Most men probably coif in the privacy of their own bathrooms with razor, soap and maybe a beard trimmer, but calls to skin care salons and day spas around the country revealed that many are now going pro. Beverly Hills skin care and waxing expert Nance Mitchell says she has about 50 regular male customers who come for pubic waxing “and they are not gay and they not porn stars,” she tells me before I have a chance to ask.

“Some go totally bare, some just do the shaft and up around the pelvic area," she says.

The style, Mitchell says, depends on what their wives and girlfriends want. Men go along, she explains, because removing the hair makes the whole package look bigger. She charges $85 and up for the service.

“They get waxes?” I ask, incredulous that men, known sissies when it comes to any threat to their treasures, would submit to a procedure the United Nations would outlaw if it were used as torture. “And you do the waxing?”

“Yes, they get waxes,” Mitchell laughs. “It’s just like driving a sports car. You grab the [stick shift] and you go, babe!”

A Sonoma County prosecutor says he may seek second-degree murder charges against two suspected drunken drivers accused of killing two bicyclists eight days apart earlier this month.

Deputy District Attorney William Brockley, in court Wednesday on both cases, said a decision on murder charges will follow an evaluation of evidence gathered during the investigations of both deadly accidents.

"You bet, if I have the evidence,'' Brockley said. "The investigation continues, and we're trying to determine if it is an appropriate charge.''

"It was an experiment, it was risky and a bit of a jump into the unknown, but the results were more than satisfying," Armstrong told l'Equipe after his Georgia win. "I had the privilege of being with my three kids, which is vital. Plus, my training went better than expected and the race [in Georgia] was really tough, maybe even a little too tough."

As his future as a professional now seems to hinge on the arrival of a new team sponsor to replace the US Postal Service, which will not renew its contract after 2004, Armstrong can imagine repeating this year's "experiment".

"If I'm still riding next year, I'll try to race more in the USA, on the condition that the races are as well organised as in Georgia," he said. "And I think I'll come back to spend April at home."

Then in December 2003, in a matter of weeks, our world turned upside down. We found out that Chris would be going to Iraq. As a reserve Marine Captain, Chris' skill set was needed over there. The orders would be for at least seven months, and would effectively put a hold on his training. The family and friends were all informed, and the packing began. Coach Bob was very gracious, wished Chris well, and asked to be kept apprised of how Chris was doing. We added him to our e-mail list. To be honest, I never expected to hear from the Coach again, until Chris came home and resumed his training.

Chris started sending e-mail updates home periodically, and as promised, I sent them out to our mailing list. The Coach contacted me after about two or three of these updates, to ask if he could send packages to Chris. I kindly thanked him, and told him some of the things Chris said he and his men could use.

What I expected was a token gesture from the Coach, a box of items for Chris' use, as a show of support that the mentor had for his former protégé. What I got instead was a demonstration of love that a master had for his pupil. Single-handedly, Coach Bob mobilized a "support the troops" effort in his native Chicago. Going far beyond a mere indicator of support, Bob devoted his free time, money, and professional resources to collect 250 pounds of health and comfort items not only for Chris, but for his entire unit. The Coach asked his father-in-law, a Korean War veteran, to help him shop for the items that warriors would need overseas. And more touchingly, Coach Bob prints out Chris' e-mails from the war zone and reads them aloud to his other fitness clients. He explains that though they are sweating to lose five or ten pounds in a gym setting, it could always be worse. Without taking an opinion or advocating for or against the war, Coach Bob is simply motivated by showing his support, and his love, for his student athlete. As far as I know, he's not only collected all of the goods, and secured corporate donations, but he's paying for the shipping of all of the items out of his own pocket.

The Pentagon's ban on images of dead soldiers' homecomings at all military bases was briefly relaxed Thursday, as hundreds of photographs of flag-draped coffins at Dover Air Force Base were released on the Internet by a Web site dedicated to combating government secrecy.

The Web site, The Memory Hole (www.thememoryhole.org), had filed a Freedom of Information Act request last year, seeking any pictures of coffins arriving from Iraq at the Dover base in Delaware, the destination for most of the bodies. The Pentagon on Thursday labeled the Air Force Air Mobility Command's decision to grant the request a mistake, but news organizations quickly used a selection of the 361 images taken by Department of Defense photographers.

It must have been 20 years ago when I took Republic Airlines from Chicago to Green Bay. It was a couple of days before Christmas and quite late in the evening. The flight attendant did the complete safety demonstration in a perfect imitation of Gilda Radner's Rosanne Rosanna-Danna voice from the old "Saturday Night Live."

