Politics and other nightmares

Golllleee, Ange, them Mormons ain't strange a'tall. Why, they're just as normal as us regular folks!

A Gary Post-Tribune columnist is a little testy overy Mitch Daniels' "I would never, ever in a million, zillion years run for president even if my life depended on it, unless I change my mind" mixed signals:

 I tell you, Mitch, every time someone asks you whether you are going to run for president, you leave the door cracked just a little bit wider.

[. . .]

I'm guessing there will be a mixed reaction from conservatives on this:

SOUTH BEND — Republican Sen. Richard Lugar said Wednesday that he plans on seeking a seventh term in 2012 in a bid that would extend his run as the longest-serving U.S. senator in Indiana history.

After speaking about world affairs and taking questions during a luncheon at The Summit Club, a private dining club in South Bend, the 78-year-old Lugar said he will run again, though he has not formally announced his candidacy.

It's August, which means its time for governments to try "to buy off voters with their own money."

It's an annual ritual known as the sales tax holiday, which lets consumers make certain government-approved purchases without remitting the usual levy to the Department of Revenue . . . The gimmick usually is deployed this time of year so that parents can save on school supplies and clothing.

[. . .]

Wow -- wonder how she's gonna word that on her resume:

EVANSVILLE — A judge agreed Wednesday to push back the trial date of former Knight Township Trustee Linda K. Durham so she could look for work.

Durham, 31, was to go on trial Monday on charges of theft and official misconduct.

There was a big dogfighting bust in Indianapolis over the weekend, and that has led animal rights activists to renew their longstanding efforts to strengthen the state's animal fighting laws. Promoting or using animals for fights are felony charges. But attending the fights is a lesser offense:

Talk about a dilemma. When the left and the hard left get in a cat fight, for whom do I root?

A Democrat whose name was invoked by President Barack Obama's spokesman in an attack on the party's liberal wing says the White House doesn't understand deep public frustration over the troubled economy.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich tells ABC's "Good Morning America" that press secretary Robert Gibbs shouldn't have attacked the "professional left."

Hey, this ain't gonna be just a bar that serves food, you know, one of those joints where people wash down cheap, greasy grub with too much liquor, then throw up in the parking lot, pee on other people's cars and make so much noise the neighbors lose their minds. No sir, this will be a classy place:

Go, Meg, go:

Meg Whitman's plan to boost California's economy by cutting taxes and government regulations touched off debate Tuesday between liberal economists, who called it "deeply flawed" and potentially damaging to the state's economy, and conservatives who praised it as a "well-planned road map" to recovery.

Well, the Census Bureau reports that it will spend about $1.6 billion less than was budgetd to count us all this year. Woo hoo. How grateful are the starving supposed to be for this little crumb?

This works out to about 11 percent less than the $14.7 billion appropriated over 12 years for the 2010 count, and 22 percent less than budgeted for this year.

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