Indiana Blog Review

Move On in the Spring, Move Back in the Fall

Doug Masson:

I really hate the phrase “let’s move on” when used in the context of political debate. It almost always means, “my side won, now shut up.” The Lafayette Journal & Courier tells us to move on from the Daylight Saving Time debate because that debate “should be considered settled.” If there had been anything like a consensus supporting Daylight Saving Time bill in the House of Representatives in 2005, maybe I could agree. But the DST legislation died, by my count, 3 deaths during the course of that session only to be resurrected through various parliamentary tricks each time. And, even on its fourth chance, it only passed because the voting machine was held open while Troy “I’ll Never Vote For It” Woodruff’s arm could be twisted long enough for him to break his promise and cast the 51st and last vote in favor of passage.

Apparently the Journal & Courier thinks thats the sort of vote that settles a debate. Not likely.

Clock Madness

stAllio!:

yes, indiana's famously early 6pm poll closing will be a big deal this year, and this is one instance where i'm glad that most of the state is still in eastern time rather than central: 6pm EST is 3pm pacific, 4pm mountain.

the media loves to project election winnings as early as possible, and the entire country will be watching this time. unless the races are extremely close, the media will project the winners in indiana house races hours before polls close out west. cq politics mentions this offhand: indiana's election results should be an early indicator of whether democrats will take the house. but cq doesn't mention the potential effect that these early results might have on western voters.

Did You Save Any Daylight

Ahh, I'm so glad to be back on standard time.  For the past six months, every time I looked at a clock, I thought about how stupid DST is.

Dave Haxton has a roundup of links and notes:

It might be my imagination, but I seem to have noticed a decided upswing in bitching by even national commentators this year, with The Onion even running a sarcastic blurb on the "national daylight surplus".

Doug Masson consoles himself, "If a couple of folks who voted for DST get bounced out in the upcoming election, I’ll fee marginally better on November 7. "

stAllio! found a video clip of a vintage anti-DST advertisement.  It's nice to know not everyone was an idiot in the 60's.  And the persistence of anti-DST sentiment gives me hope that one day this nation will throw off this oppressive measure.  It is my greater hope that Indiana will lead the way.

Daylight Mystery Time

Doug Masson:

At 7:30 a.m. this morning my three year old boy yelled from his bed, “Daddy, I’m awake!” as a way to summon me to his room. When I got there, he asked, “is it morning time?” I allowed as how it was. Not that you’d know it from the darkness outside the window.

And via TDW, we have a wonderful song recorded by blogger Charlie Averill about Indiana's daylight woes called, "Losing Track of Time."

Re: Joyce's Rebuttal to Re-petition

Doug Masson expounds on Tim Joyce's "lengthy rebuttal (pdf) to the re-petition submitted by the Southwest Indiana counties, paying particular attention to Knox County, on the subject of switching from the Central Time Zone to the Eastern Time Zone."

Moving Again

Doug Masson is on top of the latest time zone issues:

• First, on the petition of 5 counties to move back to Eastern Time, "Governor Daniels has written a letter (pdf) supporting the joint petition. The letter contains a few whoppers worth noting"
• Second, "I have not read the joint petition to which Dubois County is a party, but they’re going to have a tough time overcoming the allegations they made in the supplementary petition. "
• Third:

The USDOT time zone docket: OST-2005-22114 “Time Zone Boundaries in the State of Indiana” has experienced a dramatic increase in activity, particularly in the past five days. A quick look seems to suggest most of the activity is coming out of Dubois and Knox Counties.

Perry Masson

Doug Masson reads between the lines of a recent news story reporting that Perry County will remain on Central Time for now.

What Time Is It?

Doug Masson points out two counties still struggling with their time zone: Knox and Pulaski.  Of the latter, a recent letter from the USDOT suggests that the county commisioners admit to misleading the department.

Tippecanoe Politics says, "Pulaski’s situation is an example of everything that is wrong with the Daylight Savings ‎Time (DST) debate."

And Leo Morris says to five disgruntled southwestern counties, "God almighty, GET OVER IT and move on"

Hard Knox

Doug Masson commenst on Knox County's recent floundering:

In any event, the county-by-county approach to timezones is and always has been ridiculous. It pits county against county and makes county commissioners try to solve a complex jigsaw puzzle where they only control one piece and have no way of knowing what the other pieces are going to do.

Daylight Spending Time

Over In The Agora, I'm skeptical of the Indianapolis Star's recent piece touting the economic benefits of DST.

Meanwhile, Leo Morris discovered a site calling Indiana, "one of the top drive-in [theatre] states."