In their efforts to capture the public's attention, then, have climate scientists oversold global warming? It's probably not a majority view, but a few climate scientists are beginning to question whether some dire predictions push the science too far.
"Some of us are wondering if we have created a monster," says Kevin Vranes, a climate scientist at the University of Colorado.
According to a new poll, 62 percent of Hoosiers would support a $1 increase in the cigarette tax if the money were used for health initiatives (of course, the poll was commissioned by a coalition of anti-smoking groups, so there might be a little "getting the results they wanted to get" going on here). This news must have stunned Gov.
I have made merciless fun of people who invoke God's name to win football games, and Sunday would have been a good day to have at them again. The winning coaches of the Bears and Colts both thanked God profusely during post-game interviews. Even Colts owner Jim Irsay got into the act:
The poll published by The Journal Gazette yesterday pretty much confirms what most of us already had anecdotal evidence of: Not many people support a new baseball stadium downtown. According to the poll, about seven in 10 don't think the stadium is a good idea. They are also supportive of downtown in general and are more interested in seeing more parking and more shopping than they are in seeing more downtown housing or a third hotel.
Of course Oprah, J.K. Rowling and Martha Stewart lead the list of the richest females in entertainment. But look at No. 13 -- Judge Judy. She makes more than the nine Supreme Court justices put together. OK by me. Not a single decision she's made has screwed up the whole country.
Different people look for different signs that civilization as we know it is ending. Mine is America's rapidly disappearing sense of humor:
An article in the annual joke issue of Princeton University's student newspaper has left some readers accusing its staff of racism.
Wouldn't it be funny if they had to cancel the Scooter Libby trial because they couldn't find a jury of his peers?
On the third day of the trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the job of finding Washington jurors who do not hold negative views of the George W. Bush administration, its war in Iraq and Vice President Dick Cheney became harder.
Boy, Ronald Reagan must be rolling over in his grave:
The White House reacted with alarm and anger last night after China successfully destroyed a satellite with a ballistic missile, the first space test of such offensive military technology by any nation in over 20 years.
The question that so many are apparently asking: Did anyone NOT watch "American Idol"? Yes, that would be me. If I want to hear bad singing without even the benefit of several drinks in a smoky bar, I'll just put a tape recorder outside my shower. That attitude does, however, leave me out of a lot of conversations at work.
Art Buchwald has died at 81. He was the premiere political humorist of his time, a Jon Stewart of print. He made fun of everybody of all political persuasions, but his humor was a little more gentle than what we see today. I grew up reading him, and I never thought about it, but his influence probably contributed to my interest both in newspapers and writing about government and politics.
As with many outwardly funny people, he had his demons, but he had a warped take on those, too:
Indiana Catholic bishops, writing about immigrants, says the faithful should "welcome others as Christ himself," declaring pretty much an open-borders position, providing strong evidence for the wisdom of the separation of church and state:
Headline of the week: Amnesia is worse than thought. Actually thought is much worse than amnesia -- all those dark, conflicting ideas colliding instead of being able to sink into blissful ignorance.
The Mastodons were fun. But big shoes?
To fund Team Dreams, the Visitors Bureau is offering fiberglass and weatherproof shoes 7 feet by 4 feet by 3 feet to businesses purchasing a $7,500 tournament sponsorship package. To maximize visibility of the sponsors, each custom-designed shoe will spend time in various locales in the city, including Glenbrook Square, Jefferson Pointe and downtown.
The shoes will be moved to Spiece Fieldhouse for the tournaments.
A lot of people are asking this question: Should state pay for students' textbooks? Some say no, for this reason:
It is five minutes to midnight -- do you know where your planet is tonight?
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which 60 years ago began keeping tabs on humanity's temporal distance from self-annihilation with the concept of a “Doomsday Clock,” apparently found things sufficiently dire to nudge the minute hand forward two clicks, indicating that we are now “five minutes to midnight” — or Doomsday.
The Indiana Supreme Court stayed the execution Wednesday of a man scheduled to be put to death Friday in the 1993 slaying of an Indiana State trooper.
The Indiana attorney general is fighting to keep secret the identities of the doctor and prison employees who will execute Norman Timberlake, assuming all the appeals fail. I sincerely doubt if it's for the reason given:
Sen. Bayh is back from overseas, and I hope he takes better care of himself than Rep. McHugh:
People have been bugging me to give "24" a try for five years now, but I've resisted, not wanting to risk liking it and having to commit to 24 episodes of something in a row. This year I gave in, watching the two-part, four-hour season premiere Sunday and Monday nights. My fears were justified -- it is compelling television, and I'm probably hooked for the rest of the season. How can you not be caught up in a show whose first two episodes start with a bus blowing up and death by biting out of the carotid artery and end up with a nuclear bomb going off in Los Angeles?
