News Roundup

• From the "So Last Month" Department - The Occupy Louisville group is asking a judge to stop the city from forcing them to dismantle their camp on free speech grounds.   Who knew there was an Occupy Louisville movement anymore?  I'll be watching this closely.  Judges around here are elected, and if a judge feels that it's OK for this group to squat in the public square (in more ways than one), then I guess I know who I won't be voting for.
• From the "This Ain't Christmas" Department - Priests from the Catholic and Orthodox branches of Christianity had a bit of a brawl the other day in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.  This isn't the first time I've heard of fighting going on during the yearly cleaning up of the church.  Maybe they're trying to start a new tradition.  What would Christmas be without Midnight Mass, mince pies, and of course, the annual Christmastime beatdown?  Heck, my family has had fist fights at Christmas on multiple occasions throughout the years.  Why not make it official?
• From the "Fail" Department - A teenager in Wyoming is in trouble after a .38 Special derringer in her purse went off at a Starbucks.  Luckily, no-one was hurt.  Let's see, we've got a minor in possession of a handgun, without a carry permit, and probably without being in a holster.  Wow, she hit the trifecta.  Personally, I hope the judge orders her daddy a good beating for not making sure she didn't have a gun when she shouldn't have.
• From the "Bad Trend" Department - 2011 has been a deadly year for law enforcement in the United States.  173 law enforcement personnel died in the line of duty this year, with 68 dying from gunshots and 64 dying from traffic accidents.  We give police a lot of heat, usually when they deserve it, but we should never forget that for every cop who's out on a power trip or is a criminal, there are plenty who are just good, honest people trying to do a job that most everyone else doesn't want to do.  Here's hoping next year is better.
• From the "3 R's" Department - An Arizona judge has decided that a "Mexican-American" studies program in Tucson schools is illegal, which could cost the school district millions if they don't change or eliminate the program.  Tucson has a large Hispanic community.  I've never understood these ethnic study programs.  I lived in a predominantly Scandinavian area growing up, and we didn't need Norsk-American studies programs to get us to get to class and perform.  I don't think there are Hybernian-American studies programs in Boston, or Italian-American studies programs in New York.  Maybe if a little more time and energy was spent to get kids to just show up to class and put forth some effort, their ethnic background wouldn't matter.