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The Obies! My favorite awards of the year…
The Village Voice has announced this year’s off-Broadway awards… the Obies … for the past year. And here they are:Best New American Play, which is accompanied by a $1,000 prize.
A complete list of awards is given below:
Lifetime Achievement:
- Caridad Svich—a playwright, translator, and teacher
Best New American Play (with $1,000 prize):
- Amy Herzog, 4000 Miles (Lincoln Center Theater)
Performance:
- Cherise Boothe, Milk Like Sugar (Playwrights Horizons and the Women’s Project)
- Steven Boyer, Hand to God (Ensemble Studio Theatre/Youngblood)
Sweet and Sad Ensemble:
- Jon DeVries, Shuler Hensley, Maryann Plunkett, Laila Robins, Jay O. Sanders, J. Smith-Cameron (The Public Theater)
- Gabriel Ebert and Mary Louise Wilson, 4000 Miles (Lincoln Center Theater)
- Jim Fletcher, Sustained Excellence
- Santino Fontana, Sons of the Prophet (The Roundabout Theatre)
- Linda Lavin, The Lyons (The Vineyard Theatre)
- Susan Pourfar, Tribes (Barrow Street Theatre)
Playwriting:
- Kirsten Greenidge, Milk Like Sugar (Playwrights Horizons and the Women’s Project)
Direction:
- Richard Maxwell, Early Plays (The Wooster Group and St. Ann’s Warehouse)
- Jay Scheib, World of Wires (The Kitchen)
Design:
- Mark Barton, Sustained Excellence of Lighting Design
- Mimi Lien, Sustained Excellence of Set Design
- Matt Tierney and Ben Williams, sound design
- The Select (The Sun Also Rises) (New York Theatre Workshop)
Special Citations:
- Mark Bennett, Denis O’Hare, Lisa Peterson, and Stephen Spinella, An Iliad (New York Theatre Workshop), Elevator Repair Service
Sustained Excellence:
- Erin Courtney and Ken Rus Schmoll, A Map of Virtue (13P)
- Steven Hoggett, Martin Lowe, and John Tiffany, Once (New York Theatre Workshop)
- Daniel Kitson, It’s Always Right
The Obies were judged by a committee of seven: Brian Parks, Obie Awards Chairman and Arts & Culture editor of The Village Voice; Michael Feingold, chief theater critic for the Voice, two-time Pulitzer finalist, dramaturg, and Obie Chairman Emeritus; Alexis Soloski, a Voice theater critic as well as contributor to The New York Times, the U.K. Guardian, and BBC Radio, plus theater professor at Columbia University; Annie Baker, Best New American Play Obie winner in 2010 for her plays Circle Mirror Transformation and The Aliens; Anne Kauffman, accomplished director, instructor, and 2007 Obie winner for her direction of The Thugs; José Rivera, two-time Obie Award winner for his plays Marisol and References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot; and Helen Shaw, a theater critic for Time Out New York and a past Obie judge. Her writing has also appeared in The Village Voice.
Related articles
- ’4000 Miles’ And Its Lead Actors Win Obie Awards (artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com)
Revealing Quote for the Day – It’s all in the eyes…
“In this media-saturated era, the line between politics and performance has virtually vanished, and the public is having a hard time believing Mr. Romney’s persona (as in dramatis personae).“
Listen to his laugh. It resembles the flat “Ha! Ha! Ha!” that appears in comic-strip dialogue balloons. But worse – far worse – it is mirthless. Mr. Romney expects us to be amused, although he himself is not amused. Freeze the frame, cover the
bottom of his face with your hand, and study his eyes.
There’s no pleasure there, no amusement. Genuine laughter is triggered only by, and is completely dependent on, shared perception. That’s why we say we “get” a joke.
James Lipton, Inside The Actor’s Studio
I didn’t realize Mr. Lipton had a political view… but as an expert on theatrical presence, his views on Mitt’s speaking performance. I appreciate his view.
