“Lots of choc’lates for me to eat, Lots of coal makin’ lots of ‘eat. Warm face, warm ‘ands, warm feet, Wouldn’t it be loverly?” — Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady  by Liz Brown We often discuss the national political system in terms of checks and balances. These same principles guide our local governmental units, and with good reason. The idea is that the three branches work together, as crucial cogs in a municipal machine,…

The big bylines in the newsroom are lamenting the changes in journalism. They say it’s becoming a sweatshop. That’s progress, I say. Causing concern is a technique called “aggregation,” the high-speed, deadline collection of multiple Internet stories on a single topic. The idea is to give a more demanding readership the benefit of “trending,” i.e., what is likely to happen down the road. There are no big ideas involved, so we hate it. That, however,…

For release May 2 and thereafter (645 words) If family feuds make you squirm, you’ll be glad when this primary’s over. While Democrats across Indiana have lain low, infighting among Republicans has rivaled that of Cain and Abel. Dick Lugar — “Obama’s favorite Republican.” “Treasurer Richard Mourdock’s got problems.” “We can’t trust David McIntosh as our congressman.” Etc., etc. In close primary races, such as the Lugar-Mourdock battle, and with an open House seat at…