What's for sale on Craigslist?

A lion. Well, a dead one, skinned and preserved, with its head attached. Price: $10,000.

You can see the ad here.

--Veronique de Turenne

Please remove your, ummm, nipple ring?

Another wardrobe malfunction? Well, there's a nipple ring involved, but this time, it's more like a malfunction of common sense. Francisco Vara-Orta explains.

A woman was forced by Transportation Security Administration officials to remove her two nipple rings before she was allowed to board a flight, claims Gloria Allred, the well-known Los Angeles-based attorney. Allred's office has declined to release various details on the case, including the name of the woman, the date of the incident and the airport involved, until a news conference later today.

“The woman was given a pair of pliers in order to remove the rings in her nipples,” Allred said in a statement. “The rings had been in her nipples for many years.”

There's no official nipple ring policy at the TSA, said Dwayne Baird, a spokesman, but added he's "really curious to know what this woman had in her nipples.”

This won't be the last you hear of this, as Allred plans to -- let's say it together -- hold a news conference this afternoon.  Not your garden-variety gabfest, though. She's bringing along a mannequin for a demonstration.

-- Veronique de Turenne

Photo: Los Angeles Times

Jewish Journal plays matchmaker for Ann Coulter

If it's Purim (and it is), it's time for the Jewish Journal's annual cover spoof. Never subtle (Mel Gibson ordered 25 copies of the "Passion of the Christ" issue a few years back), the staff is at it again, pairing off Ann Coulter with the Jew of her dreams.

(Full text of the Journal's explanation of the annual Purim over on the next page.)

-- Veronique de Turenne

Image: The Jewish Journal

This just in: USDA wants its plaque back

A Supplier of the Year award given to the Chino slaughterhouse whose inhumane treatment of cows led to the largest beef recall in history has been rescinded, Cattlenetwork reports.

The USDA also wants Hallmark/Westland Meat Co. to give back its plaque. The plant, which supplied 20% of all beef served in the federal school lunch program, won the award in the 2004-2005 school year.

Steve Mendell, the slaughterhouse owner, has yet to return any phone calls.

--Veronique de Turenne

PETA makes a Hollywood pitch

Remember the brouhaha about plans to build homes on the Hollywood sign's neighboring knoll? The ever-creative animal activists at PETA (Please Eat Tofu Always?) have an interim plan for the land.

They've written to the owners and ... well, Bob Pool tells it best.

Image from PETA's blog used by permission.

In case you're serving pasta tonight...

Here's some news you can use:

PARMESAN: The European Court of Justice ruled Tuesday that only the tasty, crumbly cheese that has been made for some 800 years near the Italian city of Parma can legally be called Parmesan.

So what do we call the bland, machine-grated cheese in our local cheese case?

More info from AP, Financial Times and China View.

— Veronique de Turenne

Photo: Guido Krzikowski/Bloomberg News

The face of a new runway trend?

 Sometimes we get a photo so odd and so perplexing, we just need to share. We're generous that way.

Here's how fashion designer Junya Watanabe sent his models down the Paris runway today.

Think it'll catch on?

--Veronique de Turenne

Photo: Christophe Ena / Associated Press

Final chapter for Dutton's bookstore as owner announces last day

After months of upheaval and uncertainty, Dutton's bookstore, Brentwood's beloved literary center, is closing. Last chapter, last page, final word, covers closed. Done.

Expect plenty of crying and moaning and gnashing of teeth, including from folks with Costco bestsellers on their nightstands and Amazon.com boxes in the recycling. Here's the start of Doug Dutton's memo - that's Doug in the photo - which describes the series of body blows his store just couldn't survive:

As our regular customers and friends well know, the past year for the store has been one of upheaval and turmoil. Hard on the heels of the closure of the Dutton’s Beverly Hills location came word that the Brentwood property had changed ownership, and the new owner, Charles T. Munger, announced plans to redevelop the property.

The multiple uncertainties of the bookstore’s future, combined with the encumbrances associated with the closure of the Beverly Hills store have crippled the store’s ability to provide the kind of immediate service and depth of inventory that our customers have come to rightly expect.

Full text on Dutton's website, where the motto "Serving the greater Brentwood community for over twenty years" leaves you wondering why Dutton's itself wasn't better served. (Shelf Awareness is the first litblog to weigh in.) Last day is April 30.

Worst thing? The flock of people who will step foot into the place for the very first time in search of going-out-of-business bargains.

-- Veronique de Turenne

PHOTO: Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times

Look! Up in the sky! It's ... what is that thing?

What really happened on that dark February night in 1942 when something flew over L.A. and the city went mad with fear? Thousands woke to the sounds of anti-aircraft guns firing for almost an hour in the pre-dawn dark.

Was it a fleet of Japanese bombers? Weather Balloons? UFOs?

We don't have answers, but we've got a terrific name: "The Great Los Angeles Air Raid of 1942". Oh — and a party!

The Fort MacArthur Museum throws an annual Great Air Raid soiree — food and drink and dancing and an "exciting and authentic" re-creation of the event. (That's their lovely poster, advertising this year's shindig.)

The Daily Breeze has more details. Black Vault Forums sees UFOs and coverups.  And YouTube has — yes! —  videos here and here.

-- Veronique de Turenne

(Un)coverage

So many women, so little airtime. That's the dilemma facing near-invisible presidential candidate Ron Paul.

About the only time you hear about him is while driving under a freeway overpass, where ardent admirers hang hand-painted sheets with the candidate's name. He's running a YouTube campaign that has netted him 16 delegates.

And now, as our own Andy Malcolm (gleefully) reports, a group of near-naked women (or hotties, as Andy so elegantly puts it) has created a pinup calendar.

Talk about wrapping yourself in the flag.

-- Veronique de Turenne