…and were thrilled that Obama strongly held his own. The pundits lamented that neither candidates said or did anything memorable. But at a time like this, who cares about the entertainment value of these things.

I was just pleased that Obama came across as experienced, incredibly knowledgeable, and eminently serious about the urgent issues that face this country.

The Times’ editorial said that Obama needs a better counter punch and that may be true. He is an even-handed guy with a tough intelligence. Maybe he needs to show some more of himself and his personal outrage at the state this country is in at the next debate.

On the economy it was hands-down Obama’s show. He was clear and direct in his analysis of the current Wall Street crisis and very straight forward about what he plans to do. His emphasis on the needs of the middle class and the failure of our health care system was strong.

During the foreign policy section, McCain was able to muster the sense that he is experienced and knowledgeable.

But it was downright disgusting to hear him defend the war in Iraq (and even Ronald Reagan’s missle defence shield, which McCain said is what won the Cold War. Huh?)

He never acknowledged what a huge mistake it was to invade Iraq in the first place and still seems to believe that the key to defeating Al Queda is tied to our victory in Iraq. Winning the war in Iraq? It’s like some weird time warp.

Obama, on the other hand, stated clearly that we should NEVER have invaded and can never win and any success in Afghanistan is impossible as long as we’re bogged down in Iraq.

The debate was for the most part cordial and serious. It really exposed the vast differences between the two men. For those who are undecided, I’m curious how the debate will influence their decision.

I fear that McCain’s bogus “I’m old and experienced stance” might be convincing to some who aren’t that familiar with the issues. On the other hand, Obama grasp of the issues was, as always, impressive, and could be convincing to those who worry that he is too inexperienced.

The Dweck Center presents: The American Presidency: Profiling the Candidates with Stanley Renshon, a political scientist and a certified psychoanalyst, considers the character of the candidates in the 2008 presidential election. Renshon is the author of In His Father’s Shadow: The Transformations of George W. Bush.

Sounds interesting, eh?

The Where and When
The Dweck Center at the Brooklyn Public Library at Grand Army Plaza
Sunday, September 28th at 1:30 p.m.
Free

Put it on your calendar. Support Obama at this Park Slope benefit for change. Buy some art in the process; have a great time.

Art Obama is the brainchild of a committee of smart, creative Park Slopers, who are mad as hell and can’t take what’s happening to this country anymore. So they got organized out of frustration and passion and put together this home-grown effort to raise money. Lucky thing they know a lot of New York artists, who were willing donate some terrific art.

On October 3, there will be a silent auction of over 100 small works by American artists to support the election of Barack Obama and down-ticket Democrats.

Proceeds benefit the Obama Victory Fund. Donations also accepted for ActBlue , a clearinghouse supporting progressive House and Senate candidates nationwide. Space is limited, and pre-registration for this event is strongly recommended.

The Where and When:

Friday, October 3, 2008
Silent Auction 7 to 10 pm (bidding 7-9). $25 at the door
62 Eighteenth Street, Brooklyn NY, 5th Floor

Watch tonight’s debate at Bar Reis at 375 Fifth Avenue at 6th Street. The interesting, smart bartenders are so excited about the debate they renamed the beers on tap (see fuzzy picture). There should be a real interesting crowd over there.

This photograph by Tom Martinez shows a Coney Island Street Performer making huge bubbles astonishing a newlywed bride (bottom right).

Yikes.

The Brooklyn Paper has the story. Here’s an excerpt from the BP article about plans to build a mall next door to IKEA. And you thought it was just going to be a BJ’s.

The BJ’s Wholesale Club destined for the Red Hook waterfront might
be part of a six-level shopping plaza with several other stores and
even some residential units, The Brooklyn Paper has learned.

Documents obtained by The Paper reveal that developer Joe Sitt wants
to renovate a historic warehouse on the former Revere sugar refinery;
erect several new buildings for shopping, parking and housing; and
create a 40-feet-wide public esplanade by 2011 along the water’s edge
of the Beard Street property next door to the recently opened Ikea.

