Free marketeers in the toilet in Iceland

These are evidently pictures of bankers who fled Iceland after leading the country into bankruptcy. A restaurant in Reykjavik paid homage to them in this clever way. Could similar tributes be organized in lower Manhattan? Or is the U.S.A. still pissing its future away by indulging the acolytes of Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman and the fop pied piper, Ronald Reagan? Ask Timothy Geithner.

(photo from the NYT)

$1.5 billion wind tunnel?

In the first three games at the new Yankee Stadium, there have been seventeen home runs. Yesterdays score was 22-4 with the Indians beating the Yankees. As I watched the spectacle on TV, it seemed that lazy pop flies to right field became homers.

Will this become a chapter in "Great Architectural Disasters"? An appendix to "Form Follows Fiasco?" Will the place have to be re-engineered? Will they have to build a huge screen like the one in the L.A. Coliseum left field when the Dodgers first
moved west?

Stay tuned.

After watching Obama’s first “Open for Questions” session

Old political communications model:

Elect a “conservative” president who maintains a sphinx-like presence.

Rely upon “journalists” and pundits acceptable to Rupert Murdock, G.E. and the corporate owned media along with talking heads from bought-and-paid-for right wing think tanks to blather 24/7 cable TV spin on public events.

Call this “democracy.” (Heimlich maneuver may be necessary at this point.)

New communications model:

Elect a progressive president interested in direct contact with citizens and who’s willing to speak AND listen.

Bypass the carefully selected, well paid, reliable corporate spin doctors. Instead, use a variety of means -- town halls, talk show visits, internet chats, and new media – to frame and motivate public deliberation and debate.

Celebrate modest steps toward a revival of citizen-based democracy.

Prepare for blasts of hot air from those who’ve profited from the Old model.

Probably too utopian, but I’m like that.