Following are a sample of headlines today. not the major ones -- just some "signs of the times" -- and, they are not good times:

Nashville hotel backs out of anti-Sharia conference

Tons of Japan tsunami debris head for U.S. shores

2.7-ton bell vanishes from San Francisco church

In Cautious Times, Banks Flooded With Cash

Outside Cleveland, Snapshots of Poverty’s Surge in the Suburbs (this from The New York Times)
By SABRINA TAVERNISE

The poor population in America’s suburbs rose 53 percent last decade, double the 26 percent increase in cities, confronting communities with unaccustomed challenges.

Pressed, Italy’s Cabinet Fails to Act on Debt Crisis

Pennsylvania: Governor Declares Emergency (takes over Harrisburg finances)

Police Trial Begins for Officers in Bell Shooting; Two Offer to Retire

4 seriously hurt in 3 West Side shootings over one-hour period

City Room: 8 N.Y.C. Officers Charged With Gun Trafficking

Indiana man, 87, nabbed with 228 pounds of cocaine, police say (Get the Government off the back of small business!! That was his retirement package!)

Bachmann’s ex-staff in New Hampshire calls campaign ‘dishonest’ and ‘cruel’

Hawk found with nail in head recovering in Calif. "-

With 7 Billion People, World Has a Poop Problem "-

Evidence of Earliest Oxygen-Breathing Life on Land Discovered

8.5% carbon cut needed by 2020 for Copenhagen goal: study

Prosthetic arm doubles as phone dock

Woman charged with stealing from Cub Scouts - Rutland Herald

etc., etc., etc. (by the way, the Euro is TOAST!!)