Thank God the Democrats are going to allow a few real people at their convention, as opposed to, what? The usual Democrats?
An Indiana railroader, an Iowa mother and a Michigan truck driver are getting a moment at the Democratic convention to help portray Barack Obama as the people's champion and counter GOP characterizations of him as an out-of-touch celebrity.
The names we use mean something. If we use the terms the people themselves use -- such as "pro-life movment" and "pro-choice movment" -- we're being neutral. But if we change just one of them and start referring to either the anti-abortion or pro-abortion movement (though both of those terms are more precise), we're making a statement.
The smell is still awful, but don't they look good?
Last month The Ticket wrote that officials in Denver, worried about the impression that 50,000 visitors to the Democratic National Convention would get next week, were planning to hide the estimated 4,000 homeless people who hang around the city's downtown area.
They made a joyful noise in Crown Point, but they got carried away a little on the "noise" part:
Neighbors complained about the loud music emanating from the revival tent in the church's parking lot. City officials, who had issued a permit for the tent, intervened at a Board of Public Works and Safety meeting on Monday night.
Gotta love a little playful use of the language:
A planned festival to encourage unity and understanding of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex citizens is one step closer to reality.
The Lafayette Board of Works voted Tuesday to close a portion of Main Street for the upcoming OUToberFest.
Maybe they should come up with some music for the festival so the radio stations will carry it as part of Rocktober!
I was just compiling my presidential voting record for the fun of it. I've voted in 10 presidential elections. Six times I voted for the Republican, three times for the Democrat and once for the Libertarian -- not exactly monolithic, but it shouldn't be too hard to detect an underlying political philosophy. And my record is even -- five of my candidates won, and five lost. I don't remember being particularly bitter when my guy lost or especially ecstatic when he won. My life went on more or less the same, whether I felt I had " friend in the White House" or not.
It's been a while since I've highlighted research dollars at work uncovering astounding things. This is a really good one:
Small women with long legs are the most sexually attractive to men, scientists claim.
Females such as Scarlett Johansson, Raquel Welch and Marilyn Monroe with short slender bodies, large busts and slim limbs have the ideal body shape, according to research.
I noticed a story the other day about "green dying" -- you can get buried in a cardboard box and save the Earth! Then the story was "localized" for Indiana by some enterprising reporter who went out and found a couple of funeral homes who were "thinking about" going green. I thought that was the silliest wacko environmental story I'd see this month, till I discovered that the Republicans are trying to outgreen the Democrats:
Not to be outdone by the federal government in meddling, Jeffersonville takes aim at a group of small businesses:
The Jeffersonville City Council is considering an ordinance that would make drivers pay before pumping gasoline -- an effort to reduce the number of people who speed away from gas stations without paying.
Our friends in government, still trying to save us from ourselves:
As you zip down the highway at 70 mph, remember that your lead foot will cost you at the pump in these days of $4-a-gallon gas.
Some lawmakers in Congress have certainly considered the consequences of your driving habits. And they want you to slow down.
Record-high gas prices have triggered talk that it may be time to lower the speed limit on federal highways to 55 or 60 mph.
Some people can do clever, and some can't. The people who do Burger King's TV ads are definitely in the "can't" category. The king mascot is just creepy, even when he's running down a football field, let alone showing up in some guy's bed or hanging out with his wife and kid in the future. How many ways are there to fall flat while trying to be funny? We took the Whoppers off the menu -- ha-ha, fooled you!
Omigod, the poor dears:
Faced with soaring diesel fuel costs, school districts are forcing students to use the old-fashioned way to get to class: on their own two feet.
Many schools are eliminating or reducing bus service because fuel had jumped to $4.50 per gallon, 36 percent more than a year ago, and is busting budgets.
Just an opinion for you to peruse, with no comment from me, on the state of American newspapers:
A quality news product will increase circulation.
Increased circulation will bring more advertising.
More advertising brings better profits and allows even more news quality.
John McCain on "Why I want to be president":
I want to inspire a generation of Americans to serve a cause greater than their self-interest.
[. . .]
America wants hope. America wants optimism. America wants us to sit down together.
Barack Obama:
And I want to be president because that's the America I believe in and I feel like that American dream is slipping away. I think we are at a critical juncture.
There are so many specialized Web sites out there now, that a lot of Fort Wayne news is going to show up on some of them. Two stories made those sites yesterday.
Don't you sometimes wish you had as much power as a judge? Grant County Superior Court Judge Randall Johnson says he has mold in his blood consistent with the mold in his courtroom, causing his health to deteriorate. So he's moving the court somewhere else temporarily and telling the county commissioners to fix the joint up:
I don't want to alarm anybody, but the International Olympic Committee has already narrowed the host for the 2016 summer games to a short list of four (Chicago, Tokyo, Rio and Madrid), and the list of bidders for the 2020 games is already growing -- India, Peru, Birmingham, Ala., and St. Petersburg, Fla., are definitely in already.
I confess that I haven't followed very closely the "conscience clause" controversy brought on by some pharmacists who don't want to fill certain prescriptions -- the "morning after" pill and even other birth-control measures -- because of religious beliefs. I could see the arguments on both sides and haven't felt any pressing need to jump in. But now doctors are getting into the act:
It's been said that cockroaches might be the last living things left on Earth. I think that might almost be true -- the cockroaches will cavorting among the kudzu vines:
A fast-growing vine that's left parts of Indiana beneath tangles of greenery is coming under assault as the state ramps up its efforts to kill the leafy invader.
Hey, Larry, look what they're doing in Dallas:
Dallas school superintendent Michael Hinojosa and two trustees defended new classroom grading rules Friday, and urged teachers and parents to learn more about the requirements before dismissing them as misguided.
