Oh, yeah, Scooter Libby. The only lesson is the one from the Bill Clinton imbroglio, the other famous case that involved a process crime far removed from what was being investigated in the first place: If you are speaking to officials who ask you for the truth, don't lie. Otherwise, it was an embarrassment of excess, too much made of way too little. Of course, I'm getting my marching orders to say that from one of the leaders of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, the Washington Post:
Aww, man. I don't know about the legal issues, but leave Jimi alone. OK?
SEATTLE - Jimi Hendrix's family filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday over the use of the guitar legend's name to market a brand of vodka.
[. . .]
Hendrix Electric Vodka is packaged in purple-tinted bottles and has Jimi Hendrix's face and signature above the label.
I know Scooter Libby was found guilty. We should talk more about that. And I know we've been overindulging in look-at-the-celebrity-fall-apart vicariousness. Let's cut back on that a little.
But I surely do love the Lisa Nowak story, which just keeps getting more and more interesting:
I thought it was just high school students who were allowed to write anything they wanted, without official supervision or consequences. But apparently there is no middle ground for some free-speech zealots. Anybody has the right to say anything, anywhere, with no consequences, or else you can just kiss the First Amendment goodbye. How dare an outdoor magazine fire its hunting editor just because he wrote an anti-gun screed on his blog that outraged thousands of gun enthusiasts?
A pretty balanced look at "Atlas Shrugged" on the occasion of its 50th anniversary:
There is much to commend, and much to condemn, in "Atlas Shrugged." Its object
The Associated Press uses the story of the new Ball State campus police officer who shot and killed a student as an example in its story on states that allow police officers to hit the streets with little or no training. Indiana is one of at least 30 states to fall into that category. The Indiana portion of the story:
The right-wing cranks (of which I am an occasional member) are piling only on Hillary Clinton, but in truth both she and Barack Obama adopted Southern accents for their appearances in Selma (fascinating audio here). I'm inclined to go a little light on the pandering charges and cut the candidates some slack. I moved to Indiana from Kentucky when I was 12 and had a noticeable Appalachian accent.
Al Gore is going to visit Indianapolis to try to win more converts to his global-warming religion. Wonder if Indy residents are prepared for the Gore Effect?
The phenomenon that leads to unseasonably cold temperatures, driving rain, hail, or snow whenever Al Gore visits an area to discuss global warming. Hence, the Gore Effect.
Concerning the Associated Press, this is an interesting question:
Hoosier Pro Wrestling played to a "packed" arena of 225 fans in Columbus recently. Obviously, we're not as dumb here as people say we were. I must confess that this name from the past caught me up short: "Diceman Ronnie Vegas pinned Pastor Pain who subbed for the no showing Bobo Brazil Jr. who was fired by Promoter Jerry Wilson." (Apparently, they don't like commas much in pro wrestling.) My father was a big fan of wrestling back in the days when Bobo Brazil Sr.
Another daylight-saving time update (It's coming! It's almost here! Panic!). One of the arguments against it by national groups such as the PTA has always been that it endangers children who will have to walk to school in the dark. But:
The PTA acknowledged, however, it has no statistics that confirm this.
In fact, said the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, studies show that there is no increase in children's deaths when they go to school in morning darkness.
Some brave San Franciscans risk being labeled bigots by worrying about THOSE people moving in:
To walk down San Francisco's Castro Street -- where men casually embrace on sidewalks in the shadow of an enormous rainbow flag -- the neighborhood's status as "gay Mecca" seems obvious.
A Jeffersonville resident unloads in a venemous letter to the editor:
It's hard to say for sure without having watched the case being presented, but it seems to me there is reasonable doubt about Scooter Libby's guilt, and the longer the jury has been out, the more likely it has become that it will reach the same conclusion. The case turns on whether we think Libby's misstatements to a grand jury were lies or the result of faulty memory. Since many of the prosecution's own witnesses displayed less than perfect recollection, a "reasonable person" should have some doubts about Libby's willful intent.
This might seem premature, but I wanted to be the first to warn you. A week from Sunday, we must be prepared for daylight-saving time, and you and I both know WE'RE NOT READY. So let's PANIC early and often. We have to either remember to set the clocks ahead before going to bed and realize when we get up that THINGS ARE DIFFERENT or remember to set the clocks ahead when we get up.
My experience in the military led me to observe that blame most often tends to be passed down, not up. It's nice to see an exception once in a while:
The Army on Thursday fired the general in charge of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, saying he was the wrong person to fix embarrassing failures in the treatment of war-injured soldiers that have soiled the institution's reputation as a first-class hospital.
Considering all the things the federal government has done, calling the Medicare prescription drug benefit the "most fiscally irresponsible legilation since the 1960s" is really saying something:
This just so sad, isn't it?
The raid at VIP Tanning on Coliseum came a day before a bill passed in an effort to boost certification of workers at massage businesses. The bill in the Indiana Senate would require massage therapists to be at least certified and have a specific amount of education before they could practice in this state, hopefully hindering corrupt businesses from practicing here. No one at VIP Tanning or VIP-The Office Spa was certified by the state, police said.
Fort Wayne, like most cities in Indiana, wants everybody to help keep the sidewalks cleared. Muncipal code 99.047 says:
