by Mark Franke In this iconoclastic age which revels in knocking down as many Western mores as possible, one should not be surprised at what will be frog-marched to the cultural Jacobin guillotine next. I practice a 21st century version of “know nothingness” by simply ignoring much of what goes on around me. Foolish? Yes, according to my family. Eccentric? Of course, but remember my age. Cowardly, no doubt, but we geezers are entitled to…

by Tim Timmons You may recall that I’ve written a time or two about Artificial Intelligence (AI). According to the experts at IBM, AI combines computer science and data to enable problem-solving. According to sci-fi fans, AI is Skynet from the Terminator movies, the evil force that takes over the world and goes to war with us mere humans. Which is it? I truly have no idea. So I decided to do what we newspaper…

by Mark Franke Ah, spring has returned to northeastern Indiana. The grass has turned green, the trees are budding and will soon flower, and the bluebirds are nesting in our backyard. God’s creation has reawakened once more in what will shortly be a panoply of color. But let’s cut to the chase. The major league baseball season started two weeks ago. Now that is proof positive that God is in His heaven and all is…

by Leo Morris There is a report from the Indiana University research salt mines that’s highly disturbing, although not for the reason you might initially suspect. Suicide deaths, a new study from the IU School of Medicine declares, increase significantly during a full moon. Furthermore, older people are more inclined to be involved, and the peak hours of suicide are 3 to 4 p.m. in September. Heavens. Forewarned is forearmed, so you have five months…

“Now is the time when men work quietly in the fields and women weep softly in the kitchen; the legislature is in session and no man’s property is safe.” — Daniel Webster (1782-1852) by Craig Ladwig and Ken Davidson The president of the Indiana County Assessors Association (ICAA), a Republican incidentally, is leading a statewide effort to make private property arbitrary or at least a matter of legislative or administrative whim. You would have to…

Zoning: Government for Government’s Sake My favorite public policy that creates more problems than it solves remains recycling. A close second, though, is zoning with its ignoble beginnings as a way to keep Jews off 5th Avenue in New York City. Recycling of course is the art of making millions of dollars convincing environmentally woke households to sort out their trash so it can be sold to China to dump in the ocean. Zoning, or more specifically euclidian…

By Richard McGowan, Ph.D. When I was growing up, only one team sport mattered: baseball. Most boys dreamed of becoming major leaguers. Heck, President Eisenhower was fishing with a friend once and he asked his friend, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” His friend answered, “President.” When his friend asked him, President Eisenhower said, “A major league baseball player.” Of course, neither got his wish, but their exchange captures the importance…

by Leo Morris Several years ago, I finished a nice meal at one of my favorite restaurants and settled up with the waitress, someone new to the place. “Oh, thank you,” she gushed. “Thank you so much!” “For what?” I asked, puzzled at her exuberance. “It’s just a standard 20 percent tip.” “But this is such a 10 percent town,” she replied. Ah, memories. Considering everything that’s been happening lately, if that incident happened today,…

by Tim Timmons Remember Harry Belafonte’s version of the Limbo song, that rich baritone asking how low can you go? And it doesn’t feel like we’re done yet. Consider that Harry is 96 now and I’m guessing might be surprised at the answer to his question. Why? Because today, in this country, we’re proving over and over we can go pretty doggone low. Voting — Most of us grew up with the idea that we would vote on…

by Mark Franke It is Holy Week for Christians, that most profound of weeks, the pivotal point of the Christian liturgical year. This year Christian Holy Week and Jewish Passover coincide, as they do most years. As well they should, since the first Good Friday and Easter occurred at the Passover. This was no coincidence if one reads the Gospels carefully and accepts their theological and historical claims. I am one of those, one who…