Some people used to read tea leaves to predict the future. Not many people really brew tea that way in this country, so we must make do with sifting the coffee grounds:
Starbucks is a leading indicator for our broader economy.
Some people used to read tea leaves to predict the future. Not many people really brew tea that way in this country, so we must make do with sifting the coffee grounds:
Starbucks is a leading indicator for our broader economy.
Beggars are not rousted by police and run out of town in this country today. They don't go to the poorhouse. They don't go to jail. They go to court!
A class-action lawsuit that alleged that Indianapolis police were violating the rights of panhandlers has been squashed.
[. . .]
A group of four men claimed police shouldn't be able to prohibit them from asking for money on the street.
Golleee, people, these students today sure have some newfangled stuff!
As it stands now, South Bend students will have the opportunity to go to a high tech high school in the next few years. As the district develops its vision, neighboring districts may be a model.
"When you walk into a 6th grade classroom here, their computers are up.”
How do you survive as a not-quite conservative in a conservative state? You try to have it both ways so that you get headlines written about you that say, "Bayh cautiously praises stimulus bill":
"This is not perfect," he said. "I wanted more tax cuts and less spending.
What do you know? Me, too!
. . .he is a little uneasy at the price tag funded by borrowed dollars.
"In the long run, these deficits are damaging ... and they bother me," said Bayh.
Ouch. How would you like to be responsible for what has been called "one of the worst construction jobs in local history"? The 80-room Homewood Suites by Hilton Hotel at West Jefferson and I-69 was built on improperly prepared soil, so now it's only partly finished finished and sinking and tilting and ctracking. The situation creates a tough choice:
When you hear some politician stand up and say that the $787 billion stimulus bill will "create or save 75,000 jobs in Indiana," are you at least a little bit skeptical? You should be. My ex-editorial page colleague Bob Caylor did a little math and came up with something very curious about estimates of the bill's effects:
The estimates show a curious uniformity, given the widely varying unemployment rates and economic conditions among states and regions within states.
Let the revolution begin!
Indiana lost the world's tallest woman and the world's oldest woman, but, by God, we've still got the world's most married woman:
Wolfe has been married in front of judges and priests, in grand halls and living rooms. The bride wore a white taffeta gown. The bride wore a yellow, two-piece suit. The bride wore denim. She never wrote her own vows. And she always saw the end coming.
There's an intriguing article by Gary Kamiya at salon.com. If newspapers die, he writes, reporting dies and, along with it, our shared vision of life. The world will become a less-known and therefore more dangerous place. His suggested remedy:
The scum of the earth can always be counted on to be inventive:
Indiana State Police detectives at the Jasper Post report investigating a new scam that has caused several people to lose money.
With congressional committees ostentatiously flaying companies that accept bailouts then take lavish trips, "junkets" suddenly have a very bad name. Business representatives are now deathly afraid that someone, somewhere might think they occasionally have a good time. This is bad news for places like Las Vegas and Hawaii, but, apparently, very good news for Indianapolis:
So, the state allowed its two race tracks to add 2,000 slot machines each, essentially making them casinos as well as tracks, because the owners said they needed the revenue to keep the tracks and horse racing viable in the state. In return, they were supposed to pay $250 million each over two years and pay a graduated tax on revenue from the slots. But now they're in trouble, so let's change the rules:
Sometimes, I think we just fall into newspaperese without thinking about what we're writing:
MUNCIE -- A self-proclaimed white supremacist and Satan worshiper is now also a convicted felon.
Dmitriy V. Sklyarov, 20, of rural Muncie, has pleaded guilty to battery resulting in bodily injury, a Class D felony, filed after he was accused of biting a 9-year-old boy at least 13 times on the arms and legs last Oct. 8.
Well, Happy President's Day to you, too, for whatever that's worth.
Since trillion is apparently the new billion, I suppose we're going to have to learn how to grasp that scary number. This is an interesting use of time some people point to to make the comparison:
A million seconds is 12 days.
A billion seconds is 31 years.
A trillion seconds is 31,688 years.
Speaking of food, enjoy that hamburger while you can. If you don't become a vegetarian, you will likely be arrested and charred with Depraved Indifference to the Fate of the Planet:
When it comes to global warming, hamburgers are the Hummers of food, scientists say.
For the "silver lining in the dark recession cloud" file:
VALPARAISO, Ind. - Tough economic times are keeping more families home for home-cooked meals that save money and also bring the family together for the dinner hour, experts say.
[. . .]
I notice that, while the Democrats are busy repairing America's "damaged reputation" around the world because of George W. Bush's mean-spirited "our way or the highway" approach, they can't help but do a little furriner-bashing themselves when it comes to trade. President Obama (correctly) wanted the "Buy American" provision out of the stimulus but is leaving an allegedly watered-down version in.
Reason magazine online has a Personal Stimulus Generator, which you can fill out and thus stake your very own claim for some of the trillions of dollars soon to flow from Washington. I filled it out, and here's the result. If you don't want to read the whole thing (nobody in Congress has, after all), here's my part that was added:
wireless and broadband deployment grant programs
Barack Obama apparently isn't happy merely being the president. Now he has set his sights higher. He wants to be an urban planner:
