A deal - On its transcontinental flights, British Airways will be offering first-class passengers sleeper cabins - at no extra cost. You'll be able to buy an unrestricted New York to London ticket for the same $3,367.
`Militant' subscription anyone? - A publishing company survey found scant international news reporting by the U.S. media. The winner for noncoverage of world events was Channel 3 in Philadelphia which averaged less than one international item a week. According to AP, the study found that "American news media largely ignore the rest of the world, except for hot spots and places with a strong U.S. connection."
P.S. - Another survey found that consumer satisfaction with goods and services dropped 1.1 percent in the past year. The sharpest decline - 5.6 percent - was in satisfaction with the quality of newspapers.
Class rules - An interesting fact, new to us, was buried in a story about that secret bunker built in the `50s to shelter members of Congress during an atomic war. It nestles under the Greenbrier, a very classy West Virginia hotel (rooms up to $2,600 a night.) During World War II, the Greenbrier was used to intern Japanese diplomats. That, of course, was while others of Japanese origin were herded into shacks in desert camps.
Proud legacy - West Virginia Penitentiary in Moundsville was built in 1866 and the last inmates were transferred out of it in March. The state has turned it over to the town for use as a tourist attraction. Visitors will see the 5'x7' cells in which inmates were caged. Ex-guards will spin stories, including, perhaps, that of the 1986 uprising in which inmates controlled the prison for three days. Highlight of the tour - "Old Sparky," the electric chair.
Easy, just lock everyone up - The Immigration and Naturalization Service is providing Iowa cops with an on- line computer service to check if suspects or those convicted of crimes are "illegal." Gov. Terry Brandstad conceded that law-breaking by Iowa undocumented immigrants was not a big deal, but added: "We want to nip the problem in the bud before it becomes a big problem."
Meanwhile... - The INS put on a conference for Iowa cops on the theme, "Illegal Immigration and Criminal Aliens," including "profiles" of gang members of various nationalities. Responding to charges of racist stereotyping, INS official Neil Jacobs declared it to be a fact that "certain nationalities are into certain crimes."
At least for jollies - Defending spankings, John Rosemond, family psychologist and syndicated columnist, notes that in response to humanity's misdeeds, the Almighty "destroyed cities... flooded the whole world...turned people into pillars of salt." Declares Rosemond: "I can't imagine God has any problem at all with a well-administered spanking."