SNIPPETS

THURSDAY,  MAY 28,  2009

Bulletin from the Washington Post:  Few places in Virginia are as draining to the soul and as numbing to the buttocks as the branch offices of the Department of Motor Vehicles. And yet, until recently, smiling was still permitted there.  No more. As part of the DMV's effort to develop super-secure driver's licenses and foolproof identification cards, the agency has issued a smile ban, directing customers to adopt a "neutral expression" in their portraits, thereby extinguishing whatever happiness comes with finally hearing one's number called.

In the new order we must avoid expressions of happiness.  Be neutral.  Nonjudgmental.  Dull.  Liberal.

And it isn't just smiling that's under attack, says The New York Times.  Teenagers like to hug, and this must be stopped:  

Comforting as the hug may be, principals across the country have clamped down. “Touching and physical contact is very dangerous territory,” said Noreen Hajinlian, the principal of George G. White School, a junior high school in Hillsdale, N.J., who banned hugging two years ago. “It was needless hugging — they are in the hallways before they go to class. It wasn’t a greeting. It was happening all day.”  Schools that have limited hugging invoked longstanding rules against public displays of affection, meant to maintain an atmosphere of academic seriousness and prevent unwanted touching, or even groping.

We are moved to see such concern over threats to our country.

WEDNESDAY,  MAY 27,  2009

PLYMOUTH, England, May 26 (UPI) -- A couple celebrating their 81st wedding anniversary Tuesday are poised to break the record for Britain's longest married couple.
Frank Milford, 101, and his wife Anita, 100, were married May 26, 1928, and continue to live together at a Plymouth, England, nursing home, the BBC reported Tuesday.

The secret is to avoid the British health system.

PALMERSTON NORTH, New Zealand, May 26 (UPI) -- A local official in New Zealand says it's time for Palmerston North to join other cities by allowing the number 13 for street addresses.

Nothing like public officials demonstrating their priorities.

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