The Indy Star has an editorial today arguing that “the Bush administration must take a strong stand against the trial of Afghan man accused of converting to Christianity.” Abdul Rahman faces the death penalty for becoming a Christian.

This is the kind of thing that happens in a land where religious minorities are not vigorously protected from the passions and preferences of the majority. Closer to home, Representative Bosma has apparently made the argument that Christian prayer as official business of the Indiana House of Representatives is perfectly alright because Christians enjoy such a large majority in the state (the figure suggested was 80% Christian, 2% Jew).  Now, before anyone starts hyperventilating over the comparison, please note that I realize having your government endorse Christianity to the exclusion of one’s minority religion is nowhere near as severe as having your government execute you for believing in your minority religion. But some have suggested that those of minority religions either need to suck it up or leave because Christians are the majority and majority rules in America, failing to recognize that protection of minorities against the passions and preferences of the majority are an essential component of our Constitutional Republic.

The Indy Star editorial mentions “freedom and democracy” in the same sentence. Sometimes the two are not perfectly compatible. Sometimes freedom requires antidemocratic protections against the majority. I speculate that if you polled all the citizens of Afghanistan, you’d find a majority in favor of Rahman’s execution. Majority support still would not make it right.

Sen. Feingold runs the “Progressive Patriots Fund” which will donate $5,000 to the candidate chosen by the grassroots. Indiana’s own Barry Welsh is one of the ten finalists. Mr. Welsh is running to unseat Rep. Mike Pence to represent Indiana’s Sixth Congressional District.

If you like what Mr. Welsh stands for, click on the Patriots fund link and give him a vote.

Advance Indiana caught and expounds upon a Washington Post article on Rep. Mike Pence (IN-06) and some of his questionable campaign spending. Essentially Pence seems to be using campaign funds, some of which comes from lobbyist contributions, for expenses you and I would have to pay out of our own pocket:  all the under $10 fast food “campaign expenses” particularly catch the eye. “Most were at fast-food or family-style restaurants, including Wendy’s, Arby’s, Ruby Tuesday, and various pancake houses and pizza parlors.”

Pence’s practice of using campaign funds for what appear to be personal expenditures is similar to the practices that got Pennsylvania’s Senator Rick Santorum in some hot water recently (66 charges at Starbucks, for example).

Santorum and Pence’s spokespeople seem to be reading from the same script. Santorum’s flack: “the campaign spokeswoman, defended all the charges as campaign-related,
saying the senator prefers to meet political aides in coffee shops
rather than on Senate property.” Pence’s flack: “[Rep. Pence] prefers one-on-one meetings to big groups, which explains the numerous small charges, and that items are often billed to the campaign, as opposed to the official account, to avoid potential ethics questions.”

Update stAllio! makes an interesting discovery. Compare the original version of the story as it pertains to Pence with the more sanitized version in the Indy Star.

Washington Post version:

Pence sought reimbursement for 293 meals in 2005, for a total of $9,806. Most were at fast-food or family-style restaurants, including Wendy’s, Arby’s, Ruby Tuesday, and various pancake houses and pizza parlors, as well as convenience stores and airport concessions based in Anderson, Ind. Ninety-four of the charges totaled $10 or less. He also paid $4,082 for a 1998 Oldsmobile minivan that he drove throughout his east-central Indiana district.

Indy Star version:

Pence sought reimbursement for 293 meals in 2005, for a total of $9,806. . He also paid $4,082 for a 1998 Oldsmobile minivan that he drove throughout his east-central Indiana district.

(The double period after $9,806 was in the Indy Star piece.) The bolded text above is the part excised from the original story by the Indianapolis Star. Obviously I couldn’t say for certain whether the excision was intentional or accidental (particularly given that the period ending that sentence appears to have been left), but it’s notable that the part left out is the eyebrow raising description of the nickel and dime daily living stuff. Clearly this isn’t Duke Cunningham taking bribes in exchange for handing out sweetheart military contracts or Tom DeLay laundering campaign contributions or Jack Abramoff spreading around dirty campaign money to Republicans like Bob Ney or any of the other indicted or soon to be indicted members of the GOP. But for a guy holding himself out as a champion of ethics reform in the Republican Party, it’s certainly worth a closer look.

Mary Beth Schneider, writing for the Indy star, has an article entitled “Voter ire may tip balance in House.” The article takes a look how the Toll Road and the Daylight Saving Time issues in particular might affect the balance of power in the Indiana House in 2006.

In Indiana’s Third Congressional District, Fort Wayne and thereabouts, Representative Mark Souder is apparently afraid of a debate with frequent commenter at Masson’s blog (and therefore my favorite Republican from the district) William Larsen who received 28% of the vote in the 2004 Republican primary. Mike Sylvester has the details. Perhaps Rep. Souder realizes that he should not be taking part in the democratic process at all, given his solemn promise to his constituents in 1994 that he would serve only 12 years. But, obviously, ducking the debate part while still being willing to take the paycheck for holding the office is bad form.

A new Indiana blog that might be worth keeping an eye on: Worth Fighting For. It’s written by an individual with ties to Joe Donnelly’s campaign to unseat Chris Chocola. So far the blog has two entries – one on the Donnelly/Chocola campaign and another one a pretty good shot at Daniels and state rep, Jackie Walorski.

David Sanders announced his candidacy to represent Indiana’s Fourth Congressional District. He will face Rick Cornstuble and, apparently, Darin Kinser in the Democratic primary. I could not find a website for Mr. Kinser but he was listed on the Secretary of State’s primary list.

The Sanders’ campaign provided me with a press release . He emphasizes the need for fiscal responsibility and criticizes “tax and spend” policies. As a candidate, I suppose he has to campaign on cutting the spending, but, in my mind, a big part of the problem has been Red Ink Republicanism at the federal level that takes a “borrow and spend” approach. He identifies pork barrell spending for corporate special interests as fertile ground for spending cuts. National security is also discussed prominently with special attention given to the fact that the Bush administration has stretched us too thin. We need our National Guard defending us at home. Professor Sanders’ professional and academic experience has given him some expertise in preventing the spread of biowarfare agents which would give him particular insight into ways to combat Weapons of Mass Destruction (presumably in places where they actually exist.) He goes on to criticize the deliberately confusing disaster that is Bush’s new Medicare plan and pledges to work to simplify Medicare. He also criticizes the “Three Cs” of the Republican Congress: Corruption, Cronyism, and Contempt.

Edit: I had the full press release quoted below, but it struck me as being too long for the format of this blog. I don’t see the release on the Sanders for Congress website. If anyone knows of a link to the site online, I’d be happy to add the link.

The Indy Star has an article by Mary Beth Schneider and Theodore Kim that takes a look at Gov. Daniels’ declining poll numbers. Apparently Hoosiers are not that fond of change for the sake of change.

About half of all adults in Indiana say Daniels has made too many changes too quickly since he became governor in January 2005, according to an Indianapolis Star poll taken last week. His approval rating has dropped from 55 percent a few months after taking office to 37 percent in the most recent poll.

His approval is down from 55% to 37%, among the lowest poll numbers recorded by the Star for a sitting governor since the Star began polling.  On the subject of the toll road particularly, only 30% of those polled think the lease is a good idea whereas 60% think it is a bad idea.

Daniels’ reaction is much like that of his old master, George W. Bush:

“Doing the right thing may have to be its own reward,” Daniels said of
the poll numbers. “I’d be a lot more concerned about going weak in the
knees and breaking faith with what we said we’d do than about anybody’s
poll.”

See, it’s not important that you actually be correct. It’s merely important that you think you are correct and you remain resolute in the face of any and all evidence or argument to the contrary.

I would have liked to see some poll data on what people thought about the Governor’s actions on Daylight Saving Time and the time zone. We do get one anectdotal statement from a Fayette County voter who feels misled on the time zones.

She said she thought Daniels was going to put all
of Indiana in the same time zone. Instead, federal officials decided 18
counties will now be on Central time with most of the state on Eastern,
though all counties will observe daylight-saving time starting April 2.

“He might as well have left things the way they were,” Kendall said.

They found a purported Democrat who will consider voting for Daniels in the future because he is “aggressive” and “at least he is doing something.” That kind of reasoning is highly annoying to me. If you are doing the wrong thing, it’s worse than doing nothing, even if you’re doing it “aggressively.” The need to “do something” is part of why we have so many laws and regulations. Legislators come in to office feeling like they have to “do something” regardless of what it is. Since pretty much all they can do is pass laws, that something is always more laws. (Very rarely is repealing a law seen as “doing something.”) But I digress.

Consider this exchange on the Toll Road:

Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Lakeville, a supporter of
the governor’s plan, said Daniels’ biggest challenge is conveying the
merits and details of the Toll Road deal.

“When
you have a chance to take on the heated questions one-on-one, people
begin to understand what the governor is talking about,” she said. “The
opponents have had a feeding frenzy on the fear and paranoia people are
feeling.”

House Minority Leader B. Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, disagreed, replying, “People aren’t stupid. They’re against it.”

Sen. Marvin D. Riegsecker, R-Goshen, a lease
supporter, said he believes that many Hoosiers are philosophically
opposed to privatization. He said they equate the governor’s zeal to
pass the Toll Road deal to the quickening tempo of the economy.

“Globalization
is happening at a faster pace than we can keep up with,” Riegsecker
said. “It’s this phenomenon, and the speed at which it is happening,
that people feel uncomfortable with.”

Just as with the Governor’s “for Toll Road privatization or against the future” comment, from privatization supporters we see a dismissiveness of the concerns of Hoosiers. If citizens are opposed,  it’s because they just don’t understand or they’re afraid of change.  Maybe, just maybe, it’s because there are problems with the deal or it’s because Hoosiers are justifiably concerned that the deal has not been completely analyzed. The Governor does have a track record of jamming through half-baked legislation. Witness the time zone fiasco where rationales kept shifting and responsibility eventually devolved on county commissioners, and we wound up with two time zones in Indiana, same as before. Even if you are in favor of the time zone result, there is no doubt that the process used was a mess because it was poorly thought out. A 75 year privatization of a major chunk of Indiana’s transportation infrastructure is a bigger deal than how we set our clocks.

Update Taking Down Words has an excellent post on this story. My favorite passage:

Daniels, for his part, tells the Star he doesn’t give a tinker’s damn about their polling numbers. His folks offer a few explanations for why the Guv’s so unpopular, but they basically boil down to one thing: Hoosiers are slow-moving beasts who neither understand nor accept change.

Ah, the trusty old “you’re stupid, follow me” argument.