Bruce Springsteen’s first car, a yellow 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible with flames on the hood and side, has been auctioned off online for $468,000. He bought it on May 21st, 1975 for $2,000, and reportedly wrote the lyrics for “Born to Run,” “Thunder Road” and “Backstreets” in it. Included in the sale were the original vehicle registration, temporary insurance card and Allstate insurance card in Springsteen’s name. The car is currently on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. Springsteen sold the car in 1976 and bought a 1960 black Corvette, which he still owns.

It started as a girl fight at Denver’s Kepner Middle School.  “The little girl grabbed her hair and yanked her down to the ground” says Danielle Espinoza, but what happened next to her 13 year old daughter crossed the line.  Danielle says a female school counselor, a male staff member and a male police officer strip searched her 8th grade daughter after they found a pipe in her backpack.  “To find out she was asked to remove her shirt in front of two males…I don’t think that’s appropriate” said the girls mother.

Denver Public Schools has a policy which reads, “searches shall be limited to the student’s pockets, any object in the students possession..and/or a pat down of the student’s clothing.  No strip-searches shall be carried out.”  It wasn’t until a local TV station jumped on the story that the school took the complaints seriously. 

Thoughts-As a parent, I couldn’t get down to that school fast enough to handle such an obvious breach of supervisory conduct.  It has to be appalling to all of us that these intrusions into our personal dignity continue to be a day to day occurrence.  What is the logical rationalization for such an action?  There is none.  We can’t condone the young girls actions in this particular incident just as we cannot allow this personally invasive over-reaction on the part of school officials to stand without consequences.  I am all for accountability and it remains to be seen what steps the school takes to make sure the proper discipline is doled out in this incident.  We need to let them know we are watching.

NEWSER) – President Obama apparently caught the White House staff off guard with his early return from Latin America yesterday. A video making the rounds shows him briefly locked out of the Oval Office. (He nonchalantly walks to another door.) Goofy, yes, but Mediaitemakes a safe guess it’ll be showing up in a few political ads. Click for more reaction. Mike’s Thoughts:  If you look closely you can see Newt Gingrinch and Sarah Palin hiding behind the curtains laughing hysterically.

(NEWSER) – A gasping, rock-hard-bodied Serena Williams might be slamming balls against an opponent in S&M duds in a new video, but the message is loud and clear: Sex. In fact, the champ’s new ad for Wii’s Top Spin 4video game is so hot that the game manufacturer has decided notto release it on TV, sources tell Joystiq. That’s why scads of viewers are turning to YouTube instead to get a whole new spin on heavy breathing. In the 60-second ad for the tennis game, the leotarded Williams, deemed the “world’s sexiest tennis player,” faces off against actress Rileah Vanderbilt, the “world’s sexiest tennis gamer.” 

The tete-a-tete is peppered with lusty grunts, flaming explosions, cleavage flashes, and a spurting something. “You realize this is a fantasy, right?” Williams purrs at the end. When game maker 2K Sports decided not to use the ad, Vanderbilt posted it on YouTube, notes the New York Daily News. “As part of the process for creating marketing campaigns, we pursue a variety of creative avenues,” said a statement from 2K Sports. “This video is not part of the title’s final marketing campaign and its distribution was unauthorized.” Too bad. Mike’s Thoughts:  I feel so….dirty.  Where’s the replay button again?

(NEWSER) – An addled mom is boasting that she injects Botox into her 8-year-old daughter’s face every three months so she can be a “star.” She also arranges body waxes for her girl. “I wish that I’d had the same advantages when I was younger,” mom Kerry Campbell tells the Sun. “I know one day she will be a model, actress or singer, and having these treatments will ensure she stays looking baby-faced for longer,” adds the British beautician who now lives in San Francisco. Campbell buys the Botox and Restalyne on the Internet and first tests them on herself.

Experts warn Botox is considered safe only for adults, yet there are no laws making it illegal to inject it into children, notes the Sun. Little Britney Campbell, a frequent beauty pageant contestant, says she no longer “cries that much” during the injections, and she’s looking forward to a “boob and nose job soon, so that I can be a star.”

Mike’s Thoughts:  Of all the disappointing things that parents foist upon their unsuspecting children, this has got to be one of the disappointiest.  She’s frickin’ 8.  She doesn’t need botox.  She needs to go outside and play.  And the Mom needs some time in lock down.

(NEWSER) – Are you prepared in the event of a disaster? Well, if you have tons of excess cash, don’t worry: The Madoff family can help. After his father was arrested, Andrew Madoff helped fiancée Catherine Hooper launch a high-end disaster planning service, ABC News reports. Dubbed “Black Umbrella,” the company charges $750 to $2,000 to consult with families on things like communication plans and possible escape routes—and calls have jumped 300% since the Japan earthquake.

As part of the not-so-cheap package, clients walk away with a “Go Bag” of disaster essentials like goggles, batteries, four aluminum emergency contact cards … and a giant black Sharpie. “What this does for you, in a real emergency, is give you the ability to leave a message anywhere and on any surface,” says Hooper. “If you needed to leave a note on your door—’gone to grandma’s’—this could be a great emergency tool.” As to why you should pay so much for a bag containing a Sharpie, “Personal trainers aren’t cheap either, but people hire them when they absolutely can’t make it happen for themselves,” explains Hooper.

Mike’s Thoughts:  All I can think is, my parents and Grandparents lived through World War II, food rationing, the Depression, and natural disasters too numerous to mention without two nickels to rub together and these people are lining up for a $2,000 dollar disaster goody bag.  If there was ever a story that summarizes where we’ve gone as a society, this is it.

Day two saw the Mountain rock sculptors carving in the images of U2-Van Halen-Bruce Springsteen-The Police and Michael Jackson.  These artists so honored for their contributions to music and pop culture in the 80’s. It was a very uneven decade for music.  There was the second British invasion, with bands like The Thompson Twins, Eurythmics and Tears for Fears.  Canada gave us Bryan Adams and of course…Men Without Hats.  Pop Music, New Wave, Glam Metal Hair Bands and…wait for it…wait…Christopher Cross.  Like I said, uneven. 

Tomorrow it’s a much easier as I’ll make my selection from the 60’s!

(NEWSER) – Washington state Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen thinks it’s time to get rid of a benefit long enjoyed by the state’s ferry workers: cleaning up puke. Thanks to the so-called “vomit clause” in workers’ contracts, they get paid double-time whenever they have to mop up after a hurling passenger, the Herald reports. “That’s one that really stuck in my craw,” says Democrat Haugen. “We certainly don’t give overtime to some prison guard who cleans up after an inmate.”

The state’s ferry workers have been under fire lately, thanks to a string of stories accusing them of finding ways to rack up massive overtime hours and pad their income. But they say the vomit controversy is overblown. Workers get extra pay for doing dirty, hazardous work, like cleaning the bilges, pumping sewage, or occasionally mopping vomit. “That is in there for a reason,” says one union representative. “We have to clean it up and smile about it.”

Mike’s Thoughts:  Check me if I’m wrong but isn’t “cleaning up” included in the regular pay that ferry workers get?  Do teachers get extra pay for wiping a kid’s runny nose? 

Should our news person Karla Shotts get “vomit pay” for having to work with me every morning?

Wait…don’t answer that….

NEWSER) – Victoria Jackson is standing by her rant against the “sickening” gay Glee kiss, telling Showbiz Tonight last night that “it doesn’t matter what I think. What matters is what the Bible says.” Jackson, a Saturday Night Livealum turned Tea Party activist, went on to explain that she’s “really concerned about our country because immorality is, well, let’s see: Secular humanism rules the airwaves, and it’s stealing the innocence away from this whole generation of children. My daughter is a teenager and I can’t find any show that she can watch.”

When asked if she’s homophobic, Jackson held up a Bible and said, “That’s a cute little buzzword of the liberal agenda. Basically, the Bible says homosexuality is a sin.” Instead of airing Glee, she suggested, “They should have a celibacy campaign and tell kids that 50% of teenagers now have this new STD from oral sex, that’s what they should be doing instead of trying to make kids gay. I just want to know why the liberals are pro-Muslim and pro-gay. Muslims kill gays. That’s what’s confusing to me. And the only thing I can come up with is that the Mulims hate God and the gays hate his word.” (Even so, as the segment was ending, she made sure to note, “I have gay friends.”) 

Mike’s Thoughts:  1.  There’s really NOTHING on Tv her daughter can watch?  Puh-lease. 

2.  My recollection of Victoria Jackson’s time on SNL is that she was unfunny and annoying.  Turns out she’s that way in real life too. 

NEWSER) – NFL players are starting to feel the lockout squeeze. Earlier this month, the league stopped covering their health insurance—a step it never took during the 1982 and 1987 strikes, the Washington Post reports. That’s left players paying not just $2,000 to $3,000 a month in health insurance premiums, but thousands more for personal trainers, nutrition supplements, massages, yoga, acupuncture, and other things they say help them keep their often gigantic bodies in peak condition—and which they used to get in team training facilities.

Millionaire players paying for their own massages might not sound like a tragedy, and for most it’s not. “It’s not something we want to harp on. We should be able to afford that,” says Steelers defensive back Ryan Clark. But for players making the league minimum $320,000, the expenses add up. “You do have players who spent the whole season on the practice squad, he says. “They just can’t come up with the funds.”

Mike’s Thoughts:  So, if I had to pick sides in the Owner/Player debate I’d probably side with the players mainly because the league needs to realize that their revenue stream is built on young men careening around the football field and smashing into each other and should be justly compensated for risking life and limb.

That said, if I were in a consultancy role I might suggest to the players union that they not try to garner sympathy by suggesting that their players are ’struggling’ financially during the lockout.

If you make $320,000 p year, you’re easily in the top 5% of American salaries and maybe even higher than that.  And keep in mind the very LOWEST paid NFL players make at least that and most make significantly more than that.

The Union should be there for its members in “times of need” so if guys on the lower end of the pay scale are honestly having trouble meeting their financial obligations, the union should step in to offer help.

Trying to portray the players as fiscal underdogs isn’t going to play real well with the American public I don’t think.