Politics and other nightmares

The Superior Court Judge race in which incumbent Ken Scheibenberger is being challenged by Wendy Davis and Lewis Griffin was one of the toughest endorsement editorials I've had to deal with in several years. For one thing, it's not the usual political contest we're used to writing about, in which the candidates have specific positions on specific issues. For another, the candidates are restrained by the Indiana Supreme Court in how they can campaign, a handicap not faced by candidates in other types of races.

There was an article in USA Today back in February noting that "destination branding" is back in vogue "as cities and states pursue image makeovers designed to help them stand out in the weak global economy." Somebody at the Goshen Chamber of Commerce seems to have read the piece or one like it and gone off the marketing deep end.

In a post last week, I said I would prefer gridlock over the "bipartisan approach" that "has led to the monstrosity we now have as the federal government." That moved regular commenter Doug to ask, "Voting third party then, are you?" I think the answer deserves a separate post instead of being just a reply in the comments thread.

City Council President Marty Bender, who will be at Tuesday's meeting following his release from the hospital, wants to pick and choose the effects of being a public official:

Bender, who was hospitalized in intensive care after becoming ill Oct. 13, said he returned home Wednesday. Although he's not sure what caused the illness, Bender said doctors believe it may have been a reaction to a flu shot.

Grrrr. When the stimulus package was being debated, Indiana's Richard Lugar displayed proper conservative outrage. He said it contained "massive spending for a wide variety of projects, some of which are completely unrelated to the immediate economic challenges before us" and that it would "make certain that our children will face hundreds of billions of dollars of additional debt," both of which are true But now that the package actually exists, he has a slightly different attitude:

I don't think they mean the same thing by American Dream as I do:

Just one in every four voters in 10 battleground House districts says the American Dream is “still there for everyone,” while four in 10 say the dream exists “only for some people,” according to The Hill 2010 Midterm Election Poll.??

Holy cow, the Tea Party has even infiltrated Cuba!

Cuba unveiled on Friday a new tax code it said was friendlier for small business, signaling authorities are serious about building a larger private sector within the state-dominated economy.

Way to go, Antonin! Get her to liking the feel of a good shotgun going off, and she might be salvageable:

According to two witnesses, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia took fellow Justice Elena Kagan out for a lesson in skeet shooting at his shooting club in Virginia last week.

[. . .]

Scalia was bending down in order to teach Kagan how to hold the shotgun, the witnesses say, and the pair were shooting skeet.

Wuz his biscuit a burnin'? Well, he would have been the last to know:

Not a great week for public broadcasting. First, Gwen Ifill of PBS joined the herd of "leftist dullards" who reflexively chided Sarah Palin for saying "party like it's 1773," when she obviously meant 1776, demonstrating it's more important to mock a rightwing exremist than to do a simple Google search on the date.