I think, even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen.

Republican Indiana state senate candidate RICHARD MOURDOCK, during a televised debate on Tuesday.

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney endorsed Mourdock’s run for office in a television ad; a Romney spokesperson says Mourdock’s remarks “do not reflect his views.”

The company you keep, right, Mitt?

(via USA Today)

AP: "Indiana can’t cut off funding for Planned Parenthood just because the organization provides abortions, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday."

DEAD CALM Snow covered a damaged house in Marysville, Ind., Monday. Tornadoes ripped through several states in the Midwest and South Friday, killing at least 39 people, including a 15-month-old baby girl who was found in a field but later died in a hospital. (Photo: Nam Y. Huh / AP via the Wall Street Journal)

Residents carry boxes of belongings from their damaged home in Henryville, Indiana, a town laid waste by a tornado. (Photo: Michael Conroy / AP via the Guardian)

NY TIMES: "At least 38 people were killed, (Indiana) state emergency officials said Sunday, as the deadly storms blew across the Midwest and South late last week, spawning dozens of tornadoes that destroyed buildings, knocked down power lines and tossed around vehicles. Officials said 12 deaths were reported in southeastern Indiana with an additional 21 deaths in neighboring Kentucky. The size of the storm and the region affected made it difficult for officials to assess the full extent of the damage."

Marysville is completely gone.

Clark County Sheriff Major CHUCK ADAMS, referring to the southern Indiana town, population 1,900.

(via the Indianapolis Star)

Front page, the Indianapolis Star, Saturday 3 March 2012.

(via the Newseum)

The town of Henrysville, Indiana, raked by a tornado on March 2. (Photo: Michael Clevenger / The Courier-Journal via The Indianapolis Star)

Oh my God.

From the New York Times:

Several tornadoes, spawned by powerful storms that steamrolled across multiple states in the South and Midwest on Friday, caused critical injuries and widespread damage from Alabama to south-central Indiana. Preliminary reports from law enforcement officials said that much of the town of Marysville, Ind. was destroyed and a high school in nearby Henryville was leveled.

At least five people were killed in Indiana, according to the NBC television affiliate, WAVE 3 in Louisville, Ky., about 20 miles south of Henryville, quoting Indiana state and county officials.

Starting in the area of Huntsville, Ala. in late morning, local news organizations reported a powerful line of storms that sent at least a half-dozen people to the hospital, ripped off the roof of a state prison and leveled homes before moving northeast into Tennessee, where the suburbs of the Chattanooga area were particularly hard hit.

But by mid-afternoon, an unusually large tornado churning through south-central Indiana in the areas of Henryville, Borden and Marysville, caused deep concern about the potential for devastation and serious injuries in the aftermath. There were reports of extreme damage at Henryville High School, about 20 miles northwest of Louisville. And a local television station reported that the town of Marysville was leveled and multiple fatalities are expected.

…As of 4:50 p.m. ET, the National Weather Service said it had 22 active tornado warnings affecting 47 counties, including five less urgent tornado watches that spanned 12 states.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in the affected area. Please stay safe.

NY TIMES: "Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana, who had once said that he did not wish to add a 'right to work' provision to the state’s labor laws, signed a bill on Wednesday doing just that. The legislation, which bars union contracts from requiring non-union members to pay fees for representation, makes Indiana the first state in more than a decade to enact right to work legislation and the only one in the Midwestern manufacturing belt to have such a law. Mr. Daniels, a Republican who is prevented by term limits from seeking re-election this year, signed the measure only hours after it cleared the Republican-held State Senate — an unusually speedy journey through the Statehouse aimed, many said, at ending what had become a rancorous, partisan fight before the national spotlight of the Super Bowl arrives in Indianapolis on Sunday."

STILLED State police officers were on the scene of the collapsed rigging and stage at the Indiana State Fair grandstand to begin their investigation after Saturday night’s fatal accident. (Photo: Matt Kryger / The Indianapolis Star)

Front page, The Indianapolis Star, Monday 15 August 2011.

(via the Newseum)

Andy Klotz, a spokesman for the fair, described the sequence of events this way: At 8:39 p.m., the Weather Service upgraded the storm threat in Marion County, where Indianapolis is, to a severe thunderstorm warning from a watch; at 8:45 p.m., a local radio host who was making announcements on stage told the audience that an arriving storm might delay the show and named three shelters; and, at 8:49 p.m., as Ms. Hoye and a State Police official were approaching the stage to call for a formal evacuation for a storm that they believed was at least 25 minutes away, the rigging collapsed.

“Could we have stopped the show? Yes,” Mr. Klotz said. “But you don’t want to overreact. And you don’t want to underreact.”

The fair, which runs until Sunday, reopened on Monday after being closed for a day after the accident. The mood here — usually one of summer cheer and carefree eating — was subdued. Some events were canceled; others meant to take place on the large stage were moved. People stood along yellow police tape staring at the cordoned-off stage, which remained as it had landed on Saturday night, a frightening crush of metal.

On a different, smaller stage on the other side of the fair, the day began with a somber memorial. A bouquet of flowers was carried on stage for each of the five who were killed, which included a teacher, a programming manager, a mother, a father and a stagehand.

“We come today with hearts that are broken but also hearts that are full,” Gov. Mitch Daniels told the silent crowd as helicopters circled overhead.

In so much horror, Mr. Daniels said, many in the crowd had instantly and instinctively turned back to try to save others. “There was a hero every 10 feet on Saturday night.”

The New York Times, “Indiana State Fair Officials Defend Moves Before Deadly Storms Struck”

Looking at the video of that stage collapse again: so essentially, you have what look like ten vertical trusses (eight visible, two probably in the rear portion of the stage) going from ground level into the “roof” section — with absolutely no bracing between the vertical members. None. On a double-decked bridge, for instance, such bracing manifests as the diagonal or X-shaped members going between the upper and lower decks: this has the effect of making the span stiffer against, among other things, the wind.

On the video, you see the wind buffetting the tarpaulin roof, having the effect similar to sails on a boat. (Note that the “roof” itself is essentially a hollow dome, just waiting to catch wind gusts — the effect of which any person who has ever had an umbrella blown inside-out would know.) This buffetting continues until the canvas shears off, providing one final kick to those already stressed vertical members and causing the whole thing to collapse to the ground.

I’m not an engineer, but dear Lord, it seems obvious what happened here: poor construction trying to stand up to Mother Nature — and failing in the most tragic way.