Politics and other nightmares

I hope this Washington Post writer's interpretation is wrong. It's from a blog "with a liberal slant" (their description), so maybe I should take his analysis of a conservative politician with a grain of salt. A lot of us are hoping for a little more than politics as usual this election cycle, and this sounds like anything but:

I got busy yesterday and forgot to bring up and link to an Associated Press story in the Saturday Journal Gazette that irritated the hell out of me. It was basically a soft-pedaling of the country's growing debt and an aplogy for all the people who have contributed to it.

Did officials overreact by threatening a high school student with prison over what was essentially a prank?

The prospect that a high school prankster might spend years in prison over a blow-up sex doll drew national attention this summer to Rushville.

For the "It's never enough" file:

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A state lawmaker is worried the money the state made from the leasing of the Indiana Toll Road could run out sooner than expected.

Good riddance to bad rubbish, as they use to say:

The FCC gave the coup de grace to the fairness doctrine Monday as the commission axed more than 80 media industry rules.

A seventh person has died as the result of the outdoor stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair. Families of two of the victims have already sued. If all seven sued, that means the state would be out only $4.9 million, because we're one of the states that has aggressively tried to limit the proliferation of lawsuits:

Hoosier yokels display their complete lack of sophistication:

Residents of a west-central Indiana community are urging city officials to start enforcing curfews in the downtown area after a spate of graffiti incidents that have marred buildings, vehicles and homes.

Crawfordsville officials say the graffiti had been confined to alleys between buildings but has now hit a downtown plaza and personal property.

Wow, didn't see this one coming:

A new Indiana law that strips from ballots the names of candidates facing no election opponents has upset candidates, political parties and election officials who predict the blank spaces on ballots will confuse voters.

Bad news from the IRS for all you work-at-home types. Deducting your bathroom as a "home office" might not work:

If the economy doesn't improve, President Obama will be in re-election trouble, especially if he faces Mitt Romney or Rick Perry, two Republicans with executive experience who are stressing jobs as an issue. But some Republicans are still unhappy with the prospect of one of those two winning the nomination and are trying to persuade House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan to run. That could be a mistake. Ryan is the one person most associated with the fight to reduce the size of federal government, and that could give Obama a chance to change the focus of the campaign: