zoubekia!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!

(the all-white visual approximation is to protect your baby's anonymity)

Betty White Rides a Shark John Ritter Centaur; Betty White Eats a Shark Hot Dog

One of the maxims (maxima?) I live by is that it's okay to like things that are popular. It took a few years of therapy (high school) for me to come to this realization. Now, two Vampire Weekend albums later, I'm cool with it.

Still, some things, well, some things lose their luster when Internet memes and Facebook groups get a hold of them. I am of course talking about the Golden Girls, who have been a love of this blog's since the start of time. (What's a few Gypsy curses among friends?) Now I know that the Golden Girls were very popular in the 80's, and continue to be popular among 80's nostalgians and gay men of all stripes, but that's just run-of-the-mill interest group popularity that doesn't register much on the full scales of our wide popular culture.

But Betty White in a bikini riding a centaur John Ritter? Betty White Kobayashiing a hot dog? These images came up in my daily news review. Like, they are things in the news. Sigh, Betty. I knew you when.

fancy ride in a free car

in this week's new yorker (a decent issue so far, much to my relief), there is a cartoon of a man standing in front of his burning house. he's holding his hand out to stop the approaching firefighters and the caption reads, "no thanks, i'm a libertarian." it's a fairly typical new yorker cartoon, minus the dog on the therapist's couch and aggravatingly precocious kids.

well, except that there are people who really believe this. if you know me at all, you know i spend more than my fair share of time wondering about people who really distrust the government. i view them like a different species because they fascinate me in an unironic and not-too-judgmental way.

a few days ago, the journal featured an eye-opening story on colorado springs, the second largest city in colorado. voluntary labor and donations are taking over the administration of community centers, garbage collection, street lights and even the police force:

Taxi drivers have been recruited to serve as a second set of eyes for stretched police patrols. Residents can pay $100 a year to adopt a street light. Volunteers are organizing to empty the garbage cans in 128 neighborhood parks. The city is asking private swimming programs to operate its pools, and one of the city's four community centers soon will be run by a church.

granted, colorado springs is the home of focus on the family, not exactly a bastion of progressivism. and yes, colorado springs represents a trend of sorts. like most other cities in america, colorado springs must confront the twin problems of decreasing tax revenues and inflated budgets left over from rosier days (and, in the case of california, a third problem: the inability to raise tax rates). the numbers are not adding up, and more and more drastic measures are being introduced as a result. in fact, new york city just floated a proposal to charge the working homeless rent for shelters. in addition, unemployed homeless people (or at least one individual in a homeless family) will be required to obtain a job before qualifying for a shelter subsidy.

i definitely do not idealize government. it can be and is often inefficient, bullheaded and wasteful. and like in virtually every other aspect of life, many have figured out elaborate ways to game and manipulate the system. even though i've been tempted on more than one occasion to remind government workers that my tax dollars are funding their salaries, i don't really think i'm getting my money's worth when i'm arguing with time warner for the umpteenth time or the asshole at the apple genius bar rolls his eyes at my "problem." so what do people want?

"Let's start cutting stupid programs that cost taxpayers a pot of money," says Tim Austin, a 48-year-old former home builder now looking for a new line of work. "It's so bullying and disrespectful to take money from one man's pocket and put it in another's."

ok fine. but you know, while it's nice to believe that a group of local residents will convene to collect trash in the surrounding area, good luck with that. i'd much rather have a group of people with some degree of accountability and monetary incentives dealing with something as important as basic sanitation. and who's to say what's stupid?

then it makes me think, am i cynical for not believing in voluntary collective action or are the others cynical for eschewing government? is cynicism the issue? are we all mistaken about others' motivations? is there some public/private sweet spot?

jamie dimon appreciates your help

Last spring, he showed his irritation over the Treasury's requirement that banks raise fresh funds before they quit TARP. Speaking at a June hospitality industry conference in New York, Mr. Dimon read aloud a fictitious letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. "Dear Timmy, we are happy to be able to pay back the $25 billion you lent us. We hope you enjoyed the experience as much as we did."

wsj, of course.

you are the champion, my friend

c4ts, i hope you didn't make it into work today bc you were too busy overturning cars in celebration of dook's victory.

and little zoubekia, i hope to meet you soon.

Betty White, 1922 - 2010

Good night, sweet Queen. Forgive me for delivering you to death's door.