Man Car Review : Sports Activity Coupe by BMW

If driving an SUV has always seemed a little un-sporty, bulky and little un-cool for you, then you don't need to look further anymore now with BMW's Sports Activity Coupe
Well, this new segment of crossover vehicle created by BMW to describe the 2009 X6, which had made its official debut in Detroit. While it's not the best segment name you've ever heard, it still beats the ubiquitous “crossover.”


If you are familiar with BMW's X5, This Sports Activity Coupe is basically an extension of X5, but in a much sleeker package. BMW has clearly sacrificed some of the X5's utility (passenger room and cargo capacity) for the sake of styling, thanks to that sloping roofline.

According to industry news, The X6 will also be available in a hybrid model using the Two-Mode system it developed with GM, Mercedes-Benz and Chrysler, which give you more fuel efficient driving experience.

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Technorati Tags: Men Car Review, BMW, Sports Activity Coupe

GOP Economic Proposals Will Elongate Depression

John McCain has hinted that he plans to reveal his economic package today in an effort to keep pace and perhaps counterbalance the Barack Obama economic proposal. There’s one thing that struck me as odd, in this era of evaporating jobs and oncoming Depression. The McCain proposal hints at calls for using $300 billion of the $700 billion financial bailout package to keep Americans in their homes, stop declining housing values, and stabilize the financial markets.

Indeed the decline in real estate has devastated the financial markets and they’ve already gotten their bailouts in order to keep the credit markets primed with cash to avoid another freeze-up.

But in an era as we’ve been in the past ten years where, as Ross Perot so bluntly called it, “the great sucking sound” of disappearing jobs has gone from background din to deafening alarm. And McCain has no plan to change that any time soon.

Devaluation of real estate is inevitable. This is a hard pill that America is going to be force-fed, but is nevertheless necessary if we wish to survive in the “flat earth” economy. It’s not the only thing that must devalue in price and cost, but it’s one of the most critical.

As we’ve noticed rather clearly, especially during the George W. Bush era where added tax incentives accelerated the pace, business is in love with cheap labor – the cheaper, the better. It initially started with manufacturing and labor-oriented jobs, but has expanded to accounting, computer programming and even financial and service-industry jobs. Everyone wants a bargain, and no one loves it more than business executives and Wall Street investors. Cheaper costs mean more profit.

One of the primary reasons jobs fly overseas is due to this new awareness of a plethora of cheap labor. Even if it doesn’t produce as Americans would, or end up as good quality as what we may do domestically, the cost differential more than makes up for it. It’s also helped keep what jobs below the executive level that are left in the U.S. more bargain-priced than ever – even in the face of rampant cost-increases in everything.

Yet even with our fixed incomes for most of America, the bottom line is still more attractive by going cheaper and going overseas. We in America cannot compete with that due to our overly high cost of living. While a $9 an hour job in India, Indonesia or China may provide a very attractive standard of living and draw an incented workforce, in America it guarantees the individual will be part of a burgeoning working underclass with shrinking living standards and increased difficulties competing with other countries in this flat-earth economic paradigm.

Housing prices, as with food or utilities are one of those indispensable mandatory costs for the global workforce, no matter which country you live in. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to determine that American real estate is vastly higher than the very countries we now must duel with over diminishing work.

One exacerbating problem during this time of disappearing jobs was that many Americans turned to individual investing – flipping real estate – in the midst of Bush’s “Economic Recovery.” They made a handsome profit, providing cushion for the economic and employment uncertainty for a time. But like all pyramid schemes, it reached its saturation point. In the wake of this, we’ve experienced for some time a pricing over-escalation and a painful correction on real estate based on typical American standards and prices.

But once this reaches what were the pricing norms ten or fifteen years ago, the question begs: will there be jobs sufficient and plentiful enough to renew a housing boom? The answer to that will be no.

Until we in America reach cost levels similar to those of China, India or other third-world countries we are now mandated to compete with for jobs, America will face three choices. Either accept job insecurity (which will go where the wages and wage-earner costs are cheapest), acquiesce to a constant stagflated period where wages will be sub-par to bring us to what we’ve been accustomed to over the past decades, or give up on the globalizing workforce and retain jobs in America with the attendant cost increases. Corporations giving up profit are as likely as crack-heads giving up crack. We will have to look to one of the first two options.

Either American living standards must continue eroding at a shocking pace, or the costs of these living standards must come down accordingly in order to give American workers a chance to compete for jobs.

As things stand, McCain wants to artificially continue propping up real estate prices. This guarantees American jobs with livable American-level wages will never be able to compete with flat-earth, globalized workforces. For American wages to remain the same or deflate, and for jobs to stop evaporating before our eyes, costs must come down. And not just for housing prices, but for all essentials.

Men Lifestyle: Celebratory Drink

Perhaps you can celebrate your Halloween's Night is with some Designer Wine.

To celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2009, Fashion Designer, DKNY has partnered with Domaine Chandon to create a custom DKNY sparkling wine. DKNY distributed 800 special-edition bottles of Napa's Domaine Chandon at Sunday's show in Bryant Park.


The French-owned producer drew from two decades of recipes to blend a cuvée for the clothing line's twentieth anniversary in 2009. In return, DKNY designed the "Twenty Year Cuvée" label, will market totes cut to carry Chandon during the holidays, and will release smaller totes (meant for four mini Chandons) in the spring.

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Technorati Tags: Designer Wine, Man Fashion, DKNY, Domaine Chandon

McCain & Palin Open Pandora’s Box

All week long we’ve been watching clips of Sarah Palin and John McCain rallies across the country and the raw sentiments from their red-meat crowds. The McCain camp admitted last weekend that the economy was killing their support, so they were going to shift focus and were taking this campaign to personal extremes against Barack Obama. It’s been ugly.

Palin (whose nickname ought to be Dick, as in Cheney) especially personifies this element, being the dyed-in-the-wool religiopolitical neo-con. She spares no moment to take the most partisan and most personal shots and deftly massages her devotees into a self-righteously indignant frenzy. They’re angry at the “socialist turn of the country” and blaming Obama (even though it’s neo-con President George W. Bush’s mess, and both Obama AND their candidate McCain voted for and supported the Wall Street Welfare State Act).

Despite the reality, a sizable amount of this FOX-indoctrinated, Limbaugh & Coulter-fed crowd are openly self-assured that Obama is Muslim, has terrorist tendencies and hates America. Lately we’ve get news clips of their recently-stirred, angry throng, yelling “terrorist,” “treason,” “kill him!” and “off with his head!” – even some racial epithets tossed blithely, whether anti-black or anti-Arab.

“They distort my pro- life positions and smear the reputations of my supporters. Why? Because I don't pander to them, because I don't ascribe to their failed philosophy that money is our message.” — Sen. John McCain, presidential candidate in 2000

With reports making the news, and not favorably for the McCain camp, the Senator apparently sensed things were getting out of hand and tried to reel it in at a McCain rally in Minneapolis. When he responded to one angry Town Hall questioner that he “admired” Sen. Obama’s accomplishments and said even if his opponent won, the country would be in good hands, Sen. John McCain was roundly booed at his own rally! No matter how much he tried to restrain them, his supporters would have none of it!

So now, the dilemma. John McCain has opened Pandora’s box in order to release his red-meat base to involve themselves and bring home the victory as they have in the previous two Bush presidential elections. Now out of the box, the red-meat folks won’t go back. Does McCain now risk alienating the one actively supportive wing of his base?

He’s losing some of his business wing with all the talk about “greedy CEO’s” and “maverick” talk about taking on Big Oil. He’s disenchanting his budget-hawk wing with his vote for the bailout and recently his announcement for government to buy back troubled home mortgages. Will McCain be willing to risk the one remaining base he’s able to stir?

After the last debate and the recent polling numbers, the McCain campaign came out openly stating they wanted to avoid the economy (today’s pressing issue), focus on Obama’s character and make the campaign about him. They wanted the Rovian echo chamber, and to give their base that voice and that forum to scream about their feelings. They’ve got what they wished.

The McCain/Palin crowds are quite exuberant about their anti-Obama, anti-Democrat invective, and feel they’re rightful in their rage of being disadvantaged conservatives! The candidates themselves have been fueling this bonfire of the vanity, particularly Sarah Palin. She’s exactly what McCain and the campaign operatives bargained for: the quintessential Dick Cheney-styled barking dog as foil to the above-the-fray would-be president. Even better, she’s wired in directly to evangelicals and is able to tap into the rage in the red-meat crowd. Unlike McCain himself (who many red-meat types are ambivalent about), Palin inspires this “off with the head,” red-meat element.

It’s this newly-created energy that is suddenly developing a life of its own. The crowds hang on every word of both McCain and Palin. Every utterance of “terrorist” draws cheers, and any mention of the name of either media, or any Democrats (specifically Obama) draw boos, and as McCain found out, any attempt to pull back and paint his opponent as human also draws boos! If these crowds begin hearing things out of McCain that they don’t want to hear, will they begin drowning him out with chants of “USA! USA! USA!”?

These red-meat, base crowds have rediscovered their voice, want to keep it and could end up turning on McCain on election day if he risks trying to close Pandora’s box now. In Republican America’s base, there is only victory, never admit defeat and never stop blasting your opponent. Weakness, admitting fallibility or compromise will never be forgotten or forgiven in red America.

So McCain suddenly finds himself in pause, one hand full of mud ready to sling, and on the other hand memory of his own words about running an honorable campaign and decrying personal-attack politics. The latter choice may be honorable, but it would likely cost him and his party their election.

Where now, Candidate McCain …?

“Political intolerance by any political party is neither a Judeo-Christian nor an American value. The political tactics of division and slander are not our values. They are corrupting influences on religion and politics, and those who practice them in the name of religion or in the name of the Republican Party or in the name of America shame our faith, our party and our country.” — Sen. John McCain, presidential candidate in 2000

Political Mean Season Pushes The Envelope

[At his 51st birthday party at Keating's in the Bahamas sits John McCain (with the bread-loaves hat) and Charles Keating swigging beer.]

"But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
"Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds." — Paul, Colossians 3:8-9, The Bible, King James version

"Bleeding soul becomes a bitter mind.
He said it happens every time." — Clean My Wounds, Corrosion Of Conformity

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjxzmaXAg9E&eurl=http://www.thepresidentialcandidates.us/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJghQMq49dw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itEucdhf4Us

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41lDY-7G8ps

“Say it ain’t so Joe, there ya go again, pointin’ fingers and lookin’ backwards … we need a campaign that looks forward,” said Sarah Palin channeling her best Ronald Reagan invocation to Joe Biden in the Veep debates just a week ago. It was a good strategy concocted by the campaign handlers: “forget what’s just passed, let’s look forward.”

Well apparently when looking forward doesn’t help, the John McCain Campaign – and even “lookin’ forward” Palin herself – can’t avoid looking backward to trash Barack Obama’s character.

This week has seen Palin “runnin’ around,” trying to pull up associations from Obama’s past – whether Bill Ayers from the 60’s anti-war era Weather Underground, to Rev. Jeremiah Wright (famous for his post 9/11 sermons blasting the U.S. for its sponsorship of nations who practice terror).

The McCain campaign surrogates are also bringing up the “Muslim card” again (regardless of it being a canard) and stirring their know-nothing base indoctrinated on FOX, Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh into a mouth-frothing frenzy. Beyond just calling him Barack Hussein Obama openly, they’re even planting some of their campaign surrogates in the crowd to yell out “terrorist,” “treason,” and “kill him” at timely intervals after a Palin speech soundbite. They’re well aware that the cameras will be rolling, and the coded message will get out to the rest of the crowd (“it’s okay to stand up and speak your mind”) and to the folks watching at home on FOX nightly newscasts (“bring your epithets and vitriol to the next rally near you.”) What’s especially of concern is how this code-wording is touching the minds of the Timothy McVeigh element of conservatives – those who won’t cede power and will use any means necessary to insist on retaining it. Or else!

For now it’s all about trolling down ugly memory lane for Palin and the McCain camp. It’s all they’ve got left in their arsenal at this point.

Meanwhile the drugs must have addled Cindy McCain’s brain. In an interview with the Tennesseean, the “trollop” (as McCain once endearingly poked fun of her at an event years ago) and wannabe first-lady said the Obama campaign had run the “dirtiest campaign in American history”! Talk about audacity!

Somehow or another, Ms. McCain feels this race has been more hurtful than the 2000 presidential primary race, where George W. Bush's campaign called their adopted Bangladeshi daughter “John McCain’s love child from an interracial affair.” Bush & Rove operatives also did push-polling, indicating that McCain gave a statement while at the Hanoi Hilton “apologizing” for the U.S. aggression in Vietnam a la Jane Fonda. They also brought out one of John McCain’s fellow servicemen who pointed out McCain had ditched fellow POW’s and MIA’s by opposing any search for service members who were still not accounted for nor returned to the U.S. Apparently all these things have slipped Ms. McCain’s memory.

Yes, drugs will do that sometimes, and we’re aware of Cindy’s addiction history (thanks to a Republican who blew the whistle on her when she used his name on some of her counterfeit prescriptions).

So far, the Obama campaign has avoided all of those subjects above, brought forth not by Democrats, but by Republicans. Apparently those subjects are fair game to Cindy McCain and Karl Rove and that ilk; relevant subjects which they feel are the pressing issue of the day for American voters.

Meanwhile, America’s economic meltdown rages, thanks to our crisis of Wall Street Bank failures. So in response to the negative, looking-back-into-past-relationships campaign strategy of McCain, Obama has engaged in a little tit-for-tat, pointing out one of John McCain’s friendships.

Charles Keating was the chief of Lincoln Savings & Loan during the Oil Bust, Savings & Loan meltdown that caused our first devastating home foreclosure wipe-out in the late 80’s. Charles Keating was also a close friend to John McCain, and was blessed with the senator’s assistance in 1987 in holding off regulators investigating their shady practices. While McCain ran interference, the bank tanked to the tune of $2 billion in 1989, while the bank’s bondholders and their elderly investors lost their entire investments.

For his support to his good friend, John McCain raked in $112,000 in campaign contributions, not to mention trips on Keating’s private jets. Even Cindy McCain and her father Jim Hensley had invested over $350,000 in one of Keating’s retail projects, so it was more than just a casual acquaintance. John Keating himself became the poster child of mismanagement of the Savings & Loans crisis cum Resolution Trust Corporation fire sale in the early 90's.

John McCain doesn't get it. The nation’s number one concern right now is our financial future, and Obama's former friends are only a passing concern at best to those watching their retirements disappear.

As America is reeling due to “Economic Recovery,” plunging global stock markets, bank failures and FDIC solvency concerns, the only one of these “looking-backwards” guilt-by-association, question-the-judgment games that is even relevant at this disastrous moment is the one about the cozy friendship with a sleazy banker.

Guess who has that history? Not Obama! It’s the “other” one!

“When life is too easy for us, we must beware or we may not be ready to meet the blows which sooner or later come to everyone, rich or poor.” — Eleanor Roosevelt

Men Fashion Designer: Tom Ford's Dream Come True

I am sure everyone know Tom Ford. Come on, just do a simple googling, you should get tons of Tom Ford bio if you don't really know him.

After this fashion designer left Gucci in 2004, he spoke publicly about wanting to get into directing. After so many years, he is finally going to see his dream come true.


The former Gucci fashion designer is putting the final touches on his directorial debut of the movie adaptation of Christopher Isherwood’s 1964 novel, A Single Man.


Sources revealed that it looks like Colin Firth will star as a gay college professor who deals with the sudden death of his lover. The character is helped in his efforts by a lifelong female friend and one of his students.

Firth’s rep reported that "he’s in discussions" but it’s not a done deal.

Julianne Moore will play the friend while Jamie Bell has signed for the student role. The story takes place in 1962 in Los Angeles.

No studio is attached to the project, but Ford plans to begin filming in L.A. in November.

Source: uk.eonline.com

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Technorati Tags: Man Fashion, Men Fashion Designs, Tom Ford

Presidential Debate II: The Tipping Point

"Girls were girls and men were men.
Mister we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again.
Didn't need no welfare states.
Everybody pulled his weight.
Gee, our old LaSalle ran great.
Those were the days!" — Those Were The Days (Theme From All In The Family), Carroll O'Connor & Jean Stapleton

"It takes skill to be real, time to heal each other
And although it seems heaven sent
We ain't ready, to see a black President...." — Changes, Tupac Shakur

Unless I’m mistaken or if something really catastrophic occurs between now and election day, I believe we may have just seen the tipping point with last night’s debate. At one point, I felt like I was watching a caricature performance between Don Rickles’ Mr. Warmth and Lionel Jefferson of All In The Family.

Even though this was the so-desired “town hall” format that John McCain had been begging for throughout this campaign, this was not McCain’s night and really undistinguishable from his last debate performance. His body language was robotic and forced unless he was sitting on the stool, at which point he had an unusual, almost-feminine posture (which was a little unnerving). Most of the latter part of the evening he didn't sit much, seeming uncomfortable or maybe nervous.

Contrast this to Barack Obama's posture which was more relaxed but attentive, legs akimbo, almost resembling one of the early-60's Kingston Trio sitting on the stool (I don't know why I got that visual). He was his usual unflappable self, and it became clear that even though this was McCain’s element, Obama was beating him on his home court.
For his part, McCain stalked around the forum floor in a stiff awkward fashion, tossing out barely-veiled insults in wisecrack fashion, replete with feintly audible septuagenarian grunts and breathing. His movements, his speech and even his appearance resembled Don Rickles walking the stage in his HBO special Mr. Warmth. It’s the type of thing you expect when you plop down $25 for a ticket to sit and watch epithet-laden comedy with a top-notch comic. McCain’s humor (if that’s what it was) just didn’t come close to matching Rickles’ timing, much less his joke material.

McCain was the only one chuckling at his too-subtle witticisms. It was the caustic tongue of Rickles without the humor, rather hard to watch.

Obama meanwhile was on point throughout most of the debate, with a few lapses into generalities. As for substance, it was a hands-down win for Obama. He was thoughtful and specific on responses and plans to address the issues brought up in question. He sat smiling through the entire evening, listening (or at least appearing to listen) intently a la Lionel Jefferson to McCain playing Rickles portraying the Archie Bunker role. Unlike the last debate though, this version of “Lionel” Obama had more of an edge and sparred with “Archie” McCain. In the end though, he was still abundantly patient and polite, complete with the headshakes and incredulous smiles with a few smirks as well.

McCain had very little in specifics, sticking mostly to his campaign talking points. While his town hall format didn’t fit his desire to come out swinging on character issues by association, he still took every instance he could to take swipes at Obama’s judgment and inexperience. McCain’s performance even seemed a bit contrived. If anything, for the man who accused Obama of not knowing the difference between tactics and strategy, McCain didn’t appear to have much thought given to strategy.

At one point, when moderator Tom Brokaw asked McCain if he was in favor of Manhattan Project styled approach to new energy technology, McCain gave a one sentence response to it and then launched into defense on Obama’s charges that McCain didn’t support legislation for new technology development. To prove it, he pointed out a billion-dollar bill for Big Oil urged by Bush and Cheney that McCain himself voted against (way to play to your base, Mac!) but for which “That one” – pointing to Obama – voted in favor.

Media and viewers seized upon “That one” across the country – a very objectifying move on McCain’s part. It was a too-sublime attempt at humor that came off very dismissive instead.

The tipping point came nearer the end of the debate when the issue turned to foreign relations, specifically Pakistan. Again McCain ridiculed Obama’s mention of crossing into Pakistan if actionable intelligence had pinpointed Bin Laden, and compared his plan to Teddy Roosevelt’s “walk softly [sic] … but carry a big stick.”

Obama pushed for opportunity to respond to McCain and again explained his position on going into Afghanistan, then added, “Sen. McCain suggests that somehow, you know, I'm green behind the ears and, you know, I'm just spouting off, and he's somber and responsible,” to which a smug McCain smiled broadly and replied “thank you very much!”

Then Obama made a masterful play, noting of McCain: “this is the guy who sang, "Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran," who called for the annihilation of North Korea. That, I don't think is an example of "speaking softly." This is the person who, after we had – we hadn't even finished Afghanistan, where he said, "Next up, Baghdad."

McCain’s smile fell off immediately, and he glared straight ahead. He walked right into that trap and got shot with his own weaponry. Check and mate! McCain’s attempt to address Obama ended up in a stuttering, diffuse attempt at explaining himself and explaining away his gaffe – “I was joking with a veteran” – and ended up with an almost pleading repetitions of “I’ll act responsibly” and “I’ll get Bin Laden”.

In a sense it was sad to see what he’s devolved into. Yet after all of his initial promises of “running a respectable campaign” and then later rescinding it since “Obama wouldn’t meet as he promised in a town hall format,” now that Obama was meeting with him in a town hall format it was the same old ugly, combative McCain – no change. And he wasn't even an effective combatant. Obama deuced him on his own game, and McCain was helpless.

Worse still, even with the economy plummeting like a boulder over Yosemite Falls, John McCain once again failed to mention the middle class, the working class or the poor even once. He's now just playing to save his base and his base isn't big enough to get him into the White House.

We’ve now come to the point where it’s truly Obama’s game to lose. Seeing how he’s played to date, he won’t! Now we need to ensure he has all the down-ballot support in Congress that he's going to need instead of the obstructionist Republicans!

"High time we made a stand and shook up the views of the common man,
And the lovetrain rides from coast to coast.
D.J's the man we love the most.
Could you be, could you be squeaky clean
And smash any hope of democracy?
As the headline says you're free to choose
Theres egg on your face and mud on your shoes." — Sowing The Seeds Of Love, Tears For Fears