[If you're a Gen-Xer or older you'll understand this SNL reference. The rest of you were born long after the death of genuine TV comedy.]


Flying to St. Louis, the pilot got on the public address system near Pittsburgh and said: "A special treat for the passengers on the left side. Look straight down and you'll see a very large white house. Here, let me show you." [At this point he actually tipped the plane so we could see.] "That's my ex-wife's house. I know it's her house because that's her lawyer's BMW in the driveway." He was very cheerful about the whole thing, but a lot of passengers looked at each other with a mix of laughter and anxiety.


Southwest Airlines cockpit announcement: "I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that the machine that rips the handles off luggage is broken. [Cheers from passengers.] The bad news is that our departure will be delayed for an hour while they fix it."


Heard aboard a South African discount carrier: "In the unlikely event of a water-landing, you will find a sexy yellow lifejacket under your seat, now being modeled by the flight attendant. [Wolf whistle]. The lifejacket is also equipped with a light, so you can read while waiting to be rescued."

Having fun with drunk guys

An apartment maintenance man called 911 after he saw a drunk guy kicking the back door of his apartment on North River Drive. The man told the drunk guy to quit kicking the door so the drunk guy chased him. The officer went to the apartment and observed that the drunk guy could hardly talk or walk. He gave him a copy of charges. The man said he told the maintenance man some very common curse words but didn't mean anything by it. In my other new book, 'Having Fun With Drunk Guys" I talk about how those guys can't chase you for very long because they run in a circle. They just don't know it.

PRESIDENT George Bush was laid bare to the world as a bumbling embarrassment yesterday when he couldn't think up an answer to a reporter's question.

His keynote address to the American nation, watched by millions, saw the president at his cringe-making worst.

In the glare of the live television cameras he grimaced, sighed, rambled and chuckled under his breath, before saying he could not think of a single mistake since the September 11 attacks.

A man whose son was killed in the Columbine High School shootings literally walked in his child's shoes to the National Rifle Association convention, where he hoped Vice President Dick Cheney would address the federal assault weapons ban set to expire in September.

...

Mauser entered the convention hall where the NRA was meeting, but was turned away by a security guard as several conventioneers applauded. A couple of conventioneers yelled "Get a life" and "Vote for Bush."

A bill to create Georgia's first felony child endangerment law unanimously passed the Senate on Tuesday, but only after Republicans tried unsuccessfully to attach a gun owner exemption and an anti-abortion amendment.

The bill states that a person could be charged with felony child endangerment if his or her conduct places a child in "imminent danger of death, bodily injury or mental injury."

Almost exactly 43 years ago, on April 21, 1961, President John F. Kennedy held a press conference to answer questions on the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion by Cuban exiles that he had approved. "There's an old saying," he said, "that victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan ... I am the responsible officer of the government and that is quite obvious." He expressed private disbelief at and disdain for his sudden rise in popularity: "The worse I do the more popular I get."

Ron and Ginger Anspaugh's dream dog -- a purebred English springer spaniel -- came from a pound in Jackson, Miss.

Michael and Jody DuShane got their newest pug from a pug rescue group.

Debbie and Gary Kazmier's show-quality black Persian cat was dumped with a cat rescue organization by a breeder who needed to get rid of some stock.

Those are three of an estimated 1.5 million purebred pets taken into shelters each year. That's why advocates for animal rescue recommend people consider animal shelters and rescue groups even if they're looking for a purebred pet. And don't believe that all the animals in shelters are "damaged." Shelter workers say the problem is usually with the owners, not the pets.

" 'We had a baby.' 'We're moving.' 'The kid is allergic.' We hear that every day," said Dorothy Wissler, director of Bartow County Humane Society, which works with the county animal control. "I've had unbelievable purebred dogs come in with their papers and even a receipt showing they paid $700, $800 ,even $1,200, for the dog they're dumping."

Barr, one of the impeachment managers in the Monica Lewinsky case against Clinton, is seeking $30 million, along with attorneys' fees and other costs. His claim alleges the three defendants took part in a "common scheme and ongoing conspiracy to attempt to intimidate, impede and/or retaliate" against him and the other managers.

Specifically, it accuses Carville of providing Flynt with FBI files and other classified information on Barr's private life for use in a smear campaign. It alleges Clinton approved of the actions.

...

Carville's attorney, William Alden McDaniel Jr., called the lawsuit a "legal embarrassment."

"It's a silly case," McDaniel said. "It's a perversion of the civil rights statutes. It has no basis in fact or law."

David Kendall, one of Clinton's attorneys, agreed the case lacks merit but argued that, even if it didn't, Barr's lawyers have exceeded the statute of limitations for filing defamation suits.

The truth is that he went to war, saw real battle and was decorated for his behavior. It is also true that he came home and denounced the war before congress and at public rallies. The second act simply in no way negates the first. These anti-Kerryites refuse to believe that there is anything virtuous about his service in Vietnam, while bending over backward to find ways to portray Bush's National Guard service as not only full and complete, but heroic in its own way.

I won't be voting for Kerry but I still salute his service. His actions upon returning home do not somehow make the bullets that were whizzing around his head any softer to the touch. He, like other soldiers have displayed courage that I can only dream of. Vietnam shouldn't be a reason for anyone to vote against him... unless of course you consider the fact that he flip-flopped on the issue.

Jesse claims in court papers obtained by Star magazine, "[Janine] indicated to me that she did not love me anymore and that our marriage was over," but lost her temper when she returned form the couple's Seal Beach, Calif., home and found her belongings being loaded into a truck.

He says in the papers, "She began screaming and yelling at me ... and punching me. She punched me in the face several times."

...

According to the court documents, by the time the police arrived, Janine had already hit Jesse in the back of the head with a flowerpot and attacked him with a metal sculpture.

And, Jesse claims, Janine also attempted to run him over after an argument -- and punched him in the eye the day before Valentine's Day.

More than 100 people showed up at Johnson County Republican Party headquarters Tuesday night hoping to hear more about photos of state House candidate Sam Walls in women's attire that began circulating last week and have divided the county GOP.

Recent shrilly written letters pathetically analyzed the closing of an Iraqi newspaper as a supposed -- and perhaps even conspiratorial -- governmental intrusion on free speech. It is anything but.

Just as children cannot handle many of the same drugs that prove therapeutic for identical diseases in adults, a nascent democracy cannot withstand the same tribulations that a 226-year-old democracy can...

But Republicans have a solution to turn those soft Medicare poll numbers around; the administration is funding a new $12 million TV ad campaign, paid for by taxpayers, that touts the new Medicare changes with the slogan: "Same Medicare. More benefits." The ads, which are supposed to spread the word to seniors about the new law, cheerfully promise, "It's the same Medicare you've always counted on, plus more benefits like prescription drug coverage."

Critics of the new law, even on the right, complain the commercials are nothing more than propaganda designed to sell flawed legislation. Pete Sepp, vice president for communications at the National Taxpayers Union, a conservative advocacy group, recently told the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, "The ultimate irony here is that the taxpayers are paying millions of dollars on ads that promote a program that will cost them billions or trillions down the road."

1) When will the White House confront the reality of its failures and stop trying to assassinate the character of its critics?

2) They do not want the American public to know the truth. They prefer to manipulate information to advance their views of what is right; the country comes second.

3) I find Sen. Bill Frist's personal attack on Richard Clarke appalling. Instead of addressing his concerns -- that President Bush's focus on Iraq distracted us from the greater risk of al-Qaida -- Frist (R-Tenn.) launched an ad hominem attack.

4) Conservatives have controlled all branches of our government for more than three years, and things aren't going so well. There have been major setbacks ranging from education to the economy to the Middle East.... Perhaps if Clarke can endure the mudslinging with dignity, Americans will see the base meanness of the right-wing propaganda machine.

5) Senate Majority Leader Dr. Bill Frist said Richard Clarke perjured himself and is a profiteer pushing his book. Well, if that isn't the pot calling the kettle black.

6) Efforts to declassify congressional testimony in order to rebut or embarrass a critic of the Bush administration makes it clear: The Republicans care more about vindictive politics than they do about national security. The administration's reaction to Richard Clarke has been breathtaking to behold. Their actions of pure hypocrisy driven by unmitigated arrogance reveal more about them than anything Clarke has written or said.

7) Sen. Bill Frist's callous remark that Richard Clarke is "the only common denominator" across 10 years of terrorist attacks is reprehensible.

The wife of the lead guitarist for the Southern rock group Molly Hatchet was found dead Thursday, police said.

"We shouldn't have to explain to 6-, 7- and 8-year-olds why men are kissing each other," said Mangham, whose vote was critical in Wednesday's passage. "I don't like having to explain that to my kids. I will continue to support their [homosexuals'] right to do what they do, but they will not have the sanctity of marriage."