The AP has a good article on Bill Polian, Colts president, has been instrumental to the Colts’ success over the last dozen years or so. I’d probably put him as reason #2 behind Manning, but, clearly Manning wouldn’t be as good as he is without the talent Polian has [...]
The 7th Circuit has issued an opinion upholding the district court’s grant of summary judgment dismissing the claims of Lisa Coffey and James Patterson, former editorial writers for the Indy Star, alleging that they had been dismissed because of their religious beliefs. (See, e.g., this report from a [...]
Leo Morris goes to a tried and true tool in pretty much any debate over adopting a Constitutional Amendment: “Let the people decide!” Keeping a proposed amendment off the ballot, the argument usually goes, is tantamount to a lawmaker declaring that he or she thinks Hoosiers are too dumb [...]
Not sure if it’s just luck of the draw or what, but scanning the headlines this morning, I see three cases involving people falsely reporting crimes to the police:
#The Star Press has an AP story about a New Jersey woman who lied about being gang raped, resulting in [...]
Taibbi has a post up about Palin’s recent dive into the shallow end of the Birther pool. But, what caught my attention was his discussion of what “The Left” meant in today’s politics; in particular, the labeling of Howard Dean as “too far left.” I was (and am) a huge [...]
The Indiana State Police’s Motor Carrier Division will be cutting half of its current work force, according to WRTV 6. The division is responsible for enforcing motor carrier laws and inspecting large trucks and school buses. According to the report, the division had 160 inspectors at one time.
There [...]
Garnishment is one of the tools available to a judgment creditor in Indiana for collecting on a judgment. The typical situation is for a judgment debtor to be employed and receive a fairly standard, weekly or bi-weekly paycheck. In that situation, a judgment creditor can usually get 25% of the [...]
My annual Pearl Harbor post.
This is the 68th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese Imperial Navy. Wikipedia has a pretty good entry.
The Imperial Japanese Navy made its attack on Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941. The surprise attack on [...]
Eric Bradner, writing for the Evansville Courier Press, suggests that four items are likely to dominate the upcoming legislative session: redistricting, social services, gambling, and liquor sales.
Redistricting has been getting a lot of attention. Ostensibly there is a move afoot to take the politics out of redistricting. My [...]
The Hoosier State Press Association had its banquet yesterday and gave out awards. Searching through Google News, it appears that all the newspapers are pretty quick to report on their own awards, but it’s oddly difficult to get the results for other papers. I didn’t immediately notice a full list [...]
The Journal & Courier is reporting that the Lafayette area will be getting a half-marathon next October.
Organizers announced the race Friday and hope to draw about 1,000 participants in the first year.
The half marathon and 5-kilometer races are set for Oct. 24. A Kids Fun Run will be [...]
I’m reading a history of the Middle Ages by Norman Cantor. He threw out a definition of “liberal” that seemed to work as well as any:
Liberals assume that men will be good if their environment and education are good, that improving men’s circumstances will improve their behavior.
This was the [...]
Uglier and uglier. A class action has been filed against Tim Durham’s Fair Finance in Summit County, Ohio, according to Greg Andrews at the IBJ.
They allege a sort of bait and switch (or is it smash and grab?) with Fair Finance. Basically, this long time company offered a [...]
Gov. Daniels called for a $150 million decrease, or 6 percent cut, in higher education funding in light of state revenue for November falling $144 million short of projections.
Money is running short and tough decisions have to be made, I suppose. But, if we’re digging into education, that seems [...]
Today, the 7th Circuit issued its opinion in the case of Milwaukee’s Sheriff’s Association v. David A. Clarke (pdf) (7th Cir. 2009).
The case involved a complaint by members of the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Department following mandatory employee meetings where a religious group was allowed by the Sheriff to give [...]
John Hostetler, former representative of Indiana’s 8th District, has announced his intention to seek the Republican nomination to run against Sen. Evan Bayh. For a brief moment, I considered his candidacy. It’s no secret I haven’t been terribly happy with Sen. Bayh lately. And, Hostettler voted against the Iraq War. [...]
