by Mark Franke It’s great to be a retired senior citizen. I have plenty of time to spend on my favorite hobby — grousing. Of course the world has descended to perdition during my lifetime. I’ve got a list of things that have been ruined, eliminated or forgotten by the succeeding generations, all in spite of my efforts to counsel against these appalling developments. Take the barbershop. Who doesn’t fondly recall those trips to the neighborhood barbershop.…

by Leo Morris When the Indiana Supreme Court put the state’s capital punishment pursuits back on track last month, ruling in effect that it could choose whichever drug cocktail it wished for executions, it prompted my sister and me to have a discussion about the death penalty. We discovered that we had arrived at different but similar positions. She acknowledges that there are some crimes so heinous that nothing less than the death penalty seems appropriate,…

by Craig Ladwig An exchange during a meeting this week of an Indiana city council says all you will ever need to know about those public-private “partnerships.” It is between a skeptical councilman and two prospective developers regarding a huge downtown renovation project. The participants make clear that the elements of a “successful” public-private partnership are threefold: Establish a low-ball cost for the project, with taxpayers on the hook for overruns. Offset the “investment” of…

by Fred McCarthy This morning’s paper uses approximately three-quarters of a page with text and pictures bemoaning the “pothole” problem. The fourth paragraph contains this quote from our mayor:  “The plain truth is also that the financial condition of our city from the past few decades has been deplorable, and it has simply not had the resources to properly invest in the infrastructure our residents deserve.” To that I ask when will there be an…

by Leo Morris When I was growing up in Kentucky, my parents were eligible for the federal government’s commodities program, the forerunner of food stamps and SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). I remember a few of the things they received, including powdered milk, which was just awful, and big blocks of orange-ish cheese, which was actually pretty good. I’m sure there were things like dried beans, flour and powdered eggs in the allotment, but I have…

 by T. Norman Van Cott, Ph.D. As controversy swirls about the forthcoming Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, its builders cite jobs associated with the center as benefits. According to the Obama Foundation, there will be 5,000 jobs during the Center’s construction and 2,500 after it opens. Whatever the job figures turn out to be, they represent costs, not benefits. Obamaesque puffery about the dispossessed of Chicago filling these jobs aside, those involved in building and…

by Eric Schansberg, Ph.D. In his book “Bobos in Paradise” from 2000, David Brooks describes key members of American culture in the 1990s. He combines two “bo’s” to get “Bobo” — “the bourgeois world of capitalism” and “the bohemian subculture.” Since Bobos are still quite influential, it’s worth a look back at Brooks’ study to help us understand American culture and politics. Brooks explains that “Bobos” are a mix of “rebel” and “social-climbing” attitudes, combining “the countercultural…

by Mark Franke Growing up in Fort Wayne in the 1950s, even a youngster like me realized that this was an industrial town. The east end industries employed tens of thousands of workers, General Electric (where my father worked) had three large plants, and there was a strip of heavy industry along Taylor Street on the west side. By the time I was raising my own family, all this had changed. The dreaded announcement by…

by Leo Morris Are you a conservative? You are? Really? What does that mean? How do you see yourself when you embrace that label? Would you like to know what I mean when I say that I am a conservative? I’ll offer you a wager. Come up with a definition acceptable to me, and I’ll give you $1,000. That’s a bet I can’t lose. Only I know what I mean by conservative, and nothing you…

by Eric Schansberg, Ph.D. Everyone seems to agree that partisanship is increasingly prevalent and toxic. But few people seem to see themselves as part of the problem. One aspect of partisanship can be a troubling lack of objectivity and empathy — and, even, blindness. So, how would we know if we’re partisans? We all know that, at least in principle, it’s challenging to be objective. Think of a referee’s call in a sporting event between rival…