Bloomie for POTUS

When I was 16 years old, I had my Jewish confirmation in the sanctuary of Main Line Reform Temple. We were all supposed to give speeches during the ceremony, and, being the politically-obsessed geek that I was in high school, I stood up and gave a speech about how we should all take our responsibility to vote seriously (ironic, since I couldn't do so for another two years). I also threw in a word or two about how great Arlen Spector was; I was working on his primary campaign at the time, trying to ensure he beat the pants off an opponent who authored the infamous Pennsylvania Abortion Law and who insisted that a woman who is raped cannot get pregnant because her brain defensively secretes an enzyme that eats the fetus. (And that dude's wife was a nurse!) After my speech, my rabbi emphasized that each member of the confirmation class had written his or her own speech. Later, a curmudgeonly old guy was kind enough to inform me that the rabbi had said this so as not to appear to be endorsing a candidate and thus risk losing the synagogue's charitable status. I'm not sure this would actually happen - there is such a thing as free speech in this country, even inside a synagogue. But nevertheless, ever since then I have been a little bit more reticent to share my political beliefs with a large group of strangers.

Well, here goes... MICHAEL BLOOMBERG FOR PRESIDENT! C'mon Mike, you know you wanna! [And here, dear friends, I digress from saying terrible things about a certain other NYC mayor currently dreaming about 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Just in case Bloomie does run, I wouldn't want to disqualify myself from getting a job with his campaign due to a blogosphere indiscretion that no one but H and my mother-in-law will read anyway.] Anyway, I really do think he's the best candidate out there: smart, independent, creative, fiscally responsible, committed to the environment, pragmatic in the best sense of the word. If any one politician deserves credit for pulling NYC out of its post-9/11 doldrums - and for protecting it from further harm ever since - it's Bloomberg. He may decide not to run - hey, remember I said the guy was smart? - but for now, I'm still keeping hope alive.

In other news... the Cheshire Lodge in St. Louis is quite the trip. Like somebody decided to stage a Shakespearean play in Dr. Frankenstein's castle. But that's pretty much all you're gonna get from me, because I waited too long to pen the sequel to the last post and now the moment has passed. SORRY! You can check it out for yourself for less than $100/night.

Also, I can honestly recommend TWO new movies out now - how often does that happen? MICHAEL CLAYTON was fantastic. I had very high expectations for a movie written by Tony Gilroy that starred both George Clooney and Sydney Pollack, and this one did not disappoint. But the even bigger surprise (though not necessarily the superior of the two movies) was GONE BABY GONE. Good acting, plot twists I didn't see coming... and it was directed by Ben Affleck!?! Now, I was never one to disparage good ol' Ben in the first place. Probably because 1) I never actually saw any of his crappy movies, only the early good ones; 2) he's hot; 3) he seems relatively intelligent and has both a sense of humor and a good grasp of politics; 4) he's hot; and 5) he had the good sense to trade in the old Jennifer for a much newer and improved model. But I really didn't expect this. I mean, every so often I would tear myself away from the movie to think: "really? Affleck did this? You go, Affleck!" Or even: "take that, Matt Damon!" -- D