Category: Indiana Writers Group

by Mark Franke What is the definition of a religion? By that I mean to ask: What is that which is protected under the First Amendment in its right to be freely exercised apart from governmental obstruction? Most would likely think in concrete, structural terms such as a church, synagogue or mosque building as the…

by Eric Schansberg, Ph.D. Bernie Carbo was such a rule-breaker that some of his biggest moments in baseball are blurs he can’t recall. Years of marijuana, alcohol, amphetamines, pain pills, and sleeping pills will do that to you. He doesn’t remember striking out to end the 10th inning of Game 6 in the 1975 World…

PLEASE MARK TODAY’S RECURRENT ANNOUNCEMENT that another of the Indianapolis Star’s top editors is reluctantly leaving Indiana, a place that he or she profess to have come to love, and, having accomplished all of his or her assigned tasks in this God-forsaken place, has been called back to Rome, blah, blah, blah . . . Three immediate observations: 1. Follow the…

 by Joe Squadrito For two decades now our political leaders and school officials have been attempting to deal with the tragedies which have occurred in our school systems. The senseless slaughter of our children and educators has prompted numerous proposals ranging in firearms legislation to mental health intervention. Some of these proposals have merit and are…

by Leo Morris Let’s hear a faint word of encouragement for “family values,” that concept heaped with so much derisive scorn by too many liberals and showered with so much empty praise by too many conservatives. These values are weaker than ever at a time when we need them to be stronger than ever. I…

(For the use of the membership only, not for publication, distribution, quotation or reproduction.) “Our parents don’t know how to use a ******* democracy, so we have to.” — David Hogg, 18, an organizer of the “March for Our Lives” protests. YOUNG PEOPLE ARE ASSUMED to have magical qualities. They are the future, it is said…

For the use of the membership only. COMPLAINING ABOUT what a newspaper doesn’t print is like complaining about a shoe store that doesn’t carry your size. But not exactly. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution sets newspapers above other businesses, extends privileges that would land the owner of a shoe store in jail. In…

 by Leo Morris I am a heartless monster who doesn’t care that our children are being slaughtered in their schools. I am an inhuman fiend indifferent to the plight of future generations who will inherit the ravaged planet we will leave them. I will be saddened but not terribly surprised if that is a common…

by Craig Ladwig A prominent Indiana Republican stopped by a few days before this session ended to deliver a self-aggrandizing lecture on the difference between holding office and merely “spouting philosophy.” There was a day that some of us here would have conceded the point. Today is not that day. A Republican supermajority made a…

by Fred McCarthy We found it interesting that the local Chamber of Commerce, which in theory represents the business community, has volunteered to help a governmental agency more easily increase the tax burden on the business community. It comes as no surprise for in recent years we do not recall the Chamber ever questioning tax…