Many times during my youth in mid-North Indiana, I would hear someone say, "Hitler mighta been a [fill in the blank, but the gist was murderous jerk], but ya gotta admit he was a genius." The speaker of such words nearly always explained that Hitler's economic and foreign policies had benefited the German people in that those policies brought der Fatherland out of its longtime depression and rid it of the bonds of the Treaty of Versailles.

   Hitler was not a "genius." I have seen…

   We were at a party in Chicago in the spring of 1983, as I recall. I had moved to the City with very little experience in large population centers. I had learned that people "tagged" buildings and that while some of the graffiti was art for the sake of art, albeit on the sides of buildings or other structures, the owners of which had were little enthused about what had been spray-painted during the night, much of the graffiti was gang-related. Gangs tagged walls to mark…

   We will stream "live" from the Indianapolis Museum of Art, at 38th Street and Michigan Road, from 11 am to 1 pm, to cover, for the second weekend, this year's Indianapolis International Film Festival. Our guests will include Qunicy Rose, filmmaker and director of "Miles to Go," a feature-length flick; an actor from a short film, "Rearview Mirror"; Craig Mince and Luke Sanders, from the Indianapolis International Film Festival; and members of a panel discussion that will take place after…

   Because much of my practice is focused in the areas of appeal and post-conviction relief, I frequently visit clients in correctional facilities in Indiana.

   One point to get out of the way is that if we had better systems of education and aid to the poor, provided jobs that paid meaningful wages to more people, and gave women of lower income more control over what are their reproductive rights, we probably would not need so many correctional facilities, a/k/a prisons. (I know…

   With the past week's revelations of communications between then-Governor Mitch Daniels and then-Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett (whom I thought was better either as a singer or as head men's basketball coach at University of Wisconsin), a lot of people have discussed the state of education both in Indiana and in the United States.

   Discussion of public affairs is good, but also can be scary.

  I fear for our educational system because of several elements.…

   Yesterday we streamed live from the Indianapolis International Film Festival at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. We shall do so again next Saturday.

   I said this on The Show and I have written this before, but, I'll say it in a different way. If one employs cost-benefit analysis, one would be hard-pressed to beat the value of the price of admission to the IFF. You will see films you otherwise would not see---almost certainly not in a theater, but equally unlikely on TV. Maybe one…

   We will stream live from the Indianapolis International Film Festival from the Indianapolis Museum of Art, 11 am-1 pm. This is a good value for the entertainment dollar. Check out their website and see all the films on-tap from July 18-28.

   In 1975 I helped organize students at DePauw to protest the University's denial of tenure to a professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. The denial had the effect of termination of the professor's employment. DePauw, at the time (maybe still) required that a professor achieve tenure within seven years of that professor's employment, or the employment would end. The professor, Robert Fornaro, held a Ph.D., had published peer-review articles, and had been voted Professor of…

   The Indianapolis International Film Festival runs from July 18 to 28. If you go to their website, you can read the schedule of events. Many take place at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Most of the films are less than feature length. Last year was my first experience at such a festival. There were a couple of works for which I did not particularly care. Some were fantastic. We will stream live Saturday and have, as guests, directors and actors from films entered at the festival.

  …

   Last week, shortly before closing arguments began in State v. George Zimmerman, someone blogged about the view of the trial from the six seats that counted most at the end: the seats in the jury box. If one sets emotions aside, the reality of the jury becomes paramount.

   People can jest about a jury being made up of people not competent enough to get out of jury duty. However, every jury in front of which I have tried a case, once the oath is administered, has taken that oath and…

   We will stream live from 11 am to 1 pm from Good Earth, on Guilford, just north of the canal, in beautiful Broad Ripple. Our special guest host is Professor Teri Jett of Butler University. The focal topic will be farmers' rights, and the Pigford I and II cases and their progeny.

   When I worked on the calendar for The Show, I was a week ahead of myself. The Indianapolis International Film Festival is next week. This weekend we will shoot at the Broad Ripple Farmer's Market and discuss, amongst other topics, the farm bill presently before Congress, and lawsuits in Federal courts that affect the rights of small farmers, primarily women and Latino farmers. Special guest co-host will be Terri Jett, professor of political science at Butler. We will stream from 11 am to…

   The United States Navy gloated yesterday over the first successful landing of a drone aircraft onto the deck of an aircraft carrier. The Vice-Admiral in charge boasted "history" that our children and grandchildren and grandchildren would mention, had been made.

   I would say there should be no boasting. I would agree with the last part, but for different reasons than the Rear Admiral.

   Warfare advances technology. Sometimes those advancements are good. Many times they are…

   I will have more to write about the details, but last year we covered the Indianapolis International Film Festival. "Civil Discourse Now" is honored to be allowed to cover the festival again. Joining me as a guest panelist will be Terry Jett, professor of political science at Butler University. The festival is probably one of the best entertainment expenditures to be made in Indy. For the money one pays, the films provide a different perspective than one usually obtains. There are a lot…

   A couple of years ago I happened to find a web page, via a link on The Kokomo Tribune (pronounced "TRIB-une" for those native to Howard County), to the Peter Heck Show. The image on the link was of an old-fashioned radio microphone. What I discovered surprised me, in a few ways. First, I found it difficult to believe people still rejected such matters of science as evolution or that homosexuals exist. Second, I questioned the propriety of a photograph that supposedly depicts a pile of…

   This does not mean the Jerry Garcia/tie-dyed shirt/be careful when you drink Kool-aid type of gathering. This is a horror movie festival. We will stream live from the Wyndham---what once was the Adam's Mark Hotel. It is on Sam Jones Parkway, what used to be the Airport Parkway, near old Weir Cook Airport. Some of the people who will be there are Gary Busey, Linda Blair, and former wrestling super-star Rowdy Roddy Piper. There is a cover charge.

   Candidates ran for office. They promised a certain approach to govern, amongst the most important  that the government would not be a theocracy and everyone would be considered equal. 2012 elections were won by a candidate for president whom people trusted to keep his word. Immediately he backtracked. He assumed "near-dictatorial power to enact a hastily written constitution---one that, Islamists crowed, lacked many basic right."  TribLive, 6/29/13. People, angry over this turn of events…

   John Adams wrote that July 2 would go down in history as the day this country declared its independence from England. A different date appears on the formal document that memorializes the "birth" of this country. Of course, there are other minor errors in modern knowledge about the initial events that gave start to what became the United States of America. Our country was born in irony or paradox, but perhaps hypocrisy would be as good an adjective.

   All men are created equal and…