The Hot Seat A Weekly Look At People And Issues In The News

Turkey, guinea hen, what’s the difference?

The Boss thinks subscribers were being helpful when they called en masse to tell us we didn’t know our guinea hens from a hole in the ground. Or at least from a wild turkey. About a bazillion people phoned Monday to point out the error of our ways; we ran a photo of a bird sitting on a fence at Connie Ryan’s place near Cedar Mountain. Our caption called it a turkey. Actually it was a guinea hen. (Would you believe, a turkey in guinea hen drag?) Now, we’re trying to get up the nerve to tell The Boss that our readers were laughing at us - not with us. He hates it when that happens.

AFL-CIO picks members’ pockets for Demos

How about a big Hot Seat welcome for the nation’s union bosses? Seems these birds bragged openly within the Capital Beltway about raising $35 million in mandatory union dues this year to defeat targeted Republicans. But they haven’t mentioned their scheme to the rank-and-file. When told of the sneaky move in a poll by Americans for a Balanced Budget, 62 percent of AFL-CIO members who responded said they were ticked off. Forty percent said they’d ask for a refund. A third said they “rarely” or “never” follow the advice of their national leadership. No wonder.

Hey, call before you ‘ba-boom’

Doggone it. Before NASA sends one of its SR-71 Blackbirds up our way again, it should tell someone. That sonic “ba-boom” from a surveillance plane rattled the Hot Seat Thursday. At first, we thought all those turkey calls finally had caused The Boss to blow his stack. Then, we checked to make sure we hadn’t gotten any packages from talk jock Richard Clear. Finally, we exhaled (which isn’t to say that any of us ever inhaled. Honest.).

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 3 Photos

MEMO: The Hot Seat is an irreverent look at controversial issues in the news. The views expressed are those of the writer. Today’s Hot Seat was written by D.F. Oliveria.