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Berman’s Bits Volume 12, Number 7, February 18, 2007
Greetings, and thanks for joining me for another week. Starting us off are a few news stories you may have missed. First, I saw in the news the BIG news that “Hollywood” is making a movie about Milli Vanilli, the group revealed as never having sung a note on their songs but used lip-synching instead. I have to wonder if it will be a silent movie….
Next, The Washington Times carried a Bit about different smoking issues in Washington. First, there have been dozens of news reports about Sen. Barack Obama's long battle with his cigarette habit, and how the Illinois Democrat has been chewing Nicorette to kick that habit as he runs for president (big news, you know). Also, in one of the other reports, office staffers for Rep. Keith Ellison tattled to Capitol Police that Rep. Tom Tancredo was smoking a cigar inside his congressional office (oh, the horror, the horror!). The complainer was in the next Congressional office. Mr. Ellison, by the way, became the first Muslim in recent times to be elected to Congress. Then, Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr., Virginia Republican, protested Mr. Ellison's use of the Koran for his swearing-in. In a letter to constituents, Mr. Goode complained that if strict immigration laws are not enacted, "more Muslims" will be elected and will demand "the use of the Koran." (I have to wonder if he’ll next report on someone eating pork!!!) Finally, from New Delhi, Reuters reports that India has sent home at least 20 foreign pilots flying for its airlines in the past year as their poor English posed safety concerns, the country's civil aviation regulator said (now they know how we feel). English is used by India's sometimes-overwhelmed air traffic controllers, who are struggling to make sense of crowded skies following a surge in new airlines in the last few years. Rapid growth has led to carriers hiring hundreds of foreign pilots -- including from Central Asia and Eastern Europe. "There have been cases where pilots have been sent back as their English proficiency was not up to the mark," the Director General of Civil Aviation, told reporters. "Around 20-25 have been sent back, mainly from CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) nations and eastern Europe." Several near misses have been reported in recent months as planes competed to land at overstretched big city airports. Newspapers and television channels have said poor communication between foreign pilots and air traffic controllers is often to blame. (Of course, one has to wonder about all the tech support and customer service people “they” foist on us. Ever try to communicate with Verizon or AT&T or other customer service [if you catch my drift here.]???) Showing our empty priorities, one recent day’s headlines on the CNN website: In case you are still looking for an excuse to par-tay, here are a few more supposedly real holidays: February 18 is National Battery Day, February 19 is National Chocolate Mint Day, February 20 is Hoodie Hoo Day, February 21 is Card Reading Day, February 22 is Be Humble Day, February 23 is International Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day, and February 24 is National Tortilla Chip Day. If you actually read the list of the aforementioned holidays, you probably have the same question I did – What’s a Hoodie Hoo? On this winter day, it is traditional for people go out at noon, wave their hands over their heads and chant "Hoodie-Hoo". From HolidayInsights.com: “It is a day to chase away winter and bring in spring. After all, everyone in the northern hemisphere is sick and tired of winter at this point and a little crazy being cooped up inside all winter and not seeing the sun.” London’s Daily Mail carried a Bit that sounds like the mentality over here across the pond. For two months after a pair of convicted murderers escaped from Sudbury prison in England, the local Derbyshire police refused to release their pictures. According to the police, "Photographs of named people that are in police possession are classed as data, and their release is restricted by law" to instances where there is a "proper policing purpose." Derbyshire authorities said that since the escapees had probably left the area, there was no such purpose, and the photographs should be kept confidential. Speaking of mentality, we have a Bit that follows an analysis of government records by The Washington Post, It was revealed that a federal agriculture subsidy program to compensate farmers for market-losing crops has evolved, through regulatory interpretation and lax enforcement, into a program that since 2000 has paid $1.3 billion to people who don't even farm at all. (Although pre-tax income of all farming was a near-record $72 billion in 2005, federal subsidies actually grew to $25 billion, a sum considerably more than that paid to families receiving welfare.) From Breitbart.com, the Democratic-controlled House just voted on a symbolic rejection of President Bush's decision to deploy more troops to Iraq, opening an epic confrontation between Congress and commander in chief over a widely (but not wide enough) unpopular war that has taken the lives of more than 3,100 U.S. troops. The vote on the nonbinding measure was 246-182. Yeah, they have stones – “symbolic,” and “nonbinding.” For the next election, I am contemplating “symbolically” voting by staying home or voting my conscience once again (Libertarian). From 4to40.com, a chef flew more than 1,000 miles to construct the world's most expensive pizza for a St Valentine's Day meal. The £2,150 ($4,208.82 as of this writing) treat by Glasgow restaurateur Domenico Crolla will be topped with edible gold, champagne-soaked caviar and lobster marinated in the finest cognac. Italian lawyer Maurizio Morelli, from Rome, paid up for the pizza after winning a charity auction on eBay back in November. Mr Crolla has flown to the Italian capital to prepare the 12in pizza as a Valentine's surprise for Mr Morelli's wife, Sabrina, at the couple's local restaurant. Mr Crolla said: "This is the perfect romantic Valentine's gift. We Italians are experts at 'amore' and I think this pizza will show that the way to a woman's heart is definitely through her stomach." His luxury treat has been named the Pizza Royale 007 after the expensive tastes of suave super spy James Bond. Other toppings on the organic base, spread with a sunblush tomato sauce, include Scottish smoked salmon and medallions of venison. The pizza was created to raise funds for The Fred Hollows Foundation, which aims to prevent curable blindness in developing countries. Harumph! That kinda makes my gift look like chopped liver (figure of speech, of course). Finally from WBEN.com, Stupid Pills to the Nth Degree! A US schoolteacher has been arrested on suspicion of snorting cocaine right in front of the class she was teaching. Two girls, aged nine and ten, said they saw Joan Donatelli, 59, dipping a pen cap into a plastic bag filled with white powder, then putting it to her nose. Police confronted the substitute teacher at her home in Lewiston, New York, after finding traces of white powder in the classroom. She handed over a small bag of powder and two pen caps and admitting to using cocaine in front of the children. "She stated that she had a problem, that she had an addiction, something she's been struggling with," said police. Sigh. Later. |
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