Tuesday, February 24th 2009, 4:00 AM  Manhattan: What a terrible idea having Hugh Jackman sing and dance at the Academy Awards. It was painful and awkward to watch and brought the show to a screeching halt. A perfect choice for the pulse of cinema this year. The show could have been 30 minutes shorter without the silly opening bit and the gag-inducing musical tribute. Maybe on the Tonys they can do a tribute to documentary shorts. Musical numbers don't work and use up too much time. It should just be the nominated songs.  Newark: Robin Roberts at this year's Oscars goes from lady in red in her dress to lady divine! A year after conquering cancer, she comes out as the Ms. Supreme, and she deserves an Oscar for putting grace, dignity and beauty into Oscar night. She shows us all how to fight a disease. And the winner is: Robin Roberts, in beauty and grace!  Flushing: Sean Penn wins an Oscar and uses his televised acceptance speech to advocate for homosexual civil rights, while not long ago he went to Cuba to interview, all full of admiration and excitement, Raul Castro, the head of a 50-year dictatorship that put homosexuals and other dissidents in concentration camps. It is easy to demand civil rights in the U.S. Try it in Cuba and see how it feels, Mr. Penn.  Massapequa, L.I.: Investing in the stock market is the best thing that I never did.  Brooklyn: Our troops are overseas fighting for freedom and democracy, while America is slowly heading for socialism. Wake up, America, before it is too late.  North Massapequa, L.I.: What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. As the private-sector bosses taking bailout money will be required to have caps on their salaries, Washington should have caps on campaign funds.  All in the family I  Manhattan: To Voicer Mary Nigro, who wanted to know who pays for Mrs. Robinson, the President's mother-in-law: You should have asked all the other ex-Presidents before him. At least he's making all the fat cats, who weren't paying taxes before, pay up now. The other Presidents before him didn't do that.  All in the family II  Orange, N.J.: In reply to Voicer Mary Nigro: I'm quite sure the Kennedy children, John and Caroline, and Chelsea Clinton had paid nannies. The President and his wife prefer to let a grandmother care for their girls to keep their lives as normal as possible. So why worry about who is paying for her room and board? I'm quite sure a nanny got paid, plus room and board.
One way for President Obama to save the U.S. taxpayers plenty of money is by stopping people from getting disability here and then going back home aoad to live like kings and queens.