Bob Garfield at Advertising Age has some commentary on the Tiger Woods coverage that highlights why the news industry is dying.
The point is, human interest and solid reporting do not necessarily add up to real news. For that we depend not on the tabloids or the internet or, [...]
Garret Matthews, writing for the Evansville Courier Press, has an article on a hearing about the coal gasification plant contemplated for Rockport that took place yesterday. Industry representatives gave rosy testimony: the endeavor will be economically successful, it will provide jobs, and there will be no environmental problems. Community [...]
John Blair, writing an opinion column in the Evansville Courier Press, adds an issue to the seemingly endless number about which I know too little to make an informed evaluation.
As I understand the allegations, the gas market has shifted. Where once making synthetic gas out of coal may [...]
Thomas Langhorne of the Evansville Courier Press reports that Tom McKenna has entered the Indiana Secretary of State race. The position will be vacated as current Secretary Todd Rokita’s term expires. McKenna, former executive director of the Indiana Department of Commerce, will be seeking the Democratic nomination against [...]
Disgruntled citizens might suggest that *lots* of lawmakers are guilty of impersonating public servants; but, former representative Dennie Oxley plead guilty to the formal, legal crime of impersonating a public servant.
Specifically, he claimed to be a member of the General Assembly while the legislature was in session in [...]
Hoosierati has a brief review of a book with an interesting notion: “that the history of the world can be told using six signature beverages (beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea and Coca-Cola).” The book is entitled A History of the World in Six Glasses.
Per Hoosierati:
Beer contributed [...]
Niki Kelly has an article on yesterday’s Senate Tax and Fiscal Policy committee meeting. The committee met in a fairly rare December meeting. Typically House and Senate standing committees don’t meet until after the General Assembly reconvenes in January. Apparently odd scheduling didn’t work out too well in this [...]
Maureen Groppe has an article in the Indianapolis Star indicating that the selective deficit disorder in Washington is bipartisan. (h/t BrianK for the SDD turn of phrase. Update, per BrianK, turn of phrase came from David Sirota.) When asked if they would support a tax to pay for [...]
In a move that can’t help but make you start thinking of possible conspiracies, the Feds filed a motion to dismiss the asset forfeiture lawsuit against Timothy Durham.
The federal government on Monday morning filed papers to dismiss a high-profile civil lawsuit that sought to seize Tim Durham’s assets, [...]
Glenn Greenwald took a chunk out of Evan Bayh’s hide, characterizing him as “the face of rotted Washington.” The specific trigger for this column was Bayh’s pretense of being a “deficit hawk” while supporting foreign military adventures but opposing taxes to pay for them.
Escalation of force in Afghanistan [...]
It seems to me that criminal activity is less disturbing when you understand it. Timothy Durham’s alleged Ponzi scheme isn’t laudable, but the motives are easy enough to identify. Shootings and assaults that are the product of domestic violence are serious, but they don’t make me as doubtful about the [...]
With another remarkable come back, this time against the Texans, the Colts advanced to 11 – 0. And, with some help from the San Francisco 49ers in their win over Jacksonville, the Colts also clinched the AFC South with 5 games yet to be played.
The first half against the [...]
The local blogosphere seems to have scooped the main stream media on a filing by the federal government to seize property of alleged Ponzi financier and political mover and shaker Timothy Durham. I read about the filing first at Advance Indiana and Ogden on Politics. Jon Easter at [...]
Thanksgiving was created, I think it must be said, as a religious holiday. Yet, not being a religious sort, I still find Thanksgiving to be one of the best holidays. The direction of my thanks is, perhaps, more ambiguous, but that doesn’t change the fact that I am thankful for [...]
Browsing the governor’s executive orders, as one tends to do on the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, I noticed that there were a couple of orders issued recently that relaxed the motor carrier regulations regulating hours of truck operation for drivers transporting propane. The executive order cites a need [...]
