Politics and other nightmares

Even when Malthusians such as Paul Ehrlich are wrong over and over again, they just won't shut up, and people still listen to them. I mean, if you had predicted the starvation of hundreds of millions in the 1980s and it didn't happen, shouldn't you be a little bit embarrassed, and shouldn't your credibility suffer just a little? Oh, well. The beat goes on:

State Rep. Kathy Richardson of Noblesville has an annual Adult Page Day program for which she invites five grownups to spend a day at the Statehouse. She thinks this is such a great idea that it should be expanded:

This is one of my favorite days in the legislative session," said Rep. Richardson. "Since I've been a state representative, I have always believed that every single voter in Indiana should be able to come and see what really happens here at the Statehouse.

I always thought "a good blend" was, oh, a Johnnie Walker or Seagram's Seven Crown in which the cheap fillers don't overwhelm the malted grain. But, no, it refers to the mix of the fix for Indianapolis' beleagured sports stadiums:

Indiana's alcohol tax would be doubled and hospitality taxes would be raised again under a Statehouse plan designed to bail out the financially struggling group that runs the professional sports stadiums in Indianapolis.

Life is getting so complicated. We can't just have temperature in the winter; we have to also worry about the wind-chill factor. And we can't just consider what something costs today vs. what it cost yesterday; we also have to consider the inflation-adjusted number. Now, we have to calculate Tax Freedom Day by taking into account the deficit.

This goes so far beyond naive optimism that it's goofiness personified:

Never having to be sorry for saying you are sorry:

The United States may have apologized in 1993 for the "illegal overthrow" of Hawaii's native monarch a century earlier, but that congressional expression of regret did not give native Hawaiians a legal claim to state lands, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.

The 9-0 decision leaves it to the state of Hawaii to decide how to manage the 1.2 million acres in dispute.

Rush on down to Crazy Uncle Sam's Car Lot, where the rides are always fine, and the deals are always hot! No money for a down payment? No problem? Trouble getting financing? Not here, friend! We offer six months' same as cash, we'll eat the first three payments, and the first 500 customers will get free car washes for a year! How can Uncle Sam do that, you ask? Because he's craaaaaazy! And if you don't take advantage of these sweet deals, you're even craaaazier!!

Those of us who admit to having any kind of libertarian instinct run the risk of getting called hypocritcal or dishonest or philosophically incoherent any time we express the mildest approval for any kind of government action (see previous post on high-speed rail, for example). So I feel bad about criticizing Neal Boortz, syndicated radio talk-show host and self-described libertarian, but he went off the deep end a little about seat belts.

Where I grew up, some relatives could be reached only by train, so I've had a lifelong fondness for that mode of travel. And during my time in northwest Indiana, I enjoyed the idea of having the South Shore available. How cool is it to have an electric interurban still around in this day and age? It was so easy to ride the train to the Randolph Street Station to take in downtown Chicago instead of driving through all that maddening traffic.

Here, here: