Who says economics is complicated? - "Lack of cash is one reason for Amtrak's financial difficulties - Cash flow: The money coming in must be more than the money going out in order to maintain a healthy business" - Headline in Amtrak's in-house newsletter.
The civilized society - "We want a prisoner to look like a prisoner, to smell like a prisoner, and taste like a prisoner. When you see one of these boogers aloose, you'll say, `I didn't know we had zebras in Mississippi.' Some of them prisoners, you couldn't humiliate them with a humiliatin' machine." - State Rep Mack Innis on move to have Mississippi prisoners wear striped uniforms.
Think you've heard everything? - In Bolingbrook, Illinois, a county judge sentenced a girl, 12, to jail and put her sister, 8, under house arrest with no TV privileges. The children were ruled in contempt of court for refusing to visit their father as stipulated in their parents' divorce. After a night in a juvenile detention center, the older girl was ordered released by a state appeals court, which put the judge's ruling on hold for 10 days.
Class struggle begins at home? - Beth Peres, 10, of Oak Park, Illinois, checked the allowances of her classmates. She found the boys averaged $3.18 a week and the girls, $2.63. Plus, the girls were expected to do more chores. Beth's mom declares: "I don't want to create a welfare state."
`We lose more toes that way' - Rolando Sanchez, the Florida surgeon who mistakenly removed the wrong leg of a patient, has had his license suspended for removing a woman's toe without her consent. According to state officials, the doc insisted the toe had fallen off.
What would they do without capitalism- Brazil's income gap is exceeded only by that of Botswana. The richest 10 percent of Brazil's population pockets 50 percent of the nation's income. The poorest 10 percent get less than 1 percent. Thirty two million people suffer malnutrition.
Not enough to go around? - Brazil leads the world in coffee and orange juice exports. And it ranks among the top four in soya, cocoa, and poultry.
Double rape - In Alabama, rape victims are to pay the cost of compiling medical evidence. They can be billed from $350 to $1,200 for the collection of semen, hair, and fiber samples.