"Bits & Pieces" - Commentary by Tony Seton

Bits & Pieces

Bits and pieces from this reporter’s notebook.

Da-deet-da-deet-da-deet-deet....The Treasury Department is spending 33 million of our hard-earned tax dollars to promote awareness of the new $20 bill. On its way to banks near you, the new-peach-tinted Jackson note is gonna get publicized like a Hollywood movie, with all sorts of hoopla, PR, product placement, et cetera. It seems like another ridiculous waste of money, our money, kinda like minting 50 different quarters.

Da-deet-da-deet-da-deet-deet....The do-not-call saga continues. Congress, acting with uncharacteristic alacrity, passed and sent to the president a measure designed to give the FTC the authority to use the list. Bush signed it. But the measure didn’t address the so-called free speech issue raised by another federal judge. Why should charities be allowed to use telemarketers when other businesses can’t, he asked? Hey, no problem...cut off the charities, too.

Da-deet-da-deet-da-deet-deet....The Supreme Court of New Hampshire ruled that it may be garbage, but it’s still covered by a presumption of privacy. In a 4-to-1 decision, the top judges in the Live Free or Die state said there must be a presumption of privacy even when the garbage is bagged and sitting on the curb. The local cops had gone through a man’s garbage, found marijuana residue, and used it as a basis for a search warrant. The New Hampshire decision runs counter to a 1988 ruling by the Black-Robed Nine who said garbage is fair game, so to speak.

Da-deet-da-deet-da-deet-deet....A top FBI official is unhappy with the suggestion that his organization failed to connect the dots that might have led them to see Nine-Eleven coming. He gives little reason for optimism that they might see another major attack on the horizon. The notion that such an attack might be thwarted if only the Bureau "read the tea leaves" correctly, he dismissed as a "pile of manure."

Da-deet-da-deet-da-deet-deet....Showing considerable grit, a 2-year-old child survived almost three weeks on ketchup, mustard and food she could reach in the refrigerator and lower cupboards. Her 20-year-old mother was jailed on an assault charge and didn’t tell anyone about the child. When the child’s father, who had separated from the mother, sought to find the infant, the mother said she was with neighbors. The father searched but no one knew of the baby, so he got the manager to open his wife’s apartment and there was the toddler. The mother will face added charges of child endangerment.

And that’s SetonnoteS...I’m Tony Seton.