Moody v. Wellman, LLP (pdf) is a Not for Publication opinion issued by the Indiana Court of Appeals. (”Not for Publication” means it’s not to be cited as precedent — I’m not violating any state secrets by giving out the link). It’s a simple landlord tenant dispute with a [...]
Actually, it started last night, but in any case the FBI investigation and arrest of Tim Durham has the Indianapolis blogosphere lighting up (and, contrary to Mr. Shella’s assertion, it’s a bi-partisan pile on – with Advance Indiana and Ogden on Politics featuring prominently.) The IBJ’s [...]
You have enough anniversaries, I guess you start forgetting them. November 15 would have marked the 5th anniversary of this blog. I think the quality ebbs and flows, but I’m still enjoying having a place to spout off and perhaps, occasionally, pass along pieces of information folks find valuable. The [...]
The Post-Tribune, while offering the opinion that Mitch Daniels has been a decent governor for Indiana, finds his environmental record to be very bad, noting that Gov. Daniels has done the following:
Since Daniels came into office, under the direction of Easterly and his boss, Indiana has:
* Closed the [...]
(H/t Chris Spangle and Josh Gillespie) The Onion gets in on the Patriots-love.
Patriots Lead Colts at Halftime
INDIANAPOLIS—At the time of this writing the New England Patriots, playing on the road against an undefeated Indianapolis team, are headed into halftime with an all-but-insurmountable 24-14 lead.
Barring an almost [...]
Indianapolis Public Schools seems to be itching for a lawsuit based on its Internet policy (pdf) (via Dispatches from the Culture Wars and a number of other sites). The Freedom from Religion Foundation is calling them on it. The policy includes in the list of blocked categories:
Alternative [...]
Today is the Great American Smokeout 2009, the American Cancer Society’s annual effort to get smokers to quit for a day in the hopes that it will convince and enable them to quit permanently.
Hoosiers need this program more than most. Per capita, Indiana has the second greatest [...]
Organization Day was today, and the first few bills of the Indiana General Assembly have been introduced. In the Senate, there was one bill:
SB 23 on unemployment contribution rates was introduced by Senator Hershman and co-authored by Senators Kenley, Kruse, and Charbonneau. It delays from January 1, 2010, [...]
This is just going to be a drive-by post, since I haven’t thought it through and probably don’t have the expertise to think it through if I tried. But, it seems to me that health care financing has both a risk management component and an entitlement component. Maybe we need [...]
Maureen Groppe, writing for Gannett News Service, has an article about Judge Hamilton’s nomination to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. Conservatives are stalling a vote on his nomination. One case he has gotten particular grief about is his ruling that sectarian prayer could not be part of [...]
Today is Organization Day at the State House. Legislators meet for a day to perform mostly ceremonial functions and then don’t typically return until January when they get to work. Organization Day always struck me as being a little like the first day of school – any divisions between [...]
Good has defeated evil, Frodo has dropped the Ring in the Cracks of Doom, Aragorn has claimed his crown, and none of it would have been possible if Sauron hadn’t stupidly decided to go for it on 4th & 2 at his own 28 instead of punting.
And Collinsworth is [...]
Bill Engle, writing for the Palladium-Item has an article with Richmond-area lawmakers reacting to a newspaper sponsored proposal concerning lobbying reform (Speaker of the House, Pat Bauer had some lobbying reform proposals recently as well, I’m not sure if that’s related to this newspaper push):
# Prohibit legislators from [...]
I tell friends from elsewhere that, despite what they may have heard, Hoosiers aren’t a bunch of rubes. Then, I see things like the report that Indiana is passed only by West Virginia in percentage of adult smokers. At 26.1%, we have more smokers than Kentucky. In this day [...]
Over the past few years, the Colts have stood up to the Patriots well enough that I realized I’ve gone from simply hating the Patriots to loving hating the Patriots. In honor of the occasion, here is one of xtrarant’s Colts/Pats propaganda posters from a few year’s back:
[...]
Today one of my friends, with whom I do not see eye-to-eye politically, posted a complaint about trying Khaleed Sheikh Mohammed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. His complaint was that our criminal justice system was not meant for war criminals. Also [...]
