Ruth Patchett Collins and I were in grade school together, maybe as far back as first grade. (I would say what elementary school that was, but since "first elementary school" is a clearance question for credit cards, I'll pass.) She was one of those kids with whom we migrated up the chain and closer to the door and graduation. I had not heard from her, nor she from me, since we left school way back when. The wonders of Face Book as they are, we friended (a noun converted to a verb) each…

   When Hoosier (by relocation, not birth) Richard Gatling developed the Gatling gun, the first rapid-fire weapon for combat, it is said he thought his invention would bring an end to war. He could not believe people would wage war in the face of such an awesome weapon. Gatling had no appreciation for human folly.

   Gun violence has been in the national and local news. People were mowed down in D.C. and in Chicago. Whether the weapon du jour, the AR 15, was used by the gunman, it…

   The first I heard of Black Sabbath was as the punch line for a couple of jokes by Cheech and Chong in 1973. A short time later I had 8-track tapes of "Master of Reality" and something else. Ozzy and the boys played definitive heavy-metal. The tape-deck in the 1962 (or was it a 1961?) Ford Econoline van I drove was hooked up to big speakers in the back, the walls of which were painted flat-black. The speakers were loud, albeit not as loud as the sound systems most teenagers or early-20s…

   I like the color blue. For several years when I worked at Purdue University, then Northwestern University School of Law, then again at Purdue in those schools' libraries, I usually wore any of half-a-dozen powder-blue Oxford shirts I owned. The way in which the color blends with blue jeans never has been a consideration, although I like the blue there, too.

   If in the next weeks the City-County Council of Indianapolis and Marion County were to pass an ordinance, and Indy's…

   The image of NASCAR, a/k/a American stock car racing, in the 1960s was of people grabbing real "stock" cars---as one would buy off the showroom floor---wheeling them into garages, souping them up, and racing them on dirt tracks or the beach of Daytona (okay, that ended a while back) or on some track in the South. Compared to cars raced at the Indianapolis 500, and any tracks in a USAC circuit built to sustain races, for cars made for the Indy 500, for the rest of a "season" until the next…

   The attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, were tragic. That is an opinion, but one held by many from nearly every political viewpoint. Deaths and massive destruction are terrible. On this day 12 years ago, we watched TV depictions of aircraft that flew into the twin towers of the World Trade Center and into the Pentagon. We heard reports of the aircraft in Pennsylvania that dove from tens of thousands of feet and crashed into the countryside of Pennsylvania.

   An odd week…

   In the lead-up to the United States invasion of Iraq, the George W. Bush administration gave reasons for "regime change" that resulted in tens of thousands dead, billions in national debt and significant loss of international goodwill---difficult to quantify,but from all signs after 9/11 many nations and people in the World expressed sympathy for this country. Questions about evidence of "weapons of mass destruction"---our purported reason for the invasion---should have been asked more…

   Busts of four former mayors of Indianapolis---all elected since Unigov was enacted (the "whys" of Unigov are for a later blog)---stand on simple posts on the South side of the East wing hallway of the first floor of the City-County Building, not far from the elevators for the Circuit and Superior Courts. The heads of Richard Lugar, William Hudnut, Stephen Goldsmith and Bart Peterson are arrayed in chronological order, left-to-right, as they harmoniously face the same direction. The busts…

   More years ago than I care to count, Drew Young was the Republican Party candidate for Marion County Prosecutor. Jeff Modisett was the candidate for the Democratic Party. I knew members of the Young family. My roommate at the time (2nd-3rd years in law school) was a former fraternity brother of mine from DePauw and was a cousin of the Youngs. That was not the reason I voted for Drew in the election. I thought he was the better candidate. As is usually the case, the candidate for whom I…

   In "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich," William Shirer relates events for which he was present at Godesburg September 22-23, 1938, crucial days when the fate of Czechoslovakia was determined. Shirer related what a German companion told him:  "And he explained that Hitler had been in such a maniacal mood over the Czechs the last few days that on more than one occasion he had lost control of himself completely, hurling himself to the floor and chewing the edge of the carpet. Hence the…

   Four major polls released in the past few days show the American people do not favor military action in Syria. (Pew: 29% favor/48% oppose/23% undecided; Washington Post/ABC, 36/59/5; NBC 42/50/8; Huffington Post 25/41/34.) One would think the opinion of the American people to be important when the country's political leaders consider important issues. Yes, that would be in a fantasy world.