Sitt’s company Thor Equities would not comment about the “request
for proposals” that Sitt issued in July, but if the plans are still
current and the city approves a zoning change to allow commercial and
residential development, the project would catapult Red Hook into the
borough’s major big box retail destination.

The documents, which were part of a package to solicit bids from
architects to build the shopping plaza, sought proposals “to maximize
commercial retail square-footage” of at least 400,000 square feet —
larger than Red Hook’s Ikea.

Just wondering. I think I missed the big opening ceremony. May try to pop over there this morning. See ya.

So work has begun on JJ Byrne Park on Fifth Avenue at 3rd Street, home of the Old Stone House. What I didn’t know is that the handball courts were demolished to make way for the changes.

I’m sure that rubbed some people the wrong way.

But according to Phil Abramson, a Parks Department Spokesperson: "We tried to keep them open as long as we could," he told the Park SLope Courier. Previously, they promised the handball players that they’d never be left without their courts.

Promises, promises.

The silver lining is this: there will be eight new handball courts, a basketball court, a skate park and a dog run.

In these photographs by Tom Martinez, artist Ron English stands next to a series of images he created  morphing the facial features of Barack Obama and Abraham Lincoln.   

English has produced a number of these images and has displayed them across the US. 

The images pictured here are at the 
corner of Stratford and Cortelyou Road in Kensington (across the street from the Vox Pop coffee shop).

Deep Joanna had more to share about the new Trader Joe’s at 130 Court Street.

According to our source, changes to the double brass door on Atlantic Avenue side of the old bank needed to be modified for receiving Trader Joe’s deliveries proved troublesome.

Naturally it required approval from the landmark commision, as the building has landmark status. landmark
status and that always takes time. The original door was just a huge
single door. The slight revision was for an expanded double door. They finally did get the approval required to make the changs.

 The building, a former bank, is officially the property of Two Trees Management As reported in the New York Observer, Trader Joe’s signed a lease 14,500 square feet
in the building. Retail space like that can go for more than $100 per square foot for the year.

Deep Joanna did the math: "Therefore
potentially within five years Two Trees Management will have 130 Court Street paid off in full. Afterrwards, it’s just pure profit for them. i’m sure
TJ’s has at least a 10 or 15 year lease although I don’t know for sure…"

Thanks Deep Joanna for info from the new Trader Joe’s.

Government leaders, including Governor David Paterson and Borough President Marty Markowitz were at the New York Army National Guard Armory on Bedford   Avenue in Crown Heights yesterday to call on the public to donate desperately-needed supplies for hurricane relief efforts in Haiti.

Recent hurricanes have left hundreds of residents dead, tens of thousands homeless, and many areas ravaged by hunger, dehydration, destroyed roadways and crumbling infrastructure.

Governor Paterson has directed the opening of the New York Army National Guard Armory in Brooklyn to allow for the collection of donated relief supplies. The facility at 1579 Bedford Avenue at Union Street will be open through September 29th from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Soldiers from the New York National Guard are on hand to receive, sort and prepare for shipment donated items for the citizens of Haiti. In addition, the state is accepting donated items at the Adam Clayton Powell State Office building at 163 West 125th Street at Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd. in Harlem . Hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The most-needed items include:

  •           Bottled water (packed in cases or six packs at a minimum). Single bottles are inappropriate donations since they will have to be repackaged

•           Rice (dried in bags)

•           Beans (dried only and cans)

•           Sterno canisters

•           Tarpaulin – of any size, preferably 10×10 or larger. It is used for both roofing and flooring

•           Nylon cord (100’ rolls)

•           Hygiene items limited to toothbrushes, toothpaste, mild soaps

•           New underclothes – children sizes

•           New hand towels

  For more information, please email relief@chamber.state.ny.us or call (212) 681-4010.

A new public charter school is opening in September 2009 to Community School District 15 students.  For fifth grade families in our district, they will be hosting several Student/Family information sessions throughout the district over the next several months.

Brooklyn Prospect Charter School, a new public school opening to sixth grade students in School District 15 in September, 2009 will begin hosting information sessions for current fifth grade students and their families.

Info Sessions will be held:

October 6th and October 27th, 2008
6:00 to 8:00PM,
New York Methodist Hospital’s East Pavilion Auditorium in Park Slope
Come and meet the team and learn about this new school.

space is limited….RSVP is required;
to view an invitation and reserve tickets log on to our website (www.brooklynprospect.org)

Each evening will feature a short presentation about our school and will allow plenty of time for questions. We encourage parent(s) and the prospective student to attend.

There will be at least six information sessions at different locations throughout the district between now and early spring 2009.

Additionally the Brooklyn Prospect Team is happy to visit your elementary school. Speak with your parent coordinator or guidance counselor and contact Brooklyn Prospect Charter School for a visit.
 

Saints Alive!!
Greg Fuchs and Joanna Sit
Come hear these brainy and charmant poets wax rhapsodic!
6:30. Wednesday, October 1, at Ceol

Ceol       
191 Smith Street
(between Baltic and Warren in Cobble Hill) Brooklyn
(2 blocks from the F train stop @ Bergen)

Excerpt from Songs of December
You said once I was your twin…
who knew when we were
separated? Once the eye
blinks, the parting done, nothing
quite the same after. Seems like we’ve had
lifetimes of practice, years of rehearsals,
to offer up ourselves, to be
torn apart, cut away, again
brushed together, two fires
ablaze then die
out in frigid winter,
leaving one body
aglow with some knowledge
of the other. Who else knows
that sting of brevity?
And I don’t know
how to tell it —
And I don’t know
how it happened.
I’m only the magician’s assistant
in crystal bra and harem pants
busy carrying knives, arrows, torches.
The careless prophet who made us
had since gone. Reason too, gone.
What remains: a rusty scalpel,
a handful of tangled wires
and tiny clumps of clay, proof
of amputation. No one remembers
how long ago that was, but we both
know the body has its own memory
of being there. Now,
it’s December in the drifting city.
It’s my birthday, and our origins flash,
disintegrate, a lost pearl glows
like rapture. What am I made for
if not for you? …’
                                                          

-Joanna Sit

Joanna Sit has taught literature and creative writing at Brooklyn College, NYU, the State University of New York and now teaches writing at Medgar Evers College. Her work has appeared recently in The Tonapah Review, The Relief Journal, Natural Bridge, Fickle Muses, and Poem. Her long poem Bitten by an Unusual Fly was included in the anthology Monologues From the Road, published by Heinemann Press in New Hampshire. She has work forthcoming in Seneca Review. She translates Chinese poetry and recently traveled to Hong Kong to study Cantonese Opera.
                              
                                                                       Say Goodbye
                                                                                        For Gianna Chachere & Valerie Massimi

Never ever acted our age
You too can have a secret blog
But to what end, when you are only cat
With cool tiger stripes makes you Beckett faced
The man with muscular calves
Loves men half his age
Even if he didn’t tell him that the bed
Was wet, the girls partied until the bottles empty
The hurricane caused a disturbance in all our minds
Music of angels only temporarily salves
What is lost in the memory
A city forms identity
The city is gone, so what can we be
In the dispersion it is leveled and understood
That the powerful will keep power
At all cost, the cost of any living being
Tender is the night, journey to its end

-Greg Fuchs

Greg Fuchs is a writer and photographer living in New York City. He has published and exhibited his photography widely. Fuchs’ latest book is Metropolitan Transit, a collection of poems, published by Isabel Lettres, a Brooklyn-based small press. He is the author of Bored of Education (Rock Heals, Baltimore, 2007), Came Like It Went (BD Books, Washington, DC 1999), New Orleans Xmas (Range, Eureka, CA 2002), Rolling Papers (Furniture Press, Baltimore, 2005), Temporary (Unarmed, Minneapolis 2004), Pieces of the Sky (Dusie, Switzerland, 2006) and Uma Ternura (Canvas and Companhia, Portugal, 1998). His poetry is included in the following anthologies: An Other South: Experimental Writing in the South (Loyola University Press, New Orleans, 1999) edited by Ralph Adamo and Bill Lavender; DC Poetry Anthology 1999-2000 edited by Alison Cobb and Jennifer Coleman; Thus Spake The Corpse: An Equisite Corpse Reader 1988-1998 (Black Sparrow, Santa Rosa, CA 1999) edited by Andrei Codrescu and Laura Rosenthal. Fuchs has performed at Beyond Baroque in Los Angeles, Small Press Traffic in San Francisco, the Writers House in Philadelphia, and the Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church In-the-Bowery in New York among many other venues.
.

FYI: Folk music legend Pete Seeger will be at the Chile Pepper Fiesta this Saturday at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Here are the ‘tails:

The  annual Chile Pepper Fiesta is upcoming on Saturday (the 27th) from 10-6 – and we are EXTREMELY excited that this year, folk legend Pete Seeger is performing at our annual Chile Pepper Fiesta in a very rare public appearance. Pete will be performing with his grandson Tao Rodriguez-Seeger and Guy Davis, a bluesman in his own right who also happens to be the son of Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. It’s going to be a very special performance.
The best part is that this is all in addition to the spicy culinary demos and workshops that have become beloved to Chile Pepper Fiesta attendees. And this year we’re psyched to have our magnificent borough represented by:
·         Brooklyn Petro hot sauce company – whose venture was inspired by a trip to the Fiesta a couple of years ago, when they bought their first chile plants;
·         the Sesame Flyers Steel Pan Orchestra – Bklyn teens and youth who lead the West Indian Day parade each year with their incredible steel drumming;
·         the Brooklyn Chili Takedown – a bigger and badder version of this beloved borough-wide event.

I just got this press release from Bill Di Blasio’s Office about his 5-point plan to reduce homelessness in the city. Any responses to this from OTBKB readers?

Families in Shelter

1. Expand Homelessness Prevention Services

Advocates estimate that it costs approximately $33,000 to shelter the average homeless family. In fiscal year 2008, actual spending greatly exceeded this average, with the city budgeting $433 million to cover the cost of 8,848 families in shelter.

In contrast, according to legal services providers, providing anti-eviction legal services for renters in housing court costs approximately $1,785 per case (this is based on the cost of a mid-level attorney with a rigorous case load

While it is not possible to know whether every family that receives anti-eviction legal services would have otherwise entered a homeless shelter, we do know that many families would enter homeless shelters if not for the legal services they received. Providing these services for 5,000 families would cost the City approximately $892,500.  If this measure prevented even 20%, or 1,000, of these assisted families from entering shelter, the City could save a conservative estimate of over $32 million while helping 1,000 families remain in their homes.

2.  Target Federal Housing Aid to the Homeless through Section 8 and NYCHA

In late 2004, Mayor Bloomberg’s administration cut off homeless New Yorkers from longstanding priority for Federal housing programs, including Section 8 vouchers and public housing.

Over the past five years, the City has placed an average of 7,136 persons in housing through Section 8 per year – none of these vouchers were directed toward New Yorkers in shelter.  The City should earmark 10% of future placements for homeless families, which would give at least 300 – 700 families vouchers per year.

In 2008, the City placed 5,220 applicants in public housing through NYCHA.  Ten percent of future NYCHA placements should be earmarked for homeless families, giving approximately 500 families housing each year.

3.  Repair the Flaws in Rental Assistance Programs for the Homeless

The "Work Advantage" program has unrealistic, one-size-fits-all time limits that will cut off rental assistance to struggling families after two years – regardless of a family’s circumstances. This plan was originally offered to 750 families in shelter in the spring of 2007.

In contrast, acclaimed studies by the Vera Institute, the National Alliance to End Homelessness, and academic researchers have found that long-term, flexible housing assistance – like the Federal Section 8 voucher program – helps move families from shelter to their own homes and helps them stay there.

In spring of 2009, the first cohort who entered the Work Advantage program will see their benefits expire.  Not all of these individuals will be prepared at that point to afford their full rents and support their families.  The City should extend subsidies to any families that are still unable to afford their full rent, potentially helping hundreds of families remain in their homes and out of the shelter system.

Individuals in Shelter

4.  Accelerate Construction of Supportive Housing

In 2005, New York City and State signed a ten-year agreement to provide supportive housing for homeless people living with mental illness and other special needs.

However, more than half of the newly constructed supportive housing – 3,276 units of the planned 6,250 new units – will not be built until at least 2011.

City and State officials should accelerate the pace of supportive housing construction. If the city builds approximately 1,000 of these back-loaded units each year, all 3,276 could be available by 2011. 

5.  Halt Referrals of Homeless Adults to Illegal Dwellings:

New York City has referred hundreds of homeless adults – including many living with mental illness – to more than 100 boarding houses that have been identified as unsafe and illegal by advocates.

City inspectors have issued vacate orders to at least 11 illegal boarding houses due to health and fire safety risks – forcing the residents to return to shelters or the streets

City officials should continue to update and monitor the list of these illegal boarding houses, and immediately halt all referrals of homeless adults living with mental illness or other disabilities to them.

Wondering what all that red signage is in the middle of Grand Army Plaza—where the fountain is??? Why, it’s an exhibit presented by the Design Trust for Public Space and the Grand Army Plaza Coalition, which will be there through October 13th. Check it out.

Grand Army Plaza should be one of the world’s great urban spaces. Designed in 1867 by Olmsted and Vaux, this magnificent 11-acre plaza is home to the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Memorial Arch, the elegant Bailey Fountain, the Greenmarket, and the entrance to Prospect Park. Despite its identity as the historic, cultural and geographic heart of Brooklyn, hazardous conditions for pedestrians and cyclists today impede access to neighborhoods, cultural institutions, and prevent use of the Plaza itself.

To catalyze Grand Army Plaza’s rebirth, the Design Trust for Public Space and the Grand Army Plaza Coalition, held an open, international ideas competition in spring 2008 to attract visionary designs for transforming the Plaza. Entrants were encouraged to create bold visions that express the spirit of Brooklyn right now, and did not have to be realistic.

The Reinventing Grand Army Plaza ideas competition resulted in over 200 proposals – from the feasible to the fantastic – submitted from around the world. A distinguished independent jury judged the submissions through an anonymous review, and selected the top 30 proposals to be included in the public exhibit, along with the 4 prizewinning designs.         

From September 13 to October 13, 2008, these visionary plans for a new and improved Grand Army Plaza will be on view in a free, outdoor, public exhibition in the center of the Plaza. Designed by the world-renowned firm Pentagram, this unprecedented exhibit allows the public to imagine the new plans while on site. Visitors to the exhibit will also have the opportunity to vote for their favorite ideas via text message in our People’s Choice Award; the results will be announced on October 8th.

.

From 9pm until 4am, party like it’s 1999 at BAM. All night. It’s the second annual Takeover.

I got this email from the Obama campaign:

Think of all the people you know — your friends, family, colleagues, and neighbors. What if every one of them voted on Election Day?

That’s a lot of votes.

But odds are, many of them aren’t registered — or aren’t sure if they are.

Now there’s an easy way to learn your status and get registered. Our new one-stop voter registration site, VoteForChange.com, lets you do it all: check your registration status, register to vote, request an absentee ballot, and find your early voting site or polling location.

Take a minute today to check out VoteForChange.com, and encourage your friends and family to do the same:

http://my.barackobama.com/vfc

In just the past few weeks, 200,000 people have used VoteForChange.com to register to vote. That’s a remarkable accomplishment, and we’re well on our way to our goal — 1,000,000 people using VoteForChange.com to register to vote before the election.

We’re counting on all of our supporters to help reach this goal by forwarding this email to friends and family.

This election is going to be incredibly close, and we need every single vote we can get to win. But almost everywhere in the country, there are only a couple of weeks left before your registration deadline.

VoteForChange.com makes it easier than ever to confirm your registration. Instead of tracking down the right forms, all you need to do is answer a few basic questions and you’ll be ready to vote.

If you’re not sure if you’re registered or if you have any questions, take a minute to visit the site and make your voice heard on Election Day:

http://my.barackobama.com/vfc

Together, we can turn the tide of the past eight years and bring about the real change this country needs.

But we all need to vote — and first, we all need to be registered.

