Editorial

A macabre milestone was passed on Sunday: The 4,000th American soldier was killed in Iraq. The 4,000th death was recorded when four troops were killed by a roadside bomb that exploded near their vehicle in southern Baghdad.
The American death toll since the invasion of Iraq five years ago this month has now exceeded by 1,002 the number killed in the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001. It does not, of course, include the nearly 30,000 US troops who have been wounded in action, nor the Iraqi civilians who have been killed, a number that probably will be forever unknown but that has been estimated at more than 600,000.
Vice President Dick Cheney (he of the five Vietnam-era draft deferments) was interviewed by ABC News on Monday and asked to comment about the 4,000 American troop deaths. He seemed to think they were not that big a deal, pointing out that those who went to Iraq all volunteered for military service.

Alert Source readers will remember that we sent H. Bruce Miller under not-so-deep cover last week to investigate rumors that there is no standard for pint glasses or pours in local bars and pubs. Shocking stuff. And in fact, we found a wide variety of glasses, prices and beer volume when we put local pints to the test, via Mr. Miller's trusty measuring cup.
So it was probably no great surprise that we got a call from one of those establishments demanding a recount, or repour, if you will. Bend Brewing Company owner Wendy Day told Source staffers that her pints had been given the short end of the stick and challenged us to repeat the experiment using a more sound methodology. Never one to pass up a drinking challenge, Upfront moseyed down to BBC on St. Patty's day and bellied up to the bar. We warmed up our glasses with a pint of BBC's Dry Irish Stout and got down to business.
We can't speak to how much beer our intrepid reporter was served on his earlier visit, but our glasses were poured to the rim with about a quarter inch of creamy head. As far as volume, we found that the glasses on that day, and presumably every other day, held a full 16 ounces of liquid as measured by Wendy's in-house measuring cup, which we assume is in compliance with all known international regulations. That's a little different than what our story said. We're sorry about that Wendy and Co.
We've ordered a thorough review of the Source's science curriculum and banned any use of measuring cups in the field. In the meantime, we'll have another stout to go with our dish of crow.

In Washington, Golf Becomes a Handicap

Oregon Republican Sen. Gordon Smith is one of Capitol Hill's most enthusiastic and skillful golfers - so much so that he made Golf Digest's 2005 list of Washington's Top 200 Golfers.

But Gordo's name is missing from the 2007 list. Smith, whose handicap was given as 4.5 in 2005, told the magazine he hadn't been playing enough last year to determine his handicap - too busy campaigning for re-election.

After an 18-year-old audience member was fatally stabbed in a clash with Hells Angels during their notorious 1969 concert at Altamont Speedway, the Rolling Stones decided to stop using the Angels to provide security.
It was a decision that could have cost Mick Jagger his life, according to a new BBC documentary.
The documentary, which aired Monday, featured former FBI Special Agent Mark Young telling how a group of Hells Angels decided to retaliate against the Stones by assassinating their lead singer at his vacation home in the Hamptons on Long Island.
According to Young the bikers set out in a small boat, intending to land at Jagger's place from the ocean side to avoid the security at the front gate. But they weren't as good at handling a boat as they were at handling Harleys - a storm came up, the craft capsized and all the Angels ended up in the drink. Although they survived, they gave up the idea of killing Jagger.
Leading Upfront to muse on whether the Angels might have had the opening lines of "Gimme Shelter" going through their heads as they floundered in the Atlantic:
Oh, a storm is threatening
My very life today
If I don't get some shelter
Oh yeah, I'm gonna fade away

File under "Drastic Overreactions": The president of Turkmenistan has sacked 30 employees of a TV news station because of one cockroach.
According to Britain's Guardian newspaper, as viewers were watching a 9 pm broadcast of the popular news show "Vatan" on state-run TV last week, a large brown cockroach appeared and strolled calmly across the anchor desk.
"The cockroach managed to complete a whole lap of the desk, apparently undetected, before disappearing," The Guardian reported. "The program, complete with cockroach, was repeated at 11 pm that night."