Civil Discourse Now

Where the far left and far right overlap for fun and enlightenment

All Blog Posts (1,682)

"Taste the Difference"---4501 W 38th Street---today's Show.

   “Taste the Difference” is a festival that celebrates foods from different cultures and places. “Civil Discourse Now” will stream live from Taste the Difference, from New Wineskin Ministries, at 4501 West 38th Street from 11 am to 1 pm. Folks from the Taste Festival will join us, as well as John Strinka, a very sociable gentleman and veteran guest of The Show, from the Socialist Party.

   Of course we shall be joined by regular contributors Kimann Schultz with her witty and fun…

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Added by Mark Small on September 27, 2014 at 7:48am — No Comments

Mayor Ballard's TV ad blatantly lies: he's lowered taxes? Really? I mean---really?

   Is Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard a Kurt Russell-type character?

   In the 1980 film “Used Cars,” a used car lot owner is threatened with prosecution for false advertising after a television ad is altered, by people connected to her lot’s competitor, to claim her lot has a “mile of cars.” The movie was promoted, in part, by a photo shoot in Penthouse magazine, the box office ticket sales were mediocre, and Wikipedia tells me it has gained cult status.    Kurt Russell plays an…

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Added by Mark Small on September 25, 2014 at 5:49am — No Comments

Today's Show: at Coffee Brake, 6215 Allisonville Road with State Rep. Christina Hale.

   Today’s “Civil Discourse Now,” from 11 am to 1 pm, will stream live from Coffee Brake, 6215 Allisonville Road.  Coffee Brake is located in the strip shopping center on the northeast corner of 62nd Street and Allisonville Road.

   Our guest panelists will include Christina Hale, Indiana State Representative for the 87th District. We also will have "Fashion News and Muse" from Kimann Schultz, and Tyler Rayl on Sports.

   We encourage any candidates for political office to be on…

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Added by Mark Small on September 20, 2014 at 6:51am — No Comments

Abdul: to raise the minimum wage would benefit those who work; most wealthy heirs "game" the system.

   My friend Abdul-Hakim Shabazz blogged yesterday about poverty and economic mobility in the context of his experience as a tutor when he was an undergrad. The upshot was some people want the work done for them—they want the minimum wage raised and a social safety net in place for those unable to meet life’s basic needs.

   I understand Abdul’s belief that people should work hard and earn what they need. I agree there should not be an incentive for people—or other entities—to work the…

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Added by Mark Small on September 19, 2014 at 6:30am — 1 Comment

Join us at the Easley Winery, with Kimann and Mike Schultz, plus special guest Shawn Denney, Democratic Party candidate for the Fifth Congressional District.

   The Easley Winery is located at 205 North College Avenue, on the northeast corner of College and Ohio, in downtown Indianapolis. The winery’s website, easleywinery.com, not only lists the wines made by the company, but tells the story of how the winery came to be.

   We will shoot from 11 am to 1 pm Saturday.  Kimann and Mike Schultz will be our guests and taste the wines available. Kimann’s weekly segment, “Fashion News and Muse,” will be a special, live edition.

   Democratic…

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Added by Mark Small on September 12, 2014 at 5:52am — No Comments

Will Indy go the Ferguson way and finance local government through traffic tickets?

   A people who value liberty should not allow their government to utilize court fines as a source of revenue. Elected officials would be tempted to create more laws to elicit more fines to haul in more revenue.

   Ferguson, Missouri, recently hit by riots and the national press corps after an unarmed black teenager was shot by a white police officer, derives twenty-one percent (21%) of its general revenue from traffic fines. That is one revenue source that has expanded, as others for…

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Added by Mark Small on September 11, 2014 at 6:21am — No Comments

We should be offended by an internet fundraiser for "Keep Broad Ripple Safe"---such things as public safety, not subsidization of billionaire sports owners, constitute the purpose of city taxes.

   Apparently, folks who live in Broad Ripple are deadbeats. We believe ourselves “entitled” to public safety.

   The September, 2014, issue of “Broad Ripple Community Newsletter,” carries an article by Elizabeth Giffin titled, “Keep Broad Ripple Safe” in which she reports about some reactions to the “multiple incidents of violence” that arose this summer in Broad Ripple.  “The Broad Ripple Ripple Village Association (BRVA) then turned to Internet fundraising site Go Fund Me as a…

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Added by Mark Small on September 7, 2014 at 6:30am — No Comments

The word "media" is the plural form of "medium"

   The future is not here yet. However, we can try to to anticipate changes.

   The word "media" is the plural form of "medium." I am annoyed when I hear someone say "the media is..." or otherwise employ the noun "media" with the singular form of a verb. 

   This is not simply a matter of grammar. When people talk about "the media," the implication is a monolith, a giant glob that rolls through our days and devours as it spins untruths a/k/a lies. "The media" takes on an…

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Added by Mark Small on September 6, 2014 at 6:16am — No Comments

The "newsroom of the future" and the (ir)relevance of The Indianapolis Star: Saturday's Show.

   The Kokomo Tribune (pronounced, by most locals, TRIBune) was an afternoon paper. When it was delivered, my mother would grab it to read about whomever had received a speeding ticket, filed for divorce, or died. She was into gossip. That newspaper was important, to me, for its coverage of local sports and, later, the occasional photograph or item about some debate award or other thing I had received.

   For national or international—i.e., “real”—news, my old man received The…

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Added by Mark Small on September 3, 2014 at 6:22am — No Comments

Today's Show: Live from The Magic Bus---Bill Levin, Kimann Schultz "Fashion News and Muse," and more!

   When I was in high school, Kokomo had one head shop. At least, Kokomo had one head shop of which I was aware. The little store was on Sycamore next to where the Sipe Theater once had stood. At least one parking space was occupied during hours when the store was open. Word had it that the Kokomo Police Department and the Howard County Sheriff coordinated in surveillance of the store. They took photographs and wrote down names and license plate numbers of the store’s customers. Presumably…

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Added by Mark Small on August 30, 2014 at 7:38am — No Comments

Sorry about the Spam---I am not into Nike.

   Someone got through the website and spammed ads for various products. From what I can tell, the products were footwear and nothing related to a fetish.

Added by Mark Small on August 29, 2014 at 2:18pm — No Comments

Today's Show: Law School.

   One could say I was “wired” to be a lawyer.

   When I was five ro six I watched television shows about trials. “Perry Mason” seemed like a joke, relative to law. Other shows seemed more realistic. When high-profile cases took place, with their sketch-artists’ renditions of that day’s events—the trial of the Chicago Eight, then Seven, is a good example—I listened to the details.

   When I shopped for colleges, I did so largely with the idea of a major that would feed into law…

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Added by Mark Small on August 23, 2014 at 6:23am — No Comments

NFL(r) squeezes Super Bowl(r) half-time acts: what if the Colts(r) and YOUR Indiana Pacers(r) left Indianapolis?

   What would the city and people of Indianapolis do without the Colts®  and the Pacers®?

   The past couple of months I have expressed paranoia about those franchises’ owners. If they detect any “spare” change rattling about in the City’s coffers, there appears a new need for monies for one or another of the teams.

   To the best of my knowledge, no one has been shown the books of YOUR Indiana Pacers®. The Pacers®  had built for them a new arena in 1999, now called Bankers Life® …

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Added by Mark Small on August 20, 2014 at 6:28am — 1 Comment

Sunday Star's editorial by Tim Swarens: did he write of a fictional Mayor Ballard and a City with decent streets?

   In the early 1960s, Indianapolis had more than one daily newspaper. Writers from the Indianapolis Times won a few Pulitzers before the paper shut down in 1965. The Indianapolis Star was a decent paper, although very conservative for my tastes. Still, the reporters covered local stories well, and tried to act as a check on local corruption and local politicians. The sports section was pretty good, too.  On Sundays that section was thick with good coverage of major sports and, each May, the…

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Added by Mark Small on August 19, 2014 at 6:48am — No Comments

Texas Governor Rick Perry should not be indicted and President Obama should not be sued---separation of powers, dudes.

   The indictment of Texas Governor Rick Perry is as woeful as Congressional Republicans’ threat of a lawsuit against President Obama. At first I wrote “silly,” but changed the adjective, because the criminal action in Texas and the civil action in (presumably) a United States District Court waste public resources and open balance-of-powers questions to litigation.

   First, a word about the Texas situation. I do not like Governor Perry. I consider myself to be left-wing, if that term…

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Added by Mark Small on August 18, 2014 at 6:25am — No Comments

Local experts on Indianapolis corruption: August 16's CDN.

   Sorry, Mayor Gregory "I've Never Met a Tax Raise I Couldn't Okay or a Well-connected Donor I Couldn't Benefit" Ballard and his coterie of campaign contributors will not be on Civil Discourse Now. Instead, two guests today have studied the cronyism that is YOUR Indianapolis city political system for several years.

   Pat Andrews, who blogs at “Had Enough Indy?” and Gary Welsh, of “Advance Indiana” will be our guests when we stream live today from The Sinking Ship, 4923 North…

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Added by Mark Small on August 16, 2014 at 5:30am — No Comments

The late Mayor Richard J. Daley visits from the afterlife to complain about Indianapolis overtaking and passing Chicago in the field of corruption.

   I was wakened about 3 a.m. The voice came from the kitchen. I rose, closed the bedroom door quietly behind me, and started to reach for the wall switch. Simultaneously I noticed a strange glow of sufficient strength to find my way, and a voice hiss, “Lights stay out.”

   The latter annoyed me. “This is my house.”

   “Not while Hizzoner’s in it, it ain’t,” the voice hissed in a familiar accent.

   In May I wrote about a seance I had arranged. With corruption so rife in…

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Added by Mark Small on August 14, 2014 at 6:02am — No Comments

Ballard wants the City to enter into a long-term contract with a New Jersey waste management company---seriously.

   Apparently Mayor Ballard, before he leaves office, wants to commit Indianapolis to as many long-term leases—if he cannot sell City assets cheap—as possible. His latest contract is with a New Jersey waste management corporation—we neither make these things up nor need to make them up. Okay, so the fictional Tony Soprano ran a waste management company in “The Sopranos.” Tony was an environmental sort of guy.

   The pitch of Covanta, the company in question, is that they turn waste into…

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Added by Mark Small on August 5, 2014 at 6:09am — 1 Comment

Tully: Ballard and Hogsett are the major parties' two "best" for Mayor---Tully's flawed reasoning again.

   The column was below the fold, but still on page one of Sunday’s edition of what was a fairly good newspaper.  The Indianapolis Star consists of a lot of ads (to make money in a time when many people read the stories the day before on the internet the paper prints the next day; such is technology), sections provided by McNew a/k/a USA Today, a few good articles, and, well, the rest.

   Matthew Tully did not disappoint (if one anticipated he would provide his usual contribution to “the…

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Added by Mark Small on August 4, 2014 at 6:30am — No Comments

So taxpayers pay to build a justice center, the Mayor gives it to pals, and taxpayers pay rent for the same justice center? Will someone do the math, please?

   Indianapolis needs a new building for its courts, jail, and police.

   The Ballard administration has floated an idea. The City pays for construction, then hands over the keys to a foreign conglomerate and pays rent to that new landlord.

   Wait—why would be build a structure, give the structure away (i.e., “sell” it for an absurdly low price), and pay rent to the entity to which it was given?

   Here are possible reasons:

   1) The entity that will charge rent and make…

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Added by Mark Small on August 3, 2014 at 6:26am — No Comments

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