What Were They Thinking?

In Tennessee handguns will be allowed in bars and restaurants as of July 14, 2009. However, the existing ban on consuming alcohol while carrying a handgun remains; and bar and restaurant owners have the right to ban weapons from their establishments. Although 37 other states have similar laws, Tennessee has approximately 218,000 handgun permits and 278 were revoked in 2008 and nearly 1,200 have been suspended since 2005. Permits are revoked after felony convictions and suspended when there are pending criminal charges or when there are court orders for protection. It seems Tennessee is going to test its own “big bang” theory.

In Canada Molson Beer, a division of Molson Coors, is planning to standardize its free beer policy in 2009 for its Canadian retirees. Presently the free beer costs Molson $900,000 a year. Molson retirees living in Newfoundland were notified by letter their monthly allotment will be reduced from 6 dozen bottles a month to zero over the next 5 years. The retirees are upset there was no discussion about this; and unions have filed grievances in Montreal and Vancouver, where allotments will be less. Although Molson says it’s still providing a very generous benefits package, 2,400 company retirees are crying in their beer.

In Tel Aviv a thoughtful daughter decided to surprise her mother by replacing her mother’s old mattress with a new one and taking the old one out to the trash. Needless to say, her mother was surprised – almost to the point of fainting. It seems for years she had been secretly stuffing her life savings into that mattress. Now a frantic search is underway in Israel for the valuable mattress. To the daughter the mattress may have looked lumpy and uncomfortable, but to her mother it felt like a million dollars.

Around the world the down economy is inspiring people to perform community service – even fight crime. According to “Superheroes Anonymous”, a New-York-based Web site dedicated to organizing and making alliances with superhero groups, there are presently 250 to 300 real-life superheroes worldwide. A laid-off computer technician became Mr. Ravenblade after preventing a woman’s mugging and rape in Walla Walla, Washington. A superhero named Geist patrols Rochester, Minnesota with a group of like-minded, similarly costumed colleagues. Dark Guardian, a 24-year-old, patrols Brooklyn at night and Chaim “Life”Lazaros is in New York performing homeless outreach. Instead of super powers, these superheroes are armed with good intentions.