Hoosier lore

The Indiana Republican Party will draft its 2014 platform when its state convention is held here later this week, and, thank goodness, it doesn't look like it will have a rigid ideological agenda that will require me to do something hard, like decide where I stand on the issues. At least that's my take based on the comments of Allen County GOP Chairman Steve Shine:

"Apostate" in the political sense is just a fancy word for "traitor," although I suppose that's too strong a label for people who've never had any core beliefs in the first place:

Most studies need to be taken with a grain of salt. This one needs a whole shaker full:

Uh-oh. In defending his plan to use Medicaid dollars to expand the Healthy Indiana Plan, Mike Pence has a "George W. Bush problem":

Remember the main reason given for the proposed amendment to the Indiana constitution banning gay marriage? It was that it would bebetter than the state's a;ready-existing law banning same because a judge could come along and invalidate the law. A constitutional ban would be more permanent.

Well, tell that to the good citizens of Oregon:

Oh, my God, we're all going to die!

NEW YORK (AP) -- Health officials reported Saturday what appears to be the first time that a mysterious Middle East virus has spread from one person to another in the United States.

The Washington Post speculates on the potential presidential candidacy of Mike Pence:

Sorry, sir, thank you for your service and all that, but you don't get a pass:

This seems to be the day for radical political ideas. First we have Alec MacGillis, a senior editor at the New Republic, who wants to do away with mid-term elections: