Politics and other nightmares

The right-wing cranks (of which I am an occasional member) are piling only on Hillary Clinton, but in truth both she and Barack Obama adopted Southern accents for their appearances in Selma (fascinating audio here). I'm inclined to go a little light on the pandering charges and cut the candidates some slack. I moved to Indiana from Kentucky when I was 12 and had a noticeable Appalachian accent.

Considering all the things the federal government has done, calling the Medicare prescription drug benefit the "most fiscally irresponsible legilation since the 1960s" is really saying something:

You just knew something like this had to happen sooner or later:

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - Two inmates housed in a smoke-free prison traded a hostage for cigarettes after a six-hour standoff.

They coudn't have had their girlfriends sneak in some with the other illegal drugs?

They flinched:

The Palace is a goner. Is there any point in continuing to pretend Harrison Square is a matter of debate instead of a done deal?

This is why Gov. Daniels' plan to privatize the lottery is a horrible idea, no matter how worthwhile the deeds he wants to fund with the profits:

The Hoosier Lottery has a mediocre track record, with more than half of U.S. lotteries boasting higher sales per resident.

[. . .]

Never say it's as silly as it can get when it comes to the state finding things to protect us from. Rather than link to it -- it's short -- I'm reprinting the whole thing so you can appreciate the awesomeness of the idea:

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A state lawmaker is sponsoring a bill that would require the interior designers hired to spruce up Hoosiers' homes and businesses to be registered in the state.

Despite the seemingly innocuous subject matter, this is at least the third year the bill has been debated in the General Assembly.

Of all the prejudices people have, antisemitism has always been the most incomprehensible to me. Just don't get it. But obviously it thrives, even in places like Indianapolis:

Thank God Barack Obama has one white parent and is clean and articulate and was raised in Hawaii far from the mean streets of America. That means he is white enough for people like me, who want to seem colorblind but have never had anybody but a white man to vote for and, really, do we want to hear rap music from the Rose Garden and start seeing White House recipes for fried chicken?

Iraq isn't just bad. It isn't just another Vietnam debacle. Good lord -- it's the worst thing ever!

"This war is a serious situation. It involves the worst foreign policy mistake in the history of this country," Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, told CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer."

I want to ask if Democratic rhetoric could get any more excessive, but I already kbow the answer.