The prime directive of libertarianism and a pretty good restatement of the Golden Rule: "Just don't stand on anybody's head." Not sure I buy this marriage of conservatism and Dead Head-ism, but it's a fascinating read. For sure, more people on the right are fans of Jerry Garcia than of the Rolling Stones. Joke I heard once: What did the Dead Head say when he ran out of pot?
It's a rite of passage for teens to congregate with other teens and behave so obnoxiously that adults get annoyed. When I was growing up, we had to drive all over creation to have this pleasure, stopping at places like Halls and Gardners just long enough to let our car engines cool. These kids today, I swear, they have it so easy; all they have to do is go to the mall. But now the malls are striking back. Useful phrase to remember: "I've been thrown out of better places than this."
The answers for the quizzes posted here in the last three days:
Downtown quiz, Part 1: What does Reservoir Park have that downtown needs? Answer: park benches. Downtown quiz, Part 2: What is missing from this stop on a downtown walking tour? Answer: park benches. Downtown quiz, Part 3: What does this site have that the rest of downtown needs more of? Answer: park benches. Kind of a theme there. (Watch the video.)
This brings us to:
The Curbside Challenge
This must be one of those stories where the authorities know a whole lot more than is revealed in the news stories, like maybe the whole family is dangerous and the best thing is to get the kid out of there. Otherwise, it's hard to see the heinousness of a woman selling her baby for a pittance to the grandparents who have done most of the raising of the baby anyway.
I've always liked the great movie "12 Angry Men," but for a long time I probably took the wrong lesson from it: The jury system works, and the truth will prevail! Actually, 11 of the jurors in the movie were nincompoops who were ready to send the defendant to the chair without a minute of discussion. And most juries don't have the Henry Fonda character to slow them down and make them consider the actual evidence in the case instead of their own prejudices and preconceptions.
Esther Schneider, new director of the Hoosier Lottery, gets the award for most outrageous statement of the year so far. "We have a moral obligation to make sure our games are fair." A MORAL OBLIGATION to make gambling FAIR? Look, it's already the fairest enterprise in the state: We all have exactly the same chance to squander our hard-earned money on a fool's game.
Can two straight men find happiness in a same-sex marriage? I'm not sure what to make of the story, but I suspect both proponents and opponents of gay marriage should be careful about using it to prove anything. People have always gotten married for a variety of reasons, not all of them in the "I've found my eternal, true love" column. If some state passed a law approving of marriage between a man and a guppy, someone would end up doing it for the tax advantage.
What does this site have plenty of that the rest of downtown doesn't have enough of? Answer to all three parts of the quiz tomorrow.
Here's the deal: Daylight-saving time is now a reality in Indiana. You can skip the "fall back" part in a couple of months, but be prepared, as difficult as it might be to think about, to "spring forward" by setting your clocks an hour ahead when the time comes. And forget about the time zone -- it isn't going to change.
Sure, you can argue with me, and we can get a great blogging debate going about the serious issues affecting Fort Wayne and the world. But wouldn't you really rather hug me?
Well, of course: "The factors that improve student performance often seem a fuzzy list of hard-to-define assets like good teachers, effective principals, smaller classes, and the right curricula, only some of which are directly related to dollars." We've been arguing about this for about 100 years, and the answer is no: Money does not buy good education.
Ouch, this hurts: "The evening news, a tradition born at a time when evening newspapers were important, has one of television's oldest audiences."
If you're near a computer terminal with an Internet connection at 1 p.m., watch a little history being made. It will be the first time an Indiana Senate committee will have a live Webcast of a hearing. Legislators will try to assert their authority over the Daniels administration's efforts to close license branches.
A nice stop on our downtown walking tour, but what's missing?
President Bush really didn't call for the teaching of Intelligent Design in science classrooms as a viable alternative to evolution, although a lot of friends and enemies of the adminsitration are saying he did, each group for its own peculiar reasons. Here's a pretty interesting discussion of the issue.
This is the kind of thing that gets people in other parts of the country exercised but doesn't seem to gain much traction here, even though "Redskins" (as in North Side High School) is surely on the more-objectionable end of the spectrum (as opposed to, say, "Indians").
It's the idea that terrifies conservatives and gives liberals a glimmer of hope: No matter what Supreme Court nominees sound like, they "evolve" on the court and often become something other than what the president who appointed them wanted. The only problem with that truism is that it isn't true.
Big liars: First, Alec Baldwin went back on his word to move to Paris if George W. Bush won his first term. Now, we learn that these wimps are going to hang around and keep pestering us until at least 2008.
With another school year coming up, watch for lots of stories about the terrible food in cafeterias. Here's one from Newsweek about the movement to improve what students eat. That's fine, I suppose, but salad bars? Skim milk? Childhood obesity is a problem, acknowledged; turn off the TVs and the video games, and run the kids around the block a few times, and make sure school includes gym class. But don't try to take away every morsel of junk food that makes childhood worthwhile.
What does Reservoir Park have that downtown needs? Stayed tuned for the answer and details.
