Current Affairs

This week's winner of the "Do as I say, not as I do" award is Ted Turner, savior of Earth and father of five:

Old joke: What message are people with face tattoos trying to send? Answer: Don't ever hire me for a real job.

New version: I'm a racist idiot and probably guilty of everything I'm charged with, and then some:

They're Tasing everybody in Chicago, Bro:

The tax-cut and unemployment-payment compromise will add to the already monstrous federal debt. But no problem, the government can just print more money. Well, maybe it can:

A printing problem with the new high-tech $100 bills has forced government printers to shut down production - and to quarantine more than one billion of the notes.

The grim We're Using Up The Earth And Nobody Cares But Us crowd is setting its sights on board games. This is the 75th anniversary of Monopoly, which provides an opportunity to remind us that, though we have the "bleakest economic climate since the 1930s" when the game was introduced, it's really even worse than that:

Fort Wayne is often late in getting to the party when it comes to trends and movements, but this time we're in the vanguard as one of the few cities getting a heads-up about Posted in: Current Affairs, Hoosier lore, Our town, Religion

We can only hope:

Has the federal government's appetite for ethanol ended?  A bipartisan group of Senators signed a letter today calling for an end to subsidies and tariffs designed to protect and enhance domestic production of ethanol, which has been until recently the darling of the alternative-energy movement.

Since World War II, despite 30 major changes in the tax code, federal revenue as a percentage of GDP has hardly ever budged from just under 19 percent -- that's all the government can raise, period:

So, you think Sen. Richard Lugar has become too much of a Washington insider, has strayed too far from conservative principles, is far too fond of government solutions, has become a comfortable part of the ruling elite? You think someone from the right should mount a serious challenge against him in the 2012 primary? Well, you bad, bad person, you despicable political animal, you detestable voter.

Steve Chapman of Reason magazine on why motorcycle helmets do not constitute a "public health issue," which is the argument being used by the National Transportation Safety Board in urging Congress to make them mandatory: