They may not have invented the political gravy train in The Region, but they sure know how to ride that thing:
GARY, Ind. - City officials are considering whether to stop allowing city employees, including police officers, to take cars home in a cost-cutting move. But Mayor Rudy Clay isn't ready to give up his city-leased Hummer.
For someone with absolutely no sense of direction -- if you're ever lost, just ask me which way to go, then do the opposite -- this seems like a pretty silly concern:
For most people -- the cab driver, the tourist, the business traveler -- the ubiquitous GPS has become a lifeline, giving directions to the nearest bathroom, a pizza joint or the shortest route to the office.
Another meaningless gesture:
Now he takes a Transpo bus to work each day.
"We need to send a message, not only to oil companies, but to the state saying that these taxes are ridiculous on gas," he said.
Not everyone may be ready to take such a stand.
But the Indiana Department of Environmental Management is hoping many Hoosiers will at least consider walking or biking Thursday for Dump the Pump Day.
I like this idea:
Evansville's One Book One Community program — which for the past six years encouraged Tri-Staters to read a particular best-seller before listening to the author speak — is going in a very different, very personal direction this year.
Veterans seeking treatment at VA medical facilities would be reimbursed for gas mileage at the same rate as federal employees under a bill sponsored by U.S. Reps. Mark Souder and Brad Ellsworth.
The Veterans Travel Equity Act, to be introduced Tuesday, would also eliminate all income and pension eligibility requirements and service-connected disability rating requirements to qualify for the mileage reimbursement.
If newspapers go out of business, who would there be to give us wise advice like this?
With thousands of young people now officially enjoying summer vacation, it's time for everyone to remember that an enjoyable summer is a safe one.
[. . .]
Summer, with its many events, festivals and activities, is a time when people are always on the go. But don't leave safety awareness behind when you're out enjoying this time of year.
Well, give him time, for Pete's sake. He just got there:
WASHINGTON -- Indiana's newest member of Congress is also one of the delegation's poorest, according to House members' financial disclosure statements released Monday.
It'll probably be a rare day in the next few months when I feel compelled to say something nice about both of the presidential candidates at the same time. But today is one of them. First up, Barack Obama, who went Cosby on us and said some things that needed to be said:
Barack Obama celebrated Father's Day by calling on black fathers, who he said are "missing from too many lives and too many homes," to become active in raising their children.
OMG, this is just LOL-unbelievable:
A computer trainer in Lafayette, N.C., says she was oblivious to the profane modern meaning of her license plate "WTF" until her grandchildren told her.
She's just lucky it wasn't something like MILF or BITFOB.
Lots of chatter about what a post-Tim Russert "Meet The Press" might look like:
You can't get hugged by nuclear arms -- now get that piece of crap out of my way! I mean right now!!!
Watch out for cars with bumper stickers.
Michelle ("I'm proud of this country for the first time in my adult life") Obama has apparently found a kindred spirit in -- John McCain:
“I'll admit to you
Huh -- never thought of it in quite these terms:
Some couples, including longtime partners and those with children, have rejected marriage for economic, philosophical or cultural reasons.
A minor league sports team can become a local institution -- revered, beloved. The Komets are sort of like that. One way to tell a team has not reached that status:
The Fort Wayne Wizards will play their baseball games next season at a new downtown ballpark, and they'll likely have a new name, too.
I'm sure my liberal friends will be glad to say when they stopped taking the right seriously. Perhaps it was the Schiavo case or maybe just the idea of Rush Limbaugh on the radio. Maybe it was stem cells or global warming. I can pinpoint exactly when I thought the left had very little I wanted to listen to anymore -- the Elian Gonzalez case. Let every illegal immigrant in this country have a pass, but chase out this kid whose mother died getting him here. Glad to see it's worked out so well?
Anybody who thinks about it for more than 30 seconds knows that "no child left behind" is an impossible goal, a stupid promise to make and a federal law doomed to failure. The only possible way for everyone to succeed is to dumb down the definition of success to the point where it is meaningless. Here's one way that works:
Boy, there's some smart researchers at this sleep-disorder center:
THURSDAY, June 12 (HealthDay News) -- Teens whose high schools have a delayed start time sleep longer and report less daytime sleepiness, say researchers at Norwalk Hospital's Sleep Disorders Center in Connecticut.
This editorial says the Electoral College is bad because it disenfranchises some voters. If John McCain wins Indiana (as the paper assumes), it means "a Hoosier vote for Obama essentially won't count." That's a pretty lame argument -- anyone who votes for the losing candidate, no matter what system is used, has that vote rendered meaningless.
A good old boy from Texas who hasn't gotten out much:
HOUSTON
Change, change, change. But it turns out that John McCain's tax plan is a familiar Republican one that would make the system more regressive, and Obama's is a familiar Democratic one that would make it more progressive:
