Saturday, December 31, 2011

thanks to a good old friend, i found this song tonight. so perfect. xoxo



"We're just fumbling through the grey
Trying find a heart that's not walking away"
we connect with things when we are supposed to, no matter the circumstance.



…and at once I knew I was not magnificent
strayed above the highway aisle
(jagged valance, thick with ice)
I could see for miles, miles, miles

Thursday, December 29, 2011

New Year's Resolution Lists

More lists...because that is what seems to happen at the end of the year, beginning of the new year...people make lists. I always make lists, I love them.

Woody Guthrie's 1942 New Year's resolutions.

Johnny Cash's list.

#2 is a fav and makes me smile. #8 is also a winner - though mine might be listed as "do not worry" :-) What I love of course is the Notes section: "Not Write Notes."

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

NPR's Best Music of 2011

I love lists. I especially love lists of music (and books). I most certainly love lists that include links. Here is the list of songs, which undoubtedly includes many favorites of the year. But this little ditty is one that gets the honor of the post today...



and of course, this post would be incomplete if I did not include a favorite lyric, so here you go:

Sold, I'm Ever
Open ears and open eyes
Wake up to your starboard bride
Who goes in and then stays inside
Oh the demons come, they can subside

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Monday, December 19, 2011

Fork with Two Tines Pushed Together

by Nick Lantz

It's fast and cool as running water, the way we forget
the names of friends with whom we talked and talked
the long drives up and down the coast.

I say I love and I love and I love. However, the window
will not close. However, the hawk searches
for its nest after a storm. However, the discarded
nail longs to hide its nakedness inside the tire.

Somewhere in Cleveland or Tempe, a pillow
still smells like M_____'s hair.
In a bus station, a child is staring
at L____'s rabbit tattoo. I've bartered everything
to keep from doing my soul's paperwork.
Here is a partial list of artifacts:
mirror, belt, half-finished 1040 form (married, filing jointly), mateless walkie-talkie, two blonde eyelashes, set of acrylic paints with all the red and yellow used up, buck knife, dog collar, camping tent (sleeps two), slivers of cut-up credit cards, ashtray in the shape of a naked woman, pen with teeth marks, bottom half of two-piece bathing suit, pill bottles containing unfinished courses of antibiotics, bank statements with the account number blacked out, maps of London, maps of Dubuque, sweatshirts with the mascots of colleges I didn't attend, flash cards for Spanish verbs (querer, perder, olvidar), Canadian pocket change, fork with two tines pushed together.

Forgetfulness means to be full
of forgetting, like a glass

overflowing with cool water, though I'd always
thought of it as the empty pocket

where the hand finds
nothing: no keys, no ticket, no change.

One night, riding the train home from the city,
will I see a familiar face across from me? How many times
will I ask Is it you? before I realize
it's my own reflection in the window?

Friday, December 16, 2011

Porgy and Bess

I love my friends and I love spending evenings with them doing fun NYC things. Tonight I went to the dress rehearsal for Porgy and Bess. Since it was a dress rehearsal, at the beginning of the show, the director came out to say a few words, including to bear with the performance as the entire set had not yet arrived and the possible need to stop during the performance. I was ready, and so excited to see this production and to hear the legendary songs “Summertime,” “It Ain’t Necessarily So,” and “I Got Plenty of Nothing.”

Let me tell you, the cast nailed it. The show was spectacular. There were no stops and I could not have asked for a better performance. But I will tell you the best part, the curtain call. Seeing the cast gleam with accomplishment was so amazing. Their joy was palpable.

I highly recommend seeing this incredible performance and amazing cast including Audra McDonald and Norm Lewis.

Then it was off to Kevin's favorite and NYC theater stalwart restaurant: Sardi's with great company and good food.

All in all, a great way to spend a Friday night.

before

Tuesday, December 13, 2011



"Please consider keeping the wild part of you wild. It's certainly not at all crucial for you to civilize it." ~Rob Brezsny

Done.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Kenya

I did it.
I'm going: 2.24 - 3.9.


Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Human Rights are LGBT Right; LGBT Rights are Human Rights


Today, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton gave one of the most amazing speeches of her career. Above is the video, and here is the text of the speech. Listening to/reading this speech is so worth your time. It is poignant, honest, and inspiring.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

we was having a party







Here's to friends for buying me the only "snuggie" like contraption I'd ever use...thanks for the Napsack. I can't wait to go camping but the truth is, is now there is no excuse for rooftop beers - year-round!!! And it wouldn't be a party if I didn't try it out in the bar!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Showering and Plastic

This post is long overdue - about 4 months overdue. Oops. A good long while ago, maybe 4 months ago I decided that I would no longer buy soap, shampoo, conditioner and other bathing goods that come in plastic bottles. Mostly it was because I realized that it was an area where I could reduce waste.

It has been fairly easy. A good friend made me this soap whale, so instead of a loofa and body wash in a plastic bottle, I now use my orange whale! Perfect lather and perfectly clean. I've heard people complain about bar soap and thing like lather but this little wool whale makes it great!!!

Shampoo - I didn't even know, but YES, they make shampoo that comes in a bar form. Now here is where it might get tricky for those with longer hair - conditioner. The thing is is that Weleda makes a great Rosemary hair oil, that not only smells great, it comes in a glass bottle. Now I don't know much about hair health, but I've been pleased with these products thus far and still feel clean and smell great, AND no more plastic bottles in the trash.

I'm glad I made this move. Now I am still trying to use up a shower gel and face wash that are both in plastic bottles and following the end of the face wash, I will start using a bar for that as well. And when I want a bath, epsom salts with lavender oil and eucalyptus oil, no bubbles, but heaven nonetheless.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Ani

In approximately 1998 I was introduced to an artist who ostensibly changed my life, cliche I know but nonetheless true: Ani DiFranco. I quickly bought up most of her albums and they each had a quintessential story: coming of age...coming out...finding my political truths...I've always loved her for the music you feel deep in the cavities of your chest.

I'm pretty sure the first song I heard was "Untouchable Face"


I remember sitting in my "all-women's" college one spring day and feeling like suddenly my life made sense. This poetic voice with more truth than I could imagine. Words that for the next few years were such strong truths that I couldn't imagine disagreeing.

I remember seeing Ani at a speaking engagement in Nov. 2007 and being so excited - I had lost touch with her music, but recalled a sentimentalism regarding her politics. I was excited because there was a question and answer portion of the event and I wanted to ask so, so many important questions. I was never called on...and I recall leaving feeling very disappointed. We were at a pinnacle point in our history - or herstory depending on how you call it. I had seen Ani perform more times that I could count at this point, and I always loved her politics. It wasn't that she was a quote, unquote feminist or that she had this huge lesbian following - it was that she spoke a real truth. She channeled artists like Woody Guthrie who knew what the f*ck was going on. But on this occasion. the chance for her to speak about the monumentous election that was before us, I was pissed that the vast majority of the questions posed by the audience had to do with Ani's thoughts on motherhood. Now, don't get me wrong - I get it - this is an important event in a woman's life, but given her past, all that she stood for over the years, and many times a single voice for women - why this?!? Why not talk about the upcoming election? political engagement? the ability to influence an election? to not have a recount? to oust Bush in a major way? BUT no, the questions were about motherhood. As someone who has dedicated her life to civic engagement, I was pissed.

Tonight, I hadn't seen Ani perform in concert in many, many years. The last time I saw her live was that speaking engagement in 2007. I'm glad I came out tonight. I heard many of her new songs for the first time and old songs that were such a part of my past. It was nice to sing along. To connect. It was nice to hear those songs from so many years ago and to still connect.

Thank you Ani.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Boat of Rock Harbour, Cap Cod, Sylvia Plath

One of my closest friends sent me this today, likely because she knew what my response would be. My response - holy sh*t. This is such a beautiful drawing. I wish I was in the UK to go check it out in person. I'm not going to lie that I did in fact just looked up flights to London. I mean, that is a legitimate way to spend the weekend, is it not? I've not been to England since my family moved from there to Germany in '81, I think it's high time I go back. It's just too bad the ticket is $500, I wonder if there is a citizen's discount? haha

"we'll be everything we ever need"

Sunday, November 13, 2011

A Day in Ship Bottom


Last night when it was time to go to sleep I opted to forgo the bed and cozy up in front of the fire place. One of the things I miss is not having a fireplace in my apartment. I grew up always having a fire place and when it got chilly the best thing was to build a fire and cozy up. Since moving to NYC the closest thing I've got is to go up to my roof and use my grill as a fire pit. It sounds a bit off, but in the absence of a fireplace it's amazing. Given all of this, whenever I am around a fireplace, I like to spend as much time as possible by it.




Following my waking up in the coziest of spots I made myself a strong cup of coffee, just the way I like it and just took in the day. The thing with me in coffee is that my typical is coffee with milk, but on any given day I'll change it up. Lately I've been in a black coffee kinda mood. Good, strong and dark.



















My beach get away would of course be incomplete without some time down by the water. Even though it's November and quite cold, it was necessary to put my hands in the water and reconnect. I know one thing for certain in this life: I will always need to have access to water, whether it be the East River blocks from my apartment or hopping on the subway to head out to one of NYC's many beaches, I.NEED.WATER.




LOVE.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Water at Night














































Taken with iphone so not the best but an absolutely beautiful site and calming sound.

11.11.11

I've always been a fan of numbers, odd ones in particular. There is an entire rational behind which numbers I like or dislike. The point of this is that today, 11.11.11 has received a lot of hype - as it should. I mean really, it's pretty amazing - the number 11:

(2 digits) 11 x 11 = 121
(6 digits) 111111 x 111111 = 12345654321
(9 digits) 111111111 x 111111111 = 12345678987654321

The Huffington Post calls it the Greatest Binary Day of All. And it's a date that happens once every hundred years.

So for me on 11.11.11, I finished 50 consecutive bikram yoga classes. Today, 11.11.11 at 11:11 I was in the last minutes of my 50th class, likely in a floor bow or half tortoise - peaceful and meditative. Basically I realized that from the day I started until today was 50 classes so I said why not. In the past I did a 60 day challenge, so this time I switched it up a bit. In those 50 classes I took two silent classes, which were amazing. For those of you who aren't familiar with bikram, it is a 90 minute, open eyed meditation consisting of 26 postures and two breathing exercises in a room heated to 104 degrees. Your instructor leads you though the practice with a 90 minute dialogue. So, taking a silent class was something new and completely incredible. The first silent class I took was on the first snow storm in NYC. It was one of the most peaceful experiences. Also during these 50 classes I did two doubles. I did not intend to do a double the first or second time but had such strong classes that I wanted to keep that feeling going. Again, an amazing experience that really tested my physical and mental strength. I am so proud that I completed my challenge - it took determination, discipline, patience and love.

Following the completion of my class, in honor of today and accomplishment I got myself a little gift. A word with a lot of meaning, particularly today, but also in general. A permanent reminder to "dream of revelry." I've been thinking about this little tattoo for awhile, but no day seemed more perfect than today. Accomplishment seeping from my being and a peaceful feeling that will no doubt be carried with me all weekend as I head to the beach. I am so excited to head to the beach and get out of the city for a couple of days, to be by the water and with some of my oldest friends. So here's to being grounded and centered and a new day. I will head back to yoga I'm certain on Monday, but for the weekend, here's to REVELRY.

Also, one more thing, on a lighter note, something you should read because it is simply hysterical! A little Craigslist ad for a used yoga mat.

And now back to 11 and it's amazingness, remember that in Blackjack, an 11 is...time to double down.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

"I am done with my graceless heart/so tonight I'm going to cut it out and restart"

It's no secret I love music. It's also no secret that I've been known to listen to songs on repeat, with the volume up. Songs have always found me when they are supposed to, a few weeks ago Florence + the Machine released their sophomore album. Considering her first album was more than spectacular, she set a high bar for number two. Not only did she bring it on Ceremonials, she killed it in ways only she knows. That f*cking voice. Haunting, in the best way possible.


The release of this album at the tail end of my Bikram Yoga challenge was exactly what I needed to take the challenge to new depths. Tomorrow, 11.11.11 I will finish my challenge and will no doubt take some serious time to reflect, to dance and to sing. More centered and more grounded than when I started. My weekend will be spent by the water, grateful.

P.S. - This video totally makes me want to have a masquerade party...more to come on that for sure.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

This is what it looks like to Occupy

An aerial view of Zuccoti Park in New York City, on Sunday, October 16, 2011.












Occupy Wall Street's Working Group Schedule. This is what a revolution looks like. We are organized.














Eve Ensler participates in the Women's Caucus meeting, discussing how to raise the voices of women in this movement and how particular economic crisis disproportionately impact women.





Geraldo Rivera shows up with Fox News to report on the "demands" of Occupy Wall Street.




















The wash line at the kitchen.

















The Kitchen, food for all from the kind donations of strangers.

















DeLaVega tells it like it is, as always.













My new favorite library, "The People's Library"
















100s of books for the occupiers - take it, read it, pass it on...











and the unions show up in force!!!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
~Rumi

Friday, October 7, 2011

Dance, when you're broken open.
Dance, if you've torn the bandage off.
Dance in the middle of the fighting.
Dance in your blood.
Dance, when you're perfectly free.

-- Jelaluddin Rumi (13th century)

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

- Mark Twain

Thursday, July 21, 2011

"Making your mark on the world is hard. If it were easy, everybody would do it. But it's not. It takes patience, it takes commitment, and it comes with plenty of failure along the way. The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won't; it's whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere."

---Barack Obama

Have You Ever

"Have you ever stared into a starry sky?"

It's pretty much all I want to do. I also don't so much mind the lonely wandering in the woods - it's usually the wandering that's the best part!

More lyrics


Most recently just about everything in my life is telling me to continue with the "HDT" approach I've thrived for the majority of my life - or at least since Ms. DeRosa's American Literature class, that was a good 17 years ago.

I've been feeling like I need some trees, no schedule, etc. all the things that I always say I need :). My pal Rob Brezsny agrees with me on this, at least this week.

Monday, June 20, 2011

In keeping with posting songs, I give you Atlantic City by Bruce Springsteen.


This song first resonated with me in a bar on Liberty Ave. in Pittsburgh, PA. I came back to it today while looking for a link to Springsteen's Thunder Road in memory of Clarence Clemons who passed away from complications from a recently suffered stroke. Read here to see why people described Clemons like this: "If Mr. Springsteen put into song the stories of so many who came to the Stone Pony, then it was Mr. Clemons who gave the sound its soul."

The great thing about a legend, is that people cover 'em...so here is a fav., Eddie Veder covering Atlantic City ♥

Thursday, May 26, 2011

The Ladder Song



too many favorite lines. probably my favorite track off the new album. a good one.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Missed the Boat



While we're on the subject
Could we change the subject now?
I was knocking on your ear's door but you were always out
Looking towards the future
We were begging for the past
Well we knew we had the good things
But those never seemed to last
Oh please just last

Everyone's unhappy
Everyone's ashamed
Well we all just got caught looking
At somebody else's page
Well nothing ever went
Quite exactly as we planned
Our ideas held no water
But we used them like a dam

Oh, and we carried it all so well
As if we got a new position
Oh, and I laugh all the way to hell
Saying yes, this is a fine promotion
Oh, and I laugh all the way to hell

Of course everyone goes crazy
Over such and such and such
We made ourselves a pillar
We just used it as a crutch
We were certainly uncertain
At least I'm pretty sure I am
Well we didn't need the water
But we just built that good God dam

Oh, and I know this of myself
I assume as much for other people
Oh, and I know this of myself
We've listened more to life's end gong
Than the sound of life's sweet bliss

Was it ever worth it?
Was there all that much to gain?
Well we knew we missed the boat
And we'd already missed the plane
We didn't read the invite
We just dance at our wake
All our favorites were playing
So we could shake, shake, shake, shake, shake

Tiny curtains open and we heard the tiny clap of little hands
A tiny man would tell a little joke and get a tiny laugh from all the folks
Sitting drifting around in bubbles and thinking it was us that carried them
When we finally got it figured out that we had truly missed the boat

Oh, and we carried it all so well
As if we got a new position
Oh, and we owned all the tools ourselves
But not the skills to make a shelf with
Oh, what useless tools ourselves

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Remember my Brother; Support my Sister


Dear Friends:

Today, my older brother Michael would be 39. On January 1, 1989 he took his own life. This year, for the second year, my older sister Kati is walking in the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Out of Darkness Walk - me and my 4 year old niece Cailynn will be cheering her on. I am writing to ask you to make a donation to help her reach her goal of $2200 ($100 for every year he's been gone). You can make a donation here.

Consider making a donation of:

‎$5 to remember the month he was born
$16 for how many years he lived
$18 for how many miles Kati will walk in his memory
$22 to remember the day he was born
$22 for how many years he's been gone
$24 for the house number where we lived
$39 to remember how old he would have been TODAY
$49 to remember he was born in Alaska
$72 to remember the year he was born
$86 to remember when he graduated 8th grade
$304 for all of these and more
$___ for your own special reason

I was only 9 when Michael passed away, but in those 9 years he made a huge impact on me. He painted, played music, and was a great soccer player - this is what my 9 year old self remembers. What my adult self knows is that his memory lives on in so many people and in many ways. My hope is that by supporting an organization like AFSP other sisters, brothers, moms, dads, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, and friends do not have to know this loss.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart,

Erin

Saturday, May 21, 2011

California Stars



this song always makes me smile.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Bright Eyes - Radio City Music Hall

Yesterday morning, I made a last minute purchase to see my favorite band, Bright Eyes. It was the day of the show and I was happy to just get tickets and not have no pay a huge mark up on StubHub. At about 3pm I decided to look again at my seats, which I thought were decent for a last minute, day of purchase. I thought I was about 30 rows back in the orchestra section. Sooo, you can imagine my surprise and sheer excitement when I went to the Radio City Music Hall website to get another look at my seats to see that Row DD meant that I was only about 20 ft. from stage, with one row of seating (plus the 5/6 pit seats) in front of me and dead center. I was ecstatic!

Here is a pic from the show, it's not the best - taken with my iphone.

Another incredible show.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Radical Faces - Welcome Home

this song makes me happy! it especially makes me happy when my friend's 19 mo. old son dances to it.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

SNOW DAY

It's just not the same when you don't have to go to work anyway...
still beautiful though. Stared the day with S and went to Terrace Cafe, got the normal bagel, but sat down and read the NYTimes and watched folks walk by - awesome! I spent the rest of the day preparing for an INTERVIEW!!! Then took a walk to buy some groceries to entertain tomorrow with S at her place. All pretty boring, I get it, but the perfect way to spend a day. Reading a book that has been on my reading list for quite sometime now, Liberty and Sexuality. I stumbled upon this book while reading Becoming Justice Blackmun: Harry Blackmun's Supreme Court Journey. I recommend Becoming Justice Blackmun, and as soon as I read more of Liberty and Sexuality. Until then...read on.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Progress

Today I submitted my first Resume and Cover Letter. I've reached out to many people in my personal and professional networks and as it turns out there are not many vacancies out there. The position I applied for sounds phenomenal. I am keeping my fingers crossed for an interview! Until that call it's time to prep!!!

Monday, January 24, 2011

Pittsburgh State of Mind



i love this for soooo many reasons!!!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

AFC Champions!



Going to the SUPERBOWL! WooHoo! So excited! I'm a relatively recent Steelers fan, est. in 1999 when I moved to Pittsburgh for undergrad, but I stand firmly behind Black and Gold!!!

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Sarah Palin

Ok, so most people know of my interesting obsession with Sarah Palin. To be clear, I don't agree with the vast majority of her political platform, but I have been taken storm by the swell of media attention she has been able to harness since she became the conservative party sweetheart back in September of 2008 with her RNC Convention acceptance speech.

So here we are, January 2011, Sarah Palin's Alaska, the reality television show on TLC has come and gone, daughter Bristol lost Dancing with the Stars and yet we continue to be inundated with her commentary on everything from the Tuscan Massacre to any number of social issues our country is working it's way through. I don't think it takes a genius or even a particularly astute political mind to deduce that America's conservative sweetheart is positioning herself for a Presidential run in 2012, but can't the media let the Mama Grizzly hibernate until then? Give us a little breathing room, some space, to grow, to figure out what we each want, to determine if this relationship is best for all of us?

I stumbled upon this earlier today. And what did I do, I posted it on my Facebook page, then I told a bunch of people about it - I continued to talk about Sarah Palin, even when trying to promote a Sarah Palin silence. I'm well aware that even in my disagreement I give Palin more "earned press." So then I stumble upon this little Facebook Event: Ignore Sarah Palin Week.

Somewhat of a sidenote: I will tell you this, she sure does have a way with social media, her Twitter account, SarahPalinUSA has only 380k followers, but she is picked up in media outlets across the country. One of the biggest flares, the debate about the Islamic Cultural Center in Lower Manhattan aka the Ground Zero Mosque - remember? she "created" the word refudiate (which eventually she admitted to being a typo though she still was awarded a word of the year honor by the New Oxford American Dictonary.) I suppose it's a chicken or egg type of question with Twitter and her media coverage - was the coverage already there or is Twitter driving this? Regardless, she's got serious "facetime."

And you know what she does with that "facetime?" She ego-surfs! Check out my friend's blog: YesIGoogleMyself. Here is the Sarah Palin entry.

So here is to a week, or even a month of IGNORING PALIN.

Friday, January 21, 2011

coffee and hot chocolate in a Brooklyn Diner




I mean there could be worse things in the world of unemployment. Now don't get me wrong, this is day 5 (5 days of work actually be conducted in my office that I am not a part of). I'm not going to lie, I'm bored! I spend most of my time fine tuning a pretty finely tuned resume, writing cover letters, swimming, sending emails, updating my job hunt contact spreadsheet and swimming. Oh yeah, don't forget the COFFEE, lots of coffee because it seems that everyone I am meeting with I suggest coffee. Today was freezing, I couldn't decide between hot chocolate and coffee, sooo I splurged. I'll tell you what, I love coffee served in those off-white ceramic mugs. Maybe, just maybe I daydream of being a waitress at some mom and pop diner, but it would have to be in a very specific location, like Maine for example. When S and I went to Maine last year we stopped at this amazing diner, you know, the kind where the fisherman would go to at 4am before heading out to sea. We of course went at about 4am, to get the real experience. Anyway, that's the kind of diner I'd work at. I'm sure I'd get on well with the fisherman.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Cream Rinse

So going the the gym in the middle of the day lends itself to some interesting overheard conversations. Today I was at the YMCA in Park Slope, my first time at this branch. I did my thing swimming and then was in the locker room changing when I overheard two older ladies talking about, yup, Cream Rinse. I mean who calls it that but a septuagenarian? Anyway, cream rinse, I had nothing to offer, sooo I went home and continued reading Going Rogue. Today was day 4, I'm bored out of my mind!

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Love Black and Gold!

Steelers Mascot




Other images found here.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Day 1

Yesterday was a holiday, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day so it was a work holiday. That makes today, day 1 of unemployment. I've never done well with idol time, luckily I know this so I've always ended up structuring my days, today is no different. I headed to my apartment to make some calls, work on my resume and send some emails...

UPDATE @ 4PM:

I.
AM.
BORED.

So far I:

-called the student loan folks, gonna hold out on making a decision there, though I do qualify for a deferment due to being laid-off.

-took a hour long bath

-read my book

-worked on my resume and a cover letter

-went to the gym and swam a mile

-went to the bank to discuss my credit card payments

-made a yummy lunch - veggie burger on rye bread with mustard and lettuce (what I had in the fridge)

-vacuumed and dusted the apartment

UPDATE @ 6PM:

-made dinner - rice with tomatoes, jalepenos and tuna (what I had at home)

-read some more

this is going to get old quick.

Monday, January 17, 2011

a good day off

that's funny, tomorrow is a day off too - and the next day and the next day. i've got a 7 day weekend. today's accomplishments included taking the laundry to get done, taking in 3 pairs of pants to be hemmed, reheating chili for lunch and then making burritos for dinner and buying cat food. i sent some more emails to people about job opportunities and took about 2 naps. tomorrow will be a boring, boring day - i will be calling the student loan people and my credit cards to get those items in order. i will also be scheduling some doctors appointments while i still have health insurance. COBRA costs more than $500 a month and considering unemployment checks max out at $405 a week, I think i might need to pass on COBRA. Hopefully tomorrow I can create a list of things that I can do with all my free time, you know, besides finding a job!

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Return to...Woodbury Commons

Ok, I am not this much of a shopper, but S needed to return some things she got yesterday. Sooooo, it's back to Woodbury Commons we go. Today I didn't particularly need anything, especially given my new employment status, but I did find 2 pairs of jeans that I needed - a little splurge but well worth it! They look good. Then I found a great deal on sweaters that I can wear for work, it was a much shorter day than yesterday, different company too - this time we had B with us, and S was left to more boy shopping than girl shopping. THe best part about today is that it is ending with S's chili and pickle backs with B!!! Woo Hoo!

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Woodbury Commons

In an attempt to get my mind off sh*tty news this week, I was invited with the girls for a day of shopping at the outlets. Now, I like to shop, don't get me wrong and I love a good bargain, but sometimes shopping can be overwhelming, especially in a group - not this time. I needed to pick up a few things, lay off or not - I had planned on placing an order for some work shirts, so I picked some up today as well. I also had the chance to use some gift certificates that I had from Christmas. Here is to a good day with the lady and her friend.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Ugh.

Yesterday afternoon I received terrible news. Due to budget cuts at my job, I was laid off. I feel like the rug has been pulled out from under me. I did not see this coming at all and am fully aware of what a terrible time this is to be looking for work. Since Thursday I've sent upwards of 30 emails to various people to inquire about job leads. I hope that through my professional and personal networks I can find something quick. The prospect of going on unemployment and receiving up to $405 a week as income is frightening! I am revamping my resume and doing everything I can to find a job.

I would like to find something that will provide me the opportunity to use my various skills: policy analysis, government relations, management, and interpersonal skills. Additionally, I am hoping to find something that will give me the opportunity to grow within the office or organization. Last but not least, I am hoping to find something that does not require me to take a pay cut and possibly make more than what I currently make (take a much deserved step up) so I can do the all important things like purchase an apartment and start a family in the coming years.

What I've realized is that I have many skills that uniquely position me for many positions, I have the experience of a manager of both large and small teams and have worked for some of the most difficult constituencies. I am casting a wide net including consideration of government offices (agencies), elected officials, non-profits, public and government affairs firms, and where applicable based on my skill set, the private sector.

If you know of job opportunities out there, please let me know. If you don't send me good energy and pray that I am re-employed soon!

Love you all.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

David Brooks The Politicized Mind, provides a thoughtful analysis of the Tuscon Massacre and the discourse that should be taking place.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Haiti: 1 year post earthquake

When I heard the news of last year's earthquake, my heart broke. To know that the rebuild has been so slow is terrible but what remains is the strong spirit of a people that no earthquake, slow rebuild, or cholera outbreak can break. To all my Haitian friends and colleagues who continue to work on all of this, keep your head up!

Check out the NYTimes story here.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

oh no, snow

after the post Christmas blizzard where we got hit with roughly 16 inches of snow and the city's response was disastrous, the fact that weather-folk are calling for a foot of snow overnight, the city is in hysterics. City transit announcements, canceled City Council hearings about a proposed Wal-Mart, I am certain lines for milk and bread...meanwhile, I will stick to the words of my fifth grade social studies teacher - one of the only jobs you get paid to do wrong is being a weather forecaster. :-) Seriously though, I'll wear my pjs inside out if it means working from home tomorrow!!! Here's to snow.

Monday, January 10, 2011

The Godfather

An artcile about my former boss, love it!

The Godfather
With the UWS-WFP-NYT axis dominating local politics, this is Jerry Nadler’s New York
By Edward-Isaac Dovere

It was, as Eric Schneiderman said in his victory speech at the Sheraton on election night, an improbable journey. A year ago, after all, he had wavered about and then aborted a long-expected run for Manhattan DA. When he finally pulled the trigger on his attorney general run, Schneiderman stayed further to the left than anyone would have thought possible to win statewide in New York.

But really, November was not all that improbable for Schneiderman as Tom DiNapoli's election made abundantly clear, even a Democrat with pretty much the entire universe aligned against him will win in New York by being a Democrat and having the labor machine's nomination, along with the surplus of Democraticinclined voters committed to not filling in a GOP bubble.

And the primary win was not so improbable either Schneiderman is the latest candidate propelled by the new coalition that has taken control of New York politics. The axis spins through the progressive heartlands of the Upper West Side and brownstone Brooklyn on campaigns that now regularly connect the New York Times editorial board to the Working Families Party, and all the constituent parts of each. In recent years, to have the support of one of these is nearly always to have the support of them all. To have the support of most, if not all, is usually to win.

At the center is Jerry Nadler, the man Schneiderman identified in that victory speech as his mentor. Nadler was there for Schneiderman at the beginning, at the official kickoff of the attorney general campaign on the steps of City Hall in April. He was there a year earlier on a colder, wetter day for Bill de Blasio, preemptively sealing up the public advocate race. David Yassky tried desperately to get him there in last year's comptroller's race, calling him nonstop and even cornering him for some frantic arm waving after most of the others had left Charlie Rangel's last birthday party at Tavern on the Green in August, but to no avail.

Schneiderman won. De Blasio won. Yassky, left to campaign outside of Fairway by himself, never really had a chance.

So looking back on 2010, the improbable part was not that Schneiderman won.

The improbable part was that despite Andrew Cuomo's concerted effort to box him out, Schneiderman stayed in the race at all. No one needed a poll to know that Cuomo could have effectively ended things by coming out publicly for Kathleen Rice, or even, at the end of the campaign, for Sean Coffey. Schneiderman's supporters held him off, and then, once the nomination was secured, helped force that awkward endorsement in Columbus Circle almost two weeks after the primary.

That had a lot to do with Nadler, too. The Harlem machine is waning. Unions are strong but not what they used to be. The Working Families Party, though now rebuilding, was clipped by the investigations and legal troubles of the last year. Vito Lopez is still strong in Brooklyn but threatened, and Joe Crowley's grip is only a little looser locally in Queens, but no longer has the same sway over larger politics that Tom Manton's did.

With his money and his popularity, Mike Bloomberg wins elections in New York. But as Dan Donovan and Harry Wilson showed again this year, Bloomberg's power does not transfer. Nadler's does.

He is the heir to the progressive mantle at a time when the New York electorate, especially in local primaries, has keeled to the left. He is a hero on the West Side, where there are more votes to be had in primary and general elections than in any other part of the city or state, and his sway stretches out to parts of Brooklyn he has never represented, but is full of his former constituents.

The Jews in the tip of his district, which goes into Boro Park, love him, and so do the Jews far beyond. Union leaders connect with him. The New York Times editorial board always takes his calls. He may not be Boss Tweed, or really any kind of stereotypical boss, but right now, Jerry Nadler rules local politics.

Nadler professes not to notice the organization he has built up under himself or the sway he has acquired. He seems surprised by the suggestion. The furthest he will go is, "I think of myself as trying to advance certain things, progressive public policies, and people who will be effective in promoting those."

{::PAGEBREAK::}

Helping Chuck Schumer (the only person left who calls him "Jerrold") win the 1998 Senate primary was the first big move, and being there for Scott Stringer's borough president run in 2005 brought the West Side apparatus to the next level of power. But the first real test was the 2005 Council speaker race. Nadler's backing was a signal to other powerbrokers for Christine Quinn and, crucially, a progressive stamp of approval.

"It would be a very hard race if I wasn't able to make that point, and there's no better way to make that point than with Jerry Nadler's support," Quinn said. "Before Jerry made the decision, I certainly heard, 'Where is Jerry?' So to be able to report back, 'Well, Jerry's with me,' that made people say, 'Oh wow. Okay.'" Next up was Cuomo, running for resurrection in the 2006 attorney general's race.

Nadler came on early, bringing with him much of the progressive credibility that was Mark Green's base. Green's candidacy floundered while Nadler smiled through all those "big shoes to fill" Cuomo ads, foot measure proudly in hand.

Nadler's support for de Blasio in 2009 showed again how much he could do by speaking up. His refusal to back Yassky showed how much of an impact he could have by staying silent.

Cuomo seems to have been paying attention. The governor-in-waiting never forced Nadler's hand, never truly tested that progressive constituency. For Nadler and the people around him, this is gratifying: a recognition both of the role they played in past elections and the role they could play in standing by Cuomo as he gears up for fights with key elements of the traditional Democratic coalition and the inevitable wars with the Legislature to come.

The weekend before Election Day, Cuomo held a rally at the plaza in front of the 72nd Street and Broadway subway stop. Nadler joined Schneiderman and Schumer for a brief photo-op at Fairway before walking down to the Cuomo campaign truck and exhorting the crowd to send a West Side reformer to Albany. Along the way, they picked up Linda

Rosenthal, then Stringer. One by one, they made their speeches to the crowd.

Just over 48 hours later, Schneiderman was the attorney general-elect.

"It's not just about Fairway anymore, though Fairway will always loom large in all our lives," Stringer said a few days later. "It's gone beyond that."

Walking around the West Side, Nadler relates a story about a poorly located fundraiser for him featuring Carl McCall, Charlie Rangel and men in towels in the background at the gay bathhouse in the Ansonia that predated Plato's Retreat.

Almost before he is finished, he starts running through the same game plan for a special small business tax cut he just gave Chuck Schumer for undercutting the Republicans on the expiring Bush tax cuts. Both, like just about everything else he says, pour out of him in a slightly amused, can-you-believeit/of-course-you've-got-to-believe-it tone.

There is just enough distraction in his voice to make it clear he is thinking about the next three things and at least one topic from a conversation with someone else, while still engaging with the person in front of him.

Nadler is not the most introspective person, at least on display. Two years ago, while waiting for the inevitable hammer to drop on his doomedfrom-the-start dream of getting the Senate appointment (despite the work he had done to get David Paterson to the State Senate back in 1985), he almost never let the pain show beyond a winced smile. Only occasionally, maybe in the back of a cab in an off-hand conversation with a political friend, will he let slip how much he might actually want to be mayor himself.

Likewise, when he accuses Barack Obama of political negligenceas he did publicly two days after the midterms while the rest of the Democrats were trying to hold their heads defiantly highit was not to jockey for position in the House or bully the president into signing one of his bills. The stimulus should have been bigger, both for the sake of economic policy, and for politicsNadler determined this back before the bill was passed, and started saying it. You can debate about it, and he is ready to go point for point, but really, he will just be waiting for you to catch up.

{::PAGEBREAK::}

Nadler approaches politics the same way. When Kirsten Gillibrand called once, twice, three times a day asking for his endorsement, he held off for nearly a year, and when he did, he approved the press release knowing that he was effectively ending the possibility of a primary challenge from Gillibrand's left. But by then, all the prospective alternatives he might have supported had already dropped out and Gillibrand had rocketed leftward on several key positions. His endorsement probably brought more with it than any other piece beyond Schumer's.

HE MAY NOT BE BOSS TWEED, OR REALLY ANY KIND OF STEREOTYPICAL BOSS, BUT RIGHT NOW, JERRY NADLER RULES LOCAL POLITICS.

This year, faced with Stringer's mix of competing political needs, competitiveness, jealousy and paranoid anxiety about his own future that kept the borough president from endorsing Schneiderman until after the Times endorsement had effectively narrowed the field, Nadler did not force Stringer on board. He just helped bring Stringer to the inevitable conclusion, that moment when he put his hand on Stringer's arm and said, essentially, "Look, Scott, in the end, you're going to have to support Eric."

"I think one of the points is: We are close, but you can't always agree. And if you try to enforce discipline in some waywe're not talking about political bosses here, you can't enforce discipline," Nadler said, explaining how he makes his case "by talking, by logical reasoning, by explaining the reason why I think this is it. Sometimes that's persuasive. I tend to think that I'm a fairly persuasive person."

