Numbers speak loudly when we listen to them.

The calculation for Gardasil and HPV is remarkably similar. Once you sit down and explain the relationship between HPV infection and cervical cancer, much of the Gardasil marketing loses its punch; not because cervical cancer isn’t scary enough, but because its actual prevalence in this country doesn’t justify the hype.

Read it ALL.

As the old saying goes, even a stopped watch is correct twice a day. The writers at Cracked just as frequently are capable of truly insightful commentary on American’s infatuation with fatuity.

But, recently, the stopped watch told the right time, as in a fit of conservatism temporary insanity, a Cracked author actually lauded some traditional values.

With a finger on the pulse of popular culture (as he strangles it with his other hand), David Wiens reveals the 5 Terrible Life Lessons Hollywood Loves to Teach You, as follows:

#5 Technology is Dangerous and Will Eventually Destroy Us
#4 You Don’t Have to Take Any Initiative in Your Life, Because You Have a Hidden Talent
#3 Corporations Exist Only to Create Evil
#2 Love Conquers All
#1 The Underdog Will Always Win, and Automatically Deserves To

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Teenage sexiness, redefined for modern culture.

Sweet little thing ain’t she?

And dressed to charm even the most discriminating tastes.

Read the rest of this entry »

Ooy. Ain’t this the cold painful damn truth?

The company hyped its sofa-stuffed lounges as a new, American “third place,” an alternative to work and home. I’m always amazed at the high-class hobos who clutter up Starbucks, the MacBook “novelists,” and the Bluetooth-enabled “consultants,” nursing their lattes and milking the Internet. The Dunkin’ Donuts outlets in my neighborhood offer a glaring contrast. I hit Dunkin’ a few mornings each week after exercising. It’s the only time of day when I interact with men and women who actually work for a living.

Starbucks. The coffee sucks. It’s as simple as that…yes, yes- I know many people who believe the coffee is excellent and worth it’s over inflated price. I say BS..coffee was never meant to be a rich man’s drink. Like beer, coffee is everyman’s drink- and Starbucks tried to create a “classy” brand. It’s pretty obvious the business model here isn’t working out quite the way Starbucks intended. Dunkies doesn’t cater to a higher (lazier) class of peasant. It simply serves up coffee- fast and cheap, without all the drama. That model works. Every time.

As you read this and the article it’s linked from, don’t ask where society is headed. You don’t want to know.

“Five years? Ten years? That’s ridiculous,” said LaToya Bell, 22, sitting on a porch with four others who nodded in agreement. “They (are) getting time for nothing. That girl, she knew what she was doing.”

I am speechless.

We report. You decide.

Now, read this and think about it. ALL THIS MONEY, EFFORT, TESTING, LAWSUITS and the like is what we get when these laws are put into place. For what? The once a week trek to Wendy’s?

And the simple truth of the matter is this:

…we buy just six of our 21 weekly meals from restaurants. Put another way, menu labeling laws mean nutritional information will be slapped in front of the average American for about three of every 100 meals. We aren’t getting fatter because there aren’t fat-count stickers on our Big Mac wrappers — as if most of us didn’t already know a Big Mac isn’t the most nutritious meal anyway.

Actually we don’t eat out 21 meals a week. The point here is valid. Why go to all this trouble when food/calorie intake is only ONE part of our supposed obesity problem? The Nannies want us all to believe if we starve ourselves, okay LIMIT ourselves to what we eat, we’ll be skinny perfect beings. It ain’t so! Exercise, movement and lifestyle changes are what is needed more than anything else. Of course the Nannies would regulate all those aspects of life if they could get away with it…and don’t be shocked when they start doing just that.

Good advice:

So learn the lyrics. Then you must sing them. In the car. On the beach. At the mall. Wherever teenagers gather. Then dance. Learn that “lady hump” song and dance like it’s 1952. Get out your best opera voice and warble “Don’t cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me,” and dance, dance, dance.

-Monique Doyle Spencer in an op/ed from today’s Boston Globe.

We’re hearing more and more of these stories now-a-day. I have to ask: Are these women deprived in their sex lives? They must be.

Police said two Bucks County moms have been charged after a sleepover involving six teenage boys took an alleged illegal sexual turn.

Angela Honeycutt, 38, and Lynne Long, 45, are facing numerous charges after a series of alleged incidents on April 14.

Authorities said the teens, ages 14 to 16, were attending a sleepover at Long’s Lower Makefield home when Honeycutt, a mother of two young children, allegedly had sex with a 14-year-old and performed sex acts with a 15-year-old. Long allegedly watched, listened and instructed the teens not to say anything.

In addition to the alleged sexual assault, detectives said Honeycutt exposed her breasts to the teens; open-mouth kissed some of the minors, entered a shower with a juvenile and engaged conversation of a sexual nature.

I do hope these women get slapped with the full extent of the law- which isn’t a tenth as bad compared to when older men go after young girls. Of course there are big differences in our culture on this- we won’t go there right now. Let’s just say people tend to cheer when the boyz get IT but are outraged when the girls are taken advantage of.

Bimboproof your daughter.

Really. Good article here.

Men, beware.

ELKTON, Md. (AP) - Starting next year across the country, rape victims too afraid or too ashamed to go to police can undergo an emergency-room forensic rape exam, and the evidence gathered will be kept on file in a sealed envelope in case they decide to press charges.

Things you do on a date can come back to bite you years later now. I suggest everyone start videotaping sexual encounters to provide a way to prove a rape didn’t occur. Or something like it anyway.

For your viewing pleasure.

How despicable is this??? Ashley the High Priced Slut worker has many job opportunities. Oh the choices she must make…

LOS ANGELES — Ashley Dupre became a household name due to the exposure of her alleged sex-service relationship with New York’s former governor, Eliot Spitzer. But while his life and career appear to be in ruins in the wake of the randy revelations, Dupre’s bank balance is booming.
[...]
“I’ve offered Ashley a quarter of million salary to come and work for me here,” Hof told Pop Tarts, adding that he was hoping to negotiate the deal with Dupre in the next few weeks. “I’ve also offered a free lifetime pass for Mr. Spitzer; we’re still waiting for a response.

Why would it not shock me to learn Sir Eliot takes up this offer?

“We call him the ‘No Glove Love Gov,’ but we’ve given out passes to people who are a lot more important and high-profile than he is,” the hooker-house owner added.

Bwahaha. Okay it’s not funny but it is. The only way that butt ugly man gets sex is by paying….gah he is one UGLY dude.

So if Ashley does decide to bounce on board the Bunnyranch, Hof claims that he will turn her image from “dirty” to dazzling.

Oh sure. Promises. promises. Pimps do it all the time.

However, Dupre’s 15 minutes of fame aren’t up quite yet. Gentleman’s Club Headquarters New York (known as HQ) is holding a contest this Thursday in search of the sexiest Dupre duplicate.

“Ms. Dupre has become an instant sex symbol, and men would happily pay to see her dance,” said Steve Hahn, General Manager of HQ. “We’re giving them the next best thing by combing the city for a girl who looks just like her.”

The reigning “almost Ashley Dupre” will be judged by “The Sopranos” star Dan Grimaldi, Big Apple icon The Naked Cowboy and a very special surprise guest (could it be Client #9?)

Lame. Just lame.

I have written here a few times about those ultra skinny, swooned over super sexy models who are, by all accounts, anorexic. People don’t like to admit that it is what it is…the sought after, much approved by society LOOK of health and beauty and sexiness. Young girls do seek this look. They will almost kill themselves, literally for this look.

I don’t condone governments that chose to legislate the behaviors and practices of businesses that promote such issues but…where do people draw the line on this?

PARIS — In the capital of high fashion and ultrathin models, conservative French legislators adopted a pioneering law on Tuesday aimed at stifling a proliferation of Web sites that promote eating disorders with “thinspiration” and starvation tips.

The bill, approved by the lower house of Parliament, faces a Senate vote. If passed, it would take aim at any means of mass communication — including magazines and Web sites — that promote eating disorders like anorexia or bulimia with punishments of up to three years in prison and more than $70,000 in fines.

The legislation was sponsored by Valérie Boyer, a conservative lawmaker from the Bouches-du-Rhône region in the south of France, and was also backed by the government’s health minister, Roselyne Bachelot. It is one of the strongest measures proposed since the 2006 death of a Brazilian model, Ana Carolina Reston, from anorexia.

“We have noticed,” Ms. Boyer said in an interview with The Associated Press, “that the sociocultural and media environment seems to favor the emergence of troubled nutritional behavior, and that is why I think it necessary to act.”

Is this a matter of public health? And if so should the government of France (and soon Britain) take on the role of policing this?

But the proposed law was criticized by the French Federation of Couture. Didier Grumbach, the federation president, told The Associated Press that it was impossible to legislate body weight. “Never will we accept in our profession that a judge decides if a young girl is skinny or not skinny,” he said. “That doesn’t exist in the world, and it will certainly not exist in France.”

With the proposed law, the French legislators are seeking to tame a murky world of some 400 sites extolling “ana” and “mia,” nicknames for anorexia and bulimia. Since 2000, such Web sites have multiplied in many languages, offering blunt tips on crash dieting, bingeing, vomiting and hiding weight loss from concerned parents.

The bill would make it illegal to “provoke a person to seek excessive weight loss by encouraging prolonged nutritional deprivation that would have the effect of exposing them to risk of death or endangering health.”

It’s not impossible to legislate the body weight of models. That’s a no brainer. The fashion industry has had plenty of warning on this too: Over three years of back and forth, of asking them to comply with medical weight charts and ideals. The industry hasn’t done this. Yet, the on line presence of pro-anorexic web sites has increases ten times. Magazines continue to glorify the ultra skinny, boney look. The industry has failed.

On the other hand, people LIKE to look at these models. Men swoon over the sight of clothed skinny girls who appear healthy and sexy…they don’t see the bones and pale flesh covered with make up and air brushing. Parents don’t see their daughters’ bony ribs and backs and hip bones bulging out. They don’t hear the learned ways to vomit quietly. And they don’t monitor weight. So who does?

Earth Day’s up and coming. And the Climahysterics are frothing at their green tinted lips.

EARTH DAY is a week from today, so brace yourself for cuddly, hug-the-planet blubbering from the presidential candidates. John McCain will tell you we must be the “caretakers of creation” even though he received a zero rating in 2007 from the League of Conservation Voters. Hillary Clinton will tout her 10-step personal home plan on global warming, such as recycling and using efficient light bulbs. Barack Obama will surely tell us we “cannot afford more of the same timid politics when the future of our planet is at stake.”

Ah, but what about hamburgers? When the candidates tell us to stay out of McDonald’s, then we will know their light bulbs are on. The end of timid politics is when they say that with the planet being at stake, you must eat less steak.

With fatal food riots in poor nations, and with China rapidly approaching Western levels of consumption, we in the obese United States must redefine what constitutes, to borrow from McDonald’s, a “happy meal.” Scientists are concluding that along with more fuel-efficient cars and curbing industrial pollution, the simple act of eating less meat could help slow global warming.

I have Earth Day off from work and you know what? I’m hosting our weekly cookout. And guess what is on the menu? HAMBURGERS. Lots of them. In every shape and form. Of every variety of ground beef. So do the same thing next week. Let’s create the Global Burger Awareness Day.

I read this with some amusement:

LEXI JAMES, 11, a sixth grader in Hope Mills, N.C., had been asking for a hair treatment, any hair treatment, ever since her older sister, now 13, first had her hair chemically straightened by her mother three years ago.
[...]
“Lexi works hard, gets good grades,” her mother said. “I feel like she deserves a treat.”
[...]
“We’ve had girls as young as 6 in for highlights, but 9 and 10 is more the norm,” said Tammy Currin, the owner of the Toadly Kool Me. “If it’s not a relaxer, highlights are usually the first step mothers will allow. Once the girls’ friends see them, they’re in the next week getting streaks of their own.”

9 and 10 yr olds getting these hair treatments? Good grief. Is it peer pressure or Mom pressure?
My oldest daughter BEGGED, BRIBED and otherwise CONNED me into allowing her a perm at the ripe old age of 13- so she could be like her friends. It ruined her hair and took three yrs to grow out. She has never done it since and prefers her natural waves.

Then I read this, with no amusement and a lot of shock.

Melanie Engle was trying to just pluck the stray hairs here and there. She was trying to deliver an age-appropriate eyebrow wax to her client. It was hard, though, because there was a foot tapping next to her, and a voice shouting in her ear: “No! Not like that — like a supermodel’s. I want them arched.”

After years in the beauty biz, Engle had seen her share of crazy ladies demanding perfect, Glamour-cover-worthy brows. But this Crazy Lady wasn’t talking about her own brows. The brows in question belonged to Crazy Lady’s daughter. Who was eight.

After sweating through the kid’s eyebrow wax, Engle, today an aesthetician at the Adolf Biecker Salon/Spa outposts in the Rittenhouse Hotel and Strafford — and, it should be noted, one of the most sought-after eyebrow specialists in the region — was directed to give her pint-size client a … bikini wax.

There you have it — the new norm for young, privileged, growing girls. It’s not just designer clothes, luxury cars, and the best-of-the-best in schools, lessons and tutors: It’s narcissism, and it’s inherited from — no, encouraged by — Mom. Mom, who not only lifts, tans and waxes herself into oblivion, but who has now turned her attentions to her daughter, hauling her from spa to spa before the school pictures, the big dance, or, well, just because — for facial after blowout after wax. After a handful of appointments, the transformation from little girl to prepubescent supermodel is complete, thanks to beauty treatments that not long ago were reserved for big girls — with little consideration that the same beauty treatments meant to fix “imperfections” will probably screw the kids up down the road.

Such things used to be reserved for very young girls who were lured into the life of high end prostitution. Times have changed.

The Mom with no self confidence is teaching her daughter to be just like her. I cannot imagine ever doing such things. Mothers should not be showing their daughters how not to like themselves as they are- by trying to change how they appear. But that’s what’s happening here. The little girls are being prepped and processed for the over-sexualization period soon to come (around the age of 14 or so according to most). And we cannot wonder why we have a society so full of people with self respect and confidence issues. Gee damn whiz. It’s just disgusting.

Raven, before you go over to the Dark Side, promise me you’ll check out this newest John McCain video. I guarantee it’ll make you change your mind.

I’m never going to give you up to Hillary without a fight.

(Update April 2 12:01am) We now return to our regularly scheduled blogging.

Over @ Pirates Cove, Teach shares with his readers an article about the famous Victoria’s Secret- and how the CEO has decided the brand has become…TOO SEXY.

I have a few things to say on this subject.

Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday I came across a couple articles that offer up more examples of how modern society and culture have really taken a nosedive…and once again it’s the stupid and selfish women who lead the downward trend.

Explain to me why the wedding ceremony and all that leads up to it are important?

Lately, brides actually are drafting up their own prenuptial agreements — and presenting them to their bridesmaids.

These appalling agreements involve specific grooming and behavior clauses by which the bridesmaids must abide.

Popular rules include:

— Not gaining weight.

— Getting a tan — and no tan lines allowed.

— Alcoholic drinks can be consumed only after the bride takes her first sip.

— Dyeing hair a certain shade.

— Showing up on time for wedding photos.

— Maintaining a certain fingernail length and style.

If the bridesmaids don’t comply, they are kicked out of the party.

…so it has nothing to do with love and trust and anticipation and values- the wedding. But it has everything to do with appearances and the hell with everything else, right? What a lonely life these dumb women must lead…when you feel you have to do these things, honey, you have no friends.

These bridesmaid agreements are ridiculous — another indicator of how out of control wedding planning has become.
Sure, it is supposed to be the best day of a woman’s life. But somewhere in the planning, brides are becoming out of touch with what the wedding is supposed to be about: marriage.

There are real reasons to get married, other than an excuse to throw an elaborate party, such as:

— Financial advancement.

— To have sex without guilt.

— Because you are unexpectedly pregnant.

What’s love got to do with it? Not much. Women who need to contract aspects of their lives such as this, don’t deserve to get married. Before we know it, we’ll see contracts about pregnancy, births, who stays up with the newborn on what night and so on.

And if that’s not enough, check this out…some of you guys will think this is pretty cool, pretty hawt and steamy. But it’s not.

Women who sign up on MyFreeImplants.com earn the money for their breast augmentation surgery through donations from men who peruse their MySpace-like profiles.

MyFreeImplants.com operates much like a social-networking site. Women 18 and over can sign up for free and create a profile with photos and the type of implant they desire: silicone or saline. Men — they’re called “benefactors” — can also sign up for free, but then they must purchase credits, which can be used to send messages to the women.

For each message a woman receives, she gets a dollar toward her new chest.

I am sure the benefactors get to see the fruits of their labor… here. Not just one man, but every man who donates towards the cause. How sweet it is…and,

“It’s free, but you do have to put a lot of time and energy into the Web site — contacting friends, writing the people on the site,” she said.

Uh huh…would this be…online sex chats? I bet it is. I can imagine all the time it must take to sign on to IM’s to “write” to one’s contacts. Maybe these women cut and paste chat sessions to save time.

“The guys and girls love it,” Grunstra said. “Occasionally, we’ll get a feminist here or there that is outraged by the idea and can’t believe that sex sells. We tell her to wake up and join reality. It’s 2008.”

I’m no feminist, and this outrages me. At the same time I’m certainly aware of the year- I’m with the times. I totally align this with prostitution. How could anyone not? I have sympathy for women who are not **well endowed**- and I have no issue with those who want to change that with plastic implants. Fercryinoutloud though, there are OTHER ways to do that besides selling yourself to (probably)lonely, bored dirty old men who are looking for something to masturbate over. Uugh.

“Guys aren’t really interested in paying for liposuction or a nose job,” Grunstra said, adding “it’s kind of like you’re creating the perfect woman in your eyes and at the same time you’re making pretty good friends.”

Pretty…Good…Friends? Really? Sure…so long as they can see your boobs. Is this the online version of FWB? Men are blinded by boobs. Let’s face it. It’s the first thing they see. It’s often the only thing they see…Like, nothing else about you matters. Cause it doesn’t in today’s world…we’ve made it that way.

Though it’s been months since Levine has had the surgery to make her chest a 36D, she still chats online with the benefactors who helped her get her new breasts.

“We keep in touch,” she said, adding they “talk about things that have nothing to do with implants.”

Eeck. No thanks. These men probably expect MORE than online chat sessions…and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see some of these women become victims of stalking. Hell expect law suits too in the future…the deeper issue here is WHY would anyone resort to such methods to get that “perfect” look? Is selling yourself, online, to complete total strangers, necessary? Is is right? Does the “free” boob job make this worthwhile? For some women, it does.

Society continues to head into the cess pool- and women like these BrideZillas and BoobZillas are leading the way.