Pat Andrews at "Had Enough Indy?" blogged about the ordinance that has been proposed regarding electronic billboards in Marion County. As a result of her blogs, she was invited to meet with some of the folks in the billboard industry. She invited me along.

   On Tuesday, a little before 1 pm, I took a elevator to the27th Floor of what used to be the Bank One Building, but has been renamed Chase---after the bank that has done so much to so many people. We were o meet in the offices…

   In the aftermath of last week’s blizzard in the Buffalo, New York, area, various television networks ran footage taken from drones—unmanned aerial vehicles—to show viewers how bad the snow had been. I was surprised the different angles we were given from, what the anchors said, were different drones.

   A few weeks ago, a couple of YouTube videos went viral. In each the viewer was treated to an incident from the drone’s eye view. In one, a hawk attacked the drone. In another, the…

   America no longer is the “land of the free.” With five percent of the World’s population we have nearly twenty-five percent of the World’s correctional institution (prison) inmate population. We have more people in prison than such progressive nations as North Korea and China.

   Since Richard Nixon launched the War on Drugs, we have seen billions of dollars invested in a large-scale effort to scuttle parts of the Constitution and a failure in cessation of people from seeking the…

   Pat Andrews at “Had Enough Indy?” and Gary Welsh at “Advance Indiana”®  have done their usual excellent jobs of research on another topic of local concern. They have blogged about an ordinance being considered by the City-County Council that would ease restrictions on construction of digital billboards in Marion County. Others, particularly on Advance Indiana®, have posted comments about the proposal and the process by which it has snaked its way behind the scenes.

Worst aspect of the…

   “What’s your dog’s name?”

   The Chihuahua lapped up beer from a bowl on the bar. Beer is not good for dogs, but the dog’s owner looked as testy as his pet. I was disinclined to criticize. Also, the bar was a few doors down from a place into which I recently had moved. I was a stranger to the regulars there. I always would be, as it turned out, but that is beside the point.

   “His name’s Tojo,” the man, who looked to be in his late 60s, replied.

   “Are you a veteran of…

   The “person on the street” was setting was cliche. A student at Texas Tech was on-camera someplace on campus where the student pedestrian traffic was brisk. The day was sunny. She began to stop and ask students, one at a time, questions.

   The first question was: “Who won the Civil War?” One of the students asked, “Is this a trick question?” Only one of about a dozen students answered correctly and said, “The Union ...The North.” Two students said, “The Confederacy.” The rest failed…

   “Birdman” stars Michael Keaton as an actor who, years before, played a superhero—Birdman—and stages a Broadway play to show he has talent.

   I had not read any reviews of the movie before seeing it. I only have read a couple of blips since. One there appears to be Keaton is a washed-up actor, Reggin Thompson, who seeks to rejuvenate his career by adapting for the stage, starring in, and directing the play. Perhaps that was how the movie was pitched, but the plot I caught was…

   There was an 8-track comedy tape in the 1970s (of course the 1970s; that was the abbreviated time of 8-track tapes) called “A Truck Stop Is the Best Place to Eat.” Most of the material on the tape was offensive, but one item was expressive of a truth. One joke on the redneck (questionable) humor-filled tape involved “Big Moe” who was a visitor in a town and was on a quest for sexual gratification. He said to and asked a bartender: “I’m Big Moe. Where can Big Moe get f****d?” (There were…

   The people of Marion County who reside within that political entity called Indianapolis formally are on notice as to what many suspected would occur for the past several months: Greg Ballard will not seek re-election as Mayor.

   Ballard courageously announced his support for the Republican candidate for Marion County Sheriff a day or two before the election.  Now, one foot almost on the jetway for a flight to Berlin for whatever purpose on the dime of the Indianapolis taxpayers,…

   If you have questions about where to vote in Marion County, Google Marion County Election Board—no, I still do not know how to “link” a page—and you can type in your address for the location of your polling site. You also can call 317.327.VOTE, but experience as a poll worker in elections past tells me the line is pretty busy on Election Day.

   Whatever your predilections, you should vote. Even if you enter the poll and turn in a blank ballot, (1) your vote will count as a vote for…

   Several internet headlines, on the same topic, caught my eye yesterday. One, from townhall dot com, read “Oh My: Study Reveals Significant Number of Non-Citizens Vote in US Elections,” by Guy Benson, a conservative writer with a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern..  

   The “study” to which the articles refer was published in 36 Electoral Studies 149-57 (2014) and was written by  professors (Jesse T. Richman, Gulshan A, Chattha and David C. Earnest) from Old Dominion University and…

   Patrick Lockhart will be our guest today as “Civil Discourse Now” streams live from The Coffee Brake, 6215 Allisonville Road. Patrick is the Democratic Party candidate for Indiana State Representative from District 91. His opponent is Republican Robert Behning. District 91 covers parts of Marion, Hendricks, Morgan, and Johnson counties. Patrick is the youngest candidate for the Indiana House of Representatives in the general election this year.

   As always, Kimann Schultz will…