Stupid is as stupid does! Dennis Kozlowski, former CEO of Tyco, took the stand in his own defense, admitting to a slight omission in 1999 of a paltry $25 million from his W-2. I guess Denny boy forgot what happened when his Worldcom counterpart, Bernie boy, took the stand and pleaded the ‘stupid’ defense. He was found guilty and faces up to eighty-five years in the slammer and unlike Denny boy, Bernie even looks half-believable.
Washington ethics is still a leaky bucket, but committee rule changes are finally being rolled back so that poor old ethically challenged Tom DeLay can have his day in court. Now if Washington would only punch a few holes in the barrels of morality they keep trying to drown us in...
Body mass index? If your BMI (not BM) is above 35, you, my friend, are likely to hear from the fat police over and over and over until you want to do nothing but sit down and eat a double chocolate ice cream sundae, and if you live in Indiana, Mississippi, Alabama or West Virginia, you’ll have a lot of company. These four states have 25% or more of their population with a BMI of 35 or above. Maybe rather than being obese, they’re just too damn short. (Cut and paste the following in your browser to get to the BMI calculator: http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/bmi/calc-bmi.htm)
Bring your own peanuts. The new Airbus A380 seats 555 with a crew of two. And forget about a second drink, maybe even the first one if the crew of two happens to be the pilot and co-pilot. And forget about 555 seats. By the time one or two American-based airlines get finished, there’ll be eight hundred seats and to get from New York to Cleveland, you’ll have to go through Atlanta or Dallas. (Can behemoths that hold several thousand cattle, er, passengers and fly weekly between the City of Lights and the Big Apple be far behind?)
EC says US accounting rules lacking. Gee, you think. Anyway, it sounds like the Europeans now want us to tell them in advance whenever we’re about to spring an Enron or WorldCom on them. Totally unreasonable old chap, I say. Non! Nein! Let them find out the old fashioned way like we do—like when the shit hits the fan.