SNIPPETS

JULY 5,  2010

PORT ORANGE, Fla., July 2 (UPI) -- A south Florida middle school teacher was fined for allegedly having a student lead a classmate around on a leash, authorities say.  The Florida Education Practices Commission fined Teresa Volkman, a social studies teacher at Silver Sands Middle School in Port Orange, Fla., $5,000 for professional misconduct, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.

Question:  Why is this teacher being allowed back in the classroom?

JULY 4,  2010

From the New York Post:  A Hell's Kitchen bar packed with fans of Argentina watching their team take on Germany in the World Cup were shocked when a man walked in dressed up as one their opponent's biggest fans -- Adolf Hitler.  The faux fuhrer was really a self-styled moviemaker named Steve Staso, who wore a taped-on moustache, a tan Nazi-like outfit and a swastika armband at Café Andalucia on Ninth Avenue.  Staso, 55, gave off stiff-armed Nazi salutes as he happily watched "his" German squad beat Argentina in a blitzkrieg-like 4-0 win.

Argentina and the Nazis – together again!

JULY 3,  2010

PUNTA GORDA, Fla., July 2 (UPI) -- A Florida man charged with breaking into a neighbor's house says he simply got disoriented during a walk and thought he was in his own home.  Sheriff's deputies in Charlotte County in southwest Florida did not believe the story, WBBH-TV, Fort Myers, reported. Cody Hansen has been charged with the unarmed burglary of an unoccupied house.

It's the old walk disorientation defense.  Given the state of American justice, I'll bet it works.

JULY 2,  2010

Social bulletin from the New York Daily News:  Al and Tipper Gore won't need directions to Chelsea Clinton's wedding. They're not going.  As news broke Thursday that the former First Daughter's planned July 31 wedding to investment banker Marc Mezvinsky will take place in upstate Rhinebeck at Astor Courts, the Stanford White-designed former estate, Gatecrasher learned that the former vice president and his estranged wife won't be there.  "The Gores are not attending the wedding," family spokeswoman Kalee Kreider said in a statement. "They both wish Chelsea well, believe she is a wonderful young woman, and they share in the family's excitement."

Well, this certainly ruins it for me.  How can Chelsea get married without the Gores, or former Gores, there?   There are rumors that Al didn't approve of the amount of electricity being used.

JULY 1,  2010

(Reuters) - Eight percent of Russians believe their national team will win the World Cup, despite the fact that it never qualified for the tournament, an independent poll has showed.

JUNE 30,  2010

BALTIMORE, June 29 (UPI) -- Officials at a Baltimore museum dedicated to Babe Ruth said they are searching for the owner of a $500,000 rookie card loaned to the facility in June 1998.Mike Gibbons, executive director of the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum, said officials had no idea the 1914 Baltimore News Babe Ruth rookie card was so valuable when Richard Davis loaned it to the collection 12 years ago and they recently decided to create a special exhibit around the card when Forbes magazine revealed its worth as $500,000, the Baltimore Sun reported Tuesday.

Now that is a story.  I hope they find the guy.  The museum is acting decently.