RIP, Borders. From a letter by the company president to employees:
The truth is that Borders has been facing headwinds for quite some time, including a rapidly changing book industry, eReader revolution, and turbulent economy. We put in a valiant fight, but regrettably in the end we weren't able to overcome these external forces.
[. . .]
The nanny state is alive and well in Philadelphia:
South Bend Tribune political columnist Jack Colwell doesn't think much of the Tea Party types who are saying mean things about Richard Lugar:
The TV attacks are paid for by the Club for Growth, a national conservative organization seeking to defeat Republicans it deems not sufficiently right-wing and replace them with more doctrinaire conservatives.
[. . .]
Reason magazine's blog reports that our nation's crack security forces are protecting us all from the scourge of rogue lemonade stands.
Police in Georgia have shut down a lemonade stand run by three girls trying to save up for a trip to a water park, saying they didn't have a business license or the required permits.
Here's an editorial from yesterday's Journal Gazette that I found especially unsatisfying. The great bulk of it is merely a rehashing of the recent news story about new studies showing that global climate change and bacteria are endangering Indiana beaches -- details piled on details. OK, I get it -- our beaches are getting hotter and diritier. What do you want me to do about it?
We don't get to that until the penultimate sentence, this lonely little exhortation:
The BBC has a profile of Carmel, Ind., calling it the "roundabout capital of America" (the mayor boasts of replacing 78 sets of traffic lights with roundabouts) and suggesting that America is well on the way to embracing "the free-floating British circular." This offends a writer for the Village Voice, who says this is like tryying to force the metric system on Americans:
This is just telling members of Congress what they want to hear:
Ratings agency Moody's on Monday suggested the United States should eliminate its statutory limit on government debt to reduce uncertainty among bond holders.
The United States is one of the few countries where Congress sets a ceiling on government debt, which creates "periodic uncertainty" over the government's ability to meet its obligations, Moody's said in a report.
Reaction to President Obama's "don't call my bluff" warning is today's proof that we live in parallel universes. First, Charles Krauthammer:
President Obama is demanding a big long-term budget deal. He won't sign anything less, he warns, asking, “If not now, when?”
So long, iTunes, hello Amazon:
I think government offices should file their financial documents on time. And it's reasonable to have stiff penalties for those that don't. But I'm not sure it would be wise to give so much power to a state agency full of bureaucrats:
The State Board of Accounts is considering a controversial rule that would allow the agency to remove public officials from office if they fail to provide legally required financial documents.
State Auditor Tim Berry said Indiana finished the fiscal year on June 30 with nearly $1.2 billion in the bank, more than 40 percent above last year's finish, when tax revenues were plunging and budget makers were worried that the state would run out of money this year.
[. . .]
But House Democratic Leader Pat Bauer said the surplus came at a cost and that the budget was balanced on the backs of schools and needy children.
A few days ago, the Christian Science Monitor had an article pointing out that the humble incandescent light bulb isn't really being "banned":
For one group of about 20 friends who were counting down the hours until the midnight showing of the latest and last Harry Potter film, the movie signified the end of an era.
"It's almost like watching your childhood come to an end because we all grew up with these characters," said Tabitha Bolling, 19, of Red Lion.
Guess it's time to grow up and "watch your adulthood" then, as shallow as it might be.
Government is going too far these days in trying to keep us from being annoyed by anybody in any way at any time (except, of course, when government is busy doing the annoying itself). We can now keep those pesky, pushy sales people and survey takers from calling us on the phone, and Indiana has even added a "Do not FAX" law. Now Jeffersonville is taking things a step further with a moratorimum on door-to-door sales:
Yeah, but she'll do until a real one comes along:
An Indianapolis mother accused of leaving her children in a hot car and then attacking a woman who stepped in to help made a mistake, but she isn't a monster, her family said Wednesday.
OK, Castle Doctrine fans, was this home defender an example of courage or foolhardiness?
EVANSVILLE — An East Riverside Drive resident interrupted a burglary at his home Wednesday morning and held a man in the house at gunpoint until police arrived.
Joseph Vallar, who lives at 1323 E. Riverside Drive, rushed home from work about 10 a.m. Wednesday when a neighbor alerted him that someone was inside his home.
Does anybody else think this particular play on word is getting tiresome?
"Carmageddon" is the name Los Angeles residents are giving the inevitable and likely epic traffic tie-up that will result when a 10-mile stretch of the 405 Freeway is closed for construction from Friday night to Monday morning between two of the nation's busiest interchanges.
Today's tips for controlling the situation.
No. 1 -- Telling the press about your coverup tends to defeat the purpose of the coverup:
State transportation secretary Jeffrey B. Mullan suspended the Big Dig's top engineer yesterday, less than a week after the engineer said that he and his colleagues were instructed years ago not to leave a paper trail documenting safety concerns within the tunnels.
Why did it suddenly become "pick on cats" season? According to a Mother Jones article, cats are helping destroy the Earth.
President Obama is having a "shoot the dog" moment, isn't he?
