It's bad enough that the federal government blackmails the state by threatening do withhold funds if we don't do things like have open container and seat belt laws. But this is patently absurd:
The Indiana Department of Transportation is trying to get a better handle on exactly how many billboards sit along the state's highways after a federal agency found problems in Indiana and threatened to withhold $90 million.
[. . .]
For the "It's a sick world" file. The Supreme Court is hearing arguments on an important First Amendment case involving graphic videos depicting pit bull fights and other acts of animal cruelty. One side said the challenged law in question is aimed at treating animal cruelty like child pornography, not entitled to constitutional protection. The other side says the government should not be able to punish anyone for making films that are not obscene, inflammatory or untruthful.
Another one bites the dust. Gourmet, the nation's oldest food magazine, has had a significant advertising decline and will stop publishing after the November edition:
I'm baaaack!
We may not lead the world in education, but at least we can be first in something:
DESPITE an increase in entertainment choices, watching television remains as popular as ever, according to data from the OECD's Communications Outlook report. American households watch the box for over eight hours a day on average, twice as long as anyone else.
Come to think of it,
First, they came after our toilets, and we said nothing . . .
There is a battle for America's behinds.
It is a fight over toilet paper: the kind that is blanket-fluffy and getting fluffier so fast that manufacturers are running out of synonyms for "soft" (Quilted Northern Ultra Plush is the first big brand to go three-ply and three-adjective).
Hey, don't leave all that food on the plate. Don't you know there are starving people in India?
Well, screw them. We have a better use for the scraps here:
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -
Purdue University students who pile too much food on their trays at Purdue's dining courts are helping the city of West Lafayette generate extra power.
Whoda thunk it?
This year, the deep pockets of New York's rich were tapped like never before. The state's wealthiest pay new higher income tax rates, higher taxes for limousines and yachts, more to enter a horse in a race and more to dabble in real estate.
Meanwhile, many are losing millions from the closing of business tax loopholes and those making over $1 million are losing tax deductions others get.
More than 19 percent of Wayne County residents over age 15 are divorced, according to new 2008 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. That's the highest percentage for any county with a population over 65,000 in the nation, and two other Indiana counties -- Floyd and Madison -- also made the top 10.
A little bit of irony here:
A Cloverdale man convicted in 1995 in Tippecanoe County for killing a 10-year-old boy is expected to be sentenced in November to life in prison without parole.
In exchange, the boy's parents agreed to stop seeking the death penalty during a scheduled retrial, after a federal appeals court overturned the original death sentence.
The Washington Post, sticking up for our poor, overworked legislators who just don't have time to read the bills they're voting on, seems to miss a rather large point:
A group of well-meaning professional activists -- and, so far, over nearly 60,000 online petitioners -- want members of Congress to sign a pledge never to vote on any bill unless they have read "every word" of it.
I'm not sure I agree with you a hundred percent on your police work there, Lou Garry: A sleazeball who runs a video store in Ashley us accused of taking upskirt photos of three female customers, including a 10-year-old girl, and all they're charging him with is a misdemeanor battery charge for brushing against the girl.
"We had had three different occasions where allegations were made," said Ashley Police Department Deputy Chief Garry Osborn.
You probably know that some panhandling can get pretty aggressive, and maybe you've even experienced some of it. This seems a little over the top, though, doesn't it?
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Police are looking for a suspect in a shooting in the parking lot of Lafayette Square Mall.
According to police, the victim was sitting in his car when he was approached by another man asking for money. When the man refused the other man shot him once in the abdomen.
I suspect some of my neighbors are among the 1,100 signers of this petition. I can't agree with them:
Some Waynedale residents are making sure that their voices are heard before a decision is made to close their post office on Old Trail Road.
The branch is on a list of 413 offices to be closed. Waynedale resident Billie Rykard collected nearly 1100 signatures from people who oppose the closings.
Please, please, please, use these coupons to save money at our store, but just come here and shop real soon, OK? Oh, wait. Everybody's using the coupons, and we're losing money. Put that coupon back in your pocket and get the heck out of here!
Sears has joined a growing list of companies forced to pull online coupon offers early due to a surge in popularity.
Today's candidate for crime of the century. Note the last line:
INDIANAPOLIS -- The arrest of an 85-year-old on a charge of public indecency has prompted police to take a closer look at the issue of prostitution along an eastside corridor.
Sometimes, you have to really pay attention to figure out what's going on. First, we see that The Rapture is upon us, and the beginning of the 7-year tribulation period will be any day now. The astronomical signs prove this 100 percent!! Next, we notice that a UFO has been sighted above Fort Wayne:
A judge in Indy who heard juvenile cases can now really relate to the youngsters:
Teens are warned every day not to text anything inappropriate, and definitely not while behind the wheel or in the classroom.
But it's a message that escaped a Marion County Juvenile Magistrate. She was fired for texting violations while hearing cases.
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Proud to be an American:
These days, American food is far more complicated and infinitely better. The U.S. has revolutionized its culinary culture over the last 40-odd years. No longer is it the developed world's worst food nation; in fact, it's perhaps the best. And it's largely thanks to the (currently disputed) genius of America's entrepreneurial capitalism.
