A Citizen's Guide to Indiana

Masson's Blog

Hope this is up in the Colts locker room

by Leave a Comment

Eric Wilbur / Like a broken record I sure hope some of this is up in the Colts’ locker room. I found it by way of PunchTheBag:

The Patriots may lose to the Pittsburgh Steelers next weekend in the
AFC title game, but there is no way, no how that they are going to lose
to the Colts on Sunday. Sampson and Johnny Damon have their hair.
Peyton Manning has the great outdoors.
. . .
I see the Patriots with an unrelenting blitz attack on Manning. I see Corey Dillon grinding it out on the ground, controlling the clock and keeping the Colts’ offense off the field. I see Manning tossing two touchdown passes, but two more interceptions, one courtesy of Rodney Harrison, the other by oh, let’s say Asante Samuel.
. . .
There’s a reason folks have labeled the Colts’ defense soft. It is. The 370.6 yards allowed per game by the Colts was better than only Oakland and Kansas City in the AFC. Even more encouraging for New England is the fact that Indy’s run defense was also among the bottom of the pack.
. . .
The 21-game winning streak is history. As for the one against the Colts, make it four. And then, we can finally shut up about Peyton Manning for another six months as the NFL dreams up more defensive rule changes in order to benefit the offensive machine.

The Colts certainly have had their problems in Foxboro. I hope the Colts get up by 21 on the Pats early then we can watch them run Corey Dillon all they want. Or, maybe get Tom Brady in passing situations and let the “soft” Freeney & Mathis loose on him. When they played at the beginning of the year, the Colts ran up 450 yards and the Pats only won because Vanderjagt, the most accurate kicker in the history of the NFL, missed a field goal and Edgerrin James fumbled on the one yard line. The Colts may lose come Sunday but, it’s not as much of a sure thing as the tool from Boston referenced above seems to think.

HB 1100 – Statutory Description of the State Seal

by Leave a Comment

Introduced Version, House Bill 1100 Thanks to PSoTD for cluing me into this one. This is one of the silliest bills I’ve seen introduced to date: “Changes the statutory description of the state seal to provide that the sun is rising instead of setting.”

It doesn’t actually alter how the State Seal looks, mind you. It just amends the statute to refer to the sun behind the hills as “rising” instead of “setting.” I imagine that Reps. Messer & Bischoff have some sort of indication of Hoosier optimism in mind. (I love Hoosiers for many of their characteristics, but I haven’t noticed optimism as one of the defining characteristics of the state. Ask a Hoosier about the weather some fine, sunny day. Like as not, they’ll tell you we’re going to pay for it with some nasty weather in the future.)

Legislation coming up for review in the General Assembly

by Leave a Comment

Introduced Version, House Bill 1004: The tax amnesty bill (discussed here) passed out of Ways & Means last week and is up for second reading on Monday. The speed on that bill is surprising.

According to the House Calendar, Monday’s agenda on the floor of the House also includes:

  • HB 1003, Gov. Daniels’ pet economic development corporation project. (I just can’t help feeling like this bill puts the governor in a better position to put pork in the pockets of his friends. But, the bill is also so lengthy that I can’t be bothered to read the thing in its entirety to make sure that’s true. Clever politics!)
  • HB 1083 which repeals a provision that would have terminated the earned income tax credit.
  • HB 1021 which makes a change that appears to be technical in nature. Specifies that its a lender’s violation of the Federal Truth in Lending act that gives a homeowner the right of recission in certain circumstances where before it was the violation of “law”.

    According to the Senate Calendar, it is still March 1, 2004. The Senate Energy & Environmental Affairs Committee is considering SB 44 which “Makes the environmental quality service council (EQSC) permanent. Repeals the compliance advisory panel and reestablishes the panel as a committee of the EQSC.”

    Corrections, Criminal Matters, and Civil Matters has:
    SB 47 – Counterfeiting
    SB 92 – Internet gambling
    SB 98 – Probation revocation
    SB 117 – Undisclosed transport of dangerous devices
    SB 163 – Goods made by offenders (Specifically furniture)

    Homeland Security has:
    SB 81 – National Guard tuition supplement grant
    SB 165 – Law enforcement training
    SB 193 – War Memorial Foundation
    SB 196 – Licensing and permits for boxing
    SB 304 – Tuition exemption for National Guard dependents

    Education and Career Development has:
    SB 53 – Technology training for state employees
    SB 112 – Academic honors diploma awards
    SB 229 – School for the Blind (and Visually Impaired)

    Links to the text of the bills can be found here.

    • On eve of playoffs: 3rd blast in 9 days in downtown Indy.

    by Leave a Comment

    Blasts jar Downtown for 3rd time

    Underground explosions Saturday rocked Downtown Indianapolis, injuring three people, damaging businesses and causing evacuations. . . . It was the third time in nine days Downtown has been rocked by underground explosions. . . . Investigators said there is no evidence natural gas caused the blast or that the underground cables had been vandalized. . . . More than 50,000 people are expected in the dome today as the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos meet at 1 p.m. in an American Football Conference wild-card game. More police will be on hand today in the area of the dome to direct traffic to and from the game, authorities said.

    Daniels appoints Kentucky Man to head Indiana prisons

    by Leave a Comment

    PunchtheBag has a good entry about Daniels’ decision to appoint a Kentucky man to head up Indiana’s prison system. I think it’s probably a prelude to privatization. As PunchtheBag puts it:

    So for fresh ideas we go to Kentucky? It’s bad enough that Kentucky has reduced the IU Hoosiers to nothing more than a scrimmage opponent, but why not raid Maine, Vermont, or even North Dakota for jail expertise? According to this ranking, those states barely have shoplifters.

    Daylight Saving Time – Current Law (Take 2)

    by Leave a Comment

    Looks like the enacting sections of Pub. L. 89-387 might act as a grandfather
    clause. Couldn’t find the full text of that law online, but I found this:

    This Act (enacting this section and sections 260a, 266, and 267 of this title and amending sections 261 to 263 of this title) shall take effect on April 1, 1967; except that if any State . . . or any political subdivision thereof, observes daylight saving time in the year 1966, such time shall advance the standard time otherwise applicable in such place by one hour[.]

    So, if the eastern counties were observing Daylight Saving time in 1966, they might be grandfathered in even if the other eastern time zone Indiana counties didn’t observe DST.

    Daylight Saving Time – Current Law

    by Leave a Comment

    Full text – Daylight Saving Time – United States Law – 15 USC 6(IX)(260-7): Text of the Daylight Saving Time law ( 15 USC 260 et seq. ):

  • If a state lies entirely within 1 time zone, it can exempt the whole state from DST.
  • If a state lies over two time zones, it can exempt the entire state or the part of the state in one time zone.
  • The Dept. of Transportation has responsibility for determining the bounds of the various time zones.

    The Department of Transportation adopted rules that set the division between Eastern and Central in Indiana at 47 CFR 71.5(b). It winds along and puts Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Newton, and Jasper, Gibson, Posey, Vanderburgh, Warrick, and Spencer counties in the Central Time Zone.

    Under IC 1-1-8.1 , Indiana has indicated that its Eastern time zone territory will not follow DST and its Central time zone territory will follow DST.

    It could be a failure of mine, but under 15 USC 260, IC 1-1-8.1, and 47 CFR 71.5(b), I cannot see any authority to allow Clark, Dearborn, Floyd, and Harrison counties to follow eastern daylight time. If I’m right, those counties could be in violation of federal law.

    • Filed Under: Law

    HB 1076 Declaratory Judgments & Insurers

    by Leave a Comment

    Introduced Version, House Bill 1076 States that only a named insured or someone seeking insured status can bring an action for declaration of coverage prior to judgment being entered on the underlying claim.

    Can’t say I like this one very much. This would apparently stop someone who has been injured by a tortfeasor from obtaining a determination of whether the tortfeasor has any insurance coverage. So, let’s say someone blows a red light, T-bones your car, and causes you a whole lot of injuries. Maybe the driver’s insurer says that the latest premium was received a day or two late and there’s no coverage. The driver says he paid it on time. The insurer defends the driver under a reservation of rights. So, to obtain your judgment, you have to fight through the insurer-paid attorneys, but at the end of the day, there might not be any money to pay your judgment. Knowing whether your judgment is worthless or not could very well affect how much you put into your case, paying experts, taking depositions, etc.

    Contrast that with a potentially much cheaper action against the insurer for determination of the question of whether they cover the driver or not. You lose that one, and you probably cut your losses, figuring a judgment against the driver is worthless. You win that one and you expend whatever resources you can afford and your injuries justify.