One piece of "this gun violence sprang from the climate of hate, so conservatives should shut up now" drivel sounds pretty much like another, so let's quote former Mayor Paul Helmke of the Brady campaign just to give a nod to a hometown boy trying to make his mark:
We also are deeply concerned about the heated political rhetoric that escalates debates and controversies, and sometimes makes it seem as if violence is an acceptable response to honest disagreements.
Sunday car sales aren't just proscribed by state legislation, they're criminalized. It's a Class B misdemeanor to buy or sell a car on Sunday:
State Sen. Phil Boots, R-Crawfordsville, is pushing legislation to eliminate the regulation, which he considers antiquated. Boots is also sponsoring a bill that would lift the ban on Sunday alcohol sales.
Top Illinois Democrats have agreed to push a plan that would temporarily boost income taxes by 75 percent and double cigarette taxes, Senate President John Cullerton said Thursday.
Illinois' personal income tax rate, now 3 percent, would climb to 5.25 percent for four years under the plan Cullerton outlined. After that, it would drop to 3.75 percent.
Big Brother is alive and well, and he will be surveiling in Lafayette:
By month's end, small, dome-covered cameras mounted on light posts could begin monitoring activity along three blocks of Second Street in downtown Lafayette.
"Statist" sometimes seems a more apt label than "liberal" or "progressive." Blind acceptance of whatever the government orders "for our own good" is the default position. Case in point, the forehead-smacking dumb editorial in this morning's Journal Gazette:
Question of the day for fiscal conservatives: Should Defense be immune from budget cuts? In defense of Defense, it's actually a constitutionally prescribed duty of the federal government, unlike a lot of the other nonsense that is funded these days. And keeping us safe from all the evil in the world is a complicated business, so the fear of cutting the wrong thing is justified. BUT. The cuts needed in government, especially i9n the short term, just can't be made without considering Defense:
Do you know as much about this nation and its history as naturalized citizens are required to know? Take the Naturalization Test to find out. You have to get 58 of the 92 multiple-choice questions to pass.
Purdue University pharmacology professor David Nichols makes chemicals similar to ecstasy and LSD so he can study how parts of the brain function. He publishes the works for other scientits, hoping the work will one day lead to treatments for things like depression and Parkinson's disease. And he has an ethical dilemma:
Because of Sen. Richard Lugar's votes on such issues as New START and the DREAM Act, his support for earmarks and his votes to confirm Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, he's certain to face a Tea Party challenge in the primary next year:
Hoping to head off a primary challenge from the right, Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Indiana, sat down with Tea Party leaders last month but did little to persuade them of his conservative credentials.
With most Salmonella outbreaks, I read the stories carefully to see what foods I need to be cautious about. Here's one I can completely ignore, though:
INDIANAPOLIS (WANE) - Indiana State Department of Health officials are acting on a advisory from the Food and Drug Administration regarding a Salmonella outbreak involving alfalfa sprouts.
[. . .]
Mitch Daniels talks to the New York Times about what a smaller government might look like:
State Rep. Tom Saunders is re-introducing a bill that would prohibit employees of city, county and town government from serving as elected officials within their local government.
[. . .]
Here's a real "which would you do?" dilemma:
A Texas man declared innocent Tuesday after 30 years in prison had at least two chances to make parole and be set free — if only he would admit he was a sex offender. But Cornelius Dupree Jr. refused to do so, doggedly maintaining his innocence in a 1979 rape and robbery, in the process serving more time for a crime he didn't commit than any other Texas inmate exonerated by DNA evidence.
Drew Stith of Wabash doesn't like the 5 Hour Energy drink, even though he works for Living Essentials, the company that makes it. His problem is that he said so on Facebook and even "liked" a page called "5 Hour Energy Sucks." He is just stunned that his company would think that's a big deal:
Stith said he made a post on the page about a month ago and then, last week, he got called into the main office.
A relative of Billy Ray Adams pleads for sympathy:
"Billy Ray made one stupid mistake, and it cost him his life."
Oh, puh-leeze:
President Barack Obama, while returning to Washington from a vacation in Hawaii, said Monday he hopes Republican leaders Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Rep. John Boehner of Ohio can put aside partisanship in the coming months to help lift the economy.
I hope Navy Capt. Owen Honors, who produced profanity- and-slur-laden videos while second in command of the USS Enterprise, isn't being relieved of command of the ship for the wrong reason -- a reaction to public pressure based on our goody-two-shoes culture. But he is in trouble and might deserve to be:
Erick Erickson, the editor of Red State, likes Mike Pence for the GOP presidential nomination:
Mayoral candidate Liz Brown wants to debate other Republican contenders (only Paula Hughes so far), and IPFW politics watcher Andy Downs downplays the significance of the possibility:
If you're tired of all those grim, earnest 2010 retrospectives, relax and enjoy Dave Barry's take on the Year in Review:
