Having good jeans is not hereditary or otherwise beyond your control. But it does take know-how and patience. The wrong jeans can send the wrong message entirely. So this is one you want to get right. Read on for the definitive Rath & Co. guide to shopping for denim.
The Most Flattering Style
Just about everyone looks good in a pair of inky blue, straight-leg jeans. This is the first basic pair that I recommend everyone should have. It’s timeless.
The Best Style for Your Build
What does the perfect pair of jeans look like? Well, that depends on your physical proportions.
If you’re slim, try 7 Jeans Slimmy. Don’t let the name freak you out – these aren’t skinny jeans. The Slimmy’s are cut straight, without a lot of excess room in the leg and with a slight taper toward the ankle. I’ve had many conservative clients love the fit of these. Billy Reid’s Slim Jean is another good choice.
If your waist size is larger than your inseam and/or you need more room overall, check out 7 Jeans’ Austyn cut. Sometimes loose cuts (of anything, really) can make you look larger than you actually are, but these give you room to breathe while still looking flattering.
If your rise is low (this is the distance between your waist and the bottom of your crotch), Hudson’s Byron cut is an excellent option.
Eight years ago, the Aspen Institute initiated a new fellowship program designed to counter the nasty partisanship that had seeped into the political system. It was not our goal to create some form of magical political “center”; democracy depends on vigorous debate and we expected conservatives and liberals to hold firm to their principles, as they should.But we did want to bring together those political leaders, left, right, and center, who were willing to listen to the other side and see whether there were areas where they could find common ground in the national interest. That first class of Fellows included a great mix of the best young political leaders we could find, beginning with Gabby Giffords, who was then a Democratic state legislator in Arizona; Jon Bruning, the conservative Republican attorney general of Nebraska; Michael Steele, who became the national chairman of the Republican Party; two who have since become Republican members of Congress (Erik Paulsen and Lynn Jenkins) … and Tom Perez, then the president of the Montgomery County Council in Maryland.
It’s understandable that Senate conservatives would prefer a secretary of Labor whose views are more closely in line with their own. But a Democrat won the presidency and his Cabinet will naturally reflect views similar to his. Presidents are not automatically entitled to have their nominees confirmed but it is an abuse of the Senate’s constitutional prerogatives to reject a nominee simply because he shares the president’s views rather than those of the minority party.
What one ought to look for in any department head is character, intelligence, integrity, fair-dealing, an openness to competing viewpoints – in other words, somebody who will serve not just the president but the nation. I have known and worked with Tom Perez for nearly a decade now. I have watched him in countless interactions with men and women whose political views are very different from his own. And I have seen the tremendous respect he has engendered from highly-regarded public officials representing the entire range of political philosophies.
If Perez had been a member of Congress during my years as a member of the House Republican leadership, it’s almost certain that we would have disagreed on a number of important issues. But I would have had confidence that Tom and I could sit down together, talk about our differences, and work to find ways to move forward together in the best interests of the country we both love. It wouldn’t always be a successful effort but it would always be an honest one.
It’s time for members of the Senate, Republican and Democrat alike, to stop engaging in knee-jerk hostility to anybody who carries the other party’s label: if a nominee for a Cabinet position is lacking in the ability to do the job or unwilling to consider divergent views, he or she might well merit a vote against confirmation. But that most assuredly is not the case with Tom Perez. He will enforce the nation’s labor laws with fairness and integrity and that’s exactly what we should want in the head of any government department. He understands what it takes to be an effective Labor Secretary, because he has done the job successfully at a state level.
The support he has received from business leaders, educators, unions, and grassroots leaders is an impressive but not surprising illustration of the Tom Perez I have seen in action. He’s not a conservative but he deserves confirmation and the country deserves to have him sitting in the president’s Cabinet and bringing his judgment and intellect to the collective management of the nation’s business.
Mickey Edwards is director of the Aspen Institute and was a Republican member of Congress from Oklahoma for 16 years (1977-92).blockquote>
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Apr 25, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
I am 49 and turn 50 in less than 2 monthsMy mind is racing this morning to come up with a few final reckless behaviors I can engage in over the next few weeks.While I can still blame the bad behavior on being a “youthful indiscretion.”
… I mean, there have got to be some things you can get away with at 49 that you just can’t get away with at 50.
Right ?
I want to find out what they are. And do them. While there is still time. While I am still young enough to get away with it.See More
In No Labels‘ inaugural Google+ Hangout, The RP led a discussion with Congressmen Ami Bera, David Cicilline, Rodney Davis and Adam Kinzinger, talking about their involvement with the Problem Solvers group in Congress — the only place in Washington where lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are coming together to talk solutions.
If there are any trainers that read my rants you can sympathize with me on the following statement made by a client, “My doctor told me not to squat.” Oh he did, did he? Well isn’t that great, what in the world am I going to do to strengthen your legs? Hold up! Do me a favor and get up and down from that chair. So you know what I am getting at. There are some uneducated people out there that tell patients to stay away from certain activities, not realizing that those activities could potentially help the situation. I’ve incurred this situation several times in the 10 years I have been a trainer, nothing surprises me.
I recently finished a grueling competition involving the squat, where a fellow trainer and I decided to see who could squat 250,000 pounds the fastest. So for 3 weeks we battled it out, squatting sometimes 30, 40, 50 thousdand pounds in a single workout. A feat I would not suggest, having done it, it was brutal to put it lightly. Regardless, through this contest of testosterone, my knees have not felt better in years. Why is that? It is not for the fact I wasn’t squatting heavy loads (Trent would probably say otherwise, he warms up with my max) nor is it because I have my knees alot of rest (I squatted 4-5 times per week). We will just call it faith in the squat but regardless, it just goes to show you that you can squat, under any conditions. As humans, we have too.
The squat is the most basic, primal movement that humans do. We squat when we get in and out of a car, we squat when we get up and down from a chair and when we have to go to the bathroom (#2 for men and always for women) we squat. So how on earth could someone tell me that I can’t squat? Most doctors are not as educated on fitness and it impacts the body, so its easy to tell people what to stay away from. If you have a bum knee its probably not wise to load a bar up with 300 lbs and go at it. But what doesn’t make sense is why you wouldn’t perform the movement at all, without weight.
By Jonathan Miller, on Wed Apr 24, 2013 at 4:00 PM ET
Check it out — Problem Solver Reps. Ami Bera, David Cicilline, Adam Kinzinger and Rodney Davis want you to join them in a video town hall with No Labels today at 5 p.m., eastern time! Click here to view the livestream.
Don’t miss it — this is your chance to hear what happens when two Republicans and two Democrats sit down to discuss real solutions instead of relying on party politics.
By Jonathan Miller, on Wed Apr 24, 2013 at 8:30 AM ET
For what may be the first time ever, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are sitting down together for a video town hall with No Labels.
I’m honored to moderate a conversation with Reps. Ami Bera, David Cicilline, Rodney Davis and Adam Kinzinger in a Google+ Hangout as they discuss how they’re working together in the No Labels Problem Solvers group. This video discussion is the only place where you can hear the facts on what is happening in Washington, not just the party talking points.
Will you join us TODAY at 5 p.m., eastern time, to watch the Problem Solvers talk No Labels?
These lawmakers are just four of the 61 Problem Solvers in Congress — but they can give you an inside look at what goes on in these meetings. This has never happened before — you won’t want to miss it. And they’d love to hear from you.
By Lauren Mayer, on Tue Apr 23, 2013 at 3:00 PM ET
Sure, California has lots of advantages – fabulous weather, beautiful scenery, and being on the cutting edge of everything from computer innovation to right-turn-on-red. But there are plenty of drawbacks, besides the obvious (cost-of-living and housing prices are insane, New Yorkers like my father-in-law refer to our home as ‘the land of fruits and nuts’). And one of the biggest problems here is political.
Granted, I’m grateful to live in a state where my kids aren’t taught creationism in science class, or where I don’t worry that a personhood amendment is going to make my birth control pills illegal. But when lunacy happens on the federal level, there’s often not much I can do. For example, many people were horrified by last week’s Senate vote, blocking watered-down background checks on gun purchases (that were supported by 80-90% of all voters – one of the rare occasions where WTF? is a totally appropriate reaction). All the left-leaning organizations tell us we’re supposed to contact our senators and representatives and give them hell. But what do I do when my legislators are all very liberal women? I mean, am I supposed to call Dianne Feinstein and complain that the assault weapons ban, which SHE sponsored, hasn’t gotten further? That’s like the old borscht belt joke about the Jewish mother at a Catskills resort, complaining that the food was “just awful, I couldn’t eat a bite, and besides, the portions were so small!”
And while I am grateful to California innovators for all the advances in computers and internet connectivity, now I can’t pretend to be from another state. I get emails saying “Let Senator so-and-so know you’re angry about the background checks vote” and when I call the number, something in the system figures out what my zip code is and redirects me to Barbara Boxer’s office voicemail. I mean, technology is great, but that feels a little creepy to me, especially when I was getting really good at imitating a southern accent.
So to all my friends in red states who envy us in more liberal parts of the country, at least you can make some noise, and possibly some difference, by contacting your legislators. And trust me, I know your pain, I grew up in Orange County, which I like to think of as the red state in the middle of California. I was one of two students in my entire high school trying to drum up support for McGovern . . . . . and before you whip out your calculators, yes, I’m old, but not THAT old, it was my freshman year and I was only 13 and I can’t lie about my age because my teenage sons are good at math and lousy at keeping secrets . . . . oh never mind, here’s a song about being blue in a blue state:
