by Leo Morris In preparation for the upcoming general election, how about an awful political joke? What’s the definition of a presidential pork sandwich? Answer: a slab of Benjamin Harrison between two slices of Grover Cleveland. OK, you were warned it was awful. But, consider a little background, which has the added benefit of explaining Indiana’s contribution to the election integrity most voters take for granted today. Grover Cleveland won the presidential election of 1884…

At Last, a Law for our Times A FRIEND THIS WEEK introduced me to Brandolini’s Law, known on the Internet as “the bullshit asymmetry principle.” First, though, some background. Many years ago the foundation had the good fortune to commission a brilliant woman, a nationally known economist. We asked her to analyze the budget submitted that year by the Indiana governor at the time, the fiscally nimble Evan Bayh. The analysis cost $10,000, as I recall. We were…

by Richard McGowan, Ph.D. My wife and I often disagree on political issues. She tends toward Aristotelian thought and toward Platonic thought. Aristotle’s book, “Politics,” analyzes structures of government and argues for a democracy, more or less. Plato’s dialogue, “The Republic,” stresses the character of those who would rule. The dialogue concludes by opposing “the philosopher-ruler,” the person of wisdom and beneficence, to that of a tyrant, in whose character power and self-interest are intertwined. Aristotle’s…

by Mark Franke So what do you think about . . .? Before you even finish the question, expect to hear a litany on everything that is wrong with our country and who is to blame. Granted, there are a lot of things going wrong these days as we geezers are well aware. It just isn’t the 1950s anymore. Sure, things are bad or at least seem to be worse than any time in recent…

Public-Private Cronyism IF YOU QUESTION the shedload of economic-development projects in your city, you are a bad citizen, a naysayer. We are guilty, of course. The president of our local redevelopment commission said as much recently, publicly rebuking our city councilman. The councilman, a former banker, had dared wonder if all the fiscal work-arounds designed to win a council majority weren’t costing us control of our city. Far from it, lectured the commissioner, a retired philharmonic administrator. He says we are building…

by Leo Morris Here’s how it happens. You have a drink with your meal at a favorite restaurant, then drive home with no problem. Then, sometime later, you’re at another restaurant, and you think, well, one drink was no problem. What can be wrong with two drinks? And if you can drive safely with two drinks, you reason another time at another restaurant, why can’t you handle three? So it goes, on and on, until…

by Mark Franke Oscar Wilde: I wish I had said that. James McNeill Whistler: You will, Oscar, you will. I have mixed feelings about Oscar Wilde. He was witty, sure, but one senses that he was more impressed with himself than others were. Perhaps I am being unfair, but then Whistler’s retort suggests that Wilde’s contemporaries felt the same. Were some of Wilde’s bon mots, shall we say, recycled? With a pervasive and ubiquitous internet…

by Leo Morris Suppose I told you I spend a lot of time putting out bids in hopes of winning a contract. You might think I was a construction engineer, planning to cash in on the hefty contribution I made to the mayor’s re-election campaign. If you have a darker turn of mind, you might suspect that I moonlight as a hit man for the mob. But, no, I’m just an old man who plays…

IT WAS MEANT TO BE a stirring summation of the decision to move forward on building a multi-million-dollar government-subsidized grocery in the center or her councilmanic district, one within walking distance of her downtrodden constituents. She mentioned small children and healthy, fresh food to power their brains. She herself had witnessed a single mother laden with bags of groceries struggling to get off a city bus. She says it opened her heart to the inconvenience of long trips to get the…

Garbage In, Garbage Out IT’S HUMP DAY but the mood is dampened by an Indianapolis Star story saying Indiana will be a humid, overheated dystopia in a few years. The state’s largest if not most respected newspaper predicts increases in heatstroke and cardiovascular collapse as well as longterm organ and cell damage. The warning is clear:  If we don’t reduce greenhouse gases to the level of a medieval village we are doomed. But don’t hook the oxen up to the manure spreader…