valentiniblogs

What a nightmare!! First of all, these girls have more than enough money to employ the people who will keep them out of this type of trouble. Lohan could have even hired a driver.

The person I feel the worst for in this whole ordeal is her publicist. They had an ankle bracelet on Lohan to make sure she wasn’t drinking, and even that wasn’t enough. The most recent stories I’m hearing are about the “bad people” around Lohan. How terrible can her lawyer and publicist be if they set the alcohol-detection device to call them in the early morning hours. Talk about taking one for the team.

I understand that lawyers and publicists in that industry make a good amount of money, but can it even be worth it?

This year the party debates have decided to use the Youtube media outlet to hear personal questions from the masses. I love the use of new technology to put our concerns in the forefront. Not only did it make the debates more interesting, but it put real faces to the voters.

No longer were they another possible vote, but they were so-n-so from wherever, America. It was interesting to watch the candidates react to the questions, and even more interesting to see who was sincere and who was rehearsed.

Anderson Cooper did a great job of moderating, and I think it was one of the first times candidates have been called to the carpet for not completely answering a question. Kudos to Cooper.

I love the Youtube questions, and am very excited to see what will take place throughout the rest of the campaign.

NFL superstar, Michael Vick, has found himself at the center of a disgusting scandal.
Over the past week I have been flooded with e-mails to sign petitions and make phone calls on the behalf of all those who think Vick should be removed from the NFL and imprisoned. The most interesting of these is the one I received with the telephone number for Nike.

The e-mail asked for everyone to call Nike and suggest (demand) that they remove Vick from their list of spokespeople. What I find the most interesting is that the phone calls even have to be made.

If Nike knew better they would have already released a statement, and I have yet to hear of one. Many of my friends have already decided not to support Nike as long as they support Vick. Nike should try to remove themselves from this scandal by dropping Vick.

Kevin McCauley wrote in his weekly column based on what the New York Times has dubbed the “New Gilded Agers.”  He discusses the comparison of Sandy Weill as the new Andrew Carnegie.  He also mentions that we now know who is affording the $1 million dollar Tiffany rings advertised in the Times.  As he points out we  do learn a little more about the 5 percent of our national wealth and how it is spent.

The comparison between Weill and Carnegie is far-fetched.  Yes, both men achieved great success.  Carnegie is a part of our nation’s history, and Weill is just a part of our nation’s economy.  I do appreciate how hard he must work, and the stress he probably deals with.  But, what he’s done in this day and age is a cake walk compared to what it must have been like for Carnegie.

And, as far as the people who pay their live-out help $150,000 to manage that oh-so-burdening apartment in New York I say good for them.  I only hope that they realize in the grand scheme of things how good they have it, and that the rest of the world doesn’t live that way. So, maybe before they spend a ridiculous $60,000 on a mattress made of horse hair they will consider the families in the lower income parts of our nation.  Perhaps they will keep in mind those just worried about losing their children because they can’t afford to feed them.

I’m not a bleeding heart, but at what point do they have too much and others too little?

In response to the amount of criticism they received following the horrors of April 16th Virginia Tech has hired Burston-Marsteller and created a panel to review the events of the day. According to Odwyerpr.com the common complaint concerning the tragedy is the lack of communication.

With hope Burston-Marsteller will be able to create a web of communication between the university, its faculty and students, and the community. The firm should be prepared to interpret criticism in a way that will benefit the university’s future handling of crisis situations.

Another concern for the pr firm is definitely warming public opinion of the university. In my personal opinion the events of that day should never be forgotten, but neither should an already terrorized campus be anguished any more by negative public opinion. The media, and others will continue to speculate as to what was/wasn’t done to keep those horrible events from happening. Let them speculate, but I will look to the future. We will take a lesson in preparedness away from that day. I, for one, am not willing to give Seung-Hui Choi what he wanted and dwell in the terror he created.

My best wishes are with Virginia Tech and Burson-Marsteller as they head into what I hope will be a bright and peaceful future.

O’dwyerpr reports that Rev. Al Sharpton stated that he would not mind if Don Imus returns to the airwaves.  He said that Imus is entitled to earn a living.  This is very interesting after the heated debate between the two when Sharpton said that Imus was racist. 

I agree that Imus went too far, and have no idea how his statements must have made the players from Rutgers feel.  I think that those were awful words, which should never be used in reference to any female.  It was a controversy that stole a moment in the lives of all the players in that game, and caused what should have been a celebratory time to be a confusing one. 

Keeping all of this in mind, I would like to point out that these same words can be heard on a daily basis.  Not just are we subjected to this type of language daily, but at any given time.  If any person wanted to hear things such as these all they need do is turn their radio dial to any channel playing popular music. 

As a woman looking toward the years of children it is discouraging to find that what we hold important in one instance does not translate to another.  I for one hope that my sons do not think it’s okay/cool to use comments such as these about women.

I watched a press conference yesterday for Ladybird Johnson, the former First Lady. The president held a press conference that quickly turned into war press conference.

The president spoke of the first lady for a brief moment, and then quickly went into discussion about the war in Iraq.  The information was the same despite the probing from the press.  The president might have been better off to have avoided the discussion if he had no new information to provide.

The internal memo that was leaked from within Capital BlueCross concerning the recent Michael Moore film, Sicko, has caused quite a stir. After the letter was leaked Moore challenged the higher-ups at the large umbrella organization to a debate. They have yet to respond to this challenge, and probably for good reason.

Moore has proven many times that he will not be gentle in pinning the “big boys” in the corner. He would certainly use any means necessary to make himself (and his film) look more credible, and the opponent completely ignorant.

The backlash from such a huge film could be felt throughout the industry, and cause the already apparent cracks in our healthcare system to spread into gaping wounds. The best thing for these companies to do is address the problems pointed out in this film, and give serious consideration to their remedies.

I don’t pretend to know the first thing about the healthcare industry, but I do know a little bit about Michael Moore. I only hope that the industry I go to work for never ends up on his list of causes.

Dreamerz Foods is releasing its new “all-natural low-fat drinks” to such cities as Los Angeles, Boston, Seattle, and Portland. The drinks are being sold as an alternative to sleeping pills. Ruder Finn is handling the release of the latest Brand New Brands beverage.

The drinks are supposed to contain a low dose of melatonin as the sleep aid. Anyone who has ever taken melatonin will be interested in this product because melatonin has proven to allow a better night’s sleep. The only question I have is how much melatonin is required to provide the effects, and do these drinks include that amount?

With cute names like “vanilla van winkle and chocolate s’nores” the products are sure to attract some attention. Let’s hope that the cute names aren’t the only enjoyable part of these drinks.

In his most recent post on odwyerpr.com E. Bruce Harrison writes about the alliance forming between Corporate social responsibility and capitalism.  He claims that in the 90’s everyone assumed the need to “go green” would overshadow profits as the priority for most companies.  But, as we are seeing in our largest corporations the two seem to go hand-in-hand.

It’s interesting to think back to the 90’s when we weren’t yet aware of how our society would be in 2007.  Here we are with our energy crisis looming, and instead of negativity we see large corporations and celebrities going green.  Celebrities like Cameran Diaz and politicians like Al Gore can make the change.  Why shouldn’t our corporations be able to do the same? Well, they can and are. 

The best part of implementing sustainability programs for these companies is not just the affect on profits, but the fact that they are taking their time to ensure our world suffers less.  It increases liking in the mind of consumers, and could even win them new customers.

In the coming years it would be nice to see a decrease in discussion about which corporations are implementing these programs.  I just hope that in time sustainability programs will be the mainstay of our society, and with it being so common the new issue will be all the buzz.