Michelle's 'Sneakers': $540!

While you may be struggling to make ends meet or wondering whether or not you're gonna have a job tomorrow, Michelle Obama is sporting $540 designer sneakers. Here's the story from Amy Diluna at the New York Daily News:
Michelle Obama has taken casual to a haute new level.
While volunteering Wednesday at a D.C. food bank, the First Lady sported her usual J.Crew cardigan, a pair of utilitarian capri pants and, on her feet, a sneaky splurge: trainers that go for $540.
That's right: These sneakers - suede, with grosgrain ribbon laces and metallic pink toe caps - are made by French design house Lanvin, one of fashion's hottest labels. They come in denim and satin versions, and have been a brisk seller all spring.
They're out of stock at posh Meatpacking District boutique Jeffrey, and Barneys New York boasts a limited selection of the sneaks, which are a cult favorite among fashionistas.
It's likely Michelle got hers through Ikram, the Chicago retailer that often outfits her.
"They're shoes," the First Lady's reps sniffed when curious reporters inquired about the fancy footwear.
Michelle has stepped out in Lanvin before while getting down to business. A week ago, she shoveled dirt at a tree planting while wearing the line's chiffon tank.
Dresses and strappy pumps cost upward of $1,500, while tops go for $400 to $1,000.
Other celebrity fans of Lanvin's costly kicks include Ellen DeGeneres and Kanye West, who has blogged about his faves.
BTW: Anyone know Michelle's shoe size? This gal's got Big Feet!
Oh well, Garbo was reportedly a size 9.

Separated At Birth?

Family Ties: Timothy Geithner's brother,
on People Magazine's staff, picks him as
one of this year's Most Beautiful People.

Hat tip: Lucianne.com

Palm: Specter Treads Lightly

The legendary Palm restaurant at the Bellevue is Philadelphia's official Playpen for Power Brokers and today was no exception with newly-minted Democrat Senator Arlen (aka Benedict Arlen) Specter huddled with real estate impresario Ron Rubin and combed-over lawyer Charlie Kopp at Rubin's corner table with two other friends.
Darlin Arlen was in a jovial mood as he entered the fashionable Broad Street eatery, greeting everyone around with the closest approximation of a smile that someone with Specter's calculated reconstruction and advanced age can muster.
Hey, this guy's had more comebacks than Judy Garland and he's made more promises than Bill Clinton.
Let's not forget that when Senator Jim Jeffords switched parties a few years back Specter vowed to introduce legislation to prevent such switches in the future. Funny how that vow fell by the wayside, huh?
Anyway, also in the house at the Palm were Big Time Lawyer Steve Cozen (whose Cozen O'Connor law firm is the city's new legal powerhouse) and old time politico Marty Weinberg.
As always, the Palm's management team welcomes all (Democrats, Republicans and even those who can't seem to make up their minds) with an irresistibly friendly atmosphere, superb service and real, honest-to-goodness great food.
But if I were waiting tables at the Palm today I'd check the silverware before Senator Specter departs.

'Mooning' Festival This Summer

From Flash News:
Does pulling down your pants and going loco in front of a locomotive sound like fun to you?
That’s what will be going on this July in Laguna Niguel in Orange County, California, for the 30th anniversary of the “Mooning of Amtrak.”
It’s an event in which people stand before a chain link fence, drop their pants and moon a passing train.
The tradition started in joint called Mugs Away Saloon as an alternative to darts, quarters and other lame bar games.
About.com’s weird news reporter Buck Wolf says county officials were threatening to cancel this year’s Amtrak mooning which he compares to an Orange County version of Mardi Gras.
Says Buck, “The mooning has become a victim of its own success. It used to be a humble bar event. Now, an estimated 10,000 people are flashing flesh.”
The area also reeks of booze and urine.
The city council has agreed to let the event go on in July – but with new rules: No more public consumption of alcohol and no more urinating outdoors. Strangely, no one complained about the bare butts.

Watch Out Below!

Cartoon by Lisa Benson - TownHall.com

10 Worst Movies Ever

I've culled many lists.
And finally, here they are: The Ten Wort Movies Ever.
In no particular order:
Gigli (2003) - This bomb actually starred Jennifer Lopez and Ben Afleck.
Sphere (1998) - Science fiction thriller with Dustin Hoffman and Sharon Stone going nowhere.
From Justin To Kelly (2003) - Remember Justin Guarini and Kelly Clarkson? Remember?
Showgirls (1995) - Young drifter arrives in Vegas to become a dancer, tries to jiggle her way to the top.
Santa Claus Conquers The Martians (1964) - One of the worst of the B flicks. The name says it all.
Alone In The Dark (2005) - Based on the popular survival horror video game series of the same name. Keep the game, skip the flick.
The Postman (1997) - $80 million Kevin Kostner bomb. Beginning of the end of Kostner or maybe simply The End.
The Hottie and The Nottie (2008) - Paris Hilton wanted to make a movie. And so she did.
Myra Brekinridge (1970) - I actually saw this one. The last movie Mae West ever made. Sad.
Ishtar (1987) - Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman (again!) in a $55 million bomb directed by Elaine May.

Vacancy On High Court

Justice David Souter was thought to be a safe conservative vote when President George H. W. Bush (#41) appointed him to the nation's high court.
But Souter fell under the spell of New Jersey's charming Justice William Brennan and the late Justice won Souter over. The diminutive Souter turned out to be as liberal as they come.
Now Souter (an "eccentric bachelor") is ready to return to his beloved farm in New Hampshire.
Which means that President Obama gets to appoint a new justice and keep a safe liberal vote.
This could have been a pickup vote, folks. It could have made all the difference.
But elections have consequences and Obama will likely have smooth sailing on his nominee.
I say the President is inclined to appoint a woman to replace Souter and the gals are lining up: Elana Kagan, Diane Wood, Leah Ward Sears and don't forget Hillary Clinton. Hey, Hillary has held every other job (save the Big One). Why shouldn't she have this one as well?
Here we go . . .

Rigali, 54 Others Knock ND

Cardinal Justin Rigali, Archbishop of Philadelphia and USCCB Pro-Life Committee Chairman, and eight other archbishops and bishops are the latest prelates in the United States to publicly address the decision of the University of Notre Dame to honor President Barack Obama at commencement on May 17, 2009.

“The Catholic Church in America is blessed to have so many holy shepherds speaking out in defense of authentic Catholic identity. They are a treasure and we owe them our prayers and gratitude,” said Patrick Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society.

Thus far, there have been 55 bishops who have spoken out about the Notre Dame scandal. Most of the bishops have expressed strong opposition and have cited the 2004 USCCB document “Catholics in Political Life” as foundational to their criticism of Notre Dame’s decision to honor President Obama. The document states that Catholic institutions should neither honor nor give platform to those who oppose fundamental Catholic moral principles.

The petition at NotreDameScandal.com grew to a staggering 347,000 supporters on Thursday morning. The first 300,000 signatures from the petition were delivered yesterday to Notre Dame’s president and board members in time for a pre-scheduled meeting. Copies were also sent to USCCB and Vatican officials.

In an interview with Life Site News, Cardinal Rigali said of the tremendous response from the bishops and other lay faithful over the Notre Dame scandal, “something very positive is going on in our country along with all the negative things - that there is a greater and evolving understanding of the value of human life in many, many people… The backlash is due to a great extent the reaction of people who through their intuition, through their common sense, they know that this is just not an acceptable way to take a position on something that is so important.”

Cardinal Rigali said that, through this issue with Notre Dame, “the whole world has to see that it [the value of life] is such an important issue: that, yes, it is a sign of contradiction... it is a division between life and death, and we cannot treat it as one issue among many.”

Other bishops who have spoken out recently on the Notre Dame scandal include Archbishop Charles Chaput of the Denver Archdiocese; Archbishop Joseph Naumann of the Kansas City Archdiocese; Archbishop Donald Wuerl of the Washington Archdiocese; Bishop Peter Jugis of the Charlotte Diocese; Bishop William Murphy of the Rockville Center Diocese; Bishop Glen Provost of the Lake Charles Diocese; Bishop Joseph Galante of the Camden Diocese; and Bishop John McCormack of the Manchester Diocese.

Archbishop Chaput, in an e-mail statement relayed to Life Site News, said, “Notre Dame didn't need to do this to show its openness to 'dialogue.’ And candidly, very few Notre Dame faculty members would accept from their students the kind of creative reasoning now being used to defend the invitation.”

For more infomation on the growing protest go to click here.

White House Flu Exposure

From Carol E. Lee and Josh Gerstein at Politico:

The White House has issued a health advisory outlining "protective measures" for anyone who traveled on President Barack Obama’s trip to Mexico after a member of the U.S. delegation came down with flu-like symptoms – and tests on his family showed they’re probably infected with the swine flu.
The individual – an advance security staffer for Energy Secretary Steven Chu –appears to have spread the flu to his wife, son and nephew. All three have tested probable for swine flu, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Thursday.
Gibbs, who did not name the security aide, said he did not work closely with Obama, didn’t fly on Air Force One and is back at work at the Energy Department.
But the staffer was at a working dinner Obama attended with Mexican officials April 16. The aide “was asked specifically if he ever came within six feet of the president, and the answer to that was 'No,' " Gibbs said.
“The president has not experienced any symptoms,” Gibbs said. He said Obama and other aides are “highly, highly, highly unlikely” to develop such symptoms now because of the time that has passed since Obama’s visit on April 16 and 17 and the relatively short incubation period for the flu virus, known as H1N1.
The disclosure of the likely flu case in the president’s entourage was startling because Gibbs said earlier this week that White House physicians believed the flu had posed no risk at all to Obama when he visited Mexico. “The doctors have informed me… that the President's health was never in any danger,” Gibbs said Monday. Also on Monday, Gibbs had said no one traveling with the president “in either governmental or press capacity has shown any symptoms that would denote cause for any concern."

Hyperinflation Ahead

An editorial from the Washington Examiner:

Those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it, said George Santayana, the philosopher. But this familiar maxim is being ignored this week by President Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats on Capitol Hill this week as they complete action on the chief executive’s proposed 2010 federal budget. With its unprecedented deficit approaching $2 trillion, this budget proposal is a certain prescription for hyper-inflation. So every senator and representative who votes for this monster $3.6 trillion budget will be endorsing actions that will turn America into the next Weimar Republic. For those too young to remember, that was the period in Germany in the years between the two world wars when people needed wheelbarrows full of money to buy a loaf of bread.

In a 1993 interview, Harvard law professor Friedrich Kessler described what living with Weimar hyperinflation was like: “It was horrible. Horrible! Like lightning it struck. No one was prepared....The shelves in the grocery store were empty. You could buy nothing with your paper money.” Thanks to the expanding profligacy on Capitol Hill, a version of such economic hell will likely happen here, according to two prominent economists. Johns Hopkins Professor Steve Hanke notes that the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet “has more than doubled in size since August...Unless the Fed shrinks its balance sheet,” he warns, “...inflation will roar back with a vengeance.”

The printing presses have already been running non-stop since Congress approved the Toxic Assets Recovery Program (TARP) and the $787 billion bailout of insolvent firms who got that way by abusing “easy credit.” Yet with interest rates now close to zero, Hanke points out, the Fed is merely “prescribing more of the same.” In their groundbreaking “Monetary History of the United States” Anna Schwartz and the late Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman found that then (as now) a huge influx of foreign capital accompanied the early stages of Weimar hyperinflation. Schwartz, who today believes the “systemic risk” cited as justification to recapitalize failed financial institutions was just an excuse to save bankers’ hides, agrees that massive inflation is “unavoidable.”

There have been other, more recent hyperinflations, too. After years of deficits, the former Yugoslavia tried to print its way out of a similar predicament, then tried to counter the inevitable 15 to 25 percent annual inflation rate with price controls. Economic collapse quickly followed the worst hyperinflation in history. On Nov. 12, 1993, one million dinars could be traded for one German deutsche mark; by Jan. 4, 1994, the exchange rate was 6 trillion to 1. With Obama’s reckless 2010 budget – which was passed without a single Republican vote - Democrats are playing with inflationary fire.