Via the corner, when Hillary Clinton is right, she's right:
Just two weeks ago, Senator McCain said he'd rather do nothing than something about the housing crisis... Today, it looks like he's proposing a warmed-over, half-hearted version of the very plan he criticized...
Madison, Wis., leanrs a "reap what you sow" lesson:
The slaying of a college student in a downtown neighborhood frequented by beggars has forced this liberal city to ask a difficult question: Has Madison been too nice to the homeless?
Fort Wayne has become a haven for refugees, and that welcoming spirit is something to be proud of. But at some point, we have to talk about how many we can realistically handle without being unfair to the immingrants and putting a strain on the services that everybody depends on. But, for far, nobody really wants to talk about that:
OK, think like a government bureaucrat:
NEW YORK - The big cigarette tax increases that many states are instituting to balance their out-of-whack budgets are raising fears that the trend will make black-market smokes more profitable and lead to more cigarette smuggling.
Cigarette smuggling has been going on for generations and already costs states untold billions in lost tax revenue.
On the other hand, "Hands up, I have a note!" probably wouldn't be very effective:
A Richmond Police lieutenant investigating a bank robbery on the city's north end said Wednesday he was surprised the suspect used a gun.
[. . .]
Berner said the suspect's decision to use a semi-automatic handgun surprised him given the area's recent history of bank robberies.
Everybody knows politics are getting mean this season -- haven't we all been saying it? Still, this seems a little over the top:
MUNCIE -- A Republican voter registration deputy jailed Wednesday for attacking a newspaper reporter and hitting the Democratic 6th District congressional candidate could be back to work as early as today.
Jimmy Carter continues to be an even worse ex-president than he was a president:
NEW YORK CITY — Former President Jimmy Carter is reportedly preparing an unprecedented meeting with the leader of Hamas, an organization that the U.S. government considers one of the leading terrorist threats in the world.
Excuse me for lecturing lawyers on the law, but "unusual" and "illegal" are not synonyms:
SAN ANGELO, Texas - Lawyers for a polygamist sect that is the subject of a massive child-abuse investigation argued in court Wednesday that although its members' multiple marriages and cloistered ways may be unusual, they have a right to their faith and privacy.
Oh, come on:
For more than 100 college presidents and athletic directors, beer and the NCAA men's basketball tournament don't mix.
Evan Bayh, speaking of Hillary Clinton in the campaign ad for her running in Indiana: "She's got a spine of steel." That sounds good, but doesn't everyone who gets to this level of politics have a similar anatomy? You don't get to be a major-party presidential candidate by being a shrinking violet.
Oh, and Barack Obama, speaking of Bayh's early decision to endorse Clinton:
Talk about a misleading headline -- "Region casinos post better March":
Northwest Indiana's five casinos enjoyed a healthier March, but there still remains no reason to celebrate.
The Indiana Gaming Commission reported Tuesday that Indiana's casinos brought in $224.1 million in revenue last month, or 11 percent less than the $252 million brought in during March of last year. March 2008's revenues were even less than the $230 million brought in during March 2006.
Mitch sent this link, along with a comment: You can't make this stuff up.
When the 2008 charter season begins next month, U.S. citizens paying to fish on Lake Erie will have to bring either a passport or two other IDs if they plan to cross the northern border's invisible watery line.
Our tax dollars at work:
I finally caught "The Illusionist" on cable, and I was very disappointed in it, for the same reason I was disappointed in "The Sixth Sense." The only reason for each to exist is the stunning shocker of an ending -- in the one case, finding out somebody is dead you thought was alive, and in the other, finding out someone you thought was dead is really alive. If you know the ending or suspect it, it pretty much spoils the movie for you.
If you want to know what a politician really means, listen to the politician's spouse:
Obama, like her husband a Harvard-trained lawyer, listened and then spoke off the cuff.
Most Americans, she said, don't want much.
"They don't want the whole pie," she told the women. "There are some who do, but most Americans feel blessed just being able to thrive a little bit. But that is becoming even more out of reach."
[. . .]
For the "if you build it, they will come" file:
Voter registration ended Monday and while the numbers are still being tallied, there are clear signs that registration in the Hoosier state is way up.
[. . .]
Thousands of Hoosiers are taking the steps necessary to make sure they can vote in the May 6 primary. In Marion County the numbers are huge.
I can sympathize with these people:
WESTFIELD, Ind. -- Christine Dedon is tired of seeing cars blast down neighborhood streets at more than 20 mph over the speed limit.
The mother of three lives in Village Farms subdivision, where a city traffic study spotted cars traveling 60 mph on Greyhound Pass, which has a posted speed limit of 25 mph.
{. . .]
OK, I know some presidents (such as LBJ) have been legendary for their tempers, but John McCain's is said to be uncontrollable -- you know, in the Bobby Knight, pathological range. According to a new book, it isn't just confined to being "passionate about the issues." He even goes off on his wife(warning -- very vulgar):
Competition -- gotta love it:
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) — In a bid to reinvigorate lackluster U.S. traffic, Starbucks (SBUX) on Tuesday will introduce an everyday brew called Pike Place Roast and for 30 minutes will hand out free 8-ounce samples.
