Whatever office you seek in Indiana and whatever party---or none---of which you are a member, you are invited to be on "Civil Discourse Now." Please contact me at marksmall2001 at yahoo dot com.

   Tune in from 11 am to 1 pm as we will have Congressional candidate Allen Davidson, Marion County judicial candidate David Hennessy, Lawyer Bill Groth who argued the Indiana Voter ID law to the United States Supreme Court, Kimann Schultz with "Fashion and Style," and---the inaugural episode of the satirical radio satire "Tale of the City"! Streamed from the Cabin Fever Weekend at Clarion Convention Center, just west of I-465 and just off Crawfordsville Road!

   We have a newspaper that acts as a cheerleader for a Mayor who openly showers campaign backers with neat gifts. We use Tax Increment Finance ("TIF") districts---now banned by statute, as a local government funding mechanism in the State where they first were developed because they destroyed local economies---to create slush funds for a Mayor who seems to care only for the wealthy. There is no check on corruption---a plague that does not necessarily involve illegal conduct.

  On…

  Clarion Waterfront Hotel is on the west side of Indianapolis on Crawfordsville Road, just west of I-465 at 2930 West Waterfront Parkway. We stream live from 11 am to 1 pm on Indiana Talks dot com. A focal topic for The Show  will be legislative efforts to restrict voting rights.

   Our guest panelists include: Bill Groth, who litigated the Indiana "Voter ID" law before the United States Supreme Court; and a representative from the Marion County Clerk's Office, the office responsible…

   The primary elections of the two major political parties, as "major" political parties are defined by Indiana Code, will occur on Tuesday, May 6, 2014. Civil Discourse Now was started in the interest of fun and enlightenment. With primary elections---plural because more than one office is in play and more than one party is holding a primary---a few weeks away, it is important for voters to know the candidates from whom they can choose. If you are a candidate for an office in the May 6…

   Every year for a long time my ritual on NCAA(r) picks Sunday---or whatever the formal brand name for the day has become---has involved watching the NCAA(r) draw of teams for the tournament and filling in the brackets on the form printed in The Indianapolis Star. I used to purchase of a copy of the Sunday Star, but after I graduated from law school I subscribed for home delivery of the daily publication then owned by the Pulliam family.

   A savvy lawyer in trust laws figured out…

   We shall do a "wrap-up" of the 2014 Indiana General Assembly on Saturday, March 22, from 11 am to 1 pm. Our guest panelists will be John Ketzenberger and Jon Easter. CDN Senior Contributor Matt Stone also will be a panelist. CDN will stream live from the Antelope Club, 615 North Delaware Street.

   Mayor Greg Ballard, in Indianapolis between jaunts overseas, has spoken out on how to address problems here in Indianapolis. Yesterday Mayor Ballard announced a new initiative---"Your Life Matters"---targeted, as noted by Indy Democrat blogger Jon Easter, "specifically towards troubled and at-risk young people." The Indianapolis daily newspaper noted: "Ballard pledged a $75,000 investment in the Connect 2 Help 211 telephone service. The nonprofit connects people, especially parents who…

   On Monday evening, I stayed up late. I did not go to bed until nearly 10 p.m. As I have grown older, the wild days of youth, when I would stay up until 11 p.m., have faded.

   I was hungry and decided to order a pizza.

   Even several years ago, there were several choices for delivery. Noble Roman's deep-dish was a favorite. Bazbeaux's whole-wheat crust was healthy, tasty, and local. There were the corporate fall-backs---Pizza Hut and Domino's (and I know Noble Roman's…

   After 9/11,the United States government took actions that were unrelated to defense against terrorists. The Patriot Act was passed by a docile Congress. In it, protections (i.e., rights) of the Constitution were out to the side in the interest of national security. The United States also transported people to the former Navy coaling station at Guantanamo Bay, on the island of Cuba, to be held.

