Would this be tempering justice with mercy, or would it be the worst use of presidential power since Bill Clinton commuted the sentences of the 16 members of the Puerto Rican FALN terrorist group?
The parents of "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh on Wednesday repeated their annual request to President George W. Bush to commute their son's 20-year prison sentence.
Is anybody else getting tired of the "Omigod, will be ready for digital TV?" hysteria? They've had those stupid crawls about it going across our screens for what seems like a year now. And last night, they did the unforgivable: pre-empted my "Jeopardy!" to do a half-hour special for all the morons who haven't gotten the message yet. By all means, Indianapolis Star, you jump in, too:
The Indiana Department of Workforce Development has released its list of the Hot 50 jobs in Indiana and, believe it or not, "newspaper journalist" did not make it. Probably something to do with the criteria:
To be selected for the list, a job had to be ranked in the top 200 in terms of both total growth (the numeric count of new jobs) and percent growth from 2006 to 2016, and the percent growth had to be above the statewide average of 9.9%.
They don't seem too concerned about the souring economy in Evansville:
An advisory board has recommended construction of a new 11,000-seat downtown arena to replace the city's 52-year-old Roberts Stadium.
Work on the project, estimated to cost between $117 million and $127 million, could begin by next summer and be completed by the summer of 2011, said Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel, who still needs final approval by the City Council.
Some parents commit child abuse when they name their children:
THE father of a toddler called Adolf Hitler Campbell says it is unfair that a store denied him a birthday cake with his child's name on it.
New Jersey man Heath Campbell, 35, has decorated his home with swastikas and says he is related to a member of the SS.
Those of us not of the Left -- we who inhabit the Center to the Right -- are suffering in varying degrees of discomfort these days. Somebody who is Not One Of Us will take over the White House, and we don't know how much he'll Change our world, just that we are definitely going to be yanked out of our Comfort zones. But even many who did vote for Obama seem to be unhappy, too. Does it turn out that Obama is not One Of Them, either?
People will be arguing about George Bush's politics for a long time. He's certainly not a conservative or a libertarian, but the fact that he has been identified more or less as such for eight years has greatly damaged the reputation of those two philosophies. He's really not a liberal, either. He calls himself a "compassionate conservative," but what does that make him? Not a populist, exactly, but:
Sen. William Proxmire and his Golden Fleece Award are gone, but we still have Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and his less poetically titled "worst cases of government waste":
Today's public service announcement -- How to know when it's time to leave the bar:
Whether at a house party or at your favorite bar, a timely departure is a beautiful thing. Conversely, staying a bit too long can often end in disaster.
A handy flowchart is provided that makes you answer questions such as "Do you have to wake up early?" and "Still have standards?" I really could have used something like this in my younger days -- stayed way too long way too often.
Have to admire this Christmas spirit:
It may seem odd, but a baby Jesus in a pickup has become a tradition in Lafayette.
"People won't let you quit," Jack Ruckel said Monday. "Every year they ask me if I will be back, and I am."
If you see a story indicating that the Supreme Court has once again added to the body of legal incoherence, you don't even have read it to know how the voting went: The usual 4-4 split, with Justice Anthony Kennedy jumping off the deep with the four liberals who wouldn't know a constituional principle if they tripped over it, which, come to think of it, they often do:
I like the mixed-use concept. It's an appealing idea to be able to live in an apartment in a building that also has things like retail space and a restaurant or bar. But I wouldn't spend $200,000 or $300,000 or whatever they're going to end up asking for a condo in Harrison Square. And I don't think I'll be relocating the proposed "Restaurant Row" on Superior Street, either:
Too bad, if it's true:
The daughter of Hollywood legend Peter Falk says her father is no longer competent to run his own life because he suffers from Alzheimer's disease and dementia,
Of all the old copt stuff on TV, "Columbo: is the best, due partly to the scripts but mostly to Falk's laid-back approach to the character, so often parodied.
Nothing like the real thing, though:
So, where was the Secret Service? Even if the agents were too surpsied to take a shoe for the president, shouldn't they have been ready for the second shoe? Or:
While the shoe was in the air, were you like, "Oh, its just a shoe."
This isn't very encouraging:
One of President-elect Barack Obama's top immigration advisers oversaw a Clinton-era program that awarded U.S. citizenship to thousands of convicted criminals and failed to conduct adequate FBI background checks on foreigners during a push to reduce a backlog of naturalization applications.
[. . .]
You know, having more than a week off would hurt most college basketball teams. The players would get rusty, the coordination would be lacking, even stamina might suffer. But such a layoff could actually help the current Indiana University team:
But for a team that has played 10 games in the last 28 days to open the season, including six games away from Assembly Hall, a break probably comes with a lot of positives.
We editorially urged Mayor Henry to veto the light-pollution amendment to the noise ordinance, and he didn't, so consider this sour grapes if you wish, but WHAT IN THE BLUE BLAZES was he thinking?! The mayor signed the ordinance, saying it's up to the City Council to decide what legislative action is appropriate for the community. Not that he didn't have reservations:
There are less than three weeks to go, so this may end up being my favorite story of the year:
A pair of gay penguins thrown out of their zoo colony for repeatedly stealing eggs have been given some of their own to look after following a protest by animal rights groups.
It's official. Members of the Electoral College are voting today, so Barack Obama really will be the president-elect. Of course, maybe you're like this guy and think we should just scrap the whole system so that the election is over and done with when the popular vote is counted:
