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Politics and other nightmares

Not laughing now, however

Yes, it was a depressing political year. But there were some funny moments and some (mostly unintentionally) funny quotes. My favorite quote:

What's yours is ours

No, no, a thousand times no:

Is now the time for the Indiana General Assembly to consider a progressive income tax? When Gov. Mitch Daniels proposed a one-year higher tax rate for upper income households, his idea died faster than the annual hopes of a Cubs fan.

More than 30 states already have some form of a progressive income tax, which in good times builds government reserves that can be used when revenues decline in bad times.

Muddling through

Has any report in recent memory delivered so little after being anticipated so much?

A commission on the war in Iraq recommended new and enhanced diplomacy Wednesday so the United States can "begin to move its combat forces" out of the country responsibly.

The situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating," the commission warned after an eight-month review of a conflict that has killed more than 2,800 U.S. troops and grown increasingly unpopular at home.

Standing on ceremony

Conservatives are supposed to cherish and promote the values and institutions that make America uniquely special. It helps when they know what those values and institutions are, as this one clearly does not:

The first Muslim elected to Congress hasn't been sworn into office yet, but his act of allegiance has already been criticized by a conservative commentator.

Thought police

I've always been a little unclear on the thinking behind "hate crime" laws. Until police develop a mind-reading tool, they really don't know what anyone is thinking. That means authorities can only punish phsyical manifestations of that thinking, such as intimidation or vandalism, which are already crimes. So the fact that Indiana is one of only five states without specific hate-crime laws doesn't necessarily make us backward.

Back to the basics

Can anyone explain, really, how putting kids on school buses for an hour or more instead of letting them attend their neighborhood schools has been good for education? The irony is that this has been done in the name of "diversity," when the actual goal has been to make each school mirror, as much as possible, the makeup of the larger community. What's diverse about schools all being the same?

Up for grabs

The News-Sentinel's Ryan Lengerich did a good analysis of the 3rd District congressional race between Mark Souder and Tom Hayhurst race showing that Souder lost Fort Wayne, squeaked by in Allen County because of his good showing outside the city, and beat Hayhurst comfortably in the other 3rd District counties.

Private lives

How much of a private life should a public figure be allowed to have? I ask not because I think I have a better answer than everybody else but because it's an important question that's more urgent to discuss than it ever was. By now, most of you probably know the story of Allen County Republican Chairman Steve Shine (here are The News-Sentinel version and The Journal Gazette one).

And a dead duck, too

I knew if I kept looking at the polls, there would finally be some good news:

“I think his goose is cooked,” John Norton, a retired political science professor at Pennsylvania's Lebanon Valley College, said of Kerry. “He wasn't in a strong place to begin with and then his reaction to his most recent gaffe nailed the coffin.”

Everybody's at fault

In the great Gary gun case of 1999, by which the city attempts to hold manufacturers and sellers liable for the misuse of weapons, I think the best opinion was rendered by Lake Superior Court Judge James Richards, who dismissed the Gary case in 2001, saying the city "cannot fault businesses beyond its jurisdiction for the crimes committed by others." But a judge has resuscitated the case, ruling that a federal law aimed at shielding the manufacturers and dealers from liability is unconstituti

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