Politics and other nightmares

The Supreme Court today will hear arguments in the case of the demented or evil (take your pick) Fred Phelps and his merry band of pranksters, who have graced Indiana among their visits to picket military funerals with their "God hates fags" and "Thank God for dead soldiers" signs. It is almost universally agreed among followers of all religious doctrines and across the political spectrum that the Westboro Baptist Church's actions are vile and despicable.

Project Vote Smar has a handy little website called VoteEasy that should help those who want to be informed voters. It sent out questionnaires to candidates to get their views on such issues as crime and abortion, the education and the economy and taxes -- 12 in all. But it didn't just print the results of those who answered the questions. For those who didn't respond, the Vote Smart people used everything from candidates' statements and stories about them to their voting records to discern their stands as best they could.

I'm guessing these will be about as useful as chastity pledges and "just say no to drugs" pledtes:

The state Department of Education is touting a new "parents pledge" it hopes will increase parent involvement in schools.

[. . .]

This seems a little, well, behind the times:

Students at Indiana University will build basement printing presses and print their own underground newspaper, learning from a legendary Polish journalist whose low-tech publishing innovations fueled the popular uprising that brought an end to Communist rule in Poland.

[. . .]

I did both a blog post and an editorial last week arguing that while it might have been a mistake in the new alcohol law to require carding everyone regardless of age, it might make sense just to leave it alone. The hassle created for old codgers and other regular customers is relatively insignificant, and there is a benefit in taking discretion from the store clerks and thus reducing the chance of mistakenly selling to minors.

The Indianapolis Star on Sunday published an editorial about how unfriendly to voters and the voting process the state is. We make it harder than most states for third-party candidates to get on the ballot. And we have a very narrow window for voting -- our 6 p.m. closing time for polls, for example, is one of the earliest in the nation.

A writer at The Nation Review's blog, The Corner, takes up the cause of congressional meddling in TV volume and lumps it in with the congressional ban of the incandescent light bulb and the federal government banning all-caps street signs and even dictating the font:

OK, gun-toters and other Second Amendment fans. How much of a one-issue voter are you? The NRA is endorsing Democrat Brad Ellsworth over Republican Dan Coats in the U.S. Senate race:

Coats voted for the Brady Bill, which requires a five-day waiting period for handgun purchases. He also voted in one instance in favor of a temporary semi-automatic weapons ban, though he ultimately voted against its final passage after the ban returned from conference committee.

Must be true what they say about gambling -- the house always wins. At least you couldn't disprove it by the Indiana Supreme Court:

A pair of Indiana Supreme Court decisions issued Thursday bolstered the right of Indiana casinos to ban card counters and rejected a problem gambler's effort to recover $125,000 in losses.

Just outrageous:

INDIANAPOLIS -- The owners of a cookie shop that has operated for more than two decades at the Indianapolis City Market could face eviction.

But it's the reason behind that possible eviction that is raising provocative questions that pit the rights and moral beliefs of a business owner against the obligation of the city to do all it can to prevent discrimination and encourage tolerance.