As reported by Reuters, New York Senator and Park Sloper Charles Schumer says that tougher oversight over $700 billion bailout to taxpayers’
interest must come first.

"We understand the need to act and to act quickly. But we feel …
taxpayers have to come first," Schumer told reporters. "They have to
come ahead of the bondholders, the shareholders, and the executives."
   

"And finally oversight," he added. "You can’t give all this power to
any one person, particularly a non-elected person … without making
sure conflicts of interest are dealt with, that people are treated
fairly."

I peeked through a rip in the plain brown paper on the windows of the space at 189 Seventh Avenue (at 2nd Street) that used to be Second Street Cafe and saw that the newcomers, Kids Rx are nearly finished with their transformation of that space from a restaurant into a drug store.

It’s beginning to look like a drug store albeit an unusual drugstore that specializes in traditional and natural healthcare for kids. Here’s their blurb from their website which is now touting their new Park Slope store:

KidsRx is a real community pharmacy that places special emphasis on the healthcare needs of children.

What makes us different from an ordinary "drugstore"?

KidsRx makes a shift from a product-based service to an information-base service.

KidsRx creates a fun and welcoming atmosphere for child and parent alike. Kids are welcome to play in our waiting area with Thomas The Tank & Friends or sit and watch our overhead train go!

KidsRx specializes in pediatric compounding which allows us to customize a formulation to best suit a patient’s needs. Flavoring, lollipops, transdermal gels (to treat nasuea/vomiting or fever), make hard to find items, custom doses, and create discontinued products.

KidsRx offers comprehensive counseling and follow-up with child and caregiver, always keeping in mind that medicines used improperly can cause a lifetime of consequences in a child.

Here’s this week’s Smartmom from the Brooklyn Paper:

What if Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin called up
Smartmom and demanded a meeting? It would make sense given that both
are working moms often accused of exploiting their families for the
sake of their careers.

If this did happen, Smartmom would almost certainly want to meet up
at Connecticut Muffin on Seventh Avenue after drop off — what better
place for a working mother (even one running for vice president) — to
meet other working moms (mama a mama).

Chances are, Palin would probably seem like any other multi-tasking
Park Slope mother sipping iced coffee, checking her Blackberry and
overseeing little Trig Paxson Van Palin in a Bill and Ted stroller —
except for the men in dark suits talking into their lapels (her Secret
Service detail).

And what if her daughter Piper started throwing pieces of bran muffin at the pigeons like a typical Park Slope 7-year-old?

“Stop playing with that mangy little bird. I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t bring my rifle,” Palin might say.

Dressed in a business suit, funky eyeglasses and power high heels,
Palin would no doubt look like any other ambitious Park Slope working
mom on her way to the law firm or corporate office — except for the
fact that she happens to be a pro-life, anti-gay, fundamentalist
Christian who supports the war in Iraq, believes in the death penalty,
gun control and creationism and, as governor, did little to change a
school system with the lowest high-school graduation rate in the
country.

Still, Smartmom and Sarah have quite a bit in common. Both are
outspoken about being working mothers and love to tell the world about
their children. Both firmly believe that motherhood and the PTA
prepares you for just about anything (but not, Smartmom adds,
everything).

Like Smartmom, Palin believes that being a mom shouldn’t get in the
way of a woman’s goals and ambitions. But that’s easy to say. Not every
woman has the resources or the stamina for the double life of a working
mother. Nor can everyone afford to pay for a great babysitter, daycare,
and someone to help clean the house — those things that make working
life less taxing.

Smartmom found herself wondering what her mommy friends would say if
they saw Palin sitting at Connecticut Muffin. So she asked them.

Warm & Funny, a widow who lost her firefighter husband on 9-11,
e-mailed with this: “Facing a cafe full of stroller moms is probably a
lot more harrowing than shooting a wolf point-blank from a helicopter.

“Looking around at all the exhausted moms, clearly Palin understands
the sacrifice and commitment it takes to raise a healthy, secure
child,” Warm & Funny added. “So I am confused why she would ask
someone without resources, a husband and money to have a child even if
she was raped or the victim of incest.”