Just a heads up for those interested in such things and who had not yet heard. CBS News will apparently be airing an investigative piece on Rep. Buyer’s Frontier Foundation tonight.
The short version is that the Frontier Foundation, ostensibly a charity to provide scholarships to Hoosier students, got [...]
Indiana’s Painfully Objective Political Analysis goes to the credit-where-credit-is-due file to extend some praise for Gov. Daniels. Go read the entire post, but the Governor deserves some credit for not being knee-jerk anti-Muslim and for recognizing that the pretense of water based casinos is a little bit ridiculous.
On [...]
It’s Veteran’s Day, a grim, solemn holiday in my mind. We owe our soldiers, past and present, a debt of gratitude for the service they have provided and the sacrifices they have made. But I suggest that we should use the holiday less to celebrate the sacrifices they have made, [...]
In a move that made conservative heads explode and liberals more celebratory than the occasion maybe deserved, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a health care reform bill. This leaves a long road ahead requiring a bill to get past Joe Lieberman in the Senate and then requiring a conference [...]
Casimir Pulaski became a citizen yesterday after President Obama signed a bill being pushed by Dennis Kucinich making Pulaski a U.S. Citizen, 230 years after his death. Pulaski was a Polish noble who came to the U.S. to fight and die for the Revolution. Indiana’s own Pulaski County [...]
I think I spend too much reading the news. It’s really kind of a sideshow to real life in a lot of ways. Reading about the latest health peril for my kids probably tells me less about the risks to my kids than paying attention to what they eat, for [...]
(Image from a painting displayed at the Riverview Community Bank).
Matt Taibbi’s latest pounds on Goldman Sachs international adviser Brian Griffiths speaking at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London:
“The injunction of Jesus to love others as ourselves is an endorsement of self-interest,” Goldman’s Griffiths [...]
Jeff Wiehe, writing for the Journal Gazette, has an interesting story about a woman who died in the county jail after being arrested for DUI. Her BAC was .33 and she apparently had significant problems with alcohol. Much of the story addresses complaints by her family out of Tennessee [...]
There looks to be a new blog out there looking at Indiana political issues from a lefty persuasion. Looks solid so far. It’s called “A Loyal Opposition.”
[...]Joe Flower has a good post explaining why free market competition fails in health care. Go read the whole thing, but the short version:
Medical demand is wildly random but tends to be absolute. There is little way to predict who, specifically, will need most kinds of medical [...]
Rick Yencer of the Muncie Star Press has an article about the Muncie City Council’s efforts to impose a $6 traffic ticket surcharge to help pay for police salaries.
For the record, I think it’s a bad idea to inject a profit motive into the machinery of the criminal [...]
Disclaimer: I don’t have any expertise in the subject matter. Further disclaimer: I’ve never let that stop me before.
Eric Bradner has an article about state secretary of public instruction, Tony Bennett’s, proposal to reduce instructional education for teacher licensure in favor of substantive education requirements. In other words, [...]
The Associated Press has a story about a study with an eye-popping statistic:
Nearly half of all U.S. children and 90 percent of black youngsters will be on food stamps at some point during childhood.
. . .
For a family of four to be eligible, their annual take-home [...]
Rep. Ed Delaney was attacked last night and is currently recovering at the hospital. The person accused of the attack is an attorney about my age named Augustus Mendenhall. Delaney was apparently lured to a meeting with Mendenhall in Carmel at Catherine Dr. near 131st Street under false [...]
Back on Eastern Standard Time. God’s time. (Or, you know, at least what I got used to growing up.)
[...]I’ve been hearing a lot from Todd Rokita on the radio lately. Clearly these aren’t campaign ads because they are airing with public money. And that would be wrong. Ergo, they aren’t campaign ads. iPOPA flags one of the ads that really made my ear perk up. I forgot [...]
The Lafayette Journal & Courier has an editorial which ties into a conversation I was having a couple days ago about an eagerness I see in some quarters to attribute health problems to moral failings such as gluttony and sloth. I was thinking about that conversation yesterday after [...]
