Politics and other nightmares

It's good on principle to give people a second chance, especially if they've demonstrated genuine remorse and a willingness to learn and grow. Still, there's something off-putting about President Obama's championing of Michael Vick:

Columnist Robert Samuelson goes where politicians fear to tread. The solution to our national debt problem is obvious -- entitlements for baby boomers have to be cut:

What interesting timing. Just as Fort Wayne abandons its dumb proposal to create a city court to generate more revenue (at least for now), another Indiana municipality goes in the right direction:

Clarksville Town Council has scheduled two special meetings this week to discuss the possibility of eliminating the town's court.

Mitch Daniels has gone from saying he's really, really not interested in running for president but will keep the door open to "I'll run if nobody else says what needs to be said."

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels said he will be looking to see whether 2012 presidential candidates are adequately addressing the nation's ballooning debt as he decides whether to enter the race for the Republican nomination.

Typical government thinking:

BRIDGEWATER —  A Somerset County town spent more than $17,000 defending a $5 fee it charged a resident for a compact disc of a council meeting.

Tom Coulter filed a complaint with the New Jersey Government Record Council in October 2008, saying he should pay the actual cost of the CD to get the recording.

Wishful thinking do-gooders love gun buybacks, deluding themselves into thinking the cause of public safety is somwhow being served when good people turn in their guns and bad people keep theirs. Now they've gone to the next logical step of indoctrinating our children with their delusion:

There are two competing engines for the Joint Strike Fighter. Congress spent $465 million just in 2010 on one of them, the F136, and, if the program isn't halted, it will spend between $1.9 billion and $2.9 billion more in the next six years on it. U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates says the F136 isn't needed, and Preisdent Obama has said he will veto any legislation containing funding for the engine.

Best idea I've heard lately:

Gov. Daniels has spent a lot of time and energy in the last couple of years getting the message out that every department in the state had to make sacrifices to see us through the fiscal emergency. So this doesn't make any sense:

State employees got some happy holiday news Tuesday: After a two-year pay freeze, Gov. Mitch Daniels decided that most of them will get raises next year.

When three related things happen close together, it's worth considering the possiblity that we may have spotted the next trend.