Eminent domain is totally out of control:
"We are going to rescue and relocate individuals and we will put them in a better position than they're living in now."
That's what they call it these days when they steal people's land and give it to developers. "We're just helping you."
Here's the state's list of proposed bills for the upcoming session of the General Assembly. The site will be updated as more bills are filed (and there's only one House bill listed so far). It's probably a good site to bookmark if there's legislation you're interested in, because it will be updated to reflect bills' current status. A lot of us will be commenting on various measures from time to time, so now's your chance to get a head start.
Just in time for the holiday season -- the five worst Christmas songs of all time. My list would begin with that awful Simon & Garfunkel version of "Silent Night," the one that has the background sounds of TV news reports of violence and war that gradually get louder and louder, eventually drowning out the song.
How were we able to live without Scott Adams' Dilbert.Blog? How will you be able to resist bookmarking a site that has observations like this?
Today my wallet was stolen for the 400th time, and frankly I'm sick of it. I don't know what bothers me more
So, if you're down to a choice of one or two restaurants or hotels or attractions to visit, and you've compared everything you can think of and still can't make up your mind, well, just check out their restroom ratings. Honest.
Got an e-mail from Kenn Gividen, the Libertarian who has taken some grief from the Indiana blogosphere for his opposition to the oral-sex article in the Columbus North High School student newspaper:
Conservative talk show host Bill O'Reilly plans to interview Indiana resident Billie Whitted on his No Spin Zone today.
Well, the Los Angeles Times is probably in real trouble now after losing Barbra Streisand as a reader. I love this part of her letter:
I'm afraid I can't get as exercised about this report of Indiana teacher salaries as Masson's Blog seems to be. For one thing, the numbers don't seem that bad to me:
The assault on Christmas continues: Happy goat, sheep and cow day.
Another myth exploded: Those who are trying to fashion federal immigration policy based on the belief that illegals from Mexico are flooding the country just for employment need to rethink the issue:
"There's one very clear finding and that's that unemployment per se is not a very large factor in determining whether people migrate or not," Suro said. "This is not a flow of people without jobs. Unemployment is not pushing people out. . . . "
If you'd decided to take a break from Fort Wayne Observed because you read that Nathan Gotsch was taking two weeks off, you should head back there. He's got a guest blogger posting for him. I think that must be like cat-sitting.
If we're going to preach free trade, we ought to practice it, too. We especially need to give up our pretenses about agricultural subsidies:
Phasing out farm subsidies would not just be a demonstration of international good will by the United States. It would save U.S. taxpayers big bucks -- farm subsidies have reached nearly $20 billion a year. The bulk of those subsidies go to large agricultural operations, not small family farms.
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself? That's saying a lot these days:
The truth is, fear
John McCain is wrong on this one, and the majority of the American people are right. Torture as a general practice must be disavowed, but we can never say it will never be used.
Those of you who'd like to replace "Merry Christmas" with something less religious might want to give it a second thought:
The dispute makes no objective sense, of course. "Holiday" means "holy day."
John Kerry, the Vietnam "hero" who wanted to be commander-in-chief (and, of course, still does), bashes American troops again. He can't help himself; that's just who he is.
People are always looking for good reasons to have a few:
The benefits of light to moderate drinking when it comes to heart disease have been touted for years, but new research suggests it may also help you stay svelte.
That "light to moderate" is a fine line, though. Otherwise there wouldn't be so many fat drunks waddling and lurching around.
It's too bad this study of literate cities is cut off at 250,000 population. I'd love to know where Fort Wayne ranks. I suspect we'd do well by some of the criteria (library use, for example), not so well by others (use of the Internet, for one).
An interesting question, which I haven't seen explored, is why we're having this trend of women, especially teachers, abusing minor boys. I've been a minor boy, so I know they don't have a single thing in the way of emotional maturity to offer a woman. The sex can't be that good.
The good news for congressmen and senators is that they rank above telemarketers and car salesmen in public trust, but not by much. The good news for journalists is that we rank above congressmen and senators, but not by much. Notice that the top five (out of 21 professions on the list) are all people we really need: nurses, druggists/pharmacists, medical doctors, high school teachers and policemen.