The Urbanophile has a good post up as one part of his series on privatization. The Toll Road lease is one of the case studies he uses. The general observations are probably more important than the specific ones (my way of suggesting that you go over and read the [...]
TPM Muckraker has two stories about how the health care industry benefits Hoosiers — two families anyway.
Yesterday, the site had an article about the Buyer family entitled PhRMA Gave Big To GOP Rep’s Iffy Foundation, Hired [...]
A Research 2000 Indiana poll was conducted on behalf of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Democracy for America from Oct. 24 – Oct. 25, 2009. While there is strong opposition to a public options from those Hoosiers who identify as Republicans, independents and Democrats very much want Sen. [...]
Another budget season, another judicial mandate. In this installment, St. Joseph County judge Peter Nemeth issued “a judicial mandate ordering the County Council and Board of Commissioners to appropriate $60,208 to pay raises to eight court employees and $295,950.98 to renovate the Juvenile Justice Center.”
I’ve covered this ground [...]
Via:
Sen. Bayh: I may filibuster health care bill too if it’s not “fiscally responsible.” The public option itself, however, doesn’t seem to be a sticking point for him.
At least he’s consistent. After all, he filibustered the Iraq War because it wasn’t fiscally responsible. . . . oh, [...]
DougJ at Balloon Juice, riffing off of another good post by Sardine at Eschaton with a reminder that this health care debate isn’t some abstract political game:
I realize that if you’re poor in this country, then everything is your fault. If you take out a loan you [...]
Speaker of the House, Pat Bauer (D-South Bend) announced a proposed package of ethics rules for next year’s legislative session, including a one year cooling off period for legislators who want to become lobbyists.
Near as I can tell, resistance to ethics reforms has been a bipartisan effort. Last [...]
News came out yesterday that Harry Reid will merge the various Senate health care reform bills that were passed out of committee into a consolidated floor bill that contains a public option with a state “opt out” provision. This basically means that there would be a nation wide government insurance [...]
Seth Slabaugh has an article about the cost of fixing an aging water system in Muncie.
Muncie has 368 miles of water lines and some 600 miles of sewer lines, many of which were constructed 75 to 95 years ago, Bennington said.
I only mention it to note the difficulty [...]
A couple days back, I had read in the minutes of the Interim Study Committee on Alcoholic Beverage Issues (pdf) that members of the package liquor industry were billing themselves as the “stewards of control” of Indiana’s liquor regulations. According to an investigation by the State Excise Police, [...]
Bill Engle, writing for the Richmond Palladium-Item, has a good article on how Richmond City Council members circulated e-mails prior to a vote, specifically to avoid a public meeting, resulting in a successful effort to eliminate funding for Richmond’s Human Rights office. When councilman, Clay Miller, suggested that Republican [...]
I don’t usually drift too far into popcult around here — which is maybe a little odd, because I like to wallow in brain rotting entertainment — but the following from a recent episode of Batman: The Brave & the Bold was a big hit in the Masson household:
Neil [...]
An article by Seth Slabaugh in the Muncie Star Press reports a Ball State study on the stuff in our water.
Here’s what you might be ingesting the next time you have a cool drink of water: acetaminophen; antibiotics used to treat urinary tract infections; antibacterial agents found in soap; [...]
I can’t imagine seeing this on my commute. Someone passed along an e-mail with a picture of the tanker blowing up at I-69/465.
[...]The Lafayette Journal & Courier has an article about the announcement of West Lafayette City Councilman, Paul Roales, to seek the Indiana House seat currently held by Randy Truitt; House District 26. The last election was a tight one between Truitt and John Polles as they sought to fill [...]
Fishing licenses are up 8.1% this year in Indiana; above the national average of 7.7%. One explanation is that people have more time because they aren’t working as much and fishing is (or at least can be) a relatively cheap pastime.
[...]The Interim Study Committee on Alcoholic Beverage Issues has come out opposed to modifying the alcohol laws to allow Sunday sales. I don’t have time to provide any commentary, but the minutes from the hearing are here (pdf). O.k. – just a bit of commentary. The current laws [...]
Matt Taibbi’s recent article in the Rolling Stone about massive stock market abuse to push Bear Stearns & Lehman Brothers off the cliff for fun and profit is eye popping. The article focuses on the practice of naked short selling — selling a stock short without actually having the [...]
The Indianapolis Star has an editorial that is a little wishy-washy, but mostly critical of Rep. Buyer’s Frontier Foundation activities. What’s amazing to me, however, is that the editorial is absolutely silent on Buyer’s jarring about face on his involvement with the Foundation. First, he has no special involvement [...]
Barbara Bradley Hagerty, writing for NPR, has an article entitled “A Bitter Rift Divides Atheists.” (h/t Tom D.) The article describes a debate among atheists about how best to engage with believers. It describes peaceful, polite coexistence as the more traditional view as opposed to a newer, more confrontational [...]
Per a story by Lana Kunz in the Evansville Courier Press, a group called Network for New Energy Solutions reports that Indiana is behind the times on net metering – the ability to generate electricity from alternate sources and “feed the grid.”
Currently Indiana’s regulations only require power companies [...]
I’d lay my head on the railroad tracks
And wait for the Double “E”
But the railroad don’t run no more
Poor, poor pitiful me
Poor, poor pitiful me
Poor, poor pitiful me
These lobbyists won’t let me be
Lord have mercy on me
Woe is me
(With apologies to the late, [...]
Fred Clark at Slacktivist has an ongoing series about Tim LaHaye’s “Left Behind” series. The latest installment has a digression into the comfort of social conservatives with the idea of a dictator in the mold of Cincinnatus. The short version of the Cincinnatus story is that he was [...]
The Balloon Boy saga was like the “Baby Jessica down a well” saga of 23 years ago, except sped up for the Internet age. It took 58 hours to get Jessica out of the well. The Balloon Boy thing lasted a few hours. Recent information, however, suggests it’s [...]
Gov. Daniels finally decided to pull the plug on the State’s privatization contract with IBM/ACS to provide welfare eligibility services.
“It wasn’t resources,” Daniels said. “It wasn’t effort. It was a flawed concept that simply did not work out in practice.”
Francesca Jarosz has an article for the Indy Star about an Indianapolis urban renewal plan that has a warm and fuzzy vision for the area north of downtown around the Monon Trail.
Neighborhood renewal leaders picture a landscape of energy-efficient homes, cozy shops and restaurants bustling with patrons, a [...]
Niki Kelly has an article about Secretary of State Todd Rokita’s recent high profile. He ventured beyond the scope of his office by spending money to have legislative redistricting maps drawn up. Now he has anti-investment scam ads up where Rokita features prominently. It seems pretty clear he’s trying [...]
Back in college, I had a friend. Let’s call him “Dom.” Dom wasn’t one who was much given to following society’s “rules” or obeying its “laws.” He had a simple rule when it came to potential repercussions for his transgressions: “deny, deny, deny.” One time he told me, “I don’t [...]
It looks like a bit of good news for the Eli Lilly plant in Lafayette. According to John Russell, writing for the Indianapolis Star, Lilly has sold the plant to German conglomerate Evonik Industries AG. The plant had been potentially on the chopping block.
I hope the change in [...]
I had only been scanning the headlines as they crossed my news reader, but when they showed up back-to-back, it occurred to me that it had been a rough time for veterans in eastern Indiana.
In Muncie, a young veteran took his life in a movie theater in Muncie. [...]
Blue Indiana has posted video from a Channel 13 story on the Frontier Foundation which follows on the heels of the Journal & Courier story a few days ago. The short version is that industry groups with an interest in currying Rep. Buyer’s good favor are contributing to [...]
Mike Lopresti, Gannett sports columnist, has an enjoyable column on John Wooden. Wooden is about to turn 99 tomorrow. He comes from the town of Hall, Indiana. Lopresti’s account has Wooden’s memory fading along with the town.
He had a stand-out playing career, first with Martinsville High School [...]
