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I have mixed emotions about the orgy of images and information coming out of Haiti in the wake of last week’s earthquake.

Certainly the world’s resources should be mobilized and of course we should give what we can to help but we are naive if we believe things are much worse in Haiti today than they were before the earthquakes

The difference is the disaster has shined a spotlight on the suffering on North America’s doorstep.

Haiti has been the stepchild of the Western Hemisphere for decades. It is a failed state and some are concerned shipping billions in aid to Haiti is barely a short term solution.

America has invaded Haiti twice in the past, the last time when Bill Clinton was president and he moved in to oust a gang of thugs who were slaughtering civilians after a quasi-coup.

He left after a few months and after democracy had supposedly been restored

We lack the fortitude to stick with Haiti in the long haul. That is true of all western states.

I fear this disaster will pass and the troops and mash units will leave and Haiti will slump back into its typical state of not-so-benign neglect.

While I applaud the celebrities who are taking part in Friday night’s telethon, I am also left a little crawly. Are they really doing something or they just being seen to be doing something?

I have enough more pressing doubts about reporters who are in Haiti and helping reunited children with parents or protecting the vulnerable from armed gangs of looters.

I would applaud their efforts if the networks weren’t so quick to re-package their heroics into ads for news programs.

I think the work the troops and NGO’s are doing in Haiti is commendable but let’s face it, the only people who will make a lasting difference are those who have invested years and years trying to help, not to mention the Haitians themselves.

We should know by later today if Conan O’Brien’s last night hosting the Tonight Show will be Friday.  TMZ.com reports he is about to sign his exit deal with NBC.  Conan will reportedly walk away with 32 and a half million dollars and his staff, which recently moved from New York to Los Angeles, which be paid severance.  The two sides are still discussing who has the rights to characters including  Triumph, The Insult Dog.

Conan has apparently agreed to a 6-month, non-compete clause which would mean he couldn’t start hosting a show on a rival network until the fall.

This whole thing has been badly handled, but it’s no surprise. NBC botched the Tonight Show handover when Johnny Carson retired. You may remember from the best seller “The Late Shift” it was Jay Leno’s agent who started that rumour and many felt Leno helped push him out before his time.  This is nice-guy Jay Leno who congratulates Conan for being such a gentleman.  No wonder Jay can be magnanimous- he gets to look like the nice guy while painting Conan as the failure.  Let’s not forget it was Jay’s poor performance at 10 pm that prompted NBC affiliates to panic and force the change. Let’s also not forget that these are the same NBC suits that botched the first Tonight Show succession.

So what could they have done differently? Jay was beating Letterman in late night so why did NBC make the change in the first place?  And what about Conan’s career now?  He can always get a gig as a writer, but there aren’t alot of talk show spots out there and Fox is still an iffy proposition.One suggestion I read was that Conan should be hired by Comedy Central to host a late night show after Jon Stewart and Stephan Colbert. It would be a good fit!

But for Conan it would mean downsizing his dream, not to mention his paycheck.

Some random thoughts to kick off the New Year.  I feel for the people in Britain who are suffering through one of the coldest winters in decades.  A lot of those homes don’t have proper central heating and try finding a toque in a London store.  Still, history shows that this winter isn’t the worst in the U.K., not by a long shot.

Britain suffered through something called “The Little Ice Age” which lasted from the 1500s to the 1800’s.  You may not be able to find out much about this because some idiots have deleted references about this era from Wikipedia. It didn’t fit with the canon on global warming.  By the way, some scientists have shamefacedly admitted that global temperatures will be colder than normal for the next 30 years.  Some say global cooling is more likely than global warming because of sunspots.  It’s hard to believe in science when there is all this controversy about those involved.  The one story says that the man who kicked off much of the current thinking based his predictions about global warming on Siberian tree rings but he only studied three trees!

Here’s why I worry if they are wrong; we are committing trillions of dollars to new technologies based on the idea of global warming and North America will lose hundreds of thousands of jobs because of these policies.

I also don’t like the fact that people who question the science of global warming are called “deniers”, like holocaust deniers, like this is some kind of religion or an affront to humanity if a person is cynical.

My other thought about the so-called impartiality of science.  An expert with the European Union says that the pharmaceutical companies pressured the World Health Organization into declaring the swine flu pandemic.  We already know that they changed the rules this year and declared a pandemic even though the H1N1 virus was not  as virulent as past pandemics. How many billions were wasted on vaccines that will sit in storage until after their expiry date?

Scientific missteps can cost jobs, money and lives.

I know it’s near-impossible for people to shed their personal bias but too many times scientists frame the question to suit the results they want to achieve instead of waiting to see what the facts and research determine

I have just two words for Tiger Woods and David Letterman and Bill Clinton and their ilk….MAN UP!  All you apologists for serial cheaters…MAN UP! Everyone who goes on about the male biological imperative to cheat…MAN UP!

All of you who claim men are hard-wired differently than women…MAN UP! All of you who say Tiger Woods is entitled to behave badly because he is so talented; I have just two words for you….MAN UP!

I have had it with the lowering of the bar for proper male behaviour. If you want to be a playboy, don’t take marriage vows.
If you want to continue to indulge your adolescent fantasies, don’t have children. These are not men who met someone and fell in love with someone else and got a divorce. These are guys who use other women like kleenex and return home to their madonna/wife.

How would Tiger feel if his daughter or mother or sister was treated the same way he has treated the women in his life?

If they were treated with as little respect as he has treated his dalliances, not to mention how he treated his wife, the mother of his children? My favourite comment of this whole mess comes from Jasper Parnevik who said he was sorry he had ever introduced his nanny to Tiger in the first place, adding “I thought Tiger was a good guy”. He’s not.

And a news flash for all you men out there-wives get tired of holding down the home fort and being the soft place to fall. Women crave excitement and variety too. We like the adrenaline surge when we flirt and feel attractive, but we appear to be more able to dial it back and remember what’s important.

It’s kind of embarassing, but women appear more able and willing than men to MAN UP !

So we bought a new Christmas tree. It’s fake, and it’s black and it may say something about my mood this year. I am kinda fed up with the holiday.        It’s too much. Too much money. Too much driving. Too much eating. Too much cooking.

My husband and I don’t have children so we try not to make a big fuss. We usually don’t spend much money on each other because after 20-odd years there are few ways to surprise one another.

My favourite way to spend Christmas is to go to a great restaraunt and let somebody else do the cooking.

That doesn’t always work out because some restaraunts are on skeletal staff on the holidays and I have had alot of disappointing dinners.

I don’t dislike the day itself. I love walking the dog, especially in the snow. I like unwrapping presents-especially for the Schmooze. It will be interesting to see if she likes presents as much as Sponge used to.

I like making french toast or eggs benedict for breakfast. I like seeing my family. I don’t like the hustle and bustle of the holidays.

Less is more is my mantra so don’t expect to see me in a mall this month and if you come for drinks, the appetizers this year may be store-bought, not home-made

So, Oprah is calling it quits in 2011.  It way past time. She jumped the shark for me years ago.  I had real trouble swallowing her endorsement of the book “The Secret”.  I did not like how she let celebrities get away with passing themselves off as experts on medical subjects like hormone replacement therapy.  I also was fed up with her endorsing movies from pet actors like John Travolta and Matthew McConaughy. She tarnished the once-mighty brand for me by playing favourites and forgetting her roots.

So the rumour is her show will move to the Oprah Winfrey Network, which may not be such a good thing. When Howard Stern moved his radio show to satellite he made a ton of money but his ratings plummetted. The same could be true for Oprah. How many of us will be bothered to see who she has on if we aren’t bombarded with ads on network tv? The timing may be okay for Oprah considering her ratings have been cut in half in recent years and Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune and Judge Judy routinely beat Oprah in most major markets.

The big losers in all of this are CBS, which syndicates the Oprah show, publishers and studios which used Oprah to flog their books and movies, and the city of Chicago.  Oprah’s new studios are in L.A and she has already moved her top executives to the coast. The big winners could be Tyra and Ellen and other would-be Oprah replacements though given the fractured tv landscape it is doubtful anyone can replicate Oprah’s multi-platform reach.

Mary Ellen Beninger

Yes, I will be getting a swine flu shot.  I am treating this as a seasonal flu and I always get a flu shot.  My immune system is not as strong as it should be because I get so little sleep because of my hours.  I am not getting a swine flu shot because I am worried about this virus in particular.  The stats show 700 people die each day around the world from the seasonal flu. So far, there have been only 47 hundred H1N1 deaths. If that’s the case, you may be asking why on earth people are so panicked about swine flu? Why the World Health Organization declared a pandemic in the first place? Apparently they changed the definition of pandemic and took out the bit requiring a disease outbreak to be severe.

Conspiracy theorists will blame big pharmaceutical companies for the swine flu scare, I blame bureaucrats who have to justify their existance by declaring everything a possible tragedy.  To those who say “it’s better to be safe than sorry”, I say it’s better for a group of scientists to wait for science to come up with the facts before scaring the heck out of the planet.  Yes, people will die of swine flu.  Yes, healthy young people appear to be more susceptible.  But this couild turn out to be another bird flu or west nile virus. We start out panicked, some people die and then most of the population develops an  immunity to the virus until it mutates and we start the cycle all over again. I worry about the “Chicken Little” syndrome more than I do about swine flu - about so called experts scaring us so often for so little reason, we aren’t listening when the sky really does fall.

I had a terrific weekend and I hope you did too. The weather was much nicer than I thought and we spent alot of time outside. Schmooze needs alot of walking because without exercise she misbehaves. I can’t complain about her too much because she graduated at the top of her class in obedience training. The hardest part was staying in a down-stay for 3 minutes. She is so curious that sitting still is hell for Schmooze.

I am considering Halloween costumes but I’m not sure she wants to dress up. Our last Bull Terrier-Sponge-won two costume contests at the dog park. She was Little Red Riding bull terrier one year, and a very fat, un-aerodynamic bumble bee the next year. My favourite dog costumes are very simple, like the old arrow-thru-the-head bit.  Of course, they have to be edible, because they will be eaten within minutes of being put on. The idea is just to have them pose for one picture before destroying the costume. I will let you know what we decide and send pictures of the new graduate.

Mary Ellen Beninger

So U.S President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize.

I guess all you have to do to win is write a good speech. That is all the president has done so far, make a lot of speeches.  He hasn’t even been in office for a year, so you don’t expect him to move mountains.  I also don’t expect the Nobel Committee to give somebody an award for their good intentions. By that measure, there isn’t a world leader alive who isn’t in favour of peace.  I sincerely hope Obama does bring about world peace or at least some kind of lasting peace in the Middle East, but to give him an award at the time when America is at war in both the Afghanistan and Iraq is a travesty.

But it is no more of a travesty that other people who have won past awards.  These have as much credibility as the Golden Globes and the Oscars.  The real winners in this world are too busy to hot-foot it to pick up an award.  They are busy doing things, not just making speeches.

“If you haven’t slathered on anti-aging creams yet this morning, don’t do it. A study by the U.S. Cancer Prevention Coalition warns a.h.a.’s-alpha hydroxy acids- found in many leading brands are “probably the most dangerous cosmetic product on the market”.  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warns aha’s can destroy the upper layer of the skin, causing burns, swelling and pain.  They can also allow in toxins which could increase your risk of getting skin cancer.”

I wonder if that’s because people who see an improvement in their skin are less careful about sunscreen? I’m hoping. I am always shopping for the newest and best skin care stuff.  At the moments I am using Boots #7 serum which is relatively inexpensive and at least hydrates my skin. I have had to have laser treatment for rosacea and have been scrupulous about using 60 and 70 proof sunscreen ever since.  Whatever you do, age catches up with you and all those people who say they would never get work done, fillers or plastic surgery, think again.

I would love to be a celebrity with the luxury of having great lighting, great make up and air brushing.  Although, you know what they say-”If you are born beautiful, you get poorer every day of your life.” That’s a little bitter but not untrue-or so I tell myself on bad days.

Mary Ellen Beninger