Debate Reveals: Romney's Magic Underwear

NEW YORK — Regardless of who one thinks won presidential debate II—and we think it was a draw—it dig reveal two very important things. 1) President Obama secretly supports breast cancer research and women's health (see right) and 2) Gov. Willard Mitt Romney's "magic underwear" is sometimes visible beneath the cuffs of his shirts (see below). Silly? Maybe.
 But, definitely revealing.

For the record, we despise the use of religion in politics and strongly believe that Mormons the vast majority of Mormons are outstanding, charitable, and caring community leaders. Our issue is with Mr. Romney, whom we believe to be a lying, job-killing, money-exporting, consistently misleading bloviator. Thus, when he ends his debate performance with several unabashed lies: 

I care about 100 percent of the American people. I want 100 percent of the American people to have a bright and prosperous future. I care about our kids. I understand what it takes to make a bright and prosperous future for America again. I spent my life in the private sector, not in government. I’m a guy who wants to help with the experience I have, the American people.

Then proceeds to conclude with an emphatic statement of his faith, we believe that his use of faith is as fair game as his consistently misleading words:

My — my passion probably flows from the fact that I believe in God. And I believe we’re all children of the same God. I believe we have a responsibility to care for one another. I — I served as a missionary for my church. I served as a pastor in my congregation for about 10 years. I’ve sat across the table from people who were out of work and worked with them to try and find new work or to help them through tough times.

Indeed, we believe that Gov. Romney is devout in his religious beliefs. If anyone doubts this faith, they only need to look at the pictures below, which clearly illustrate his adherence to his faith's doctrines regarding undergarments.

However, Gov. Romney has avoided the specifics of his faith for the two decades of his political career. His religion is important to him. And, we applaud his faith. The issue is that he dances around it in front of more conservative audiences, because all too many evangelicals despise the Mormon church, often deriding it as a "cult." Thus, we believe it was actually quite brave of him to wear his sacred garments in such a visible way in  the debates.

At the same time, his campaign has, through surrogates—and Romney's silence—consistently mocked President Obama's "otherness." Whether it be through  an incessant, unprecedented questioning of the President's birth certificate or the constant allusions to his father's Muslim faith, Willard "Mitt" Romney has all too often stood silent, as surrogates, superpacs, and the right wing media machine spin deceitful attacks on the President's "true faith," "origin," or "allegiance to the United States." Thus, this "gotcha" is, in our eyes, fair game, especially when his very recent attempts to ground his campaign in "faith" are most likely the function of a seriously cynical strategic decision to leverage "faith" as a way to quietly cast aspersions on the President's ethnic heritage.

Indeed, the GOP and the Romney campaign, through their proxies across the right-wing media-juggernaut have consistently sought to question President Obama's faith, his Christianity, and the origin of his birth. For his part, Gov. Romney has stood mute, time and again, as the GOP media elite's sought to plant large seeds of doubt in the minds of impressionable voters about whether or not the President is Muslim, and thus, in their eyes "foreign" and "un-American." Indeed, Gov. Romney's speeches to his partisans have consistently tried to paint the President's policies, values, and goals as "foreign." This, of course is simply and extension of the "Southern Strategy" crafted by Nixon's 1968 presidential campaign to leverage the racism, or at least fear of that which is "other" to extricate white working class voters from an uneasy Democratic coalition in rural and southern states.

With some success, this strategy continues to work in many battleground districts across Middle America, particularly in areas where the economy continues to stagnate or even decline. Here, the Romney campaign and its superpac surrogates, sow doubts about the President's economic, social, and foreign policy agendas by incessantly questioning the American-ness of his psyche by casting odd allusions to the "legitimacy" of his birth certificate, while building an imaginary spiritual bridge to Kenya, and thus, "Islam," while their less direct surrogates suggest in blog after blog that President Obama's true agenda is to "place America under Sharia law."

Unfortunately, if Gov. Romney continues to refuse to refute the brash and untrue tidings set forth by his surrogates, his party, and his supporters, it is completely fair to point out that he is indeed a man wholly devoted to his own, very distinctive "faith." For the curious observer, please look closely beneath the cuff on the left of the photos below.

