There oughta be a law...

I'm continually amazed to discover laws that I had no idea even existed.
This article in the Muncie Star-Press explains how an inmate who tried to escape was prosecuted for "impersonating a public servant".

Looking at the actions of 5th District Representative Dan Burton, along with 99% of the legislature and a goodly number of public employees, I'd say this is one law we need to enforce a little more vigorously.

Another keeper!!!

There's nothing like a good blizzard to send a woman into labor. This blizzard it happened to be my daughter, who presented us an early Valentine present.

Rebekah joins her sister Hannah and cousin Audry, along with some mighty proud parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents.

Buckle this....

Coming at us again from the "Good Idea, Bad Law" department, is the Indiana House of Representatives latest attempt to over regulate our lives. Their latest offering, House Bill 1237, threatens to remove yet another of our few remaining freedoms, that of choosing, as an adult, whether or not to wear a seatbelt in a truck.

While the proposed law doesn't allow exceptions based on personal preference, it does allow exceptions for certain occupations. One of those is farming. Another is newspaper delivery.

Now, I'm not in the market for a farm, but if this law is enacted, I expect to be the delivery boy for "The Bell Gazette", which will be published ocassionally and delivered sporadically.

Franchises may be available.

I was right, so what do I win?

A belated Happy Ground Hog Day to you all. Apparently he predicted an early spring, which is good news because it's 7 below zero this morning with a 15 MPH wind.

Of course, being right in your predictions isn't always a good thing.

I was giving my desk it's annual monthly cleaning the other day when I ran across a list of predictions I had made a while back. After George Bush and Mitch Daniels had won their respective offices, a member of the local GOP was trying to convince me how much better off we were going to be than if the competition had won.

Being as we didn't see eye to eye, I told him I would make a list of predictions as to where we would be in two years, and he would do the same. Then we could compare the lists in February, 2007.

Here is what I predicted:
1. The federal debt will increase.

2. The United States will still have troops in Iraq and 140 other countries.

3. U.S. casualties in Iraq will exceed the casualties from the 9/11/01 attacks.

4. Osama bin Laden will still be alive, or dead of natural causes.

And in Indiana, I predicted that the cost of government per capita would increase, and that seat belt use would be required in pick-up trucks.

Admittedly, the seat belt thing hasn't happened yet, but the push is on again this year.

I guess I could look him up and rub his nose in it since I hit 5 out of 6, but I really don't feel like gloating about it.

We're from the government, and we're here to help...

Down the road from Hagerstown about 15 miles, the city of Connersville is bracing for the closing of it's Visteon plant, and the loss of the remaining 900 jobs. Everybody could see it coming, except for the city council, that just built a $1.8 million dollar swimming pool, while counting on Visteon's continued 'contributions'.

One of the lead stories in the the local paper stated that the governor and our local representatives were concerned with the closing, and that they were on their way to help out.

Now there's some good news......

This is how the government handles things....

From David Walker, U.S. Comptroller...
"The largest employer in the world announced on Dec. 15 that it lost about $450 billion in fiscal 2006. Its auditor found that its financial statements were unreliable and that its controls were inadequate for the 10th straight year. On top of that, the entity's total liabilities and unfunded commitments rose to about $50 trillion, up from $20 trillion in just six years.

If this announcement related to a private company, the news would have been on the front page of major newspapers. Unfortunately, such was not the case -- even though the entity is the U.S. government."

And yet we continually look to the government to solve our problems. It's failed policies of artificial market supports, forced wealth distribution and strangling over-regulation will only continue to force businesses to close or relocate.

Politicians can be the most help by getting government out of the way, and returning to a policy of minimal taxes and minimal regulation that allowed businesses and the economy in this country to grow and prosper.