   On the other hand, the House and Senate leadership of both parties support military action…

   In "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues," author Tom Robbins occasionally notes the International situation was desperate, as usual." The situation in Syria brought that observation to mind as I read Senator McCain's judgment. We must bomb Syria or lose credibility.

   From what I have read of international views of United States foreign policy over the last 50 years, "we" have little credibility, give or take bombs dropped on Syria. One who is "credible" is "worthy of belief or…

   In her blog this weekend, Sheila Kennedy pointed out that "The Onion" might have the best commentary in regard to the current crisis in Syria. "The Onion" ran a fictional letter to the United States from Assad of Syria, basically saying the United States is screwed any way we go when it comes to Syria, a nation created by those same geniuses at the end of World War I whose efforts, in part, brought us World War II.

   A fundamental question we should consider is: are we morally…

   In "The Guns of August," Barbara Tuchman depicts the ways in which European powers blundered into what became World War I. A plot to kill Archduke Ferdinand while he visited Sarajevo, first botched, succeeded by the weird luck of one of the assassins rounding a corner at the same time as the Archduke's open-air car. Germany wanted an opportunity to use its military to gain hegemony in Europe. Various members of royalty wanted their countries to fight, as if war were a simple game for…

   Our Show today will focus on the efforts by some in the Indiana General Assembly to amend the Indiana Constitution to define marriage as between "one man" and "one woman." This week I have advanced arguments against the amendment, also opposed, amongst others, by major corporations (e.g., Eli Lilly, Cummins) that do business here. Earlier in the week, I invited several proponents of the measure to be guests today. Unfortunately, those folks ether are out of town on vacation, out of town…

   The IRS has announced that same-sex married couples will be treated as married for income tax purposes even if the State in which a couple resides does not recognize marriage equality. As our friend Gary Welsh points out at "Advance Indiana," this presents a problem for Governor Pence and the General Assembly. Indiana generally follows Federal income tax procedures. If the "marriage is only between one man and one woman" is adopted by the Indiana General Assembly, filing of income tax…

   When local mega-businesses like Eli Lilly and Cummins support a progressive position on an issue, one tends to take notice. This is not an ALEC pose on a matter of social issues. 

   The word "progress" and derivations of that word have been given pejorative connotations in recent years. As a noun, "progress" means "a proceeding to a further or higher stage, or through such stages progressively."  American College Dictionary, 1962 ed., p. 967.

   Why would large corporations…

   The existence of an Indiana State constitution was mentioned vaguely in my high school Indiana History class. The United States Supreme Court was in the headlines a lot back then, in the 1960s. Of course, the Court is in the headlines (or blogosphere or other appropriate parallel to "headlines") today. In the 1960s, and early 1970s, the headlines usually seemed to indicate a Court that advanced rights. I knew when "Dragnet" aired any given week, Jack Webb would highlight a new criminal…

   A panel show that aired Friday night took an interesting twist near the end of the broadcast. The host mentioned, in passing, that all three members of the panel were gay. In years past---maybe only as recently as five---an entire panel of lesbian and gay guests would at least have received some promo. There might have been commentary in a few newspapers or on some blogs. This occurred with little fanfare.

   This is an example of how members of the LGBT community have been…

   January 20, 1981, was a pretty lousy day in American history. Since that Inauguration Day, the American economy has seen a redistribution of wealth---the middle class nearly has been eliminated and wages held in check to enable the one or two percent richest to grab more and more. There only are so many marbles on the table. The amount of wealth under United States control was phenomenal at the time. We controlled a lot of the marbles in the world. With only five percent (5%) of the…