by Mark Franke The pandemic has disrupted much of our daily lives, sometimes out of necessity or too often due to governmental overreach. Be that as it may, COVID has certainly opened fault lines in our society that were already there but hidden. One such fault line is at the education of our children. There was a time when our schools reflected a civil consensus of what being an American meant. Back in the golden…

by Leo Morris One day a colleague, whose intellect I had admired up to that point, confessed that she had some conservative instincts when it came to politics. “But I just can’t go there, considering the people that would associate me with,” she said, referring to some of the rogues in the Republican Party who offended her delicate sensibilities. So, I thought but did not say, there being no point, “You’re OK with the thieves,…

A FRIEND pulled out an apt George Orwell quote for the week’s events: ‘We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men.” Yes, Oprah’s interview with the Duchess came to mind but we were challenged to apply it to local public policy, particularly economic development and race relations. Herding a group of cronies into a regional authority and then allowing self-interested schemers to manipulate government funding does not result in general prosperity. Nor is…

by Maryann O. Keating, Ph.D. “I am a freeman, an American, a United States Senator, and a Democrat, in that order,” said Lyndon B. Johnson Not everyone identifies as closely with a political party as did President Johnson. We experience conflict between positions taken by parties, be it either Democrat or Republican. In fact, we may ask, “Why do we even need political parties? Aren’t we divided enough?”  In his book “Edmund Burke: The First…

by Mark Franke“I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!” This iconic line from the movie “Network” has been repeated so often that it no longer has any effect. However, I can positively assert that this is the first time I’ve used it. In fact I had to do a Google search to learn where it came from as I don’t watch movies, not wishing to be mind-numbed by the tripe…

by Leo Morris We’re about to have our first weekly bridge game after a year-long hiatus, and I admit to some trepidation. We’re old geezers, so we will gather with COVID-vaccination protection, but our pandemic overlords have insisted that we stay masked and do social distancing until the Earth’s core cools or the Sun explodes, whichever comes first. So, we might be a little nervous at first as we imagine the possibility of getting raided.…

EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE public policy meets an absolute, that is, where no compromise is possible between two conflicting options. Such is the case now with law enforcement in Indiana’s metropolitan cities. City councils in the next few years will have to make a hard choice. Yes, politicians hate that but it cannot be avoided in this case. One choice is being made in Indianapolis and Fort Wayne. Police and fire fighters are offered…

by Mark Franke I watched my first baseball spring training game last Sunday and was immediately transported back into the mists of memory, that of a young boy at the first sign of spring heading outside with his glove, baseball and pitchback contraption. First, a word about that pitchback. It was a metal frame with netting strung across it and a strike-zone target. An aspiring pitcher, I would deliver a repertoire of pitches at the target and…

by Leo Morris I will defend myself. I do not claim that as a “right.” I merely state it as a fact. It is a biological imperative – is it not? – for an individual to decline to submit meekly to the murderous intent of others. To that end, I possess a license to carry a handgun issued by the state of Indiana. I know many of my fellow licensees dislike revealing that, but it’s…

by Richard McGowan, Ph.D. During the years I taught ethics at Butler University, I asked my students what word they heard most. The word? Diversity. I also asked them what their parents said to them when they did something stupid with a bunch of friends. I requested they finish this sentence: “If your friends jumped off . . . ” Around 95 percent said a ‘bridge,” “roof”  or “cliff.”  There was little diversity. However, when I was young…