This Indiana University professor doesn't think much of the democratic process:
"No matter how often President Obama pleads for it, bipartisanship has become a joke. So, while the two sides continue this ridiculous game, Rome -- read: the planet -- is burning."
So long to the Brooklyn accent:
The first thing theatergoers will notice about the revival of "A View of the Bridge," Arthur Miller's 1950s drama about a working-class Italian-American family in Red Hook, is that the characters are speaking a different language: Brooklynese. You got a problem with that!?
Indiana is a leader!
Indiana has about 6,000 public pedestrian and highway railroad grade crossings, which is more than all but four other states. Because of the high number of highway-rail conflict points, Indiana is consistently among the top states with the most railroad crossing crashes. During 2008, there were 139 highway-rail crashes in Indiana, resulting in 44 injuries and 19 fatalities.
I've figured out why the Colts lost the Super Bowl. It's amazingly simple when you think about it, and it all goes back to this one play:
The Saints coach made all the right moves, most notably calling for an onside kick to start the second half, depriving the Colts of the ball when Indianapolis had a 10-6 lead and changing the tone of the game.
An interesting discussion of an NPR piece on "why time seems to go faster as we age." I agree with this:
Put me down for the
The prospect of Dan Coats running against Evan Bayh is getting predictable hoots of derision from the lefty blogosphere. But there are some grumblings on the right, too, as in this post from redstate.com:
If the best the Republican Party of Indiana can do is retread old horses who put themselves out to the pasture to begin with, we're screwed.
Sometimes when I get mired in the relatively boring politics of northeast Indiana, I miss the gleeful graft and corruption practiced routinely in The Region. The latest case is from East Chicago, where Mayor George Pabey is accused of getting a little extra out of city employees:
Not so fast there, Mr. fast-taliking, this-is-one-in-a-million-animal pet salesman. I want to know where that dog has been:
Indiana lawmakers set their sights on puppy mills, with a new bill that would let you see what you're getting when you buy a pet. The Indiana House has approved the bill that would require retail pet stores to give the customer information about a pet's background before selling a dog or cat.
The statewide smoking ban won't pass this year. It got through the House, but the leader of the Senate says we're not ready for it yet:
But Senate President Pro Tem David Long, R-Fort Wayne, said Wednesday he expects the state will eventually adopt a ban.
“As you see more and more counties and cities passing smoking bans, the opportunity for a statewide ban increases and will gain momentum,” Long said.
[caption id="attachment_9849" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Mayor, Henry delcares, this weekend, a Go Blue Weekend."]
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If you wanted to disprove the contention that "Self-help gurus are charlatans and hucksers," you probably shouldn't use James Arthur Ray. He preaches that success can come to those who will it, and he gets people to pay good money to do things like sit in sweat lodges to benefit from the techniques "he searched out in the mountains of Peru and the jungles of the Amazon" so they can "gain strength and confidence by mastering physical discomfort."
The announcement that Dan Coats might take on Evan Bayh in U.S. Senate race is further evidence of the Scott Brown effect -- voter dissatisfaction with the Obama agenda re-energizing the Republican Party -- and it has conservatives in the state in a pretty good mood. As the Indianapolis Star notes, the mere announcement shifted the political landscape, with handicappers moving Bayh's race from a safe bet to "one to wach,"
But Coats has his baggage:
A lot of news outlets had the story of the New York woman busted for driving in the High Occupancy Vehicle lane with a well-dressed mannequin sitting beside her instead of the legally required live second passenger. But only the New York Post went the extra distance to come up with a clever headline: Driving for dummies.
Not exactly a trend to be glad about:
The latest index of economic freedom shows America falling fast, being ranked for the first time as "mostly free." We've fallen behind Canada, and it's look out below.
Our accelerating descent into a command-and-control economy with government pulling the strings is taking its toll.
Well, thank God:
Indianapolis - The NFL is changing the rules on where you can watch the Super Bowl this year.
In the past, the league threatened to sue churches and community centers that showed the game on big screens.
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Sometimes the cleverest remarks come from people who blurt out their frustrations at things not going their way. In an Indianapolis Star story on legislation still alive in the General Assembly at the halfway point of the session, a lawmaker who voted against a ban on texting while driving vents a little:
I guess I understand where John McCain is coming from in his opposition to repealing the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy for gays in the military:
In response, the Arizona senator declared himself "disappointed" in the testimony. "At this moment of immense hardship for our armed services, we should not be seeking to overturn the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy," McCain said bluntly, before describing it as "imperfect but effective."
Some brave Hoosiers volunteers are being sought to expand the boundaries of knowledge and bring a solution to some longtime sufferers:
The search is on for the "female Viagra," and it's happening right here in Indianapolis.
The Physicians Research Group is looking for 30 women with low libido to participate in a 24-week study of a pill designed to spark sexual desire.
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