Related articles
- Acting Advice For Romney (andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com)
- How to Act Human: Advice for Mitt Romney From Inside the Actors Studio (nymag.com)
- Pointless quote of the day, 05.18.12 (theblaze.com)
Here’s your chance to get a world famous artwork… got $80,000,000?
Sotheby’s is honoured to announce that Edvard Munch’s masterpiece The Scream will lead its Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale in New York on 2 May 2012. The iconic work is one of the most instantly recognizable images in both art history and popular culture, perhaps second only to the Mona Lisa.
The present version of The Scream dates from 1895, and is one of four versions of the composition, and the only version still in private hands. It will be on view in London for the first time ever, with the exhibition at Sotheby’s opening on 13 April. In New York, and also for the first time ever, it will be on exhibition at Sotheby’s in advance of the sale beginning 27 April. The work is owned by Norwegian businessman Petter Olsen, whose father Thomas was a friend, neighbour and patron of Munch.
The estimate of value is $80 Million bucks for this pastel version of Munch’s famous piece. The question is, will this remain in private hands or be purchased by a major museum, making it accessible to the public?
Of the four versions of the work, the present Scream is distinguished in several remarkable ways: it is the most colorful and vibrant of the four; the only version whose original frame was hand-painted by the artist to include his poem detailing the work’s inspiration; and the only version in which one of the two figures in the background turns to look outward onto the cityscape. This version has never before been on public view in either the UK or US, except briefly in the National Gallery in Washington D.C. decades ago.
I just checked my bank account and I can’t afford to bid on it. Can you?
Seymour Chwast hits it right on the head (with both faces)
Chwast is such a great illustrator. When I saw this I felt that it summed up women’s issues and Romney in a simple image:
Chwast, of course, is one of the great names in advertising and a founder of Pushpin Studios with Milton Glaser.
How to make public education worthless…
I guess new York City public school students will be the best motivators for home schooling in the future. Why? Read on…
This post was put up by Jonathan Turley, one of the legal bloggers I have the most respect for:
The New York City Department of Education has barred the use of “Dinosaur” on tests to avoid upsetting people who believe creationism.
—
Educations in New York decided that, with such things as Halloween and dancing, the reference to dinosaurs “could evoke unpleasant emotions in the students.” Also banned is the word “evolution.” It is basically designing a test for Sarah Palin to pass.
“Birthday” is also out because Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t celebrate birthdays.
Well, there’s a list of a couple of dozen more words which should not be included in the students’ education… words like “slavery”, “terrorism”, and “Religion.”
In commenting on the DOE, The New York Post came out with this:
Officials said there isn’t an absolute ban on the items, in that they do get included on some exams on a case-by-case basis.
“The intent is to avoid giving offense or disadvantage any test takers by privileging prior knowledge,” said Robert Pondiscio, a spokesman for the Core Knowledge Foundation, an education group.
“But the irony is they’re eliminating some subjects, like junk food, holidays and popular music, that the broadest number of kids are likely to know quite a lot about.”
The Restaurants folks eat in as an economic indicator…
The New York Times has pointed out that…
…when Americans feel better about their finances, they are more likely to eat at restaurants with full service, including bringing the food to the table, rather than at restaurants with limited service. At the moment, both the restaurant sales and the falling unemployment rate indicate the economy is doing better than the Gross Domestic Product figures would seem to show.
Here are the stats:
So where have you been eating lately? I’ve been going over our cc receipts for the last month or so and discovered that my wife and I fit right in with this recovery crowd… we don’t eat at fast food joints at all and our sit-down restaurant visits have been predominant.
Where have you been eating?
Davy Jones has died…
Davy was still performing this past week.
David Thomas “Davy” Jones (30 December 1945 — 29 February 2012) the English rock singer-songwriter and actor best known as a member of The Monkees, died today in Florida of a heart attack at age 66.
