Big Bonuses for Some, Tent Dwellings for Others

Okay, how ironic is it to see this article about big bonuses being paid to Wall Street bankers and traders in the same issue of the NY Times as this article about people living in tents?

According to the first article, “Nine of the financial firms that were among the largest recipients of federal bailout money paid about 5,000 of their traders and bankers bonuses of more than $1 million apiece for 2008, according to a report released Thursday by Andrew M. Cuomo, the New York attorney general.”

People become homeless for any number of reasons (losing jobs being one of them). Still . . . ironic, I think.

And speaking of the homeless, someone apparently came up with the bright idea of exporting them. (This is a joke, right?)

Anti-Branding: Starbucks in Stealth Mode

Starbucks has come up with an interesting way to downplay its multi-national corporate image–design its stores to pretend to be local coffeeshops.

So, instead of promoting itself as a brand, Starbucks seems to have hit upon a new concept–anti-branding.

I guess the purported idea is to make the store’s ambiance more local. But saying it’s “inspired by Starbucks”–well, that’s stretching things a bit, isn’t it? Since it’s actually a Starbucks in disguise.

We’ll see how that goes. I mean, you can call it “15th Ave E Coffee and Tea,” but Starbucks by any other name is still Starbucks, right?

Beauty Queen Deals with Dystonia

While most people associate Botox with wrinkle removal, those of us who suffer from dystonia know it has medicinal uses, too.

And while Dawn Brinkley, recently crowned Mrs. Jacksonville 2009, is a beauty queen, she doesn’t use Botox to smooth her wrinkles out. She has cervical dystonia, as the result of an auto accident.

This article (which I found through Spazmic Confessions) tells how dystonia has changed Brinkley’s life–she’s had to give up her work in construction, which she enjoyed, along with favorite hobbies like bowling and tennis.

“I went through a really dark place,” Brinkley said. “I liked my life. I liked being a mother and working full time. I kept asking, ‘Why do I have to give up work?’”

She also said, “I felt like a 66-year-old trapped in her 31-year-old body.”

Not good. But Brinkley’s doing her best to keep going: “You have to say, ’stop looking at yesterday’ and say, ‘It just is, and that’s OK.’ Start on a new path.’”

Well said, Dawn.

Do Hot Dogs Need a Warning Label?

I don’t know about you, but I think hot dogs need a health warning label about as much as coffee needs a warning that it’s hot.

Apparently, a vegan advocacy group would beg to differ. They’ve asked a New Jersey court to order Oscar Mayer, Hebrew National and other food companies to label hot dog packages with the following: “Warning: Consuming hot dogs and other processed meats increases the risk of cancer.”

Gee, really? And here I thought hot dogs were health food. What’s next? Should every type of food we sell come with a warning that eating too much may make you fat?

I’ve always figured hot dogs are kind of like sausages–you don’t want to know how they’re made. You just shut the rational part of your brain off and eat them. Just like any other sort of not-particularly-healthy food. Ice cream, cheesecake, red meat ribboned with fat–some things you just eat even though you know that they’re not loaded with nourishment and may even increase your risk of cancer or heart disease, especially if eaten in excessive amounts.

See that last part? Excessive–that’s the problem, really. Eating hot dogs or other “bad” foods is probably fine in moderation.

Anyway, if the hot dogs don’t give you cancer, breathing the air or drinking the water probably will. (Maybe we need to label those, too.)

It’s Dystonia Awareness Day on Twitter

Oh, my goodness. Gotta take a moment to rest. If blogging can be considered resting, that is.

In between trying to handle business as usual, I’ve been sending out tweets (and retweets and replies) with the hash tag #dystonia, as part of a big effort to spread the word about dystonia on Twitter.

Lots of stories being shared. Lots of information and resources, too.

Like this great video:

And information for teens with dystonia.

Both from @dystonia2006, if memory serves. (Thanks!)

That’s just a couple–doesn’t even begin to do it justice. Go search on #dystonia on search.twitter.com and you can see all the tweets. Dystonia tweets are flying today. (Was that a bad pun? Flying tweets? Birds? Twitter? Get it? Don’t mind me. I’m all Twittered out here.)

Whatever Happened to Growing Old Gracefully?

Why, I keep asking, why are we SO obsessed with looking young?

It seems that despite the rising cost of medical bills and job losses due to our economy tanking and all, there’s an elective surgery that people are increasingly seeking. What else but cosmetic surgery?

One woman claims she needs it to “be rejuvenated.” (So, get more sleep, okay?)

Another woman sought a breast enhancement when her mom got hers reduced. The doctor gave some sort of price break for both procedures.

Now the woman with the bigger breasts feels “a lot more confident.”

(Sigh) Why should our confidence depend on our breast size or whether we have a few wrinkles?

It’s so big that the LA Times ran not just one article about the phenomenon, but two in the same issue.

So does anyone else think that this op-ed piece (run in the same issue as those articles) about a 65-year-old man seeing his father’s face and thinking about the past when he looks in the mirror is more than a bit ironic?

The closing line, “Look in the mirror and tell me what you see” is poignant, considering how desperate people seem to be to erase the past from their faces.

Having Your Cake and Eating it, Too

You know, it’s way too easy to be misunderstood online. People should think long and hard before they post something.

A notion that applies as much to this post as anything else, so I’ve thought it over. And I think I will share this with you (keeping the people involved anonymous, since it’s in everyone’s best interest).

It started when I checked on someone’s status on Facebook last night. Basically, it suggested that it was “scary” that Al Franken, former SNL comedian, would be involved in picking Supreme Court justices.

I noticed a number of reactions from people who seemed more conservative than myself (to put it mildly). But, feeling a bit light-hearted and jovial, I couldn’t resist adding in, “Oh, I dunno. Is it it really scarier than a B-movie actor being elected president?”

Okay, maybe I should have added a smiley face or something, to make it (agonizingly) clear it was just a joke. Well, my comment certainly drew a reaction from one person who wrote, “Um.. if you’re referring to the GREATEST President the USA has ever known… R. R… ‘dem is fightin’ words!”

Oh, my.

Well, first, I thought, c’mon it’s just a joke, okay? I know ideologues have a difficult time with the concept of humor, but really . . .

Then, my mind was suddenly crowded with 1,001 sarcastic responses I could have made. There were so many it was awfully hard to choose.

The sarcastic remarks screamed to be told, but I said no. I’m not a flamer. I’m not getting up in someone’s face on Facebook. Especially, not with an obvious political extremist. That’s a losing battle from the start.

But the astonishing idea that Ronald Reagan could be the absolute greatest president we’ve ever had seemed to require some kind of response. Then, I thought, what would I say to this person if they were right in front of me?

Because that’s the best way to approach these situations when they arise. Don’t get sarcastic, don’t flame. It accomplishes nothing and creates unnecessary stress for all.

And I thought of a suitable reply. I typed: “Gee . . . better than Lincoln?”

Clever, eh? I neither attacked Reagan nor this person’s politics, yet I made the point that, well, maybe there was at least one president who could outstrip Reagan in the accomplishments department.

I shut off the computer, curious to see if I’d get a response this morning and, if so, what on earth it could be.

This morning, sure enough, there it was. It said (and I quote): “YES.. better than Lincoln.. He had longer to accomplish more.. and he did..”

Um . . . okay. So Lincoln saved our country–as in kept it from splitting in two? You know, the Civil War and all?–in LESS time than Reagan took to do . . . whatever he’s supposed to have done, which was quite obviously not as major as resolving a civil war? And this makes Reagan greater how, exactly?

Oh, and by the way, while we’re on the subject of Reagan’s accomplishments, let’s go over a few:

Busted up air traffic controllers union (and had airport named after him–irony anyone?)

Gutted environmental protections (Anyone remember EPA Admin Anne Gorsuch Burford? Not to mention Secretary of the Interior James Watt? Real eco-leaders (not!)–oh, who cares about the environment, anyway?)

Policies created massive amounts of Social Security disability litigation due to denials (know about this first-hand from former attorney life–in disabling pain? bad back? too bad; fibromyalgia? it’s in your head, okay?)

Invaded Grenada (big win for the Gipper! not the Bay of Pigs or anything, but . . . hey, whatever) (scroll down to the “Rationalizations” section and note the falsehoods spread and other odd similarities to the Iraq invasion)

Reaganomics, nice try, but didn’t work and resulted in huge deficit (this is what happens when you spend WITHOUT taxing, okay?)

Deinstitutionalized mentally ill people so they weren’t living off the public dime (and were living on the street instead)

Encouraged reckless financial policies and rampant forms of market speculation (savings and loan crisis, anyone? not to mention setting things up for the biggest financial meltdown since the Depression)

Cut entitlements to people who might actually deserve them (hey, rich people hold fundraisers, right? sure, to raise money for PACs to assure they stay rich)

Iran-Contra scandal (Reagan’s Watergate–but, hey, he’s a great guy, so forgive him those errors in judgment already)

There’s probably loads more, but I’ll end with my favorite . . .

Ketchup as a vegetable (okay, maybe Reagan ultimately wouldn’t have supported this, but it is a priceless example of the kind of thinking going on then)

So . . . anyway, I could have trotted out any of these responses. But I didn’t. I didn’t bother to reply–what could I say? Clearly, nothing I could say would change this person’s mind or, at least, get them to lighten up a bit, so . . . I’m blogging about it instead. Because like I say, I don’t want to flame anyone or try to argue with an ideologue.

But I do like to have the last word.

Mmmm . . . great cake.

Another July Book Promotion?

Turns out, if you’re into print books, Lulu is having a July promotion. If you buy my book, IDENTITY CRISIS, before the month’s end at http://www.lulu.com/content/3923913, just enter the code ‘JULYCONTEST10’ at checkout. You’ll get 10% off your purchase.

So, if you’re looking for a good summer read, consider buying IDENTITY CRISIS. It’s fast-paced, entertaining and reasonably priced at 10 percent off, no less.

Free Download of My Mystery Novel–Until July 31

Smashwords is offering a big promotion this month. My mystery novel, IDENTITY CRISIS, is available as a free download until July 31. Just click on this link and follow instructions to get the discount.

In IDENTITY CRISIS, a simple domestic abuse case turns deadly when the alleged abuser is killed and Stephanie Ann “Sam” McRae’s client disappears. When a friend asks Sam to find Melanie Hayes, the Maryland attorney is drawn into a complex case of murder and identity theft that has her running from the Mob, breaking into a strip club and forming a shaky alliance with a private investigator to discover the truth.

The book has received some great Amazon reader reviews.

So, check it out while you can–hey, it’s free, right?

Tonight’s Forecast . . . Dark . . .

The headline was inspired by this humorous take from a Mother Jones article on the current state of journalism and the less-than-inspiring ways some newspapers are choosing to deal with dropping ad revenues and readership.

This example is trenchant. According to the article, the San Francisco Chronicle featured a five-part series on fog. That’s right, folks. San Francisco has fog. Stop the presses. This is big. And the first part was headlined: “Our Fabled Fog,” with the subhead: “It’s part of the magic and beauty of San Francisco, permeating all avenues of life—and we should expect even more of it in the future.”

Uh, okay. (See why I thought of George Carlin here?)

The article takes an interesting turn when it delves into the broadcast news arena, which is apparently being taken over by people not giving news, but endorsements thinly disguised as news. Well, I guess movies and TV haven’t cornered the market on product placement, have they?

Oh, well. With any luck, the fog will burn off and there will be widely scattered light in the morning.