The New York Times does an analysis of the Supreme Court that starts out trying to be scary (if you're a liberal, anyway):
In those five years, the court not only moved to the right but also became the most conservative one in living memory, based on an analysis of four sets of political science data.
This is awful: Indians Slay Knights. How did it happen, and how many victims are there? How did Indians and Knights even get into the same era anyway? Was it bows-and-arrows against lances? No wonder the Indians won.
Oh, wait. It's a sports story. Never mind.
Some new buildings in Columbus are higher than the Bartholomew County Courthouse, which means people can look down into courtrooms, so they're spending $8,000 on tinted windows. Is this a legitimate expenditure or the wasting of taxpayer money on paranoid fears?
Commissioner Paul Franke said judges worried that those perches "gave too much of a full view" of the interiors of courtrooms on the courthouse's second and third floors.
The CBS Sunday Morning show had a fascinating piece on Willard Wigan, the sculptor from England who makes microscopic works that he places on t
The "Mayor's office may be too lavish" story keeps making the rounds. We had something on it a couple of weeks ago in which Councilman Tom Smith said he thought "the posh executive suite of the former Lincoln Nationl Corp.
(This is an expanded version of my column in Saturday's paper.)
The last time I had been to Highland Park Cemetery was four years ago, when we buried my mother there. The time before that was 1984, for my father. Fair to say I don't like cemeteries, I guess.
"Lost cause" department:
Tapes are making a comeback. Chunky and hissy, plastic in custom colors, with crafty artwork on tiny rectangle sleeves and custom-made “j-cards,'' they're finding a second life as the go-to medium for underground bands working on shoestring budgets. For a handful of fans, tapes are the perfect antidote for the information overload ignited by digital music and blown up by the iPod.
Lots of disagreement out there with my idea that, in voting to affirm Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court, Sen. Richard Lugar is playing by the old rules of civility, all but conceding the game to the people playing by the new, tougher rules. The Richmond Palladium-Item, for example, says those who would label Lugar a turncoat or a traitor "offer demonstrable proof of an electorate so rigidly partisan that they have helped to make governing an untenable task."
Those of us hoping to see a "wave election" in November that will start to rein in Washington's wretched excesses have to count on Republicans having specific plans and the will to work for them. Watching some of the GOP leaders stumble and fumble on TV in recent days, unable to detail a single thing they would cut despite repeated inquiries, was not comforting.
Time magazine is asking the wrong question in its headline:
Cap and Trade is Dead (Really, Truly, I'm Not Kidding). Who's to blame?
It should be: Whom do we thank?
This sounds like an admission of incompetence to me:
Indiana's human services agency says it found problems with IBM Corp.'s takeover of welfare intake services early in the project and suggested delays, but yielded to the company's wishes to expand the project.
[. . .]
Now that evil, selfish conservatives are being beaten back by the benevolent, kind-hearted liberals so the downtrodden unemployed can start getting checks again, I have a question: Where is that line between compassion and heartlessness?
A bill advancing in Congress that would restore unemployment benefits for millions of Americans could help about 80,000 Indiana residents who have been out of work more than six months.
[. . .]
Here's my nomination for a family that needs intervention and some strong counseling:
It's not illegal for people in Indiana to have monkeys as pets, but a Hamilton County family is defending their primate. Bobbi Phelan said the patas monkey is more than a pet, he's a member of the family.
[. . .]
Unilateral disarmament might bring peace, but it might not be the peace desired:
Sen. Richard Lugar on Wednesday became one of the first Republicans to back Elena Kagan's confirmation to the Supreme Court.
[. . .]
He believes that in most cases, Congress should defer to a president's preference in nominations to appointed positions.
[. . .]
Well, thank God for presidential parsimony. And here I thought government spending was out of control:
So, a leftist group posted some video maliciously edited to make the mostly white Tea Party appear racist. That was followed quickly by a righty blogger posting some video maliciously edited to make a black Agricultrue Department employee appear racist. All the race-baiters are represented now, and the expected camps are saying the predictable things about the usual suspects.
Before I forget, this month marks my fifth blogiversary. The stats page tells me this is my 7,299th post. Whew.
I was reading through some of the posts for that first month and came across my take on the Supreme Court confirmation hearings of John Roberts:
More than 1,500 picked up applications for 80 new hotel and restaurant jobs in Fort Wayne Tuesday and more people are applying today and tomorrow.
People waited up to three hours for a chance at the 60 full time and 20 part time positions at Fort Wayne's newest hotel and restaurant, Courtyard by Marriott and Champions Sports Restaurant.
[. . .]
The City Council voted 6-2, with one abstaining, against rezoning that would allow a Lassus Brothers gas station and convenience store at the corner of Bass and Hillegas roads. I'm more in agreement with the position of Councilwoman Karen Goldner than I am with that of Councilman Tom Smith:
A good example from South Bend of the anger that's been building in the public over politicians at all levels. The Tribune newspaper there did a story pointing out that County Council member Heath Weaver had attended only two meetings so far this year and only five in the last 10 months, racking up by far the worst attendance record of any council member. The reporter talked to the councilman, who said he would not resign because he would not "miss any more meetings." He then offered the usual excuse:
