On Monday, my sister lost her cat of many years, Milo, to failing kidneys. She's almost quit crying now. So now I read this story from Muncie:
During this time of the year, college town shelters, like the Muncie Animal Shelter, often see an increase in the number of pets being abandoned.
Today's Juxtaposition Workshop features two stories from today's wires. First, a matter of religious conviction:
A proposal to shield doctors and pharmacists from penalties for refusing to provide health services because of religious or moral objections won approval Tuesday from the Louisiana House, but only after the measure was rewritten to limit its scope.
The Obama administration is expanding a program initiated by President George W. Bush aimed at checking the immigration status of virtually every person booked into local jails. In four years, the measure could result in a tenfold increase in illegal immigrants who have been convicted of crimes and identified for deportation, current and former U.S. officials said.
Are Wal-Mart shoppers low-income fatsos? You might be surprised:
. . . the two free-market economists have been intrigued by the Wal-Mart debate and wanted to test some of the more common criticisms of the store. Generally, they've found that the worst fears about Wal-Mart are unfounded, and that the stores have a mostly positive impact on their communities.
All but two (31 of 33) of Indiana's Republican state senators are urging Sens. Lugar and Bayh to oppose the nomination of Indiana University law professor Dawn Johnsen for a senior position in the U.S. Department of Justice. It's hard to tell from news stories whether the senators are expressing a reasonable pro-life objection to a pro-choice candidate or being just this side of loony.
Unclear on the concept of city living:
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - When an Indianapolis family bought "Charlie" six months ago, the intention was to eat him for dinner. But while they were waiting for him to fatten up, they grew attached to him. But there is one large problem: Charlie is a one-year-old bull who's creating a stir in their far south side neighborhood.
[. . .]
Even if you stay home, not answering the phone, not opening the mail, not getting online, the scumbags will still find a way to try to get you:
The Fort Wayne police department is aware of a possible scam being performed in the area.
Not to date myself or anything, but I remember when kids were reluctant to go to summer camp because they didn't want to give up TVs and their record players. So this is my favorite story today, about how much more reluctant modern kids are, for the obvious reason:
President Obama said at Notre Dame that, since the views of the two camps in the abortion debare are "irreconcilable," we need to at least stop demonizing one another and reducing those with differing views to caricature. I was with him on that, but then he said:
"Open hearts. Open minds. Fair-minded words. It's a way of life that always has been the Notre Dame tradition."
Tomorrow's criminal geniuses get an early start on their brilliant life :
LAPORTE, Ind. - Northern Indiana police say a group of underage drinkers home from college threw a party at the wrong place -- right next door to the LaPorte County sheriff's house.
The Journal Gazette's Sunday Perspective section had a couple of pieces by people who, it could be argued, do not exactly have in mind the best interests of the people they are criticizing. First up is Tracy Warner, who says the local GOP won't succeed without its moderate wing:
Ah, the most heart-warming story I've seen all month. Two sisters, given up for adoption, finally meet after years -- and discover they hate each other:
I had expected to feel an instinctive bond, and straight away I was amazed to see we shared many mannerisms.
One of our readers (third letter) has an interesting (to say the least) view of traffic laws:
Any speed limit is a compromise between the appropriate speeds for good conditions and very bad conditions.
[. . .]
I would prefer that the police concentrate on obvious crimes, such as burglary, rather than strict enforcement of arbitrary regulations.
Gov. Daniels tells President Obama to take his cap-and-trade and shove it (politely, of course):
So, pennies are a waste and a nuisance, and we shoulbut put out a new one that has some Indiana connection, and it creates traffic jams in Lincoln County as nearly 3,000 people line up to get one.
It's probably too soon to make a big deal over what might be a statistical burp, but this is at least interesting. With the president -- and therefore the poltical establishment -- going one way on abortion, the country seems to be going the other way:
Our stimulus dollars at work:
A U.S. says she has received federal funding to study how children perceive various varieties of foreign-accented English.
Indiana University Assistant Professor Tessa Bent says the funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will help her and her colleagues determine how such accents might influence speech development in children.
Firehouse Subs says it plans to open as many as 28 stores in the Indianapolis area in the next seven years, but it may find the market is too saturated already:
Connecticut-based Subway Restaurants has more than 80 area locations, and Denver-based Quiznos and Cincinnati-based Penn Station each have about 20. Champaign, Ill.-based Jimmy John's has 14 and Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Blimpie has nine.
Well, a lot of us could have told the researchers this:
Any old Nigerian scammer can fool most people, but it takes an Irish college student to fool professional journalists:
