, the GOP kept saying that it was time to start all over, piece by piece. Pelosi said there wasn't time to start over.

Finally, O. summarized common positions on insurance market reforms, but said the Republicans had to do some "soul-searching" on differences that may be impossible to bridge.

It's all clearly moving toward "reconciliation," which the Republicans will fight as procedurally inappropriate. Beyond that, O. suggested, it's the will of the people, as expressed at the ballot box.

The Rahm Bill

I think it would be funny if the participants in the so-called Health Care Reform Summit would get snowed in.

The Journal say O. has a fallback plan.

The alternate approach would provide health insurance to perhaps 15 million Americans, about half what the comprehensive bill would cover, according to a person familiar with both plans.

It would do that by requiring insurance companies to allow people up to 26 years old to stay on their parents' health plans, and by modestly expanding two federal-state health programs, Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, this person said. The cost to the federal government would be about one-fourth the price tag for the broader effort, which the White House has said would cost about $950 billion over 10 years.


The WSJ indicates this is Rahm Emanuel's idea. Figures.

I think I join many Americans in just wishing thi debate would be over.

Olympia Snowe ain't even going. And she's used to snow. She IS snowe. Her own party didn't want her there.

Listen to Anthon Weiner of the Bronx:



The key is reconciliation.

I'll be watching. Not the Mets, not the Knicks, not the Jets, but sport of a kind.

Oh, BTW, RIP the Hummer.

OK Corral?

In The Times Leonhardtoffers a "guide to the big lingering questions," the first of which is whether the summit is "just for sho.w Affirmative. The Timesman suggests O.'s big failure has been his hands-off approach. with which I don't agree at all. Had he been hands-on, not one Republican would have been swayed, and the whole deal would have been dropped long ago. As things stand now, a not-all-that-bad compromise law may become reality. Algo es algo dijo el calvo, as they say in Mexico.


The Post points out that the GOP is not prepared -- doesn't want to -- match the Dems' comprehensive plan with one of their own. They want a "modest" market-based plan. But it will be easy to demonize the Republicans as abandoning reform, and don't forget that despite the Right's PR, the public still wants reform, if they can be convinced it's not going to cost them a bundle.

At some point, the discussion has to be about Health, and not just insurance and cost.

Again in the Times, Sheryl Gay Stolberg looks at the President's management style, derived from his days as a community organizer. This is the most criticized aspect of O.'s leadership. It has some on the left calling him a "loser." Wrong again. Stolberg says, "Mr. Obama has not been the sort to bludgeon his party into folllowing his lead or to intimidate reluctant legislators." Once more, let me point out, they are not "reluctant," they are completely adamant. No amount of bludgeoning is going to change that. The Times quotes upstate Congresswoman Louise Slaughter in support of the contention that O.'s not tough enough. Ms. Slaugher is one of the most progressive members of Congress.
O.

After the summit, expect a lot of minute examination of reconciliation.

_____________________________________________________________________________-

Just as Toyota admits the fixes may not do the trick, they're offering sweethear deals. When will Detroit see the light?

Toyota dealers are moving 2010 Corollas with a 0% interest, five-year-loan offer. New Camrys are on sale for as little as $179 a month. The Lexus luxury division is promoting discounted lease offers as well, which vary by region and dealer. Toyota is also offering deals to people who want to buy a new car. Depending on where you live, for example, you could get $1,000 off the price of a Camry, or 0% to 1.9% financing deals.

Maybe Bipartisanship Can Work (a little)

On the op-ed page of today's NYT, a group of Republicans get to say how they would fix the health care system.

Their ideas are not all bad.

Newt Gingrich points out how much medical care is unnecessary. He says the number is $600 billion a year. I'd say that number could be low.

That problem is not going to be solved by tort reform or "death panels".

The Republicans have to listen to the Democrats on going after the insurance companies and the Dems have to re-focus on not only medical malpractice but also medical practice,

I love that Scott Brown broke ranks with the GOP on the modest jobs bill.

Toyota Cover Up

Toyota must now face Congress in the face of a revelation that Yoshi Inaba, the company's top North American exec, bragged in a memo thta he had described a floor mat recall as an "equipment" defect rather than a "vehicle" defect, thereby saving $100 million dollars.

A month after Inaba's boast, a family of four was killed in a Lexus accident caused by the faulty "equipment." By the way, Toyota has cleverly disguised the involvement of its Lexus brand in the recent recalls.

Toyota also bragged about the fact that they had "avoided investigation on Tacoma rust."

To see a list of recalled Toyota models, see their site. There are 12 of them.

Toyota TV ads are already more effective than American car commercials. They remind me of the 1982 Tylenol recall. Tylenol, by the way, issued a massive recall last month because of a sickening smell. This time Tylenol handled it poorly.

I'll be very interested to see how Mr. Toyoda handles himself Wednesday

The Apology

“As Elin pointed out to me, my real apology to her will not come in the form of words. It will come from my behavior over time.”
________________

I didn't buy the Buddhist part, though I'll give him the benefit of the doubt about the future. His mother stood by him, but I suspect he's his father's son all the way.

It was way too controlled. The attack on the media was unnecessary: his wife doesn't need that kind of castigating protection now, and he didn't convince me that she never needed it from him.

I was glad he said he'd go go right back into rehab, rather than out on the tour, but even he knows he has to give it more time. And make no mistake: this was a business event, with Tim Finchem, the Tour commissioner, appearing on all the evening news programs, expressing his optimism.

There is no doubt that this was a hard thing for Tiger Woods to do, a humiliating thing.

But he also has a lot to answer for. And speaking of answers, today he offered none. Privacy is not an adequate defense coming from such a public figure. I admired the Golf Writers Association for staying away from this tightly controlled event.

He read every word from his typed statement which, as John Feinstein pointed out amounted to a televised news release.

Tiger will try to stay in control of his return to the links, and I doubt his wife is in for a happy time. I hope I'm wrong.

Keep It Weird

There are at least two meanings to "aggressive". One implies bellicosity, the other is no-holds-barred, let-it-all-hang-out, go-for-broke enthusiasm. The latter has been on exciting, often breathtaking display on the mountain slopes and ice rinks of Vancouver during the Olympic Games

The other, the bare knuckled brazen display of power, has been flashed by Toyota, which still hasn't recalled b rake-plagued Corollas, even after saying it will fix them in the future.

Akio Toyoda has reluctantly agree to testify before Congress and, though he'll be penitential, he'll still be selling cars.

Toyota has issued 8.5 million recalls. Now if I am buying a car, I ain't buyin' no Toyota. Or Honda for that matter. Or any other Japanese car. Or any other Asian car.

Toyota says it will lose sales of 80,000 vehicles, which seems very low. But they are moving aggressively to give out cash bonuses and expended warranties.

By the way, Toyota recalled 8000 4-wheel Tacoma trucks over the weekend.

Experts say Toyota will get back on top soon enough, however, riding on their past reputation.

Toyota's TV ads are already aiming for the jugular, whereas American brands are out there with poorly written ad copy like that provided to "Mike Brown," Ford's slick fictional spokesman with the baseball cap. ("I better stop talking, or you'll think I'm bragging.") Empty slogans: The Ford edge has "class-defining style." No. Sell safety. OK, it's nice that the Fusion is Motor Trend Car of the Year, but what does that say about its safety. "SYNC is the coolest thing I've ever had in a car." Say what?

Another view of the world:

I just felt like I didn't come all the way to Vancouver not to pull out the big guns," ... "i put down the tricks I've worked so hard on. It was the savvy thing to do. Saucy. Keep it weird."

When Sean White goes crazily twisting through the air above the half-pipe he's showing what will and spirit can do, and what's been sadly lacking in the national character during these last money grubbing years.

And he's savvy too.

You didn't ask for it, but you got it.

I can't believe that Toyota is back to selling cars in television ads, just as it considers recalling Corolla -- which sold 1.3 million worldwide last year -- for steering issues.

Is Apple Rotten at the Core?

Here's an interesting item.

I can't vouch for its accuracy, but half a million people have clicked it -- enough to indicate there may be considerable anti-Jobs sentiment out there.

Wasting Time/Pioneer Passes

Somebody tell me why I watch the Knicks? Why endure a decimating performance by Derrick Rose? Why should the Knicks trade for T-Mac? Why should they trade Nate to the Celtics?

No answers.




Frank Magid, the consultant who standardized local TV news, died on Friday at 78.

Magid introduced "Action" into the news, which really meant tabloid stories -- crime, entertainment, celebrity profiles, personal finance. He also helped ABC News develop GMA, which has now kind of melded its image with Today. He relied heavily on surveys. A long time ago, he introduced the anchor team, replacing the solo anchor (which survives on the National Evening News.)

His payoff was ratings.

Pairs

Since Dick Cheney and Joe Biden didn't play in the NBA All-Star game (which was quite entertaining) -- and there were 108,713 spectators -- or in the men's luge -- or any other Olympics competition, still being covered by NBC Sports on TV in a nationalistic fashion, although they loved the Chinese pair (a competition NBC related to Valentine's Day ad nauseam), and their website is fair and balanced. And I really hate Bob Costas, although his interview with Hannah Kearney was utterly charming.

Beyond the Dick and Joe name calling, the news is that the U.S. may go along with military tribunals, which means the Joe side is conceding to their enemies on the Dick side, even if Biden calls Cheney a liar.

The Times catches up with the Eric Holder story balancing Jane Mayer's New Yorker article last week. Both are favorable to Holder, but the Times gets a little deeper into the politics and the decision on the 9/11 trial.

From what Vice President Biden said today, I think there is now no doubt but that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be tried in a military court, which invites appeal to the Supreme Court.

Nice trick if you can do it

In response to a question I had never asked.




http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8508796.stm


Do speedy elephants walk or run?
By Rebecca Morelle
Science reporter, BBC News

With their awkward, lumbering gait, elephants moving at high speed are not the most graceful of animals - but are they walking or running?

Now scientists believe they have an answer: new research confirms that they do both - at the same time.

By observing elephants moving across a hi-tech track, the team found the hefty creatures run with their front legs but walk with their back legs.

The research is published in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

Earlier research had suggested that elephants perform a strange, part-walk/part-run while travelling at speed.

But a team from Belgium, Italy and Thailand was able to investigate this further by using a specially built track that was able to precisely measure the forces exerted with each weighty elephant step.

Professor Norman Heglund, an author of the paper from the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, told BBC News: "We had to build the plates - you just can't go down to your local hardware shop and pick up an elephant-sized force plate."

Armed with these, the researchers headed to the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre to study the big beasts, which ranged from an 870kg baby to a four tonne adult.

Energetic exchanges

The Asian elephants were encouraged to move across the track, at speed, by their keepers - or mahouts - who rode on their backs (in the conservation centre, the elephants, which were rescued from the forest industry, are paired with their mahouts for life).

The fastest elephant reached 18km per hour (11mph).

They were also filmed using high-speed cameras.

By comparing the measurements from the sensitive force-measuring platform with each frame of the footage, the scientists were able to look at every tiny movement that the elephants were making.

This enabled them to calculate the amounts of potential energy (stored energy) and kinetic energy (the energy that is associated movement), that the creatures were using.

Measuring the relationship between potential and kinetic energy is the key to defining whether something is walking or running.

For example, when walking, as an animal raises its foot from the ground and moves it forwards, it is converting the stored energy in its muscles and tendons - the potential energy - into kinetic energy.

As its foot lands, the kinetic energy converts back into potential energy, and then back into kinetic energy as the foot is once again raised, and so on. All the time the creature is walking, the energy is transferred back and forth between potential and kinetic energy.

But while running, the potential energy and kinetic energy fluctuates simultaneously.

Professor Heglund explains: "The running gait, in most animals, is a bouncing mechanism.

"In this case, the potential and kinetic energy are in phase, they both hit a maximum at the same time and a minimum at the same time, so they cannot be transferred back and forth."

However, the researchers found that fast-moving elephants seem to both run and walk at the same time.

Professor Heglund said: "When an elephant goes at higher and higher speeds, the kinetic and potential energy shift and start to become more in phase.

"But when we looked in detail, we see that the animal appears to be running - bouncing - with the front legs, and walking with the back legs.

"It is as if he is getting up to a transition speed where he wants to transition from a walk to a run, but he cant quite do it. It's like he can't quite get up into second gear."

As well as confirming high-speed movements, the team also used the pressure plates to find out that elephants were also extremely economical with their movements, especially compared with smaller animals.

The scientists now plan to look at other large animals, such as hippos and rhinos, to find out if they run or walk.

This latest study confirms the findings of other research, published in the journal Nature and the Journal of Experimental Biology, that have previously shown that elephants perform a run-walk hybrid.

