The newspapers are littered with “Gee Whiz, We’re Going to be on Daylight Saving Time” coverage. When I read those articles, for some reason they remind me of a Special Olympics pep talk. “Come on champ, you can do it! Move that clock ahead one hour. You can do it the night before, or the morning after! Isn’t that wild? Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. There you go, that’s super!”
It’s as if the writers believe that the reason Hoosiers remained on Hoosier Standard Time (HST) for more than a generation was because we considered ourselves too stupid to work a clock.
That sort of cloying enthusiasm notwithstanding, the time switch happens tomorrow. 5 a.m. will become 6 a.m. and we will have an “extra” hour of darkness in the morning as we jump off the DST bridge with the rest of the country.
I don’t expect we’ll change back any time soon, and I expect I’ll get used to getting up in the dark mornings pretty much year round and to putting my kids to bed in the full glare of daylight. I do hope the lemmings in the General Assembly who helped their leader Mitch pass the legislation pay the price when voters head to the polls this November.
It’s as if the writers believe that the reason Hoosiers remained on Hoosier Standard Time (HST) for more than a generation because we considered ourselves too stupid to work a clock.
that’s exactly what they think. the “hoosiers are stupid hicks” argument has long been a central tenet of the pro-DST argument. (it’s also one of rishawn diddle’s favorite arguments anytime anyone opposes any of mitch daniels’ proposals.)
Oh stAllio, perhaps you should actually read what I’ve written. But then, you would actually be addressing me on Expresso instead of one of on Masson’s site.
Actually I don’t argue that those Hoosiers opposed to reforms such as the Toll Road lease deal and to Indy Works — not only do I support some of the Daniels proposals that make sense, stAllio, but those of the Democratic Peterson administration when they make sense (and you would know that if you actually read my work) — but that instead of viewing an issue through a traditional closed mindset, consider the possibilities. I would never call anyone stupid; their arguments may be senseless or may not actually match with reality, but never dumb because it’s about ideas, not about the people from which the ideas arise. Smart people will disagree and will argue strenuously with one another over their disagreements.
Given the nature of disagreements in this state — where unthinking partisanship (be it political, philosophical or otherwise) tends to make everything seem personal instead of merely debates over ideas and policy — both your reaction, along with Doug’s, isn’t exactly surprising.
Actually I shouldn’t have included Doug in this case. Unlike stAllio, he didn’t mention me. My apologies.
I’ve come to understand that DST actually stands for “Daniels Standard Time”. Regrettably this whole mess is no April fool joke. So long HST, you served us well……..
rishawn, it’s interesting that you came across my comment so quickly after i left it (and on a saturday night, too), particularly after complaining that i never comment on expresso, but that’s probably just an amusing coincidence.
but you got me: i don’t comment on expresso much because i can only handle the inanity of the star group blogs for short periods of time. but this hardly means i’m unfamiliar with your work.
if i weren’t familiar with your work, how would i know about your pet argument that “hoosiers oppose such-and-such policy because they’re ignorant backwood rednecks” (generally followed up with the corollary that if these ignorant hoosiers would leave indiana for awhile, they would come back smarter and more accepting of whatever mitch wants to sell them)?
seriously, how many posts and comments have you written revolving around the idea that hoosiers are resistant to change because they’re ignorant small-towners? you made two such comments just today on expresso in response to your latest DST post. i know this is one of your fallback arguments for DST, the toll road lease, and indy works… am i missing anything?
the fact is that you make this argument so frequently that i have come to personally associate it with you. so now whenever i hear someone make the “stupid/ignorant hoosiers” argument, you immediately come to mind. sorry if that bugs you, but it really has been a hallmark of your work in the past few months.
you can split hairs and say “i’ve opposed some of daniels’s policies” or “i would never call someone stupid; only ignorant and small-minded” but the net effect is the same: you seem incapable of grasping that some people have legitimate reasons to disagree with you on these issues, and instead assert that they lack the ability to comprehend the superiority of your side.
Splitting hairs stAllio? Really you should actually stop using straw terms such as that — it only proves you’re unwilling to make a compelling argument. Let’s face facts: Because you take a certain position and are unwilling to believe that those who oppose it actually hold their positions out of any principle, you would rather accuse them of belittling Hoosiers — which is funny since there are two groups of Hoosiers involved in these debates and one of them is far more forward-thinking — then specifically address those issues. It says more about your willingness to consider an opposing viewpoint than it does about mine.
DST is antiquated. In an era where the confusion it causes with computer clocks is more significant, the rest of the country ought to be dropping DST, rather than IN adopting it.
I read many of the newspaper DST stories too (the FW News-Sentinel is particularly littered with them, excluding Kevin Leininger’s column), though high school pep rallies were the image that kept coming to my mind.
The really great thing, is that our state is doing so well that DST can be given the attention it deserves. We don’t have schools firing teachers because they[the school] cannot pay the teachers. Then turning around and blowing $200k on laptops, or handing out iPods as door prizes in training sessions for teachers[1]. And obviously our schools are among the best in the nation, because surely that would take precedence over DST.
