NQ First Responder Must Reads
By LisaB on July 9, 2009 at 9:01 AM in Current Affairs
(bumped up from yesterday)
While others are gushing about Obama girls in Russia, still obsessing over Sarah Palin or the death of Michael Jackson (sad or negative), a few stories shouldn’t be missed. Russians, for example, might reflect a truer picture of Obama than domestic media; campaign finance reform goes off the rails; federal computer networks face major attacks and California, ever a bellwether, provides a glimpse of the continuing cultural attacks against “low-information voters.”
1) NYT published a piece about how Obama is faring in his trip to Russia. (Has he really made five overseas trips now?) Russians are not terribly impressed, although it is fair to say they aren’t necessarily negative.
Crowds did not clamor for a glimpse of him. Headlines offered only glancing or flippant notice of his activities. Television programming was uninterrupted; devotees of the Russian Judge Judy had nothing to fear. Even many students and alumni of the Western-oriented business school where Mr. Obama gave the graduation address on Tuesday seemed merely respectful, but hardly enthralled.
“We don’t really understand why Obama is such a star,” said Kirill Zagorodnov, 25, one of the graduates. “It’s a question of trust, how he behaves, how he positions himself, that typical charisma, which in Russia is often parodied. Russians really are not accustomed to it. It is like he is trying to manipulate the public.”
This is interesting. Russia might offer us a good lens for viewing Obama as a President. Without all the fawning, they are likely to look at his accomplishments and judge him. Now, of course, that will be through a Russian view of things, but still likely to be more objective than others.
Oh, and the speech so much talked about here? Russian television did not broadcast live or in its entirety.
2) Politico has a piece about campaign finance reform. Obama’s administration could preside over a roll back of laws designed to blunt the effects of campaign contributions on candidates.
Most of the developments now threatening to reverse efforts to reduce the influence of money in politics were set in motion during George W. Bush’s presidency. But Obama is nevertheless poised to watch the regulatory regime crumble around him as his administration follows a cautious approach that mostly ignores calls for more activist steps to salvage the troubled campaign finance system
The irony that the system could collapse on Obama’s watch, after he convinced the advocates for stricter regulations that he was one of their own, is not lost on those who support limits on the flow of money into the American political system.
“I would like to see the president make good on his campaign promises to change the way Washington works,” said Paul Ryan, a lawyer with the Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit that pushes Congress, the White House, the Federal Election Commission and the courts to enact, enforce and uphold strict limits. “With respect to the campaign finance laws and the FEC, the only change we’ve seen has been a change for the worse,” said Ryan, who stressed, “I’m not blaming the president. I’m just stating it as a factual matter.”
Uh, these people didn’t see Obama’s behavior during the campaign as a possible problem?
Ryan’s group and others in the so-called campaign finance reform community had largely given Obama the benefit of the doubt during his presidential campaign, even as he broke a promise to participate in a Watergate-era clean election system on the way to raising a record-setting $665 million. He also got a pass during his busy first few months in office as his administration welcomed reform leaders into the White House for the first time.
But Obama has otherwise done little to advance the campaign finance agenda and has failed to take tide-stemming steps available to him, a source of considerable frustration for reform advocates who had embraced him as a longtime proponent of reducing the role of money in campaigns.
Reformers are frustrated that nothing has been happening. Of course, the economy is the usual excuse. But that isn’t what was promised.
As for the FEC, by the time Obama took office, it had already drawn criticism for a pattern of 3-3 party-line votes that resulted in the dismissal of a string of enforcement actions. Those dismissals had the effect of reversing some earlier precedents. The agency had also earned the scorn of reformers for its loophole-ridden implementation of a bundling disclosure provision championed by then-Sen. Obama, who had touted it on the campaign trail as his top legislative accomplishment.
. . . Many of the reformers with whom Eisen regularly consulted expected Obama to shake up the agency in May, when time ran out on the partial terms of two Bush-nominated commissioners — Chairman Steven Walther, a Democrat, and Don McGahn, a Republican who was considered the leader of the anti-enforcement bloc.
But the reformers were disappointed when, instead, Obama tapped labor lawyer John Sullivan — who has advocated anti-regulation stances on behalf of his union — to fill a different seat, held by Democratic commissioner Ellen Weintraub, who has continued to serve on the commission even though her term expired two years ago.
———
If Obama pushes through a new system before the 2012 campaign, he’d either have to participate in it, which would likely limit his meteoric fundraising ability, or reject it and brace for a public relations hit.
Surprise!! Some would call this a “no-win” situation for Obama. I’d call it poetic justice since he bagged on his promise to use public funds.
3) The Chicago Tribune reports more attacks on federal computer systems.
A widespread and unusually resilient computer attack that began July 4 knocked out the Web sites of several government agencies, including some that are responsible for fighting cyber crime, The Associated Press has learned.
The Treasury Department, Secret Service, Federal Trade Commission and Transportation Department Web sites were all down at varying points over the holiday weekend and into this week, according to officials inside and outside the government. Some of the sites were still experiencing problems Tuesday evening. Cyber attacks on South Korea government and private sites also may be linked, officials there said.
This attack is significant because of the length of outage. It took days to get the Department of Transportation back up to 100%.
Although attacks on computer networks don’t regularly make the news, since it’s far more important to talk about Sarah Palin’s kids, the clothes of Mechelle or the general excellence of BO himself, we should pay more attention.
On an individual basis, these kinds of attacks can lead to your personal information being sold or misused. But more serious is the potential disruption to national services or networks. This recent attack, largely unnoticed outside of those unfortunate to actually need services at that time, should not be ignored. What if next time it’s not DOT, but FEMA or FDIC or social security networks? What if it is the IRS???
4) Reason online has an interesting take on the California budget problems. The author also says the media and pundit actions/reactions portend what is likely on a national level should budgetary problems escalate.
On May 19, California voters went to the polls to decide whether to pass a package of six tax-and-gimmick ballot propositions. Its supporters—Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Democratic legislative leaders, the California Teachers Association, and the overwhelming majority of the state’s major newspapers—billed it as the last best hope to plug Sacramento’s $24 billion budget deficit. “Either pass it,” warned the Los Angeles Times editorial board, “or risk fiscal disaster.”
Those who believe that either money or the media determine political outcomes should pay close heed to what happened next: Although opponents were outspent by more than 7 to 1, they trounced the state’s political class, rejecting five of the six measures by an average of 30 percentage points. The only proposition to pass was an anger-driven new law that limits elected officials’ salaries.
Faced with such thorough repudiation, California’s best and brightest then did a telling thing. They lashed right back.
The Los Angeles Times headlined its morning-after news analysis, “California Voters Exercise Their Power—and That’s the Problem.” Sacramento columnist George Skelton argued that “voters helped get themselves into this fix” by “passing feel-good ‘ballot box budgeting’ initiatives” and sanctioning “heavy borrowing” for “infrastructure projects.” Business columnist Michael Hiltzik averred that “far more blame for the deficit belongs to California voters” because “year in, year out, they enact spending mandates at the polls, often without endowing a revenue source.” Missing from any of these critiques was the fact that the Times’ own editorial board endorsed more than 90 percent of the very same ballot-box bond measures during the last decade. No matter: A perpetrator had been located.
“Good morning, California voters,” The Sacramento Bee’s post-election editorial began. “Do you feel better, now that you’ve gotten that out of your system?”
Remember what happened to the Bee? The editorial was quickly scrubbed, with a more conciliatory one in its place. Supposedly the Bee never intended to publish the first one. No, I didn’t buy that argument.
Rarely has the chasm between elite political discourse and grubby popular opinion been displayed in such sharp relief. The implications of this citizen revolt—and the hostile reactions to it—stretch far beyond Nevada’s western border. California is the Ghost of Federal Government Future.
During the last two decades, the Golden State has been transformed from what was once known as the nation’s most anti-labor outpost to a state essentially run by public-sector unions. Nearly three in five publicsector workers are unionized, compared to less than two in five public employees in other states. The Democratic Party, which is fully in hock to unions, has controlled the legislature and most statewide posts, with the notable exception of the governor’s mansion, for more than a decade. That means more government workers, higher salaries, and drastically higher pension costs.
Welch goes on to blame unions for much of the gridlock in California. I don’t know if that’s fair or not. What interests me is how all the “smart people” and media chose to blame what can only be called “low-information voters” for the situation. Clearly, newspapers were convinced they understood the situation better than voters and thought their editorials should be heeded by the masses. (Of course, declining readership is also blamed on increased stupidity.)
Can this happen on a national scale? Of course. It already does and did. I don’t like the slippage of media into name-calling or trying to influence policy decisions. I’d rather they report what is going on. But it’s been a very long time since any “major media outlets” have simply reported the news. They much prefer to feel they are policy players. The recent screw-up by the WaPo over selling access is proof enough of that.
(Release: November 13)
on sale for only $16.95.
has a spatula.)
8% Off at $11.95, with a rare five-star ranking by 294 customers: 
And check out these: 
("This crazy redhead is on to something. Her pink Rambler story alone is worth the price of the book," writes 
- “Richard Sale’s reportage on Washington, the CIA, the American armed forces, and foreign intrigue has created a perfect background for this account of the steady growth of President Clinton as a master of the game of nations.”--W. Patrick Lang, former head of Middle East Operations, DIA
"Anne C. Heller's stunning biography of Ayn Rand" uses a "plethora of newly unearthed research and fresh insight."
I loved this quote from a student:
“We don’t really understand why Obama is such a star,” said Kirill Zagorodnov, 25, one of the graduates. “It’s a question of trust, how he behaves, how he positions himself, that typical charisma, which in Russia is often parodied. Russians really are not accustomed to it. It is like he is trying to manipulate the public.”
Ya THINK??? Be very afraid, USA, about competing on the global stage in the coming years. Evidently Russia is actually teaching critical thinking to their college students, as opposed to hopium bong hit technique. I predict they’ll surpass us in the next 2 decades.
Yea, we are so screwed. People like us (with a brain) are surrounded by idiots! We should really put the bots on a big boat and ship them off to Cuba or somewhere. All we have to do is tell them they won a cruise, all expenses paid. They will love it. They’d never stop to check the validity or particulars. Then we have them sign on the dotted line (that they won’t read) and they will be banned from ever returning to the US of A!
Oh-oh! Coment went to spam filter. I forgot when the word i-d-ot is used it gets eaten by spam!
Oh that ain’t even the half of it! Check out the Pravda Op-Eds regarding Barry and the direction he has taken us!
http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/107459-0/
http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/106778-0/
But wait theres more! I don’t have time to paste them right now, but feel free to go to Pravda, Its a hoot!
It’s a sad day in hell when Americans have to rely on Pravda for jounalistic integrity!
Who’d a thunk it?
This Russian attitude toward Obama was confirmed to me by a visiting Russian scholar whom I hosted last year. As the article says, they aren’t impressed and don’t see what the hoopla is all about. Also, she said that in Germany (where she had been teaching) that the public was split evenly (+/-) over Obama when he visited that country during his 2008 Obamapalooza tour. She was astounded by all of the propaganda here, which reminded her of Russia.
Great piece, LisaB. All of this should get a lot more focus than MJ’s memorial in my view. Campaign finance reform and what is happening in CA in particular are huge.
Obama cannot make good on any promises in regard to campaign finance reform because last year he was busy with the “do as I say, not as I do” mantra, and in 2012, he will need to once again bury the competition in an avalanche of advertising. I can’t ever see him consenting to use public funds, so how can he push for real reform elsewhere.
As for CA, people are pissed with the waste, money not going to the places its supposed to go when these initiatives get passed. Education is a great case in point — the money never gets there. Further, after CA’s May 19th vote, on other blogs the comments were overwhelmingly furious at Schwarzenneger et al for letting state’s resources be taken up by illegal immigrants - the amount is in the billions per year.
A lot of people are angry across this country for many reasons and the elitism of the media and govt officials is only exacerbating the problem. They decide what we’re worried about and what we think rather than asking us. Talk about lousy reporting. Talk about propaganda.
An easy way to prove your point: look at CA rank in $$$ for education per student k-12. Then look at CA rank for teacher salaries and support salaries. Salaries are in the top rank even today; $$$ per student in the bottom rank. What gets squeezed out—anything else.
Class sizes in CA are in the 30’s.
I agree with everything Ani, says.
Fascinating finds, Lisa You have such a “nose” for important stories that, as you point out, too few media outlets — particularly television — fail to point out.
