by Andrea Neal The infirm frequented French Lick for its miraculous Pluto Water. The rich and famous came to golf — and gamble. Since the 1830s, the rolling hills and springs around the small town of French Lick have drawn tourists to remote southern Indiana. They still do, thanks to a mammoth restoration of its two historic resorts completed in 2006-07 by the late philanthropist Bill Cook. “The mineral springs were the original magnet,” notes…

by Tom Charles Huston Indiana is, I believe, one of only two states that prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages on Sunday. This prohibition offends a number of people: poor planners who have trouble remembering to buy beer on Saturday for their Sunday football parties; national retailers who seek to increase their gross sales and, as an ancillary benefit, drive out of business their locally owned competitors; and libertarians who are offended at government determining…

by Ryan Cummins “I know, up on the top you are seeing great sights, but down here at the bottom we, too, should have rights.” — Yertle the Turtle by Dr. Seuss Two articles that came across my desk recently illustrated such poor understanding of what government is — what it actually does and the consequences — that I must speak out. The first is by a former Indiana congressman turned academic, Lee Hamilton, generally…

(For the use of the membership only.) THOSE WHO MAKE THEIR LIVING at the politics’ edge must guard against resentment and despair. Yet it is difficult to hide dislike for a man who, finding indoor work representing the democratic interests of his neighbors, cashes in his pension, unused campaign contributions and whatever else he has been able to grab from a hapless constituency to flee the state for the company of a better sort of…

by Cecil Bohanon, Ph.D. “During my time in the camps, I had got to know the enemies of the human race quite well: they respect the big fist and nothing else; the harder you slug them, the safer you will be. People in the West simply will not understand this.” — Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Most of the Left has figured it out: We in the West, and by the West I roughly mean the United States…

by Eric Schansberg, Ph.D. In this Great Recession, it is sad to see the ranks of the unemployed crowded with so many youth. I think we can all agree that this is deplorable — and that we should try to find an equitable and efficient method for improving the lives of our young people. So, I have a proposal: Tuition and books at a public university should be free to all students. Students would attend…

by Eric Schansberg, Ph.D. Barack Obama has proposed free community college for everybody in the United States. At present, according to the American Association of Community Colleges, there are 6.5 million students in public community colleges. Most of their $31 billion in revenues comes from various levels of government. Although their average cost per student is about $5,000, the average student only pays $950 per year in tuition and fees. The proposal is supposed to…

THE EDUCATION PLANS headed for the General Assembly have so many political twists and bureaucratic turns that they cross the eyes. But it could be simple. Here’s reform in two steps, and it doesn’t matter how you pick your state superintendent of schools: Assign each student a share of next year’s education budget. Let them enroll wherever they wish, taking their education funding with them. Repeal the Indiana Collective Bargaining Act. The first step has a…

by Andrea Neal Drive along the Ohio River in Jeffersonville, and you can’t miss the 68-acre Jeffboat plant in which workers make the ships that transport so much of the nation’s grain, coal and chemicals to market. Due to our landlocked location, most Hoosiers don’t see Indiana as a leader in the shipbuilding economy, yet it’s a role we’ve been playing for almost two centuries at the same spot where Jeffboat now stands. “Look out…

by Stephen M. King, Ph.D. Your 17-year-old daughter, diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, calmly but determinedly refuses chemotherapy. Her refusal is not based on religious beliefs; she simply does not want to ingest poison in her body, suffering the side effects and incurring further damage to her internal organs as a result of the treatment. What would you as a parent say? Would you support her decision? Cassandra, the name given a 17-year-old Connecticut student in…