However, there are some differences - while this latest paper suggests the front legs run and the back legs walk, the other studies suggested the opposite.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/8508796.stm

Published: 2010/02/12 05:06:05 GMT

© BBC MMX

Going for BC Gold, Indoors

Nodar Kumaritashvili in a training run before his fatal crash

In his long piece at the beginning of NBC Sports coverage, Brian Williams showed the luge crash four times in slo-mo, but only in the shorter piece on Nightly News did we see it in real time, which was much more horrific. The question of whether the slide was too fast has been dealt with, but not by any means definitively.

These Olympics were already beginning under a cloud of indifference, now under the pall of tragedy.

The set-up piece, complete with melodramatic, over-written narration and faux-majestic music with choral crescendo. Dreadful. And no mention of the tragedy.

They're telling me the opening ceremony will be more "intimate" than Beijing. We'll see what that means.

Of course, NBC launches into a series of interviews with US athletes, looking awkward sitting in stadium seats with no competition voiceover.

Lindsey Vonn's jacket is festooned with logos: Sprint, Audi, Snyder Thinsulate, Red Bull on her cap. She's on Twitter and Facebook. She was interviewed at a fireplace and did speak about the tragedy. She sounded unsure about her leg, but grateful for the delays.

Dan Patrick asked the ice dance favorites whether they got on each other's nerves traveling together. I guess he learned that style on Sports Center.

This crazy AT&T ad showed snowboarders in outer space.

A matter of fact interview with matter of fact tennis commentator Mary Cirello on carrying the torch; a nice quiet Al Michaels interview with Apollo Ohno.

The countdown wasn't intimate. The orchestral video was just like the NBC setup. , A solitary boarder descends the mountain as an announcer recites the past winter Olympic venues until the boarder enters the hall and announces "Vancouver" himself.

The Governo General of Canada Michaelle Jean, a great beauty, is a native of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

A lovely 16 year-old on a very high dais sang the Canadian anthem, "O, Canada," intimately and in a red dress and sexy red shoes, in front of a phalanx of Royal Canadian Mounties.

I won't even mention the Indians, the aboriginals, and the phallic symbols. Maybe that's what they meant by intimate. One thing for sure, the US would never honor its original nations, 'cause we either killed them or put them on reservations. Canada's history is also checkered, but tonight's ceremony didn't get into that.

Without fail, Bob Costas uses the opening and closing ceremonies to prove he is the undisputed king of vapid commentary. Matt Lauer just read his notes and did matt Lauer-bland.

We're so used to these ceremonies, learning about the guy who formed the first Ethiopian ski team by himself and the Finn who set a world record for sitting in a 230 degree sauna. It's just the way they are: pageants.

Costas said Georgia would be more of a focus than it ordinarily would be. He really said that, in those words.

Where would these kids be without digital cameras?

Nelly Furtado's off-the-shoulder dress would be bad enough without her platform stilettos.

I loved Sarah Maclachlan, although "Ordinary Miracle' was hardly an original contribution.

The grand sound and light show with constellations and thousands of pounds of snow and virtual trees was very impressive but made me long for real snow. A fiddler in a cartoon-like-virtual canoe gave way to dancer on a bed of "light-leaves. Hokey.

Here was inserted a Toyota commercial.

The strain of this production to make up for the fact that it was taking place indoors when the Games take place either outdoors. The tattooed dancer was unbearable, though the crowd seemed to love him.

"Who has seen the wind?" was a tribute to the prairie with a flying boy on very visible wires to strains of Canadian Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now."

The Canadian Rockies came alive with the help of thousands of flashlights. Snowboraders on wires, again due to the lack of real snow.

Some guy with what looked like a fake beard gave a somewhat hyperbolic soliloquy on the meaning of Canada, as the commercials started to multiply, maaking NBC some money, which they'll need after this fiasco.

But the very smartly outfitted governor-general did a great job opening the games as did Canadian K.D. Lang rendering Canadian Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. In fact, she nearly redeemed the evening. Until the Audi and Home Depot commercials, that is.

I liked Bobby Orr and Anne Murray carrying the flag, both looking great.

The diva who sang the Olympic Hymn was on the highest stage I've ever seen. She did it justice, too. (Costas: "And that's a hymn for ya.")

The final moment of silence for the Georgian luger put the evening in chilling perspective.

The cauldron lighting didn't work right, leaving Wayne Gretzky (and Steve Nash) twiddling their thumbs for a bit.

That was it.

Bottom Line : No Snow.




I never

D-Lee Gets His Invite

I'm so glad for David Lee! And happy the Knicks have someone in the All Star Game. Alan Iverson won't be missed

Shaq calls D-Lee "the human Double-Double," which is accurate, and now that he can hit the 15-foot jumper almost automatically, he's a real all-around threat. We won't talk about his defense. Why spoil the party?

It looks like Danilo Gallinari (sophomore game and 3-point competition) and Nate Robinson(Dunk) are still planning to be in Dallas this weekend despite injuries.

Happy Not

Braved the elements to catch an English play newly arrived in NYC called Happy Now? I didn't like it.

At the Gaggle

Bipartisanship depends on a willingness among both Democrats and Republicans to put aside matters of party for the good of the country. I won't hesitate to embrace a good idea from my friends in the minority party, but I also won't hesitate to condemn what I consider to be obstinacy that's rooted not in substantive disagreements, but in political expedience.


You know who that is. That's O. Still trying, in the face of Republican obstinacy.

Senate Dems today prepared to unveil an $85 billion jobs bill tat would include payroll tax breaks for employers who create new jobs, aid to small businesses and other GOP favored ideas.

Remember, though, the Senate health care bill contains Republican ideas, but now the minority party says that bill must be scrapped. Obstinacy, in fact, is too mild a word for legislators who give every indication they will never budge.

The challenge for O. now is to turn obstructionism into a political liability. Since polls show a universal public backing of bipartisanship this rope-a-dope strategy might work. Or not.

Here's the kind of language I love, from Mitch McConnell to Harry Reid:
"The sooner we could get the parameters of the final package the better." What a jerk.

Apparently, in today's meeting, O. told Boehner, "You just want to kill all of these bills."

That's when the Prez comandeered the press room to say that while he would compromise, what he will not consider "is doing nothing in the face of a lot of hardship across the country."

As the republicans continue to block appointments, the WH is threatening to make recess aappointments next week.

And no matter what Boehner says about not showing up, his guys could well get out flanked at the Feb. 25 summit, for which O. will surely be very well-prepared. If he can reduce it to Facts vs. Cant, then maybe, just maybe, there can be some movement.

Tough Talk

If you listened to Lady Sarah from Miami the other night, you know she kicked off her speech with incendiary remarks about the judicial process as applied to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. I was surprised until I realized that the rabble rouser had her political priorities exactly right, even if this talking point was not written on her hand.

The key point in Jane Mayer's superb piece in the New Yorker is: "There is no evidence suggesting that military commissions would be tougher on suspected terrorists than criminal courts would."


Mostly, Mayer's piece is a carefully researched profile of Eric Holder and the case of Khalid Sheik Mohammed. The most shocking part of her story is the role of Rahm Emanuel in backing military tribunals for purely political reasons. I wonder what else Mr.Emanuel has to answer for besides his support of torture.

The end of mayer's article is moving:

"Late last month, at home, in Northwest Washington, Holder addressed those who have suggested that he and Obama are too weak to take on terrorism. 'This macho bravado—that’s the kind of thing that leads you into wars that should not be fought, that history is not kind to,' he said. 'The quest for justice, despite what your contemporaries might think, that’s toughness. The ability to subject yourself to the kind of criticism I’m getting now, for something I think is right? That’s tough.' He paused, and added, 'This is something that can get a rise out of me, the notion that somehow Eric Holder and Barack Obama, this Administration, is not tough. We have the welfare of the American people in our minds all the time. We’ll fight our enemies, and we’ll do that which is necessary, and we won’t turn our backs on the values and traditions that have made this country great. That is what is tough.'



Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/02/15/100215fa_fact_mayer?printable=true#ixzz0f0OOwcKs

Team of Destiny

Tracy Porter

Four and a half years after George W. Bush and the Army Corps of Engineers let down the City of New Orleans, the Saints gave a resounding answer to the question, "Who Dat?' by conquering the mighty Peyton Manning - himself the scion of New Orleans's first family of football. His dad, Archie Manning quarterbacked the Saints for more than a decade in the Seventies. Now it's the other team's quarterback, Drew Brees, who led the Saints to their first ever championship and kicked off a celebration on Bourbon Street nine days before Mardi Gras.


As the Saints owner Tom Benson said, "New Orleans is back!"

Mrs. Palin Goes to Nashville

She says the Movement doesn't need leaders, that it's a grassroots movement. "This is about the People." Also bigger than "a charismatic guy with a teleprompter" (which she eschews in favor of paper.

She's a radical on foreign policy, attacking at some length the administration's handling of the underwear guy. "To win that war (on terrorism), we need a commander in chief, not a professor of law," referencing the fact that the bomber was read his rights.

But when it came to attacking the stimulus and the deficit, she sounded like any other republican, except she's a very effective rabblerouser.

When the moderator asked her how "President Palin" sounded, the crowd chanted "Run,
Sarah, Run," but she dodged it. She did, however, add that the Republican Party would be smart to absorb the Tea Party Movement.

I get the impression she's using that Movement unto her own ends.

What's in the bag?

Mark Skoda

The Tea Party now has visions of being a real party, with bags of money as well as campaign infrastructure and sustained energy, They intend to start a PAC, led by Mark Skoda from Memphis, that will target 15 or so races to contest with Tea Candidates.

Some atendees at the Nashville convention are more passionate, less organized. One senior member said, "The indoctrination of kids for 35 years or longer, this has led us to the election of this president. It is why we're here."

It's clear that these people really hate Obama.

The keynote speaker, onetime Presidential candidate Tom Tancredo, said, "People who could not even spell the word 'vote' or say it in English put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House. And dinnertime speaker Joseph Farah called on the president to "show us the birth certificate." Obsessive madness.

I think the Tea party Movement will flame out, but there'll be a lot of tea left in the pot, and a lot of their crazy ideas will filter into the Republican mainstream. Bitter leaves.

Name the Source

Who said this: "You don't have to be straight in the military, you just have to be able to shoot straight."

Answer: the late Sen. Barry Goldwater.

The president says he isn't going to give an inch in taking on the forces of the status quo. Believe him.

He also says he's going to slow down on health care reform as he focuses on jobs.

Great pic of Michelle Obama on cover of Le Monde magazine.


New senator Scott Brown says the stimulus hasn't created a single job. He's off by a couple of million.

Tricky Dick

It was in the fifties and my Dad would take me into the City to go to a Knicks game at the old Garden on 50th Street and 8th Avenue.

The Knicks wore little short pants and shot set shots. The jump shot had been discovered but it would be several years before players like Bill Sharman perfected it. Meanwhile, my favorite player, the Knicks' guard, #4, Carl Braun released his shot with his two hands holding the ball up at his forehead. #11 Harry "the Horse" Gallatin was a rock-like presence under the boards, even though he was only 6-6. And then, weaving and dribbling and directing, and making amazing passes was Dick McGuire, #15.

"Tricky Dick was a homegrown product from Rockaway, Queens, along with his brother, Al,who also played for the Knicks and who coached Marquette to the NCAA championship in 1977.

The only backcourt player who could compare to McGuire was Bob Cousy of the Celtics, who seemed to have 360 degrees of peripheral vision. Cousy was total magic.

The Celtics are the only other original team besides the Knickerbockers still in their original cities. The other teams were the Minneapolis Lakers, The Philadelphia Warriors, the Fort Wayne Pistons, the Indianapolis Olympians, the Rochster Royals and the Baltimore Bullets. Think of how the league has changed, and the country has changed.

Going to those games with my dad, as well as Globetrotter games, and then in baseball season, to Ebbets Field to watch Jackie Robinson, Gil Hodges, Roy Campanella, PeeWee Reese and the Duke, these were in many ways the happiest days of my life.

Dick McGuire never made a lot of money, but neither did he resent the LeBrons of this world. After all, he said of his long career, "it beats working."

Parties, Tea and Otherwise

In her defense of her decision to speak at the Nashville Tea Party convention, she devotes one brief half-line to the question of whether she's getting paid. Let's see if she sells any books while she's there.

The Daily Kos insanity poll, reproduced by Politico:

I've always liked Harold Ford, but The menace backs Kirsten Gillibrand. Both pro-business, it's nix on the carpetbagger/insider.

Groundhog Day

Let's root for spring!!!

My man, Jose Reyes, video on sny.tv: "I ready."

http://web.sny.tv/media/video.jsp?content_id=7151849&topic_id=6479520