• From the “Found Treasures” Department – Workers at a recycling center in Sweden had no use for that morning coffee to wake up the other day when an old lady came in to donate a grenade.  Imagine their surprise as they went through the usual newspapers, magazines, tin cans, and plastic containers to find something that goes boom mixed in.  No-one was hurt, and police took the device away for destruction.  I should start a campaign telling Swedes that if they want to turn in explosives, I’ll be glad to take them off their hands.  It’s just my way of helping the planet.
• From the “Facepalm” Department – An elementary school student in Michigan got in a bit of hot water the other day when other students noticed a small handgun in the tyke’s bookbag.  We all like to point and laugh when a school administrator or a teacher freaks out over a child pointing his finger like a gun, or drawing a gun, or even chewing up a pastry to look like a gun, but I don’t have a problem with them reacting to an actual gun when it’s in the possession of an unsupervised small child.  No word on where the gun came from in the report, but something tells me the police are going to be having a discussion about safe storage and gun safety with this kid’s family.
• From the “Atomic Facepalm” Department – Residents of Newtown, Connecticut, are rather perplexed that the NRA would use automatic dialers and recorded messages to try to convince the townspeople to oppose new gun legislation.  Newtown, you will remember, was the scene of a horrific shooting in December that has been the spur for new anti-rights legislation at the federal level, as well as in several states, including Connecticut.  Now, I’m against these new bills as much as the next guy, and I support the NRA using my membership dues to try to convince people in battleground states to stand up for their rights.  But a little research and a little discretion should have been used in this instance.  Giving the anti-rights crowd yet another thing to grasp upon to make all gun owners look like insensitive, blood thirsty clods isn’t exactly helpful.
• From the “Legal Beagle” Department – The Supreme Court has ruled that the police need a search warrant in order to use a sniffer dog to look for evidence of a crime in a home or its immediate surroundings.  This could be useful to gun people in hostile places.  How hard would it be to train a dog to sniff out gunpowder, BreakFree, or the smell of burned propellants?  At least so long as they’re following the law (I know, I know), they would have to get a warrant before bringing in Officer Fuzzie.
• From the ” Consequences” Department – Mexico has been losing business as a tourist destination lately.  The country, which is racked with violence between drug gangs and the government, is in danger of falling off the list of top places where people go to spend money on cheap booze and chachkis.  Violence that was once isolated to the American border has spread to resort areas like Cancun.  Maybe if his daughters can’t safely go to Mexico on their vacation, then the President might start to think about changing his approach to drugs.  Remember, every bullet fired in this particular turf war is fired because Americans like their intoxicants and the American government likes telling people which intoxicants they can use.  Find a way to safely legalize the drugs, and all of this dries up in a matter of weeks.
• From the “Fringe Benefits” Department – A retiring county administrator in California appears to be set to receive at least as much as she did when she was working, a whopping $423,664 a year.  That figure includes longevity and performance bonuses, even though she won’t be working for the county anymore.  I always knew I was in the wrong business.

Note – I apologize for the many issues with spelling and format.  Hopefully I’ve corrected this enough.