Politics and other nightmares

The horse died, Mike; leave it alone:

Sen. Mike Delph (R-Carmel) today filed what he calls "one of the toughest illegal immigration bills in the country" aimed at punishing those who harbor, transport or employ illegal immigrants in Indiana.

I know the Inauguration is the hottest story around, and every newspaper and TV station in the country is scrambling for any angle to make the coverage special, but this does seem like a reach:

While many folks amass in the cold of Washington, D.C., or gather in front of television sets to witness the swearing-in of President-elect Barack Obama today, one former Anderson resident received a personal invitation to attend a presidential inauguration more than 30 years ago.

Some people are horrified that tickets for Barack Obama's Inauguration have been --gasp! -- scalped:

“I believe the scalping of inaugural tickets runs contrary to the spirit of this historic Inauguration,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the Rules Committee chairwoman who has introduced legislation to bar their sale.

Other sites will give you all the political trivia, such as the inaugeration and the war on terror and how many billions the president will want to spend on any given day. But you should check here periodically for the really important Obama Watch stuff. On the negative side today, the president intends to commit an atrocity, and if he truly wants to connect with ordinary Americans, he should reconsider:

Before any Fort Wayne officials get the bright idea to copy this, they might want to look into the legality of restricting parking on publicly financed streets:

Parking in front of your neighbor's house overnight is now against the law in Richardson.

Gov. Mitch Daniels, looking at a tight budget for the next couple of years, is proposing only two new building projects -- expansion of a couple of correctional faclities in order to add 1,200 beds to the state's prison capacity. This doesn't over too well with some Democrats:

The state beverage of Albama is Conecuh Ridge Alabama Fine Whiskey. Nice! It's milk in Arkansas and Delaware and a lot of other states. Boring but defensible. It's orange juice in Florida, naturally. It's tomato juice in Ohio, tea in South Carolina and Kool-Aid in Nebraska.

Tomorrow, when Barack Obama becomes the 43rd American to take the oath of office of president of the United States, he will not swear (or affirm) to preserve American values. He will not swear (or affirm) to protect American. He will not swear (or affirm) to defend this nation's borders. He will swear (or affirm) that he will, to the best of his ability, "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Duct tape is a wonderful product that has a thousand and one uses. I'm guessing this isn't one of the recommended ones:

Tippecanoe Schools has dismissed a veteran teacher who reportedly duct-taped a student's mouth shut.

In a letter to the School Board dated Dec. 19, Superintendent Scott Hanback recommended ending Battle Ground Middle School teacher Pamela Dahnke's contract. The School Board voted Wednesday to cancel her contract.

[. . .]

It couldn't have been otherwise. The $825 billion "stimulus" plan as outlined by the House Appropriations Committee is out, and:

It is frightening.

The highlights of this bill, allegedly crafted to save us from the Wall Street crisis but is obviously being used to fund every hail Mary liberal, entitlement cause under the sun, includes: