Let's have a round of applause for National Ammo Day:
It is a nationwide BUYcott of ammunition. You buy ammunition. 100 Rounds a person.
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The goal of National Ammo Day is to empty the ammunition from the shelves of your local gun store, sporting goods, or hardware store and put that ammunition in the hands of law-abiding citizens. Make your support of the Second Amendment known--by voting with your dollars.
Remember Greg Townsend, the Decatur hothead who flew the American flag upside down outside his tire shop in protest of Barack Obama's win? He has come to the attention of James Taranto, who compiles Best of the Web for The Wall Street Journal. Tranto is not persuaded by Townsend's argument that he was flying a "distress signal" as described in statutes governing the flag:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBQyjrRgE4c]
Gary's police department is having budget problems and can't keep the same size force. So officers are turning on each other.
A group of city dwellers who filed a lawsuit demanding termination for all nonresidents will argue their case before Lake Circuit Court Judge Lorenzo Arredondo next month.
"It is a fact that Gary City Ordinance 5881 ... requires police officers to live within the corporate boundaries of the City of Gary or lose their employment," a court document states.
"Meh," the sound from "The Simpsons" signifying boredom, has been voted into the Collins English Dictionary, beating out hundreds of other new words such as "textovert" and "MIRF." My favorite among those that didn't make the cut:
Deja Moo:
THE feeling that you have heard this bull before.
If you don't like that choice, go ahead and give me a thumb lashing.
You may now keep God with you on your car trips, which, considering the skill and attentiveness level of Indiana drivers, is probably a good thing:
Hoosier drivers don't have to pay extra to sport In God We Trust license plates, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Monday.
Those of us inclined to see ominous portents in vague phrasing are a little worried about the meeting between President-elect Obama and the vanquished McCain:
. . . the two men issued a joint statement saying that they agreed “that Americans of all parties want and need their leaders to come together and change the bad habits of Washington so that we can solve the common and urgent challenges of our time.”
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Our editorial today remarks on the inevitability (though not necessarily the desirability) of a statewide public smoking ban, because of rather than in spite of the 36 counties or communities that already have smoke-free ordinances of some kind:
But the ironic truth is that the more local smoking ordinances there are, the more likely there will eventually be a statewide ban.
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From Wikipedia:
The saying "Do not drink the Kool-Aid" now commonly refers to the Jonestown tragedy, meaning "Do not trust any group you find to be a little on the kooky side," or "Whatever they tell you, do not believe it too strongly." Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly is known for using the term in this manner.
Having "drunk the Kool-Aid" also refers to being a strong or fervent believer in a particular philosophy or mission — wholeheartedly or blindly believing in its virtues.
You think times are tough for City Hall in Fort Wayne? Just imagine how they felt in LaPorte, which is so economically stressed that the city decided it couldn't hang Chrismas lights downtown this year. But then:
The mayor says local contractors Monday morning offered to fix the electrical receptacles for free and have been repairing the 30 to 40 that need to be repaired.
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We might not like the bailout of the Detroit Three, but we know it's necessary, don't we? It's impossible to make money building cars in America these days. Oh, wait:
With the domestic automotive industry teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, Monday's grand opening of Honda Motor Co.'s Civic assembly plant in Greensburg was a dream come true for this town of 12,000 and for a state that has been hit hard by manufacturing job losses similar to those faced by Michigan.
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You know, you just try to do what you can, make the best of a bad situation, then along comes The Man and shuts you down:
You'll be glad to know Indiana isn't being left behind in the great cultural battle of the moment:
SOUTH BEND — Every time a car honked, they cheered. A group of about 20 people stood at the corner of Main Street and Jefferson Boulevard in downtown South Bend on Saturday, waving signs in support of same-sex marriage.
Wow, 20 people -- that's some rally. Honk if you love gays, then let's go burn a Mormon church!
It's said that all Ronald Reagan had to do was convince the American people he was someone who could be trusted with the power of the presidency. Once he did that in the debate with Jimmy Carter, the election was over. Barack Obama obviously overcame that hurdle, too, or he wouldn't have won by nearly 7 percent. But his "ordinariness" especially came through during the "60 Minutes" interview. I saw last night what all those who voted for him saw.
By now, should be used to bad parents offering lame excuses for their failure and neglect. Still, some are so outrageous that we can't help but be repelled:
INDIANAPOLIS - A northern Indiana woman who left her 8-year-old son at a Nebraska hospital under that state's safe haven law says she did so because she doesn't trust Indiana's child welfare system.
Boy, couldn't see this one coming, huh?
Bankruptcy. Red ink. Painful shakeout.
Those terms, normally associated with old-line manufacturing, now are popping up to describe what was seen just three years ago as a sure bet for Indiana: high-tech ethanol plants.
Darn good question:
Should you keep paying your mortgage?
If you have significant equity in your home, absolutely.
If you don't, it's getting harder to answer that question, especially when our government keeps giving people who owe more than their homes are worth so many reasons not to pay.
What is it about James Dean? He came and went, phhht. And yet:
FAIRMOUNT — James Dean just won't go away. Even though the young movie actor died 53 years ago after making only three motion pictures, still the James Dean legend goes on and on.
Support continues to grow, slowly but steadily, to allow grocery and liquor stores to sell alcohol on Sunday. The Indianapolis Star and WTHR (Channel 13) recently commissioned a poll on the subject:
The poll showed 46 percent of Hoosiers support changing that law, while 45 percent favor keeping it. Nine percent were undecided.
That shows a slight change from two years ago, when a poll conducted by The Star found that 50 percent of Hoosiers favored the Sunday ban and 43 percent opposed it.
The Journal Gazette does a typical "life is tough in the shadows when you fear being rounded up any minute" heart-tugger:
Pilar can turn on her radio or television and hear Spanish broadcasts. At most specialty grocery stores or Mexican taquería , she can pick up a local Spanish-language newspaper.
