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Wow! This coco salad is totally addictive!

By TIMES WIRES
Published December 21, 2006

Coca: It's not just the basis of an illegal narcotic anymore. At least that's the message of Peruvian President Alan Garcia, who is looking for legal outlets for one of his country's biggest cash crops. Here's an idea: Toss it in a salad! "I insist that it can be consumed directly and elegantly in salad," he said. He and leaders of other cocaine-producing countries say the plant is good as an ingredient in all kinds of stuff, including toothpaste and soft drinks. And it's high in calcium, they say. Neither the Bush administration nor the Food Network commented on Garcia's assertion.

He wasn't even due for X-rays yet

Grandma was carrying her 1-month-old grandson, and was told to put her carry-ons through the X-ray machine at Los Angeles International Airport on Saturday. "Well, I'm carrying the grandson ..." went the thinking. Imagine the surprise for the security worker when she saw a moving, baby-shaped thing on the screening monitor. "This was an innocent mistake by an obviously inexperienced traveler," said Paul Haney of the airport. The baby was pulled out of the machine and taken to a hospital, where it was determined that the boy was fine. But it's not a good idea. "Human beings weren't meant to go through those things," said Dr. James Borgstede, a radiologist.

She doesn't sound quite over it yet

On the surface, it looked like a nice gesture. Susette Kelo, the Connecticut woman in the middle of the national battle over property rights, sent holiday cards to city officials and developers who won a Supreme Court ruling booting her out of her house to make way for a condo/hotel project. It featured a nice picture of her snow-covered pink house (see above). Awww. Then it included a work of original holiday poetry inside. It reads, in part: Your houses, your homes, your family, your friends. May they live in misery that never ends. I curse you all. May you rot in hell. To each of you I send this spell. At least one recipient took it well. Reid Burdick of New London Development Corp. said he put his on his mantel.

This donation is a big shakedown

When you get on a roller coaster and they tell you to hold on to stuff, they mean it. But at Cedar Point amusement park in Ohio, the people who don't listen are contributing to a good cause. Workers there collect all the change they find under the rides, on the ground and in the fountains and donate it to local charities. This year the take was $7,500, and it went to the Victory Temple Soup Kitchen.

[Last modified December 21, 2006, 01:06:10]