   "Gitmo" was a loophole. If individuals had been arrested and charged with criminal…

   Over the past few days, commentators and politicians have expressed dis may over President Obama's restraint in the way he addresses the crisis over Ukraine. Senator Dan Coats and others want trade sanctions against Vladimir Putin's Russia. Others want some sort of military effort. Sarah Palin offered a view, along with a giggle, that President Obama's policy lacks "potency." Sexual innuendo has been a mechanism for comedy since the days of Aristophanes or before. As an expression of…

   Saturday will be St. David's Day, a national holiday in Wales.

   Since childhood, my father led me to believe I was of Scottish descent. In 2008, on a trip to Kansas City and a detour to an Irish heritage museum, a guide ran a computer search of family trees. When she asked if I wanted mine run, I blew her off and said there was no need to do a search on me. She said perhaps I would be surprised. She ran the search, called over a co-worker, and pointed at the screen. She uttered…

   Yesterday's blog drew interesting responses. One observed "nothing is more convincing than a good personal anecdote," and provided a link to the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics. I followed the link. I expected to read a recent entry about unemployment benefits and a summary of peer-reviewed studies of the effects of unemployment benefits. Instead, I read an article written in 1992. We are on our third President since the article was written. The internet was developed. NAFTA was signed.…

   After I graduated from DePauw, I worked for my father's construction company for about eight months, until he retired and closed the business. I went on unemployment. The first week I walked the ten blocks up Washington Street to the office of the unemployment folks on Sycamore Street. After I filled out the forms, I was told my pay would be skipped one week to process my account.

   I was fortunate because the place in which I lived---a basement apartment in a building my parents…

   Any red-blooded---as opposed to a green-blooded, perhaps someone related to a Vulcan---American citizen was raised to believe in the Olympics(r). Every four years, we were treated to the thrill of victory and the agony of competition in two sets of Olympics, summer and winter. In the 1990s, the Winter Olympics(r) were moved to the other set of even-numbered years instead of being staged, along with the Summer Games(r) every Leap Year. Perhaps the motive there were to give the viewers and…

   In Panama City Beach, Florida, years ago, a waitress who served a nearby table said, "Our State motto is, 'At Least We Ain't Mississippi.'" Mississippi seems to be 49th or 50th---or, if "worst" is the gauge---1st or 2nd of our 46 commonwealths and four States in various categories that relate to quality of life.

   Governor Nikki Haley of South Carolina seems bent on grabbing the Palmetto State in a plunge to the bottom. Her efforts may result in South Carolina---where political…

   A boycott is a "concerted refusal to do business with a party in order to express disapproval of that party's practices." "Black's Law Dictionary/New Pocket Edition," 1996 ed., p. 73.

   The original Olympic Games were held in Greece a couple of thousand years ago. The games were not called "summer" games. The Olympics did not have "winter" events as counterpoints to running, equestrian events and the throwing of objects that made up the games of the time. Winter sports were…

   Forty-six States and four Commonwealths (Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Kentucky) make up the United States. Federal taxes are paid by citizens and residents of each of these entities. Money then is dispersed from Washington, D.C. 

   Years ago, a State Representative from Howard County campaigned, in part, on the notion Indiana should try at least to get back the same amount of money in benefits from the Federal government as its people pay into the Fed. The rankings…

   Justice Antonin Scalia perhaps has the highest public profile of any sitting Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Although educated at Georgetown and Harvard, as a member of the faculty at the University of Chicago School of Law, he became identified with that law school's cant toward what has been deemed a more conservative view of the law. Judge Richard Posner, of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, also was faculty at UC and has led the move toward an…

   "Civil Discourse Now" was scheduled to stream live this morning from the Athanaeum, downtown. Unfortunately, weather forecasters overlooked a storm front. A lot more snow was dropped on Indianapolis than predicted, and the folks at the Athenaeum will not open until later in the day. Consequently, we will stream live from our good old "undisclosed" location, from 11 am to 1 pm. Gary Welsh will be our guest panelist, if he can manage to navigate his Bradley Armored Personnel Carrier through…