TresSugar

What Do You Know About Strip Clubs and the Recession?

TresSugar — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Strip clubs have seen a hit to profits thanks to the recession. Men still want to see naked women dance for them, but they have less money to spend on high-end perks like steak dinners and pricey cigars. The Wall Street Journal wrote a piece this week all about how the economy has impacted the live adult entertainment industry.

The strip club industry might be the last on your list of industries to bail out, but the hard times aren't so good for the women who strip - they're getting hired for less, and taking home less money in tips. Test your intuition and take this quiz to find out what you know about strip clubs.

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Does Your Personality Match Your State of Residence & Mind?

CitizenSugar — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 06:00:00 -0700

Think you can judge a person by the state they live in? It might not be such a crazy notion according to new research on the geography of personality. Controlling for factors like race, income, and education, the study profiled 600,000 Americans with a 44-question personality test that evaluates five traits: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness.

Using those results and cross-checking them with stats on crime and health seem to seal the deal on one's state of mind lining up with one's state of residence. High amiability means lower crime, high anxiety points to poor health and lowered life expectancy.

Of course the results spark questions like whether certain states encourage specific personalities by culture, climate, or common history - or whether we just choose to live where we feel most at home. Those questions aside, the results and the interactive maps? Fun times! Very nicely done, Wall Street Journal.

To see some of the most unusual findings, read more.

North Dakota was pegged the most outgoing state in the union.
Despite Puritanical stereotypes, New England ranked at the bottom of the "conscientious" scale.
Scoring well on the "openness" scale strongly correlates to liberal social values and Democratic voting habits - however three of the top ten "open" states (Nevada, Colorado and Virginia) tend to swing Red.
Most conscientious? Florida. (Maybe there's a tie between living in a coastal paradise and pitying others who don't?)
Anxiety isn't just tied to high-powered jobs and a fast lifestyle. States stressed by poverty, like West Virginia and Mississippi also proved highly neurotic.

Where does your state stack up? Is it possible to make generalizations about the personality of an entire state's population? Do you match yours?

Batman and Bush - Actually More Alike Than Knight and Day?

CitizenSugar — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 12:15:55 -0700

If you caught The Dark Knight already, you might want to go back for a second look - did you know you may have been watching a flick all about George W. Bush? According to this WSJ op-ed, it's true:

There seems to me no question that the Batman film The Dark Knight, currently breaking every box office record in history, is at some level a paean of praise to the fortitude and moral courage that has been shown by George W. Bush in this time of terror and war.

The piece alleges that all movies with conservative values are fantasy flicks like 300 and that conservatives need to confront issues from their view point head-on. In current realistic depictions of terrorism:

The good guys become indistinguishable from the bad guys, and we end up denigrating the very heroes who defend us . . . Doing what's right is hard, and speaking the truth is dangerous.

So Bush wins and he's a hero? Is he George "Caped Crusader" Bush? Perhaps, it's not such a great thing. To see why, read more.

Resident expert Buzz concurs that The Dark Knight is indeed an allegory for our time, but our time is complicated:

We're reminded that sometimes evil simply exists for no good reason. It taps into a very real, basic, and horrible fear: that in this world where terrorism could lurk anywhere, where chaos and war and murder exist, we struggle continuously to figure out "why?"

The WSJ argues that Batman is Bush precisely because he's shown in dogged pursuit of evil, that it's the mark of a true hero. Though if one takes that argument in the whole scope of the movie, perhaps the Bush/man comparison isn't so flattering?

Batman spends the movie thinking he can conquer the Joker because he has faith in the clear definition between good and evil - and to this end, he utterly fails. Batman misunderstands the evil. There is no success to be had in Gotham using his plan. As Batman spirals into his quixotic quest for the Joker, he turns on everyone around him, spying and wiretapping his way to paranoia.

Though perhaps the comparison between the two is accurate, maybe it's not as flattering a depiction as the piece would like. But in the end, maybe Batman isn't Bush - maybe he's all of us.

That said, can you tell the difference between the two?

Is Bush really like Batman?

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George W. Bush Is Getting Results, Even If No One Notices

CitizenSugar — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 06:00:11 -0700

I'm sending around an apology card for everyone to sign - it seems a lot of us have been selling Bush short. In an editorial opinion from the Wall Street Journal (newly purchased by Rupert Murdoch) Bush’s commitment to helping the poor and sick abroad has been largely ignored. The piece asserts that once the G-8 summit, now wrapping up, completes its country tally on who is providing the most money to combat disease and hunger, the US will emerge as the conclusive leader - thanks in large part to Bush.

According to the piece, AIDS relief is booming. Before President Bush launched his Emergency Program for AIDS Relief in 2003, only about 50,000 afflicted in sub-Saharan Africa were getting medical treatments. Since the implementation of his plan, the program has expanded to $15 billion reaching an estimated 1.5 million people. And then there's this big rock we call home. To see how Bush's environmental leadership has been overlooked, read more.

The WSJ piece says that Bush is actually much more environmentally friendly than his opponents give him credit for - as shown by his attempt to toughen the standards set at the Kyoto Agreement, hailed as a pivotal climate change accord. President Bush’s contention was that no agreement regarding the environment would be viable without the cooperation of China and India while costing developed nations untold sums. As a result, the G-8 is bringing China and India into the summit to discuss greenhouse emissions, a feat that would not have happened without Bush’s insistence.

On another note, remember Paul Wolfowitz? He was the US Deputy Secretary of Defense and major architect of the Iraq war who then went on to head the World Bank. It seems that some remarks he made during a speech are echoed and perhaps reaffirmed in another opinion piece - this time from the less conservatively-owned LA Times - warning against aid money, which is then used to prop up corrupt African leaders.

The piece asserts that all financial assistance to corrupt African governments should be cut off so that they collapse allowing “organic African political structures [to] emerge”. Saying that corruption is so endemic to countries like Kenya and Nigeria that police extort bribes, soldiers murder and rape, and teachers merely collect salaries while rarely visiting their classrooms. This 2008 piece suggests that Wolfowitz had the right idea in 2006 when he made the then controversial statement:

We simply can’t afford to turn a blind eye when we do encounter corruption in our projects. In fact, sometimes it’s not just a waste of money; it sometimes leads to buildings that collapse or to medicines that are harmful being given to pregnant women. These are not hypothetical examples; these are real ones.

Could it be that Wolfowitz's call to action is finally being taken up by the mainstream? Is it possible that President Bush’s approach to global warming and AIDS relief will actually earn him the compassionate conservative ribbon he’s been aiming for, silencing detractors? Or as the WSJ piece concludes, "Maybe one day we will all wake up to a world willing to give [Bush] some credit for it." Will this happen?

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Abortion Coverage: Missing What Many Never Knew They Had

TresSugar — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:00:03 -0800

One of the most convincing arguments for passing the public health plan without abortion coverage is that very few women use insurance to cover abortions to begin with. But if you've heard the statistic that only 13 percent of abortions are billed to insurers, that's not exactly the whole truth.

The Guttmacher Institute, the pro-choice organization responsible for the study the stats were pulled from, contests the 13 percent statistic has been taken out of context and widely used through the media - like, say, in the Wall Street Journal article we linked to yesterday.

While the study does say only 13 percent of first-term abortions are billed to private insurers, that figure is skewed because it looked at all women who had abortions and not just those who had insurance. You can't bill an insurer if you don't have one! The study also did not include women who paid for abortions up front and were later reimbursed.

So what's a realistic number? Nobody really knows because of the private nature of abortions. Another Guttmacher study found that 87 percent of employer-based insurance plans covered abortions, but a Kaiser Family Foundation study found that only 46 percent of covered workers reported coverage. Why such a big a difference? Many women just don't know their insurance covers abortion.

