Bouncing Around Like A Pinball . . .

Scattershooting while wondering what a jam session with John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, T-Bone Walker and Big Bill Broonzy might sound like . . .

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THE ANNUAL Lincoln Day dinner was held earlier this week for the Hamilton County Republicans. The Grand Old Party has ruled the roost here for a long time, but if you ask the Democrats, there are signs that perhaps a few cracks are showing in the foundation.

Hard to say, but a lot of things that the Republican Party has stood for – conservative government and conservative spending – aren’t viewed by some as, well, conservative as they used to be.

Besides being the big dog in the county, a lot of state leaders are from right here, too. If things are indeed changing here, the ripples could be felt from Lake Michigan down to the Ohio River.

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ALONG THOSE same lines, some of the current social trends don’t exactly line up with traditional Republican standards. From education to sexual orientation, there seems to be a bit of a split in the party as to what those things mean. If you ask some local Republicans, they will quietly say they aren’t very happy with some of the new directions. Will those conversations go from “quiet” to “noisy?”

Stay tuned.

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BEFORE WE get off politics, anyone heard what Micah Beckwith is doing politically? The pastor and former Congressional candidate has a buzz following him. It’ll be interesting to see if what his next political endeavor is.

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THIS ISN’T political, but I still don’t get how people think they get to choose what gender they are. However, once someone hits age 18, they can do whatever they want. But could we at least agree that kids should be off limits? How in the world can a parent, any parent, think it’s not just OK, but healthy, to make growing up harder than it already is?

I heard a great thing on the radio not too long ago from Tony Kinnett on WIBC. He said that when he was little he wanted to be a pirate – and thank God he did not have parents who allowed him to surgically remove a leg and an eye so he could have a wooden peg and an eye patch. How many different things does a kid want to be before they reach adulthood? Two? Ten? A thousand?

And shame on the media who continue to report laws being passed as pro or con toward choices that are not actually choices.

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DID YOU HEAR that some automakers have stopped putting radios that get AM stations in their cars. A news clip I read said that AM radio is going the way of 8-tracks, cassettes and CDs in automobiles.

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SORRY TO dip into the sports world, but count me as definitely not one of the fans of the pitch clock in baseball. For those who aren’t into baseball, the pros have decided that games take too long and have instituted a clock to force pitcher and batter to speed things up. I get the idea that younger generations don’t have much patience, but the “timeless” aspect is part of what makes baseball, well, baseball. After family and faith, there are few things better than sitting in the warm sun under a gorgeous blue sky, watching a baseball game.

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SPEAKING OF sports, did you hear about the kid from the University of Indianapolis who pitched a no-hitter and hit for the cycle in the same game? Yup, Brady Ware – a graduate student from Poway, Calif., did it last week in a game against Drury University. Kinda neat, but here’s the thing. It’s never been done in the history of the game in either college or the pros. For a sport that’s been around since at least the 1800s, THAT’S pretty amazing!

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SOME FOLKS asked where I came up with “scattershooting” that occasionally leads these rambles. Well, I didn’t. The late great Robert Joseph Collins used that in some of his columns in the Indianapolis Star – the Star back when it was a great newspaper and part of the Pulliam family. I use the phrase today in tribute to one of Hoosierland’s all-time great sports editors.

-Two cents, which is about how much Timmons said his columns are worth, appears periodically on Wednesdays in The Paper. Timmons is the publisher of The Paper and can be contacted at ttimmons@thepaper24-7.com