And Another Thing …

First Gov. Baldacci’s SUV rolls over last winter and now a slip and fall on the ice resulting in three fractured ribs. The governor has said delivering health care through emergency rooms is too expensive, but does he really need to keep demonstrating it? We wish him a full and speedy recovery and suggest preventative care for him might consist solely of slowly down a step.

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Cruise ship operators are asking the Centers for Disease Control to stop using the word “outbreaks” when they report cases of passengers coming down with virus attacks. But their preferred term, “incidents,” seems pretty tame to victims of vomiting and diarrhea. Is “plague” too strong?

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New Brunswick just convicted truck driver Wade Haines, who was said to have left Saint John headed for Toronto with 50,000 cans of beer ultimately destined for Mexico. Along the way both the driver and 49,700 cans of beer disappeared. Later, the tractor-trailer with the remaining beer was found in a parking lot in Grand Falls, along the border with Maine. Mr. Haines took quite a bit longer to find. His drinking buddies – bears who chose to down a six pack rather than munch on marijuana stashed in the New Brunswick woods – wouldn’t talk. And, apparently, no one thought to check the restroom.

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Kudos to Rep. Stephen Bowen of Rockport for trying to bring lawmakers up to speed by obtaining laptop computers. But if he wants to reduce the amount of paper in the State House, as he said recently, his bill should be amended to ban printers. It also wouldn’t hurt to include a filter to keep lawmakers from “inadvertently” stumbling on that hot new Web site, Lascivious Legislative Lads and Lasses.

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The professional hockey season has been canceled! No, really. The glamour, the marquee players, the thrills. Yeah, us too.

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The latest story of the press embarrassing itself concerns James Guckert, aka Jeff Gannon, who may have gotten a coveted White House press pass in exchange for asking the president softball questions. His story follows those of the administration paying conservative journalists to help promote its causes. We know the presidential theme this year is the “Ownership Society,” but we didn’t think that meant the president intended to own the press.