Not So Pretty

According to Simon Pretty, a leukemia victim and father of three, his forty-three-year-old sister Helen Pretty refuses to donate her perfectly matched bone marrow to save his life. The Englishman is expected to die within months without a transplant. He states, "I am on death row: I can't believe that she would let my three children lose their father so unnecessarily by her actions." Simon's wife Jacqueline adds, "It is appalling that Helen can stand by and watch her brother die knowing that she could do something to help him: the past few months have been hell." Even though their children play together, the siblings are not close. Miss Pretty refuses to comment on the story.

Remember the saw: "Pretty is as pretty does."

Cf. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=444238&in_page_id=1770.

Too Hot for Teacher

Knoxville, TN, native Sean Powell, an eighteen-year-old, got a lesson from his teacher's jealous husband that was a final one. According to a jailhouse interview broadcast on NBC's Today, thirty-one-year-old Eric McLean stated that he found out that the teenager had been having
an affair with his wife Erin, an intern at the school, West High, that the boy had attended. Reportedly, he found Powell in his home, told him to leave, and called 911 to report an intruder. Later, he called 911 back and asked the dispatched to disregard the call because the person was leaving. Afterwards, McLean said that he got his rifle and fatally shot Powell as he sat in his car.

"Teacher, leave that kid alone!"

Cf. http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Mar22/0,4670,TeacherSexSlaying,00.html.

On That Farm He Had Some Angus

McDonald's has finally decided to make a premium burger, the Angus Third Pounder. It costs $3.99 and ranges from 720 to 860 calories (depending on the type). It is being test-marketed in 600 stores in southern California in the counties of San Bernardino, Ventura, Riverside, and Orange. Even though BK Lounge debuted its dry, barbeque-sauced Angus Steak Burger for the same price in 2004, Mickey D's hopes to make up for lost time with a juicy pemium burger (on a denser bun) with the regular "fixins" and others with less traditional extas. Hungry?

Cf. http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0703070312mar07%2C0%2C323944.story?track=mostemailedlink.

CBS's "Evil Eye"

Under Dan Rather's reign as CBS Evening News anchor, the Tiffany Network became the QVC of news. After his fall from esteemed, sweatered successor of Walter Cronkite to the ousted, disgraced defender of Filegate, CBS steadied the ship with Bob Shieffer at the helm on an interim basis. The Eye Network decided to go for star power by snagging the perky Katie Couric, the co-host of NBC's morning Today Show, with a $15 million/year contract. CBS Evening News with Couric as anchor has dropped 400,000 viewers from the same time last year under Shieffer. It now trails the broadcast evening news leader ABC World News by 2.1 million viewers. Has Katie lost her mojo?

Cf. http://www.usatoday.com/life/columnist/mediamix/2007-03-06-media-mix_N.htm.

HillBill-y 4 Prez

As Hillary tried to arrogate her hubby Bill's hold on blacks, she sent chills down the spines of all Southerners as she feigned an Alabama drawl in Selma Sunday at a local church. The Illinois Eli and NY senator had followed her home state rival Obama to the birthplace of the civil rights movement. She spoke to a crowd smaller than the one Obama wowed at the Brown Chapel AME Church, where the Black Sunday march for voting rights had begun a mere forty-two years ago. In this age of worldwide media coverage, Hill's rendition of civil rights poesy seemed more patronizing than empathizing. Perhaps, Obama will deign to give Hill a spot on his ticket or, perhaps, he will up the ante by choosing Bill Richardson.

Cf. FNC and http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070304/D8NLH6200.html.

America's Ethos: Anna, Bama, & Baseball

As one watches the 24-hour-cable coverage of Anna Nicole Smith's death (and the attendant details), the high school tornado tragedy, and the college baseball bus accident, one sees illustrations of America's contemporary cultural ethos. No longer is it deemed appropriate for the lives of public persons, or even Everypersons, to be cordoned off for personal privacy concerns. Emotions, thoughts, and actions are to be shared as a community. To not do so is seen as a deprivation of our common consciousness and an affront to our communal comity.