Hoosier lore

Here, here:

We, too often, see our own state as bland, colorless and dull. We overlook its virtues, disdain short drives to sections of an overlooked Indiana and often never know the joy of finding the real majesty of our state's natural wonders. It is there, on narrow lanes and over serpentine hills, that real Indiana is found.

And it all is within a five to six hour drive, no matter where we live in the state.

I drive I-69 between Fort Wayne and Indianapolis frequently, so I can see the wisdom of the "move over" law:

EVANSVILLE - Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois have passed laws within the last decade to require drivers to move over to the left lane when police have stopped vehicles along the side of the road, but such laws have proven difficult to enforce.

I can appreciate Evan Bayh's desire to reach out to Republicans, but he picked the wrong issue:

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. --Democrats need to reach out to voters of all parties and persuade them of the left's strengths on national security, Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh told a gathering of young Democrats on Sunday.

Today's history lesson:

1. In 1933, FDR initiated the beginning of the end of Prohibition by legalizing the sale of beer and wine.

2. In 2006, the Indiana General Assembly magnanimously allowed the state's wineries to stay in business by letting them ship directly to customers.

This Richmond Palladium-Item editorial goes a little overboard on Pat Bauer-bashing (without even mentioning his toupee!), but I think it gets one thing right. Democrats who think Hoosiers' disapproval of the Indiana Toll Road lease (60 percent in the last poll I saw) will lead to their return to majority status in the state are being shortsighted, which is just this side of delusional.

As this story reminds us, there are now less than two weeks left before we have to take part in daylight-saving time, and I can feel you panicking out there. After all, we've never had to do this before. No disrespect intended to the folks at WISH-TV, but their account does not include ALL you need to know about DST. So, as a public service, here is my Imbecile's Guide (don't want to infringe on anybody's trademark) to changing your watch or clock.

Marsha Bradford "believes she's been wronged," the victim of "inappropriate conduct" that created a "work environment" she found "offensive." The city of Bloomington, which employed her, says Bradford took isolated comments that were not directed at her and used them as the basis for her complaint.

Two experts rate the just-finished session of the General Assembly, and "mixed results" seems to be the final grade. Bill Bloomquist, an IUPUI political science professor, notes some the inconsequential legislation that passed and some of the big ones that got away, concluding  that the short session is just too short; perhaps we need two long sessions.

A Louisville Courier-Journal editorial, which is appalled at "the gross political failure that is dooming Kentucky's entire highway system to growing inadequacy and neglect," has strong words of praise for Indiana's ability to get the job done:

The scope of this political failure has been brought into high relief by the political honesty and courage being displayed elsewhere, and nowhere more so than in Kentucky's neighbor to the north, Indiana.

Somehow, I let Tuesday slip by without telling you it was Pi Day (because the date was 3/14 -- the first three digits of Pi), "celebrated across the United States by math nerds, students, teachers and professors, from elementary school to university . . . "