Stand by for softballs

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. My wife and I went to a friend's summer place in Danbury for some fellowship, great conversation and great relaxation.

So, it seems that Larry King, the poobah of so soft they're puffy questions, will be the first to question Paris Hilton after she gets out of the slammer. Surprise, surprise, surprise. She's got to ease in to life on the outside, after all, and real questions by a real reporter may tax her little keppie (head in Yiddish) too much.

Oh, yes, it seems that Paris has a standing offer from Hugh M. Hefner, the Playboy magazine guy, to pose in the nude. Much ado about not much, eh?

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For once, good sense rules.

A court in Washington, D.C., ruled against another jurist who had sued a dry cleaner for more than $50 million in the case of the missing pants.

The court ruled the administrative law judge, Roy L. Pearson, did not prove the cleaners violated district consumer protection laws in the case. Pearson was flying by the seat of his pants, the court ruled, and ordered Pearson to pay all court costs.

The suit was over a suit, or rather over the pants from a suit, which Pearson said he took to the cleaners and never got back. The cleaner said it returned the pants that were brought in for work, while Pearson said he brought in blue pants and got back grey ones.

At least, good sense won in the case. There are too many cases, such as the crook who sued New York City after being injured by a subway train while fleeing the police after committing a crime and won more than a million dollars.

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You probably want to steer clear of downtown New Haven for the next few days. On Tuesday, the city will begin fawning over a movie crew in town to shoot some scenes from the next Indiana Jones flick. There will be a concert and the showing of the first Indiana Jones movie, something about the lost ark.

I'm not going because I won't be able to find a parking space. You know, they'll be taken up by all the folks from East and West Haven and all the other towns who restrict parking by the beach during the summer. Our city, however, doesn't give any advantage to residents downtown or anywhere else -- except for Lighthouse Point Park.

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I'm beginning to hate the world "available." I guess it's because of car ads. They tout this and that feature, all of which are available. That means you have to pay extra for them. That's why the big type on the screen says the car costs a certain amount, and the baby type the flashes across says it costs about 10 grand more equipped as shown. Yeah, I know it's all legal.

It's like the latest Hotel.com ad that says the site will no longer charge a fee if you cancel or change your reservation.

Actually, it's the hotel itself that charges the fee and the ad doesn't say anything about that. Do they really think we're that dumb. Scratch that site off my list.

It's going to be hot and humid for a few days here in Connecticut, so please don't work too hard, stay in air conditioned spaces of you can and try to look in on your older or sick neighbors to make sure they're OK. Also, drink a lot of water. Coffee doesn't count -- it actually dehydrates you.

Until next time....