This has been designated Suicide Prevention Week in Indiana, which means its time for the state to crank out a press release but not do much else. If this is the problem:
Indiana has a higher rate of suicide than the nation as a whole. In 2002, Indiana had 12.1 suicides per 100,000 people, compared with 11 suicides per 100,000 people nationally, the coalition says. In 2002, 743 Hoosiers died by suicide, according to the coalition's Web site.
Somehow, I let this get by me last week. I very pleased with the progress of the Daniels administration, as graded by Gov. Daniels himself in the latest of his six-months report cards:
Roughly 64 percent of the measured categories were defined in the report as needing improvement or unsatisfactory during the first six months of this year, compared with 73 percent in the previous six months. The report covering Daniels' first six months in office in 2005 rated 87 percent in those areas.
An interesting take from Britain's Guardian on why an Indiana popcorn business in the middle of Amish country ended up being a "terrorist target": It's all about the money:
Five years after the World Trade Centre fell, a highly lucrative industry has been born in America - homeland security. There has been a goldrush as companies scoop up government contracts and peddle products that they say are designed to make America safe.
One of the things I regret missing out on is the campus experience. I started college at IPFW, continuing to live with my parents. After military service, I finished at Ball State, commuting from Marion, where I lived with my in-laws. So when people talk about dorm parties and all-night study sessions and getting together for pizza after the football game, all I can relate it to is sharing barracks with 30 or more other soldiers, not nearly (I suspect) the same experience.
OK, show of hands. How many rights do you think a child molester should have?
This week's nomination for headline stating the obvious: "Lack of sidewalks could stymie movement." In all fairness, I think the headline writer was trying to be cute, "movement" actually referring to an advocacy group trying to encourage more walking to school. But it takes awhile for cleverness to sink in -- most readers probably scratched their heads until they got a few paragraphs into the story (if they did) The story itself is interesting:
Once in a while, somebody comes up with something we've never thought about. You'd heard of the crime of "driving while black." But what about "sitting on a park bench while gay"?
I realize that some
foolsmen still have sex in parks, and I realize that there are pedophiles in the world — but are the women of America so afraid that the mere sight of two men in a park makes them call the police?
This letter to the editor in The Indianapolis Star raises an interesting point:
Even back in the dark ages when I was young, it was commonly understood that graduating from high school was a prerequisite for any kind of success, and it was even fairly clear that at least some college might be useful. So it's discouraging that, at this late date, so many still aren't getting the message:
Chamber president Kevin Brinegar said the report, which estimates that more than 20,000 young Hoosiers drop out of high school every year, does not bode well for the state's work force.
Certainly truck driver Robert F. Spencer acted recklessly, the same as if he'd been drinking and driving:
. . . he'd been driving his loaded rig for hours longer than federal law allows. With the windows rolled down and the air conditioning pumping full-blast, Spencer suddenly stopped talking. Minutes passed. Then, still listening to the phone line in Michigan, his sister Nicole heard a bang.
