The Associated Press isn't being very helpful:
WARSAW, Ind. — A judge ruled Thursday that a 15-year-old boy and his 12-year-old friend should be tried for murder as adults in the shooting death of the older boy's stepfather, saying the state's juvenile court system wasn't equipped to handle such serious cases.
[. . .]
The Associated Press generally does not identify juveniles charged with crimes.
I guess my definitions of "authentic" and "life of truth" must differ a little from John Edwards' definitions, or at least from Rielle Hunter's:
Help him do what?" asked Oprah, speaking for us all.
"See his authentic self. Be more his authentic self so people could see who he really was," Rielle offered.
"And how were you planning on doing that?" asked Oprah.
Lordy, how time flies:
DEPENDING on which side you were on, Saigon either fell on April 30, 1975, or it was liberated. Inside Vietnam, the day is marked as Liberation Day — but outside, among the Vietnamese refugees, it is called Deep Resentment Day. (The resentment is not just over losing a war, but also a country.)
All those lives wasted, pledged to a promise we had no intention of keeping. "Deep resentment" hardly covers it.
One of the things I've disagreed with Mike Pence on is his support of a national shield law for journalists. Here's what I said last year:
Not everyone is on board with a new Navy policy (hey, don't blame me, the lousy pun was in the headline):
Despite concerns from critics over privacy, costs and the possibility of sexual activity, the Navy says it's ready, willing, able, and now ready to put women on submarines.
If we put that story together with this one,
The Mike Downs Political Center at IPFW has done Republican primary polling on both the U.S. Senate race and the 3rd District congressional race, and Dan at Angry White Boy is first with the news, as far as I can tell. In the 3rd, incumbent Mark Souder has 35 percent, followed by Bob Thomas at 29, Phil Troyer at 19 percent and Greg Dickman at 2 percent. Another 16 percent are undecided.
Come on, people, you can keep screwing up just like you always have, but leave the dogs out of it, OK? First, from Indianapolis, comes the story of an attack with a deadly weapon:
For the first time, prosecutors in Marion County are considering filing charges of assault with a deadly weapon - and the deadly weapon is a dog.
"I was robbed. I was jumped and bit by a dog," said Terri Henry, who was attacked Monday in the 3100 block of West Michigan.
[. . .]
No kidding:
They appear cute and cuddly, but the Department of Natural Resources says the raccoon is turning into a household problem in urban areas around the country and here locally.
[. . .]
That's because it's breeding season. Siri says female raccoons tear into attics to have their young, looking for just about any place to call home — like attics, chimneys and many other dark spaces.
This story sent me straight into full fuddy-duddy mode, shaking my head about the terrible state of things today (when compared to the golden age of my youth, naturally):
The chief of police for Indianapolis Public Schools said the district's plan to cut 20 officers will mean staff and students won't feel as safe.
[. . .]
Garner said he believes the loss will be felt across the district.
In the ruling allowing a white cross to stay on a stretch of Mojave Desert to honor the dead of World War I, Justice Kennedy made the point I was trying to get across in a recent post, and he said it much better:
The bottom line, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote, is that "the Constitution does not oblige government to avoid any public acknowledgment of religion's role in society."
If government demands for "green energy" keep clashing with government demands for "historic preservation," somebody's head's gonna explode. In Lunenburg, Novia Scotia, Charlie Farquharson wants to add solar panels when he replaces the roof of the 116-year-old house he bought six months ago. But the town won't let him because the house in an area known as Old Town, a heritage conservation district where a bylaw restricts the changes a homeowner can make.
This isn't going to be pretty or end well:
When reporting on a press release from the federal government (or anything else, for that mattter), should journalists focus on the good news or the bad news? Here's an example of each approach as two newspapers examine the same Centers for Disease Control report on smoking. Each paper includes the same basic information, but the emphasis is decidedly different.
From the Lafayette Journal Courier, here is the "good news" approach:
Today's checklist: 1) Put five pounds of pot in car, 2) Make sure car has no observable defects, 3) Be careful to observe all traffic laws and do nothing to arouse suspicion. Whoops!
Indiana State Police stopped a driver Monday night for a headlight violation and found five pounds of marijuana in the vehicle.
At 10:10 pm Monday night, Trooper Jay Anspach stopped a vehicle at the corner of Hillegas Road and Jefferson Boulevard.
A few years ago, I saw an episode of some sitcom in which one character said to another, "Well. it looks like somebody is missing the prize in his Happy Meal." It was a pop-culture image thrown in to describe someone's glumness because the writer knew it was a reference most in the audience would get. And that's the problem, damn it!
"Think Again: The Internet" is a good read in Foreign Policy magazine which argues that the Web isn't as earth-shattering as it is cracked up to be. It hasn't ushered in a new era of freedom, political activism and perpetual peace and isn't likely to anytome soon:
Is Arizona's new immigration law an overreach that will invite abuse, if not take the state to apartheid-like actions or even a Nazi Germany atmosphere? Or does reaction to the law amount to hysterical ravings about a perfectly reasonable measure?
The case of Charles Andrews brings up an interesting legal question. He says he came up with the winning lottery number but lost out on the $11.5 million prize because a convenience store refused to sell him a ticket with a few minutes left before the state-mandated 10:40 p.m. sales cutoff time. So he's suing the store for that amount and unspecified punitive damages.
Many of us will be watching the 3rd District representative race and the U.S. Senate race in the Republican primary to see how strong the anti-incumbent mood is and how much influence the tea party movement will have.
Oh, sure, this is a much better solution than letting law-abiding citizens arm themselves:
