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.…

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…