I thought Liz Brown was merely running for mayor. But I heard on WOWO this morning that she is actually throwing her hat into the ring. And Liz herself is even more explicit about her plans:
To really change the processes, to really cut spending, to really make this city business friendly, we need a leader who is willing to upset the apple cart a little bit.
Kevin Leininger has an interesting interview in today's paper with soon-to-depart Judge Kenneth Scheibenberger. The judge says he isn't mad because of his defeat by Wendy Davis, but:
. . . if Davis had campaigned against his record, he would have no complaint.
Today's "Well, duh" story:
If you've ever wondered why it's hard to stay on a diet, consider this observation from Ralph DiLeone, a brain scientist at Yale University: "The motivation to take cocaine in the case of a drug addict is probably engaging similar circuits that the motivation to eat is in a hungry person."
Finally, potty parity hits the U.S. House:
Incoming House Speaker John Boehner is tearing down the Parliamentarian's office to build female members of Congress a restroom.
It really is going to be a looooong session:
INDIANAPOLIS — The 117th session of the Indiana General Assembly doesn't open for business for another month, but the process of lawmaking is already under way. More than 900 requests for assistance have been submitted by state lawmakers to the Legislative Services Agency, the bill-drafting and research arm of the legislature.
Wow. News from NASA:
The space boffins have found a bacterium living in an arsenic lake near California's Yosemite National Park.
The finding is important because the bacterium uses arsenic in place of phosphorus - an element previously considered vital for all forms of life.
If there can be life without phosphorus then there are thousands more planets which could sustain life of some sort.
We can only hope:
Has the federal government's appetite for ethanol ended? A bipartisan group of Senators signed a letter today calling for an end to subsidies and tariffs designed to protect and enhance domestic production of ethanol, which has been until recently the darling of the alternative-energy movement.
Talk about the lame leading the halt:
President Jimmy Carter discussed foreign policy issues Tuesday with President Barack Obama's national security adviser, the Associated Press reported.
National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer said Carter talked with Tom Donilon about several policy matter.
Maybe I shouldn't be so snippy. They did both win a Nobel Peace Prize, after all.
Good luck with that:
A law on the books since 1969 requires Hoosiers to pay a use tax, which essentially is a state tax for any purchase where Indiana sales tax is not collected. Online retailers that do not have a physical presence in the state are not required to charge sales tax.
So Hoosiers who buy merchandise and aren't charged a tax must report that on their spring tax returns.
Juxtaposition of the day. From a California case:
A majority of the Supreme Court on Tuesday seemed prepared to uphold a court order that California reduce the population of its overcrowded prisons by more than 40,000 inmates, despite dire warnings that "people are going to die on the streets of California" if the release is approved.
As a commenter on another post noted, eight Republican senators, including Indiana's own Richard Lugar, joined most Democrats in voting down a plan to put a two-year moratorium on earmarks:
Udall, one of the proposal's co-sponsors, expressed disappointment with the vote and vowed to continue to fight earmarking.
Mike Pence, in giving up his House leadership role, made it obvious he was going to run for something. Now, it seems clear he is more interested in the White House than the governor's office. And in a major speech in Michigan, he gave signs of the economic themes that will likely inform his candidacy:
He outlined his economic vision, saying the U.S. needs to implement a flat tax, a spending limit amendment to the Constitution and other reforms designed to put the country's “fiscal house in order.”
The more the merrier:
Fort Wayne City Councilwoman Liz Brown will run for Fort Wayne mayor in 2011.
A well-informed and reliable source told NewsChannel 15 Monday evening that Brown's formal announcement will come Thursday at noon at Allen County Republican Headquarters.
Awwww. President Obama has announced a two-year pay freeze for federal workers, which would save $5 billion in two years and $28 billion in five. The poor babies aren't happy:
Since World War II, despite 30 major changes in the tax code, federal revenue as a percentage of GDP has hardly ever budged from just under 19 percent -- that's all the government can raise, period:
There may be a more depressing way to start the week than staying up past normal bedtime in order to watch your football team get the crap kicked out of it, but right now I can't think of one. This Indy Star writer has a pretty good handle on the bad season we could have (or should have) seen coming from a long way off:
So, you think Sen. Richard Lugar has become too much of a Washington insider, has strayed too far from conservative principles, is far too fond of government solutions, has become a comfortable part of the ruling elite? You think someone from the right should mount a serious challenge against him in the 2012 primary? Well, you bad, bad person, you despicable political animal, you detestable voter.
It just wouldn't be a normal Thanksgiving season without an insufferably pretentious food essay, and Newsweek comes through this year:
Steve Chapman of Reason magazine on why motorcycle helmets do not constitute a "public health issue," which is the argument being used by the National Transportation Safety Board in urging Congress to make them mandatory:
