The blind leading the lame - Responding to complaints by German and Danish pilots about the lack of safety at Greek airports, air controllers and pilots joined the government there in charging this was false and aimed at hurting Greek tourism. The charges coincided with a plane crash that killed six near the city of Thessaloniki.
Clearing the air - Athens International Airport is the only one in Greece equipped with terminal radar. Declared the chairman of the controllers' association: "It is a fact that the lack of radars does create problems. But this does not compromise safety."
No mug shot? - Workers at Roger Hamblin's restaurants in Utah face a new punch-the-clock technology. To prove it's not a co-worker punching in for you, place your finger over a lens that reads your fingerprint into a computer. Then swipe through the machine your new plastic card with a digitized version of your fingerprint for a match-up.
Heresy defined - Walter Righter, a former Episcopalian bishop, faces heresy charges for having appointed a non- celibate homosexual as a deacon. A church official said he knew of only one other heresy case that actually went to trial. A former bishop was convicted of heresy for his support to the Russian revolution. In 1920, he declared it was time to "banish the Gods from the skies and capitalists from the earth and make the world safe for Industrial Communism."
Pie in the sky more rational - About the pro-Communist reverend. A book on Episcopal history advises that, "most piscopalians assigned his aberrant behavior to insanity."
Managed care - A nurse who assisted the doctor who removed the wrong leg of a patient told a Florida hearing board that during the operation she realized the mistake and pointed it out to the doctor. He responded: "There's nothing we can do now. It's half way finished." The patient, Willie King, testified that a hospital administrator told him that the leg they amputated "was worse than the other." He had had no problem with it.
Not most, but some - A right-wing newsletter, Dispatches, gives two thumbs down to "Babe," the movie starring the talking pig. It sees the film as a "most successful effort by animal-rights activists to make vegetarians out of our kids." Plus, it "indoctrinated with the message that animals are kinder, smarter and braver than most humans."
They do care - Some folks may grouse that the Canadian government has a callous attitude toward pensioners. Not Irene Mulroney. Her monthly check was hand delivered by Priority Post. If she didn't answer the bell, the postal worker had a special number which summoned a Mountie with a house key to check that she was OK. That was when her son Brian was prime minister.
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