Brusqueness

What is your definition of a Tough Girl?

I’m almost sure that I’m going to turn this into a collaboration, but I need to have a working definition of what a “Tough Girl” is. I was only collaborating with women in the Fighting Arts, but as Mary of MaryQin.com pointed out, Tough Girls come in many different flavors.

The definition I have in mind is a woman who is fiercely independent and defies gender roles. She is physically fit, which is what makes her “Tough” as opposed to just another run-of-the-mill feminist. They’re opinionated and adventurous.

I would, however, like to point out that there is a difference between a Tough Girl and a Bitch. Some mean girls out there consider themselves tough, the difference is probably in motivation. Bitches come from a place of horrible insecurity. They seek to control others through manipulation or fear, while Tough Girls are more internally motivated.

There are always other definitions, possibly better ones, and I would be remiss if I did not at least open up the floor to some input.

National Union MK Arye Eldad was harsh in his response to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Bar Ilan address, in which the premier called for a demilitarized Palestinian state under American supervision to exist alongside Israel.

“Netanyahu today lost the leadership of the national camp, when he crossed not only the red lines of his elections promises, but also converted,” Eldad said.

MK Arye Eldad

“In saying ‘a demilitarized Palestinian state’ Netanyahu is trying to eat a pig that has been slaughtered in a kosher way. There is no such thing as a Palestinian state. Netanyahu knows that no political force can keep it from arming, forging pacts or acting like any recognized state,” he added.

Almagor (Terror Victims Association) head Meir Indor called the speech a victory to Palestinian terror.

“Tonight, Netanyahu established the Palestinian state. As in the past, nobody will remember the preconditions, and all that will remain is the call to establish a Palestinian state with all the dangers,” he said in a statement.

“All previous Likud warnings of such an entity have disappeared tonight following the recent pressure applied to Netanyahu,” the statement continued.

“The Palestinians have won another victory in their war against Israel, and proved that terror and violence against [Jews and Israelis] pays off.”

While political arguments rage, New York City has certified its first gay marriage — of two men who fooled the City Clerk’s Office into letting them tie the knot.

Hakim Nelson and Jason Stenson married on May 26 with nary a raised eyebrow among the oblivious city bureaucrats who not only OK’d the marriage license, but conducted the ceremony, despite gay marriage being illegal in the state.

President Barack Obama is ready to roll out an overhaul of the intricate rules and systems that govern America’s troubled financial institutions, proposing the most ambitious revision since the Great Depression.

The goal is to prevent a recurrence of the economic crisis that erupted in the United States and exploded last fall with devastating consequences still reverberating around the world.

Unlike the government’s temporary ownership stake in automakers and major financial companies, the regulatory changes set to be announced Wednesday are designed to be permanent. They could result in a major realignment of power and authority among government agencies that set the rules for banking, lending and investing and touch American lives through daily transactions, from credit cards to mortgages and mutual funds.

The proposals already are the source of a spirited debate in Congress over whether Obama’s measures will prove too timid or place too heavy a hand on the levers of capitalism.

At issue is a 21st century system of high-stakes swaps and trades, bets and losses where trillions of dollars worth of investment products have grown too intricate for a 20th century regulatory structure.

Imagine today’s financial transactions as an athletic contest where the referees have lost their vantage point. Plays occur out of their sight and fouls go undetected. Some referees halt play while others let it go on.

Even the players have had enough.

”On a macro-basis, we’re very supportive of reform,” said Tim Ryan, president and chief executive of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.

In devising new regulations and oversight, the administration is looking to address four perceived weaknesses in the current system:

–The lack of an all-seeing federal entity to detect institutional stresses that threaten the financial system, and the government’s inability to step in and unwind large institutions before they choke the system. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. can do this with banks. But the government lacked the power to do the same with a behemoth such as the insurer American International Group Inc.

–The undercapitalization of large financial institutions. Heading into the financial crisis, too many banks were leveraged with significantly more debt than equity. ”If you give people enough leverage, they can lose an unbelievably large amount of their own money and that of their clients,” Obama’s chief economic adviser, Lawrence Summers, said last week.

–The emergence of large, lightly regulated markets, such as hedge funds, and of big insurers, such as AIG, without a federal overseer. The administration wants large private investment funds to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission and is weighing the creation of a federal charter for insurance firms.

–Consumers and lenders whose unwitting or reckless credit and borrowing decisions placed families under staggering debts and contributed to the instability of the financial system. Obama is likely to recommend creating a financial services consumer protection body with oversight powers over mortgages and credit cards and other consumer financial products.

Internally, the administration has vacillated over whether to streamline the vast array of regulatory agencies.

At one point, Treasury and White House officials floated the idea of a single financial services regulator to oversee banks and certain insurers. But it didn’t get a warm reception from the chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee or the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

The administration backed away from the idea.

But last week, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., a key player in financial issues, called on Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to include a single banking regulator in the administration’s overhaul plan. House Republicans want streamlining, too, but would take power away from the Federal Reserve and the FDIC.

The administration considered merging the Securities and Exchange Commission, the powerful stock market regulator, and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, which oversees commodity futures and some options markets. But the move would have meant congressional and regulatory turf battles. At a dinner two weeks ago, Geithner told key lawmakers he would not propose the merger.

”The Obama administration — because they’re working in a more realistic environment — are into the art of the possible,” Ryan said.

One way or another, the Fed could be a winner in the administration’s plan.

The administration and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke would like the central bank to be the overarching ‘’systemic risk” regulator, lording over the financial system in search of flaws and weak stress points. Such a role would give the Fed exceptional authority as both the manager of monetary policy and the overseer of the enterprises with the biggest financial footprint in the country, if not the world.

Industry officials now expect Obama and Geithner to propose a system that makes the Fed a supervisor of systemic risk assisted by a council of regulators that would advise the central bank about potential dangers.

Also in the debate is how to handle failing institutions that pose a threat to the entire financial system. The administration wants a beefed up FDIC to carry out that function provided such intervention is triggered by Fed or Treasury regulators.

Republicans prefer that companies be restructured or liquidated in bankruptcy court.

Alabama Rep. Spencer Bachus, the top Republican on the House Financial Services Committee, urged lawmakers to reject a regulatory system ”that depends on the infallibility of the government regulators, who have so far shown themselves unable to anticipate crisis, let alone prevent them.”

In a speech Friday to the Council on Foreign Relations, Summers offered the administration’s counterpoint: ”Any financial institution that is big enough, interconnected enough or risky enough that its distress necessitates government writing substantial checks, is big enough, risky enough or interconnected enough that it should be some part of the government’s responsibility to supervise it on a comprehensive basis.”

The Washington Post displayed bad headline-writing technique on Saturday in religion coverage. The paper picked up a Religion News dispatch by Daniel Burke on retired Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland and his admission of homosexuality. The headline was "A Church Leader’s Unusual Confession." Weakland admitted he had violated his vow of celibacy and had homosexual relationships, but he did not "confess," since he wasn’t suggesting it was a grave sin and that he wanted to reject it.

Instead, Burke quotes from Weakland’s new book, about when his improper relationship with Paul Marcoux became public:

"It may seem strange, but I felt a new freedom, a sense of being liberated for the first time," Weakland writes. "It had become public knowledge that my orientation was homosexual. There was nothing more to hide; no one could do anything more to me. I was free."

That’s hardly in line with Catholic teaching on homosexuality, which is defined as a mortal sin that a man or woman should confess and repent and pledge to do no more. The orientation, if not acted upon, is not the problem. Engaging in intercourse, as the Archbishop did, is the grave sin.

The main scolds in Burke's story are lobbyists against the horror of priest sex abuse. They're still unhappy with the archbishop's spotty record on sexually abusive priests. There's no one who really brings a classic conservative case against how morally compromised Weakland became.

1. Low Cost. The costs to acquire and maintain an investment can be a significant barrier to entry for a young, novice investor. Moreover, because the size of that first investment is usually small, the impact of transaction costs is magnified. It did not cost me anything to buy or hold that Motorola stock except for the actual purchase price.

2. Automatic. The easiest way to make investing a habit is to make it automatic. This can be through payroll deduction into an employee-sponsored plan (like my Motorola stock) or by automatic transfer from a bank account to an investment account.

3. Difficult to Liquidate. By this I do not mean an illiquid investment. Rather, there should be administrative obstacles and/or tax disincentives to selling the investment for use other than for its original purpose. This makes it easier to resist spending temptations. IRAs are ideal for this.  My Motorola stock was easy to sell. Should I have held it and not used it for a vacation? Yes and no. Mrs. ToughMoneyLove worked extremely hard to help support us through law school. Her lifelong dream to that point was to visit Ireland, the land of our ancestors. We had relatives on temporary assignment in England who would provide a place to stay. We had other relatives who offered us travel to the UK as a gift but only while our other relatives were there. When else would we have the time and means to take that extended trip? I think it was a good choice for us.

4. Transparent Growth. An excellent way to create investing enthusiasm in the novice investor is to make it easy for that investor to watch the investment appreciate in value. Any security and investment account that is easy to monitor online should qualify.

5. Low Risk. This one is going to be controversial. The standard line is that young folks are in it for the long haul so taking significant short term risk is appropriate and necessary.

This super sexy strappy high heel Sandal, by Alaia are a must! They are not like all the other sky high heels with platforms. So stand out from the crowd in these little beauties!

Milkboy Hi Dot Hi tops are our pick as most L&B this week. If any one is going to Japan please lets us know, we need a pair of the black ones with the white polka dots. So somebody please hook us up!!!!

We are so confused as we are planning a trip to the states this summer and not sure whether to scoop up some Alfie or Supra's? These Alfie Everybody Parachute red and white check are too fly. They come with interchangeable yellow and black laces! So we could rock these with so many things we have!!! Decisions, Decisions!!

Ladies get in here if you want some cute art on your feet? Then these Rolland Berry for Reebok are for you! They come in black with floral embroidery in pinks and yellows with a metallic toe! We hope to see some around this summer!

Inspired by the classic 80's movie The Gremlins! Reebok releases these Omni Pump with furry ankle bit, when the gremlins are fuzzy and cute.The rest of the kicks details are when they turn into mean little havoc causing monsters. You will probably cause a little bit of havoc in these yourself.

Not much to say about these dope Reebok Exofit except nice metallic colorways, Keep an eye out for these this coming A/W 09.

Air Jordan by Nike does it again, in a classic style with beautiful colors. Nuff said!

Puma is carrying on it's collabo with Luxury fashion house Yves Saint Laurent. These sleek styled all black sneaker boot shoe, will definitely get you some compliments on your fashion taste. Just be ready to splash out a few coins for these beauties!

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