I thought the state was hurting financially when Mitch shut down Dept. of Motor Vehicles offices. I thought our schools were only average[2]. Apparently I am crazy, because they have all this time to spend on “fixing” DST rather then solving the budget or improving education.
[1] As far as I know, neither event has made any paper. but I have witnessed it and I will provide more information upon request.
[2] http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/states/
Click on IN, or I have a PDF of the page
http://home.bravegnuworld.com/~rjune/IN_report_card.pdf
The only time issue might be if any action is taken by USDOT with Pulaski County and if Martin and Daviess County rally neighboring counties to apply to go back to ET.Youd think The SW corner should be happy in CT..They got what they wanted and unless the issue is Sullivan and Lawrence counties, they ALL got what they applied for.Everything will be dtermined in midsummer evidently
Maine. We have the same time zone as Maine.
I like Maine. It’s very pretty.
WTF!!!!
This is Indiana. We’re much closer to, oh, say, CHICAGO than Maine.
Yours in reset clocks,
lemming
Anything to get Pat Bauer back in power, eh Doug?
I’m sure the Dems in the General Assembly are licking their collective chops at the prospect of having their free healtcare for life re-instated by Herr Bauer.
lemming…
that is a fairly asinine point.
consider this:
if we were on central, our clocks would match those in western Kansas but those in Dayton, Ohio.
Time zones are very, very big, and Indiana is going to be on the border regardles of which time zone we choose.
Thats a good point! whether Indiana is on CT or ET it would the extreme edge of either.
What can I say? Gridlock is good. It keeps government inactive and requires consensus before action is taken. Obviously I have no idea what qualities you might like in government, but for me government that is limited in the absence of general agreement is a pretty good idea.
” . . Indiana is going to be on the border regardles(sic) of which time zone we choose.”
We could at least try to have the time zone border run along most of our State’s (Ohio) border rather than have it run through the State and dividing the two most populous parts of the State (Porter/Lake counties v. Indianapolis).
Give me a break.
You don’t care about Gridlock. You care about getting Democrats back into power by hook or by crook (so to speak).
At least have the decency to be honest about your motivations.
Wow, a mind reader. Please be sure to use your powers only for good.
oh rishawn, are you really going to pretend that you don’t know what i’m talking about, when just yesterday you were making jokes about how “special” indiana is and yet again deriding “Hoosiers of a certain mindset”?
the “special” joke is particularly funny considering what doug wrote above:
When I read those articles, for some reason they remind me of a Special Olympics pep talk.
i guess now i need to start going through the expresso archives and documenting the numerous times you’ve used this patronizing argument.
Lou:
In point of fact, we are “beyond the edge” of ET. Not one inch of Indiana soil is within the boundaries of the Eastern time zone.
Doug:
I keep telling myself: The more time they spend praying and approving license plates, the less time they can spend passing (to my mind) more distructive bills.
And do you really think people in Lake and Porter counties give any attention to Indianapolis? Yeah, their state government is there, but that is it. Everything in Lake and Portor is centered around Chicago. Indianapolis, Dayton, and Cincinnati form a great economic triangle.
Dayton? I’ll give you Cincinnati, but Dayton? I grew up in Richmond and Dayton didn’t register that much. Do folks in Indianapolis even know Dayton exists? (My opinion — that place is a little city with big city problems.)
if anyone cares about this spat between me & rishawn, i have a detailed rebuttal on my blog, complete with lots of expresso quotes that i think show a pattern of the kind of patronizing, superior tone doug is discussing here.
I thought we always stayed on Hoosier Standard Time for no better reason than the lobbying influence of the Indiana Farm Bureau.
Politicians still have more in common with themselves than with citizens. They can always work together to keep each other in office. Look at how they agree to gerrymander the House & Senate districts.
I always think back to the state lottery. When it started, the money was going to be set aside for infrastructure. Then a few years later, funds were running tight.
The right thing to do would have been to raise taxes to keep up with expenditures and keep the lottery money as intended.
Our legislatures did the politically expedient thing – they rolled the lottery money into the general budget.
I’m sure some of the same folks who made that decision years ago were fighting the Governor when it came around to the Major Moves bill, even though their actions then set the stage for needing to do it in the first place.
I suspect that in a few years, they’ll change the Major Moves bill quietly so that they can tap that principal, too.
If Josh could get Detroit, Toledo, Dayton, Columbus, Cincinnati,and Louisville, to return to the Central zone where they belong none of us would have to endure double daylight time and post 8 am sunrises I don’t think anyone would miss Cleveland.
Regarding Jim’s comments, I am not sure why anyone might miss Detroit in a couple of more years. Over and over again I have heard thaty we “have” to be on ET because of the auto industry. Judging from recent events, the mover and shaker in the auto industry, and the only outfit adding substantial numbers of auto related jobs to Indiana, is Toyota. Toyota has its North American HQ in California if I’m not mistaken. Delphi (Detroit), Dana (Toledo) and possibly GM (Detroit) look set to cut back. I see auto part exports heading to Mexico (CT) assembly plants, not Michigan, in the next 10 years.