Poor Bill Thompson. As much as he'd like to hear President Obama publicly endorse his candidacy for mayor, he just can't seem to get him to utter the words. At last night's Democratic National Committee event at the Hammerstein Ballroom, Obama did make mention of Thompson. ("Our candidate for mayor, my friend Billy Thompson, is in the house.") But it clearly wasn't what Thompson had been hoping for. When asked if he considered the Obama shout-out to be an endorsement—he did say "our candidate," after all!—Thompson put it bluntly: "No. Do you consider that an endorsement?" [Politico, NYT, NYDN]

Thousands in Detroit lined up upon rumors of stimulus checks being handed out, leading Glenn Beck to compare progressives, who he blames for creating a reliance on government assistance, to "slave owners." We've got the video.

• Barack Obama had lunch today at Craftsteak, just so you know. [NBC]
• Corsino, the latest restaurant by Jason Denton of 'ino and 'inoteca fame, has opened in the space previously occupied by Frederick's Downtown. [UD, GS]
• Unfortunate news for new NYT restaurant critic Sam Sifton: His predecessor, Frank Bruni, says it's impossible for critics to be anonymous these days. [CNN]
• Did you know LA has surpassed NYC as the "deli capital of America"? That's what the author of a new book on the delicatessen says, at least. [LAT]
• Megu is the latest restaurant to get slapped with a labor lawsuit. [GS]
• Bon Appétit isn't following in Gourmet's footsteps and closing down. But it did reportedly hand out pink slips to a bunch of staffers today. [Gawker]
• Fashion stylist Robert Verdi, who says "thin is in," isn't the most tolerant guy in the world: "I think food is for fat people and poor people," he says. [Cut]

Hey everyone, Barack Obama is having a late lunch at Craftsteak right now! It's the latest of the safe choices the president has made when dining out in our fair city. What do his dining choices say about him?

The Secret Service is overwhelmed by an unprecedented wave of threats against Barack Obama. Our prediction for what happens next: when they request additional funding, Glenn Beck notices that the initials for Secret Service are "SS."

Barack Obama is telling the feds to stop, like, totally freaking out, man, and take it easy on medical marijuana.

Barack Obama is going to New Jersey! This means that Jon Corzine might actually pull this sucker off.

• After another wild day in court, Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook settled their latest round of legal issues yesterday. But not before Brinkley called her ex an "extreme narcissist," and Cook returned the favor by telling reporters she was an "angry, bitter, vindictive woman." At least it's nice to know they still have feelings for each other, though! [NYP, NYDN]
• As easy as it is to picture Courtney Love sitting in front of her computer punching numbers into an Excel spreadsheet, it turns out she may not be the best financial planner in the world. Love owes $300K in back taxes, according to the government. [TMZ]
• Michael Lohan says he knows who Lindsay's drug dealer is and he plans to reveal all in an effort to "save" his daughter. So who is he? "He has no job. He does nothing. All he does is supply everyone in LA." Call us crazy, but supplying "everyone" in LA sounds like a pretty good job to us. [Radar, NYDN]
• Get ready to see a lot more of Megan Fox dressed in, well, not much: Giorgio Armani has tapped her to star in his new underwear ad campaign. [WWD]

If imitation's the highest form of flattery, what's the action figure? The pint-sized likeness, once dominated by the likes of G.I. Joe, has become playground to the political elite. And now Michelle Obama's joining the plasticine ranks.

Obama's ideological opponents are grasping at straws here: they've carved "I Swastika Obama" message into the grass at a country club, institutions that were once bastions of American racism. This should be a perfect inflammatory storm, but it's just bewildering.

President Obama can expected some nasty letters from anti-war activists: the Pentagon has sent at least 34,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. These "support troops" are 13,000 more than Obama said would be sent back in March. Riot! [WaPo]

Want to host the Olympics? So did HITLER. Issuing a statement critical of an insurance industry-funded report on how regulating the health insurance industry would be bad? That is what GOEBBELS did. Welcome to Erick Erickson's brain!

He is like, Muhammad Yunus? Fuck that guy! Microcredit is a joke! Ha ha, just kidding, the famous old track and field athlete is pretty sure that Barack Obama has done "absolutely nothing." And TMZ is there!

Leave it to the gays to take something old and tired and make it exciting again. Radical gay activist group Bash Back has committed the first act of "glamdalism." It's like vandalism, but with pink paint and glitter grenades.

It's war! War between Obama and Fox! All that talk about Democrats being too weak to use American might was wrong: Obama will win Afghanistan and the afternoon!

Here's something queer. President Obama spent 20 minutes of his Saturday night talking to gay group Human Rights Campaign and their well-heeled supporters. Some were happy to hear the President vow to end Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Others weren't. Understandably...

If you thought it was going to be a while before you saw Lady Gaga's chyron on C-Span, think again. Our Lady of the Immaculate Penis spoke at the National Equality March on Washington today. We have video.

Obama opened up his Human Rights Campaign dinner speech with a joke about Lady Gaga, and closed by reinforcing the point that he'd be working to effectively end the military's longstanding Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy.

Even though he didn't deserve it, it's still awesome that Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize, right? No, it's not. It used to be, but now that Barack Obama has done it, it's un-American.

Patrick Lanzo owns a restaurant in Paulding County, Georgia. His restaurant has a mannequin dressed as a Klansman. The sign out front says, "Obama's plan for health-care: nigger rig it." Lanzo says he is not a racist.