Odds and Ends

Now, as it turns out, Ben Roethlisberger did not have a valid Pennsylvania motorcycle license. So, I guess that throws the whole helmet/no helmet debate out the window? Why bother wearing a helmet if you're not riding legally to begin with? Meanwhile, there's money to be wasted...

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WASHINGTON - The government doled out as much as $1.4 billion in bogus assistance to victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, getting hoodwinked to pay for season football tickets, a tropical vacation and even a divorce lawyer, congressional investigators have found. Prison inmates, a supposed victim who used a New Orleans cemetery for a home address, and a person who spent 70 days at a Hawaiian hotel all were able to wrongly get taxpayer help, according to evidence that gives a new black eye to the nation's disaster relief agency.

Is anyone surprized? Meanwhile, the White House has gay marriage back in its sights. Where are the priorities?

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Carol Falkowski, director of research communications for the Hazelden Foundation, says young abusers of prescription drugs also have begun using the Internet to share "recipes" for getting high. Falkowski, whose foundation is a treatment center based in Center City, Minn., says prescription pills have become popular among youths because they are easy to get and represent a more socially acceptable way of getting high than taking street drugs. Some kids, she says, are self-medicating undiagnosed depression or anxiety, while others are using stimulants to try to get an edge on tests and studying.

Why not? Turn on your TV and there is an ad for some drug or other, telling you to "ask your doctor" if it is right for you. Why bother asking, when you can get it yourself? Hey ... as long as the kids aren't using pot or cocaine... They're better off in the hands of Pfizer or Glaxo, right?

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And, don't try calling them to see if they're at a pill party...

Students are using a new ring tone to receive messages in class -- and many teachers can't even hear the ring. Some students are downloading a ring tone off the Internet that is too high-pitched to be heard by most adults. With it, high schoolers can receive text message alerts on their cell phones without the teacher knowing.

Geez ... it sucks getting old.

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Heather Mills McCartney, the estranged wife of Paul McCartney, said Tuesday the couple will divorce, and that she plans to sue newspapers that have been digging into her past, according to a statement released by her lawyers. The couple had not mentioned "divorce" when they announced May 17 that they had "decided to go our separate ways" after four years of marriage.
Since that announcement, she has been the subject of several unflattering newspaper articles that included pictures of her in naked or semi-naked poses.

I don't think she has a leg to stand on. Yeah, I know ... but check the title of the blog.