Mom has taken me to task for referring to Pinky and the Brain, which she doesn't get. They were genetically engineered lab mice who spent every night trying to take over the world. So, for Compuserve or AOL to "go all Pinky and the Brain" would be for those companies to try to take over the world.

She also thought I was being disrespectful of the Queen by not actually calling her "Queen Elizabeth." I wasn't. It was just an accidental omission. But to answer her question, which may be yours, as to what is wrong with a news item about her: nothing. But to have a scheduled, elective knee surgery be the Lead Story on a day when American forces head off to war seems to me not just a news item about the Queen of England. It demonstrates, again, an unhealthy fascination with the Royal Family. There is no other leader in the world, aside from the US President or Saddam Hussein, whose minor knee surgery would garner front page attention.

Like I said: I love the Queen, and God bless England for all time. But, there are more significant things going on right now, and if she weren't royalty, the editors at WBZ would have realized that.