Rick Perry, Defender of Salt Shaker Rights

Gail Collins: Today, we are going to discuss Gov. Rick Perry of Texas.

Get back here and sit down.

He is, in his own words, “the kind of guy who goes jogging in the morning packing a Ruger .380 with laser sights and loaded with hollow point bullets, and shoots a coyote that is threatening his daughter’s dog.” That really happened. In fact, it was possibly the high point of Perry’s political career.

Nazi Dogs Do Math, Crack Jokes

Nazi specialists attempted -- apparently with some success -- to train a fleet of "intelligent" dogs to read, write and speak.

The institute trained dogs such as Rolf the Airedale terrier, who was said to be able to discuss religion, contemplate complex mathematics and communicate with humans by tapping out an alphabet code using his paw.

Another dog, Kurwenal, supposedly cracked jokes like a comedian and was a symbol of the educated canines of Germany.

Obama Fever Sweeps Through Irish Village

Two thousand people will be part of the president's visit to the rural village of Moneygall, Co Offaly, on Monday. ahead of a free public event and address by Mr. Obama
in Dublin's College Green.

Records show Mr Obama's great-great-great-great
-grandfather was a shoemaker in Moneygall and his son, Falmouth Kearney, left for New York in 1850.

Meanwhile, the Offaly Independent has cast away tradition and temporarily changed its 119-year-old name in order
to mark the historic visit.

"The Obama Independent" will go on sale for a one-off special souvenir edition to be published tomorrow.

That's So McRaven

May 9 (New York Times) -- Even the most serious of subjects - like the killing of a hunted terrorist leader - apparently needs its light moments.

At the White House last week, President Obama one such opportunity in a report that, to confirm Osama bin Laden's height after he had been killed, a Navy Seal laid down on the floor next to his body. Evidently this improvised approach took Mr. Obama aback. The Washington Post reports that the president wondered aloud to an aide, "Could we not afford to buy a tape measure?"

So, officials familiar with the event said, during a private Oval Office meeting with Vice Adm. William H. McRaven, who oversees the Seals, Mr. Obama thanked the admiral for a job well done in Pakistan, and presented him with a plaque - with a tape measure on it.

Washington Post losing money with Kaplan

The Washington Post Company stated that its first-quarter profits fell 67% due revenue declines in its Kaplan education unit. Income dropped to $15.2 million. Revenues declined 6.9% to $1.06 billion.