Hoosier lore

State Sen. Patricia Miller, R-Indianapolis, has dropped her, um, ill-conceived bill to specify which people can or cannot use medical science to become pregnant. The lesson here is that a very stupid idea can be killed before it's even born, if enough people express outrage. Miller issued a one-line statement: "This issue has been more complex than anticipated." Translation: Boy, did I ever step in it.

"Sadly, though, this move also creates spiritual separation between ISU and the heart of downtown Terre Haute." And all because of the beer. Powerful stuff. Would we even be able to have a festival in Fort Wayne without it?

French Lick folks hope to become a gambling mecca that will attract all kinds of new people. Like this guy? Yessir, a community can build a quality life based on gambling.

Indiana is probably about to become famous again, and not in a good way. This is the most ludicrous proposal of government intrusion into our private lives to come down the pike in a long time. Note the reaction from conservative blogger Jeff Goldstein, and be sure to read all the comments (rough language in a couple, btw).

Here's an article by an Indiana University student about the growing importance of blogs in Indiana. A companion article spotlights the work of Josh Claybourn, who operates a blog called Indiana Barrister I discovered the other day.

While efforts to explore consolidated government here seem to be stuck, advocates in Evansville are going great guns. They're already talking about having a referendum, a step we seem to be miles away from.

More original blog reporting. If his prediction, based on talking to GOP insiders, holds up, Nathan Gotsch scored an exclusive on Gov. Daniels' plans to back Richard Mourdock as state treasurer.

Today's quiz; What do Indiana U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar and Sting have in common? Funny old world, huh?

Well, Gov. Daniels might be making controversial decisions and keeping Hoosiers on the edge of their seats wondering what's coming next, but at least he's staying on top of his most important duty: "From a pure entertainment standpoint, you must admit the guy makes for good copy." Heaven forbid that columnists get bored; because, then, we all suffer.

This column about Gov. Daniels' plan to increase logging in state forests is no more or less hysterical than most of the opposition, and about as factual. What critics of the plan leave out is that, even with the increase, harvesting will be less than growth: no net decrease in trees, in other words.