The Lighter Side of the News

It’s a slow news day, as we’re all pretty much waiting for the events of the next two weeks to unfold. So I thought I’d highlight a few of the odder stories in today’s news–not “News of the Weird,” but close.
First, “The children’s hit television series ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ shows too many crashes and may be making children frightened of going on a train, according to a British psychologist.”

Well, you know, television is like that. If you have a show about a train, it has to crash once in a while or you’ll run short of plot devices.
The irresistible power of political correctness ranges all the way from children’s TV to the British monarchy, as “the bearskin hats of the Queen’s bodyguard could soon fall victim to the anti-fur lobby. The Ministry of Defense said on March 11, 2003 that it was looking at alternatives to the skin of the Canadian black bear, which are used for the tall ‘busby’ helmets of 2,500 scarlet-clad soldiers in the Foot Guards.”

I can attest to the fact that Canadian black bears are about as common as blueberry bushes, so this is a pure anti-fur issue, not a matter of an endangered species. Absent from this report is the reason why the British Army used bearskin for its hats in the first place. The implicit message was that its soldiers were formidable enough to kill wild animals like, say, bears. Such symbolism is apparently lost on the current Ministry.
From bears to aliens: A New Mexico legislator has introduced a bill to “celebrate and honor all past, present and future extraterrestrial visitors” to New Mexico. This has to do with the supposed crash of an alien space ship near Roswell, New Mexico, some time in 1947. I forget the exact date, but I know that it was suspiciously close to Al Gore’s birthday. There is now an annual Alien Festival in Roswell which has become a tourist attraction; hence the legislative attention. This photo is from a recent Roswell parade.

I don’t know what this proves except the endless adaptability of American merchants and the endless silliness of American legislators. It does give me an opportunity to recommend a very funny movie called “Six Days In Roswell,” a cult classic made by the brother of Power Line reader Steve Nygard.
Well, so much for today. It won’t be long before there is no room for such frivolities.