Politics and other nightmares

How'd you like this for a job -- spending a whole year just talking about poop?

A Purdue University-based state office is reaching out to Indiana’s farmers to educate them about new restrictions on using manure to fertilize cropland.

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Never mind all that President's Day nonsense. This is Washington's Birthday, the holiday we really should be celebrating:

It is sad that rather than celebrating George Washington’s Birthday, we have President’s Day.  By recognizing a group of political office holders rather than one man, we miss the chance to reflect on the impact of one person on the development of three centuries of democracy.

Say, remember all that talk about taking a break on the "social issues" and just concetrating on the more important economic issues for awhile? Oh, you silly, this is Indiana, after all. The state has been getting a lot of nationwide attention lately for the "double ultrasound" bill that has passed out of a Senate committee:

Yup, yup, yup:

This is certainly the oddest story I've seen all week:

By passing a bill last week that allows motorists to eat their roadkill, the Montana House of Representatives may be on their way to legalizing the ultimate drive-through experience.

Moments of clarity from two politicians I normally don't care much for. First, Newt Gingrich, about Karl Rove's plan to weed out bad Republican candidates:

I am unalterably opposed to a bunch of billionaires financing a boss to pick candidates in 50 states. This is the opposite of the Republican tradition of freedom and grassroots small town conservatism.

This time around, it's conservatives who are getting to play Gotcha! over some inartful remarks about rape. In arguing in favor of a bill that would forbid lawful concealed carry on Colorado campuses, Democratic Rep. Joe Salazar suggested that just because women feel like they're going to be raped, that doesn't mean they actually will be, so why do they need guns?

I think one of the benefits of Gov. Mike Pence's win over challenger John Gregg is that Pence's idea for education enhancement will prevail instead of Gregg's, so we're going to see an emphasis on improving vocational and technical education instead of a push for more early childhood education. There will still be people nagging us about this, of course, and President Obama's call for universal pre-K will give them encouragement. Too bad:

As government projects go, this one is high up on the worthwhile scale, relatively speaking cost-effective and less likely than some to turn into a debacle:

Awwww, poor babies: