When the local TV stations began scrolling across the screen news that Colts quarterback Peyton Manning had undergone knee surgery and would be forced to miss at least most of the pre-season leading up to last night's late night news, you were reminded of just how closely the Colts' recent successes have been tied to Manning's arrival ten years ago. According to the Star's Mike Chappell, Manning "started all 160 regular-season games during his 10-year career, the longest streak among active quarterbacks."

Manning's knee problems stem from his days playing college football at Tennessee. Chappell notes that he suffered a ruptured bursa sac in his right knee near the end of his senior year. Yesterday's surgery was to treat a problem with the bursa sac on his left knee, which his doctors have been treating since February. Sufferers of this problem are more prone to flare ups and can develop arthritis.

Anyone who follows the Colts knows the fans are very fickle. Nothing would drain enthusiasm from the teams' fan base more than a team without Manning. You could see the panicked reaction among the fans who were interviewed by local TV stations last night. WTHR had already planned to roll out an interview with Manning it had in the can, but news of his surgery overshadowed everything.indiana politics gay GLBT law

The New York Times has been out to destroy Sen. John McCain's candidacy this year from day one. Earlier this year, it ran a totally discredited tabloid story on page one claiming that McCain was having an affair with a lobbyist. Later, it raised questions about whether Sen. McCain met the constitutional requirement of being a "natural born citizen" in order to serve as president because of his birth in the Panama Canal Zone where his naval officer father was serving his country at the time. Despite the consensus among constitutional scholars that McCain satisfies the requirement, a view endorsed by a Senate resolution adopted this year and co-sponsored by Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama, the NY Times returns with yet another story raising the issue. The NY Times writes:

In the most detailed examination yet of Senator John McCain’s eligibility to be president, a law professor at the University of Arizona has concluded that neither Mr. McCain’s birth in 1936 in the Panama Canal Zone nor the fact that his parents were American citizens is enough to satisfy the constitutional requirement that the president must be a “natural-born citizen.”

The analysis, by Prof. Gabriel J. Chin, focused on a 1937 law that has been largely overlooked in the debate over Mr. McCain’s eligibility to be president. The law conferred citizenship on children of American parents born in the Canal Zone after 1904, and it made John McCain a citizen just before his first birthday. But the law came too late, Professor Chin argued, to make Mr. McCain a natural-born citizen.

“It’s preposterous that a technicality like this can make a difference in an advanced democracy,” Professor Chin said. “But this is the constitutional text that we have.”

The Senate resolution approved in April is based on the premise that "the nation’s founders would have never intended to deny the presidency to the offspring of military personnel stationed out of the country." That occurred after a Democratic operative filed a lawsuit in federal court in New Hampshire seeking to have McCain declared ineligible to serve as president. This view is buttressed by a constitutional expert on citizenship.“No court will get close to it, and everyone else is on board, so there’s a constitutional consensus, the merits of arguments such as this one aside,” said Peter J. Spiro, an authority on the law of citizenship at Temple University. Even Professor Laurence Tribe, an Obama advisor, agrees that McCain meets the constitutional requirement.

It is very telling that the mainstream media continues to raise this issue with McCain, but ignores the firestorm brewing in the blogosphere over Obama's citizenship status. A birth certificate produced by the Obama campaign claiming birth in Hawaii has been thoroughly discredited as a fraud. In his book, "Dreams of My Father", Obama describes holding his birth certificate in his hand, but his campaign did not produce an original birth certificate. Instead, it produced what was purported to be a certified copy. The issue is further confused by conflicting claims of the hospital at which Obama was born. Two different hospitals in Honolulu, Hawaii have been identified as his place of birth.

Liberal-leaning blogs supportive of Sen. Clinton and foreign newspapers have concluded the birth certificate is a fraud, but the mainstream media refuses to discuss the issue. It is important because Obama's father is a Kenyan who recorded his son as Kenyan citizen. Obama has never publicly renounced his Kenyan citizenship. Can a President hold dual citizenship? Moreover, Obama's mother moved him to Indonesia when he was only six. If Obama was born outside the U.S., a possibility we cannot dismiss until Obama produces a legitimate birth certificate as proof he is a natural born citizen, Obama would not be considered a natural born citizen because his mother did not maintain her citizenship status for a continuous period of 10 years after his birth, a requirement in the law at the time he was born.

Also noteworthy is the fact that the birth certificate produced by Obama says only that the information concerning his birth had been "filed" with the registrar in Hawaii. It does not say the information had been "accepted" by the registrar as a Hawaiian birth certificate would typically denote a record of live birth in Hawaii. That suggests only a court could deem the record of his birth in Hawaii as official. Liberal blogs have pointed out that friends of Obama's mother claim she was in the State of Washington with her new-born son when he was only three weeks old, further raising questions about his actual place of birth. According to Michelle Obama, his mother wasn't even married to his father at the time of his birth. Obama himself admits there is some doubt about whether they were ever married. His father had at least two other wives back in Kenya. Adding to the suspicion is the removal of the official Obama explanation on his birth certificate from his own counter website, Fight The Smears.

So with all these discussions on the Internet about questions surrounding Obama's qualification as a "natural born citizen," why is the New York Times continuing to hammer away at McCain on this issue? It's very simple. The Obama campaign is fearing the absolute worst in disclosures on this issue in the coming weeks and months, which will eventually make it into the mainstream media. By raising doubts about McCain's citizenship status, the Obama campaign hopes to inoculate itself from the disclosures and the public debate which will undoubtedly ensue. It's hard to imagine that the American people will equate McCain's situation with Obama's. McCain's overseas birth is attributable to his Navy Admiral father's service for his country in the Panama Canal Zone. McCain went on to serve his country with distinction in a long career in the Navy, including five years of hell being tortured as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. Obama never served his country through military service. To my knowledge, Obama has not even produced evidence he ever registered for the Selective Service System as required of all men between the ages of 18 and 26 born after January 1, 1960. One thing is clear. This issue is going to heat up.indiana politics gay GLBT law

In the age of the Internet, financial markets and businesses can rise and fall quickly based on rumors, true or untrue. The massive bank failure of IndyMac Bancorp yesterday can be traced backed to reckless statements made by Sen. Chuck Schumer, who chairs a subcommitee which oversees the Federal Reserve. Here is what Schumer had to say in letters dated June 26 to various federal banking regulators which were made public:

The letters reportedly said Schumer is concerned IndyMac "may have serious problems with its current loan holdings, and could face a failure if prescriptive measures are not taken quickly . . . "

Schumer, who serves on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs and is chairman of its Economic Policy Subcommittee, cited concerns that the bank's condition is a risk to taxpayers and borrowers.

After Schumer's comments were made public, the banks depositors began withdrawing their funds. By Friday when federal regulators seized control of the bank, more than $1.3 billion had been pulled by the bank's depositors. The OTS specifically blamed Schumer's reckless statement for the run on the bank's deposits. The OTS released a statement, which read in part:

The immediate cause of the closing was a deposit run that began and continued after the public release of a June 26 letter to the OTS and the FDIC from Senator Charles Schumer of New York. The letter expressed concerns about IndyMac’s viability. In the following 11 business days, depositors withdrew more than $1.3 billion from their accounts.

“This institution failed today due to a liquidity crisis,” OTS Director John Reich said. “Although this institution was already in distress, I am troubled by any interference in the regulatory process.”

IndyMac is the largest OTS-regulated thrift ever to fail and, according to FDIC data, the second largest financial institution to close in U.S. history.

The government's displeasure with Schumer's action is entirely understandable. “When a member of the United States Senate makes such a statement, it frightens depositors,” said John Reich, Director of the OTS. Not surprisingly, Sen. Schumer reacted by blaming the OTS. “IndyMac’s troubles, like Countrywide’s were caused by practices that began and persisted over the last several years,” he said. “If O.T.S. had done its job as regulator and not let IndyMac’s poor and loose lending practices continue, we wouldn’t be where we are today.” Schumer's point on the OTS' failure to more closely monitor banks like IndyMac is well taken, but it simply doesn't excuse his irresponsible actions. He should know that such statement would frighten depositors. Is this yet a new campaign strategy for Democrats to win big in this year's election? Create as much financial turmoil as possible to make the Bush Administration look bad and improve Democrats' chances in November? Who cares if they destroy America in the process? There's enough troubling financial news as it is. We don't need elected officials piling on to speed up our own demise. indiana politics gay GLBT law

The City's East Side has been a hot zone for shootings lately. A short while ago, an IMPD officer was shot by a suspect in the 800 block of Euclid Street. The officer has been rushed to Wishard Hospital. According to an online Star report, there is an additional shooting victim. No word on the downed officer's condition. According to WRTV, the police officer was serving a warrant when the suspect fled and a chase ensued. The officer was shot in the arm, and his injury is not thought to be life-threatening.

UPDATE: Regretfully, earlier reports indicating that Officer Jason Fishburn's injuries were not life-threatening proved inaccurate. The 29-year-old officer sustained a serious gunshot wound to the head and has had to undergo several hours of surgery tonight. The man who shot him is a suspect in the home invasion killing of a 69-year-old man on the City's Eastside earlier this week. He is also being treated for a gunshot wound to the shoulder inflicted on him as police apprehended him. Shortly after midnight, the Star's 911 site is active. There are two 911 calls reporting shots fired. One is on the City's near north side. The other is on the city's northeast side. Hopefully, those shootings are without victims.

UPDATE II: Officer Fishburn remains in critical condition after several hours of surgery. He is in a medically-induced coma this morning.

UPDATE III: Late this afternoon (Friday), doctors told reporters that Officer Fishburn's condition was guarded but acknowledged that most patients with similar injuries do not survive.indiana politics gay GLBT law

Rev. Malachi Walker has been on the forefront of the Peace In The Streets initiative and conducts neighborhood prayer gatherings in troubled areas of Indianapolis known as Drive By Prayers to discourage youth from taking up crime. Early this morning, his 24-year-old daughter, Chanelle Wells, became the City's latest homicide victim. Someone broke into her home on the City's Far Eastside and shot her multiple times. Police found a handgun, two AK47s and marijuana in her home. Wells leaves behind three children ranging in age from 5 months to 6. She became the 70th homicide victim of the year.indiana politics gay GLBT law

For the Obama folks, the election in November is a mere formality. In their minds, the race is already over and Obama is simply taking a five-month long victory lap to the White House. This is particularly true with the sleazy influence peddlers who surround Obama. Long-time Obama friend, former staffer and political advisor Dan Shomon offers us a taste of that "Change" Obama promises to bring to Washington in this pitch for his government affairs practice:

“Should ‘CHANGE’ occur in November as polls indicate, we should see a lot of people from Illinois moving to Washington, D.C., and taking key spots in an Obama administration. Now is the time to anticipate these changes."

“We will be in Washington, D.C., August 4, 5, and 6, and we’re interested in scheduling a meeting with your government affairs team to discuss the changing political landscapes and our services and capabilities.”

“Dan is mentioned in every book about Sen. Obama and is profiled in Sen. Obama’s book, ‘The Audacity of Hope.’ Dan has been interviewed in recent months by Time magazine, the Washington Post, ABC’s ‘20/20,’ CNN, the L.A. Times, the Chicago Tribune and many other publications about Sen. Obama.”

Of course, the Obama campaign professed shock and disappointment at Shomon's solicitation. “As Mr. Shomon acknowledges, this e-mail was poorly conceived and inappropriate in both tone or content," Obama's campaign said. "He has also committed, and we fully expect, that his firm will take the utmost care to avoid in the future actions or any appearances such as that raised by this e-mail.” Yeah, right. This guy figures with Tony Rezko headed to prison for a long sentence, the field is wide open for him. Note that Shomon's solicitation describes him as "Obama’s longest serving campaign adviser and strategist."

Obama, while in Indiana yesterday, took time out for a lofty interview with Jake Query and Terri Stacy, morning show folks at WIBC. It was in keeping with the dumbing down of America approach to American politics. The questions were about on this level:

Terri: Do you wear boxers or briefs? HaHaHaHaHeHeHe

Jake: Are you a Mountain Dew Man? Hey, Put It Right There.

Terri: Can I keep one of your used soda cans as a keep-sake?

Jake: Is it true how big it is, you can tell me, good buddy?

Terri: Can I hold it? HeHeHeHe?

Jake: Oh yeah, our boss wanted us to ask you if Evan Bayh is going to be your choice for Vice President?

Terri: Oh, boo! Jeff Smulyan is a party pooper. He cut our pay!indiana politics gay GLBT law

A random shooting on 38th Street near Sherman Drive has left a 24-year-old man dead and a child in another car injured by a stray bullet. WTHR reports there was a third shooting victim in another passing car which travelled on to the hospital. An IndyGo bus travelling on 38th Street at the time of the shooting was also hit but no injuries were reported on the bus. This is the 13th homicide since June 30 and the 68th homicide of the year. According to the Indy 911 Calls site on IndyStar.com, it's a violent night. There's a car-jacking on South Port Road, a person assaulted on the southeast side, and shots fired on the eastside, among many other calls tonight.indiana politics gay GLBT law

President Bush today lifted a ban on offshore drilling in the U.S., which his father enacted by executive order when he was president. Bush's actions are meaningless, however, unless Congress also acts to repeal a congressional ban still in effect. Sen. John McCain supports the move. Sen. Barack Obama opposes offshore drilling. The Democratic-controlled Congress is asking ,"What's the rush?" The U.S. has the largest untapped oil reserves in the world, yet we depend on foreign oil for most of our demand. With oil reaching close to $150 a barrel, the American economy is heading into a deep tailspin from which some think we may never recover. The largest bank failure in American history this past weekend is providing little confidence. Obviously, it will take many years to develop our untapped oil reserves, but the mere threat of new domestic oil development will put downward pressure on future oil prices.

Closer to home, three GOP candidates for Congress, including Mike Sodrel, Luke Puckett and Greg Goode, have headed north to Alaska to urge development of huge oil reserves in ANWR to meet our domestic oil needs. Not surprisingly, Democrats knocked the move. "The Republican Party has spent decades cozying up to the oil industry, and once again we are seeing their candidates put special interests in front of Indiana's interests," said Indiana Democratic Party Chair Dan Parker. "I find it bizarre that these three would choose to travel 3,500 miles to discuss energy policy with Big Oil rather than have an open discussion with voters in Indiana," Parker added. Really? Well, I find it bizarre that the Democratic-controlled Congress would intentionally wreck the U.S. economy and destroy the lives of millions of Americans simply to assure a good showing in this November's election. Americans overwhelmingly support the development of our nation's oil reserves, but Democrats think like their presidential candidate Barack Obama. They won't be happy until gas prices hit $10 a gallon. People are hurting and the Democrats love it--as long as they can count on the American people blaming Bush's party for the higher prices.indiana politics gay GLBT law

Sen. Barack Obama has represented to the American people that his mother married a Kenyan, Barack Obama, Sr., and that they were later divorced when he was just two years old. But Obama antagonist and fellow Chicagoan Andy Martin is now claiming that a new book he is about to release forced Obama to admit that his parents were in fact never married. The marriage claim, which has been repeated often, is described on Barack Obama, Sr.'s Wikipedia entry as follows:


On February 2, 1961, Obama Sr. married a fellow student, Ann Dunham in Maui, Hawaii. She did not know that he already had a wife in Kenya. Their son, Barack Obama, Jr., was born on August 4, 1961. Two years later, Obama Sr. was accepted at Harvard for graduate study. He moved to Massachusetts, unable to afford to take his wife and son with him. He and Dunham divorced in 1963, divorce filed in Honolulu, Hawaii in January 1964, and he only saw his son again once, at age 10.

Martin, in a press release today, says Obama used his wife, Michelle, to make the disclosure of his illegitimate birth because he knew that Martin planned to debunk the marriage claim in his book about to be released, "Obama, The Man Behind The Mask." Martin said in a statement today:


Obama knew we were working the 'illegitimate' story, and we were preparing a series of news conferences in conjunction with my book "Obama: The Man Behind The Mask," The Obama campaign also knew we were planning a lawsuit over his illegitimate birth. So they tried to use Obama's wife to do damage control. It was one of the most cowardly gestures in American political history.

Jesse Jackson does not have to perform surgery. Obama is a 'girly man' who used his wife to ooze out the truth about his lies and his parents' lies. What kind of a commander-in-chief would the cowardly Obama be? Who would follow a leader into battle that was afraid to admit his parents were not married?

Barack Obama, Senior, and Anne Dunham never married. Obama knows this fact. This is also why he keeps his white grandmother a virtual prisoner; she knows too, and she won't lie.

Through the past several decades Obama has pretended he 'didn't know' the facts about his illegitimate birth. He thought he could get away with the big lie. And he almost did get away with it. But we kept digging. And we are still digging. We have more to come.

Martin's press statement does not say when Michelle Obama made the disclosure. However, on July 10, the Huffington Post quoted Michelle as saying Obama's mother was single when she gave birth to him during a public roundtable discussion. "His own mother, she said at the beginning of her remarks, was 'very young and very single when she had him,'" the Huffington Post wrote. "And, Obama added, he has observed his wife's attempts to reconcile motherhood with her career aspirations."

In the scheme of things, it is irrelevant to Obama's candidacy whether his parents were married. I guess the real question is whether he has intentionally deceived people about this fact over time. And if he lied about this matter, what else is he lying about? It seems pointless to lie about this when it was already known that his father had other wives and children in Kenya that he never supported. Obama has been caught in other lies about his father, including a claim that he was a goat farmer, another claim that the Kennedy family brought his father to America and yet another claim that his parents got together and created him because of the march on Selma, which didn't happen until several years after Obama's birth.

A pro-Hillary Clinton blog, TexasDarlin, has been raising questions about Obama's birth for weeks now, including whether he is a "natural born" citizen as constitutionally required of a person to serve as president of the United States. TexasDarlin is also raising questions about Obama's alleged dual citizenship. The question doesn't involve Obama's Kenyan citizenship by virtue of being the son of a Kenyan as has often been raised in the past as you might expect. Instead, it raises the question of whether Obama was adopted by his Indonesian step father and what the resulting implications of that would mean to his candidacy. Obama moved to Indonesia with his mother after she married his Muslim step father when he was six. TexasDarlin is planning to run a story on this subject later this week.indiana politics gay GLBT law

It's a tight time for City of Indianapolis finances. Services are being cut. Taxes are being raised. And the City of Indianapolis is still giving aways millions of your taxpayer dollars like candy. That's the rub I get from an in-depth story by Cory Schouten in today's IBJ about the Indiana Sports Corporation's recent sale of Pan Am Plaza property to Kite Realty Group. Schouten does an excellent job explaining the history of the formation of the non-profit ISC and how the City pumped millions into the project to get it off the ground, not to mention the gross incompetence displayed by the ISC in the management of these public assets. It's this behind-closed-doors agreement that screwed taxpayers out of millions that's the real story here though:

The city gave the Sports Corp. the properties known as Square 88 in 1986, in exchange for a 30-year agreement restricting development on the plaza. The agreement said the requirement to maintain a “first class urban plaza” could be waived after 20 years if the owner paid a $3 million, inflation-adjusted fee to the city. But late last year, the city agreed to reduce the protected portion of Pan Am Plaza from 88,000 square feet to 10,000 square feet without any payment, citing minimal use of the plaza and decaying infrastructure.
For an unelected bureaucrat, it's just the way business is done. "Enforcing the payment could have stalled a great redevelopment opportunity, said Maury Plambeck, who has served as director of the city’s Department of Metropolitan Development since 2002." To activist attorney Paul Ogden, it's scandalous. Schouten gives us his take on the smelly deal:

But the waiver doesn’t sit well with local attorney and activist Paul K. Ogden, who is preparing a lawsuit challenging the move. His question: Why should the Sports Corp. get the fee waived because it failed to maintain the plaza?

The fee, if enforced and adjusted for inflation, could add up to $6 million to city coffers.

“Basically, the Sports Corp. owes money to the city of Indianapolis,” Ogden said. “It’s a tough position to take that the taxpayers shouldn’t have gotten anything out of the deal.”

Here's the part of Schouten's story which really enrages me. Schouten writes, "Kite owns 85 percent of the partnership that acquired the remaining Sports Corp. holdings. The purchase price for the four-acre site was not disclosed." Are you kidding? The ISC is allowed to selle off this publicly-dedicated land, and we don't even know what the sale price was? Only in Indianapolis would a group of elitist insiders be allowed to get by with this kind of crap. I say full speed ahead to Ogden's lawsuit. Somebody has to teach these people a lesson. Our public assets aren't your little playground to enrich your buddies who invite you to all their private parties and entertain you in their suites at Conseco Fieldhouse and now Lucas Oil Stadium.indiana politics gay GLBT law

Mayor Greg Ballard and the Republican-controlled council promised transparency in government when they assumed the reins of government in January. I've been anxiously awaiting the online posting of economic interest statements for city-county employees and elected officials, but I can't find anything more recent than 2006. The last I heard the administration was advocating scaling back significantly the number of people subject to the statement of economic interest filing. And what happened to that new ethics ordinance anyway? Just asking.indiana politics gay GLBT law

The Iranian government's announcement that it had tested medium and long-range missiles with a maximum range of 1,250 miles is quite unsettling to Israel. How the candidates for U.S. president react to this news is very important to this ally. A headline in the Israel Insider says it all: "Obama wants to discuss 'em, McCain wants to down 'em." Obama's call for "diplomatic engagement with Teheran and threats of sanctions to try and persuade the Iranians to act nicely" isn't sitting well in Israel as you might expect. "His call for negotiations came as a senior Iranian advisor was quoted as saying that Tel Aviv will be first target to burst into flames," the Israeli news magazine says. McCain's response to the missile test was more well-received. "Ballistic missile testing coupled with Iran's continued refusal to cease its nuclear activities should unite the international community in efforts to counter Iran's dangerous ambitions," McCain said. "Working with our European and regional allies is the best way to meet the threat posed by Iran, not unilateral concessions that undermine multilateral diplomacy."indiana politics gay GLBT law

Ivy Tech won state and city approval for a $69 million construction project at the site of its near northside campus in Indianapolis along Fall Creek with the understanding it would preserve the historic former St. Vincent Hospital Building facing Fall Creek as you cross the bridge on Meridian Street. Now, Ivy Tech officials have presented drawings which propose to raze the historic building, along with all the surrounding buildings. This, according to the IBJ's Cory Schouten, has the Indiana Historic Landmarks Foundation in an uproar.

As with anything Ivy Tech does, politics seems to have a role in the project. Schouten notes that Ivy Tech dumped its former architect on the project, Jim Schellinger's CSO Architects, and replaced it with Schmidt Associates, a big contributor to Gov. Mitch Daniels' re-election bid.

From the outside, the old St. Vincent Hospital appears to be a real treasure and certainly a landmark building for the Fall Creek neighborhood. It really is a gateway of sorts as it stands facing the greenway along Fall Creek Parkway. Judging by the comments on Schouten's Property Lines blog, people aren't real cracked up about the proposed replacement building. Some describe it as looking like one of those suburban warehouse buildings.indiana politics gay GLBT law

Last February, I attended a Mayor's Night Out at the Jubilee Center on the City's near northside. Public Safety Director Scott Newman told the gathered neighborhood residents to expect stepped up enforcement as a means of getting guns out of the hands of felons. Newman told the gathering that routine traffic stops are an effective and legal means of accomplishing this objective. Let's put this policy to the test.

I spoke tonight to a prominent neighborhood leader and local business owner who was subjected to one of these "routine traffic stops." Shortly after this fine gentleman, who happens to be Caucasian, left a black friend's home in the area of West 29th Street, he was tailed by an IMPD officer. After traveling about five blocks, the officer turned on his lights and pulled him over. The officer approached him and demanded to know why he was "buying crack in a black neighborhood." His efforts to explain to the officer that he had simply been visiting a friend in the neighborhood weren't succeeding. "Why are you shaking," the officer demanded of him. As his nightmare continued, six police officers gathered at the scene. He found himself being patted down with his hands on the hood of the car. Drug sniffing dogs were brought to the scene to search his car. In a particularly embarrassing moment, a client of the businessman drove by among many others, looking on in shock at what he had just witnessed. The officer relentlessly badgered him for answers about his whereabouts. Finally, after nearly an hour, the officer tossed his driver's license, registration and proof of insurance onto the street. "You got lucky today," the officer said as he walked away.

If Scott Newman believes that routine traffic stops such as the one this man encountered at 6:45 a.m. this past Monday is legal, then he better head back to law school. This police officer had absolutely no probable cause for pulling this man over other than his belief that a white man should not be driving in this particular black neighborhood at that time of day. The victim in this case has filed a complaint with the City. If the City is wise, a public apology will be immediately issued to this man for the police officer's gross misconduct. I think we all share a commitment to bringing crime under control in Indianapolis. But this kind of police misconduct cannot be tolerated for a moment. If you want to stop someone for speeding, ignoring a stop sign or driving with a headlight out, that's fine. Profiling drivers based on race in a particular setting, black or white, stopping them and then subjecting them to unreasonable searches and detentions is simply unacceptable.indiana politics gay GLBT law

The 7th District GOP committeepersons chose Gabrielle Campo to replace Jon Elrod as the general election congressional candidate to oppose U.S. Rep. Andre Carson. There were 77 eligible voters at tonight's caucus. Campo won it on the second ballot over her five male opponents after falling a few votes short on the first ballot.indiana politics gay GLBT law

A Star editorial has a warning to politicians who might mistakenly think that the property tax reform changes they implemented this year are enough to fix the long-term problems with property taxes and local government. The tax storm of 2007 can easily return. Some of the changes still needed:

Eliminating Indiana's 1,008 township governments, an outdated system that harkens to the 19th century, is but one step needed to ensure that tax dollars are used more efficiently. County governments' leadership structure needs to be streamlined. Local governments also should be allowed to hire professionals to fill the coroner, surveyor and other posts that require technical expertise rather than continuing to fill the positions with elected politicians.

One of the things I fear if Gov. Daniels is not re-elected is a return to the political environment we had in Indiana for the 16 years under Democratic governors where none of these changes would be possible. Democratic governors are loathe to take on the patronage fiefdoms these local government officials have built up over time, and they certainly won't support anything that the teachers' unions oppose. That leads to stalemate and nothing getting accomplished.indiana politics gay GLBT law

Those of you who followed the campaign between Bart Peterson and Greg Ballard last year will recall that Ballard supporter Darla Williams had one issue she continually raised on the blogs and at public meetings: Bart Peterson was not being fair to minority contractors. Well, guess what? Mayor Ballard is overhauling the city's minority contracting program "after finding the city's program in disarray and falling short of goals" the Star's Brendan O'Shaughnessy reports. And of course, he will announce changes at Indiana Black Expo this morning. In addition to his plans to expand minority contracting, Mayor Ballard intends to divert 3% of city spending to veteran contractors. Is this what voters asked for when they elected Greg Ballard?indiana politics gay GLBT law

The Justice Department is suing the Autum Ridge Condominium Association in Munster because its Board allegedly denied housing to a black couple with children. The Association had a rule in place until 2007 which prohibited sales to anyone with children under the age of 18 if the children were to live in the units. In this case, however, the previous owner of the condo had children living in her unit with her. The Northwest Indiana Times' Joe Carlson's explains what led federal authorities to conclude the Association discriminated against the couple:

According to government filings in Hammond federal court, condo association officials did not raise an issue about Valentine's two children violating board policy until after the officials learned Valentine and Haddox were black during face-to-face meetings.

Until June 25, 2007, the association had a rule prohibiting sales to anyone with children younger than 18 if the children were to live in the units. But the previous owner, Diane Webster-Rangel, had two children living in the condo, federal filings allege.

Haddox and Valentine would have been the first black residents in the 20-unit development at 633 South St. since the association was formed in 1986,
the government lawsuit states.