The Bain of Our Existence

New York — With the release of the "Bain Files," Gawker proves to be on the verge of becoming a legitimate news source. With major pick-ups by major news organizations across the globe, we hope that Gawker pursues more of this kind of content, while limiting the nude photos of dead gun men. That said, "The Bain Files" demonstrate that the true goal of today's investment firms is not to build and support "business-building" in the traditional sense, but to help hyper-wealthy clients to profit from the misery of others.

Through short-sales, default swaps, and overly leveraged buyouts, firms such as Bain bet against American business and innovation, while minimizing (to the extreme) the tax liability of the firm's partners.

One wonders how much these schemes have contributed to the national debt and our annual state, federal, and local budget deficits, as the wealthiest among us seek to pay lower rates than their landscapers, cooks, and maids.

A TRASHY, EXPENSIVE IDEA: Bloomberg's East Harlem Marine Transfer Station is DOUBLE the Cost of Current System

NEW YORK—Such a boondoggle! At the request of Councilmember Jessica Lappin, THE CITY OF NEW YORK INDEPENDENT BUDGET OFFICE prepared a scathing, nonpartisan indictment of Mayor Bloomerg and Council Speaker (and likely mayoral candidate) Christine Quinn's ridiculous plan to achieve "environmental justice" by aggregating all of Manhattan's residential trash and processing and containerizing it on a so-called "marine transfer station" to be located just two hundred yards from East Harlem/Yorkville's public housing projects and immediately adjacent to a public park used annually by more than 1 million New Yorkers.

Council Member Jessica S. Lappin
Council of the City of New York
250 Broadway
Room 1762
New York, NY 10007
 
Dear Council Member Lappin:
At your request, the Independent Budget Office has prepared an estimate of the cost of constructing and operating the East 91st Marine Transfer Station (MTS) compared to continuation of the interim plan of exporting waste to transfer stations in New Jersey under short-term contracts. Based on IBO’s analysis, the present value of the twenty-year cost of exporting under interim contracts to transfer stations in New Jersey is $218.9 million, compared with $554.3 million for export at the East 91st MTS. We estimate that the cost per ton in the first year the new facility could be operating is $90 for the interim plan and $238 for the East 91st MTS....

PLAIN AND SIMPLE, Bloomberg and Quinn's plan represents an INCREASE of 153% increase in the total cost of trash export or an extra $335.4 million, which could have gone to homeless programs, low-income housing, or education over the next 20 years. This is NOT environmental justice, this is government WASTE.

An Unfair Way to Handle Trash

NEW YORK — For some strange reason, the Mayor of New York, The NYC Sanitation Department, and The New York Times believes that putting a massive two-acre, 10-story, 24-hour trash transfer station adjacent to four public parks, several low-income housing projects, a major (primarily low-income) public hospital, several primarily low-income public schools, numerous churches and synagogues, a major Islamic center, and the most densely populated section of all New York City constitutes some bizarre form of "environmental justice."

We are not sure what happened since June of last year, when The Times took into account the objections the residents of the Stanley M. Isaacs Houses, whose public housing sits adjacent to the proposed trash transfer station:

Lorraine Johnson says she remembers the garbage trucks that lined up near her housing project on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, to unload trash at a marine sanitation station on the East River. They made noise, spewed diesel fumes, attracted rats and smelled bad — “like dead bodies,” she said.

“I have nightmares just thinking that there’s a possibility that they might come back,” said Ms. Johnson, 66, a disabled resident of the Stanley M. Isaacs Houses, at 94th Street and First Avenue.

The proximity of public housing figures prominently in a battle by Upper East Side residents to derail a city plan to reactivate a waste transfer station on the East River at 91st Street. In lawsuits, rallies and lobbying in the State Legislature, they argue that economically disadvantaged residents, already struggling, should not be saddled with additional problems.

“How can you ignore the fact that the closest community is 80 percent minority?” said Anthony Ard, president of the Gracie Point Community Council, a neighborhood group that was founded to fight the plan.

While The Times article also brought the environmental justice arguments of those outside Manhattan into the discussion, they previously gave voice to the residents most affected by the proposal.

Indeed, we staunchly disagree with the rationale behind this project. The 91st Street Marine Transfer Station will not improve "environmental justice" within New York City. Instead, this floating garbage dump will:

• Dramatically increase air pollution and asthma risk throughout one of New York's worst neighborhoods for air quality
• Increase traffic and safety risks to children, bicyclists, and other pedestrians as garbage trucks to drive through and idle in one of New York City's most densely populated residential areas 24-hours-a-day and up to 7-days-a-week
• Reduce the quality of life for many working class, elderly, and disabled New Yorkers through its close proximity to numerous public housing projects, subsidized apartments, and special needs care facilities
• Decrease the accessibility and desirability of numerous parks, public schools, and houses of worship located within several blocks of the proposed facility
• Violate FAA guidelines by placing trash facility just three miles from one of America's busiest airports
• Increase the risk of interference with take-offs and landings a LGA, by stimulating population growth among the area's scavenger bird population, according to “Miracle on the Hudson” pilot Chesley Sullenberger,

We call to task The New York Times, the mayor's office, City Council Speaker (an likely mayoral candidate) Christine Quinn for the blatantly political framing the of location of the proposed two-acre, ten-story 91st Street Marine Transfer Station as the "Upper East Side," when in reality the neighborhood, identified by New York City's own maps as "Yorkville," and the proposed facility is actually adjacent and will dramatically affect East Harlem.

Yes to environmental justice, but all Manhattan neighborhoods are not created equal
Yes, environmental justice is critically important to societal fairness. However, in looking at the problem at the borough/macro level, Mayor Bloomberg, heir apparent Christine Quinn, and The New York Times are missing the impact on the micro/neighborhood level.

Yorkville, with the highest population density in New York (as illustrated on the map above left) sits between one of the nation's wealthiest neighborhoods and one of the city's poorest. With the proposed trash facility located across from Yorkville's massive public housing projects, and straddling the border of East Harlem and New York's largest concentration of public housing (as illustrated by the bubbles in the map on the left), the 91st Street Marine Transfer station hardly fits the greater ideal behind "environmental justice."

Other alternatives?
If the mayor, Speaker Quinn, and The New York Times really want to achieve environmental justice by placing a trash transfer station in Manhattan, they ought to consider building it as far from public low-income housing as humanly possible.

Why not the West Side?
Perhaps they should consider placing the Marine Transfer Station along the Hudson at Donald Trump's "Trump Place" development, bringing the barges closer to likely destinations in New Jersey and the station closer to the wealth required to inject environmental justice into the discussion.

BYE-BYE TO GSA MOB BOSS JEFF NEELY!? Taxpayers to Front 100k Annual Comp!!!

"Prophetic, ain't it?" GSA's Jeff Neely in Hawaii. Photo: Deb Neely/Picasa

WASHINGTON — It took about six months, and it looks like taxpayers will be footing the bill for his $100,000 a year pension, but the GSA's Pacific Rim "Mob Boss" Jeff Neely is FINALLY GONE! The Complainer wonders why it took so long. AND, WHY wasn't this creep fired for cause?!!! “The guy set up a fiefdom....Not since Jack Abramoff has someone walked with such swagger,” stated Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN) during the second House hearing on the GSA debacle. The Washington Post further notes: "Neely had planned for the 2010 employee conference to be 'over the top,' according to the inspector general’s report. The event included a magician and a $75,000 bicycle-building exercise, and questionable contracting practices. For instance, a GSA event planner had used a hotel locator service without allowing for competitive bidding on the contract."

We wonder why the Bush-appointee lasted so long in the first place. According to the WashPo:

Employees at the Pacific Rim region office described Neely as confident but arrogant and often abrasive in his management approach. One employee told GSA investigators that Neely “squashed like a bug” a regional director who questioned his spending on conferences and travel, GSA Inspector General Brian Miller told lawmakers during the congressional hearings.

With revelations like these, we wonder why Congress, and the Post, haven't dug any deeper. Indeed, we were surprised our discovery of Deb Neely's then-publicly available Picasa albums didn't lead to further investigation by the Post or any other major news sources. That said, the Post reports that "Immediately after the scandal broke, GSA Acting Administrator Daniel Tangherlini canceled 35 scheduled conferences, and the fallout has extended throughout the government.... The Obama administration has placed new restrictions on all federal travel and meetings." Perhaps, future Deb Neely's will be more more careful about where they post their vacation photos.

Mitt Romney, Cranbrook, and Besmirching Our Good Name

Bloomfield Hills, MI — Cranbrook School is a very special place. Its motto, "Aim high" beckons students to seek a life beyond the ordinary. Cranbrook asks of its students a higher standard for achievement, a higher standard in life. Cranbrook's song speaks of common "service," "unity," "loyalty," and a "generous hand." It is in this spirit, Willard "Mitt" Romney betrayed the honor, trust, and opportunity offered to him as a son of Cranbrook. It is in this spirit, his horrifying assault on John Lauber in 1965, as detailed in The Washington Post; his mocking, homophobic, sexist taunts in class; and his dreadfully insensitive treatment of a blind English teacher, call into question the depth of his character—and his broader understanding of our alma mater below:

Cranbrook Song
O God of Light and Universal Truth!
Thou patient Guide and Friend of Joyous Youth
Before Thee now we humbly stand and pray
To guard our steps and rule our lives always.

Grant us to do our daily task with zeal,
May all our work a common service seal,
From base design, from selfish aim set free
Mould Thou our lives, O Lord, in loyalty.

Give strength to tread the rugged path of Right,
To falter not, but wage a noble fight,
To know a friend, to live the words "Aim High,"
To play the man, and fearlessly to die.

Cranbrook! Whose sculptured stone and iron shaft
Bespeaks the skillful hand of every craft,
One perfect Unity shall ever stand
To bless the purpose of a generous hand.

Cranbrook! Thy name a glowing symbol live!
To future sons an inspiration give.
Tho’ eyes grow dim, tho' strength be past, yet we
Till life is done shall ever cherish Thee. Amen.

"Aim High!" Cranbrook's alma mater exalts. For Miles Levin, the 2007 graduate whose heart-rending commencement address preceded his untimely demise from a rare form of muscle cancer, this higher calling is self-evident. Urging his class "to make the most of their lot in life, and do what they can to help others along the way," Levin embodies the spirit of all that Cranbrook was and is intended to be:

"Being an operative for the greater good is rarely fun or easy, but it is gratifying....Where we draw the line is both personal and circumstantial, but I beg you give your life some reflection....We cannot be blamed for the things we cannot control, but that does not excuse us for not taking control of the things we can." 

Mitt Romney may have become a good and decent father and husband. He may have sought service to country over the lifelong pursuit of ever greater wealth. But, the episodes of abuse detailed in The Washington Post––and other media outlets––and his reaction to the horrifying revelations of assault, homophobia, and the gravest insensitivity, call into question his capacity for caring, his empathy, and the true depth of his character.

Writing for Time, Joel Klein well details a much better response than Romney's forgetful non-denial:

He could have said, “You know, I’ve been troubled by the Cranbrook episode for most of my life, and I feel relieved, in a way, that it’s come out now. I did a really stupid and terrible thing. Teenage boys sometimes do such things and deserve to be punished for them. What I most regret is that I never apologized to John and won’t be able to now that he’s gone, but let me apologize to his family and friends. Bullying is unacceptable under any circumstances. It is especially unacceptable when prejudice — against one’s race, ethnicity or sexual orientation — is involved. If elected President, I will try to atone for my teenage behavior by campaigning against bullying all across this country. What I did back then should be an example of how not to behave. I hope we can all learn from this. I know I have.”

No stranger to reporting questions of political scandal and personal character, Mr. Klein's free advice to Mr. Romney is spot-on. Presidential candidates are held to a higher standard. They cannot so easily sweep childish indiscretions under the proverbial rug. They cannot shirk off so quickly their responsibilities to demonstrate a higher standard. Mr. Romney ought to reflect ever so deeply upon young Mr. Levin's seemingly prophetic admonition: "I beg you give your life some reflection....We cannot be blamed for the things we cannot control, but that does not excuse us for not taking control of the things we can."

Our alma mater calls out, Mr. Romney:

To know a friend, to live the words "Aim High,"

"Play the man," we beg of Mr. Romney. And we further ask that he consider, that he heed the 2007 commencement words ABC's Bob Woodruff, whose good works and heroic recovery from his the critical injuries he sustained during his coverage of the Iraq War in 2006 place him high among the best of Cranbrook's alumni:

"All those years ago, I wondered what is that aim high statue on campus....It's not about the hardness of the arrow or the strength of the bow. It's the place and the target you decide to shoot at.... It is in your ultimate impact and victory. So, aim high my friends."

"Aim high!" This is the essence of a Cranbrook education. 

Many of us may have wasted the Cranbrook experience. We might not have fully appreciated the dedication of the faculty, staff, and our fellow students. But, few among us assaulted others. And, it is doubtful we can find more than a handful fellow alumni who were not touched powerfully by our experience of Cranbrook and not challenged by its motto to "Aim high."

Mr. Romney's youthful indiscretions may have taunted, may have haunted, other students for life.  But, Mr. Romney also besmirched the good name of Cranbrook.

Mr. Romney not only owes apologies to the late Mr. Lauber and his family, he also owes reflection and amends to the others he hurt as a student and to Cranbrook—and its alumni. He ought "Aim high" and take the lead in efforts to end bullying, as suggested by Mr. Klein of Time.

The world is watching.

We Thought These Guys Were Supposed to be 'Secret': 2nd Gen Secret Service Agent David Chaney Publicly Leers on Facebook

Secret Service Agent David Chaney "Protects" Gov. Palin

WASHINGTON — The plot thickens. With the release of second generation Secret Service agent (and supervisor to the Colombian prostitute scandalizers) David Chaney's leering Facebook musings about Gov. Palin, we wonder who hired these people? Who manages these people? And, what happened to the sense of honor, of gravitas, that is supposed to be part of our nation's elite protective service?

At The Complainer, we find this behavior absolutely SICKENING. That a second generation SUPERVISOR in one of America's most prestigious branches of public service would post ANYTHING about his work on a Facebook page is a serious breach of public trust, if not national security. Worse, if the agent in question actually allowed himself to be distracted from his duty by fantasizing about Gov. Palin, we wonder if he might have potentially ignored a major threat to her safety. Indeed, we wonder how what percentage of our nation's Secret Service agents have allowed such breaches of public trust and secrecy in the past.

These are delicate, challenging times. The safety of our president, our vice president, and those who are in a position to be elected to these offices, is NEVER to be taken lightly. When senior agents are allowed to behave with such complete disregard for their absolutely grave and important duties, we wonder if this is part of a larger culture of debauchery and disrespect at the Secret Service. We hope that the President, Congress, and the Department of Justice will launch an exhaustive investigation to root out the causes for this unseemly behavior and reorganize the service in such a way that similar incidents will NEVER occur in the future. 

GSA MOB BOSS JEFF NEELY: A Fetish for Hot Tubs and Wife Publicly Posting His Grinning Mug! To Deborah Neely Goes Our Very First Imelda Marcos Award

Samoa, Maui, Las Vegas — Deborah Neely, the wife of GSA mob boss Jeff Neely really doesn't get it. Public officials are NOT supposed to spend a ton of time snorkeling or in hot tubs on the public's dime(s).

Unfortunately, Mrs. Neely has a seemingly sociopathic  penchant for photography--posting over 200 pictures of Mr. Neely's frighteningly smirking mug in 30 publicly available PICASA album(s).... Yeeps!! While The Complainer hopes that the feds download the contents for the National Archives, we are wondering what in the world the GSA's very own Imelda Marcos thought her husband was supposed to be doing for a living. Moreover, we are wondering if Mr. Neely's unseemly use of public funds is part of an overarching culture of corruption at the GSA, which seemed to crescendo with the resignation of Lurita Doan, the former government contractor appointed by President George W. Bush in 2006. Ms. Doan, now a conservative pundit, went to great lengths to slash funding for the GSA's oversight staff, while providing sweetheart deals for cronies. Eventually forced to resign ostensibly for violations of the Hatch Act, Ms. Doan is known for her attempts to use the GSA as a political cudgel during the 2007/2008 election cycle for briefing staff with a PowerPoint presentation entitled "How can we help our candidates?"

Politico reports that internal spending soared dramatically during the Bush era, but we're wondering just how badly twisted the culture had become, when the wife of a regional director could so boldly brag through photography how much she and her husband were benefiting from the public's dime(s). The public deserves better. Period.

The Complainer wonders how much the public spent on this trip to Samoa with Mrs. Neely in April 2008?!!!

Prophetic.... Samoa, April 2008...

All photos courtesy of Deborah Neely's Picasa Albums.... Congrats on receiving our very First Imelda Marcos Award. If you can get us first class tickets to Paris and a 3-bedroom suite at the Georges V, we'll present it to you in person!

JUST GROSS: GSA Mob Boss Jeff Neely Living Large on Our Dime(s)

Las Vegas — What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, NOT! Glitterazzi posted pictures of the GSA's Pacific Region mob boss Jeffrey Neely living it up on the public's dime. Champagne in the hot tub. NOT PRETTY. The Complainer wants to know how this guy got his job and who and why made him BOSS!

Gannett and L.A. Times Go for BROKE! Will It Mean 'Bust'?

NEW YORK—Amidst a major, industry-wide slump in print and online advertising revenues, the Los Angeles Times and Gannett, the publisher of USA Today and 80 daily newspapers ranging from The Detroit Free Press to The Des Moines Register, plan to begin gating their content for non-print subscribers, with the exception of USA Today, behind paywalls. While the Los Angeles Times and the entire Gannett system are clearly hurting for revenues, they are delusional if they really think that they can price access to their content in the same manner as The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. At The Complainer, we view this as the final death blow to America's local newspapers—and, for lower income Americans, a dramatic reduction in access to non-broadcast local and regional news.

The United States of America was founded on "freedom of the press." But, for most of our 236 years, the "press" hasn't been "free." Since the days of Ben Franklin and Thomas Paine, arguably the first titans of American media, our need for news has come with a price tag (or two). And, in the days prior to the Internet, the news of the day came through several main sources: the local newspaper, national and regional trade publications and journals, national and regional magazines, and later, radio, and television. Print media were sold at newsstands (or on the street) or delivered via US Mail by paid subscription, and further subsidized by advertising. The advent of radio and television disrupted the model by offering "free" news and information to listeners and viewers, whose access to current affairs was paid-for through constant exposure to advertising.

The advent of the Internet crushed the existing models for news dissemination, providing free news and information, with less overall advertising distraction than the broadcast media. For readers, especially those who reside outside of major, global cities, the results have been profound. Free content has driven readers online, forcing cutbacks, bankruptcies, mergers, and ultimately, closures at countless local newspapers. From hundreds of local papers to The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, and even The New York Times, the growth of online news has caused layoffs, early retirements, and countless permanent job losses.

To grow revenue, and attempt to retain the strength of their print subscriber base, The New York Times established a softer version of a paywall, offering non-subscribers free direct access to 20 articles per month—and up to 25 articles per day, if accessed through a search engine (such a gift to Google). Print subscribers receive total access to The Times, including archival searches reaching as far back as 1851. For Times, the experiment has proven relatively successful. Revenues have increased, print subscriptions have stabilized. But, like the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times, their paywall has proven successful because they have affluent, global, subscriber bases, whose need for good, proprietary news and analysis often provides benefits beyond personal enjoyment. And, most important, The Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the Financial Times, are global opinion leaders and shapers; they, to a large extent, set the tone for news across multiple categories ranging from politics to international relations, to business, and even the arts.


We are willing to go out on a limb when we predict that overall traffic will fall significantly when Gannett—and the LA Times—introduce paywalls. Instead of charging readers (for what many believe is less-than-exceptional content), they should have looked at ways to improve advertising revenue by increasing traffic and engaging more out-of-region readers in their online communities.

The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal might be able to get away with digital subscriptions because they have become a truly global newspapers/news-sources of record, with strong, proprietary content driving traffic for global readerships. Few of Gannett’s papers (or, the LA Times) can come close to matching anything close to that level of content—or community. Expect to see growth for the NY Times and the WSJ.

We’ll be shorting Gannett.