The United States and New Zealand are the only countries in the world that allow medications to be touted on television with amazing promises. Be happy! Get thin! Sleep better! Make new friends! Then in little, teeny, tiny print or in an incredibly fast voiceover that is almost impossible to understand come the words, “if you have excessive bleeding, vomiting, a heart attack, go blind, get raging diarrhea, become paralyzed …. You should discontinue this medication.” Gee. But that probably won’t happen so … go ahead and take this stuff because look how happy our actors now appear to be! It’s called direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising and it is totally legal in this country because we have literally given carte blanche to the medical and pharmaceutical companies in the holy name of greed. It has worked beautifully because now Americans are self-diagno...
This blog was a tribute to women suffragists like Amelia Bloomer. But one cannot fully offer tribute without sometimes dabbling in politics ... In 1849, Bloomer published her own newspaper, The Lily, that tackled current events, women's issues, including temperance, education and fashion! Let me add to that ... sports. All hail sports! As for the Bloomer? She wore billowy, full-length pants gathered at the ankles, come to be known as "Bloomers." A gal after my own heart.