Florida officials are investigating an unemployment agency that spent public money to give 6,000 superhero capes to the jobless.
Workforce Central Florida spent more than $14,000 on the red capes as part of its "Cape-A-Bility Challenge" public relations campaign. The campaign featured a cartoon character, "Dr. Evil Unemployment," who needs to be vanquished.
The Muncie Star Press trots out the worst argument there is for mandatory motorcycle helmets:
It's a safety issue that supersedes personal freedom. An unhelmeted rider is likely to suffer a serious head injury, and those medical expenses contribute to soaring health premiums, which we all pay, and adds to Medicare. Often, those who suffer head injuries never fully recover.
Scott Priest, president of the Richmond Education Association, says teachers "were blindsided" by Richmond Community Schools Superintendent Allen Bourff's testimony before the Indiana Senate in support of legislation limiting collective bargaining to wages and benefits. Because:
Indiana Senate. Dominated by Republicans. Taxpayer friendly. Not.
The Indiana Senate has turned down a proposal from Governor Daniels to have automatic tax refunds when the economy is in good shape.
[. . .]
The provision was taken out of the state budget yesterday, with senators calling it a waste of money.
Seriously? Reporting was that bad last year?
The earthquake in Haiti and Gulf oil spill were among the most intensely covered stories of 2010, but none of that coverage was deemed worthy of a Pulitzer Prize for reporting. Journalism's most prestigious awards went to the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times, among others, but the awards were notable for the one prize no one won - basic breaking news.
If Atlas shrugs sooner rather than later, we can thank politics-of-envy columnists like E.J. Dionne:
A letter to the editor in the South Bend Tribune asks council members to do the impossible:
The cluster effect is fascinating. We don't hear about something for years and years, then suddenly there's a whole bunch of them in a very short time. The latest phenomenon to display the effect is the "night-shift air traffic controller falling asleep and endangering planeloads of people" story. How did that become a national catastrophe almost overnight?
In the current climate of red hot political rhetoric, with some people urging civil discourse one day and screaming at their opponents the next, it's refreshing to read this common sense take on "offense" by Dick Cavett:
President Obama is overly fond of the "false choice" rhetorical devise (see here), so it's approrpriate for somebody to spring one on him occasionally:
Tim Pawlenty endeared himself to enthused Republican activists here Thursday with an impassioned attack against President Barack Obama's rhetoric on the looming debt-ceiling fight, accusing him of misleading on the issue.
