Here’s My Problem With Angelina Jolie’s Scare Tactics

Her "breast cancer" revelation doesn’t make her a saint.

Saint Angelina is getting on my nerves. I’ve used this space before to vent my feelings about the emaciated, leg-jutting, holier-than-thou Angelina Jolie, and the latest developments haven’t changed my opinion. “How can you not appreciate her brave decision?” friends ask. "How can you not admire her selfless revelation to the world that she has undergone prophylactic surgery?” Angelina Jolie had genetic testing that indicated a high likelihood that she would develop cancer. The BRCA 1 gene mutation that she carries increases the likelihood of developing breast cancer to 80 percent and ovarian cancer to 55 percent. It also increases the likelihood of developing fallopian tube and prostate cancers at smaller percentages.

Internet Sales Tax Won’t Stop Me From Online Shopping

Brick-and-mortar stores shouldn’t bank on the pending Marketplace Fairness Act.

The Marketplace Fairness Act is a bill that aims to “level the playing field” between online retailers and brick and mortar stores. Most online retailers don't have to collect state sales tax from buyers in states where they have no physical presence (like a retail store, warehouse or distribution facility). Changing that could be a windfall for state tax revenues and could change the retail landscape. Or will it?

Did H&M Hide Plus-Size Swimsuit Model Jennie?

The mystery behind the Swedish clothing company’s latest marketing.

H&M is a retail giant. No, more like retail Goliath. A Swedish company, it operates more than 2,600 stores in 43 countries, employs more than 94,000 people and is the second-largest global retailer. That's one giant corporation. So, you’d think they’d have a pretty sophisticated corporate structure, right? In researching a recent ad campaign, I wanted to get a few facts straightened out so I called H&M's U.S. headquarters in New York. H&M New York oversees 200 stores in the States. Finding a number for them, however, was no easy task. There is none listed on their corporate website so I started with customer service until I got someone to cough up a number. When I called, it rang for a while and then went to this message: “The mailbox you are trying to reach is full. Call again later. I’ll transfer you.”

Liberal Fox News Pundit: Keep Foreign Muslim Students Out of U.S. Colleges

Bob Beckel’s all-encompassing solution.

The Earth shook this week. Am I the only one who felt it? I couldn’t believe what I’d heard, and so I listened intently to make sure I’d gotten it right. Sure enough, I had. While watching The Five on Fox News, I heard Bob Beckel, the only liberal to sit on that panel, say that the higher academic system should immediately stop admitting Muslims and maybe even Chinese students. What? Bob Beckel said what? I felt the Earth shift. He said those who are here should be allowed to remain and finish their education but that we should no longer admit Muslim, and maybe Chinese, students because they “get an education here and then go back and hack us.”

I’m a Republican. I’m a Mother. I’m for Stricter Gun Control Laws.

Even if universal background checks wouldn’t have stopped Newtown tragedy, why do nothing?

The gun control debate rages, in our homes, on the news and in Congress. I don’t understand why. I don’t understand why there is any debate at all. I don’t understand why anyone who is a living, loving human being could argue against stronger gun laws in this country. And I’m a Republican! But I’m a human being first and a mother who has held a child in her arms. A healthy child, thank God, but I can imagine what it might feel like to hold one whose life is ebbing from their body, a victim of gun violence.

Victoria’s Secret for Teens: Do You Want Anyone “Feeling Lucky” With Your 15-Year-Old?

As if parents need a lingerie challenge.

My daughter is in college now with, hopefully, one more year to graduation. I guess you’d call that young adulthood or “almost adulthood,” or not, depending on the financial or emotional crisis du jour. I’m proud of her accomplishment and her character. I feel as though her father and I have done a good job raising her, and believe me, it wasn’t easy. There is so much that affronts young girls today that it’s all a parent can do to stay ahead of the danger curve.

Main Line Gossip: “She’s Had Work Done”

The pressure to age beautifully is everywhere.

“She’s had work done.” I recently heard this, whispered sotto voce by the Main Line mavens sitting at the table next to me at Tango. Naturally my neck swiveled at headache-inducing speed to see who they were taking about. Ah, it was a friend of mine, who I know for a fact has had no plastic surgery at all.

Call the Next Federal Government Crisis “Armageddon”

Fiscal cliff was cool, but "sequestration" never caught on.

President Obama is running around the country trying like hell to convince the American public that the sky is falling and that it’s not his fault, it’s those horrible mean-spirited un-American Republicans. The fact that he’s golfing in Florida or campaigning instead of staying in Washington to do his job is infuriating enough, but now the Washington Post has cited a Washington Post-Pew poll that says that just one in four Americans are following the debate very closely and less than one in five say they understand “very well” what would happen if the sequester went into effect.

My Apps Wish List for the New Apple iWatch

What every parent hopes this high-tech Dick Tracy watch can do.

Recent reports from both the New York Times and Wall Street Journal quoted unnamed sources claiming Apple is in discussion with its primary manufacturing partner to come up with an "iWatch," a real-life, wristwatch-type Dick Tracy gadget. Patrick May, in the Main Line Times adds: