Half Past the Month: Commentary Against Commentary
AFTER a weekend of watching talk shows and talks shows about talk shows, this must be said: Our commentators are falling alarmingly behind in alarming us about our need to be alarmed. We are at a crisis point in the discussion of crises points. You can see it on Fox News even, not to mention Read the full article…
We Should Have Broken the Union
Indiana legislators have received thousands of letters and email messages from concerned teachers, principals and superintendents. Many are politically generated by special-interest groups. Most, though, are from dedicated educators whose passion for the classroom is made clear in every word. Yet, I disagree with almost all of their conclusions. As a new member of Read the full article…
A Pandemic of Political Missteps
Time sensitive; for immediate release (670 words) Indiana House Republicans goofed when they added a “right to work” bill to the legislature’s already loaded policy agenda. The bill not only energized organized labor, but it inspired Democrats to flee to a hotel in Urbana, Ill., denying lawmakers a quorum for conducting business. In a reasonable Read the full article…
A Crisis in the GOP Leadership
For immediate release (511 words) “The road to hell is paved with Republicans.” — anonymous Are Indiana Republicans missing a historical turn? Do they fully understand what happened Nov. 2 ? According to the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, a leading Senate Republican believes his party could have repealed Indiana’s collective-bargaining law this session but “wanted to Read the full article…
Here Come the ‘Union’ Protests
The television news and talk shows have met their match. It is collective bargaining, an issue too complicated for the nine-second sound bite. Unions are promising Statehouse protests this week against bills that would weaken their membership here. The televised reports on this important development, if the pattern holds, will be marked by misunderstanding and Read the full article…
BACKGROUNDER: Article 8 and our ‘Common’ Schools
(Feb. 15, 2011) — Over 60 percent of the 2011 Indiana budget is going to whatever politicians and their lobbyists call “education.” Over the past several decades, the percentage of those billions that gets to the classroom has dropped to less than 60 percent. Our embarrassingly high percentage of administrative buildings and personnel, and the Read the full article…
