Ball point pen on todays newsprint In the mid 60's wigs were all the rage for the American housewife. With all the demands on a woman's time, it was the height of convenience to pop on a fashionable hairdo for the trips to the market. My mom was no exception, she fell prey to the trend and bought a wig. But to tell you the truth, she never wore it much, It was an uncomfortable thing that was banished to the top shelf of her closet, perched atop a styrofoam head. As a kid, it creeped me out having it ominously looking down from it's high shelf, lit from below like a villain in a horror film. But when she took it down it was just a vacuous head composed mostly of air, it's sole responsibility to hold that ridiculously phony hair. Yesterday, Tony Hayward testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He seemed sedated and claimed not to know anything about anything. ...
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Ball point pen on todays newsprint Revisiting last weeks post about how it's a man's world. A German drug company has come up with a pill that increases a woman's sex drive. They even invented a disorder, hypo (under) active sexual desire disorder. With woman's health issues historically being underfunded, it's troubling that a drug company has allocated valuable research and development funds to invent a drug that make it easier for men to get a little. The side effects include dizziness, nausea and fatigue. Is there any doubt that a guy thought to develop this?. Leonore Tiefer, a professor and sex therapist will offer testimony to the FDA opposing the drug coming to market. Read the article from the NYT ...
Read MoreBall point pen on todays newsprint The first step in solving a crisis is to admit one exists and then spell it out in all it's ugly detail. The newly elected Prime Minister of Greece, George Papandreou admitted that not only was the Greek deficit twice as high as previously reported, but his country's finances were also a mess, corruption was pervasive and tax evasion, rampant. Refreshing to have a leader not resort to jingoism. ...
Read MoreBall point pen on todays newsprint U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard, recovering from a rib injury caused by a spikes-to-chest collision with England's Emile Heskey, has been cleared to continue World Cup play when the U.S. takes on Slovenia this Friday. Check out my good friend Stephen Gardner's World Cup coverage on his brilliant Sketch of the Day blog. here here and here ...
Read MoreBall point pen on todays newsprint ..and puppy-dogs' tails, That's what little boys are made of. At least according to the nineteenth century English poet, Robert Southey. And from the same poem: What are our soldiers made of? Pipeclay and drill, the foeman to kill A chilling article in todays NYT about how US ally, Somalia, in violation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, isn't distinguishing between boys and soldiers, recruiting anyone that can carry a gun. ...
Read MoreBall point pen on todays newsprint Increased pressure on school administrators to have their charges achieve, combined with bonuses for fifth grade math and science teachers for bringing up standardized test scores, led to a Texas elementary school achieving scores too good to be true. Principle Dianne Edwards and assistant principle Tonia Bush resigned after it was learned that educators cheated by “tubing” the test booklet (squeezing the test booklet without breaking its paper seal) to form an open tube, see what would be on the test, and distribute detailed study guides. Ball point pen on todays newsprint ...
Read MoreBall point pen on todays news This is a man's world, this is a man's world But it wouldn't be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl! James Brown Are there more men in the news, or do I gravitate to stories about men? What ever the reason, I realize that I doodle mens faces at a far greater percentage than I do women. Here's my lame attempt to even the score. Four women on the rise in politics. Sharron Angle, Republican nominee for Senate trying to unseat Majority Leader Harry Reid in Nevada, Carly Fiorina, Republican Senate nominee running strong in California against Barbara Boxer, Nikki Haley, GOP nominee for Governor of South Carolina and Blanche Lincoln, fighting to keep her Arkansas seat in the US Senate in the Democrats column. Click here to watch a couple of guys telling it like it is. ...
Read MoreBall point pen on todays newsprint This is a story that's been on my radar for some time. My wife being in the fiduciary accounting biz has been waiting to see what congress will do about their oversight in the 2010 tax code, allowing estate tax to lapse for one year. In 2009 heirs were subject to a 45 percent tax on estates exceeding 3.5 million. In 2011 the rate will rise to 55 percent, but for 2010 the tax on estates is zero. My first thought was that there are going to be a lot of plugs pulled in December of 2010. But in todays NYT the real life ramifications of congress's oversight. Dan Duncan is the first American Billionaire allowed to pass his substantial fortune to his heirs tax free. Forbes magazine estimated his worth at $9 billion, ranking him as the 74th richest man in the world. If he died in December of 09 the estate would have paid over 4 billion in tax, If he surviv ...
Read MoreBall point pen on todays newsprint Thomas has been asking tough questions to every president since Dwight Eisenhower. She was the first woman to be an officer of the National Press Club and the first female member and president of the White House Correspondents' Association. At 89 she probably stuck around for one question too many. ...
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