I remember first seeing Davy my senior year in prep school when I went to New York and saw him as the Artful Dodger in Lionel Bart‘s “Oliver.” I had seen him in the role on Ed Sullivan and was really thrilled to see him in person.
You can go to the following link to see the performance on Sullivan, singing “I’d Do Anything” with Georgia Brown and the cast of “Oliver”, 1964: http://youtu.be/P-fLLuQgIss
WASN’T THAT GREAT?
I’d also like to steer you to his audition for The Monkees back in ’66. It starts at around 6:07 on the video (but the other Monkees auditions are worth watching as well.)
Extreme violence as art…
Apparently there was some kind of football game on TV last night, blocking out what we regularly watch, so Elly and I watched a movie instead.
Christopher Walken
Since we replaced Dish with Comcast six months ago, we have access to their xfinity channel which is loaded with movies and catch-up shows that you missed during the week (wow… allows us to keep up with our favorite comedy, Big Bang Theory). Running over the free movies we discovered King Of New York on the IFC Channel which we had never seen before.
This was a 1990 film with Christopher Walken, David Caruso, Wesley Snipes and
Larence Fishburne
Lawrence Fishburne, which IMDB said would be a “stylish and ultra violent modern twist on Robin Hood.” When they said violent, they were not kidding.
This was the bloodiest, most violent movie I have ever seen…and all the main characters (and most of the stringers) were dead by the end of the film, having been shredded by machine guns or blown up in their cars, etc.
The problem was, we couldn’t keep our eyes off of it. This was a remarkably well-made film (Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 71%, which is not bad – 10% above the average rating). Part of their description:
The gritty underbelly of New York’s complex, ethnically divided criminal world is exposed in this dark drama from director Abel Ferrara. Christopher Walken stars as Frank White, a drug lord who’s just been released from a long stint in prison. Aware that feeding off of society’s depravity has made him a wealthy man, Frank has become determined to give something back to the city, and he hatches a scheme to build a multimillion-dollar public hospital in one of Brooklyn’s worst ghettos …
So it’s a kill all the drug competition and give the millions you make selling illegal drugs to the poor. The New York locations brought my 7 years there back to mind (a particularly nasty sequence on the Flushing Line, which I used to ride home on, made me feel like I was there.)
If you can take extremely bloody conflict, endless bad language, sexual and drug manipulation and not a good guy in sight, police or criminal, take a look at this one. But don’t say you haven’t been warned.
Utterly surprised…
…to get a call from an old theatre friend from Northwestern… Dan Einbender, who hails from upstate New York. A brief bio:
Dan Einbender
DAN EINBENDER has spent much of the last 32 years working with folk-music legend Pete Seeger’s Clearwater organization, whose efforts have helped to restore the Hudson River, while also creating a new generation of environmental leaders. Einbender was also the Grammy Award–winning producer of Seeger’s 2010 album Tomorrow’s Children. Einbender lives in Wurtsboro, N.Y. His work takes him all over the world, primarily to Hellebaek, Denmark.
Danny was in my first Systems Theatre group at Northwestern in the 60s and was one of my favorite performers then. I really admire his work with children over the years, and you can learn more about him at Kid Friendly Music.
Not having spoken with Danny for over 40 years, this was great having him call into the Occupy Movement discussion on WSHC this morning. 
Hope I hear from him again as I sit trapped and retired in West Virginia‘s Eastern Panhandle.
Related articles
- Pete Seeger marched to Columubus Circle with Occupy Wall Street last night (peacesmiths.wordpress.com)
- Pete Seeger, 92, Ignites Occupy Wall Street Movement (ibtimes.com)
October 15th, 2011, members of 99% arrested at Citibank, NYC while trying to close their accounts
This seems to pinpoint the true nature of the 1%… meanwhile, Elly and I are looking at non-profit credit unions for our banking future. Should we be afraid?
Take a look at this:
Close Your Bank Account and Get Arrested!
