The Cows Have Not Yet Won!

If you're out of state I have to explain something to you so this entire post will make sense. Indiana, along with Arizona and Hawaii, doesn't observe Daylight Savings Time. Indiana is always in the Eastern Time Zone, but pragmatically we're in two time zones during the year because everyone else does observe DST: New York time in the fall and winter, Chicago time in the spring and summer. I'll admit certain trips at certain times of the year become nice because jumping a time zone cuts an hour off.

However this goofy time situation is nothing but a pain for anyone that has dealings out of state. When I worked at a very large multi-national company I always had to put in the notes of the trouble tickets what time it was, in both local and Indy terms, so the person could be called back. I always seemed to explain to a caller why Indy wasn't on the time they expected it to be. It made us look like idiots as you could hear the confusion from the other end of the phone. I also had the fun task of standing on top of desk and cabinets to change all the clocks to reflect the proper time. We had clocks for various locations like Hong Kong, London, and maybe a few others. I was the only one crazy enough to risk my life to stand on the desks so that's how I got the job.

This debate has been going on for 40 or 50 years. One of the biggest reasons for DST defeat back when dirt was still new was someone arguing the cows would be upset at the changes in their milking schedules (a lowering of milk production argument). Funny those cows in Wisconsin, California, and other states seem to be doing okay.

Now that you have the background I can continue on. The newly elected Governor Daniels made it a priority to get DST passed for Indiana. He viewed it as an no-cost economic boost. Get rid of one stupid idiosyncrasy so businesses will invest in the state and make it easier for Indiana businesses to deal with out of state businesses. It appears Gov. Daniels had some convincing numbers to back him up. So DST evolved into a big political issue, but it wasn't Republicans vs. Democrats as one might expect. DST crossed party lines and some people liked it and others hated it.

DST was killed a few weeks ago when House Democrats just walked out of the office on the last day they could ship bills to the Senate. Their tactic killed over 100 bills. The bill was revived when it was attached as a rider on a similar type bill from the Senate (I think, the politics get very confusing at this point even for me.) Then someone in the House had the brilliant idea of allowing counties to opt out of DST if they wanted to do so. Great now you had the potential for one county to be on DST, but the neighboring county to not be on DST. What a cluster__ck that would be! Then the U.S. Department of Transportation, the agency in charge of time zones, informed the lugnuts that counties can't opt in or out of DST as that is illegal. The state can opt in or out (which we've opted out for years now), but not the counties.

The House had to pass this illegal bill yesterday so the Senate could get it and then if it passed there everyone was praying the conference committee would get rid of the illegal part. This is what happened, the bill initially lost a 49-50 vote, but you need 51 votes to pass or kill a bill. The Governor arm wrestled a few NO votes to switch their votes to YES. The bill got called up again and people voted again. One problem, one previous YES vote was missing. People even looked for this guy in the men's room, but it appears he was never found. Finally one previous NO changed his mind and voted YES so DST passed the House 51-47.

What will happen in the Senate is anybodies guess. All this happened only a 2 blocks from me. The Statehouse is a very pretty building, but it hides lots of ugly politics. After seeing this debate on DST unfold the past few months I'm starting to wonder if the cows are ruling over there. The thought processes appear similar to me.

Speaking of the cows I've heard unconfirmed reports they are gathering near Muncie and Lafayette for a possible invasion. Size, composition, and ordinance are unknown at this time. Please tell your elected Senators and Representatives to fight the cows on DST. I refuse to be ruled by something I want to turn into hamburger.