From Watergate to three in a row

Someone wise once asked what were the three most notable spectacles I had ever seen.
Without hesitation, I replied: Elizabeth Taylor in 'Cleopatra'; Marilyn Monroe in 'Some Like It Hot'; and Sophia Loren in "anything."
"No, no," came the reply. "On television, dummy."
"Oh, I get it. Well, let's see now," I replied.. "There was that terrible assassination of John Kennedy back in 1963; then there was Senator Sam and the Watergate hearings in the mid-1970s and in the mid-1990s, the O.J. murder trial."
"But if you could pick just one, what would it be?" said the Wise One.
"Definitely, the Watergate hearings. That's when I was in my prime and I didn't miss a moment of it. It aged me 20 years, but I still remember the drama of it all."
Then the Wise One shuffled some papers, and said: "See this story on the Internet by Keith Olbermann that will knock your socks off." I wasn't wearing any.
'WO' started quoting Olbermann, who hosts 'Countdown with Keith Olbermann' on MSNBC: "So, just 17 days shy of the exact 33rd anniversary of the break-in that unleashed the whole Watergate scandal, we finally know the identity of the secret source, Deep Throat, who helped Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein keep the story alive in the Washington Post."
"Yeah, yeah, I know the guy's name is Mark Felt," I injected.
"But, Olbermann wondered about the parts of Deep Throat that clearly aren't Mark Felt, like all the stuff Throat supposedly confirmed after Felt left the FBI in June 1973."
"What's Olbermann have to say about that?"
"It's a long article," said WO, rushing to the next paragraph. "Felt's self-identification in the pages of Vanity Fair seems to raise more questions than it answers, and signals not the end of the Throat mystery, but merely its mutation into something stranger and maybe more pertinent. As John Dean, Richard Nixon's own White House Counsel, and in the ensuing years, the most dogged pursuer of Throat's identity, told me on Countdown" "Now we have a new mystery ... focusing on Woodward's journalism. "How is he going to explain Felt having some of the information he had," Dean continued, "when it just isn't in the realm of possibility that he had access to it, even as third or fourth hand hearsay?"
"Enough, enough, you're really confusing me, now. Next thing you'll tell me is that the "Deep Throat" in "All the President's Men" wasn't this guy, Felt?"
"Oh, he probably was, but he never said all those things to Woodward and Bernstein."
The Wise One then topped off the conversation saying that Hal Holbrook, who played Deep Throat in the movie, was dropping his one-man show, "Mark Twain Tonight!" to introduce "W. Mark Felt Tonight!" on stage. Holbrook has been quoted as saying "I played W. Mark Felt before I even knew who W. Mark Felt was."
One snide critic was overheard to say, "To be candid I don't see how a guy who kept his piehole shut for 30 years is going to put fannies in the seats."
Me neither.
***
WHEN TRYING TO FILL SPACE, WRITE ABOUT WOMEN DRIVERS!
Okay.
Here's something out of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
It seems Consultative Council member Mohammad al-Zulfa wanted to conduct a study into the feasibility of "reversing the ban on women drivers."
He found it wasn't a great idea to bring up an age-old taboo subject and MZ has been blasted, on his cell phone, from spitting-mad Saudis, who have accused him of encouraging women to commit the double sins of discarding their veils and mixing with men. He's also had messages urging Allah to freeze his blood.
But there was a topper to all this; in a letter to the editor of a daily newspaper: "Driving by women leads to evil ... imagine what it will be like if her car broke down? She would have to seek help from men."
Did you hear that, Missus, maybe I should have the car for the day?
The Melville Spitfire just turned her back on me and shrugged her shoulders as she plunked herself behind the wheel.
***
DEFINITELY A MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE SCENARIO!
Don Jardine, Alex Snigurowicz and Erik Bjarnson were stuck 5,500 metres up on Canada's highest mountain, Mount Logan, in southwestern Yukon last week. It's notorious for its sudden snow squalls and the three from the North Shore Rescue team in North Vancouver believed they were going to die.
However, they were rescued by the U.S. military, park rangers and private pilots; and yesterday afternoon there was a great homecoming in Vancouver despite the fact the three suffered hypothermia and frostbite.
***
THE DOCTOR IS IN FOR A $2,300 FEE!
Don Coperman, the founder of new "boutique" health-care centre in Vancouver, thinks it is quite alright to charge more than two grand so patients can see their doctor.
"Basically this $2,300-a-year service is a new service. The government doesn't pay for the kind of preventative care we deliver," he told the CBC.
Someone wise from the B.C. Nurses Union was quick to slam Coperman. "It clearly sets up a system of elitism."
That's for certain, Bunky.
***
THIS IS SCARY, FOLKS!
As someone who survived the Whispering Pines fires of August 2003, there was startling news out of Prince George, B.C. It seems three forest fires have merged into a giant blaze covering 180 sq. km south of Vanderhoof. Nearly 200 firefighters are battling the inferno, caused by recent lightning storms.
***
THREE IN A ROW!
Yes, I'm finally running out of space: Here's an item from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control about a fungal infection Cryptococccus gatti) that had been found on the east coast of Van Island has now spread to the Lower Mainland, Sunshine Coast and Fraser Valley ... Give me one good reason why the police and the courts, including those in Vernon, remain so close-mouthed about information the media and the general public have a right to know about? The not-so-golden silence has been going on since the Ol' Columnist was learning his ABCs ... OK, Andy D. so you kissed Robin Williams, er, Robin Givens during the filming of a movie ... but can you ever top this Ol' Man's coming away with a concussion (in the movie, 'Running Brave') and being nearly mauled by a wrestling bear? No? I thought so.