A reminder of just how far we've come:
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Mildred Loving, a black woman whose challenge to Virginia's ban on interracial marriage led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling striking down such laws nationwide, has died, her daughter said Monday.
Peggy Fortune said Loving, 68, died Friday at her home in rural Milford. She did not disclose the cause of death.
No, this is not a joke:
You just knew it was coming: At the request of the Swiss government, an ethics panel has weighed in on the "dignity" of plants and opined that the arbitrary killing of flora is morally wrong. This is no hoax. The concept of what could be called "plant rights" is being seriously debated.
Those darn Catholics, refusing to stay in their herd where they belong:
There is no one such thing as a Catholic voter," said Cathleen Kaveny, a professor of law and theology at Notre Dame, who attended the event in South Bend and is a member of Obama's national steering committee of Catholic advisers.
So that's why we like Indiana Jones -- he's just like us:
It's been 19 years since Indy literally rode off into the sunset in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," but like Marion, could anyone doubt that the world's most famous tomb raider would come back into our lives one day?
For 27 years, Indy has stood as one of cinema's ultimate Everyman heroes, a poster boy for the idea that there are some good men you can never, ever keep down.
Oh, well. Easy come, easy go:
It's been fun for all of us news and political junkies to see Indiana so involved in this year's primary because it may be another 40 years before it happens again (unless, of course, we move toward a rotating, regional primary — a move we would support).
Sadly, though, by Wednesday, the Obama and Clinton folks will be gone and it's unlikely they will return to Indiana with such a strong presence by the November election.
Remember "The Harrad Experiment"? Yeah, I once thought it was brilliant, revolutionary, just the antidote for the stodgy sexual mores of my parents' generation. Of course, I was in high school at the time.
Same fantasy world, modern-day version:
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain or the global cooling that may throw off the global-warming computer models
Parts of North America and Europe may cool naturally over the next decade, as shifting ocean currents temporarily blunt the global-warming effect caused by mankind, Germany's Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences said.
[. . .]
Lexington Green, responding to a new book by Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria, has a rousing defense of small-l libertarianism:
The solution is to get the Government the Hell out of the way, get its leprous fingers out of our wallets. The solution is to flail the damnable thing back into the corner where it belongs, make it do the things it is supposed to do and nothing else. National defense, law enforcement and a few other functions are more than it can do well as it is.
What a waste. While going to Ball State, I spent all that time near Muncie and never made it to "only regitered jar museum in the world," and now it's going away:
MUNCIE — Philip Robinson sat in his living room, his face appearing very tired although it was still morning.
Feliz Cinco de Mayo, that strange American celebration (it's not that big a deal south of the border) of Mexicans kicking some French butt. Actually, maybe it should be an American holiday
We all know people who think they're invisible in their cars -- hey, watch where' you're putting that finger, pal, that's disgusting. Apparently, some kids think the same rule applies for buses:
Welcome to the wonderful world of the unfiltered Internet, where legitimate history resides side by side with vicious fantasies:
A video showing a longtime supporter of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton using slurs to describe Hoosiers spread through the Web like a virus Friday, triggering a firestorm of protest before the video was finally exposed as a hoax.
It was just the latest example of how the Internet is changing politics.
Well, I'm 0 for 2, sort of. I predicted a year ago that John McCain would be the first candidate on the discard pile. Then, last week, I said The Journal Gazette would most likely endorse Barack Obama. But I didn't exactly lose that one:
What, you use plastic bags, you Nazi sympathizer you?
Having your heart in the right place is a nice quality. But it often makes for bad public policy, and in the case of Baltimore City Councilman James Kraft, D-1, the practice of putting his emotions first seems to have displaced his head.
The Indianapolis Star follows The News-Sentinel's example and endorses Hillary Clinton:
As impressive as Obama appears, he is still in his first term in the U.S. Senate, and only four years ago was serving as an Illinois state senator. His inexperience in high office is a liability.
I frequently criticize the ACLU of Indiana, so it's only fair to give them credit when it's due. Remember Keith John Sampson, the IUPUI student employee who was brought up on racial harassment charges for daring to read a book that his colleagues didn't think he should be reading in front of him? The school backed down after all the embarrassing publicity but not in a way that admitted any wrongdoing. In fact, it sort of hinted that Sampson had better watch it in the future.
Geez. I already knew many in the press were in bed with politicians, so I didn't really need to hear this:
Hoosier superdelegate Joseph Andrew, as all political junkies know by now, has violated the rule of sticking with the one you brought to the dance and ditched Hillary for Barack. Lots of people have lots of things to say about that, so I'll just remark on his unintended perfect description of what the Democratic Party is about these days:
It's always interesting to see ourselves as others see us. This is from The Economist magazine of England:
It won't take, but some Economics 101 advice for John McCain and Hillary Clinton:
Strong demand and limited supply of a product lead to price increases. If you artificially lower the price of something -- i.e., waive taxes for a period of time -- all you will have accomplished was stimulating more demand. The higher demand and increased consumption eventually lead to even higher prices.