And I include Fox News in that criticism. You’d think Fox would want to report on the cyber attacks, given the frightening implications for national security. I don’t listen to Fox all day — maybe two or three hours off and on — but didn’t hear it. (And it was disappointing that Fox gave in to the Jackson extravaganza although, to their credit, they immediately went to their regular news programs (beginning with Cavuto’s shiw) right after the funeral was over.)
On another note, I love the Reason article you found — it explains so much about the true sources of California’s problems. Disturbingly, there’s sure no easy fix.
I take back what I said. Fox just reported on the cyber attacks.
The news about the Cyber attack was on Fox’s (or CNN’s) tickertape.
“As California goes so goes the nation”? California has been the trendsetter. With all the problems in the world and especially here in America it seems Los Angeles is again setting the trend with the nation wide circus of televising MJ’s passing. Passing out IOUs to pay for the several millions of dollars to honor the passing of a pedophile. No wonder our economy is in such a sad state of affairs. Since when are states required to pay the funeral expenses of millionairs? A foriegn born gov and a foriegn born prez what the hell can be expected except bankruptcy in every national category.
Of course Obama’s actions/speeches are much more important to us than they are to the Russians. Remember Reagan’s “Tear Down This Wall” speech? Nobody over there gave a crap about it. That’s all a myth. Presidents overseas speeches are really aimed at Americans more so than the people of other countries.
-Presidents overseas speeches are really aimed at Americans more so than the people of other countries.-
Like, Obama’s Cairo speech? So, why the claim to the contrary, why claim his Cairo speech made Iran happen - as if what happened in Iran, in terms of coordination, can be accomplished in a couple of months.
My favorite part on the NYT article: how when Bill Clinton gave his speech in Russia, the public was enthusiastic and a woman ran to give the American president a hug. Seems the Russians are pretty politically astute people, they can’t be bamboozled, they’ve be through too much.
Yes, my Russian-scholar friend was a big fan of both Clintons.
That One’s speeches aren’t important because they are filled with a lot of flowery prose that means el zilcho. That you fall for this shit only demonstrates that your command of the English language is even worse than his.
Platitudes, generalizations, feel-good dreck, and stilted use of language are not the hallmarks of an intelligent man–to the contrary, they are hallmarks of someone who heard or read something once, thought it sounded or looked good, and proceeded to use it in a completely inappropriate manner. That One’s droning in Russia sounded like last week’s white noise, which sounded like the hogwash from the week before that. It is all empty rhetoric designed to keep you poorly-programmed bots swooning and praising him. One day you will wake up from a hard reboot and feel the shame you have so rightly earned.
Well the Obama thing isn’t surprising. That’s what it has looked for a long time to us non-native-born Americans.
As for California - I voted. I don’t consider myself low-information - we carefully researched everything because the propositions (like most) were couched in the most confusing language possible like this:
(paraphrased parody)
“Do you agree that we should never not take this action.” Yes or No
Like most Californians I am fed up with these special-interest propositions. We are collectively saying to Sacramento “Idiots! Just do your job!”
We lost Gray Davis in the first of the Celebrity Second Comings. We lost Willie Brown to term limits. Now, desperate for someone - ANYONE - with experience, the highest contender in the polls is JERRY BROWN!
Did Ahhnold write that one himself? LMAO. Leave it to schizoid wordsmiths to take a clearly written phrase such as, “Do you agree that we should always take this action” and change it into the double-negative claptrap that you posted.
I will never not condemn these bastards for their not keeping their promise to not continue the non-transparency.
(Or something like that–they must lie awake at night in devious attempts to make double-negatives of even the most obvious of questions).
Sounds like a god damn Spanish Inquisition to me.
Yeah–and what’s with most of California, anyway? The electorate took Ahhnold’s advice and got rid of Gray Davis, with whom they were merely in the frying pan, only to get a much more intimate immersion in the flames beneath it.
Yeah, at least Davis was standing up to the Oil Companies who were fleecing us through their manufactured energy crisis. Arnie, was brought in by big oil and was supposed to fix it all (I never believed that!). And look where California is today–bankrupt.! His popularity is at 33%; the CA Legislature’s at 13%.
Obama is doing a wonderful job promising Russia all kinds of things. (What Russia will have to do is wait to see if he actually goes through with these promises.)His first meeting lasted a whole 15 minutes and in that he promised them he was doing away with the Jackson-Vanik amendment. We’re going to increase our trading with Russia by billions of dollars. Invest billions with Russia.
Half a million people are loosing their jobs in this country a month and nothing is too good for Obama, he has to stay at the Ritz which is 13,000 a night. While both President Clinton and even Bush stayed at the Marriot.
I’m having a good time going through the Russian newspapers. I have a few articles I’m going to need one of the Russian exchange students that stayed with me years ago to translate, or one of my friends from Russia, but it’s probably pretty much the same things. The Russians seem as divided as we are on Obama. With some newspapers calling him a liar, cheat, fraud, deceiver….others asking, “Is Obama making Russia love America again?”
Great article Lisa.
If the public has had enough with stimulus spending and bailouts, what will happen if the feds decide to rescue CA? Other states are suffering too and by bailing out one, the floodgates will surely open.
I just don’t understand why Keynesians still have any credibility, and more importantly sway, in policy-making. Government spending is totally out of control and those who favor more of it need to be honest and realistic about the actual ramifications.
Are we the only people in the universe who “gets” what 0bama really did in the Campaign of ‘08?? If nobody has the nerve to tackle the caucus fraud, why on earth does no one but us have any interest in the fundraising done *not by 0*, but the company that Nancy Pelosi got to raise the money for him. The link below is to The Atlantic.com article that discusses this. Don’t be fooled by this favorable-to-Obama article because it unwittingly reveals many things about how 0’s candidacy took hold (not because of anything he did, but he was simply at the right place at the right time plus this clues us how the party leadership had their fingerprints all over his candidacy and their determination to make him the dem nominee and then POTUS:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200806/obama-finance
Lisa, the Politico article you reference said his final figure for fundraising was $665 million. The last figure I saw quoted was $750 million. The final post-election FEC reports revealed 26% of the total campaign contributions came from people giving $200 or less! 74% came from doners giving $1,000 or more! This included the Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck transactions as well as the often questionable foreign gifts, not to mention those people who illegally gave many times more than the $2,300 for the primary and $2,300 for the ge. Does anyone really believe that 0bama-obsessed billionaires like Oprah, other Hollywood stars, not to mention the George Soros’s only gave him $5,600?? I think not. Is nothing really going to be done about this? Why are the republicans not screaming bloody murder?? Are they really that stupid or simply asleep at the switch?
I stay continuously frustrated that nothing has been done about this. You better believe 0bama is going to do nothing about campaign finance until after 2012. Should he be re-elected (God Help Us!) he will probably do something about it in his lame-duck term. This would be his final kick in the face.
The atlantic doesn’t mention all those foreign donors though!
like hamas
Unfortunately, the above link I gave you to the Atlantic.Com article, “The Amazing Money Machine” was NOT the original one I thought was so revealing. The one above linked to their Facebook version of the article which cuts out a great deal of the party leadership role in 0’s rise to POTUS. The link below should be the one I intended (fingers crossed).
The first sentence should start out, “What ultimately transformed the presidential race….” Sorry for the mixup. This article was written in Feb 2008, published in June, and does not include final finance reports and all that we learned after June 2008. This article has great insight from my perspective, but you do have to put two and two together. Basically, this is a pro-0bama piece, but tells more than the 0 people would have liked I guarantee you.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200806/obama-finance/3
forget all this please research this:
Cloward/Piven Strategy
I rise you Neomi Klein & the Shock Doctrine
*******************
Great round up of the REAL news– LISA! Between NQ and TC — I feel I really know what’s going on in the world.
That should read — Naomi Klein
Yeah, too bad Naomi Klein was an Obama supporter. She really should be ashamed of herself for that. I wonder what tune she’s singing now?
It was not low information voters in CA. It was people waking up. It was the people of CA tired of those running the state coming into our homes and just reaching into our wallets to take what they like. Not one of them would think it was funny if the people of CA went to their home and said I’m gonna need a couple thousand dollars and reached into their wallets. They didn’t earn the money. They’ve done nothing to earn more money from us!