Department of Justice spokeswoman Jamie Hais said her department's lawsuit is the result of a complaint received and investigated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Civil Rights Division trial attorney M. Elizabeth Parr states in the federal complaint that the board's decision not to approve the $122,000 sale between the previous owner and Haddox violated the Fair Housing Act by discriminating on the basis of race and familial status.

Other victims included the seller, who had to accept a lower purchase price from a white buyer in 2007, and Haddox's real estate agents, who did not get paid for their work on the deal, the lawsuit alleges.

Collins points out in his story other housing discrimination lawsuits the federal government has brought in the region. Last year, the government sued the Town of St. John for denying a zoning variance to a man who wanted to allow unmarried persons suffering from MS to live in his home for treatment. The town had an ordinance against unmarried persons living together in a single residence. In 2002, the government brought a case against Lake County after a head of the economic development agency was fired because he supported an affordable housing project in Lake Station which might attract minorities. And who said the Bush Justice Department doesn't enforce civil rights?indiana politics gay GLBT law

The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza has one of the best background pieces I've seen written on Sen. Barack Obama. It's a must read for all political junkies. Unfortunately, the magazine's cover page above, which accompanied Lizza's story, will probably overshadow the substance of his story. Lizza does an outstanding job explaining the dynamics of Chicago politics and, in particular, how Obama drifted from being a progressive Democrat to a loyal Daley machine guy to the disappointment of his earlier supporters.indiana politics gay GLBT law

The deep fraction which developed this primary season between Sen. Barack Obama and women voters who backed Sen. Hillary Clinton has provided an opening for Sen. John McCain to win over more women voters than recent Republican presidential candidates have succeeded in doing. Sen. Barack Obama and his political master David Axelrod understand this. What better way to undermine John McCain than to drag up dirty laundry from his nearly thirty-year old divorce from his first wife. Yes, Obama and Axelrod found friends at the LA Times to dig up the dirt, even though his ex-wife is having no part of it. Earlier this year, friends of Obama at the New York Times feebily tried to make the case that McCain was carrying on an affair with a lobbyist. Of course, there was absolutely no substantiation for the allegations contained in the story, but it ran on the front page of the newspaper anyway.

This is a continuing pattern in Obama's campaigns. He did this to his leading opponent in the Democratic primary race for the Illinois Senate in 2004. He did it again in the general election against his GOP opponent. Obama and Axelrod peddle dirt about the marriages of his opponents as a matter of course, but just let anyone step forward and raise questions about Obama's own infidelities and the Obama crowd rains down on them with cries of racism and stop at nothing to destroy those who would speak the truth. The mainstream media won't touch sex and drug allegations against Obama, but it will peddle anything handed to it by the Obama organization meant to discredit his opponents. This is how it is for anyone who runs against Barack Obama.

Meanwhile, back home in Chicago, the Sun-Times provides yet another story of Obama's politics as usual aptly entitled, "Obama's Field of Broken Dreams." Read it and learn about a wasted $100,000 grant Obama secured from the State of Illinois for a useless botanical garden promoted by a campaign contributor in a burned-out neigbhorhood in his district. The campaign supporter blamed Obama's failure to get the other $1 million he promised to deliver from the government for the utter failure of the project. Taxpayers got one of those wooden gazebos you can pick up at Home Depot for a few thousand dollars and a patch of weeds for their hundred thousand dollar investment. True to form, a spokeman for Obama blamed someone else for the mess. He blamed the Democratic governor and his Republican predecessor. The spokesman said:


"It is clear that Englewood residents have not been able to benefit from a completed community garden," Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said. "Sen. Obama will. . . do everything he can to ensure that the Englewood community gets the resources it needs to provide its residents with a livable neighborhood."

But the Sun-Times haunts Obama with his own words from 2000. "On Jan. 14, 2000, Obama and Smith announced the Englewood Beautification Plan at Englewood High School. Obama promised to help raise $1.1 million," the Sun-Times reports. "He was running then to unseat U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, but lost in the Democratic primary." Nothing is ever Obama's fault, is it? I guess that personal responsibility he likes preaching to fathers doesn't apply to him. It's something you should know about him, and there's plenty of evidence of it. But the mainstream media's love affair with Obama won't let you hear about it now, will they?indiana politics gay GLBT law