Hoosier lore

You know, I've never heard a conservative or even a raging libertarian scream about that dang government when a burn ban is ordered. They had one in Texas the last time I visited my brother, and you know what contrarians those Lone Star Staters can be. Hey, ain't had no rain in months, a fire would spread like crazy, so no burning. When a government edict intersects with common sense, it doesn't raise much of a fuss.

It's a pittance, really, considering the vast sums squandered by the federal government, but, hey, waste is waste:

The U.S. Justice Department is giving $1.3 million to six Indiana towns and cities to hire new police officers.

Dumb, dumb, dumb:

Whatever decision the Supreme Court makes this week on the health care law, Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock of Indiana was certainly prepared with a response.

Four different videos were prematurely uploaded last week to YouTube, each one featuring Mourdock's official reaction to a slate of potential outcomes in the health care ruling.

Whoops!

Teen angst update:

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana teens are drinking less alcohol than in the past, but are more likely than their U.S. counterparts to commit suicide, according to a new study of young people's health risks.

I see Indiana has gone and gotten famous again while I was on vacation, i.e., "Judge Upholds Ind. Facebook Ban for Sex Offenders." The decision, I'm sure, will engage us in our usual arguments about how far we can go in restricting people who might commit a crime and how carefully we should tread when enacting laws that affect only selected groups instead of everyone. But on my initial reading of the story, this observation of the judge's is what caught my attention:

Speaking of Indiana being maligned by big-shot journalists, another media idiot -- Matt Taylor of Slate this time -- is going down the Extremist Hoosier Boobs Straying From Moderate Enlightenment path:

I did a post last week about a hysterical rant some columnist did about Indiana's new self-defense law in which he made the highly misleading claim that it amounts to open season on cops. That misleadding characterization has now showed up at several news outlets. But at least one critic is willing to take them to task:

Most likely to have "Hold my beer and watch this!" on his tombstone:

une 15, 2012 (COLUMBUS, Ind.) -- Police say a 12-year-old central Indiana boy hit a bullet cartridge with a hammer, firing a bullet that grazed a teenage girl.

THE ACLU is suing the Griffith Public Schools district over the expulsion of three girls in January because of comments they posted to each other on Facebook. The suit says the use of Internet slang and emoticons made it clear the girls weren't really serious and their First Amendment rights are being violated. Not so, says the school district: