This is an interesting take on Newt Gingrich:
Inside D.C., it sounds very strange to say that Gingrich is an "outsider." Gingrich has eaten from just about every trough imaginable inside the Beltway. And yet, he's always been very clear that he wants to ("fundamentally," "historically," "categorically" and "radically") overturn the existing order. Some critics always thought, plausibly, that such pronouncements were part of his act or a sign of his megalomania.
We've had discussions here before about one line between legitimate government dictates (those aimed at keeping us from harming others) and inappropriate nannying (trying to keep us from hurting ourselves. The National Transportation Safety Board is jumping into an issue that sort of straddles the line by recommending that all 50 states enact bans on "driver use of personal electronic devices."
Some good news on the Sunday TV front. It looks like Christiane Amanpour may be out as host of ABC's "This Week."
There's been a lot of carping from libertarian quarters about how Ron Paul don't get no respect. But isn't that over now? He's been invited to the debates, and his standing in the polls in some of the early-voting states puts him in the top tier of contenders. But what about Gary Johnson? There's somebody with a legitimate gripe:
Purdue University did a driving-accident study, and all I can say is, "Look out, boys and girls, I'm coming your way, and I'm in a dangerous mood."
Nyah, nyah, nyah. Told you so, told you so:
Hey, let's keep score. It's one oddball against Newt Gingrich:
THEREFORE, I AM OFFERING NEWT GINGRICH ONE MILLION DOLLARS TO DROP OUT OF THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE FOR THE SAKE OF THE NATION.
Sunshine Review is a group that, among other things, grades governments on transparency, comparing what's available on their websites to what should be provided. Here's the good, the bad and the ugly from its latest report:
Today's "well, duh" story:
Until this weekend, I had kept my vow -- announced here a few years ago -- to give up on following IU basketball. I decided to take a look at the Indiana-Kentucky game, though, because it's a long rivalry between two states that are both dear to my heart. Boy, did I pick a good game to come back for, or what? IU's buzzer-beater, 1-point victory over the nation's top-ranked team was as exciting as anythin I've seen in the past couple of years.
But, hey, let's not get carried away:
There are a lot of qualities the governor should look for in a replacement for Chief Justice Randall Shepard on the Indiana Supreme Court. But The Journal Gazette seems to care only about one of them:
Commission members and the governor all need to realize that diversity on the court is crucial and that Indiana's status as one of just two states with no female justices is an embarrassment, with both practical and symbolic repercussions.
This is just a general observation, so please don't take it as an endorsement of Mitt Romney, or even a defense of him. The reaction to his "$10,000 bet" offer to Rick Perry has been just plain stupid:
The other longer-term danger for Romney in the $10,000 bet is that it reinforces a narrative already swirling in the political world: that his wealth makes him out of touch with the economic concerns of average folks.
Most political observers say the GOP field is set by now. But what if it really isn't?
If you've been anxious about your farm dust, sorry, but it's still, er, up in he air. The House yesterday approved legislation aimed at curbing "EPA overreach" by forbidding the agency to issue any new rule governing "coarse particulate matter," or "nuisance dust." But the Senate is not likely to consider the Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act, and President Obama has said he would veto it anyway. This is interesting:
This is supposedly a business-friendly state, but we could do better. According to the Small Business Survival Index 2011, Indiana ranks 20th when it comes to policy environments for entrepreneurship. Next-door Ohio does better at 7th. Kentucky is 22nd, and Michigan comes in at 29. Illinois, predictably, is in the bottom 15 at No. 40. What does it take to make it to the top 15?
We'll have to wait and see if this is a wise decision or not:
Unlike Indiana's other major colleges, Ball State University isn't trying to buy up possible school Internet domains names using a new suffix meant for pornography sites.
[. . .]
Being a horse's ass seems to be a reflexive action for Alec Baldwin. Now he's gone and dragged Greyhound into his latest act of airline jerkness:
“There are many now who walk the aisles of an airplane with a whistle around their neck and a clipboard in their hands and they have made flying a Greyhound bus experience.” He then continued that he won't keep his phone on “when the 1950s gym teacher is on duty.”
A federal judge in Oregon has ruled that a Montana woman sued for defamation was not "a journalist" when she posted nasty comments about a lawyer in a bankruptcy case:
Regular readers will know of my ambivalence about the death penalty. There is much that is troubling about capital punishment, including the fact that it gives far more power to the state than any of us should be comfortable with. But some crimes are so depraved that nothing short of the ultimate punishment seems appropriate.
