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Compass September 19, 2002
No Frills Shopping
N_ked Chef Jamie Oliver gives us a new cookbook, "Happy Days with the N_ked Chef" next month.
Recently published "N_ked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science" sounds like a book we need to read.
Rick Murphy’s "The N_ked B_tch": An Honest Approach to Dating Women" delivers a perfect strategy "for men trying to re-learn the art of dating in today’s more competitive ‘market’."
Adult TV Teletubbies
Clearly n_aked is" in", and I hope that I got this issue of Compass through all the corporate e-mail censors. Your IT person in charge can put me on the pass-through list.
I can already hear the cash register ringing at the newest entry in shop at home convenience: N_ked Shopping Network. I’m not kidding. Sometimes clothed, and sometimes in the buff, the three hostesses have been affectionately called the p_orno teletubbies.
No More Intimate Encounters
The Malaysian state of Kelantan doesn’t know about NSN yet (hmmm), but they’re heading off western culture at the pass. Malaysia’s Islamic opposition party, PAS, which controls the north-eastern state prohibited showing of Kylie Minogue video last spring: too much n_ked flesh.
Now PAS has announced a ban on performances by all women, unless they’re performing for a female-only audience. Pop and rock groups are also banned.
Will Women Deliver the Winner
Massachusetts gubernatorial candidates Dem. Shannon P. O’Brien and Rep. Mitt Romney are fully dressed, but they’re already taken the gloves off. Mitt’s running mate Kerry Healey was not his choice, but voters delivered her anyway.
Massachusetts may be one election where the women’s vote isn’t just courted. Women may deliver the state’s first female governor as a matter of choice, based on analysis of O’Brien’s primary win.
Keeping Girls Focused
Femininist Majority President Eleanor Smeal is on record, opposing Pres. Bush’s commitment to more single-sex schools. "We live in a real world, and that world has got men and women in it . . . They must compete."
Smeal is correct, but the question is more complex. How do we best prepare girls to compete? My partner and I saw dramatic changes with his daughter, when we pulled her out of public school and placed her in a private girls school. She became more resourceful, her grades improved, her self-esteem soared. In her case, the support-system of an all girl's environment was more nurturing and confidence-building in critical years of self-development. Her boy-craziness also plummeted without the distractions.
Taking Aim at a Small Hole
CBS announced this afternoon that they will broadcast the Augusta National, despite the objections of Martha Burk. Women who feel strongly about Augusta will protest the event. Women golfers are split on the issue, although they all would love to play at Augusta.
Women Lose Precious Ground in Press
I hope that Martha Buck turns her attention next to the new survey of major circulation newspapers. According to a study released in June by the Media Management Center, a training and research program at Northwestern University, the percentage of top editor positions held by women at major newspapers has declined to 20% this year from 25% in 2000, dropping to 26 from 34. 19 of the 137 papers with daily circulation of over 85,000 changed editors within the last three years, with only four choosing women to fill the vacancies. Note that subtantially more than 50% of news readers are women.
From Critical Care to Cosmetic Surgery
Many doctors, women and men, are leaving intensive care practices like pulmonary critical care for cosmetic surgery. This is - if you'll forgive me - a sad state of affairs for American medicine; and the problem is a serious one.
ABC News writes that the key reason why women and men doctors are leaving intensive care practices, like pulmonary critical care for cosmetic surgery, concerns the doctor/patient relationship
"It's the last bastion in the doctor-patient relationship," explains Dr. Robert Jackson, president of the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery whose two Indiana practices evolved to focus on predominantly cosmetic procedures in the mid-'80s. Because insurance doesn't cover most cosmetic procedures, physicians control time spent with each patient.
Family Data: Up Close and Personal
The Family Research Council (FRC), just released "The Family Portrait: A Compilation of Data, Research and Public Opinion on the Family."
The FRC is a conservative, pro-family organization. Their new report on family and marriage in America is getting solid marks for objectivity. Urban Institute researcher Gregory Acs says "The Family Portrait" is a good resource because it shows both long- and short-term family trends. "
Conclusions in the study include a strong, pro-marriage view among Americans, even among those who cohabit. The report also concludes that the first choice for childcare giver is a grandparent or other family member, and the second is for for the father or mother to care for the children themselves, at work or by working separate shifts. I don't know how a parent cares for a child at work -- without company day care.
A Lifetime of Pill Taking
Can you explain why children today are spending 34% more time on medication than they were just five years ago? Me neither.
We know that asthma is increasing at an almost epidemic rate and prescriptions for Ritalin are also increasing. But read on.
"Some doctors also were alarmed that spending on prescription drugs to treat heartburn and other gastrointestinal disorders surged 660 percent over five years, according to the study. The jump was seen as linked to the increasing number of overweight children in the United States."
A Little Dirt a Day Keeps the Doctor Away
I never dispense medical advice, but BBC News reported results on a new study suggesting that Schultz's Pig Pen had it right. Dirt is good for you, and the American obsession with getting rid of it, is weakening our immune systems.
But Not Designer Dirt
Now Pig Pen was probably thinking of plain old dirt, nothing fancy, and certainly not the designer dirt that's home to our beautifully manicured American lawns. Environmental Health Perspectives reports that U.S. lawns and gardens use 70 million pounds of pesticides annually.
"Pesticides have to be toxic to work at all, but they are not toxic to people at the levels to which people are now exposed,” says Allen James, president of the Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment, or RISE, a trade association representing manufacturers, formulators and distributors of pesticide products.
Growing numbers of people don't agree with RISE, based on a wide range of medical studies. They want us to love our dirt "green."
Pincipled Combat
Rosie was livid, announcing what is sure to be a costly and bitter divorce from Gruner & Jahr. Ms. R will be sued for destroying an asset worth in excess of $100 million, and let's hope her money wasn't in tech funds, because honoring her principles will be costly, even if she wins her case.
According to the NYTimes, Rosie doubled its ad pages from last year and the Sept. issue is the largest issue in the history of McCall's or Rosie. Newstand sales have plummeted from 700,000 to 200,000.
Gruner & Jahr accused Rosie of imposing her personal agenda on the magazine, while Rosie insists that she can't be true to herself, putting her name on a magazine that's become -- well, too much like the fabulous-looking, once-again-svelte Big O's magazine O.
Never Underestimate a Grieving Widow
The testimony from two 911 widows helped humanize yesterday's Congressional proceedings, convened to discuss our state of national security pre-911.
I've listened to the largely female group of survivors on several occasions. They will become the next version of MADD. The widows are operating on multiple fronts, often calling up references to the reborn-woman Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy, whose husband was murdered on the Long Island railroad in 1993.
As a group, the 911 widows are articulate and informed. They're asking uncomfortable questions of every garden-variety. CNN, Fox, MSNBC and other media anchors regularly confront dissenting voices on U.S. policy with the mantra: "What would the widows think about your comments? How would they feel?"
I suggest that anchors start listening to the wide variety of widows out there, because the now-distinguished Lisa Beamer, www.lisabeamer.com, is just one voice in a large crowd of women who are saying publicly that they can think for themselves. My gut tells me the widows will make news in the future.
Until next week,
Linda Enke, Compass |
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The government of the Malaysian state of Kelantan has announced a ban on performances by women and by all pop and rock groups.
Malaysia's Islamic opposition party, PAS, which controls the north-eastern state, says the move is intended to halt moral decay among young people.
ABC News
Saleswomen Without Pockets 9-19-02
("N_ked Shopping Network"") is a new cable network dedicated to the purveying of erotic items. Imagine what it would be like if the Home Shopping Network went s_ft porn. Instead of Susan Lucci extolling all the benefits of her facial product line, an a_ult film star hawks e_otic videos and DVDs.
Wasting no time after primary ballots were counted, Democratic nominee Shannon P. O'Brien and Republican rival Mitt Romney opened their battle for the governor's office yesterday with a burst of harsh rhetoric, slashing attacks, and counterattacks.
Romney relied on his running mate, Kerry Healey, to accuse O'Brien of mismanagement and cronyism in the state treasurer's office. O'Brien charged that Romney was deploying Healey as a "pit bull" to carry out a "smear and fear" campaign. All the while, each campaign sought to portray itself as remaining above the fighting.
Washington Times
Liberals opposing more single-sex schools 9-19-02
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Women's and civil rights groups are urging President Bush to drop the idea of allowing school districts to open more single-s_x public schools, claiming such schools only promote s_xism.
"We live in a real world, and that world has got men and women in it," said Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation. "They must compete."
Atlanta Constitution
LPGA players speak out on Augusta National battle 9-18-02
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"I can't believe we're still fighting this stuff -- racism, gender equality or whatever," said Juli Inkster who is competing this week at the LPGA's Solheim Cup. "But that's life, I guess. Its not going to change overnight. But hopefully, in the coming years, it will change."
Augusta National chairman Hootie Johnson has said the 300-member club will not be pressured to admit a woman member, "at the point of a bayonet."
Editor&Publisher
Study: Fewer Women Hold Top Editor Jobs 9-18-02
Among the nation's top 30 daily-circulation newspapers, only eight have women editors. Of those 30 papers, 19 have changed editors within the past three years, with only four choosing women to fill the vacant posts. Three of the papers -- the New York Daily News, the New York Post, and The Arizona Republic in Phoenix -- chose to replace departing women with men.
According to a study released in June by the Media Management Center, a training and research program at Northwestern University, the percentage of top editor positions held by women at major papers actually has declined over the past two years, to 20% this year from 25% in 2000. The study, which covered all 137 newspapers with daily circulation of more than 85,000, revealed that the number of women holding the highest editor posts at those papers dropped to 26 this year from 34 two years ago.
Early on "It was like being in this box where you had to follow the "doctor rules" of life and I said I didn't want to follow those doctor rules anymore and I left it," Dr. Anita Lynn Dormer told Good Morning America.
Dormer, once the acting chief of pulmonary critical care at Brooklyn's VA New York Harbor Hospital, quit three years ago. Now, instead of massaging hearts back to life, she's giving botox and collagen injections in her Madison Avenue office.
Washington Times
Council releases 'full picture' on American family 9-17-02
Most Americans have traditional views about the family even though they don't always act according to their stated beliefs, say sponsors of a new book about the condition of the American family.
But even though most Americans have conservative views about the family — for instance, they think marriage is very important — they may act differently, cohabiting instead of marrying, said editor Bridget Maher.
MSNBC
Medication use soars among youths 9-19-02
Use of prescription drugs is growing faster among children than it is among senior citizens and baby boomers, the two traditionally high consumer groups, according to a new study.
Spending on prescription drugs for those under 19 grew 28 percent last year, according to the survey by Medco Health Solutions, a Franklin, N.J.-based pharmacy benefits manager.
Meanwhile, spending per patient rose 23 percent for those between the ages of 35 and 49 and less than 10 percent for those above 65.
Children are also spending 34 percent more time on medication than they were five years ago, the study found.
It’s one of America’s top pastimes — a great source of fresh air and exercise, not to mention stress relief. Gardening may not be so healthy, however, for the three-quarters of households that use lawn and garden chemicals. Experts explain the risks and suggest some greener tactics to start using this fall.
Critics complain that the Environmental Protection Agency has been too slow in screening hazardous chemicals that may cause cancer or disrupt hormones. “It took 30 years of people getting sick to get EPA to phase out some of these chemicals, but all of the most common (ones) still on the market still have all sorts of adverse health effects,” says Kagan Owen of the nonprofit group Beyond Pesticides. “We’re taking risks with our health and our children’s health to fight crabgrass and clover. We have to ask: Are those risks worth that benefit?”
A defiant Rosie O'Donnell today announced she was severing her ties with the magazine that bears her name.
An executive with her publishing partner, Gruner & Jahr USA Publishing, blasted Ms. O'Donnell for "abandoning" the joint venture and insiders say legal action will most likely be taken. G&J is also holding discussions as to whether to continue the magazine under a different name.
"I'm sorry to have to tell my readers and my staff that my involvement in the magazine is ending, but my integrity and name are at stake, and that price is too high," said Ms. O'Donnell at a press conference today.
Washington Post
9/11 Probers Say Agencies Failed to Heed Attack Signs 9-19-02
While the staff report strove for a tone of detachment, the testimony of two family members killed in the attacks offered an emotional coda to the hearing.
"September 11 was the devastating result of a catalogue of failures on behalf of our government and its agencies," said Kristen Brietweiser, whose husband perished on the 84th floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center. "Our intelligence agencies suffered an utter collapse in their duties and responsibilities leading up to and on September 11."
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