Hoosier lore

Hoosier Brian Lamb, president and CEO of C-SPAN, gets well-deserved recognition by U.S. News & World Report as one of America's best leaders. Of all the people on the cutting edge of the information revolution, he has done more than anybody to make government more accessible to more people. The headline says it well: Playing it straight. Here's the camera, there's the government, it's showtime.

I'm as much an admirer of Larry Bird as the next person, but this seems a bit much. Too bad for him he isn't a fan of Wilt Chamberlain (No. 13).

Where do you think Indiana ranks when it comes to local, state and federal taxes? (Go to the interactive map for the details.) When just state and local taxes are considered, Indiana is 17th at 10.1 percent (of your income), slightly higher than the national average of 10.0 percent. Throw in federal taxes, and our 26.7 percent is slightly below the national average of 27.8 percent, for a ranking of 27th.

Commuting patterns aren't the be-all and end-all of time-zone considerations, but they're an important factor. Paul Musgrave has a fascinating take on his blog. (Hat tip to TRIB, The Review of Indiana Blogs.)

I have a cell phone with which I can talk to almost anybody, from almost anywhere. It has a 1.3-megapixel camera, with which I can take stills or very short videos and post them on the Web, again from just about anywhere. Apple just introduced a new iPod. It enables users not only to carry around thousands of songs and still photos, but also downloaded video; people can watch last night's episode of "Desperate Housewives" (or their own homemade videos, for that matter) while they're on the train or waiting in the doctor's office (OK, make that two episdoes).

Just so no one has any doubts whatsoever about where I'm coming from, I'd like to note that The News-Sentinel has a pretty strict profanity policy. Because this blog is affiliated with The News-Sentinel, I follow that policy here. However, if I were writing completely in my own style solely on my own terms, this post would be filled with language so foul it would make a drunken sailor cover his ears. I feel like cussin.' Got that?

Tonight's lead editorial is about the potential ripple effects of the Delphi bankruptcy and Indiana's need to think ahead about our continued dependency on manufacturing. Here are some related thoughts. And a shot of reality.

The Hammond city school district has banned Halloween, at least the costumes and sidewalk parades. The district says it's a safety issue -- all those costumed children walking down the street.

We'll see this term if the Roberts court is willing to back off from the outrageous devastation of property rights in the Kelo decision.

The justices agreed to take up claims that regulators have gone too far by restricting development of property that is miles away from any river or waterway.

Just in case in hasn't sunk in with you yet that Mitch Daniels isn't a politics-as-usual governor: