Politics and other nightmares

Before the state went to its A-F grading system for schools, there were a lot of complaints from teachers and school administrators that the system would set schools up for failure and hand out a lot of D's and F's. Turns out that isn't the case. "New A-F grades aren't as scary as feared" is the way the Indy Star's headline put it:

The South Bend Tribune puts a snippy little bit of snark in the opening of its gubernatorial race endorsement editorial:

No women or minorities need apply, of course. Diversity has never been the watchword of Indiana gubernatorial politics.

Still, it is difficult to imagine three white males more different from one another than the three candidates for governor this fall.

My goodness, if even Bono is educable, maybe there's hope for making common sense the norm:

It should not be a partisan issue to ask that our civil liberties be safeguard even in a time when threats to the nation increase. Warrantless wiretaps and promiscuous email snooping were worrisome under President Bush and remain so under President Obama. We must continue to be vigilant no matter who wins the election next week:

Seriously?

President Obama says he would like to establish a "secretary of Business" if he wins a second term.

In an interview with MSNBC, the president said he wants to consolidate a number of business and trade-related agencies, creating a "one-stop shop" for oversight.

Maroon of the day:

An Indiana man tattooed his face with a Mitt Romney presidential campaign logo in exchange for $15,000.

Whoops!

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Police departments around Indiana will have to review how officers conduct traffic stops after the state appeals court threw out a marijuana possession conviction against a driver, legal experts said.

Leave it to The New York Times to use a Big Storm as one more excuse to call for Big Government:

This is scary and infuriating, but it's not really all that surpising, is it?

The notion of a "fiscal cliff" suggests the country is approaching a calamitous drop-off at the end of the year — and it would be tantamount to suicide to jump off.

The Journal Gazette on Saturday ran this pseudo-intellectional, unintentionally hilarious column by one Katie Roiphe that orginally ran in Slate. Seems Katie got tired of the whole "echo-chamber of election anxiety" thing, and so watched the last presidential debate with her 9-year-old daughter Violent, who had some remarkable insights about the candidates' resemblance to "Harry Potter" characters: