Amid the storms and power outages across the state this week, the Indiana Department of Transportation sends this reminder: Intersections with nonfunctioning traffic signals become four-way stops.
Indiana law says that after stopping, motorists may proceed with caution through those intersections. They also should yield the right of way to traffic within the intersection or so near that it presents an immediate hazard.
It gets harder to criticize our enemies when our allies are such jerks:
Judicial officials say a Saudi court has convicted four women and 11 men for mingling at a party and sentenced them to flogging and prison terms.
The men, who are between 30 and 40 years old, and three of the women, who are under the age of 30, were sentenced to an unspecified number of lashes and one or two year prison terms each.
We've arrived at the fifth anniversary of Kelo v. City of New London, the despicable case in which five of nine Supreme Court justices tried to effect the final dismantling of property rights in this country. The drug company Pfizer, beneficiary of other people''s property, never got around to using its ill-gotten gains for its planned facility, and the company even announced it was moving out of New London entirely. Some justice there, at least. And:
Gee, ya think?
The chairman of the Business Roundtable, an association of top corporate executives that has been President Obama's closest ally in the business community, accused the president and Democratic lawmakers Tuesday of creating an "increasingly hostile environment for investment and job creation."
An interesting look at the work of five-member Government Efficiency Group within the Indiana Office of Management and Budget, charged with finding ways to save the state money:
Inside a big state agency is a small group of people whose job it is to pinch pennies to save taxpayer dollars.
Hear, hear: Under an ordinance proposed by City Councilman Mitch Harper, R-4th, city government would have to post online a monthly report on its spending for goods and services.
If enacted, the measure would continue a tack toward compelling greater disclosure this council has pursued.
Juxtaposition of the day: On our home page, this is the top story,
GARY — The childhood hometown of Michael Jackson is planning a tribute Friday at his former house to mark the one-year anniversary of his death, and the mayor says his mother is among the people expected to attend.
and it's followed immediately by this one:
When it was reported a couple of months ago that two Martinsville police officers had been suspended over an incident in which a 10-year-old boy at a day care center was subdued with a stun gun, I did a post that was skeptical of the police actions. But now a special prosecutor and a grand jury have exonerated the officers, and their arguments that the officers acted appropriately are compelling:
I don't have much to say about this. It's just the kind of story you shouldn't let go unnoticed, that's all:
VALPARAISO -- A retired Chicago police officer was arrested at Lake of the Woods Nudist Colony after allegedly pushing a 66-year-old pool attendant to the ground.
Exciting news on the "So you think you have free will?" front. A new study shows that kids respond to sneaky sales pitches:
Popular cartoon characters are influencing the taste preferences of very young children, and not in a positive way, a new study suggests.
The latest from Chicago, the city that disarms its law-abiding citizens:
Eight people were killed in at least 44 others were shot across the city Friday night into early Monday, including a baby girl who suffered a graze wound to the neck when gunfire erupted at a Near West Side barbecue.
The brick-and-mortar sector isn't crumbling as quickly as we might think:
So what percentage of retail business in the United States would you say is done online? In my world, where people seem to be using their iPads to buy new Kindles, the answer feels like 90 percent, and certainly no lower than 60 percent. Maybe you run with a more old-school crowd, but the figure must be at least 20 percent, right?
Complicated trade issues made simple in Seymour, Ind., home of the last remaining American factory making the basic ironing board. Facing devastating competition from China, the company improved efficiency, automated what it could and got to the point where it could produce the basic unit for $7. But China could do them for $5. So the company sought and received tariffs that kept the Chinese boards off the market. But the basic question: Is this really good policy?
Anything strike you about the results of this research?
A new Ball State University study says text messaging has far eclipsed e-mail and instant messaging as college students' favored way of staying in touch.
The findings show that 97 percent of students now send and receive text messages, while only about a quarter of them use e-mail or instant messaging.
When it isn't trying to bring Arizona to its knees with an economic boycott over its law on illegal aliens, Bloomington spends a lot of time worrying about its own downtrodden. A task force wants to do a better job of providing year-round shelter for the city's homeless, and the definition of that condition is quite expansive:
I get a kick out of seeing all the "human signs" out in front of various businesses, like the guy with the "$5 pizza" sign at Clinton and Rudisill. The ones who dress up are especially interesting -- the tax place on Broadway sends out a Statue of Liberty or Uncle Sam to entice us in March and April, and there's a barbecue place on State that has even trotted out a pig now and then. These walking advertisements add a touch of eccentric whimsy to the otherwise boring urban landscape.
It is a common practice in editorials to overstate one's case and ignore any evidence to the contrary. Heaven knows I've engaged in this "preaching to the choir" thundering from time to time. But leave it to The New York Times to push the tactic as far as it can go:
Poor Nero. His name is now synonymous with people who occupy themselves with amusements while ignoring the crisis around them. But he allegedly "fiddled while Rome burned" in AD 64, and there was no such instrument as the fiddle until at least the 16th century:
Happy Father's Day a l early. Here are some recipes you might want to try for the big cookout (the blackberry barbecued ribs are intriguing). And below is a Father's Day column about "rampant nowism" I wrote back in 1991. I used a shortened and modified version for Saturday's editorial page, but I think the long version holds up pretty well 19 years later.
God hates fags! Er, flags. OK, both:
Chalk up another one on the list of random things the Westboro Baptist Church hates: Flags.
In honor of Flag Day, the WBC issued a (probably unintentionally) hilarious press release -- which came a day late, because evidently it takes a little while to write a song about how "They'll face the wrath of God for sure/Cuz they worshipped a filthy flag."