Smartmom’s pal, Wisegal, a working writer with a special-needs kid,
had this to say: “Most experts agree that children — especially
children with disabilities — ought to nurse their children for at least
a year. I guess that means that Palin will be pumping on the campaign
bus and carrying her youngest from state to state for three months?”

Opera Diva, a successful opera singer, voice teacher and mother of a
13-year-old boy, said that Palin’s right to be proud of her daughter’s
decision. “Thank God she lives in a free country where she still has
the right to choose,” Opera Diva said.

If Palin came to Park Slope, the land of Obama posters and buttons,
Smartmom would also want to show her some of the area’s great public
schools (where education is valued above all else), the Food Co-op
(where organic food, green politics and Socialist values co-exist
reasonably), the Community Bookstore, which carries many of the books
Palin wanted to ban as governor, and Babeland, the sex toys for women
shop near Flatbush Avenue, where, well, you know.

Smartmom would want to show off the small town feeling of Park Slope
and all of its interesting and opinionated citizens. However, if Palin
was hoping to snag a few undecided voters on Seventh Avenue she’d be in
for a surprise.

Clearly, she’s no fool, but maybe she doesn’t understand just how
different the Park Slope doctrine is from, say, the Bush doctrine.

Smartmom tried to imagine sitting with Palin at the green plastic
table in front of her apartment building sipping Chardonnay at the end
of the day. Parker could play with Mrs. Kravitz’s son over by the
garbage pails while Trig slept in her lap.

Mrs. Kravitz once donated a kidney to her husband and is a strong
believer in stem cell research, something that Palin opposes. She said
she’d surely ask the governor why she’s against something that could
help save lives.

In her fantasy, Smartmom imagined the limousine that would come to
take Palin, Trig and Parker away. And she imagines how glad she would
be to see her go because Sarah Palin isn’t the kind of mom that
Smartmom likes to hang out with.

Not only is she anti-choice, anti-gay and anti-everything that
Smartmom believes in, she displays a mean, disdainful attitude toward
people she disagrees with.

And if John McCain believes that he’s going to get even one vote
from the women who supported Hillary Clinton, he’s got something else
coming.

Now Hillary is someone Smartmom would love to have coffee with at Connecticut Muffin. Whaddya say, Senator?

Park Slope resident Charles M. Blow is now an Op-Ed columnist in the NY Times. Here’s the announcement from April 2008 by Andrew Rosenthal.   

When last seen around these here parts, or at least
the parts on 43rd Street, Charles was in the newsroom, helping to guide
the paper’s design as deputy design director for news, a position that
he created.
 
 

Before that, of course, he was our pioneering
Graphics Editor, introducing Times readers to the kind of ambitious,
authoritative and beautiful charts, maps and other kinds of graphics
that are now an ingrained part of our journalism. Charles left The
Times for a new challenge, at National Geographic Magazine, where he
was Art Director, rebuilding the art department and attracting
world-renowned visual journalists. In addition to producing scientific
illustrations, maps and graphics, his staff developed and pitched
stories.

He is returning to us as a columnist, but an
entirely new kind of columnist a visual columnist, if you will. Charles
will do his own Op-Charts, lending his formidable skills and distinct
style to that form of opinion journalism. And, equally exciting, he
will create a new kind of journalistic space on our website. I’d call
it a blog if I were given to using that word. Charles envisions a
gathering place for visual journalists, especially those who use
numbers and images and charts to express opinion. It will be just the
kind of “you won’t find it anywhere else” feature that ought to be on
nytimes.com.
 
 

Charles will be working from the columnist
zone on the 13th floor. I was devastated when he left The Times,
because he was a great colleague, a great mind and a great leader. I
couldn’t be happier to welcome him back. – Andrew Rosenthal

Charles has a piece in today’s Times’ called Lipstick Bungle.

TODAY: Learn about social media, personal branding and audience building at this month’s Brooklyn Blogade, a monthly meeting of Brooklyn
bloggers. These monthly gatherings, which meet all over Brooklyn, are
open to bloggers, blog readers, those interested in blogging, and those
thinking about blogging. Here are the ‘tails about today’s Blogade.

