My current hero:
A South Carolina lawmaker says underage military servicemen and women should be allowed to drink alcohol.
Rep. Fletcher Smith has sponsored legislation that would allow service members younger than 21 to purchase alcohol if they show a military identification card to a bartender or store clerk.
South Carolina state law prohibits the sale or possession of alcoholic beverages by anyone under 21.
Forbes magazine created a Misery Measure so it could study the city's largest 150 metropolitan areas and come up with America's most miserable cities:
But aren't there other things that cause Americans misery? Of course. So we decided to expand on the Misery Index and the Misery Score to create our very own Forbes Misery Measure. We're sticking with unemployment and personal tax rates, but we are adding four more factors that can make people miserable: commute times, weather, crime and that toxic waste dump in your backyard.
About 230 years or so after Adam Smith, the Associated Press stumbles into a little bit of economic reality:
It's hard to feel sorry for well-heeled shoppers whose idea of tough economic times is passing on $1,000 Burberry raincoats or that $300 limo ride while the working poor skimp on vegetables and take the bus.
Whether you think global warming is an impeding disaster or a cruel hox, you might want to check out Climate Debate Daily, which has taken up the mission of presenting the best arguments from both sides:
Climate Debate Daily is intended to deepen our understanding of disputes over climate change and the human contribution to it. The site links to scientific articles, news stories, economic studies, polemics, historical articles, PR releases, editorials, feature commentaries, and blog entries.
Gov. Schwarzenegger's health-care plan collapsed for the same reason similar plans have failed in other states:
An independent analysis confirmed the plan would be far more expensive than proponents admitted. Even under the most favorable assumptions, spending would outpace revenue by $354 million after two years, and likely $3.9 billion or more. "A situation that I thought was bad," Mr. Perata noted, "in fact was worse."
Wow. Too bad they didn't have this when I was going to high school in America. I probably could have gotten out of school a year earlier:
LONDON — New on the McDonald's menu: a takeaway diploma.
The government is giving the U.S. burger chain — along with a rail company and an airline — the right to award credits toward a high school diploma to employees who complete on-the-job training programs.
Most people are shocked when they first discover that inmates don't really serve the sentences they are given. Because of the "good time" credits they earn and other incentives, even violent felons can get out in less than half the time they are sentenced to. So this seems like a good idea:
State prison inmates would be required to serve 85 percent of their sentences under legislation the House approved Monday night.
There is the real possibility certainty that we will have a presidential race this year in which I don't think either of the candidates would be especially good for the country. If that happens to you, what's your solution?
1. Vote for the least objectionable candidate, on the theory that there must be a redeeming quality lurking somewhere, such as which judicial candidates might be appointed.
2. Sit this one out and refuse to be responsible in any way for the harm that is sure to come to the country.
After 177 years of arguments about it, there is still a great dispute over the origin of the term "Hoosier." Now, a Hanover College English instructor -- and a Shakespeare scholar, no less -- takes a stab at it:
The "abortion information" bill was approved by the Indiana Senate 39-9, but some changes were made. It was going to say that women considering an abortion must be told that a fetus feels pain. But now:
Women seeking an abortion would be told that there is differing medical evidence about whether a fetus feels pain under legislation approved by the Senate 39-9 today.
It's nice to see a Hoosier can bounce back from a scandal:
Former Bush administration official Randall Tobias appears to have landed on his feet after being identified as a customer of the so-called "D.C. Madam."
Tobias, who resigned last spring from his senior State Department position citing "personal reasons," is in line to run the Indianapolis Airport Authority, the Indianapolis Star reported Tuesday.
Flying is already bad enough, thank you:
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German nudists will be able to start their holidays early by stripping off on the plane if they take up a new offer from an eastern German travel firm.
Gimme that lunch, kid!
School lunchboxes could soon be monitored by dinner ladies to ensure children are eating healthy meals, ministers said.
Under the Government's obesity strategy, all schools will be expected to design a "healthy lunchbox policy" on what makes a nutritional packed lunch over the next year.
As long as there are governments, there will be ever-more exotic ways to raise revenues and/or taxes:
I don't mind the cost of roses going through the roof every February-- it's routine supply & demand. But this is unacceptable:
Just in time for Valentine's Day, the Hershey Company which is the nation's largest candy maker, says it is raising the wholesale price of its chocolate bars for the second time in a year.
The company says it needs to make the move to offset rising energy and commodity costs.
I used to be a fairly regular bowler, but it's something I no longer pursue. I don't think I've been in a bowling alley for 10 years, and I haven't kept up with the game. So I found this intriguing:
Brad Bowman now owns 51 perfect games. Yet this one was different.
The primary process is winnowing the list of candidates nicely, and it looks like we're going to have the presidential race many of us had hoped for, Ronald Reagan vs. John F. Kennedy:
They came for the flush toilets, and I did not say anything, because I always flush twice anyway. Then they came for the incandescent bulbs, and I said nothing, because I've come to appreciate wine by candlelight lately. Then they came for my plastic bags:
The inevitable question faced by shoppers at the grocery checkout, how to tote their food home, may soon get simpler.
George Bush will not be on the presidential ticket. His popularity seems likely set new record lows. Yet a liberal advocacy group is planning to spend $8.5 million on an anti-Bush campaign:
The proposal to punish Indiana businesses that "knowingly employ" illegal immigrants is still alive in the General Assembly. For those who think such a law won't work, consider the Arizona experience:
PHOENIX, Arizona (AFP) — One month after Arizona introduced a law cracking down on businesses which employ illegal immigrants, Latino workers are fleeing the state and companies are laying off employees in droves, officials and activists say.
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