In this economy, we're all forced to be penny pinchers. And it's a shame, since many of us love luxury. "Champagne taste on a beer budget" is more apt now than ever. I have found a way to have champagne and pay beer prices. Read on.

Rory McIlroy didn't win the Dubai World Championship or the Race to Dubai (the new name for the European Tour Order of Merit) Sunday. Each of those honors went to Lee Westwood, the 36-year-old English golfer who shot a final-round 64 to win the tournament by six shots over his fellow countryman Ross McGowan. McIlroy finished third in the vent and second in the Race to Dubai.

WASHINGTON - The real tragedy in the Ft. Hood massacre is that like the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon it could have been prevented with even the slightest cooperation among government agencies that had reason to suspect things were not right with Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan.

WASHINGTON - A new government audit shows that the axiomatic connection of the words "military-base closing" with "cost overruns" continues to be justified.

When Glamour magazine featured a nude plus-size model, women applauded, while physicians shook their heads in dismay. Was this a sign that women have given up on finding their healthy weight? Before the women's cheers subsided, Ralph Lauren fired his size 4 model, weighing in at 120 pounds, for being too fat.

CALGARY, Alberta - Sherri and Tom Milley were exhausted by the weepy weeknight struggles over math problems and writing assignments with their three school-aged children. They were fed up with rushing home from soccer practice or speed skating only to stand over their kids tossing out answers so they could finish and get to bed.