Unarmed conflict, Literacy

Good week for:

Buying gold at a discount, after a Florida memorabilia company minted 10,000 24-karat gold coins engraved with the words, “New England Patriots 19–0 Super Bowl XLII Champions.”

Tourism, after San Francisco voters resoundingly defeated a proposal to turn the former Alcatraz prison from a museum into a “global peace center.” More than 1.4 million people visit the Rock every year to tour the atmospheric old penitentiary, but peace activists contended it would be better to use the site to promote “cooperation, reconciliation, and healing.”

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Unarmed conflict, after several Israeli soldiers were caught “mooning” Palestinians in the West Bank, in an effort to chase them away from a disputed area.

Bad week for:

Dean Tong, a self-proclaimed domestic violence expert who has been featured on Dr. Phil, 48 Hours, and Nancy Grace, after he was charged in Florida with physically assaulting his wife.

Priorities, after a Florida woman was pulled over allegedly with a 24-pack of beer strapped into a seat belt, so it wouldn’t be jostled, while a 16-month-old girl was unrestrained in the back seat.

Literacy, after a British retail chain was forced to withdraw a new bed designed for 6-year-old girls that it had named “Lolita.” An embarrassed spokesman said store employees had never heard of Vladimir Nabokov’s novel of the same name, concerning a man who has a sexual relationship with a young girl. “We had to look it up on Wikipedia,” he said.