If Tuesday’s community meeting at the Codman Square Health Center in Dorchester was indeed an “official” congregation of the Boston City Council Post-Audit and Oversight Committee – as was alleged in a press release from Councilor Sam Yoon’s office – then I assume nobody told councilors Connolly, Feeney, LaMattina, Murphy, Turner, and Tobin.

In response to the emotional unwinding of many Americans during this recession, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) launched a new Web page as a guide "on how to deal with the effects financial difficulties can have on your physical and mental health."

We offer some links to help those in need sort out their emotional well-being during this tumultuous time.

Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza was so excited (!!!) to visit U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay for a USO tour. She blogged on March 20: "On Friday, we left for Jacksonville for one night because the next day we were going to Guantanamo, Cuba!!!! Wow, my job is amazing!!!! I love it."

So we were so excited (!!!) to read her post about "relaxing" at Gitmo:

Bomb scare in the Square: Police appear ready to blow up Kenmore dummy; bicycle commuters forced into close contact with BU students. [Boston Phoenix]

Obama continues to pressure automakers: The market doesn't love it. [Reuters]

Here we go again: This time it's pistachio nuts. Who watches the nut watchmen? [AP]

UPDATE 10:55: Boston Police bomb squad guys -- one in a full space suit, plus their bomb-killing robot -- were called in when a dummy protesting the banking industry and global warming was found at the door of a Bank of America branch in Kenmore Square before it opened this morning.

“The real dummies evict people and fuel climate chaos,” read a sign stuck across the mannequin’s chest.

Al Gore, our Oscar-winning, Nobel Peace Prize-champ former vice president, spoke tonight as part of “The Minds That Move the World” speaker series at Boston's Wang Theatre. He called on people to work to end carbon dioxide emissions to head off rising sea levels and other disasters of global warming. He also touched on the state of democracy, the economic crisis, and President Barack Obama’s progress.

A LOT of women love to shop, and buy things -- expensive things. But really it's not our fault! It's completely natural I swear. Of course like our bad mood swings, and our thirst for chocolate and cheese (not together), it's all linked to our monthly cycle. And now we can all blame a trip down Newbury Street, maxed credit cards in hand, on our bodies. At least that's what a new study coming out in Britain is saying anyway.

According to the Smoking Gun, Vince Schlomi, a/k/a "Vince Offer," a/k/a "the Sham Wow guy," a/k/a #26 on this year's 100 Unsexiest Men list, was arrested last month for punching a woman he'd paid $1000 for sex. Charges were never filed, but in a police report obtained by the Smoking Gun, Schlomi admitted to cops (after being read his right to remain silent) that after forking over a grand in $20 bills to one Sasha Harris and taking her back to a hotel room, she "bit his tongue and would not let go," whereupon Vince "began to strike [Harris] numerous times in the face area." Nobody comes out of this one looking too good.

In the news today...

GM CEO forced out: Wagoner out, some (like Steven Stark) predicting car companies to get their bailout eventually anyway.

Tragedy in Milton: Three dead in violent attack over the weekend.

Flooded Fargo: Just as the waters recede, they get snow.

Bill Ayers to address BC: Surely someone will express outrage over this.

The Australian troupe Chunky Move performed its 2004 work I Want to Dance Better at Parties at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art tonight. It’s part documentary narrative, part comedy, part kinetic metaphor about the pleasures and terrors of social dancing.

The show developed out of interviews choreographer Gideon Obarzanek conducted with five guys around Melbourne, where the company is based.

Martin Ramirez (1895-1963) spent the last 15 years of his life confined in a California state hospital as a schizophrenic. But folks like The New York Times have come to consider him“one of the greatest artists of the 20th century” for the obsessive drawings he made there of trains and tunnels, caballeros and wild critters. They’re a cockeyed blend of Art Deco and de Chirico, energized by Ramirez’s signature stripes pulsing like neon lights on a theater marquee. Through May 2,Nielsen Gallery at 179 Newbury St. in Boston presents “Martin Ramirez: At the Center, In the Eye,” a rare show of eight of his drawings. See a slideshow of the artworks here.

 
Gilbert Gottfried was the, uh, winner of our inaugurial Unsexiest Men of the Year list in 2006. He was recently interviewed about the honor:

GILBERT: The Phoenix Sun did a list of the unsexiest men in the world and I made it to number one. I beat out Bin Laden. He's a terrorist, hasn't bathed in months. I beat him out. To me it was a great honor.

JOHN DEBELLIS: No one deserves that title more than you.

GILBERT GOTTFRIED: My sentiments exactly. It was the best publicity I ever had. It went all over the world, Japan, China,. India, Korea... Europe. In Russia they retitled the article as "The Most A Sexual man in the world." When I got that news I was ringing the bells at Notre Dam. They said, "Climb down. Read this." I've been fighting to hold onto that title and you'd be surprised to see how many women are helping me.

We asked Phoenix staffers to send over links to stories/blog posts/webpages that have caught their eyes today. Here are the highlights...

Man on Fire: A surgeon suffering a heart attack while performing brain surgery carries on with the procedure.

Food Fight: The Boston Globe pisses off a local deviled eggs fanatic.

AskMen.com, the neanderthalic website dedicated to teaching its self-proclaimed 7 million readers all about how to be as ball-scratchingly manly as they can be, has published the "Top 10 Subtle Ways To Tell Her She's Getting Fat." Because, surely, the men who visit AskMen.com are epitomes of physical perfection, and don't reek of Funions and failure as I had previously suspected.