El Duce Would Be Pleased THE FORT WAYNE councilman was questioning his city’s quasi-official economic development director on how a state regional grant might be used. The first question was from whence the money ($50 million or so) had come.  The answer led down a rabbit hole of agency acronyms to nowhere in particular but did not exclude the possibility that it was our money to begin with. The second question was whether the executive had thought about using the money to offset…

By Richard Moss, M.D. Chanukah, the festival of lights, is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the victory of the Maccabees (or Hasmoneans) over the powerful armies of the Seleucid (Greek) Empire under King Antiochus IV. King Antiochus, in 167 BC, in a show of force, forbade important Jewish observances such as keeping the Sabbath and circumcision and he dedicated the ancient temple in Jerusalem to Zeus. In the town of Modi’in, Antiochus’ soldiers forced a…

by Leo Morris Aren’t you tired of all those predictably boring ceremonial solemnization stories in the news? The 5th or 10th commemoration of this, the 25th or 50th anniversary of that. Wouldn’t it be refreshing to see a remembrance in an off year? So today, let us celebrate the 51st – nearly the 52nd – birthday of momentous events from the year 1970. And, in keeping with the spirit of the times, let’s focus only on those things that have had…

by Randal O’Toole In November, Midwestern states, including Indiana, signaled their readiness to spend a large share of $12 billion by publishing a final Midwest Regional Rail Plan. The plan calls for a Chicago hub with spokes radiating to Detroit, Pittsburgh, Columbus (via either Fort Wayne or Indianapolis), Cincinnati, Nashville, Kansas City (via St. Louis), Omaha and the Twin Cities. The plan says this system is “close to 3,100 route miles” (based on Amtrak and…

by Mark Franke I consider it a good day when I read or hear something that had never crossed my mind previously. Being induced to think anew about an issue from an entirely different perspective is stimulating and, on occasion, enlightening. I am always willing to rethink my position although, truth be told, I don’t often change my mind. Still, there is value in the exercise itself. To this end I will read almost anything…

by Leo Morris Do me a favor. Pause for a moment today and consider what a miracle you are. That request springs from a 10-year-old article I stumbled across so interesting that I set it aside to write about sometime in the future. I guess that time is now. Ali Binazir, writing for the Huffington Post in 2011, said he was intrigued by the oft-cited statistic, which he had just heard in a TED talk, that the…

2022 and Chesterton’s Fence IT IS THE SIMPLEST of public policies, both infinitely practical and politically inarguable. It is known as “Chesterton’s Fence.” John F. Kennedy swore by it. Our generation has no idea what it means. It will frame our New Year’s resolution. It is the principle that reforms should not be made until the reasoning behind the existing state of affairs is understood. It comes from C.K. Chesterton’s “The Thing”: “In the matter of reforming things, as distinct from deforming them, there is one plain…

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by Leo Morris I’m sitting here still eating turkey three days after Thanksgiving and thinking: Leftovers are food nostalgia. By enjoying the dishes again, we can trigger memories of the holiday just experienced, savoring the good moments and ignoring the bad. We can focus on recalling the easy companionship of friends and family without reliving the anxiety of complicated preparations, the worry over who might be tardy or absent, the horror of being lectured about…

by Mark Franke I became discouraged last week about all the aspects of my life which seemed to be out of control, my control. I felt that I was never allowed to choose how to spend my time. Others were in charge, like puppet masters. Just call me Pinocchio. My solution was to make a list of the things which were getting under my skin. The list did not turn out quite as long as…