April 2009
*Finally* a non-alarmist, fact-based site for information on the Swine Flu →
doihaveswineflu.org
Check it out and chill the F-out.
“
We will miss [investment banking/hedge funds] in the sense that as a consequence of 25-year-olds getting million-dollar bonuses, they were willing to pay $100 for a steak dinner and that waiter was getting the kinds of tips that would make a college professor envious. And so some of the dynamic of the financial sector will have some trickle-down effects, particularly in a place like Manhattan.
But I actually think that there was always an unsustainable feel about what had happened on Wall Street over the last 10, 15 years, and it’s not that different from the unsustainable nature of what was happening during the dot-com boom, where people in Silicon Valley could make enormous sums of money, even though what they were peddling never really had any signs it would ever make a profit.
That doesn’t mean, though, that Silicon Valley is still not a huge, critical, important part of our economy, and Wall Street will remain a big, important part of our economy, just as it was in the ’70s and the ’80s. It just won’t be half of our economy. And that means that more talent, more resources will be going to other sectors of the economy. And I actually think that’s healthy. We don’t want every single college grad with mathematical aptitude to become a derivatives trader. We want some of them to go into engineering, and we want some of them to be going into computer design.
” —Pres. Barack Obama (via meredithnyc)Distributing a Press Release Announcing Your Newest Follower?
I have a confession: I work in PR. I know, I know, you all now hate me. Oh hush, I’m a good PR person. Really! Just ask my mom!
Here’s a really great example of why I’m a good PR Person: I don’t send out pointless press releases. Like, lets say, the one Silicon Alley Insider posted this morning:
Ashton Kutcher following @WillShake
Will’s tweets on celebs and current events draw interest from @aplusk
NEW YORK, April 30, 2009. Ashton Kutcher is following @WillShake, a persona for William Shakespeare created last week in honor of The Bard’s birthday by www.BettyConfidential.com, the fastest growing women’s Web site. Though Kutcher has more than 1.4 million followers on Twitter, he currently follows only about 137, including @WillShake.
“We’re thrilled to have one of the most famous tweeters follow this fun persona we created,” said Myrna Blyth, editor–in–chief, www.BettyConfidential.com. “Our Shakespeare has lot to say about today’s celebrities and society, and we’ve gotten a great reaction from people who want to hear it.”
Some recent tweets, penned by BettyConfidential’s in–house tweeter, Carrie Seim, include:
Want tat. “I Luv Anne Hathaway” Cuz wife won’t know which Anne Hathaway I mean. Damn it feels good to be a wordsmith. 11:15 AM Apr 27th from web
@Madonna — A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse? Not so much. LOL. LOL. 1:21 PM Apr 27th from web
Got after it w/ some wanton maidens this weekend. Thrice. Time to change the sheets. Out, out, damn spot. 1:25 PM Apr 26th from web
2 International Households of Pancakes, both alike in dignity. In which shall I eat my birthday shortstack? 8:21 PM Apr 23rd from web
For a complete list of tweets follow @WillShake on Twitter.
Follow BettyConfidential.com @BettyBuzz.
ATTENTION: www.BettyConfidential.com MUST be CREDITED and LINKED to when using this piece.
Um, yeah. A press release. Because Ashton Kutcher is following you (To be fair, I almost sent out a statement when @LizLemmon started to follow me. But I fought that urge successfully). Come on, BerryConfidential PR rep, you’re just making all of us look bad.
Oh! and because BettyConfidential MUST be Credited and LINKED to when using this piece, here you go.
Open Letter to the Swine Flu →
couldihavebeen.wordpress.com
Coworker Derek has a few words for the Swine Flu.
A Clue: They aren’t nice words.
I didnt catch up on this week's Gossip Girl until last night
So I might be a day late. Luckily, Gossip Girl is never a dollar short (unless you live in Brooklyn):
• Chuck: “Blair, I see you are wearing your beret. Who are you spying on tonight?” If only one day we could say that line. Plus 2.
• Chuck: “Murray Hill? Even your mother is too hip for this zip code.” Plus 1, because it’s true.
…
• Also, why does Poppy have to jump into Gabriel’s arms and wrap her legs around him every time she sees him? No one does that. Not even Lily and Rooster in Annie did that, and that was a musical. Minus 2.
• Serena: “I’ve done the two-girlfriend thing; I can’t do it again.” Minus 3 because, aw, bless. Yes you have. Yes you can. And yes you will.
• Blair: “Oh Nate, what are you doing here? I thought there was a Mets game. I saw Dorota wearing her hat.” We would give positive points for this, but to be fair, Nate would be a Yankees fan. The Mets are for poor, normal New Yorkers like us, who have no natural instinct for always winning. Minus 4.
(via)
“Olympia Snowe is behind the times as far as I’m concerned (and still light years ahead of most in her party – go figure). When I watched the 1992 Republican convention on TV I realized that they had excluded millions of people like me; that was the first year ever that I voted for a Democrat. I give her credit for shouting it out in the Times — Gingrich and Fox News will be all over her by the end of the day. Too bad, she might be their last chance at survival.”
—My Mom on the Olympia Snowe OpEd
Olympia Snowe on the death of the Republican Party
It is true that being a Republican moderate sometimes feels like being a cast member of “Survivor” — you are presented with multiple challenges, and you often get the distinct feeling that you’re no longer welcome in the tribe. But it is truly a dangerous signal that a Republican senator of nearly three decades no longer felt able to remain in the party.
Senator Specter indicated that his decision was based on the political situation in Pennsylvania, where he faced a tough primary battle. In my view, the political environment that has made it inhospitable for a moderate Republican in Pennsylvania is a microcosm of a deeper, more pervasive problem that places our party in jeopardy nationwide.
I have said that, without question, we cannot prevail as a party without conservatives. But it is equally certain we cannot prevail in the future without moderates.
In that same vein, I am reminded of a briefing by a prominent Republican pollster after the 2004 election. He was asked what voter groups Republicans might be able to win over. He responded: women in general, married women with children, Hispanics, the middle class in general, and independents.
How well have we done as a party with these groups? Unfortunately, the answer is obvious from the results of the last two elections. We should be reaching out to these segments of our population — not de facto ceding them to the opposing party.
There is no plausible scenario under which Republicans can grow into a majority while shrinking our ideological confines and continuing to retract into a regional party. Ideological purity is not the ticket back to the promised land of governing majorities — indeed, it was when we began to emphasize social issues to the detriment of some of our basic tenets as a party that we encountered an electoral backlash.
Sen Olympia Snowe Responds to Specter's Departure
Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, one of the few remaining moderate Republicans in the Senate, said Tuesday that Arlen Specter’s abandonment of the GOP is “devastating,” both “personally and I think for the party.”
“I’ve always been deeply concerned about the views of the Republican Party nationally in terms of their exclusionary policies and views towards moderate Republicans,” said Snowe, who has been approached, she said, by Democrats in the past about switching parties.
Specter’s switch to the Democratic Party “underscores the blunt reality” that the GOP is not a welcome place for moderates, she said.
So far, she said, she’s staying put. “I believe in the traditional tenets of the Republican Party: strong national defense, fiscal responsibility, individual opportunity. I haven’t abandoned those principles that have been the essence of the Republican Party. I think the Republican Party has abandoned those principles.
She added that being a Republican is simply part of who she is. “It’s my ethnic heritage, Spartan side, that continues to fight,” she said.
Quotes from Huff Post. Emphasis from moi.
Maine panel endorses gay marriages
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - A same-sex marriage bill is going to the Maine Senate and House with a strong committee endorsement.
Eleven of the 14 Judiciary Committee members voted Tuesday to pass the bill, while two voted against it and one proposed sending it to voters in a November referendum. Gov. John Baldacci remains undecided.
Supporters said the bill corrects an inequality that’s long existed in Maine law, while one of the opponents pointed to overwhelming constituent opposition to the bill.
Republican Sen. David Hastings of Fryeburg said he prefers sending a straightforward question to voters.
The committee session was interrupted by an outburst by a protester, who shouted that the bill is morally wrong. She was escorted by police from the State House.
(via)
Way to go, Maine!
A 14-member committee of nine Democrats, four Republicans and one representative of the Penobscot Nation met in the state of Maine today to take an important step towards ensuring every person can marry the person they love.
11 of those people voted for that resolution, two against and one to pass with (a very stupid) amendment.
Very proud of my home state today, especially my hometown Representative, Cynthia A. Dill. Lets hope the General Assembly passes this bill with equally strong numbers!
Dear Pandora,
What about my musical taste would lead you to the conclusion that I like Lifehouse?!?
Also, ENOUGH WITH THE LATINO MUSIC. I may have a name that would lead you to believe otherwise, but not my bag. Seriously.
Pandora has been letting me down all over the place lately. Anyone have reccomendations for a better music player?
Question
How are a small lobstering island off the coast of Maine and a brothel in Nevada connected?
Answer: Oprah
Mark Regnerus wants you to get married
… like, 5 years ago
Marriage will be there for men when they’re ready. And most do get there. Eventually. But according to social psychologists Roy Baumeister and Kathleen Vohs, women’s “market value” declines steadily as they age, while men’s tends to rise in step with their growing resources (that is, money and maturation). Countless studies — and endless anecdotes — reinforce their conclusion. Meanwhile, women’s fertility is more or less fixed, yet they largely suppress it during their 20s — their most fertile years — only to have to beg, pray, borrow and pay to reclaim it in their 30s and 40s.
…
Most young women are mature enough to handle marriage. According to data from the government’s National Survey of Family Growth, women who marry at 18 have a better shot at making a marriage work than men who marry at 21. There is wisdom in having an age gap between spouses. For women, age is (unfortunately) a debit, decreasing fertility. For men, age can be a credit, increasing their access to resources and improving their maturity, thus making them more attractive to women. We may all dislike this scenario, but we can’t will it away.
…
So while many young Americans mark their days in the usual ways — by hitting the clubs, incessantly checking Facebook, Twittering their latest love interest and obsessing about their poor job prospects or how to get into graduate school — my applause goes out to those among them who’ve figured out that the proverb was right. One of those is Jennifer, a 23-year-old former student of mine. She’s getting married this fall. It wasn’t religion that made her do it. It wasn’t fear of being alone. It was simply affection. She met Jake while still in college and decided that there was no point in barhopping through her 20s. Her friends balked. She stood firm. Now they’re bridesmaids.
(via)
