A City Named After a Boot FOR REASONS THAT his detractors will gladly list, a friend is not big on winning awards. His agonizing bit of self-appraisal occurred on seeing a picture of a dozen or so members of a local tv news department. They were holding armfuls of “best in journalism” plaques. Award-giving must be a good sized subdivision of the media industry. The friend was given an award once, long ago. It was designed by a hip big-city advertising…

A Movie not for our Times I ASK THAT YOU FORGIVE my ancien cinéma phase. Last evening was spent rewatching Peter Weir’s film, “Master and Commander,” an acclaimed and authentic glimpse into early 19th century naval warfare. But halfway through I was struck by a disturbing thought: Nobody below the age of 40 is going to have any idea what this movie is about. Indeed, the plot and character development would seem anachronistic, some kind of reverse science fiction. And even if the viewer can get…

by Leo Morris Today, let’ s pay tribute to one of history’s little known but highly influential figures: Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, a Roman statesman and military commander of the third century BC. His nickname was Cunctator, roughly translated as “the delayer,” earned for the tactics he employed against the invading Carthaginian forces of Hannibal during the Second Punic War. Facing an army of vastly superior numbers and training, the “Fabian strategy” avoided decisive battles,…

A Mayor Sells ‘Sustainability’ — His Own IF YOU CAN STEP BACK for a moment, the absurdity of modern electioneering becomes clearer — not acceptable, but clearer. My mayor, running for his fifth term, is pushing the council to approve a quarter million-dollar plan that promises to “sustain” the city through climate change. What? Can the mayor somehow save our 111 square miles from a global catastrophe? Absolutely. News stories announcing the mayor’s plan note that it is…

The Persistence of Despotism HOOSIERS ARE FORTUNATE to have a legislature in supermajority. We can witness a real-life, real-time experiment in whether partisanship or just government in and of itself is the problem. Spoiler alert: It is government in and of itself. As my colleague Leo Morris has observed, the majority Republicans (the party of fiscal responsibility, lest you forget) are considering new fees (taxes) to fund new programs in the midst of a revenue surplus. Thus…

by Leo Morris Today’s entry for the “juxtaposition is everything” file: Indiana lawmakers working on the new state budget have learned that they will have $1.5 billion more to spend than previous revenue forecasts predicted. The state ended fiscal year 2022 with about a $6.1 billion surplus, the so-called “rainy day” fund. Both the Indiana House and Senate have passed mental health legislation that would cost about $225 million over two years, down from Gov.…

Don’t Give Up on the Democratic Process Just Yet THE APPROVAL RATING of Congress is 10 percent. The incumbency rating is 90 percent. What does democracy mean in that context? There have been nagging doubts for 300 years that something is wrong with the system. It is clearly vulnerable to manipulation by scalawags and the self-serving. “Remember, democracy never lasts long,” warned John Adams. “It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself.” “Beautiful only in theory,” said Benito Mussolini. I can fix…

by Mark Franke “You are uninformed.” I was told this at a display table for the national Convention of States (COS) organization which was exhibiting at the spring conference of the Indiana American Legion. This was in response to my stating concern that such a convention could go rogue because the sponsors could not absolutely control the agenda or the end product. Remember 1787? The Continental Congress called a similar convention to amend the Articles…

The Power of Voting ‘No’ COULD IT BE SO SIMPLE as to elect people who will vote “no”? Not about everything, of course, that would be naysaying. And not about faux social and sexual bizzareries that are best worked out by society over time. But about those things that — right at this very moment — endanger our families and our ability to protect and care for them. Such things are going unaddressed, you know, even as they are easy for politicians to identify,…

by Leo Morris A few months after my father died, I asked my mother how she was doing. “I miss having him to talk to,” was all she said, but that’s all she needed to say. No matter how many friends and relatives she had to talk with, no matter how much her children tried to fill the conversational void, there was something about the casual banter of lifetime partners that could never be replaced.…