Etc...

Hey, she's our kid – not yours

By all accounts, 20-somethings Michael and Karolina Tomaro are good parents. For example, they've taken all the necessary steps to notify authorities in Sweden, where they live, of the recent birth of their daughter. And when they made plans to take a trip abroad, they went through the appropriate channels to apply for a passport for her. So it's more than a little vexing to them that the National Tax Board stepped in and blocked their path. Not because they owe, you understand. No, it's because of the name they chose for the baby: Metallica. Yup, same as the iconic heavy metal band. "It suits her," Karolina explained. "She's decisive and she knows what she wants," even though her first birthday is still months away. The name was OK with the Tomaros' church, too; little Metallica already has been baptized. But it's not OK with the tax board, which has refused to register the infant. No registration, no passport. In fact, the agent assigned to the case felt it necessary to add his personal view of the name. It is, he told the couple, "ugly," reports say. In frustration, they took the matter to a local court, which ruled last month that there's no reason the baby shouldn't have that name. But the tax folks aren't giving up, either. The decision has been appealed to a higher court, and so the Tomaros remain homebound.