The Selection of Jack Lew, Citibank's Shadow and The Jack Lew Signature Generator

G-d bless America, land of freedom, guns and distraction. The hubub concerning the selection of White House Chief of Staff Jacob (Jack) Lew as US Treasury Secretary replacing Timothy Geitner initially became more concerned with his loopy, unrecognizable signature, than with what the country could expect from this ostensibly low-key managager, organizationally capable, but who was portrayed as more government than Wall Street insider. Today, of course,  the Washington Post has now reported that in fact Lew was at Citibank during the critical 2006-2008 period when the bank nearly exploded. And he wasn't just there, he was Treasury secretary nominee Jack Lew has spent most of his career in government, but during the financial crisis, he was embedded inside one of the country’s biggest banks as it nearly imploded.

Washington Post: "From 2006 to 2008, he worked at Citigroup in two major roles, a notable line in his résumégiven that as Treasury secretary, he would be charged with implementing new rules regulating Wall Street.But Lew did not have just any position at the bank."

"In early 2008, he became a top executive in the Citigroup unit that housed many of the bank’s riskiest operations, including its hedge funds and private equity investments. Massive losses in that unit helped drive Citigroup into the arms of the federal government, which bailed out the bank with $45 billion in taxpayer money that year."

"The group had been under pressure to compete with similar units at other big Wall Street firms and, some analysts say, took on too many risks as it played catch-up."The mismanagement of risk was comprehensive at that organization,” said Simon Johnson, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Details about Lew’s exact responsibilities at Citigroup, where he worked from 2006 to 2008, are scant. He declined to comment for this article." Full article here

Of course, the folk wisdom has it that, despite his "low profile in banking and with Wall Street," his cool, low key negotiating style will help with budget negotiations in Congress.  This all remains to be seen in the weeks ahead.

Most supporters of the President have accepted this selection, despite the recent petition campaign, led by actor/activist Danny Glover, to have Nobel Prize winner and NY Times Columnist Paul Krugman nominated as Treasury Secretary. Krugman has long suggested investment in Americans, rather than austerity, as the jump start the economy requires. That effort, which garnered more than 200,000 signatures, is outlined here (Krugman, likely confirming his Nobel Prize-winning intellect, expressed no interest in the job.) To sign the petition anyway, go here

Time will tell, and if the Citibank questions will create any ruckus during Mr. Lew's appointment hearings with Congress. And certainly, "Then time will tell just who fell/And who’s been left behind/When you go your way and I go mine" here


Speaking of signatures, which is how this essay began, White House Chief of Staff Jacob Lew joked about his poor penmanship (as shown above) after President Obama nominated him for Treasury secretary. Could the greenback, recognized as classic lucre, mazuma, gelt, bucks, benjamins,  around the world, survive the scribble signature of the presumptive Treasury Secretary?

Now Yahoo's engineers have brilliantly developed a system to convert your own scrawl into the Jack Lew bubble script. See for yourself here

G-d bless America...Distractum Ergo Sum

NY Post Reports NJ-NY Ferry Crash in Lower Manhattan

Ferry crash dozens injured as Seastreak ferry from Highlands, NJ slams into a lower Manhattan pier details here
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/several_injured_in_ferry_crash_ljGasCq4OatH6k3eyqvpZM

Coda: CNN guests discuss host-guest gunplay

As a follow up to yesterday's discussion of the Piers Morgan Alex Jones debate DITHOB reported that the only logical next step to the Right to Bear Arms is that everyone will carry weapons. That idea makes its way through the Zeitgeist as shown here

» Piers Morgan and Guests Discuss Shooting Alex Jones Alex Jones' Infowars: There's a war on for your mind!
http://www.infowars.com/veiled-threat-piers-morgan-guest-says-shoot-alex-jones/

Sadly, while this may be a sideshow to the Conn. shootings, it is a continuing example of the lunacy and confusion on the issue of guns in America. To quote the Marx Brothers in Duck Soup- "I've got guns, you've got guns, all God's children got guns"

In Memoriam: Sol Yurick

Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn has previously recognized the vision and talent of Brooklyn author and resident Sol Yurick. Mr. Yurick died on Saturday, January 5, at age 87, at his home in Prospect Lefferts Gardens from cancer.

Author Jonathan Lethem told the NY Daily News "[His] work meant a tremendous amount to those who lived in the city in the 60s and 70s."  Lethem said "He had a talismanic quality. He was of the street, the place, the milieu that couldn't be understood without a grasp of the everyday."  More from the NY Daily News obit here

Beyond Mr. Yurick's iconic novel (made into a film), "The Warriors", long-time readers of DITHOB might recall that this website was also very taken with Mr. Yurick's obscure but absolutely visionary and prescient book-length essay, published in 1985 by Autonomedia, "Behold Metatron: The Recording Angel."  As I respectfully wrote in 2008, "Behold Metatron is heavy stuff, relentlessly visionary, the material problem seen through a lens of advanced capitalism and electronic philosophy. Picture Wired Magazine crossed with Fortune Magazine but edited by William Blake. Metaphysics, economics, art and intellect of an high order, coalescing into an interpretation of an emerging electronic universe. Forget Al Gore, perhaps Mr. Yurick conceptualized, if not anticipated, the Internet, globalization, the flow of information and data across galaxies of cable and wireless realms, sometimes directed, sometimes chaotic, but always having impact..."

