Welcome to hope and change, a world where politics as usual will be banished:
Welcome to hope and change, a world where politics as usual will be banished:
It's nice to have the All-America City bragging rights again, but I'm more impressed with Valparaiso's being named the state's 2009 Community of the Year by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce. The award reflects Valpo's economic growth and financial stability at a time when most other cities are falling apart. Public investment of $40 million has been topped by almost $700 million in private investment, which created 1,500 to 2,000 jobs. City government has a $2.6 million rainy day fund:
Rep. Joe Donnelly told people at his recent town hall meeting that the current health care system must change because otherwise Medicare will go broke. Granted. But he went on to say that:
. . . legislation should cover people with pre-existing conditions and provide benefits to small and medium-sized businesses while not increasing the national debt.
How, for God's sake, can we cover more people and provide more benefits while not increasing the national debt? And they accuse oppoents of exaggeration.
The federal government's delusion optimism knows no limits:
GARY, Ind. - Sen. Evan Bayh says the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has established a "Gary Project" that will try to turn the gritty lakefront city into a national model for urban revitalization.
I neglected to mention an important observance yesterday:
Cost of Government Day (COGD) is the date of the calendar year on which the average American worker has earned enough gross income to pay off his or her share of the spending and regulatory burden imposed by government at the federal, state and local levels.
Defense lawyers know it is risky to put the accused on the stand and many often recommend against it. Eugene Echols, 44, of Indianapolis, is Exhibit A. He admitted that he performed oral sex on a 5-year-old child and even told police what he did was "not right." But he apparently thought he could get the jury's sympathy with an explanation of his actions:
“My intention was not to harm or hurt.”
[. . .]
I'm sure what the value of this report is except maybe as a call for action to agencies that probably already know their own missions in addressing some of the problems identified:
A new report on the biggest threats to the health and well-being of Indiana's adolescents says the state's public health system needs to do a better job helping young people avoid unhealthy habits that can last a lifetime.
[. . .]
Gov. Mitch Daniels sat down with WANE-TV last month and said it should be up to the people of Fort Wayne whether to pursue expanded gambling here. Then he was asked if he would sign off on a referendum for such gambling if it came to his desk during a legislative session, and he said:
Good old Hoosier family values:
Here's a tip for would-be marijuana cultivators.
Don't display your plants in the open windows of houses visible from heavily traveled streets.
Winchester residents Glenn E. Younker, 51, and his son, Jeremiah J. Younker, 26, were arrested Saturday after city police saw marijuana plants, some of them as high as five feet tall, "in plain view" through a second-story window of their apartment in the 500 block of North Main Street.
Most of us can't afford to advertise ourselves by securing the naming rights for something as big as a sports stadium. But what about something a little more modest? Thanks to the budget troubles of cities like Indianapolis, we may finally have our shot:
Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard's administration is looking into whether selling naming rights and other forms of advertising might help the city make needed infrastructure improvements.
[. . .]
Tony Dungy is a trusting soul:
It might be time to give fallen NFL star Michael Vick a second chance, says Tony Dungy, former coach of the Indianapolis Colts. Dungy has been giving Vick advice about his future since he paid a visit to the former quarterback in prison.
[. . .]
I don't know whether we should be hopeful or worried that, according to The New York Times, Indiana's two senators are "considered fence sitters" on major climate change legislation moving through Congress. The analysis even goes so far as to say that their votes "could be the deciding factors, and obtaining those votes will be challenging."
My brother the software designer was the first one to tell me this truism from the programming world: If you computerize a mess, all you get is a faster mess. That sounds like what happened with Indiana's attempt to outsource its FSSA claims, as described in this spanking of the state in The Wall Street Journal:
Some of us have been afraid that the health care fight forced the Obama administration to use up all the possible name-calling epithets for opponents. But those folks have a really big thesaurus, and they'll make good use of it in the upcoming "immigration reform" debates:
Rep. Baron Hill is another Indiana Democrat who is ducking town hall meetings because of all those mean, nasty constiuents who really want to turn them into, you know, town hall meetings in which there is a boisterous exchange of opinion. Instead, he is having "unannounced meetings," and he is getting some grief for his explanation:
American chess thugs, who are having one of their gang meetings in Indianapolis, are apparently mad at each other. Four of the six-member governing board are trying to kick out the other two -- married couple Susan Polgar and Paul Truong -- and there are suits and counter-suits, and the whole thing is one big sordid, wonderful mess. This is apparently a mess years in the making:
Not in the running for Mother of the Year:
A Vincennes mother is facing charges for allegedly leaving her 2-year-old daughter alone at home early Sunday morning.
[. . .]
Authorities reportedly went to the tavern and paged Winters, at which time she ran out the back door. Police say she never returned home but was located later that morning in the 600 block of south 13th Street.
They seem to have either their music or their history or both mixed up in Lafayette. A bunch of latter-day pseudo-freaks had a music festival:
LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - Downtown Lafayette was overtaken by hundreds of people in tie-dye and bellbottoms, all celebrating a special Mosey Down Main Street.
[. . .]
An Indiana congressman who should decide whether he really wants to stay in the kitchen:
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Indiana Congressman Brad Ellsworth has dropped plans for public meetings in the coming weeks as rowdy health care protests over have disrupted sessions across the country.
Ellsworth says he decided to instead hold small private meetings with constituents to allow people to give him their opinions without being interrupted.
