Volume 13, Number 26, June 29, 2008

(Check out my blog at: http://jpdave.blogspot.com/ and feel free to join the crowds and leave a comment - at least a couple have poured in! Please take a look and see what’s happening; there’s no telling what you might find.)

Greetings, and thanks for joining me for another week. Starting us off are a few news stories you may have missed. First, if you didn’t hear, seventeen students at Gloucester (MA) High School are preggers with many of them becoming that way by design. Time Magazine reported that nearly half of the girls admitted to making a pact amongst themselves to get pregnant and raise their babies together (what about the other half?). None of them is older than 16 (which to me explains part of the problem). School Superintendent Christopher Farmer said these are generally "girls who lack self-esteem and have a lack of love in their life." According to the school principal (brace yourselves), "We found out one of the fathers is a 24-year-old homeless guy." Normally, the school has about four pregnancies per school year.

Next, the UK’s Daily Record carried a sad Bit. The remains of a woman have been found sitting in front of her TV – forty-two years after she was reported missing. Hedviga Golik, who was born in 1924, had apparently made herself a cup of tea before sitting in her favorite armchair in front of her black and white television. Croatian police said she was last seen by neighbors in 1966, when she would have been 42 years old. Her neighbors thought she had moved out of her flat, but she was found by police and bailiffs who had broken in to help the authorities establish who owned the flat. A police spokesman said: "So far, we have no idea how it is possible that someone officially reported missing so long ago was not found before in the same apartment she used to live in. "When officers went there, they said it was like stepping into a place frozen in time. "The cup she had been drinking tea from was still on a table next to the chair she had been sitting in and the house was full of things no one had seen for decades. Nothing had been disturbed for decades, even though there were more than a few cobwebs in there." (Lots of fingers to point here.)

Finally, Carrollton, Texas, Mayor Becky Miller's fascinating list of alleged accomplishments was looked into when she ran for reelection (that’s a novel concept). Her campaign materials say she attended Western Kentucky University, but the university has no record of her. She said she was a backup singer for Linda Ronstadt and Jackson Browne, and was engaged to Eagles singer Don Henley. When all said they didn't know Miller, she claimed they were mistaken (anyone see a pattern yet?). "Maybe I was going by a different name," she said. "Did you think about that?" Miller has said she had a brother who was killed in the Vietnam war. After her father said that his son is still alive, and never fought in Vietnam, Miller claimed her father has Alzheimer's and "He can't remember tomorrow." Reporters found her brother, but he refused to comment. Miller then explained the brother she was referring to was "not my blood brother," and refused to provide his name. Voters weren't impressed with her denials and explanations: Miller was defeated in her reelection bid (given what I think I know about some voters, that’s the surprising part to me). Dallas Morning News

Lest you think the government’s on top of stuff, consider the following Bit. The Government Accountability Office recently revealed that more than 60,000 of the federal government's contractors owe a total of about $7.7 billion in unpaid federal taxes, and that health care providers who take Medicare payments owe an additional $1 billion in late taxes (so what are most individuals afraid of?). One unnamed company owes $10 million in back taxes, yet the Pentagon did $1 million worth of business with it. (One activist on tax issues pointed out that firms might find it easy to win low-bid contracts if they don't have the tax expense that their competitors have.) USA Today

Oops! Two police officers in Copiague, N.Y., observed a man on a motorcycle who "raised his middle finger in their direction, brought the motorcycle up onto the back wheel, a maneuver often referred to as a 'wheelie', and took off… at a high rate of
speed," their report says. The two cops jumped in their car to give chase, but before they could catch up with the biker he had crashed -- into another police car (poetic justice?). The man was charged with unlawfully fleeing police, resisting arrest, and numerous traffic violations. (New York Newsday)

Liquid Stupid Pills! David W. Walls, 57, was trying to control bees in Frankstown Township, Penn., with a .22 revolver loaded with buck shot, according to police. It's unclear whether he killed any of the bees, but he managed to shoot himself in the hand. Police say he had been drinking (ah, the key!). Meanwhile, another man, one Jorge Espinal, 44, was drinking beer and playing poker in his Ft. Worth, Texas, home when he had an itch on his back. Espinal "grabbed the first thing he could get a hold of," a police spokesman said, "which was a revolver." Sure enough, he shot himself in the back. His poker partners called for an ambulance, and police said Espinal's injuries were not life-threatening. (Altoona Mirror, Dallas Morning News)

Liquid Stupid Pills – Part 2. "Hallmark made an irresponsible decision to create this card," complains Cyndi Desrosiers of Portsmouth, N.H. (Cover: two hands holding glasses of wine and the caption, "Pardon me..." Inside the card: "Care for some liquid clothes remover?") The problem? "The target audience, in my opinion, is young adults," she says, ignoring the fact that wine cannot be legally sold to anyone under 21. She has complained to Hallmark, and says others should, too. "I feel it's our responsibility as adults." (Hey, looks to me like she can’t handle the truth.) (Portsmouth Herald)

Liquid Stupid Pills – Part 3. Mike Krusee, 49, of Austin, Texas, was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated. If convicted, Krusee faces 180 days in jail and a $4,000 fine -- including at least $1,000 in surcharges that are part of the state's "driver responsibility program" that calls for extra fines for first-time drunk drivers (I’d triple the fines for second-time offenders). Why this Bit is interesting to me is that the law was written by Krusee himself; he is the chairman of the Texas House Transportation Committee and a member of the Texas House Judiciary Committee. (Austin American-Statesman)

Finally, yes, but is it art? Urs Fischer's piece titled "You" at New York's Gavin Brown Enterprise is actually just a crater, 38 feet by 30 feet by 8 feet deep that, according to one reviewer, meshes "themes of transparency, transformation, disruption and destruction." (I don’t know about you, but I think that reviewer really knows what he or she is talking about, you know what I mean? (New York magazine)

Later.