Weekend Tids and Bits

How Low Can You Go? Gillette, the Proctor & Gamble razor company, has answered the question with a popular video offering below-the-belt guidance for men seeking a really close shave so “when there’s no underbrush, the tree looks taller.” Videos are also available to guide shaving other areas, including the face, armpits and back. I was unable to find a Gillette video for shaving the palms of your hands, but you can check at http://gillette.com.

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Attention Republican National Committee The elephant has long been the symbol of the GOP, but while they’re pondering new and untested directions, including winning elections, they might consider changing the symbol to a squirrel. The AP reports that a squirrel in Port Huron, MI, has been stealing the small Memorial Day flags from a local cemetery and using them to line its nest. Although wrapping yourself in the flag while you line your nest is a time-honored Republican strategy, the squirrel’s patriotism might mark it for higher things, perhaps the vice president spot on the next Republican ticket. There is, after all, precedent.

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With All Deliberate Speed the arrest of a retired worker for the State Department and his wife took place this week after a three-year investigation. The couple was charged with spying for Cuba since 1979. An explanation for the lightning-quick counter-intelligence reflexes of every administration since Jimmy Carter was president wasn’t immediately available. Some insiders suggested it was one more effort in longstanding U.S. covert operations to do harm to Fidel Castro, in this instance tempting him to laugh himself to death. Determined to deal sternly with what was characterized as a “serious” breach, the indictment wants the 72-year-old spy’s State Department earnings back and even his rollover IRA account.

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Good Old American Entrepreneurial Spirit still shines in Nevada, where the Las Vegas Sun reports the Shady Lady Ranch is seeking to revive a slumping brothel business by hiring male prostitutes who would “entertain” women for rates probably beginning at $500 for a two-hour minimum. The Sun quotes Shady Lady owner Bobbi Davis as saying “We feel this is an untapped resource.” Conservative Republicans who grumble about government meddling stifling innovation should rally to the Shady Lady’s banner, since a possible stumbling block is prostitution regulations that only envision boy-meets-girl, boy-pays-girl.

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Last Week We Discussed:

n Saudi Arabia is just being a swell friend to the United States, never mind all that oil, and never mind their distressing habit of beheading folks or marrying eight-year-old girls to men in their 40s. It’s at http://larryblaskosaid.blogspot.com/2009/06/with-friends-like-these.html

n The General Motors Bankruptcy is just one more of the old certainties circling down the toilet hole as we spend our lives in “interesting times” at http://larryblaskosaid.blogspot.com/2009/06/interesting-times-endgame-may-you-live.html

n Newspapers being burned at the stake for failing to adapt can’t see that the next stake over at The Final Barbeque is occupied by the print advertising business at http://larryblaskosaid.blogspot.com/2009/06/newspapers-advertising-burn-at.html

n Just because you can say more things doesn’t mean you have more to say was said at http://larryblaskosaid.blogspot.com/2009/06/more-talk-less-to-say-communications.html

n California has let the gay marriage issue turn it into The Rube State at http://larryblaskosaid.blogspot.com/2009/06/california-rube-state-you-know-youre.html

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