Directions to Sister Cities

This photo of a directional sign in downtown Los Angeles points the way to LA's Sister Cities.

This Indianapolis Observer thinks Indy should do something similar for its roster of Sister Cities!

Photo by Darryl Musick

Looney Hoosier Lawmakers At It Again

This Indianapolis Observer wonders where these lawmakers were when brains were allocated.

We've got big problems (oh, just for starters, mass transit, global climate change, obesity, unemployment, poor public education...) and yet they work on idiot legislation such as this:

"The Indiana state Senate on Wednesday advanced a bill that would require women to undergo an ultrasound procedure both before and after having a medication-induced abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy...."

"Dr. Anne Davis, the consulting medical director for Physicians for Reproductive Health, said the requirement would place an undue burden on women seeking to end their pregnancies."

No kidding!

There is absolutely no medical reason for one ultrasound, let alone two. (The bill also includes other bogus requirements.)

Too bad Hoosier Republicans don't believe in the same "right to privacy" as Iowa's Senior Senator Chuck Grassley, who said, in response to a question about microchipping people, "First of all, nothing can be done to your body without your permission. It’d be a violation of the constitutional right to privacy if that were to happen."

But, then again, the GOP evidently doesn't believe women are covered by the U.S. Constitution!

UPDATE
According to The Indianapolis Star on 25 February, "The Indiana Senate today changed a key provision of abortion legislation, no longer mandating that women getting an abortion-inducing drug undergo two ultrasounds.

"Physicians had said that given the small size of the uterus when the drug RU486 is given in the early weeks of pregnancy, the ultrasound would have to be done by vaginal probe. That, they said, is both invasive and unnecessary."

Monsanto Seed Patent Case

Indiana makes the national news again, this time it's a 75-year-old Hoosier soybean farmer vs. big business.

At issue: can he buy soybeans from a local grain elevator and plant 'em? Or is he violating a Monsanto patent by "replicating" the genetically altered beans?

Bowman farms outside Sandborn (map) in southwest Indiana.

Read it all here: U.S. Supreme Court Hears Monsanto Seed Patent Case.

James Dean Comes to Indy

The Indiana State Museum and IMAX® Theater are teaming up this week to host a special film festival in honor of Hoosier-born actor James Dean. The festival will feature all three of Dean's feature length films on three separate nights.

The festival will kick off Thursday (21 February) with a showing of East of Eden, for which Dean received a nomination for Best Actor in 1956. Rebel Without a Cause, Dean's most memorable film, can be viewed on the IMAX screen on Friday (22 February). Giant will wrap up the festival on Saturday (23 February), another film where Dean's acting was given a second posthumous Oscar nomination for Best Actor.

All showings will be at the IMAX Theater at the Indiana State Museum and will start at 7 p.m. Ticket prices are $5.50.

Want to learn more about this Hoosier icon? Don't miss the current exhibition Eternal James Dean at the Indiana State Museum through 2 June. This exhibit focuses on Dean "the man", his rise from Fairmount, Indiana, native to rising movie star and his love of racing. The exhibition features artifacts and historic photographs related to Dean's three feature films as well as personal items.

Foreign Policy & a Local Pint

This is from Provocate.org:

Indiana journalist and historian Doug Wissing (pictured) has a new book: Funding the enemy: How US taxpayers bankroll the Taliban. It’s a very well researched and very disheartening examination of how our decade long struggle in Afghanistan has seen much of the money flow to corrupt Afghan government officials, opportunistic American contractors, and the Taliban.

Educated as a historian and political scientist, Wissing has scrambled over avalanche-choked passes in bandit-ridden corners of Tibet to speak with the reincarnation of a valuable source. He’s gained insight into Washington insiders, Hong Kong Communist plutocrats, extreme body modifiers, modern medieval armorers and Belgian Trappist brewers who craft the world’s rarest beer. He’s listened to the lives of Vietnamese Impressionist painters, maverick mycologists, and Cuban internationalists.

His thought-provoking writing and meticulous research have resulted in six books and landed his unique perspective in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Foreign Policy, salon.com, and on BBC and NPR networks, as well as in tastemaker journals from ARTnews to Saveur. His award-winning articles and radio stories on Afghanistan have attracted wide attention among U.S. policy-makers.

NOTE:
"Foreign Policy and a Local Pint" is a series of informal, community discussions on a variety of topics of global concern. Each “FPLP” talk will feature a leading expert in that field right here in Indiana as well as local organizations doing work in the countries being discussed. Enjoy pizza, beer, and a comfortable atmosphere conducive to meaningful, engaging conversation. Have fun, learn new things, and find out how you can become part of something special.

This presentation, the first, starts at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, 21 February, in the City Market, 222 East Market Street, Indianapolis.

The Plot Thickens

"The downtown mafia's goal in installing [Mark] Miles was to permanently shore up its long-standing mantra that professional sporting events are the end-all, be-all for the economic future of Indianapolis and Central Indiana, and that professional sports can only thrive if billions of dollars in public investments are made to ensure their vitality."

So says Gary R. Welsh on his Advance Indiana blog. Read it here.

He talks about Joe Hogsett and Tony George and Tony Hulman and Mary George and Guy Trolinger and Bernie Ecclestone and the ADA suit and Greg Fehribach and Fred Nation and "Miles, Mr. Rent-A-Civic Leader himself", and Matt Tully. Riveting reading for this Indianapolis Observer.

"Even the lone anti-corporate welfare holdout among the [Indianapolis] Star's editorial team, Dan Carpenter, chimed in with his blessing of the deal--apparently after being drugged and sent away to a Gannett-run re-education camp for hopeless idealists."

Hoosier Hysteria

OK, so it's not happening in Indy -- but once again the Hoosier state is making national (and international) headlines for being stupid.

Indiana group fights for “gay-free” prom screams the headline on Salon.com.

"After failing to ban gay teens from attending Sullivan County High School’s official prom, a group of Indiana parents, students and a local teacher is fighting for a separate “traditional” prom that would keep gay kids out."

Other mentions:
Indiana Anti-Gay Prom Plan Sparks Backlash
Indiana's Anti-Gay Prom Is Getting Worse
Sullivan High School's Students, Staff Distance Themselves From Anti-Gay Prom Plan Frenzy
Indiana school group petitions for a 'gay-free' prom

This Indianapolis Observer thinks that gay kids have been attending proms as long as high schools have been hosting 'em.