Nadler likes the term "close associates," to describe his political allies. He also sometimes jokes about a farm team. Others see a dynamic more like a family,

with all of its function and dysfunction. Nadler is the head, not paternalistically but in the sense that he was in office long before any of them, and they all look up to him. Even when fighting with each other, they all still like him. Roughly, then, Stringer and Linda Rosenthal are the immediate family, with Schneiderman something like a stepbrother. Tom Duane, Quinn and the LGBT political activists function as one set of cousins, and de Blasio, Brad Lander, Daniel Squadron and the other Brooklyn progressives as another set.

Harlem, especially with some of the old powerbrokers on the wane and now Adriano Espaillat headed to Schneiderman's Senate seat with some key West Side support, is an increasingly close family friend.

Nadler has known them for decades.

Stringer, then Rosenthal, joined him as aides back when Reagan was president. Schneiderman first caught his attention for having a fundraising committee committed to putting Democrats in the majority in the State Senate back when he was a young staffer to then-Assembly Speaker Mel Miller in the mid-'80s. (Also, Nadler said, because Schneiderman is "one of the few people I know who really thinks about progressive economics.") Quinn managed Duane's primary run against him in 1994, the last time Nadler got a serious challenge. De Blasio has been in the orbit since roughly the same time, when he was chief of staff to a Brooklyn Council member dispatched to a diner for a one-on-one, hour-long dissertation on the cross-harbor rail freight tunnel.

All of them built deeper relationships from there. Nadler helped all of them get into office, but populating the government with protgs was not what he set out to do.

"I never thought in those terms," Nadler said. "You do what you can when you see a race, and I think a lot of people are always looking to government to nurture political talent. It should be."

Rosenthal, who worked for Nadler for almost two decades before she took over the Assembly seat in which Nadler had spent 16 years and Stringer had spent 13, remembers her old boss once mapping out for her how, in hindsight, he had determined that he would have ended up in the congressional seat, one way or another. Nadler himself does not recall doing this.

On the contrary, he says, there would have been no way to predict what had happened, especially given his history going into the 1992 race. In 1985, he lost 65-35 to David Dinkins in the Manhattan borough president primary, and in 1989, he pulled out of the city comptroller race two weeks before the polls opened because he ran out of cash. Nor did his stamp of approval work so well back then: In the race for the West Side's open City Council seat, Stringer got less than half as many votes as Ronnie Eldridge, kicked to the curb just like Nadler.

Those were dark days. Rosenthal talks about feeling smothered, a sinking feeling that they had been outdone. Nadler does not like to think of it much, and so he does not. All he will say before moving on is, "That was not pleasant."

Unexpected opportunity took three years. Ted Weiss, who had held the seat since Bella Abzug gave it up to run for Senate in 1976, died the day before the primary. He still won, leaving it up to the county committee to fill the nomination. Abzug, along with Weiss's widow, State Sen. Franz Leichter and Assembly Member Dick Gottfried all got into the race, but in that marathon weekend of backroom campaigning in the classrooms of a local school, Nadler left them all in the dust.

"It's symbolic of Jerry Nadler's precise, pragmatic approach that he was already reaching out to district leaders while others were sending 'Get Well' cards," said

Ralph Andrew, Weiss's former chief of staff. "By the time Weiss died, Jerry was well on his way to having a large quantity of votes of county committee members, and a commitment of a large number of votes for subsequent ballots."

Gottfried agrees. The race was over before it even started, just like the races he watched Nadler dominate when they were in high school together in Stuyvesant.

"He was just a terrific vote-getter," Gottfried said. "It helped that we were in a high school where you didn't have to be a student athlete to be popular, since our little band of friends were all a bunch of nerds."

Nadler's time in Stuyvesant student government, along with Gottfried and a then much less conservative Dick Morris, led to canvassing for Eugene McCarthy in the 1968 presidential campaign. They were the West Side Kids, a cadre of political prodigies whose '60s activism took the form of tenant organizing, canvassing and dominating district leader races.

That mix of magnetism and nerdiness still defines Nadler. Told that he has been called the "Bono of Fairway," to describe

his popularity at home, Nadler says quickly that he had Bono on his committee in Washington. This is a joke. Nadler means Sonny Bono, but by the time he has explained it, his mind is on to something else.

Gottfried remembers sitting next to him in a particularly boring meeting in Albany one day while they were both in the Assembly together. Some people were sleeping. Other people were doodling. Nadler drew a chart and filled it in from memory with the turnout numbers from every election district covered by his Assembly seat.

{::PAGEBREAK::}

Nadler still works out charts of numbers based on history and voting patterns in his ballpoint pen, though on election night, he graduated to a staffer's iPad and sat in a corner of the Schneiderman suite constantly refreshing and reassuring the nervous room that the numbers coming in early spelled victory.

He can also draw a perfect outline of the continental United States, freehand.

Nadler also works out some more straightforward political calculations. When Rosenthal started telling people at Stringer's borough president victory party that she was thinking about getting into the race for his Assembly seat, Nadler and Stringer soon swung into action to deliver her the county committee vote. Among the people shoved aside was Marc Landis, a district leader and former Stringer campaign treasurer who had been waiting patiently for the seat to open. But Nadler and Stringer worked the phones and the county committee meeting itself to make sure the deal was done, and then several months after, backed a supporter for an almost unheard of primary for a state committee spot occupied by a woman who had refused to budge on her support for another one of the candidates.

Nadler becomes the boss when he needs to be. Or when he wants to be. A couple of calls to judicial convention delegates have sparked scattered complaints about his heavy hand. More than one black robe over the years has gone to a Nadler friendall of them qualified, respected and supported more widely, certainly. But the congressman's preference has not gone unnoticed.

The day after the county committee selected Nadler for Congress in 1992, it gave Stringer the Assembly nomination, beginning what has been an extremely orderly succession of power on the West Side, and generally resulting in the election of Nadler allies. If not for the term limits extension, Micah Lashernow the mayor's state legislative affairs director but then a Nadler staffer who had joined the office with his eyes on 2009would have been the next priority for Gale Brewer's Council seat.

When Nadler endorses, he starts by interrogating candidates, gauging their support, testing their relationships and viability. Then there are discussions with staff and with the larger family. They pro

ceed strategically, guided by operatives like Amy Rutkin and Rob Gottheim, two aides who combined have spent almost 30 years working for Nadler.

None of it happens in a vacuum. Last year, for example, he capped a list of nearly every elected official in Manhattan backing Richard Aborn for district attorney. Rosenthal and Schneiderman did too, but Stringer sat on the sidelines until the New York Times endorsement went to Cy Vance and he was shown an internal poll that suggested Vance was going to win. Two weeks before the primary, Stringer endorsed Vance. The West Side got a piece of the win.

In the city comptroller race, Nadler was stuck: The Working Families Party had engineered a deal backing Liu so that he would quit the public advocate race and clear the way for de Blasio. Nadler has been one of the party's top advocateson a flyer that was distributed around Brooklyn this year, he is quoted saying that no one works harder than the WFP, and urging people to vote on that line.

Looking back at 2009, Nadler insists that he could not see the separations that nearly every voter in town saw, and were more pronounced on substantive policy than in some of the other races in which he has spoken up over the years.

"I like David, a like David a lot. I like John Liu. There was not that much difference that I could really tell people, 'You've got to vote for this one, you've got to vote for that one,'" Nadler said.

As close as he is and was with the WFP, he could not go against Yassky. So he stayed silent, while Stringer, Schneiderman and Rosenthal all backed Liu.

The West Side got a piece of the win.

The players insist that they are all just coming from a common philosophy, and what appears to be arrangements is really happenstance.

"No one goes in there and says, 'Well, what are you going to do? Because I'll do what you do,'" Rosenthal said.

Occasionally, Nadler maneuvers directly against the public positions of the family. This year, for example, Schneiderman, Stringer and Rosenthal all came out early behind Adriano Espaillat in his run for Schneiderman's State Senate seat. Nadler made no endorsement, but he quietly urged the Times editorial board to look at Mark Levine, Espaillat's main primary opponent.

The resonance he has with the decision-makers at the Times is one of the greatest assets Nadler brings to a campaign. As with the rest of his political power, Nadler downplays the significance of his influence.

"They ask my opinion, I give my opinion. Sometimes I call up and give my opinion when they don't ask," he said.

On Aborn, the Times went a different way, and for Schneiderman's State Senate seat, the paper of record went with Espaillat. But most of the time, and for the races where the Times nod means the most, if Nadler supports a candidate, that candidate is in good shape to get the endorsement.

"The Times endorsement matters a lot in this district, and I don't think it's any secret that the Times was going to look at what Jerry said," said Council Member Brad Lander, an ally whom Nadler endorsed early last year and coached on his interview. "His weighing in, I know, made a big difference."

Nadler acknowledged that there was not much coincidence to the fact that he and the decision makers usually agree.

But "not on everything by the way," he added quickly. "They've been much more hawkish on Afghanistan than I am."

{::PAGEBREAK::}
Last year, the night of the runoff, de Blasio and his supporters gathered at the conveniently named Union Bar, just north of Union Square. Mark Green's last fans were across the street, in a small office on the 19th floor of one of his brother's buildings. The drinks were flowing at de Blasio's party, but at Green's, no one was even touching the Styrofoam bowls of pretzels and Hershey's miniatures on one of the desks.

They turned the volume up on the small TV playing NY1 just in time to hear Stringer, down at the de Blasio bar, talking about what a great night he expected it to be.

Lew Fidler, Council member and de Blasio detractor, snorted.

"You're going to regret the day you brought him onto the West Side, Scott," he said, half to the TV, half to Jerry Goldfeder, the election lawyer who ran against Stringer both for Council and Assembly. Goldfeder smiled.

Schneiderman's win, like de Blasio's, was possible because the coalition agreed. There was no contest for the progressives, there was no division between what the Upper West Side wanted and what the Working Families Partyled Brooklyn progressives wanted. The gay political leaders, for the most part, backed them both.

Schneiderman's election might represent the cementing of a new reality.

"It's not just about Fairway anymore, though Fairway will always loom large in all our lives," said Scott Stringer. "It's gone beyond that."

It might also represent those moments when everything comes together perfectly one last time before crumbling completely.

Fast forward to the 2013 mayor's race.

Stringer is putting together cash to run.

The City Charter almost requires de Blasio to run as part of his job description.

And Quinn already pushed back her own ambitions once with the term limits extension.

According to the progressive family tree, this would mean a mayor's race pitting Nadler's son versus his nephew versus his niece. Nor would he be the only one torn: Up against each other, Stringer, de Blasio and Quinn crisscross bases in so many different ways that a race with all of them would probably mean a race with none of them as serious contenders.

Another problem: De Blasio and Schneiderman both got to be the blacksupported candidates in all-white fields, which helps explain why Sharpton endorsed them, enhancing their credibility with another key chunk of primary voters. Hard to see how that would happen if there is a black candidate in the race, either through Bill Thompson or, if he skips the race, through an already impatient Eric Adams. If Liu gets into the race, that would scramble things even more, exposing more fault lines among progressives, minorities and unions.

And none of this even begins to account for Anthony Weiner, who would no doubt draw support from both the Upper West Side and his old Park Slope neighborhood if he is in the race.

At this point, most of the candidates and the people around them can explain why each prospective opponent is not going to run. What the members of the Nadler family can agree on, though, is that they would not want to be in the race without the congressman at their side.

Imagining Stringer in the mayor's race without Nadler's support is like imagining Mike Bloomberg without his Massachu setts accentfeasible, but Twilight Zone odd. If Stringer runs, it will be with that endorsement. If he runs. But Stringer is planning to run, and he wants to drive the point home: Together handing out Schneiderman flyers early in the morning of Election Day, Stringer paused just long enough to put his hands possessively on Nadler's shoulders and said, "He's mine."

De Blasio had Nadler deliver his oath of office in January.

Though the public advocate, like all the rest, will not talk much about 2013, he will talk about the key supporter he would want for whatever race comes next.

"I can't think of a person who anyone would rather have on their side more than Jerry Nadler," de Blasio said. "In between the respect that people have for him, and what he means substantively and what he's achieved and the way people listen to him, of course, Jerry's one of the most respected political figures in the city."

Quinn too, in another made-forpaean impromptu statement.

"Jerry Nadler is a force in every local, borough, city and statewide race in New York, and anyone who runs for any office wants Jerry Nadler. Doesn't matter what it is, where it is," Quinn said.

The family is hoping to work out an arrangement: Stringer runs for mayor, de Blasio takes advantage of his three terms to stay public advocate until 2021, Quinn goes for Manhattan borough president. Or de Blasio runs for mayor, Stringer runs for public advocate and Quinn runs for borough president. Or de Blasio and Liu against each other for mayor, Quinn for public advocate and Stringer for comptroller. Or Quinn runs for mayor as Bloomberg's preferred choice, and de Blasio or Stringer go up against her as the progressive pick.

Any of these would avoid the showdown, if someone could only seal the deal. Nadler acknowledges that if anyone could, he would be the person who could make it happen.

"Yeah, but I'm not the king of politics in New York," Nadler said. "I can't do that. It would obviously be much more comfortable if people you liked always only ran against people you despised. The world doesn't work that way."

Between now and 2013, Nadler has a national election to worry about and what he fears is going to be an onslaught of Republican policies that he will have to try blocking as a ranking member on the House Constitution Subcommittee. For now, Nadler and the political axis he controls are the determining force in New York politics. He will get to how that will probably all fall apart if the family goes to war with itself.

"We'll jump off that bridge," Nadler said, "when we come to it."

Nadler On DC: Misery And Losses In The Short-Term, Judiciary Gavel Not Far Behind

Of the 18 years that Jerry Nadler has been in Washington, 12 of them have been in the minority. So he has an idea of what to expect when he returns to the Capitol in January following November's heavy swing of the House to Republican control.

Nadler will likely return to his role as ranking member on the House Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, a position he held from 2000-2006. (He was chairman of the committee for the last four years.) He expects to play a similar role as he did the last time Republicans controlled the House.

"I was the first line of defense for all kinds of crazy initiatives on anti-choice initiatives and anti-civil liberties initiatives, and anti-gay rights," Nadler said. "That will be a large part of my time and effort, just fending off idiotic, terrible thingsprobably not being able to stop them, but laying the groundwork to try to stop them in the Senate."

Nadler does not expect the Republicans to try a full repeat of the last time they were in the majority with a Democrat in the White House. "They can do havoc enough without impeaching the president," he said, but he is girding himself for two years of fights over economic policies he believes are the wrong way out of the continuing recession.

And while committed to winning back the House, he is far from optimistic. Nadler has called the president politically negligent for not pushing for a bigger stimulus package or managing a better public relations effort about its benefits. And going into 2012, Nadler says he wishes the president had not originally relied on the rosy projections that said unemployment would hover at 8 percent.

Without any sign of improvements as Barack Obama gears up for reelection, along with 23 Democrats in the Senate and a battered House conference trying to get back the power they so briefly held, Nadler believes there is reason to worry.

"If the economy continues limping along and doesn't get better, the odds are that we lose the next election," he said.

But things might be looking up for Nadler if the Democrats take back the House.

John Conyers, the Judiciary Committee chairman, is 81 years old and unlikely to serve many more yearsespecially in the minority. Rick Boucher, a Virginia congressman who was the third most senior Democrat on the committee, was a victim of this year's Republican wave. That leaves only Howard Berman of California ahead of Nadler for seniority, and he is likely to return to his post as Foreign Affairs chairman if given the chance, clearing the way for Nadler to take the gavel of one of Congress's most important committees.

But first, he will have to survive the next few years of Republican control of the committee.

"It's going to be unpleasant," Nadler said.

--
Disclosure: 14 years ago, the author spent several weeks as an unpaid high school intern for Rep. Jerrold Nadler.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

boozy brunch and a relaxing day - i do not want to go to work tomorrow and that is final. i think all weekends should be 3 day weekends!

Saturday, January 8, 2011

If Scalia Had His Way

a good article about a favorite topic - The United States Supreme Court

If Scalia Had His Way
By JEFFREY ROSEN

Constitutional originalism is all the rage these days. In Congress, the new Republican House majority opened the session with a reading of the Constitution and a requirement that every proposed bill cite the specific constitutional authority on which it relies.

And the Supreme Court begins its new session this week with renewed energy on the originalist wing. Justice Antonin Scalia, the court’s leading originalist, has agreed to address the House Tea Party caucus on the separation of powers. He has also delivered speeches recently outlining his original understanding of the Constitution in areas like sex equality and the death penalty.

How would America change if the Scalia originalist vision — embraced by many Tea Party members — were enacted by the Supreme Court? Justice Scalia believes that the Constitution should be interpreted in light of the original understanding of its 18th- and 19th-century framers and ratifiers. That, he has stressed in recent speeches, would change our constitutional universe dramatically.

But he is not proposing a return to segregation and powdered wigs. In a 1989 article called “Originalism: the Lesser Evil,” he called himself a “faint-hearted originalist,” adding that he could not imagine “upholding a statute that imposes the punishment of flogging,” which the constitutional framers approved.

No to flogging, but what next? What would the country look like in an originalist universe? Liberal bloggers often like to set off alarm bells, and in certain cases, the law would become more conservative. But consensus among originalists is rare on any issue, and conservative justices often disagree among themselves about what the founders intended. And in many cases, liberal justices and advocates can argue plausibly that the constitutional text and history point to progressive rather than conservative outcomes.

Conservatives embrace originalism for many reasons, not least because it is supposed to help judges separate their legal conclusions from their personal views. But in practice, the version of originalism embraced by conservative justices often points in a conservative direction.

For starters, Justice Scalia said a return to the founders’ vision means states could impose the death penalty on anyone — including juveniles or the mentally retarded, for example — and there would be no abortion rights or rights of assisted suicide for the terminally ill.

“We don’t have the answer to everything, but by God we have an answer to a lot of stuff,” Justice Scalia said in an interview on originalism in September at the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law.

Justice Scalia also insisted that the equal-protection clause of the 14th Amendment wasn’t intended to apply to discrimination based on sex or sexual orientation, and that the Supreme Court has erred by regulating both. “Nobody ever thought” that the Constitution banned sex discrimination, he said.

Sometimes, originalists agree about the founders’ intentions but disagree about overturning deeply rooted precedents that may clash with those intentions. Since the 1960s, for example, the Supreme Court has banned school prayer.

Drawing on the work of liberal and conservative scholars, Justice Clarence Thomas has argued that those decisions are inconsistent with the intention of the framers of the First Amendment, who wanted to prevent the federal government from interfering with established state churches, rather than requiring a wall of strict separation between church and state.

Justice Scalia doesn’t dispute these historical conclusions, but he said that unlike Justice Thomas, he wasn’t ready to reverse the decisions applying the First Amendment’s restrictions on religion to the states. “I’m not going to rip all that up; it’s water under the dam,” he said in a 1997 speech. “In other words, I am an originalist. I am a textualist. I am not a nut.”

Today, the most heated controversy over originalism centers on health care reform. The justice most likely to strike down the new law is Justice Thomas, who has argued that the framers intended for Congress to have far narrower authority to regulate interstate commerce than the modern court has allowed.

His vision might call into question much of the post-New Deal regulatory state, and for pragmatic reasons, Justice Scalia and other conservatives have so far refused to embrace it. “Part of the problem is that we’ve already come so far from the original understanding that I don’t think we’re going to go back very far on this,” said Michael McConnell of Stanford Law School, a leading conservative constitutional historian.

In addition to disagreeing about the value of previous precedents, the conservative justices disagree among themselves about what the founders would have thought about technologies and institutions that didn’t exist when the Constitution was written.

In a November oral argument about a California law restricting minors from buying violent video games, Justices Scalia and Samuel A. Alito debated whether the ratifiers of the First Amendment would have thought that it protected portrayals of violence.

“What Justice Scalia wants to know is what James Madison thought about video games,” and if “he enjoyed them,” Justice Alito said sarcastically. Justice Scalia shot back, “No, I want to know what James Madison thought about violence.” The dispute will be resolved in the opinion, to be issued later this year.

Even when there’s broad scholarly agreement about original understanding, the conservative justices sometimes ignore it.

In a decision last year holding that the states are bound by the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms, the five-member conservative majority — Justices Scalia, Thomas, Alito and Anthony M. Kennedy as well as Chief Justice John Roberts — ignored the consensus among liberal and conservative scholars that framers of the 14th Amendment intended to apply the Second Amendment to the states not through the “due process” clause but instead through the “privileges or immunities” clause, which the court has long overlooked.

Resurrecting this forgotten clause might lead to greater protection for a range of individual rights. “Recently, originalism has taken some serious hits on the court not because of its opponents,” said Professor McConnell, “but because of its proponents, who manifested a distinct lack of interest in following the original understanding when it became inconvenient.”

For this reason, many liberal scholars have concluded that originalism is more of a rhetorical argument than a consistent, principled approach to constitutional interpretation.

“If you took the originalists at their word,” said David Strauss, a liberal University of Chicago law professor, “you could punish people for criticizing the government, the federal government could discriminate against anyone it wanted to, and there’s a real argument that the interstate highway system is unconstitutional. The federal prison system and criminal law would be in serious question, and forget the Federal Reserve. It would be gone.”

In the end, however, many liberal scholars believe that if the court took seriously the text and history of the entire Constitution — including the 16th Amendment, authorizing the income tax, and the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote — then originalism should just as often lead to liberal as conservative results.

On issues like campaign finance, health care, financial reform and gender discrimination, these scholars say, taking the 20th-century amendments as seriously as those passed in the 18th and 19th centuries would guarantee a constitutional originalism that upheld modern visions of liberty and equality.

“I hope Scalia and Thomas succeed in making their colleagues care more about text and history,” said Douglas Kendall, the president of the Constitutional Accountability Center, which argues that originalism can favor progressive causes. “But if they’re honest in reading and considering these sources, it won’t always yield the results the Tea Party wants.”

Jeffrey Rosen is a law professor at George Washington University and the legal affairs editor of The New Republic.