I saw this headline on a South Bend Tribune editorial -- "Arming Indiana crime victims" -- and thought: What? Free-gun handouts by the state? Turns out they're talking about something else:
I saw this headline on a South Bend Tribune editorial -- "Arming Indiana crime victims" -- and thought: What? Free-gun handouts by the state? Turns out they're talking about something else:
Happy Darwin Day! Not everyone feels like celebrating, of course, including this writer, who points to an Indiana connection with the "dark side" of Darwinism:
There is a proposal to move the date of Indiana's primary from May to March. Even if that happens, it won't make any difference, because of lot of other states are thinking about earlier elections, too:
Coincidentally, right after I read the news that Anna Nicole Smith had died, I came across this story about Indiana courting Hollywood:
The Indiana House voted 82-15 Thursday to pass a bill providing financial incentives for movies, TV shows and other entertainment productions to be made in Indiana.[. . .]
I bow to no one in my scorn for John Edwards' politics. He's an idiot who has as much chance of being president as I have of being pope. But let's stay focused on the issues:
A Richmond Palladium-Item editorial makes a valid criticism of a measure in the General Assembly mandating teaching of the Holocaust in Indiana public schools:
But someone needs to speak up for academic freedom and the potential ills of a politically chosen legislature micromanaging what gets taught in the classroom.
A young Indiana Daily Student essayist, somewhere in the middle of a piece that keeps confusing the functions of jails and prisons, concludes that the United States is just too darn punitive and doesn't spend enough time trying to redeem criminals:
Strangely enough, the crime rate in the country has steadily decreased. Yet, the incarceration rates have not decreased proportionately.
Rep. Dan Burton is at it again, or, rather, not at it again:
INDIANAPOLIS - U.S. Rep. Dan Burton missed 19 votes in the House last month, including a measure on financial aid for college students, because he was in California playing in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic - a charity event he's attended 17 times since 1988.
I no longer make global-warming arguments with any hope of changing adherents' minds or even getting them to consider alternative evidence. If you express the slightest skepticism, they roll their eyes and say they no longer care to argue with people who insist on sticking their heads in the sand. But it's still worth pointing out that people who are absolutely sure about something are relying more on faith than science and recommending consideration of a skeptic's reasoning.
Getting a tattoo while drunk has always seemed the epitome of bad judgment -- temporary impulse, permanent results. But a Chicago Bears fan has upped the ante:
If the publisher of The New York Times admits to being worried, I guess the rest of us should be, too:
A lot of feminist claptrap is being written about recent remarks by Justices Ginsburg and O'Connor. In fact, the subtitle of this article is "The female justices begin to reflect on feminism":
Just a thought as a taxpayer on projects advanced by local officials. One way I judge such projects -- and I presume many others do this, too -- is a personal calculus: What is this likely to do for me, and what will it cost me?
I wouldn't want to cast doubt on the Rev. Haggard's sincerity, but this sounds a little, um, desperate:
One of four ministers who oversaw three weeks of intensive counseling for the Rev. Ted Haggard said the disgraced minister emerged convinced that he is "completely heterosexual."
This is a great story for underscoring how easily emotions can derail the most focused and rational among us:
A Nasa astronaut has been charged with attempted kidnapping after driving 900 miles to confront a woman she believed was a rival for the affections of a space shuttle pilot, according to police documents.
So, President Bush has revealed his $2.9 trillion budget, and it focuses heavily on defense and security, and upset Democrats will do their own version putting in their domestic-spening priorities, and even some Republicans are upset and blah, blah, blah:
The president's plan would permanently extend tax reductions that now are set to expire in 2010, a change that would reduce anticipated tax revenues by $1.6 trillion over the next 10 years. Democrats oppose him on that, too.
Enough already. It was fun to see two Midwestern teams compete in the Super Bowl, but can we please move on to something else? Stories like this, speculating on whether the Colts can repeat, are just a little too much. And though I am sure we would all be enlightened by stories on who the first one-legged albino coach to go to the Super Bowl might be, we have more immediate concersn. Like learning all the childhood secrets of the 43rd candidate to announce for the 2008 presidential race.
Another business tries to head off government intervention by making a meaningless gesture:
The company that makes chocolate bars such as Mars and Snickers, is to stop targeting its advertising at under-12s.
Masterfoods will stop advertising in magazines and television programmes intended for children under the age of 12 by the end of the year.
This Journal Gazette editorial has one of the greatest leaps of logic you'll ever see:
The report's author says the goal was not to shock Indiana residents but to give Hoosier policymakers useful information to help protect a segment of Indiana's citizens in excessive danger of being murdered. Shocked, though, is exactly what the policymakers
