Matt Taibbi: "The entire economy was a fake"

The latest Rolling Stone piece from Matt Taibbi, our Tiresias of Wall Street, was horrifying enough for Halloween (as Susie Madrak points out),  with its latest details of how it all came down. It also gave the best summary I’ve seen of the whole Dantean reality created by it all. Back when I was writingContinue reading “Matt Taibbi: "The entire economy was a fake"”

for more Mount Airy news….

go here, from now on. As the book’s publication year approaches, I need to give more energy here to its concerns. But I did want to let you all know how the move came out! I’ve mentioned, methinks, that I’ve  had a longstanding not-so-secret crush on the City of Brotherly Love (and sisterly affection) forContinue reading “for more Mount Airy news….”

For D-Day anniversary: the voice of one who knows (Updated 6/9)

I first met Knox Martin two years ago. For one of my first Chelsea Now stories, I wrote about his “Venus” mural on 19th Street and the West Side Highway, since obscured by Jean Nouvel’s 100 Eleventh Avenue condominium complex. When I learned Martin, still fighting for his new anti-war mural “Killing the Whales,” wasContinue reading “For D-Day anniversary: the voice of one who knows (Updated 6/9)”

A salute to another Bronx girl- gettin on the SCOTUS!

Last night, President Obama called all three of the women we last mentioned as potential Supreme Court Justices and told them he had chosen the very first on our list, 55-year-old New York judge Sonia Sotomayor — despite a whisper campaign that had already questioned her intelligence and called her a “fiery Latina” instead ofContinue reading “A salute to another Bronx girl- gettin on the SCOTUS!”

not the way I wanted into the Times

Because people keep asking:  yes, that’s me.  I’d volunteered to talk to Joyce Wadler mostly hoping for some free publicity to Women’s Voices for Change.org, not realizing that my  little joke about the commercial made me quotable enough to be the lede of the story. For the record: she mistook my monthly net pay fromContinue reading “not the way I wanted into the Times”

don't know much bout eco-nomics

My bankruptcy lawyer, among others, is quite aware of my financial illiteracy (something I’m not proud of). Which has likely made it amusing, for the five to ten regular readers of this blog, as I worried about having to get an MBA in order to understand NYC’s then-peaking real estate market. I wanted to simultaneouslyContinue reading “don't know much bout eco-nomics”

don't know much bout eco-nomics

My bankruptcy lawyer, among others, is quite aware of my financial illiteracy (something I’m not proud of). Which has likely made it amusing, for the five to ten regular readers of this blog, as I worried about having to get an MBA in order to understand NYC’s then-peaking real estate market. I wanted to simultaneouslyContinue reading “don't know much bout eco-nomics”

hearting Keith Olbermann one more time

Before it gets too old:  Paul Schindler at Gay City News (one of the hardest-working and most brilliant journos I know) sends this report from the weekend’s Human Rights Campaign dinner, where Keith Olbermann (above) schooled the lawmakers in the room: In an evening when the governor of New Jersey made his most forceful statementContinue reading “hearting Keith Olbermann one more time”

three quick taps again

More completely disparate bits, on the same principle as the last. First —  Forget NYPIRG, President Obama was that same rare species as I – a 1980’s college peacenik! Luckily, the snarky press only recently hold of this earnest student article in a Columbia U magazine, whose eager framing of its subjects reminds me ofContinue reading “three quick taps again”

where were you on December 9, 1980?

A few of us, in Binghamton, New York , stood in a circle and sang this song the day after Lennon died. We were already stunned by an electoral victory like last month’s, but in the reverse direction. We felt that we had just begun the worst of times. Last night,  Elizabeth reports at myContinue reading “where were you on December 9, 1980?”