Related articles
- soupsoup: enjen: FOOTAGE. Woman arrested at Citibank 555… (shortformblog.tumblr.com)
- #OccupyWallStreet – A panic move? 17 Citibank customers arrested for closing accounts (nextlevelofnews.com)
- NYPD Arrests 24 for Attempting to Close Their Citibank Accounts; BoA Threatens Customers Attempting to Close Theirs (slog.thestranger.com)
- Woman arrested while trying to close her Citibank account (dangerousminds.net)
- Bite Me, Citibank! (angrydd.wordpress.com)
- 24 arrested at Citibank, closing their bank accounts for #OccupyWallSt protest (boingboing.net)
- You: Thousands Join NYC Protest Against Corporate Greed – ABC News (news.google.com)
Occupy Wall Street is GROWING!
From Talking Points Memo:
Wednesday could be the biggest day of protesting yet. Some of the nation’s biggest unions plan to join in at 4:30PM in downtown Manhattan, including the United Federation of Teachers, 32BJ SEIU, 1199 SEIU, Workers United and Transport Workers, PSC-CUNY United NY, the Strong Economy for All Coalition, the Working Families Party, Vocal-NY, New York Communities for Change, Community Voices Heard and Alliance for Quality. One Facebook pageshows almost 3,000 people who say they’ll attend.
Progressive groups like Moveon.org are also planning to join with the unions on Wednesday, saying in an e-mail blast that “together, we’ll add hundreds of thousands of voices of solidarity from the American Dream Movement for the protests across the country and show just how widespread outrage at the Wall Street banks really is.”
And one union group is showing their support in another way: The Transport Workers Union, Local 100, asked for an injunction on Monday to stop the NYPD from forcing bus drivers to transport protesters arrested during the demonstrations, though a judge denied their request.
So what do the candidates think of all this?
“I think it’s dangerous, this class warfare.” – Mitt Romney
“I don’t have facts to back this up, but I happen to believe that these demonstrations are planned and orchestrated to distract from the failed policies of the Obama administration. Don’t blame Wall Street, don’t blame the big banks, if you don’t have a job and you’re not rich, blame yourself! [...] It is not someone’s fault if they succeeded, it is someone’s fault if they failed.” – Herman Cain
Related articles
- Unions to Join Occupy Wall Street Protests (slog.thestranger.com)
- Next Wednesday Is Going To Be A Huge Day For The Wall Street Protests As Some Seriously Heavy Hitters Come To Town (businessinsider.com)
- Pols, Unions Start to Pay Attention to Occupy Wall Street (timesunion.com)
- If You Thought Last Week’s Occupy Wall Street Protests Were Crazy, Get Ready… (businessinsider.com)
- Occupy Wall Street growing rapidly (dailykos.com)
- Ties between Occupy Wall Street and unions are growing (dailykos.com)
- Occupy Wall Street movement is growing rapidly (dangerousminds.net)
- Occupy Wall Street Protests Gain Labor and Progressive Support (colonel6.com)
Cartoon(s) of the Week – Can’t we just agree on SOMETHING?
Jeff Danziger, New York Times Syndicate:
To quote the Tea Party Folks: “Let Them Die!”
- and -
Ben Sargent, Austin American-Statesman:
If you can’t love it, kill it.
- and -
Tom Toles, The Washington Post:
Will a new nation be born? Doubtful.
- and -
Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution;
of course, not everyone NEEDS to vote…
- and -
Ted Rall, L. A. Times:
It’s a good thing candidates believe in something.
Ban Fracking on 9/13 — Spread the Word!
Contaminated Water from Pennsylvania Fracking
Mark your calendar: Call the White House at (888) 498-2945 tomorrow and tell the President to Ban Fracking!
Don’t think that what has happened in Pennsylvania and new York State can’t happen in West Virginia!
Help build the momentum by spreading the word for the National Call-in Day to Ban Fracking — Tuesday, Sept. 13th! (THAT’S TOMORROW!)
Related articles
- Blood Tribe Members Set Up Anti-fracking Blockade (indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com)
- Fracking: A Tale Of Two States (themoderatevoice.com)
- Part of New York State’s Fracking Regulations Already Trails Industry Practice (treehugger.com)
- Environmental Groups Seek Fracking Rule (businesslawdaily.wordpress.com)
- Ball: ‘Over my dead body’ will fracking create Penn-type problems (timesunion.com)
What I remember on 9/11
Ten years ago, I lived in Marlborough, CT, a small town just south of Hartford, with a population made up mostly of commuters. Most of us worked in Hartford or other nearby towns (I was then working for Computer Sciences Corporation in East Hartford), but some went longer distances.
Marlborough is the kind of town where everyone meets everyone else over coffee on Sunday Mornings at the local bakery, or at the local grocery after work, or at town hall for our frequent, New England style, town meetings… or at our children’s sports events at the grade school basketball court or on our local baseball diamond.
Jim Hobin was one of the people you spoke with at these events.
Jim was one of the mainstays of the Marlborough Youth Athletic League which ran our local Baseball and Basketball programs for kids. In 2001 he was my son Buddy’s Basketball Coach. The previous year he had coached his baseball team.
Nobody worked better with kids than Jim Hobin… and he was always there fore the MYAL… he loved Baseball especially and you’d frequently find him mowing the grass at our small ball field, or chalking the base lines, or painting the benches. He loved keeping that field ready for the teams.
He was particular known for training the kids and playing EVERY child for an equal amount of time… something that always amazed us, because his teams usually won.
While much of his work was done traveling all over the country for Marsh and McLennen, once or twice a month he had to go the 150 miles or so to New York to the company offices in the World Trade Center. September 11th was one of those days. Jim always left early in the morning to make it to the office on time… it was not like him to be late for anything.
When the first plane hit the WTC, I was at my East Hartford desk at CSC listening to the news on a local radio station as I worked on my computer. At first it was reported as a small plane accident, then the second plane struck and the whole event was devastatingly clear. My partner came over to my desk to listen to the report… then like all the employees in my division we gathered in the lunchroom and watched the buildings collapse over and over on television.
No work was done that day… we all went home to be with our families.
When I got there my wife told me that Jim Hobin had been at the WTC that morning and no one was able to get hold of him. His wife, Sheila, was especially upset at the lack of contact.
In fact, Jim was one of those whose body was never found or identified.
So, on 9/11, like most people who lived in Marlborough, I don’t think about terrorists, or war, or world politics… I think of Jim Hobin and what he meant to our children and to all of us.
10 years later, nothing has changed.
Related articles
- Remembering 9.11.01 (dahliadd.wordpress.com)
- my 9.11 (benlog.com)
- Firefighters pay tribute to 9/11 fallen (nydailynews.com)
- 9/11 Anniversary: Names Of 9/11 Attack Victims Echo Across WTC Site (huffingtonpost.com)
- World Trade Center Facts that Cannot be Ignored (papundits.wordpress.com)
- Nation honors 9/11 heroes, victims (nydailynews.com)
Earthquake.
It centered in Mineral, VA, somewhere north of Roanoke, and was felt all over the Northeast as far as Canada, in the
West to Chicago, and down south as well. New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC and Baltimore closed their airports until things could be straightened out.
And I didn’t feel it!
When it hit I was driving up the long, bumpy dirt road to the Folly which always has the feeling that the earth is moving when you bump along on it. But when I pulled into the Folly, Bradley and Carol had just come out of their house which had been shaking for a few seconds and Ben Snyder, who was working at the shops, felt it as he put together Carnival stuff.
The news says it was a 5.9 on the Richter scale (other reports say 5.8) and they are expecting smaller aftershocks over the next few weeks, perhaps at a 4.8 on the scale.
We are apparently over something called the Virginia Fault. It is about 4.5 miles down and is in the midst of the shale deposits that run up through the Appalachians, so any quake reverberates up and down the geographic mass.
The last time we had a quake of this magnitude here was in the 1890′s… and we had a much smaller one in 2010.
Life, however, goes on… and this was much more fun than covering Republicans.
Related articles
- Celebrities tweet about East Coast earthquake (popwatch.ew.com)
- What to do after an earthquake? (pennlive.com)
- Twitter explodes as 5.9 magnitude earthquake hits Virginia, Washington D.C., NYC (digitaltrends.com)
- [News]: Earthquake Rocks East Coast (buzz103.radio.com)
- DC quake turns off two nuclear reactors (rt.com)
- Earthquake hits Eastern Seaboard; tweets spread faster than tremors (zdnet.com)
The State of Fracking May Be Changing…
In an update to our covering the fracking (hydraulic fracturing) production of natural gas from the Marcellus Shale, there are things happening and statements being made worldwide against the practice… even from the industry itself (however, these are for capital reasons and not for the environmental dangers that most of us are concerned with.)
If you want to review how fracking works, the National Geographic has a very good animated illustration HERE (although it does not adequately address the polluting of the water table – indeed, it more or less shows the industry point of view.)
France, as a nation, has now completely banned Fracking because of the pollution of water supplies by chemicals used in the process such as Benzine (a carcinogen), Toluene (a central nervous system depressant) and Xylene (a neurotoxin.) French Environment Minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet said before the French National Assembly vote:
“We are at the end of a legislative marathon that stirred emotion from lawmakers and the public. Hydraulic fracturing will be illegal and parliament would have to vote for a new law to allow research using the technique.”
Beverly Perdue, Governor of North Carolina
In this country, the New Jersey State Senate voted to ban the practice, which contaminates drinking waterand North Carolina’s Governor Bev Perdue vetoed a state senate bill that would have allowed fracking in the state. Here in West Virginia, which is on part of the Marcellus Shale, the energy industry has so far retained its hold. The New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo is poised to lift the ban on fracking, however he state issued new guidelines for fracking that will prohibit the practice in state parks and in the New York City and Syracuse watersheds.
New York State Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton, an opponent of fracking, in a statement on Cuomo’s position, said:
“If hydrofracking is not safe in the New York City watershed it’s not safe in any watershed. There’s a tacit admission on the part of the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) that it is not safe and yet it is being allowed.”
Related articles
- NY Times Article Prompts Hasty Press Statement by DEC and Riles Anti-Fracking Community (unitedforaction.org)
- Stop the pipeline, Stop Fracking (saneenergyproject.org)
- Reason.tv: The Truth About Fracking (reason.com)
- Fracking Still on Hold in New York Pending Environmental Review (propublica.org)
- Buffalo to Natural Gas Industry: Frack You (indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com)
- Protesters Rally on New York State Capitol Steps Against Hydraulic Fracturing (indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com)
- France Bans Fracking; New York Set to Un-Ban It (newser.com)
- Major Fracking Accident in Pennsylvania… (underthelobsterscope.wordpress.com)
- France Becomes First Country To Ban Fracking; Gas Drilling Still A Go (desmogblog.com)
- Fracking brings risk Ohioans should avoid (sdobbie46.wordpress.com)
- Energy Secretary Appoints Fracking Study Panel (treehugger.com)
- New Jersey Senate Passes Fracking Ban (desmogblog.com)
- Shale gas ‘fracking’ halted in UK amid earthquake fears (thestar.com)
Celebrating New York State’s Legalizing Gay Marriage…
I was going to right something about the overwhelming vote in the New York State Legislature which has legalized Gay Marriage… but then I heard Jonathan Mann‘s Song-A-Day for today, and that about sums it up:
Nuff Said.
Related articles
- Gay Marriage Finally Legal In NYC! (since1910.com)
- ‘Gay Marriage,’ Libertarians, and Civil Rights (nationalreview.com)
- What’s Next For The Gay Marriage Movement? [Rites And Rights] (jezebel.com)
- New York makes gay marriage legal. Excelsior! (blogs.discovermagazine.com)
- NY becomes 6th US state to legalize gay marriage (morningtology.wordpress.com)
- New Yorkers Take to the Streets to Celebrate Gay Marriage Vote [Photos] (gawker.com)
- Gay Marriage is Now Legal in New York State (shoppingblog.com)
Here’s a Fracking update – June 13th Protest in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, NY
Let’s add this one to our list:
Meanwhile, our own legislators in West Virginia are PROMOTING Fracking… and handing out the corporate claims of safety.
Related articles
- Sandra Steingraber speaks on Fracking… (underthelobsterscope.wordpress.com)
- Let’s help stop Fracking, especially in WV… (underthelobsterscope.wordpress.com)
- Actors join campaign against fracking (independent.co.uk)
- The Case for a Ban on Gas Fracking: Food and Water Watch Report (desmogblog.com)
- Tom Ridge Claimed “I’m Not a Lobbyist” on Colbert Report, But The Facts Prove Otherwise (desmogblog.com)
- A.g. Schneiderman to Sue Federal Government Today for Failure to Study “Fracking” (lennyesq.wordpress.com)
- Marcia G. Yerman: Fracking in New York State — Is the Train Out of the Station? (huffingtonpost.com)
What’s your opinion… are congressional legislators ethical?
According to a poll reported on by The Hill:
58 percent of voters think most members of Congress are “unethical,” while only 25 percent consider the majority to be principled. Seventeen percent are unsure.
Furthermore, those polled didn’t seem to trust one party over another… and 68% believe that 
ethical standards have declined among politicians in recent decades while only 7% thought they had improved.
The poll was taken three days after Weiner announced his responsibility for sending suggestive photographs of himself to women he didn’t know.
69% of those polled said they somewhat or strongly disapproved of the job Congress is doing, 25% said they somewhat approved and just 3% said they strongly approved. 33% said men
in office are less ethical than women.
The figures are based on a national survey of 1,000 likely voters conducted by Pulse Opinion Research.
Related articles
- Is Congress Getting More Unethical? (politicalwire.com)
- Poll: Weiner constituents say stay (politico.com)
- Everybody Hates Congress (outsidethebeltway.com)
- Pols misread polls, spin wrong message from Weiner (proseandthorn.wordpress.com)
Quote of the Day – Stock Politician Statement #7
“Congressman Weiner departed this morning to seek professional treatment to focus on becoming a better husband and healthier person. In light of that, he will request a short leave of absence from the House of Representatives so that he can get evaluated and map out a course of treatment to make himself well.”
Weiner spokeswoman, Risa Heller
What clinic treats Twitter stupidity?
Related articles
- Anthony Weiner Requests Leave of Absence to Seek Treatment (blippitt.com)
- Weiner to seek professional treatment, requests temporary leave of absence from the House (shortformblog.tumblr.com)
- Breaking: Rep. Weiner Asks For ‘Leave of Absence’ (inquisitr.com)
- Anthony Weiner Takes Leave of Absence from Congress, Seeks Professional Help (thehollywoodgossip.com)
- Weiner says he’ll get help, take leave from Congress (ctv.ca)
- Weiner Heads To Rehab As Pelosi, Party Leaders Call On Him To Resign (annem040359.wordpress.com)
The Tonys are tomorrow night and I’m curious…
… about which of the songs in “The Book of Mormon“ are safe enough to present as the sample 
from the best nominated Musicals. Mormon is up for 14 Tonys, and although it probably won’t win them all, as the Drama Desk Awards showed last week, it is sure to take SOMETHING home.
I’ve been playing the album over and over on my iPhone and I think the piece that stands the best chance is the opening number “Hello,” yet that doesn’t show the experience in Uganda which makes up the body of the work. The songs in Uganda pose the biggest problems for television which cannot easily take “fuck you, God” or any and all the messages about the clitoris, or even the closing scene, which is a variation on “Hello” also full of the F word.
