L-E story: "Slater said under her direction her office's efficiency is improving and she's very accessible in the community. Shevon Thomas, a defense lawyer, agrees Slater is doing a good job but would like to see a program implemented in the DA’s office that could lessen the case load and help first time felony offenders. * “We have closed more cases than we have received each year since I have been in office. Most recently in 2011 we closed 25 percent more cases than we have received,” said Slater." -- I'm confused here...How does helping 'first time felons' help anything? Slapping felons on the wrist has no long term effect on easing recidivism. --- Online headline: "Cole Hamels suspended five games for throwing at Bryce Harper" -- The practice of intentionally throwing at a batter (or in reverse, a batter who intentionally gets hit by a pitch - both are illegal) should have a special penalty. In the National League, the offending pitcher must bat the rest of the season without having pitches called ball/strike, and the only way that pitcher leaves the batter's box is if the opposing pitcher beans him, and he's carted off the field, and if in the American League, such offending pitcher be made to be the teams DH the rest of the season with the same conditions of the National League offenders. For the batter who doesn't try to avoid a pitch, let the umpire call him "out" instead of calling him back to finish batting, and give the pitcher carte blanche for throwing high hard ones.Yeah! --- Online headline: "US: CIA thwarts new al-Qaida underwear bomb plot" -- Hmmm, I'd have thought that would have been a job right in the Secret Service's area of expertise. --- Online headline/story: "Whistleblower Workers Face Deportation Despite Obama Administration Policy * When (Josue) Diaz and about 20 other immigrant workers asked for the same wages and safety gear given to American-born workers doing the same job, they wound up in police custody. * Diaz, an undocumented employee (a.k.a. ILLEGAL ALIEN), was arrested while working for the clean-up company, on charges of theft that were later dropped. On Tuesday, an immigration court in New Orleans will decide whether Diaz and three co-workers may be ordered deported. The court could also give the men permission to remain in the United States because they acted as whistleblowers who stood up against workplace abuses. " -- Whistle blower protection for illegal aliens? No way, but if the charges of the illegal aliens are provably true, then the contractors ought to be exiled and shipped back when then the illegals are deported. --- L-E story: "A 21-year-old man was robbed early Sunday on the Riverwalk in Columbus, police said.* The man was on the Riverwalk near 10th Street and Broadway between 1:50 and 2:40 a.m. when two men approached." -- Which was it, Riquelmy, the Riverwalk OR 10th/Broadway? The two locations are not an intersection! Read more here: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2012/05/07/2039516/man-robbed-on-riverwalk.html#storylink=rss#storylink=cpy --- Just heard a local TV anchor describing a bad accident in Phenix City a few minutes ago. One where high speeds were involved and a car totaled. She said authorites said, The "do BELIEVE alcohol MAY have been involved". Huh? Do they "Believe' it was involved or it "May" have been involved? There's a difference. --- DIM&DUMBERat's L-E "soundoff": "Fiscal realities * We need to cut the budget. If you’re in the military and you don’t like the pay and benefits being cut, find another job. It’s called capitalism. " -- Since providing a military system is a Constitutional charge for Congress, cutting budget items such as duplicate and unnecessary government programs and grants is the more reasonable way to cut costs, but I have a feeling, no, I think I'm pretty sure, that the writer is on the government dole. --- From L-E's "Today in History" feature: "In 1886, Atlanta pharmacist John Pemberton invented the flavor syrup for Coca-Cola. " -- Even Coca Cola now admits Dr Pemberton first served his syrup based drink in Columbus, and took the formula with him when he moved to Atlanta. --- From the "Inquiring minds want to know" departent - No offense, but do you think Vince Gill is happy that the Civic Center is having a "buy one, get one free" sale on his tickets? Does this mean that out Councilors that normally get two free tickets will now get 4? And in the sense of fair play, do ticket purchasers from day one get 50% rebates since it would be impossible to give them new tickets for seats next to the ones they bought? --- From a L-E story: "With Georgia in the throes of a lingering drought, a catastrophic failure of the dam impounding West Point Lake hardly seems a likely disaster scenario, but that’s the one 23 students from Fort Benning’s Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation were presented during an exercise Monday with emergency management officers here in Columbus" -- You know, just how prudent is it to expose the possibilities of how to destroy a dam upstream to foreign students who would have information on creating a disaster downstream? Especially since WE are downstream?