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While reading an Associated Press article today on Social Security that you can read HERE, the following two sentences really stood out. "Social Security was the primary source of income for 64 percent of retirees who got benefits in 2008, according to the Social Security Administration. A third relied on Social Security for at least 90 percent of their income."
These statistics explain a lot, I think, about why 'real' Social Security reform is so politically perilous.
This broadly-based dependency can't be what was originally intended, I thought. So I did a little online research just now about its history and stumbled upon the following factoid. "The first monthly payment was issued on January 31, 1940 to Ida May Fuller of Ludlow, Vermont. In 1937, 1938 and 1939 she paid a total of $24.75 into the Social Security System. Her first check was for $22.54. After her second check, Fuller already had received more than she contributed over the three-year period. She lived to be 100 and collected a total of $22,888.92." That's a photo of Ida May above.
The NFL announced yesterday it was investigating claims that Brett Favre, "sent lewd photos and messages to a sexy team sideline reporter in a brash bid to charm the buxom beauty," according to a New York Post article that you can read HERE (which includes photos of the "buxom beauty" and former Maxim model, Jennifer Sterger). This is alleged to have occurred when Favre played for the New York Jets in 2008.
This story is surprising at first for two reasons. For one, Favre has a famously close relationship with his wife of 15 years, Deanna, whom he initially met in high school. The other is that Favre is alleged, among other things, to have sent Ms. Sterger photos of his genitals. Whoa. Brett Favre? He's 41 years old. And a grandfather.
But like the best of these sorts of stories, there's a rich depth of detail beyond the headlines. The article goes on to note that, at the same time, Favre also allegedly pursued two female massage therapists who worked for the Jets. And as with Tiger Woods, Ms. Sterger apparently kept Favre's incriminating voicemails, one of which reportedly was, "Jenn, it's not a setup. Just got done with practice, got meetings here for a couple more hours then I'm going back to the hotel to just chill. So send me a text . . . I'd love to see you tonight. All right, talk to you later. Bye."
Favre's Minnesota Vikings play the Jets this week.
Do you remember the 1970s TV show about two California Highway Patrolmen called "CHiPs"? It was huge in its day, and ended up running from 1977-1983. Erik Estrada (at left in that photo), who played "Ponch," became the much bigger star of the two.
The actor who played "Jon," Larry Wilcox (right), has just been charged with securities fraud. He is alleged to have been involved in a classic 'pump and dump' scheme involving penny stocks, among other things. You can read more about it on the Wall Street Journal website HERE.
The quote they pulled from the website of Larry Wilcox's own company was pretty bemusing. The UC Hub Group, "is currently focused on Precious Metals, Gems and the Oil and Gas Industry. The Company is also focused to [sic] increase the value for shareholders by doing the proper due diligence to prove economic validity for the acquisition of the target systems, operations, company or companies."
When I was in college 20 years ago, a friend of mine swore that he once saw Larry Wilcox scalping tickets to a football game outside the LA Coliseum. I had been sure that was a case of mistaken identity.
Domino's is apparently test marketing a "breakfast pizza" (with eggs and cheese as the main toppings) in an attempt to get its slice of the lucrative fast food breakfast market (i.e. McMuffin dollars). According to a New York Daily News article HERE, the corporate idea behind it is, "to improve sales during the slow, typically non-pizza-eating hours between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m." (Is 5 AM still prime pizza time?)
It strikes me that there's a direct analogy to alcoholism here. If you're waking up at 6 AM and craving pizza on a regular basis, and maybe sneaking by a Domino's on the way to work, you've probably got a problem. (Maybe more than one.)
News is just breaking that actor Tony Curtis has died today at the age of 85. His most famous role was in Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot (1959), with Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe. But that film was made well before I was born. So to me he was most famous for having had relationships with some of Hollywood's most famous leading ladies back in the day, and then for having been married six times.
I remember seeing a piece about him on Entertainment Tonight 15 years ago or so, which profiled his retired life in Las Vegas as he turned 70. It noted that he had become a well-regarded painter whose works sold for tens of thousands of dollars. But what impressed me most at the time was that he was accompanied by a statuesqe blonde woman who looked to be 30 or 40 years younger than he. (He later married her. Jill Vandenberg was 42 years younger than he, as it turns out.)
That profile made a surprisingly strong impression on me at the time. So I I was oddly less surprised than I might have been when I bumped into the couple, literally, on the dance floor of "Club Ra" at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas about a decade ago. It was well after midnight, and the techno dance music was blaring. As I was dancing on the not-so crowded dance floor, I accidentally bumped into someone behind me. I turned around to apologize and there was Tony Curtis and this same beautiful, tall blonde woman, looking pretty much like that photo above. Despite never having seen Some Like It Hot, I instantly knew who they were. My first reaction was not, "No way! It's Tony Curtis!" though. Instead, I remember thinking in that instant, "This guy is amazing. He must be 75, and yet he's out dancing at 1 AM at a club with this beautiful woman in her 30s. Incredible!"
Before I could say anything, he immediately apologized for bumping into me. He was really nice, and didn't 'big time' me at all. Then there was that moment he must've had a million times in his life, where he could see in my eyes that flash of recognition. But then my eyes darted to his wife for a second (I couldn't help myself), and then back to him. I could tell that he knew exactly what I was thinking in that moment, because he flashed a knowing smile at me before dancing on.
Listening to the radio this morning in the car I heard a recruiting advertisement for the the US Army. The tag line at the end promised, "You'll do more in a few years than most people do in a lifetime." That caught my attention because when I was growing up in the early 1980s that tag line went slightly differently. It used to say, "You'll do more before 9 AM than most people do all day."
Even as a teenager I thought that was an unusual point of emphasis when trying to recruit high school kids to join the military. I wonder if it says anything about changing attitudes among 18-20 year olds today that this tag line has now been revised in this way.
Last night CBS's 60 Minutes aired a piece examining the extent of Chinese espionage in America today, including hidden camera footage from the FBI in which one such spy and a Defense Department employee are caught 'red handed' exchanging cash for secrets in an SUV. I particularly enjoyed the part at the end where, after their transaction is concluded and the Defense Department employee exits the car, the FBI surveillance tape captures the Chinese spy pulling out his own hidden recording device. You can watch the entire 13 minute segment HERE.
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