Photo: ny1.com

Governor Paterson celebrated his 55th birthday at the Mandarin Oriental hotel last night, and if the utter breakdown of order and democracy in Albany hadn't already dampened his spirits, the protest outside may have. Police officers and firefighters angry about Paterson's veto of an extension of their pensions varnished their rendition of the normally jovial "Happy Birthday" song with an unmistakable coat of bitter sarcasm, and capped it off with a loud boo. They also started in a key too high for most of them to handle, so really, everybody lost. [NY1]