A Little of the Old In and Out

In: Ambassador Joe Wilson's book, The Politics of Truth, is the latest anti-Bush tome to come out. His wife, Valerie Plame, was outed as a CIA operative to creepy-eyed conservative columnist Robert Novak, and Wilson gets in the last word. The Independent writes:

"Leaking the identity of a CIA operative is a federal offence and the FBI, headed by an outside prosecutor, has for several months been conducting an investigation and has put together a grand jury to consider evidence and hear from witnesses.

"Mr Wilson initially claimed it was Mr Bush's senior political adviser, Karl Rove, who leaked his wife's identity, though he has since stepped back somewhat from that allegation. Reports suggest that other potential leakers could be Mr Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis 'Scooter' Libby or else John Hannah, a senior national security aide on the Vice-President's staff. Either way, if anyone in the White House is found guilty of the leak to Mr Novak and others, it would be very damaging to Mr Bush as he campaigns for reelection."

The Corsair has 60-40 action on Scooter Libby as the leaker, but my buddy, Pookie, uptown on 125th Street (who also on the side sells bootleg cartons of Newports), is taking 75-25 odds on John Hannah. Act like you know.

Out: Rebecca Loos, she of the meaningful name. It's getting kind of tragic for our Rebecca; she is at 14 minutes and 45 seconds and it's beginning to look like a disaster. Sky News is reporting that no less than Mohamed al Fayed cut the buxom beauty's name from his guest list for a party:

"Rebecca Loos' new celebrity status took a knock when Harrods' boss Mohamed al Fayed refused her entry to a party at the store.

"Miss Loos had been expecting to return as a guest to the upmarket Knightsbridge shop where she worked as a 19-year-old.

"But the former PA, who shot to fame after her claims about sleeping with England football captain David Beckham, was kicked off the list an hour before the bash.

"Al Fayed said the snub was out of loyalty and friendship to the Beckhams, who are customers at the store."

The UK is still all about the class distinctions. And, alas, in the end, the upper crust draws together close and protects it's own.

In: Corporate fat cats talking about fat americans. Oh, the irony is as thick as a McDonald's Milk shake. My old boss Jason Calacanis' weblog paraphrases a panel discussion of Nobel Laureates in Economics about -- of all topics -- obesity in America. Imagine my surprise:

"Daniel Kahneman: Discussed the size - that in the US you get 30-40% more food on your plate then in other countries. He said that once the food is on your plate we dont have control.

"Gary Becker: (Jason agrees) with a number of things Danny said. If you look at weight gain in the USA and the US has been a leader in this (huge laugh.) He said weight gain started to speed up in 1980. What happened after 1980? He mentioned three of four factors: the cost of junk food has gone way done. It is much cheaper to get it thanks to technology to prepare (he mention French fries.) Secondly, the sedentary nature of the teenage population has changed significantly. He mentioned TV and computer activity, and that work is more sedentary.

"Then showed a slide with an escalator leading up to a gym (huge laugh.)

"The third factor is a tricky and difficult one, and I dont know how much weight to put on it. We are in an environment where medical progress has sped up. He says that the people are less concerned about things like weight because they believe that in the future we will have drugs to solve cholesterol problems and sex enhancement drugs (i.e. Viagra.) He says this is all conjecture, but he believes it. We've only seen this increase in weight in the past 25 years.

"Milken paraphrases the concept as 'I can do what I want today and I can take a morning after pill.'"

Junk foods, junk bonds, what's the difference at Club Fed, eh, Michael? (huge laugh)

Out: Jill Sander over at Mediabistro asked some prominent magazine editors who they think should get a National Magazine Award. The usual culprits were represented -- Paul Colford, David Carr, Choire Sicha, Kurt Andersen, Tina Brown -- but then Jill went and asked Wired Magazine's Editor-in-Chief Chris Anderson. Big mistake, Jilly girl. Ol' Chris-co is not going to give the testosterone pull quote. He flips the script on bourgois geekiness and takes it to a whole new level:

"Award: Best Cover. I'd give it to Edge, a U.K. games magazine, which has the grooviest spot-varnished covers around. Minimalist, iconic, and often anime-influenced, they're probably a failure on the newsstand and I can't figure out how they can afford the production costs for subscribers. But each month I get a thrill just opening the polybag and a reminder of what magazines can do."

Ah, the thrill of opening the polybag ... Priceless.

In: Pumas. FashionWireDaily reports:

"Sales at Puma soared 29.3% in the first quarter of 2004, powered by rapid growth in sales of its apparel.

"The German sportswear and apparel brand racked up sales in the first three months of 443.8 million Euros ($532.6 million), while sales of apparel gained a whopping 39% to 111.2 million Euros.

"Puma also revealed that the company had achieved record profit margins in the first quarter. Gross profit margins thickened to an impressive 51.7%, up from 47.2% in the like period a year earlier. Net earnings grew 64.6 percent to 80.4 million Euros."

Out: A-List Movie Star salaries. They are going to go down faster than Paris Hilton on Rick Solomon. This interesting quote from Variety's coverage of the Mike Milliken Institute panels goes, "In a later session with reporters, though, (Sumner) added that star salaries would have to come down and said studios have let A-list actorwalkalk away with a disproportionate share of the rewards.'" To be continued. The Corsair will keep you informed of upcoming developments -- same bat time, same bat URL.

In: Jay Z's "99 Problems" Video is hot. Me? I've got 99 problems but a blog aint one. Thanks Scott of Stereogum for hooking us up with this shit. Rick Rubin is crazy in this trippy urban Brooklyn thuggernaut of a video. Jay Z gets sprayed with bullets a la Tony Montana in the end.

Out: Senate Democrats. According to Alexander Bolton of TheHill, the whoring fcampaignign contributions is at a feverish pace

"Senate Democrats are offering lobbyists new access to Senate Democratic leaders and lawmakers in exchange for personal contributions of $25,000, the maximum amount allowed to national party fundraising committees.

"Democrats are energized by a spate of unforeseen Republican retirements that have dramatically reshaped their prospects of regaining control of the Senate this November."

"...To close the gap, Senate Democrats are turning to allied lobbyists and consultants in Washington, many of who earn big paychecks touting their ties to lawmakers on the Hill. To be a member of the so-called Majority Council a program run by the DSCC lobbyists must reach into their own pockets for a donation of no less than $25,000.

"...Lobbyists at that level will be made members of the elite council, a group that will meet with the Senate Democratic leadership every month or six weeks. The councils first meeting was held about three weeks ago, and another meeting will take place in the early weeks of May."

That's fucking disgusting.

In: And, closing on a positive note, the white wine slurping cucumber munching Fifth Avenue set got together to support the ballet (yuck! The Corsair doesn't eat swine, and the Corsair sees no redeeming social function in ballet, excepting Neve Campbell's performance in The Company, which was sexy) in a civilized manner. Fashionweekdaily reports, "As the 100+ crowd gathered for the luncheon, young ballerinas in tutus from The American Ballet Theatres costume archives mingled with the ladies who lunch, who were all wearing their very best Carolina Herrera outfits. The darlings of New York society think Dayssi, Blaine, and Muffie mingled with the editors Kerry, Amanda and Kristina. During lunch, Carolina Herrera staged a presentation of her fall collection for guests, followed by one-on-one consultations."

What other occasion would there be for braised artichoke bottoms with fava beans.

Fucking rabbit food. No wonder the Old Money Upper East siders are so mean. Hunger from all that dieting and the rabbit food!