It was the people of CA saying, “Look I have to balance my check book, just because I have checks doesn’t mean I have money in the bank, like so many in the government seem to think it means for them. If I don’t, I pay penalties, and you should too. We’re sick of paying for everyone else as our paychecks shrink. Utility taxes to pay for government employees to get computers? For government employee’s to get free gas. To throw lavish parties and dinners. Talk about abuse!
Quit putting crap on the ballots with no way to pay for them, then look to us to pay the costs!” Feel good Pfft, we don’t make up those ballots, and we damn sure wouldn’t put half the crap they do on those ballots knowing we didn’t have a dime to our names, a pot to “P”s in, or a window to throw it out of.
All over the internet I am seeing articles trying to blame Prop 13 for the mess that CA is in. Once again blaming the voters for putting brakes on the legislature.
Prop 13 was the people telling Sacramento that stealing widow’s homes through tax hikes is a bad thing. Now get in there and work it out.
The voters were right then as they are now.
The legislature doesn’t need more money they need how to figure out how to do it with less money. And I agree, doing without all these feel good ballot measures that can’t be paid for.
In the past few elections, I have started voting no on almost everything on the ballots. Even for the schools, things have gotten so far out of hand.
Great read LisaB!!
Re Campaign finance, Bob Kerry - former Senator from Nebraska had an op-ed right after the election claiming that Obama’s small donor funding proved that campaign finance reform was basically irrelevant since future campaigns will be funded through small donations from the multitudes a la Obama. I like Bob Kerry, But I found his op-ed and the lack of media reporting or outrage over such a baldfaced lie shocking. Especially coming from such a campaign finance champion. Just another example of how twisted logic by the dems to make up, down and right, left.
http://hotair.com/
Dissent is Treason!
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/24673.html
The Associated Press has finally discovered math, and realizes that Barack Obama’s numbers don’t add up.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090708/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_tax_promise
The EPA says Cap and Trade won’t work, is vulnerable to fraud, and will only cost Americans more for energy while lining the pockets of the Industry.
http://blog.heritage.org/2009/07/08/epa-admits-cap-and-trade-won’t-work/
Here’s a renewable energy source that we can produce in prodigious quantities, especially after a few beers:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31805166/ns/technology_and_science-innovation/print/1/displaymode/1098/
A must see, Obama even lies in Russia blatantly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMz2wpYbhHQ&feature=player_embedded
Listen to where he says he met Michelle, now anyone with a single working brain cell remembers where they met someone they eventually married!
Personally I think California deserves to do without for a while. Leyt a few Legislators houses burn down. THey refuse to behave responsibly. Raise the Godddamned taxes to support the essential services. I am a state employee for Colorado. We have TABOR to deal with. It is just awful. Every year more money is voted for schools or for DOC or raods. All of which must come from the same little pot taking away from every other government entity.
Now we are facing furloughs and layoffs, and no one understands why. It is becvause if you want good schools,good roads and to lock up every jaywalker have to pay for it.
I haven’t had a decent raise in 9 years (since Ownes we first elected Governor). Ritter is not much better. But he has found ways to get around TABOR and that is good.
California needs to suffer a little and change their idiotic laws. They have a ton of money in that state and they need to start paying their bills.Thisa whole mess is just stupid. What a bunch of selfish bastards they have running that state.
The Russians know a product of propaganda when they see it. After all, they wrote the book on propaganda. No doubt, they are amused to see the righteous U.S. borrowing their tricks.
i think the Russians are laughing at him..
BTW…slightly on and also off-topic:
FACEBOOK has an Obama approval poll. Approximately 60% - yes 60% of the responders say they STRONGLY DISAPPROVE of Obama. About 18% strongly approve. 10% approve, 3% are neutral, and almost 9% simply “disapprove.”
This is on FACEBOOK. The college social network. Filled with Obots. I have to say, those numbers blew me away. Seems like an unspoken backlash is growing! (Maybe there’s hope!)
Pictures can be deceiving… but it looks like Sarkozy is humored by Barack checking out the goods on this young lady in Italy. I know he is too much the gentleman though.
http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slideshow/photo//090709/ids_photos_wl/r3356552547.jpg/
Docelder…he is SOOO busted. ROLF!
“Honest Michelle, I was looking at her sandels and thinking I would get you a pair!”