For immediate release (622 words) First of all, full disclosure. I have spent my adult life, sad though it may seem, writing editorials. So there is a vested interest here in the topic of this article — the public discussion. When public battles are fought by assigning motives rather than citing facts, we are in trouble. That is the case with the proposed Ground Zero “community center.” The headlines verify a concern that, the magic…

For release noon Aug. 31 and thereafter (669 words) If the term wind power evokes images of picturesque Dutch windmills amidst a landscape of tulips, take a drive up I-65 north of Lafayette. A wind farm in an Indiana cornfield looks more like the setting for a sci-fi film than for a 17th-century Flemish painting.           Hundreds of turbines loom over the adjacent countryside. Rotary blades of 100 feet or more top massive towers and sweep a…

Exclusive to the Muncie Star (614 words) “If you spend any time rubbing shoulders with Indiana’s ruling class, you’ll recognize the circular logic: ‘The solutions to our problems are not politically achievable, and in any case they are beyond local control.’”  The ink on the above introduction to the fall issue of The Indiana Policy Review was not dry when Gov. Mitch Daniels provided a working example of its application: “It’s not like we can get…

For release noon Aug. 24  and thereafter (502 words) In my home town of Muncie, a group of local citizens wants a public swimming pool, currently in disrepair, expanded into a full-fledged local water-park complex. The group has developed initial plans for an $8-million water park near downtown Muncie with the following mechanism to fund the expenditure: $6 million from local tax-backed bonds, $1 million from local foundations and $1 million from a local fund-raising…

For release noon Aug. 9 and thereafter (735 words) Even school children recognize and respond to the personalities of politics. Given a quick across-town drive, a young Hoosier on Memorial Day managed to shake hands with two mayors, one leading the South Bend “West Side Parade” at 8:15 a.m. and another on Main Street in Mishawaka at 9 a.m. Other politicians worked the sidelines, their names and functions not as well recognized. At a recent…

For release noon Aug. 3 and thereafter (677 words) As a classroom teacher, I’m not crazy about on-line schools. I like to think that I can challenge, question, excite and ignite students in a way no Internet program ever could. I’m also a realist. If Indiana wants to improve high school and college graduation rates, we must make education as flexible as possible. On-line learning is the way to do that. On Aug. 23, the…

For release noon July 27 and thereafter (735 words) I suggested in an earlier article that aerial photography of the border between barren Haiti and the heavily forested Dominican Republic was a predictor of the recent Haitian earthquake devastation. Not the earthquake, mind you, but the devastation that followed. The property-rights vacuum that encouraged Haitians to cut trees down without replanting also motivated them to skimp on construction durability. When the “big one” came, buildings…

For immediate release (708 words) “If the press is stopped and the people kept in ignorance, we had much better have the first magistrate and senators hereditary.” — John Adams A delegation from Izvestia sat in our conference room one afternoon in the late 1970s as the long-running regime of Leonid Brezhnev came to a close. They were eager to tell us why Soviet journalism was better than ours. Their presentation went something like this:…

For release Tuesday noon July 20 and thereafter (670 words) Lindan Hill, director of Marian University’s leadership academy that will train Indiana principals to transform bad schools, has ideas that may strike fear in the hearts of the education establishment: The fastest way to improve education is to get “powerful teaching” into the classroom. Effective principals should spend a majority of their time – “50 percent minimum” – observing the teaching and learning process. Regardless…

For release Tuesday noon July 13 and thereafter (539 words) Viewers of the World Cup finals last weekend were treated to the pageantry of the “beautiful game” but little of the reality of post-Apartheid South Africa. That is unfortunate, for it includes important lesson for the rest of the world. Beginning with the obvious, Apartheid was blatant and brutal. Black South Africans were held down by multiple levels of interlocking economic restrictions. Minimum-wage legislation was a…