I must sat, I love the score and the story, however. I wish I was in New York so I could go see it (where apparently, it is frequently sold out.) It’s going to be a long time, if ever, before this gets to the Community Theatre market.
Related articles
- Bargain Alert! The Book Of Mormon (MP3 Album) by the Broadway cast for $1.99! (randomizeme.wordpress.com)
- ‘Book of Mormon’ star Andrew Rannells talks Tonys – EXCLUSIVE VIDEO (popwatch.ew.com)
- The Book of Mormon: South Park takes the missionary position (theglobeandmail.com)
- Stage Door: Ghost Musical, War Horse, Sandra Bernhard, Tony Predix (thefilmexperience.net)
- ArtsBeat: Just How Much Is a Tony Worth? (artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com)
- 11 Musical Highlights From The 2011 Tony Award Nominees (fresh1027.radio.com)
- 11 Musical Highlights From The 2011 Tony Award Nominees (wlte.radio.com)
And a funny quote for the evening, care of All Hat, No Cattle:
Re: The Anthony Weiner situation:
”I see only two options here: Either Anthony Weiner has too many photos of his junk to keep track of, or ‘Certitiude’ is his nickname for his penis.”
(btw… I don’t think it was Weiner who sent this photo to the student. I’d set my sights on Breitbart.)
A statement to remember from NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg:
Mayor Bloomberg and his niece, Rachel Tiven
Speaking in support of gay marriage, Mayor Bloomberg uttered a 4 word phrase that I think should be spread on T-shirts and tattoos everywhere:
“Near-equality is no equality.”
Speaking at The Cooper Union, Bloomberg added:
“We are the freest city in the freest country in the world — but freedom is not frozen in time… I see the pain that the status quo is causing, and I cannot defend it”
Bloomberg was presented to the audience by his niece, Rachel Tiven, who is gay.
Related articles
- FULL VIDEO: NYC Mayor Bloomberg’s Marriage Equality Speech (towleroad.com)
- NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg Delivers Speech Supporting Same-Sex Marriage (bilerico.com)
- Mayor Bloomberg Gives Marriage-Equality Speech at Cooper Union (nymag.com)
- New York Mayor Makes Good Case For Marriage Law For Gays (therainbowpost.com)
- Mayor Michael Bloomberg Revealing ‘Taxi Of Tomorrow’ (newyork.cbslocal.com)
- Bloomberg To Make Case For Gay Marriage Law (newyork.cbslocal.com)
Did you get this message from Nancy Pelosi last night?
I did. here it is:
Nancy Pelosi
Victories like this are what happen when we fight together to protect our core Democratic values.
Congresswoman-elect Hochul’s victory in a staunchly-Republican district has shocked the political world and sent an unmistakable sign that the American people will not stand for the Republicans’ reckless and extreme agenda to end Medicare.
This is our third straight special election victory in New York — and it is truly one for the ages. All of the Republicans’ right-wing outside groups with their secret money and dishonest attacks were no match for the combined strength of grassroots Democrats.
Thank you again for fighting to protect and defend Medicare and bringing us one step closer to regaining our Democratic House Majority.
Nancy Pelosi
Democratic Leader
Hopefully, this is the start of taking back the House from the crazies.
Related articles
- NY-26: Kathy Hochul victory thread (dailykos.com)
- Democrats win upset New York victory (politics.ie)
- What NY-26 Means for 2012 (politicalwire.com)
- Referendum on Medicare? Dem Wins Special Election in GOP-Leaning NY-26 (abcnews.go.com)
- Nancy Pelosi squeezes Paul Ryan on Medicare (thehill.com)
- Pelosi effective foil for GOP? (politico.com)
- New York Special Election: Medicare Will Be Issue Of 2012 (huffingtonpost.com)
- Democrat Kathy Hochul wins upstate NY race – Reuters (news.google.com)
- New York’s Extra Special Election: A GOP Wake-Up Call? (swampland.time.com)