As Congress continues to debate the public health plan, do you care if it includes abortion coverage? Can we miss something so many women never knew they had?

Source: Flickr User amypritchizzle

If Women Have to Pay For Abortion, What Does It Cost?

TresSugar — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:00:52 -0800

The initial reaction to the Stupak amendment - which forbids coverage for abortion from a public insurance plan and prevents private insurers from covering abortions for anyone getting a tax credit - was not anger for many women, but "What? Health insurance covers abortions?!"

Looking into the issue, the Wall Street Journal found that eliminating abortion coverage would have almost no effect because so few women use insurance for the procedure. Women often pay out of pocket because they don't realize insurance covers abortion, or because they choose to keep it private from employer-provided plans or other subscribers, like parents and husbands.

So since many women are paying for their abortions now - and, unfortunately, more may be soon - what do they cost? Take this quiz to find out.

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Front Page: Fort Hood Shooting Suspect in Stable Condition

TresSugar — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:59:12 -0800

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the suspect in the Fort Hood shooting, is in stable condition; he was set to be deployed to Afghanistan. - New York Times
Meet Kimberly Munley, the police officer who brought down the gunman. - CNN
Texas polygamist sect leader Raymond Jessop is convicted of sexual assault. - AP
The jobless rate hit 10.2 percent in October, a 26-year high. - Wall Street Journal
Obama signs bill offering tax credit to first-time home buyers. - AP
The Parents Television Council is up in arms about the upcoming threesome episode on Gossip Girl. - PopSugar

Power Jeans For Men: "For a Whiff of the Laborer"

TresSugar — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0800

Where to begin? This Wall Street Journal article earnestly extols the rise of denim. On men. In the workplace. Even men whose workplace is the highest public office - the presidency.

What packs the punch into a pair of power jeans? I'll let WSJ tell it:

Chosen well, jeans can suggest the wearer is confident and modern. Traditionally cut blue jeans carry a whiff of the laborer about them so denim on a leader suggests a willingness to roll up the sleeves and dig in.

A whiff of the laborer? So it's a populist thing? Yet it goes on to say that any old denim doth not a power jean make. Why not? Because it's all about fit and fade, tailoring and length. Men's Fashion Director Eric Jennings at Saks suggests men keep their power jeans "dark and straight." That means no acid wash (Russian President Medvedev), no skinny (Barack Obama), and no embroidery (Nicolas Sarkozy).

So how does a VIP know when to put the power jean to work? A high-end boutique says if you have to ask, it's a no go. Here's my advice: just don't do it.

Front Page: Recession Spooks Halloween Shoppers

TresSugar — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:00:46 -0700

Halloween spending is down 15 percent this year compared to last according to the National Retail Federation. - KSFM
Drug companies might be coming closer to a miracle pill that helps patients safely lose weight. - USA Today
Dick Cheney is accusing President Obama of "dithering" by failing to make a decision yet about sending thousands more troops to Afghanistan. – LA Times
By welcoming married Anglican priests into the Catholic Church, the Pope might be setting up an end to celibacy among Catholic priests. - New York Times
A new wave of mortgages should be headed toward foreclosures soon. – Wall Street Journal
A new lawsuit alleges that Bernie Madoff financed a cocaine-fueled work environment and a culture of sexual deviance at his former company. - CNN

Front Page: Jaycee Dugard Opens Up About Life After Rescue

TresSugar — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:00:16 -0700

Kidnap survivor Jaycee Dugard says she is "so happy to be back with her family" after being held from them for 18 years. - People
Wall Street is on track to award record pay this year. The country's top financial workers will make about $140 billion. - Wall Street Journal
The UN has warned that global hunger is worsening, as a sixth of the word's population is undernourished. - BBC News
Michael Jackson's children reportedly will star in a reality show airing in December. - US Weekly
From jail, Roman Polanski is finishing his latest film, The Ghost, starring Pierce Brosnan. – The Times of London