This month’s blogade takes place TODAY Sunday September 21 at 1 p.m. in Williamsburg at Juliette – just
off the L at Bedford (great large roofdeck perfect for margaritas)
http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/juliette/

The group will be gathering on the rooftop (weather permitting) at 1PM and
talking about how to build your personal brand (your blog’s identity)
and how to use social media (like Twitter and Facebook fan pages) to
grow your brand and expand your audience.

Please RSVP: email directly: christine.brodi…@gmail.com. She had this to say:

In the meantime, I’d like to invite you to get started setting up a

few social assets, please open the following accounts and friend/

follow me:

www.facebook.com (start your account and search for Chrissie Brodigan

and send me a friend request – and, if possible set up a Facebook Fan

page for your blog)

www.twitter.com (start your account and give me a follow at chrissieb

– and I will follow you back!)

   GRAPH THIS!

We knew he had the talent,

We knew he was a scoper,

But who, I wonder, knew

Charles Blow’s a Park Slowper?

Read all about it in today’s newspapers…

NY Times Headline: $700 Bailout Is Sought for Wall Street in Vast Bailout
Daily News: Headline: Biggest Bailout Since the 1930’s.

This from the Times:

The Bush administration on Saturday formally proposed a vast bailout
of financial institutions in the United States, requesting unfettered
authority for the Treasury Department to buy up to $700 billion in
distressed mortgage-related assets from the private firms.

The proposal, not quite three
pages long, was stunning for its stark simplicity. It would raise the
national debt ceiling to $11.3 trillion. And it would place no
restrictions on the administration other than requiring semiannual
reports to Congress, granting the Treasury secretary unprecedented
power to buy and resell mortgage debt.

“This is a big package,
because it was a big problem,” President Bush said Saturday at a White
House news conference, after meeting with President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia. “I will tell our citizens and continue to remind them that
the risk of doing nothing far outweighs the risk of the package, and
that, over time, we’re going to get a lot of the money back.”

Take a look at the Q&A by David Stout in the  New York Times meant to explain the Wall Street Bailout plan. Here’s an excerpt.

Q. So is it fair to say that Americans who
are neither rich nor reckless are being asked to rescue people who are?
What is in this package for responsible homeowners of modest means who
might be forced out of their homes, perhaps for reasons beyond their
control?

A. Yes, you could argue that
people who cannot tell soybean futures from puts, calls and options are
being asked to clean up the costly mess left by Wall Street. To make
the bailout palatable to the public, it is being described as far
better than inaction, which administration officials and members of
Congress say could imperil the retirement savings and other investments
of Americans who are anything but rich.

Q. How is it that the administration and
Congress, which have not tried to find huge amounts of money to, say,
improve the nation’s health insurance system or repair bridges and
tunnels, can now be ready to come up with $700 billion to rescue the
financial system? And is it realistic to think that the parties can
reach agreement and get legislation passed in a hurry?

A.
The first question will surely come up again, involving as it does not
just issues of spending policy but also more profound questions about
national aspirations. As for rescuing the financial system, elected
officials in both parties became convinced that, while a couple of
venerable investment banks could fade into oblivion or be absorbed by
mergers, the entire financial system could not be allowed to collapse.

Art Obama’s website is still a work in progress but it is up and running and you can take a look at some of the art and decide, which pieces you want bid on. Every penny goes to the campaign of the man who MUST be president.

Art Obama is the brainchild of a committee of smart, creative Park Slopers, who are mad as hell and can’t take what’s happening to this country anymore. So they got organized out of frustration and passion and put together this home-grown effort to raise money. Lucky thing they know a lot of New York artists, who were willing to get on board.

On October 3, there will be a silent auction of over 100 small works by American artists to support the election of Barack Obama and down-ticket Democrats. 

Proceeds benefit the Obama Victory Fund.  Donations also accepted for ActBlue , a clearinghouse supporting progressive House and Senate candidates nationwide. Space is limited, and pre-registration for this event is strongly recommended. 

Friday, October 3, 2008
Silent Auction 7 to 10 pm (bidding 7-9). $25 at the door
62 Eighteenth Street, Brooklyn NY, 5th Floor