Politics and other nightmares

With all the talk about "the primary that finally matters," I was expecting a big crowd at my polling place. But when I stopped by to vote just before 8, it wasn't that busy. There was a steady trickle of people, but no lines. And my polling place is one of those bundled three-precinct sites. I do hope we hit 50 percent turnout. If we don't hit it for this election, with all the publicity it's gotten, we're not likely to ever again.

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.

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.