Politics and other nightmares

Jimmy Carter, an even worse ex-president than president, has gone from being a disgrace to being a joke:

Cam and I talked about this a bit last night

The food police take down a dangerous criminal enterprise:

A yearlong sting operation, including aliases, a 5 a.m. surprise inspection and surreptitious purchases from an Amish farm in Pennsylvania, culminated in the federal government announcing this week that it has gone to court to stop Rainbow Acres Farm from selling its contraband to willing customers in the Washington area.

The product in question: unpasteurized milk.

Is Mitch Daniels this political season's Jimmy Carter?

Kathy Richardson is right -- the proposal would change the rules in the middle of the game:

The Indiana House is balking at a Senate plan to let Gov. Mitch Daniels appoint a replacement if Secretary of State Charlie White is found ineligible to be elected.

The Indianapolis Tea Party wanted the city to waive $450 in fees for bagging parking meters during an event. The Indianapolis Board of Public Works said no:

This is not a joke. Well, it is, but it wasn't meant to be:

The brutal crackdown by Syrian President Bashar Assad may finally be getting the attention of world leaders -- but apparently not enough to stop Syria from becoming the newest member of the U.N. Human Rights Council.

The law gone amok. In England, a pub singer was arrested for his choice of songs:

A PUB singer was arrested for alleged "racism" after belting out the chart hit Kung Fu Fighting as two Chinese people walked past.
One of them complained to cops, who later nicked stunned Simon Ledger - in a Chinese restaurant.

Simon, 34, often performs the song in Sandown, Isle of Wight. He said: "I hadn't even seen these two."

It's a completely defensible use of tax dollars to fund access to knowledge for all, regardless of income, which is the function libraries have traditionally served. But what about now, when their role has changed so drastically?

Michael Kinsley asks a very good question:

If the national debt doesn't matter, why do we have taxes at all? Why not just borrow the entire federal budget?

And if it does matter, start reducing it. If $1.6 trillion isn't the point at which deficits start to matter, he adds, where in the world is it?

A poll of likely Republican voters by the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics confirms the consensus that had been reached by political observers: In the GOP primary, it's essentially a two-person race for mayor: