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Cats and mice and political correctness
Fearing children may be getting a few too many literal lessons from Tom and Jerry, Turner Broadcasting is considering editing the half-century old cartoons to delete scenes in which the characters smoke. Chasing each other with knives? That's fine. Running each other through an egg slicer? No problem. It's even okay when they smoke each other over an open fire. But lighting a cigar is too much. A single complaint to the company's British affiliate got the P.C. ball rolling, and it may extend to its U.S. channels, and other cartoons.
Good luck with that
Philip Giordano, the former mayor of Waterbury, Conn., is serving 37 years for having sex with kids. Sitting in prison, he came to the determination that the city owed him $61,000 in unused vacation (13 weeks), sick days (99) and personal days (27). "We're not obligated to give him sick time, and therefore we wouldn't even entertain this idea," said Theresa Caldarone, a city lawyer.
TRAVEL ALERTS
But that Gideon's Bible is just fine
When traveling, everyone likes to find a nice, clean hotel room. Now, a coalition of 13 conservative groups is trying to make sure that clean hotel room doesn't have any dirty movies, even if for an additional $12.95 that can be conveniently charged to your room. The groups are trying to get the Justice Department to investigate if the flicks violate obscenity laws. "Hotels are just as dangerous as environments around strip joints and porn stores," said Phil Burress of the Citizens for Community Values, which touts CleanHotels.com as a source for travelling families. Of course, a lot of hotels offer Internet service for free. Is porn available on the Internet?
This law has people really, um, ticked off
The Las Vegas City Council has passed an ordinance making it illegal to "knowingly establish" sleeping quarters within 500 feet of defecation unless that "deposit" is made in an appropriate sanitary facility. So, sleeping too close to urine or feces can now land you in the Vegas jail, where people surely never sleep too close to those sorts of things. The city attorney said the passage was inadvertently left in a broader bill, but homeless advocates see it as a shot. Lee Rowland of the Nevada ACLU summed it up succinctly: "Seriously, are you kidding me?"
'QUOTE'
"After the first five, I knew something was wrong. It just didn't sound good."
Kim Gladney, a resident at a Texas apartment complex where four cops were injured in a standoff. Gladney said she heard a total of 10 shots, but apparently the first few didn't especially concern her.
UPDATE
Foie gras ban
Chicago's gourmet ban on the sale of foie gras has taken effect, but some chefs have found a way to challenge the ban: give it away. So, say, you're all dressed up and go someplace fancy and buy some roasted potatoes for $16. You might just get a delectable hunk of fatty duck liver on top, compliments of the chef. The lawsuits should start any second now.