Politics and other nightmares

A Hoosier teacher wonders why Indiana bothered to set new standards requiring all potential teachers to major in their field of study and minor in education:

I love a good animal cliche:

Martha Coakley: A Democratic Canary in a Coalmine?

As a strong supporter of both the First and Second Amendments, I'm finding this a tough call. An Indiana House committee has approved a bill that would keep secret the names of people in a government database of those granted permits to carry guns:

The Dallas Morning News, apparently finally in touch with the political issues from 1970 or thereabouts, advises Texas GOP gubernatorial candidates Rick Perry, Kay Bailey Hutchison and Debra Medina to avoid "gender pitfalls" in their debate:

Something those of us with a libertarian bent should be careful of:

If you reflect only scorn for government, it's hard to get anyone who hasn't already drunk the Kool-Aid to take your opinions on the topic seriously.

This is not to disparage the argument that government is too large, for which the case is strong. But holding government in sneering contempt is a misinformed corruption of that sentiment.

Will the Think City electric car save Elkhart? The cars will cost "under $20,000" initially, but that's minus the battery (which will be leased) and including a $7,500 federal tax credit and other incentives. What will drivers get for the money? Test driver Jim Motavallli reports:

One argument used by opponents of putting the property tax caps into the state constitution is that stupid Hoosier voters will be unhappy when they realize what they actually asked for, i.e., they will suddenly stop getting services they want and need that property taxes once upon a time paid for. Then I suppose they will fall down on their knees and admit their shortsightedness while begging their kind and wise public servants to please, please, please raise their taxes again.

Republican Mike Sodrel has decided to enter Indiana's 9th District congressional race, so there'll be a fifth straight matchup between Sodrel and incumbent Democrat Baron Hill. Hill is up 3-1 in the first four races, and in his favor this time is the fact that President Obama carried Indiana for the first time since LBJ.

The Senate Corrections, Criminal and Civil Matters Committee has passed a bring-your-gun-to-work bill (SB 25), which would prevent employers from having policies that ban weapons from workplace property. The Indiana Chamber of Commerce, representing nearly 5,000 member companies with 800,000 workers, is urging defeat of the bill as a workplace-safety move:

One of the more intersting aspects of the Harry Reid case is how oddly anachronistic he sounded with "Negro dialect." He has let time pass him by, apparently unaware that Negro has gone from favored word to taboo word.