Volume 13, Number 20, May 18, 2008

(As regular readers know, I sometimes include some personal comments before the actual column begins. I won’t be doing that anymore [for the most part] as many of those comments have a new outlet and will now show up in a new blog I recently started. Check it out at: http://jpdave.blogspot.com/ and feel free to join the crowds and leave a comment - already one has poured in! The first couple of entries were to just get my feet wet, but recent offering seems to be more enjoyable and come close what a blog should be [and are reminiscent of the old Berman’s Bits from years ago, if you know what I mean]. Please take a look and see what’s happening.)

Greetings, and thanks for joining me for another week. Starting us off are a few news stories you may have missed. First, it’s still all about appearances (and probably has been since I’ve been around and maybe even before). In the Washington Post last month, it was reported that Army medic Monica Brown was awarded the Silver Star for bravery for unselfishly subjecting herself to enemy fire in order to treat fallen comrades in battle in Afghanistan. That’s the good news. However, two days after her heroics, she was ordered home, against her will, because generals were nervous that a female appeared to be "in combat," which violates Army rules. So much for equality.

Next, we are still very much living in the PC world. As of this writing (or soon before), the top-notch Basketball Town recreational facility for kids in Rancho Cordova, Calif., was on the verge of shutting its doors permanently because its legal fees ran up to $100,000 and still counting, for the lawsuit filed by a wheelchair-using man who said he was once prevented from attending a party there because the mezzanine level was not accessible to him. Even though a local benefactor offered to donate a $35,000 wheelchair lift, the bitterness brought out by the plaintiff's unyieldingness, and counterclaims by the property owner and the facility operator, made most local observers pretty gloomy that the facility would survive (Sacramento Bee).

Finally, spend to save. A council spent £1million protecting rare newts on a building site - only to discover there were none there. Leicestershire County Council delayed a major road-building scheme for three months after evidence of great crested newts was found on the site. The species is protected by law, but after the authority paid hundreds of thousands of pounds for special newt-fencing and traps, not one of the rare creatures was discovered. The action was taken on the strength of a report from environmental experts, which found there could have been between one and 10 of the small amphibians on the site (sounds like why we went to war with Iraq). Officials have lodged a complaint with the government, claiming the outlay would have a ripple effect on local services, reports the Daily Telegraph. Council leader David Parsons fumed: "I'm not happy that we have gone a million pounds over on the bypass and then found no great crested newts. It's completely unacceptable. I've written to the minister concerned, and all he can say to me is that it's because of European Union regulations (those rules again). The possible colony was found near the £15million Earl Shilton bypass in Leicester during surveys last summer. Workers were even required to inspect the traps twice a day once temperatures rose above 41F. But Derek Needham, council engineering manager, confirmed: "We have caught a number of normal newts but no great crested newts."

Two high school seniors in Scranton, Pa., are paying a high price for their interest in politics. Colin Saltry and Joey Daniel say they skipped a gym class to rush over to a diner where Sen. Barack Obama's motorcade had just pulled in for an impromptu breakfast stop. The two met Obama, and they say he even signed excuse slips for them to show their teachers. That didn't work. The young men got one-day suspensions for leaving school grounds, and Saltry has been ordered to resign as senior class president. Saltry says it was worth being suspended to meet Obama, but he didn't expect to be bounced from his class presidency. Assistant Superintendent William King says the rules are clear, and adds that if the students had approached a teacher about wanting to leave campus, they probably would have been given permission. (AP)

Nip and Tuck (or something like that) is more than a show title – it used to have a different meaning: a competition in which the closeness causes the lead to shift back and forth – a kind of down to the wire uncertainty. In the following Reuters’ Bit, there is no relationship to that concept, however. A Japanese high school pleaded for a regional game to be ended after surrendering 66 runs in less than two innings. The coach of Kawamoto technical high school threw in the towel to spare his pitcher's arm with his team losing 66-0 with just one batter out in the bottom of the second. The hapless hurler had already sent down over 250 pitches, allowing 26 runs in the first inning and 40 in the second before Kawamoto asked for compassion. "At that pace the pitcher would have thrown around 500 pitches in four innings," Kawamoto's coach was quoted as saying. "There was a danger he could get injured." Opponents Shunshukan were officially credited with a 9-0 victory, giving the score a tinge of respectability for the luckless Kawamoto school. Gotta watch out for that self-concept, you know.

I was recently looking over Bits I have stored for eventual inclusion, but as several are years old, I decided it’s time to dump a few – they go back as much as five years. Before I dump them and without offering any details, here are some glimpses of what they are about had I included them: (1) Orting, Wash. (AP) A few years ago, officials of this small town successfully outlawed Silly String and stink bombs. Now there's a new threat to public order — the spud gun. (Ooooh!) (2) Three young neo-Nazis went on trial in east Germany yesterday charged with the "bestial murder" of a schoolboy. The teenager was tortured and killed after his attackers decided that his baggy trousers and dyed blond hair made him "look like a Jew." (No source) (3) From a Reuters story: An Eldon, Oklahoma, woman has been charged with shooting her husband dead after an argument over who should feed the couple's goats. That’s a good reason, I do say. (4) Also from Reuters: A man was found dead in his seat at a cinema in the Indian capital after the late-night screening of a horror film which the director has warned could pose a health risk to those of a nervous disposition. (5) From the AP – Innocent fun? Activities for kids this summer at Camp White Tail: swimming, volleyball, arts and crafts, splattering a fellow camper's nude body with pudding. White Tail, a nudist park in southeastern Virginia's Southampton County, opens its first summer camp for the 11-to-18 age group Saturday - only the third such au naturel camp for juveniles in the nation, according to the American Association of Nude Recreation. State and local officials, however, are alarmed by a summer camp intended to bring unclothed teens together for a week. (Gee, you think?) (6) Finally, from Yahoo’s Strange News: There's a new grump in town. Every year in Readlyn, a small town about 20 miles north of Waterloo, a new grump is crowned to preside over the annual parade, talent show, dance and other activities in a celebration called Grump Days. Janice Heineman was crowned as grump of the year after receiving more votes than five other candidates. She presided over the weekend's festivities. The festivities mush have been fun.

Finally, I guess not everyone’s concerned with the price of gas and food. The Boston Red Sox jersey that was secretly buried under the new Yankee Stadium in a failed curse attempt sold recently for $175,100 in a charity auction. The bid from Kevin Meehan, the owner of Imperialcars.com in Mendon, Mass., was the highest of 282 for the battered No. 34 David Ortiz jersey. "I actually thought it was going to sell for more money," said Meehan, who bid only in the final moments of the weeklong eBay auction that ended at 12:30 p.m. "I have three young boys that I take to the games and they would have killed me if I didn't buy the shirt." (AP) Are the inmates running the asylum?

Later.