Hoosier lore

Certainly, we all know that taxes influence the choices we make and that any change will have ripple effects. Still, it's dismaying sometimes to realize there are people who spend a lot of time thinking not just about what taxes to impose to raise a certain amount of money but also about using them to direct our lives in ways they think best:

The governor goes into a kindergarten class for a photo opportunity and gets cute with the kids:

Even in the pre-computer dark ages, writing a note at home didn't give students blanket protection against punishment. If we brought the note to school and passed it around and it said something like, "Mrs. So-an-So who teaches algebra ought to be met in the parking lot and beaten to within an inch of our life," too bad for us. We were out of there. That distinction still applies, which some of the "students have a First Amendment right" advocates don't seem to grasp:

Everyone says we need to do something about our overreliance on property taxes in Indiana, and it's sure to be on the agenda for the next session of the General Assembly. It's also clear that the system has been tinkered with so many times that it's difficult to understand, let alone argue that it's "fair" to various kinds of property owners in any meaningful sense. But probably there will be nothing quite this radical proposed:

Ed at work commutes every day from Marion, and he was almost in this wreck. His was one of the northbound cars that "managed to avoid" the semi that crossed the median, and he was pretty shaken up all day. Hearing about a close call is almost like seeing the accident, and it yanks you out of your complacency. Driving day after day, we tend not to think about the reality, which is that a horrible disaster is always just a blink away.

The news just keeps getting more and more depressing for print journalism:

Even prison inmates have their standards:

A man serving a life sentence for molesting and murdering a 10-year-old southern Indiana girl now carries a constant reminder of his crime - a scrawled tattoo of the young girl's name on his forehead.

OK, now we know. Both Baron Hill and Mike Sodrel stand foursquare in favor of the sanctity of marriage:

Those who know me personally know that I am a family man with deep religious convictions. Much has been said by my opponent, Mike Sodrel, about my beliefs concerning gay marriage, and I want to set the record straight.

How do you get rid of a guy who has become an embarrassment, especially if the opposition has been calling for his head and you don't want it to look like you're giving in? You accept his resignation and announce it along with a bunch of other position shuffling announced near mid-term.

Here are approval ratings for all 100 U.S. senators. Richard Lugar and Evan Bayh are in a three-way tie with Hillary Clinton for 24th place at a net rating (favorables minus unfavorables) of 29 percent. Interesting.