The special election to fill now-Sen. Kristen Gillibrand’s Congressional seat (NY-20) was held today, but even before the polls closed, Republican candidate Jim Tedisco was bringing in the legal artillery.

The Red River at Fargo crested Saturday at 40.82 feet, breaking a record of 40.1 feet set in 1897. The river’s level has begun to decline but it is only expected to fall to below 36 feet (twice flood stage level) by next week. President Obama has declared emergencies in the affected regions in North Dakota and Minnesota, freeing up federal aid money. The communities have done an amazing job of coming together- packing and stacking millions of sandbags amongst other flood preparations.

Paul Krugman says the small bits of good news aren’t a sign that things will be getting better any time in the near (or distant) future.

Simon Johnson and Peter Boone discuss how the resolution authority (the Obama Administration requested power to treat non-bank financial institutions like banks) would have to be used for it to work to the economy’s benefit.

Felix Salmon had a post yesterday discussing the fact that the economic landscape has shifted from a model where businesspeople ran banks to one where financiers run businesses. That popped into my mind when I heard that Rick Wagoner was asked by the Obama Administration to leave his position of GM chairman and CEO. Wagoner was originally a finance guy, starting at the company as an analyst in the treasurer’s office and eventially moving up to the position of CFO. He was promoted to the position he’s now vacating by his predecessor Jack Smith, who didn’t seem to have a problem with the fact that Wagoner was not, by anyone’s definition, a “car guy”. Wagoner will be replaced by Fritz Henderson, the now-former chief operating officer, who is also from finance and not thought of as being strong in the business aspects of the auto industry.

Naked People, a project by photographer Sebastian Kempa includes twenty photos of people dressed in their ordinary clothing. Next to each picture is their name and some basic information about the model. When you click on the model’s body, their clothing fades away and reveals their nude body, positioned just as it had been in the clothed version.

There is no law dictating that a piece of art must have some sort of meaning behind it. But artist’s will often include a statement of purpose behind a piece, especially if it is one that is likely to raise questions about intent (an example of such a statement). Art is in the eye of the beholder and the audience can choose to ignore the statement but in their best moments of symbiosis, the statement and artwork can create a powerful dynamic.

President Obama has stated since his election campaign that he plans to do away with the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) policy in the U.S. military. But practically in the same breath, the Administration was making it clear that their timeline for action was in the range of “not anytime soon”. 
Defense Secretary Robert Gates appeared on Fox News Sunday today and stated that repelling DADT remains off the Administration’s list of priorities:  
WALLACE: In January, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs gave a one word answer, “yes,” when asked if …

Matt Taibbi, writing about the NYTimes op-ed “Dear AIG, I Quit!” by former AIG Financial Products employee Jake DeSantis:

When we first started Moue, Will and I posted only under our first names. There was no reason for this; we just hadn’t considered adding our last names at that time. As each of our other writers joined on, I left it entirely up to them how they wanted to be credited. As such, Will and I now post under our full names, Shawn and Dave by their first names and Acallidryas under a pseudonym. Acallidryas has no nefarious reason for using a pseudonym. It was her preference and has no bearing on the veracity of her posts or her writing abilities.

D.T. Max has a 13 page piece about David Foster Wallace that discusses the late author’s battles against depression while providing insight into Wallace’s creative methods. (The New Yorker) (Cont..)