Here's a story that's both less and more than it appears. Because the whole focus is on the increase of women living without a spouse, the writers feel compelled to offer a whole set of reasons for the phenomenon:
Here's a story that's both less and more than it appears. Because the whole focus is on the increase of women living without a spouse, the writers feel compelled to offer a whole set of reasons for the phenomenon:
They've come up with a new right in Massachusetts -- the right of a football fan to buy a ticket from the opposing team:
Rhonda Park of Kansas City was one of several football fans around the country who contacted the Globe after it reported on the Chargers' locals-only policy last week. She said teams should be required to sell tickets to fans of the opposing team.
Nothing but good consequences from bans on public smoking? Let's check in on Australia:
SMOKING bans could spark an increase in drink-driving and underage drinking as traditional pub clientele turn to backyard establishments, a hotelier has warned.
Anybody think they'll ever try this in Indiana?
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - Washington state's experiment with Sunday liquor sales is a big hit, and lawmakers may expand it to more stores this year.
Twenty state-run stores and 38 contract stores run by private vendors have been keeping Sunday hours, noon to 5 p.m., for the past 16 months. And sales are expected to top $18.5 million by June 30th.
About the same time they have the Super Bowl in Fort Wayne, probably.
A lot of people are going to make fun of this, but a great many will actually say it's a good thing:
In a ruling sure to make philandering spouses squirm, Michigan's second-highest court says that anyone involved in an extramarital fling can be prosecuted for first-degree criminal sexual conduct, a felony punishable by up to life in prison.
The "progressives" of Madison, Wisc., are toying with the idea of letting public officials, when they take the oath of office, add exceptions for the parts of the state and federal constitutions they don't like:
Jefferson Pointe is a "lifestyle center," if you're being positive, a "fake downtown" if you are not. Just don't call it a mall:
Sixth District GOP Rep. Mike Pence had an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal today, smacking the Bush administration around pretty good for its apparent willingness to go along with a tax increase for Social Security:
In case you're keeping score, it took until Friday -- that would be Jan. 12 -- for New York City to have its first homicide of the year. There have been five already so far in Indianapolis.
The Indianapolis Star's Matthew Tully finds an unlikely moderate hero in Speaker of the House Pat Bauer:
Barbara Boxer plays the "you have no stake in this argument" card against Condoleezza Rice:
Ever since Sen. Barbar Boxer (D-Calif.) noted that Rice was childless during hearings Thursday on Bush's new Iraq plan, a controversy has erupted across the blogosphere about whether Boxer's comment was appropriate.
Some conservative analysts interpreted Boxer as meaning that Rice wasn't capable of making decisions on war because she did not have children.
Old fogey alert! This is the state of popular culture today:
Don't expect to see Bob Dylan joining the celebrities on "American Idol" anytime soon.
One of the show's judges, Simon Cowell, says he has never bought a Dylan record because he "bores me to tears."
He also thinks Kelly Clarkson is a "young Aretha Franklin," which pretty much confirms the musical intelligence that his Dylan remark hints at.
I don't think much of Arnold Schwarzenegger's "creative centrism" (see earlier post), but I caught him on ABC's "This Week" yesterday, and he made an intriguing point: Independents are becoming more numerous and therefore more important to the political process. They will likely play a big role in the 2008 presidential race.
A lot of people are asking this question: Should state pay for students' textbooks? Some say no, for this reason:
Some lawmakers expressed concern about finding enough money to provide free textbooks and still afford state-funded full-day kindergarten.
IU wins on the road in the Big 10. Indianapolis and Chicago both win their playoff games. Let me savor the moment. Weekends like this don't come along that often.
Most of the talk I've heard about Fort Wayne's new branding logo has been pretty negative. Check out the comments at this Mitch Harper post, and you'll get an idea of the general flavor. I did an editorial about it and was probably kinder than I could have been. This is the core of the problem, I think.
This effect of the Iraq war deserves a lot of discussion:
Until now, the Pentagon's policy on the Guard or Reserve was that members' cumulative time on active duty for the Iraq or Afghan wars could not exceed 24 months. That cumulative limit is now lifted; the remaining limit is on the length of any single mobilization, which may not exceed 24 consecutive months, Pace said.
Nothing beats stupid like drunk and stupid:
In 1920, the story goes, movers and shakers at the Republican National Convention had a private meeting in a room on the eighth floor of the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago to choose Warren G. Harding as the party's nominee. As the meeting ended and the men came drifting out of the room, so did a cloud of cigar smoke. The Associated Press dispatch said this: "Harding of Ohio was chosen by a group of men in a smoke-filled room." Thus was a political cliche born.
