One of the problems created by the whole “politically correct” movement (other than that whole pesky First Amendment thing) is that by continually crying “three little domesticated porcine agrarian animals’ oppressor” every time someone makes fun of a particular group, we tend to become insensitive to real-life examples of racism, sexism and hack ethnic comedy. I was at home the other evening, lounging on the futon with my extremely liberated, psychology doctorate toting wife when an ad came on for a local carpet store. Normally, we might have done a fast channel surf. I say “we” since I am so enlightened and sensitive to gender equality I often share the TV remote — a practice many non-politically correct people refer to... [Read more]

I think it was some famous economist — either John Maynard Keynes or Ice-T — who once said, “I’ll never go broke, I got property.” That may be true, but only if you haven’t leveraged your real estate and can afford the increasing taxes which are likely as state and local governments look to tap any revenue source they can find. With record foreclosures, plummeting prices and an overhang of supply in the housing market, another real estate crisis also appears to be imminent. Builders are warning a new financial catastrophe may be looming in the commercial real estate market. If the story sounds familiar, it’s basically a rehash of the lending excesses which caused problems in the housing market. Banks,... [Read more]

What if they gave a five million dollar prize and nobody came? In a sad commentary on the state of affairs in the world’s second largest continent, the committee in charge of awarding the Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership announced they couldn’t find anyone worthy of this year’s prize. The winner of the award receives $5 million over 10 years and $200,000 annually for life thereafter. You just have to wire $10,000 as a good faith deposit to an account in Nigeria to receive your prize. I’m kidding. The Ibrahim Prize is actually legit and this year’s committee was headed by none other than former U.N. Chief Kofi Annan with help from Nobel peace laureate Martti Ahtisaari of Finland and former... [Read more]

“…And they all lived happily ever after — once the lawyers got a cease and desist order.” Hey, kids. Gather ’round for a cute little bedtime story about how an Australian beer company got into a little hot water by trying to whore up the iconic Disney character Snow White… “Once upon a time, there was an Australian brewer called the Jamieson Brewery. The brew masters had ‘produced a number different beers from Black Ales to Brown and Amber and back!’ And, no children, I don’t know what ‘and back’ means in this context or why the company put an exclamation point on the end of that particular sentence. Just be quiet and listen to the story… Where was I? Oh, yes…... [Read more]

The Pepsi owned energy drink Amp recently came under fire for its iPhone app, Amp Up Before You Score which offers to give losers dudes looking to raise their game “a roadmap to success with your favorite kinds of women.” Probably best to let the Amp iPhone description speak for itself: Here’s how it works: 1. Identify Her Type Got your eye on a girl, and aren’t sure how to get started? Pick out her profile, flip the card, and study up quick with a cheatsheet on the stuff she’s into, with lists, links and some surefire opening lines. (Surefire to what, we won’t say.) 2. Keep a List Get lucky? Add her to your Brag List. You can include a name, date and whatever details you remember. 3. Brag You got it? Flaunt... [Read more]