Linda Thompson — the mayor of the fiscally hurting Harrisburg, Pa. — has attempted everything from budget slashing to layoffs to bankruptcy filings to get the state capital's finances back on track. Nothing has worked. So now she's taking a different approach: She's staging a three-day hunger strike, hoping at some point during her calorically-deprived hallucinations, God will point the way towards an economic recovery.

The three days of fasting and prayer, which will also be observed by local Christian, Jewish, and Muslim leaders, are intended to elicit "a cooperative spirit among government leaders, the business community and citizens," Harrisburg told the local news. Alternately, it might produce a snippy and uncooperative spirit among a roomful of famished demonstrators who start staring at Ms. Thompson as if she were a giant, delicious drumstick. [Reuters, screengrab via WHTM]