Mitch Daniels Can't Avoid Politics

"When former Gov. Mitch Daniels became Purdue University's president," reports Gary R. Welsh, "he said he was getting out of partisan politics. Recent events suggest that's an impossible promise for Daniels to keep," Welsh writes in Advance Indiana today (31 October 2013).

"This week, he irritated some on his campus when he announced that Purdue, unlike IU, would not oppose the constitutional amendment opponents of same-sex marriage have vowed to push before the legislature next year.

"At first blush, that would appear to be consistent with his position since Daniels claims the university doesn't typically weigh in on social issues.

"The problem is that the proposed constitutional amendment puts at risk the domestic partner benefits the university has offered for several years and is inconsistent with the university's nondiscrimination policy.

"Thus," Welsh concludes, "some critics argue that he put his own political views ahead of the university's stated policies."

And, this Indianapolis Observer notes yet another reason his selection as Purdue prez was a bad move.

False Precedent?

"Two weeks ago, Richard Posner, one of the most respected and iconoclastic federal judges in the country, startled the legal world by publicly stating that he’d made a mistake in voting to uphold a 2005 voter-ID law out of Indiana, and that if he had properly understood the abuse of such laws, the case 'would have been decided differently'."

"The law in question requires voters to show a photo ID at the polls as a means of preventing voter fraud. Opponents sued, saying it would disenfranchise those Indianans without photo IDs — most of whom were poor, elderly, or minorities. State officials said the law was necessary, even though no one had ever been prosecuted for voter fraud in Indiana."

(The rest is here: "The Debate Over Judge Posner's Unforced Error")

This Indianapolis Observer notes that, once again, Indiana is in the news (and, not in a good way).

Luck Bests Manning

Your Indianapolis Observer doesn't follow football, but today's AP story on yesterday's Colts-Broncos game did provide some chuckles.

"If Peyton Manning wanted a preview of what retirement might look and feel like, the Indianapolis Colts gave him a brief glimpse Sunday night," AP reports, commenting on his standing-applause welcome.

"That ceremony turned out to be about the only bit of hospitality his former team extended, handing Manning and the previously unbeaten Denver Broncos a 39-33 defeat."

Indy Native Makes Good

You probably already knew this, but (as the Indianapolis Business Journal points out in "Eight@8" this morning):

"Angela Ahrendts was born and raised in nearby New Palestine, Ind. (pop.: 2,055), and got her degree at Ball State in 1981. On Tuesday, she was appointed senior vice president at Apple Inc. (market cap: $453 billion), reporting directly to CEO Tim Cook. Ahrendts has become an overnight sensation in the tech world, giving up her ridiculously lucrative job ($26.3 million in 2012) as CEO of high-end fashion label Burberry to take over Apple’s retail operations."

You go, girl!

Hoosiers Sounding Like Idiots (it's a meme)

"Obamacare has proved to be not just ideologically divisive but linguistically fertile. There’s seemingly no event or passage in American history to which it can’t be compared." writes Frank Bruni in The New York Times.

"The terrorist attacks of 9/11? Check. Back when Mike Pence, Indiana’s Republican governor, was still in Congress, he summoned that day’s horror to characterize the Supreme Court ruling that upheld the Affordable Care Act."

Really, Gov. Pence? Having the Affordable Care Act upheld by the Supreme Court is like flying planes into the World Trade Center?

Stutzman Sticks Foot In Mouth

"Marlin Stutzman was, until today, a little-known Republican back-bencher, representing northeast Indiana in the House. But with just one off-message statement that he was quickly forced to retract, he became the prominent public face of the House Republicans who are refusing to re-open the United States government."
(read the rest here)

This Indianapolis Observer hates it when the elected representatives from the Hoosier State prove themselves to be uneducated country bumpkins. How could the party of Richard G. Lugar have devolved to this level?