Gov. Daniels isn't going to follow the example of some Republican governors and simply refuse at least part of the federal stimulus package:
Daniels went on to say that he didn't want to get wrapped up in the partisan bashing of the $787 billion package, saying his job simply was to find ways to best use the money to benefit the state. Still, he said he understood the critics' positions.
I'm so sorry I've been so negative about the stimulus package. If I'd known about the brilliant strategy being considered to implement it, I'd have been on board long ago:
President Obama has turned to his own vice president to oversee implementation of the $787 billion economic stimulus package, part of which will be available this week for state Medicaid programs.
Is there really such a thing as "hot news" anymore?
For the well, duh file:
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The nation's deepening recession has boosted business at Indiana's pawn shops as people shed possessions -- particularly electronics -- for cash to pay bills.
Ace Pawn Shop manager Chris Banul said business is up and he's seeing more high-end items brought to the Bloomington shop for collateral, or sold outright, as the economy has worsened.
If you're really, really bored, and want to do something useful, you can go to Bloomington, where you will get on a bus and be transported to Washington, D.C., for the express purpose of committing civil disobedience and getting arrested to save the environment!
The target of the Capitol Climate Action is the Capitol Power Plant, a government-owned coal-fired plant that produces the electricity for the Capitol, which is the home of Congress, and surrounding buildings.
We can't let Illinois politicians have all the headline-grabbing fun:
These two stories were in the same edition of the Muncie Star Press, so maybe somebody there will make the connection. First, a statement of the problem:
When asked What Muncie Needs, some officials and business people said improvements to Muncie's image -- both physical and abstract -- are definitely a priority.
Then, perhaps, an illustration of the problem:
A prominent Republican comes to the right conclusion about Cuba, and it happens to be Richard Lugar:
Finally, a state that's more stubborn than Indiana:
New Hampshire lawmakers are voting on a bill that would require all adults to wear seat belts and fine those who don't, but not everyone's happy about that.
Live Free Or Wear Seat Belts?
Oh, this is rich:
Speaking in the East Room of the White House to more than 70 mayors, President Obama cautioned them about wasteful spending.
"I want to be clear about this: we cannot tolerate business as usual, not in Washington, not in our State Capitols, not in America's cities and towns," he said. "We will use the new tools that the Recovery Act gives us to watch the taxpayers' money with more rigor and transparency than ever."
Even on a slow news day -- which we haven't had a hell of a lot of lately -- this would be a pretty silly story:
Common sense from Michael Kinsley:
But even if the stimulus is a magnificent success, the money still has to be paid back. The plan of record apparently is that we keep borrowing, spending and stimulating, faster and faster, until suddenly, on some signal from heaven or Timothy Geithner, we all stop spending and start saving in recordbreaking amounts. Oh sure, that will work.
One of Gov. Daniels' pet projects, the elimination of township government, is all but dead in this session of the General Assembly, and Sen. Connie Lawson, who led the fight on the governor's behalf, has an explanation:
Lawson blamed the defeat in large part on a lack of political will.
If you're still having trouble grasping how much $787 billion is, here's a nifty rundown on some of "What the stimulus package could buy." It could, for example, pay every U.S. elementary school teacher's salary for 11 years. Or it could buy more than 45 million Pontiac G5s. This is my favorite:
Over 19.6 billion digital TV converter box coupons
This gets my nomination for oddest story of the year so far:
CROWN POINT, Ind. — A Chicago man has been convicted of attacking his wife on their honeymoon in Indiana after she refused his demand for a specific sex act.
Oh, no, something strange is happening to me. I feel like I must have sinned, but only against myself. Have I been this way before, I wonder? As long as I stay with members of my own group caste, I think everything will be fine. What will -- Dear God! get that hamburger away from me!
Newspapers periodically try to show they're still relevant to kids by doing these cute features on the slang being used these days. The stories are pretty pathetic, because the slang has usually changed by the time the story hits the streets, and who should really give a rip about ever-changing ways of saying the same old things? Now, somebody has finally done a slang dictionary that deserved to be done:
Rep. Mike Pence, who has stayed about as true to conservative principles as anyone in washington, is dropping by later today. Maybe I'll ask him about this:
Republicans are preparing to pounce on any wasteful spending in the $787 billion stimulus package as they refocus their criticisms of a measure whose success could hurt their 2010 election prospects.
[. . .]
Looks like America's effort to pump self-esteem into its young people has, unfortunately, been all too successful:
Maybe you haven't heard yet, but World War II is over. The honorable military members merely doing their duty as they saw it for the misguided emperor of Japan finally saw the error of their ways and lay down their arms. Of course, the way they told it then was, "Japs Surrender." But we don't talk like that these days, and we don't like to be reminded that anybody ever did:
