There's a new dog food commercial which starts off with the following premise. You wouldn't feed dry, bagged food for your son or daughter, so why would you do the same for your dog?

Obviously the marketing mavens who put the ad together know that more and more people are considering their pets, like dogs, family.

OK, so if dogs are to be treated like kids is the opposite also true? Kids need rabies shots. Add that to polio, diphtheria,measles and the rest of the childhood inoculations because one never knows when sweet little Tommy or Mary Kate might go bite to bite with a rabid raccoon.

And let's make sure the kids go out in the morning and the evening to pee and poop in the back yard. Bring your popper scooper especially if you live in one of those tidy suburban nirvanas.

Forget about any unwanted teenage pregnancies, just spay or neuter them. And of course, those nasty heats where the kids are dragging their butts on the living room floor looking for a little satisfaction will enhance any home. Read more »

The scandal rocking England and the News Corporation says many things. It is about arrogance and illegalities in pursuit of sales. It is about high tech and low morals. It has all the elements of a great scandal. Many are enthralled as it enfolds and wonder who will be the 'collateral damage'. The question I have is simple. So how come so many organs of the News Corp's seem to be ignoring it or down playing it? Why are the so-called media outlets of the commonsense people, hardly telling us about some rather nasty business in its own house? Read more »

Just for the July 4th, the LA Times has an article on the 12 Most Patriotic films. of all time. Number 12 on their list is CAPTAIN AMERICA. You know, the new SFX laden imagining of the classic comic book. It hasn't been released yet, and it's being touted as one of the 12 best patriotic films of all time? Gee, I wonder who knows whom to plug the film like that?

Everyone knows LA is a company town. Plugging a film is as normal as a rush hour traffic jam. However, the LA Times list points out to failure of far too many list compilers. They choose 'patriotic' films based on some very simple criteria. It's a war film. It has characters dressed in red, white and blue. It takes place during a very specific time.

War films are a genre of themselves and yes, some can be considered patriotic, but simply being an inspiring war story does not make a film patriotic.

Wrapping oneself in red, white & blue may work for shallow politicians, but it too will not make a film patriotic Read more »

I call "celtic pink". That's my skin color. When it sees the sun to either burns or freckles. Back in the day it would burn & blister. Bro #4 & I would peel each others back trying to get the longest piece of skin possible. It was great fun.

Of course many years later a nasty bit of fun became a nasty bit of skin cancer. So these days sunscreens are essential unless a carcinogenic toss of the dice is desired.

So what is the latest?

Don’t be fooled by price. In tests of 22 sunscreens, Consumer Reports found nine to be effective against UVB and UVA and ranked three of these as “Best Buys”

Up & Up Sport SPF spray (88¢/oz) at Target; No-Ad With Aloe & Vitamin E SPF 45 lotion (59¢); and Equate Baby SPF 50 lotion (63¢) were their 'Best buys". They also said La Roche-Posay Anthelios SPF 40 cream, at $18.82 an ounce, scored well in effectiveness. Price doesn't mean deal, but as a Frugal Yankee, you already knew that. Read more »