Last Call For K-Mart

I wish the headline was being clever, but that's pretty much it.

CNN Money tells what we've known for a long time, K-Mart is circling the drain.  The number of stores have fallen dramatically and revenue is down.  After its "rescue" some fifteen years ago, K-Mart has hovered in an uncomfortable shrinking state.  Experts are calling out CEO Eddie Lampert, some going to far as to call his management an "asset strip" and saying he has run the business into the ground.

Whether intentional or from gross negligence, in either case K-Mart cannot hold out for much longer. Which begs the question, as brands fall and are born in incredibly rapid pace, what will become of the next retail generation?  Will there be a Macy's or a Sears or even an Old Navy for our kids to buy bad t-shirts in an attempt to reclaim their childhood?  What will it be like when brands come and go in 5 year cycles, and 20 years of those have passed?

Target is growing as K-Mart is shrinking.  Any not-Wal-Mart choice is going to attract a huge shopping base and bring the direct wrath of the #1 retailer in the world.  When the Wal-Mart legacy finally finds a competitor who is willing to limp along and play second banana for some concessions, the American loser stands to lose mightily.

It's a sad day to see K-Mart go and Sears wheeze and struggle.  Not just because of warm and fuzzy feelings, but because once upon a time they were major players in the game, back when the game was good.

A Swing And A Miss, Fox News Style

[Note from Bon: Hey kids, have you missed me? Zandar took a day off and left me with the keys to the office.  You got me now and all day tomorrow, so let's have some fun!  Now on to your normally scheduled blog post.]

The step up to the plate, full of promise and hope.  

But when it comes to the hazards of sex, our approach falls somewhere between passivity and paralysis.

True.  Fox News and its audience are not famous for using science or education to steer their attitudes towards sex.  Is this someone trying to say something different for a chance?  Is this person actually going to confront a longstanding problem in the conservative community: acknowledging that people have S-E-X?

No. I mean, c'mon.  It's Fox News.

 They wiggle the bat and settle their hips.  They go into position and become a solid mass, and dig in.

We make sure our kids know about condoms and the Pill, and tell them we’re always there if they want to talk.  Which is the equivalent of shutting our eyes, crossing our fingers, and hoping.  Hoping that our kids won’t get pregnant, or get someone else pregnant.  Hoping that they won’t catch that STD that causes infertility or cancer.

Ah, there you are, the oldest chestnut of them all.  Telling your kids about birth control is akin to just instructing them hump like bunnies. Despite evidence that supports talking to kids is helpful and should happen more, this can't possibly be the answer.  Quit your crazy talk, scientists!  Your numbers and peer reviewed material is from the devil!

The other team throws a solid pitch!  Straight across the plate, a thing of beauty!

Instead, the conversations should focus on what the child is capable of absorbing, and what the child asks about. Parents should also take advantage of every excuse to broach the difficult subject — a mention of sex or sexuality on a TV show, a pregnancy in the family, sex-education classes in school or a visit to the doctor around the time of puberty. "If you just get over the hurdle of starting, then once the conversation gets going, you often find it's easier than expected," says Schuster. "So use any excuse you want, but just get over the initial hurdle and start talking to your kids, because it's really important." - TIME 

Yes, this is what a straight pitch of common sense looks like. Thoughtful, ongoing, and factual dialogue that informs and educates the child.

The swing and the miss.

As parents we spend our lives trying to protect our kids.  So here’s a radical thought.  How about urging them to wait till they’re married before having sex?  If we really want what’s best and safest and healthiest for our kids, let’s start a sexual revolution.  Hey, it’s been done before. 

"Tell them not to do it, that'll fix it."  Because that's their revolutionary answer.  The same thing that's been done since the first surprise pregnancy.  This gasbag just got published on one of the biggest fake news websites on the Internet for acting as though "don't have sex and you won't have to worry about it" is a newfangled approach to sex education.  The limbo champions at Fox just keep dropping the bar and playing the same old tired songs for anyone who will listen.

Damn, I've missed you kids.  I feel some epic length rants coming on here.