Politics and other nightmares

Hoosiers continue to suffer from both the economy and the ravings of the carpetbagging national press. Here, The New York Times dissects the good folks of Anderson, Ind., and discover that, by gosh, they not only love President Obama's stimulus package, they're staying up nights making sure some other place doesn't screw them out of their fair share. Naturally, they'll be quick to turn on the president if they don't get every last morsel of what they've been promised:

Mike Pence, who is considered by some to be one of the new voices of the Republican Party, demonstrates why he deserves to be:

Ah, man. My car's gonna be an orphan:

One down, three to go on the free-trade front:

Three cheers for President Obama's decision, announced quietly on Monday, to repudiate a campaign promise and not press for new labor and environmental regulations in the North American Free Trade Agreement. The last thing the Western Hemisphere needs are more trade barriers that would snarl supply chains and damage commerce.

[. . .]

The Indianapolis Colts, 2001, in an Associated Press story:

Three years after signing a lease to play in the RCA Dome, the Indianapolis Colts are looking for a new stadium.

Colts owner Jim Irsay intends to commission two studies by spring or summer to examine prospects for a new stadium in Indianapolis.

A different perspective on gay marriage:

If you put something out with the trash, the police can search it without a warrant. Anyone walking by can take it. Although it's still on your property, it's not really yours anymore; you've relinquished your claim to it. And that's exactly what done with marriage. We might as well let gays have it. We're not using it.

[. . .]

The Indiana Department of Agriculture and the Indiana Farm Bureau are on the wrong side of this issue, and any members involved in the behind-the-scenes efforts to smear the Human Society of the United States should be ashamed of themselves.

Indiana Department of Agriculture officials have been working behind the scenes to defeat legislation that would crack down on abusive dog breeders by trying to discredit one of the bill's leading supporters.

I had a Plan A. I was going to be a great American novelist or a rich and famous standup comedian or a songwriter admired and respected by recording artists even if Unknown To The Great Unwashed. I had a Plan B, too, of course, which is, well, my Real Life as it Actually Played Out. Most people have Plan A's and end up going with Plan B, which is reality's wakeup call for good intentions, as in: OOPS! According to the Food and Drug Aministration, the age limit on saying OOPS!

Dahlia Lithwick, writing in Newsweek, says it's about time we had more females on the bench, because men are too fond of "rigid rules and clear lines" while the women tend to favor an "ethic of care" over and "ethic of rights." ("Women: Truly the Fairer Sex" says the headline. Ha, ha; cute pun.)

Nick Gillespie at reason.com seems to get even madder about overreaching government than I do. Here, he takes on Barack Obama's addled notion of government service, the $5.7 billion Serve America Act, which will spend $5.7 billion more of our tax money to "boost volunteerism" through AmeriCorps and other avenues: