Bits and Pieces

There's no time like the Christmas season to get into a nasty argument over a Christmas tree.

At UNC Chapel Hill, library official Sarah Michalak decided that Christmas trees wouldn't be displayed at the school's two main libraries this year because she said she got questions and complaints about using a Christian display. Never mind the pagan roots of the Christmas tree tradition.

Just across the border, in Virginia, the town of Hillsville and Carroll County are arguing over the county's order that the town remove the artificial Christmas tree from the front of the courthouse. County officials said their main objection was that the tree posed a safety hazard.

And here in Winston-Salem, some are grumbling over the city's decision to cut down a 35-foot cedar in Rupert Bell Park to display as the Christmas tree at Corpening Plaza downtown. City Manager Lee Garrity said there are plans to plant more Christmas trees at the park.

We can tolerate all that, just as long as the city never brings back that metal pole it used as a tree in the plaza.

Shaggy Dog Story

Now that the N.C. Highway Patrol is reforming its canine unit and limiting it to the use of Labrador retrievers, let's hope some wayward trooper doesn't go duck hunting on the state clock.

That Special Place

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, arrested Tuesday on charges he tried to sell President-elect Obama's U.S. Senate seat, displayed an arrogance rivaled perhaps only by Gary Hart, a candidate for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination. Hart challenged the media to follow him if they didn't believe his denials of an extramarital affair. The National Enquirer and The Miami Herald did.

Before his arrest this week, Blagojevich, when asked about a continuing federal investigation into corruption in his office, suggested that anyone could tape his public or private conversations -- anytime. He had nothing to hide. The feds taped his conversations.

Criminal charges aside, there's a special place where arrogant politicians go that, for them, is probably worse than jail -- obscurity.

Solidarity

The following quote could be from an American parent:

"There was loud music, (Eminem's) "Slim Shady" and Dr. Dre for 20 days. I heard this nonstop over and over … Plenty lost their minds."

But it's not from an American parent. It's what a prisoner told his lawyer that he was subjected to while being held at a CIA prison in Afghanistan, The Associated Press reported this week. Other prisoners corroborated his story, saying that blaring music was used to break them down in Afghanistan, Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The prisoner quoted above said they "wound up screaming and smashing their heads against walls, unable to endure more."

Maybe these detainees really aren't that different from us after all.

Karaoke

And while we're on the subject … the brain trust at Houston's Bush International Airport is setting up karaoke booths for holiday travelers. "During the holidays, we have a lot of our novice travelers," an airport official told the Houston Chronicle. "We thought while they are waiting, they can just sing a song."

And innocent bystanders on long layovers can just scream along.

Tap Three Times

Idaho Sen. Larry Craig's latest attempt to withdraw his guilty plea in connection with that undercover sting operation in a men's room at a Minnepolis airport has been rejected.

Craig, of course, is the man accused of signaling an undercover officer in the adjoining stall by tapping his foot. Maybe he was just tapping along with airport karaoke singers.

Miracle Time

Eighty-five percent of Americans believe in miracles, according to a survey done this week by HCD Research. Maybe there is hope for the economy.

Party Poopers

Senators are trying to get the D.C. city council to reverse its decision to keep bars open in the city until 5 a.m. during inauguration week.

Yes, there are legitimate security concerns about partying getting out of control. But as long as the Secret Service keeps an eye on Congress, everything should be just fine.

No Getaway

At first blush, it sounds as though nearly half of the 350 residents of Cranfills Gap, Texas, are getting a sweetheart of a deal -- Las Vegas is flying them in for an all-expenses-paid trip.

The catch is that that they'll be followed around by cameramen shooting tourism commercials. Between the cameras and having all those fellow townspeople around, nobody will be able to get away with anything. What's the point of going to Vegas if what happens there won't stay there?

Growth Industry

Out in Phoenix, Ariz., the state will hire 45 new employees at its unemployment- benefits office to handle rapidly increasing claims, according to news accounts.

At least that's 45 people who won't have to file claims.