"Give 'em an inch" department:
The Indiana Senate has approved a bill making it illegal for drivers to send or read text messages, but also banning talking on the phone.
[. . .]
Sen. Brent Steele of Bedford proposed an amendment adopted Monday applying the ban to all cell phone use by drivers. He says that using a phone to make a call can be as dangerous as texting.
The liberal blogs are annoyed as hell with former Sen. Evan Bayh. The Indiana Democrat said in a New York Times piece he was leaving the Senate because of "strident partisanship" and "unyielding ideology." He said he might, oh, teach or enter philanthropic work or otherwise do something "worthwhile for society." What did he really do? First, He became just another Congress-trained lobbyist peddling his influence, evening things out with lobbyist-turned-senator Dan Coats.
Hard to resist a story that opens with this:
A moped-riding would-be gigolo is behind bars this morning for trying to bribe a female police officer with $5 and an offer of intimacy.
This is a proposed cut in state funding that hasn't been getting much attention. It's escaped mine, anyway. From a letter to the editor in the Indianpolis Star:
So far, I'm still keeping my vow to never watch college basketball again, but sometimes it's hard not to notice the news about IU, the team I once followed so faithfully. The news is pretty sad these days. Three years into the Tom Crean era, the Hoosiers have won a total of eight Big Ten games. Some sportswriters have had enough:
The " Rally for Hoosiers" is hoping for 25,000 people to descend on the capitol. Like their protests inside the Statehouse for the past few weeks, many say they will continue to demand union rights and protection for the middle class.
[. . .]
When I saw this headline -- 'Chicken' Game Police Blame In Death Common Among Teens -- I thought it referred to the version I remember from my days as a yoot. Two idiotic kid drivers head their speeding cars toward one another to see who swerves away first. But apparently there is a more modern, even scarier version:
There are numerous videos on YouTube of young teens engaged in the game of chicken, daring each other to jump into the street.
What happened to "everybody should share in the pain"?
Republicans would prefer to tackle the politically sensitive issue next year when the 2007 farm bill expires, requiring negotiations and passage of a replacement. Many Republicans in the lower chamber, though committed budget cutters, hale from farm states where subsidy cuts would not be appreciated.
This is moderately amusing:
