Anybody who's ever followed a sports team has probably given in at least once or twice to the Evil Ref Syndrome. It always seems -- especially in close games -- that those rotten officials are calling us for fouls we never committed and letting the other side get away with murder! Why, somebody must be paying them off or something! Usually, this is all good, clean fun, emotions getting away from us in the heat of vicarious battle.
Here's a solution that is far worse than the problem:
Newspapers perform a public service for democracy and should be allowed to operate as tax-exempt non-profits, U.S. Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D.-Md., proposed Tuesday.
I was pretty sure I wasn't going to like the Journal Gazette's editorial called "A community's loss" right from the opening, when it quoted FDR's admonition for everybody to "remember always that all of use . . . are descended from immigrants and revolutionists." What else could this be but another JG effort to urge disobeying the law if it involves illegal immigrants? Sure enough -- this is the first paragraph:
This ban would cross the line, wouldn't it?
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Monroe County Board of Health is considering a proposal to prohibit smoking in vehicles carrying children.
[. . .]
Caudill says children are a "vulnerable population" who may not be able to avoid secondhand smoke.
Yeah, sure wouldn't want a toublemaking bully like him at any of my peace conferences:
Mississippi, smarter than Indiana?
Among the bills signed into law by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour on Friday is House Bill 1568, which bans the use of cameras to catch motorists running red lights.
The Day The Earth Stood Still, real-life version:
On March 28, if the lights go off in your Cape Town hotel or, close to home, a Seattle hotel restaurant switches to candles, do not be alarmed. It's not an electrical-grid meltdown but a global show of support.
During Earth Hour, citizens of the world are asked to turn off their power for one hour, starting at 8:30 p.m. local time, in a symbolic stance against global warming.
Sounds good to me:
You wouldn't know it from the headlines, but it's crunch time on health-care reform. In a series of high-level meetings at the White House and on Capitol Hill, critical decisions are being made that will help decide whether the comprehensive health reform that has eluded policymakers for decades finally comes to fruition -- and what the system will look like for decades.
[. . .]
Politicians are so seldom guided by common sense that it's worth calling attention to when it happens. Because of community opposition, among other reasons, Fort Wayne officials have withdrawn their support for the $9-million rent-to-own project at Renaissance Pointe:
It's hard to disagree with either side in the 2-1 ruling by the Indiana Court of Appeals, which held that a casino wasn't obligated to protect a problem gambler who lost $125,000 in a single night. The judges in the majority noted that the gambler, Jenny Kephart, had not asked the casino to bar her, as she could have done:
And I thought I was a non-traditional student when I went to Ball State:
A reported gun theft ended in a police chase and five preliminary felony charges for a non-traditional Ball State University student who has already served prison time, according to police reports.
James Cleo Robertson Jr., 40, 701 W. Jackson St., Apt. 501; remained in Delaware County Jail on a $32,500 bond as of Thursday afternoon, according to jail officials.
I hate to bring up pigs again -- remember the whole pit bull vs. hockey mom and "lipstick on a pig" fiasco? -- but an old saying needs repeating: Never wrestle with a pig; you both get dirty, but the pig likes it. A variation might be: Don't try to tell jokes with a comedian. You both might get laughs while lapsing into bad taste, but only the comedian will get away with it. That's about all there really is to say about President Obama's Special Olympics joke on The Tonight Show.
Hey you, get those flowers out of the back yard! Are you trying to destroy the Earth?
Is planting azaleas in Dallas now politically incorrect? The favorite flowering shrub of Turtle Creek and Highland Park vistas will not tolerate our native clay soil. They need water to get them through a Dallas summer, even when the region is not suffering a drought.
What? The federal government loses track of the money it dispenses? No one in Washington realized that? Must have been an, um, oversight:
Tracking the spending from the $787 billion economic stimulus package is proving difficult because of shortcomings in the available data, the chairman of the stimulus act oversight board said today.
Hey, I nominate me!
Know a family whose lives could be changed by a new house? They might be in line for the next best thing
We do love our basketball coaches in Indiana, but this seems a bit much:
Elkhart police gave a high school boys basketball coach a lift to a game in Michigan City after he bonded out of jail following an arrest on a charge of driving while intoxicated.
OK, I was one of the biggest nerd-geeks ever in high school, and I've been a fan of all the "Star Trek" TV shows, including "Voyager" (mostly for Seven of Nine, admittedly) and even the mostly forgotten "Deep Space Nine." But this is kinda creepy:
Don't go getting your bongs from under the basement stairs just yet, but . . .
Attorney General Eric Holder has signaled a change in policy on medical marijuana.
People go into therapy because they don't know who they are or are having trouble facing who they are. So why would we find a psychotherapist among the Amish, who are about as comfortable in their own skins as any group in America? Well, we learn, in this fascinating National Public Radio story, some of the kids who go on Rumspringa adventures, sampling the outside world before settling into Amish life, get into trouble with the police and have to go into court-ordered counseling.
