Politics and other nightmares

I have mixed feelings about the bill winding its way through the General Assembly that would allow home-school students to play on the local high school sports teams. Our columnist Reggie Hayes makes the case against the idea, though reluctantly:

One and one for the day -- here's an editorial I agree with, on the reasonableness of "buy local" programs when they are voluntary, and their danger when they are government-imposed:

I don't know if the writer here is being deliberately dense, but the editorial sure seems to labor mightily to ignore a whole category of small-government arguments:

Oh, don't tease me like that:

The chances of a government shutdown are on the rise.

With less than three weeks to strike a deal before government funding for the year is scheduled to expire, Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill are moving in opposite directions.

That's known as hyperbole, so spare me the earnest explanations of why we need the federal g

For those still able to keep track without succumbing to the vapors:

President Obama projects that the gross federal debt will top $15 trillion this year, officially equalling the size of the entire U.S. economy, and will jump to nearly $21 trillion in five years' time.

Some of my fellow Hoosier veterans are mad as hell, etc., etc., over a legislative proposal that would end the guarantee of a full college scholarship for the children of Indiana's disabled veterans:

Since 1935, Indiana has guaranteed full payment of tuition and normal fees so that children of disabled or deceased veterans can attend college.

Mitch Daniels' speech at CPAC (transcript and video both), after which he gets praise for the "gravity of his message" and "lack of grandstanding":

He plates plenty of red meat about America's lurch towards socialism, but per Weigel, he stayed away from social issues and attacks on Obama to focus on fiscal catastrophe.

Ever since Newsweek called South Bend a dying city, the debate has been raging there. "We are not!" say civic leaders:

Economist Nelson Mark says population numbers are an unfair barometer of a city's economic success."

"Lets be clear.  The Newsweek article didn't address the economic environment at all.  They simply looked at populations numbers, which are a flawed indicator," Mark said.

Oh, God, please, no, say it isn't so:

Another European leader finally gets it: