According to this Indianapolis Star article, Indiana leads the nation in foreclosure proceedings since July 2004.

Foreclosures in Indiana are driven by factory layoffs, personal bankruptcies, stagnant home prices and aggressive lending.

During
the last quarter of 2005, lenders started foreclosure proceedings on 7,575 Indiana mortgage loans, or 0.98 percent of mortgage loans in service statewide, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported.

That
rate was more than double the nation’s rate and was Indiana’s highest since association records were begun in 1979. “You haven’t had a lot of home price appreciation, and you’ve lost a lot of manufacturing jobs,” said Jay Brinkman, vice president for research and economics at the Washington trade group.

Ed Brayton has the latest on Scientology v. South Park. The background is that Isaac Hayes, a/k/a Chef, quit the show, purportedly because of the show’s disrespect toward religion. Matt Stone, one of the creators, noted that Hayes had cashed a pile of checks while the show was making fun of Christianity; it was only after Scientology’s ox was being gored that Hayes decided to bail out.

Now, rumor has it, Comedy Central has pulled a rerun of the “In the Closet” episode making fun of Tom Cruise and Scientology. The official line is that the network pulled the controversial episode to “make room” for two episodes for which Chef’s character is best known as sort of a tribute. But the reality is probably as Ed suggests — Cruise threatened not to do publicity for Mission Impossible 3, distributed by Paramount. Both Comedy Central and Paramount are owned by Viacom. Ah, media consolidation.

Still, I’m reminded of a couple of sayings for those who are foolish enough to get into a war with Trey Parker and Matt Stone, South Park’s founders:

I just couldn’t stay up for this game, but it looked like the Hoosiers pulled it out against San Diego State. Knowing how it ends kind of kills the suspense, but I’m glad I at least have it on my TiVo.

Next up, the Zags.

On a mostly party line vote, Republican Senators voted to increase the federal debt ceiling from $8.18 trillion to $8.97 trillion. Your share of that is $30,406.77. Having a wife and two children, my family’s share is $121,627.08. I’d better get the boy to work pretty quickly.

This is the fourth time lawmakers have raised the cap since President George W. Bush took office. The cap strikes me as pretty meaningless if lawmakers are just going to raise the limit every year. I think we can pretty well conclude that the Bush tax structure is not sufficient to meet the demands of the government under the Bush administration. I’d suggest at least returning to the Clinton tax structure and see how that goes. Obviously the government under the Bush administration is also spending more than it did under the Clinton administration, so some cuts would also be in order.

FAIR takes a look at what pundits had to say about Iraq back in the spring of 2003. Some of my favorites:

“The war was the hard part. The hard part was putting together a coalition, getting 300,000 troops over there and all their equipment and winning. And it gets easier. I mean, setting up a democracy is hard, but it is not as hard as winning a war.”
(Fox News Channel‘s Fred Barnes, 4/10/03)

“What’s he going to talk about a year from now, the fact that the war went too well and it’s over? I mean, don’t these things sort of lose their–Isn’t there a fresh date on some of these debate points?”
(MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, speaking about Howard Dean–4/9/03)

“Over the next couple of weeks when we find the chemical weapons this guy was amassing, the fact that this war was attacked by the left and so the right was so vindicated, I think, really means that the left is going to have to hang its head for three or four more years.”
(Fox News Channel’s Dick Morris, 4/9/03)

“Speaking to the U.N. Security Council last week, Secretary of State Colin Powell made so strong a case that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is in material breach of U.N. resolutions that only the duped, the dumb and the desperate could ignore it.”
(Cal Thomas, syndicated column, 2/12/03)

Niki Kelly, writing for the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, has a story reporting that key House and Senate Republicans have crafted a compromise on the Indiana Toll Road privatization bill they believe can win final approval in both chambers. The key seems to be giving everybody what they want and pork, lots of it.

The reported compromise commits $4.23 billion of the $3.85 billion payout. State budget director Chuck Schalliol says we’ll make up the difference through interest. He figures we can still cover the first 8 or 9 years of the state’s 10 year road plan, maybe all ten if we stretch.

Northern Indiana counties get a pile of money. The state picks up the tab on a toll freeze until the electronic tolling is enabled. After that motorists can get an electronic toll road pass that provides a 40% discount on tolls. On I-69, the Governor would have to get legislative approval only if he wanted to route I-69 through Perry Township in Marion County and if he wanted to impose tolls north of Martinsville. If the interstate routes around Perry Township and imposes tolls only between Evansville and Martinsville, he can sell a toll road concession without further approval.

So everybody wins. Except, of course, for the motorists of northern Indiana. And their Senators and Representatives in northern Indiana  if they defy the will of their constituents and pass this unpopular bill at the insistence of the Governor who is basically radioactive in northern Indiana. And, pretty much all Hoosiers who live here for the last 65 years of the 75 year lease. So, almost everybody.

The Louisville Courier Journal has an article on the use of expert witnesses in litigation.

Expert witnesses have been the objects of derision since at least 1897 
when a Harvard Law Review writer said there are “three kinds of liars: the common liar, the damned liar, and the scientific expert.”

The Indy Star has a good editorial today that traces the case of one businessman’s campaign contributions to show the value of the open records law. Specifically, it traces the $17,000 spread out among key Republicans and Democrats over a three month period by Rod Aycox, whose business is Loan Max which engages in “a segment of the consumer finance sector called title lending, often described as predatory lending by consumer activists.”

The editorial traces SB 383 which would have been of great benefit to Loan Max and its defeat, for this session, 24 to 25 in the Senate.

The Kole Hard Facts of Life has a good entry entitled “Trust Me!” on the Macquarie Infrastructure Group CEO’s appearance in Indiana to pitch the Toll Road privatization scheme.

When the CEO of the company feels compelled to try to sell the deal through the media, my nonsense detector starts beeping. When any salesman works too hard to tell you what a great deal he’s bringing to you, it’s time to run for the door. When the Governor tells you you’re for this deal or against the future, you know there is a lack of confidence in the strength of the deal.

Kole goes on to note the Daniels Administration’s shrewd dealing, or lack thereof, on the Colts naming rights deal and concludes that there is every reason to believe that the lack of business savvy displayed there has carried over to the Toll Road privatization proposal.

Mainly I just wanted to post that IU plays Wisconsin today in the Big Ten tournament at 2:30 p.m. on ESPN. But, as long as I’m at it, have a link from the Indy Star on Marshall Strickland’s emergence as a leader on the team.