Quick Hit: Discretion in Sentencing
Barack Obama’s powerful pen is now at work in the penal system — seeking to grant clemency to a number of federal prisoners imprisoned for low-level drug offenses. Why? Because they received prison terms based on mandatory sentencing. With the proposed Smarter Sentencing Act, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois and Sen. Mike Lee of Utah Read the full article…
Indiana at 200 (18): Years Here Shaped Abe Lincoln
by Andrea Neal Three states claim Abraham Lincoln as a favorite son, but only Indiana can take credit for his formative years. As he moved through adolescence to adulthood, Lincoln worked, studied and dealt with adversity on the Indiana frontier. During this period, Lincoln handled an ax “almost constantly,” as he himself recalled. He read Read the full article…
Quick Hit: Regulating Pharmaceuticals
The effort is now under way in the Indiana Legislature to further restrict the sale of products containing ephedrine/pseudoephedrine (PSE). That is a key meth ingredient found in the most effective over-the-counter decongestants that afford relief to Hoosiers who suffer from asthma, sinus and other nasal disorders. Meth is a growing problem in Indiana and Read the full article…
Quick Hit: Super Bowl Exposes Boosterish Media
Generally, the hype and extravagance of a modern Super Bowl is approaching levels that only an Albert Speer could fully appreciate. The game, the sport, is decidedly secondary, if that. Two specific takeaways from the Feb. 2 spectacle: First, the super promises of mass transportation were shown to be super false. The ride to and Read the full article…
Bohanon: Must Politics Be Nasty? (Part III)
by Cecil Bohanon, Ph.D. My father was actively involved in two congressional campaigns. He supported the Republican candidates for Congress in the 2nd Congressional district in Oklahoma in 1964 and 1966. He’d give me a dime for every bumper sticker I could persuade a neighbor to put on their car for the GOP standard bearer. Read the full article…
Quick Hit: The Star Fails Cursive
The Indianapolis Star editorial board has dismissed as a “misplaced legislative priority” Sen. Jean Leising’s effort to require cursive writing instruction in Indiana schools. The Star wondered why time would be spent on such a trivial matter “in a state where the workforce ranks 42nd in the nation in educational attainment.” Perhaps if the Star Read the full article…