As Mr. Yurick wrote: "...the old philosopher's stone could convert base metals into gold. now humans, real estate, social relations are converted into electronic signs carried in an electronic plasma. the dream of magical controll has never been exorcised. perhaps, after all, modern capitalism is a great factory for the production of angels."

 More here on Mr. Yurick's vision and talent

--Anthony Napoli, Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn

Heroes: 'The Next Day' --New David Bowie Album

THis is the video from the newly released single by David Bowie, "Where Are We Now?" from the forthcoming album, The Next Day, due March 12, his first new reecorded material in ten years.

On the Piers Morgan - Alex Jones Contretemps

In one of the more hyper-ventilated digressions in the aftermath of the Connecticut school shootings, CNN host Piers Morgan had a face off with Alex Jones, he of the Infowars and Prison Planet websites, who has been calling for the deportation of Morgan based on the British newsman's calls for U.K.-like limitations on the availability of weapons in the U.S.

The passions following the shooting of the school children, are only further inflamed by the mystery as to causes (psychotropic medications?) This has led Jones, among others, to fulminate on the perceived threat to America's Second Amendment, adopted in 1791, and upheld in subsequent Supreme Court decisions, the  Right to Bear Arms.

First off, gimme a break - this Morgan vs. Jones "debate" has all the makings of a scam, an act, both Jones and Morgan ultimately out for publicity, viewers, page visits, what have you - like Andy Kaufman and Jerry Lawler in the ring (no offense to the memory of those two great performers). More media hooplah, where not a lot gets solved, only tossed around, like crap in a monkey cage.

Speaking of which, one suspects Alex Jones is all talk, a fat slob who couldn't defend himself with his fists, so of course he would be the first one to reach for a gun. Piers Morgan is no saint, a Fleet Street hack apparently tied up with the hacking scandal (which Jones through on the table in his conversation with Morgan), and whose Brit accent in the States gives him more journalistic credentials than he probably deserves. But Alex Jones on the other hand for all of the curious aggregatorum in extremis that appears on his blogs, is a paranoid buffoon. As are most of  the pro-gun, anti-democracy whackadoos who need to cuddle with their firearms so they won't be afraid of the dark as they cry for their mommy. And think,  dummies, the State is always going to have more firepower than the individual. Who are you kidding? That's why democracy, consensus and the rule of law need to be strengthened. Jones, who styles himself an American patriot has the temerity to quote Chairman Mao "political power comes out of the barrel of a gun" and uses the tragic attacks on women in India as a justification for weapons in the US -- all ludicrous. A struggle for a civilized society requires education, mutual respect, consensus when possible, patience and compromise, not extremism borne out of ignorance, bigotry and hostility.

And while it would be simple to just wish for a day where battle royales such as this could be replaced by an intelligent dialogue on all sides, all I can think, in this battle, Alex Jones better be careful what he wishes for. After all, in the aftermath of his longed for destruction of the "New World Order" as Jones styles it, everyone no doubt would be armed, even Piers Morgan.  After that, the only solution to any heated disagreement would likely be-- to come out shooting.

-Anthony Napoli, Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn

The Atlantic: "2 Charts that Show Exactly Who Won the Fiscal Cliff Deal"

Full article by Matthew O'Brien from The Atlantic here

Politics Makes Strange Bedfellows - Even in the Same Party

Boehner, Cantor and the Debt vs. Cuts vs. Taxes debate. Speaker John Boehner sees that the Democrats by virtue of the election results are largely in the driver's seat. Majority Leader of the House Eric Cantor does not wish to yield to the Presdient or the Dem minority. Despite GOP claims to the contrary, they voted oppositie to each other in the "Cliff" vote. Is this a GOP palace intrigue?  If Cantor were to somehow become Speaker, would he be able to yield power anymore effectively than Boehner in the face of the threatened unpopular massive cuts that many Republican congresspersons (including recent VP candidate Paul Ryan, who is far to the right on taxes) sought to avoid?

Full article from The Guardian here

In additon, Chris Christie verbally pummels the House speaker over failure to push through House 'Sandy' relief bill. 'That's why people hate Washington DC'  here

NOTE: Given the full fury in play in Congress over taxes, see LINCOLN for the political chicanery, strong arming and political warfare undertaken in an effort to end slavery.

2013: The Future Is Unwritten

Impossible to predict. Plan for the worst. Hope for the best. Dream a little dream. Joy lies more often in the potential than in the real. Whatever midnight or tomorrow or the day or the months after bring, best wishes for the new year from Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn.

On the Brink

2013 looks like a year of tax increases no matter what- whether we go over the fiscal cliff or not.

What the impact may be on working stiffs and HENRY (high earner not rich yet) is spelled out in this article and graphic in the Atlantic magazine http://m.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/12/this-is-how-much-your-taxes-will-rise-if-we-fall-off-the-fiscal-cliff/266696/?wpisrc=nl_wonk

The 'Django' Debate Unchained: Seeking a Post-Tarantino Society?

Does 'Django''s pop sensibility expand and prompt awareness of the reality of slavery in the USA and its after effects encouraging thought and discussion. Or does it trivialize this critical subject by focusing on violence. Why did "Inglorious Basterds" dealing with Holocaust retribution against the Nazis receive more universally positive support than 'Django' has received. Besides Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey the most interesting slavery related film I have seen and written about here previously is Kevin Wilmott's C.S.A. which provides an alternative view of history as though the Confederacy had won the Civil War. Tarantino is another view perhaps disturbing perhaps not everyone's cup of tea but certainly a film for the 21st century that deserves to be seen and talked about by all Americans. The US is not a post-racial society despite the election and reelection of President Obama. Perhaps that is why the discussion needs to continue.
--Tony Napoli, Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn

A view against Django from the LA Times -- "'Django' an unsettling experience for many blacks"
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-django-reax-2-20121228,0,1771716.story

NPR: Is 'Django' the Blackest Film Ever?

Revenge fantasy. Empowerment. Black power. I was watching Sophie's Choice the other night and in the scenes at the camps there were thousands of prisoners guarded by armed but much smaller numbers of Nazis. Why didn't they throw themselves into the breach and fight at the railroad disembarkation points? Many would have been killed but could the guards be overpowered ?

A slave owner in Django Unchained asks the same question: why don't the slaves just rise up and kill their masters ?

Django is violent, historic, bizarre, comic and expressing that unique Quentin Tarantino pop perspective that riffs on culture, history, race, and values through a prism that makes viewers wince at the violence, laugh at the ignorant slave owners and crackers, and at the same time force viewers to think- which side are you on?
Tony Napoli for Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn


NPR talks about Django, the reaction of some film makers, and whether Spike Lee, who is critical of director QuentinTarantino's work, could have made this movie. Transcript here http://www.npr.org/2012/12/28/168202846/is-em-django-unchained-em-the-blackest-film-ever

Merry Christmas!

Reconstruction and Crisis in Haiti as Redevelopment Falters Following 2010 Earthquake

World attention focused on Haiti following the earthquake on January 10, 2010. However, nearly three years after the initial resolve to bring relief and even advancement in housing and infrastructure, results are sorely lacking. As the NY Times reports in an article by Deborah Sontag, "This represents a marked deflation of the lofty ambitions that followed the disaster, when the world aspired not only to repair Haiti but to remake it completely. The new pragmatism signals an acknowledgment that despite billions of dollars spent — and billions more allocated for Haiti but unspent — rebuilding has barely begun and 357,785 Haitians still languish in 496 tent camps.

“When you look at things, you say, ‘Hell, almost three years later, where is the reconstruction?’ ” said Michèle Pierre-Louis, a former prime minister of Haiti. “If you ask what went right and what went wrong, the answer is, most everything went wrong. There needs to be some accountability for all that money."

NY Times article here http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/24/world/americas/in-aiding-quake-battered-haiti-lofty-hopes-and-hard-truths.html

DITHOB: The world moves on from crisis to crisis, at home and abroad, in Haiti as in the Rockaways, and for reasons based on the bootstrap individualism of advanced capitalism, or the history of poverty and colonialism on the west end of the island island of Hispaniola, the people wait and wait and wait...

When James Westerberg Came to Brooklyn: Iggy Pop in Bath Beach (Circa 1982)

..."An Italian-American roadie of Iggy’s suggested he move to Bensonhurst (“a Mafia neighborhood”) to get away from the temptations and high rents of Manhattan for a while, so he did. In a 2003 interview with MTV, in which he noted that very few people knew he’d lived there, his memories of Bath Beach gave a vivid and accurate picture of that area in the ‘80s:

"The intersection by my house had a Catholic Church, the police station, the pizzeria, and the corner where the dealers sold Quaaludes. I was recording an album [Zombie Birdhouse] for Chris Stein’s label, riding the subway out to sessions. Nobody in the neighborhood knew who I was. Then I played the Brooklyn Zoo that summer and all the hoodlums came up. This one guy, John, he was this handsome burglar. He was so impressed he said he’d steal me anything I’d like. I was like “No, thanks, that’s okay.”... from Dave Mandl's article in Flavorwire, full text here
Thanks, Neph!.