Daily Office:
Thursday

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Matins: The only bad thing about Sarah Palin’s $150 K Neiman Marcus wardrobe is that it is not a story. That’s what wardrobes cost for people thrust in the public eye. If Ms Palin were a game show host, her clothes would cost a great deal more. Why are smart, worldly people suddenly pretending to be frugal Yankees, shocked, shocked to discover that Ms Palin wore Cole Haan boots in Bangor? Seal view, play!

Tierce: In what could be a bold stroke for the Information Age — if money doesn’t run out altogether — the MTA will enhance a Brooklyn subway station with computer screens indicating the current location of every train on the L line, which stretches from the old Meatpacking District in Manhattan to Canarsie on Jamaica Bay.

Nones: Leading market indicators suggest that Wall Street is doing fine. Take today’s joke, for example: “What’s the difference between a pigeon and a hedge fund guy?” (Give this a minute, and you’ll see it coming.)

Oremus…

§ Matins. I’m not going to defend the expenses. But the reporters filing snarky comments such as this one —

What the number $150,000 suggests is that Ms. Palin traded up to designer versions of the clothes she wore before stepping onto the national stage, a surprising implication for a candidate who emphasizes her appeal to working-class voters.

— ought to bear in mind what happened to Joe the Plumber’s recycling. “Surprising implication” my ass. It’s business as usual. It may be reprehensible, but if it is, then a few million Americans are just as guilty.

§ Tierce. The implications of this, if it works, are nothing short of transformative. Broadcasting the information on the Internet would allow commuters to cut platform time to a minimum. And, who knows? Motormen might even try to coordinate their arrivals and departures at key junctions!

This is the kind of bell cum whistle that can make a real change in people’s lives. If we’re supposed to live in the Information Age, why is there so little of it, and why are authorities, civil and corporate, so constipated about it — when they’re not being simply mendacious? “The truth shall set you free” — free, at least, to control your own time-wasting.

§ Nones. “The pigeon can still make a deposit on a Maybach.”

2 Responses to “Daily Office:
Thursday”

  1. George says:

    It’s all performance wardrobe for the talent. The RNC owns the wardrobe and will continue to own it after Ms Palin passes from the scene otherwise she will have to take the value, perhaps the depreciated value, as income this year. It’s all marketing and gloss. “Soccer Mom” my patootie, Ms Palin is talent in our national game show which runs now longer and longer each cycle. At least some of the other talent in the show this year has some substance behind the performance talent that might be able to get the job done behind the desk when the Klieg lights go off.

  2. Fossil Darling says:

    Tierce : I totally agree about its transformative nature, that it is overdue, but the MTA cannot yet maintain its trains so the announcements within the cars are intelligible much less maintain them, the MTA cannot yet get announcements on the platforms to be intelligible, so while I think it is a great idea, I am, shall we say, dubious about it being done in my lifetime……

    Talking about $$$ :Among the questions I am getting most from frightened clients is whether I think the MTA can pay its bonds on time………

    And your point about the mendacity is so on the mark : the unions and the authorities don’t want to be open. Why? Because the disgraceful early retirements revealed in the NY Times by LIRR emplioyes might become known.