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To have any shot at comprehending the unfolding pro football lockout story, we need to first understand the mindset — and the mega millions — of our contemporary sports world’s ever-grasping owners.
You don’t have to be a sports fan to care about whether pro football’s owners make good on their threat to lock out their players next month. You just have to be a taxpayer.
Hundreds of millions of tax dollars are currently flowing, each and every year, to pro football franchises — via a variety of tax breaks and subsidies.
Hundreds of millions more are flowing in from ticket sales, broadcast rights, and merchandising. In all, the National Football League’s 32 franchises are pulling in $9.3 billion a

Every Presidents’ Day holiday, I go through the same confusion of trying to figure out how they pick the date. It’s not Lincoln’s birthday, or Washington’s, but it is definitely closer to our first president so I guess that’s my answer. That old seniority thing. This year, we had a brief moment of spring weather here in the East and it turned my thoughts away from eternal snow to having a cookout and grilling burgers, of course.
Burgers just seems to make people feel

My Eight-track’s pumpin’ out a country song/
About a girl that’s done me wrong/
My Eight-track’s playing all your favorite songs/
So come on honey sing along
Brian Setzer
In the world according to the late George Albert — owner of the record industry trade magazine Cashbox back when there was a record industry to have a magazine about — the whole CD thing was “a hype.”
Why? Because, George reasoned, truckers in the Deep South would raise hell from Baton Rouge to Charleston and back before they’d let their 8-track players be pried from the cold, dead consoles of their 18-wheelers. As for the so-called “CD revolution,” that, George opined, was no more than a record company conspiracy to jettison a red-blooded American format in favor of a bunch of prettified digital discs invented by an unholy alliance of the Dutch and the Japanese.
George maintained his skeptical view of CDs long after they cornered the market. Was he, therefore, delusional? Perhaps. But when it came to the significance of 8-tracks, George may have been on to something.
Bucks Burnett certainly thinks

Yesterday I attended the symposium “Forests at Risk: Climate Change and the Future of the American West,” organized by the non-profit For the Forest in Aspen, Colorado.
The educational symposium included distinguished scientists from around the United States and Canada to explore the critical connection between forest health and climate change. Al Gore, former vice president to the United States, was the keynote speaker and concluded the symposium with a call to action. “There is one choice in life we face over and over again — the hard right or the easy wrong.”
Action on climate change is

My first encounter with Planned Parenthood was in 1978, when I was a college freshman in St. Louis. Looking back, it seems like such an innocent time. I’d never talked to my mother about birth control, never discussed such things with a

In a world with governments collapsing, it’s a striking contrast that here in my home state of Maine, legislators have been tackling something this frivolous — whether the Official State Dessert ought to be whoopie pies or blueberry pie.
The latest is that now legislators want to call it the state “treat.”
The debate has gone national, with the states of Maine and Pennsylvania playfully (for the most part!) arguing over the origins of the whoopie pie. See this Feb. 14 Wall Street Journal piece.
This is all kind of funny, to a point, but really now

There is a bill in the CO State Senate that brings back a flood of emotion for me. Senate Bill 088 re-authorizes midwives to practice a profession that has been in existence since time began — assisting others in the natural process of becoming parents. The bill would also allow certified midwives to perform simple, basic procedures commonplace with normal, healthy, routine births — administering common drugs, offering IV fluids when needed, and suturing tears which sometimes occur. The memories of a midwife being with me during my greatest joy, as well as deepest sorrow, have haunted me for twenty

IBM’s Watson to be a doctor. Well, almost.
Fresh off a commanding victory on Jeopardy, IBM tactfully titled its knock-out, “Humans Win.” That’s because the company wants to show that its extraordinary computer can help humankind (and human customers), not merely humiliate mortal competitors.
As I wrote on a previous blog, IBM began eying the medical marketplace more than 45 years ago. IBM CEO Thomas

An article in this weekend’s Washington Post analyzes what happens when “Mean Girls” (aka those Regina Georges of the world, with their nice blonde hair and lack of decorum) graduate, get jobs, and become adults.
The article discusses how we should view these women that author Katie Rogers has interviewed — reformed bitchy girls — as a positive reflection of how women are getting over that catty stage of life. But what about the victims of these “mean girls’” bullying, taunting, or just the people they never included in the clam bakes or house parties? They’re apparently OK too, says the Post.
The article leaves out the victims of mean girls’ bullying. Instead, it takes a case of one girl who shares Facebook posts with a former tormentor. I’m not sure I’d call this progression, but instead smoothing over a probably significant childhood pain.
Jezebel criticizes the Post piece by saying that those interviewed fit a bit too perfectly into the writer’s theory that being a “mean girl” is something one grows out

Committed to boosting achievement and facing a $300 million shortfall, Idaho school superintendent Tom Luna thinks it a bad idea just to keep cutting programs. His Students Come First plan involves fundamental changes that include a shift to more learning online.
Not surprisingly, there is more visible support for protecting the status quo than supporting Luna’s thoughtful approach. The Statesman said, “Opposition to the plan has been heated and widespread, particularly from teachers and parents. At the Senate committee’s hearings, opponents outnumbered proponents eight to

Image courtesy of www.pdc.wikipedia.org
Tuscaloosa, AL — The Religious Right, together with representatives of the Christian Coalition and the American Family Association, is organizing a multi-state march on one tiny village in Pennsylvania, demanding that it immediately change its name! The name? “Intercourse.” One dictionary definition defines “intercourse” as “Dealings or communications between persons or groups.” It’s that other definition, however, that’s got the conservative groups’ goat. The Christian Coalition’s Lydia Hopwinkle explains, “Here it is, right here in Webster’s – ‘Intercourse – physical sexual contact between individuals that involves the genitalia of at least one person.’ Now, I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want to live in a place named after a sexual act, and I wouldn’t want my children, or anyone else’s children, living there, either!”
Complicating the matter is the fact that Intercourse happens to be an Amish village, and the generally conservative, pious Amish apparently don’t seem to be bothered by the name. “What could they possibly have been thinking?” asks Andrew Gutierrez, of the American Family Association. “The place was founded in

Last week, the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce heard three “experts” on abortion policy testify on H.R. 358, the “Protect Life Act,” one of several bills before Congress right now aimed at reducing access to legal abortion services. The witness panel included two well-known opponents of women’s choice, Helen Alvar, associate professor of law at George Mason University and Douglas Johnson of the National Right to Life Committee; and Sara Rosenbaum, chair of the health policy department at George Washington University School of Public Health and Health

Once again, AmeriCorps, along with the entire Corporation for National & Community Service, is on the federal chopping block.
This week, House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) proposed not just cutting national service programs, but eliminating them entirely. This proposal comes less than two years after Congress overwhelmingly passed the Serve America Act with tremendous bipartisan support in both the Senate (79-19) and the House (279-149). The Serve America Act authorized the expansion of AmeriCorps from 75,000 corps members annually to 250,000 in order to fight our country’s most pressing societal challenges in the areas of education, the environment, and public health, and to serve our veterans when they return home from

What does the late Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a native of India, have in common with Florida resident Val Shanaberger?
Maharishi, as his devotees call him, introduced America to the ancient technique of transcendental meditation. T.M. is a stress-relieving technique that has practical applications in business and most other walks of life.
Shanaberger, in turn, is an experienced yoga instructor for Lifestyle Family Fitness and teaches her students how the practice can relieve stress and help them to focus on their goals. “It helps the practitioner understand themselves,” she

Walk down any street and you’ll notice that most people have their heads down, fingers punching away, their bodies telegraphing, “Busy, connected, always in demand!”
No doubt you’ve also noticed there’s a counter-cultural movement taking shape — all kinds of voices are calling for us to step away from the technology once in a while (McKinsey, for instance, included a thought piece in a recent newsletter about how essential it is to disconnect — and, for the record, HuffPost was banging this drum last spring when we devoted an entire month to how to “unplug and recharge”).
Still, we need to learn — and re-learn — how to stop. How to just sit still once in a while.
Or, at least, I do. I’m too busy for words. And my body has been telling me that I’m doing too much, pushing too

Why smile? Because you can. I do not mean to be flippant. The better question might be, “Why would you want to smile?” — especially if you are feeling sad, angry or frustrated. I will come to

Obesity is epidemic, and has many causes. One of them is that the average nights’ sleep has dropped from nine hours a night to six and three-quarters hours a night over the last hundred years, and sleep is responsible for many weight and appetite controlling hormones, such as growth hormone, leptin, phrelin and ghrelin. So can you really sleep your way to skinny? Many sleep studies suggest you can.
How much sleep is optimal for staying thin? Between seven and nine hours is best. Less than seven hours increases the risk of obesity approximately 30 percent and adds an extra five pounds on average.
According to Jean-Philippe Chaput, MSc, from Laval University in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, and colleagues, current treatments for obesity have been largely unsuccessful in maintaining long-term weight loss, suggesting the need for new insight into the mechanisms that result in altered metabolism and behavior and may lead to obesity.
The increase in body weight in the

No time to page through thousands of eBay listings? Then just sneak a peek at my weekly eBay Roundup of Vintage Clothing Finds.
This eclectic mix of designer and non-designer vintage clothing and accessories caught my discerning eye because of their uniqueness, contemporary feel or highly collectible nature.
As always, buyer beware! Be sure to read the listings closely and contact the sellers with any questions.
This week’s finds include pieces by Norman Norell, Issey Miyake, Halston, and Yves Saint Laurent. Be sure to check out the fabulous Tiffany art deco watch and the Ossie Clark pantsuit.
Which item is your favorite? Leave a comment below and let me know.
GET READY, GET SET, BID!!!
Weekly eBay Roundup of Vintage Clothing Finds
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L.A.M.B. Fall 2011: Gwen Stefani, Kingston & Final Model Fall Close Out New York Fashion Week (PHOTOS, POLL)
Ralph Lauren Fall 2011: Art Deco Meets Chinoiserie, Lauren Bush Watches (PHOTOS)
Bison, Fashion’s New Favorite Skin (PHOTOS)
Marchesa Fall 2011: Which Looks Will Make It To The Oscars’ Red Carpet? (PHOTOS, POLL)
Reality Check At Marc By Marc Jacobs (PHOTOS)
Rihanna Rocks Couture At Brit Awards (PHOTOS, POLL)
More information on all this week’s finds at

I’ve never been a picky eater. Even as a child, I gleefully ate yogurt, wheat germ, broccoli … even liverwurst! And that’s a good thing, because eating a wide variety of whole foods is key to good nutrition. But what about people who flat out hate certain foods?
Must-Read: Do you need to eat breakfast? Even when you’re not hungry?
5 “Bad” Foods You Don’t Have to Feel Guilty for Eating
Are you getting enough of the nutrients your body needs? Unless you’re savvy about the different nutrients in food, you might be missing

Wisconsin’s Governor Scott Walker is using phony budget projections to manufacture a staged “fiscal emergency” in his state so that he can whack programs and political opponents, but even his fake “emergency” pales in comparison to the cost of the Afghanistan War to his state. In fact, the U.S. would only have to bring home 151 troops from Afghanistan to save more money than Walker’s ridiculous union-busting plan. Better yet, ending the Afghanistan War altogether would save taxpayers in Wisconsin $1.7 billion this year alone,more than ten times the amount “saved” in Walker’s attack on state employee rights.
One might ask, “Isn’t Walker’s fake budget crisis a state budget issue? How would ending the Afghanistan War pay for that?” We get this question a lot when we talk about the cost of war to a state’s

We saw people of faith praying together, chanting, Muslims, Christians, “We are one.” And though we know the strains between faiths divide too many in this world and no single event will close that chasm immediately, these scenes remind us that we need not be defined by our differences. We can be defined by the common humanity we both share. –President Barack Obama, Speech addressing Egypt and the resignation of President Honsi Mubarak, Feb. 11
It was the 1960s and the Civil Rights Movement in the United States was well under

Only two pages in and I’m choked with sobs as I read how Patti Smith listened to her soul mate’s breathing on the phone as he struggled in the hospital and knew she would never hear him again. Her prose is so spare and clean and full of beauty that I’m drawn in like it’s a dream. I don’t know why it took me so long to read this book – it’s like a dessert that I was saving for a day I needed something sweet. Like the best books, it’s changed me and made me remember the girl I was in college and the first time I heard Patti Smith’s music.
I was in the Listening Lounge, this room we had where you could go into a booth and listen with headphones to albums on

When speaking about the Arab uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and beyond, the language used here in the U.S. is euphoric. Expressions like “nothing will ever be the same again” and “the existing order is being swept away” are common. But when the conversation comes home, the exuberant rhetoric is pushed aside and hard-nosed practicality becomes the order of the