Belle Gunness was born in 1859 in Norway. She moved to the United States in 1881, following a sister who had moved here. Belle learned a lot about specific aspects of American law: insurance, probate, inheritance, and murder. She was able to poison her first husband and collect proceeds from two life insurance policies. The fellow died on the one day coverage of the two policies overlapped. She moved from Chicago, after she experienced difficulties in collection of the proceeds of the…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on May 27, 2013 at 6:19am — No Comments
Today, May 25, at 11 a.m., we shall stream "live" from Good Earth, located on Guilford just north of the Rainbow Bridge in what is, for now, beautiful Broad Ripple Village. The focus of our conversation with guest panelists Matt Stone ("Indy Student" blog), Len Farber ("Indy Vanguard"), Rudy the manage of Good Earth, and a couple of the folks who attended Thursday evening's Broad Ripple Village Association ("BRVA") meeting will be the proposed construction of an architectural monstrosity…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on May 25, 2013 at 6:37am — No Comments
Perhaps the most telling moment---there were a lot of moments from which to choose---at last night's "open" meeting of the Broad Ripple Village Association's Land Use Development Committee (LUD) occurred at the end of a short segment presented by Joe Scimia, a lawyer from Feagre Baker & Daniels. He announced to a standing-room-only house at the Broad Ripple United Methodist Church that part of "Envision Broad Ripple," the guiding plan for the development of Broad Ripple, was the…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on May 24, 2013 at 6:23am — No Comments
The Broad Ripple Village Association will hold an informational meeting tonight at the Broad Ripple United Methodist Church, at 6185 Guilford Avenue. That is across the street and a few steps south of the Kroger grocery store in Broad Ripple. The Land Use and Development Committee will hold this meeting, one of its regularly scheduled meetings.
LUD is descrbed on the BRVA website:
"The BRVA's Land Use and Development Committee (LUD) implements the development…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on May 23, 2013 at 6:25am — No Comments
A few days ago I blogged about Greg Ballard's "legal corruption." The point was that so many actions of his administration that reek of "corruption," as defined in The American College Dictionary, are not illegal. For example, out in the open and in front of everybody, he awarded a sweet deal to a big campaign contributor on the Broad Ripple parking garage. If there was no money under the table, only money out there contributed consistently with applicable campaign laws, and Mayor Ballard…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on May 22, 2013 at 5:59am — No Comments
In the 1960s, scientists debated whether the Earth---our home, in orbit around a run-of-the mill star we call the Sun---would cool down or heat up as a result of pollution.
Each side had facts in common upon which they relied. "Greenhouse gases"---primarily gases that resulted from human-made pollution---act to reflect light and heat. The scientists on the "cool" side theorized pollution would prevent penetration of sunlight and heat through the atmosphere and we would end up…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on May 21, 2013 at 6:07am — 1 Comment
There probably are four business establishments that one could say epitomize Broad Ripple: Good Earth, the organic food store on Guilford; Conner's Pub, immediately behind Good Earth; the Vogue; and the Alley Cat. When I moved to Broad Ripple in 1987, there were more businesses of this Broad Ripple "type." Fox Deli, The Patio, Provincial Kitchen, The Stone Mug, El Matador. Readers probably can add businesses I have overlooked. One could argue Bazbeaux Pizza should be on the list. I am…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on May 20, 2013 at 5:30am — 1 Comment
Saturday, May 18, we will shoot at the Isaacs Center for Peace, 8001 Westfield Boulevard. We stream live at 11 a.m. Dick Cady, who was awarded a Pulitzer with his work as a reporter for The Indianapolis Star, has written "Scavengers," an account of the Marjorie Jackson's life, a narrative of some Indianapolis history, her murder, and the apprehension of the gang-that-couldn't-shoot-straight types who robbed the millionaire widow, one of whom killed her.
I was asked a few days…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on May 16, 2013 at 5:52am — No Comments
Our focal topic for Saturday's Show will be the Marjorie Jackson murder. Dick Cady will be a guest panelist. Mr. Cady won the Pulitzer for reporting for The Indianapolis Star and, most recently, has published "Scavengers," a book about the murder of Marjorie Jackson, the widow of a wealthy Indianapolis businessman. The story relates the history of the Jackson wealth, how Marjorie came to be part of Chester Jackson's life, her drift into paranoia, and the people who stole from her and…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on May 15, 2013 at 6:22am — No Comments
If I write a blog about a Federal agency responsible for collection of revenues levied by the government, will I be subject to audit? If you noticed, I avoided use of a three-letter acronym for a Federal agency charged with performing the task for our national government. That agency has come under fire since reports Friday disclosed the agency targeted any 501(c)(4) groups with the words "patriot" or "tea party" in their names, or advocated education about the Constitution or the Bill of…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on May 14, 2013 at 5:57am — No Comments
Before Marjorie Jackson was murdered in May, 1977, she had withdrawn millions of dollars---in cash---from what then was Indiana National Bank. Those millions were not the only items of currency on her property. She was the widow of the son of the founder of a grocery store chain. Her husband had grown up in a family business largely cash-driven. Marjorie was accustomed to her husband bringing home cash and hiding it in various places around the home they eventually purchased on Indy's…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on May 13, 2013 at 6:14am — No Comments
In 1787, the Framers met in Philadelphia to draft what became the Constitution of the United States. We should get a couple of things straight about the Constitution.
Only 36 delegates signed the final product. Three other delegates present on that day abstained. A total of 55 men attended the Convention, at one time or another, during that summer. There were some men, chosen as delegates, who refused to attend. Perhaps most famously, Patrick Henry said he would not attend…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on May 12, 2013 at 6:52am — No Comments
There has been a "push" recently for United States military involvement in Syria’s civil war. I call the chaos in Syria a "civil" war because, generally, protracted conflicts in which people of a country seek to overthrow the government that claims rule over them are called "civil wars."
There seem to be no valid reasons for a U.S. military incursion in Syria. There are corporations that would profit from such a commitment. But profits are not worth lives.
The Syrian…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on May 11, 2013 at 6:27am — No Comments
This Saturday, May 11, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Jeff Cox (Indianapolis attorney, blogger and author) and John Strinka (Socialist Party candidate for the Indiana House of Representatives in 2012) will join us on "Civil Discourse Now"for discussion of our focal topic: the chaos in Syria and possible United States involvement there.
As happened last week, we probably also will discuss cricket.
Cricket is a dart game. It also is a game some would argue was a British…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on May 9, 2013 at 6:23am — No Comments
Yesterday afternoon, Pat Andrews, who has been a guest on The Show several times and is amongst the best bloggers of local politics in Indianapolis at "Had Enough Indy?" printed, on her blog, an exchange of e-mails between Indianapolis City-County Councilor-at-Large Zach Adamson and Dennis L. Rosebrough, a mayoral-appointee to the Board of Public Works. Adamson had e-mailed members of the Public Works Board to voice his opposition to the proposed cricket complex Mayor Ballard has proposed…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on May 8, 2013 at 6:23am — No Comments
It appears that Israel conducted airstrikes inside Syria near the capital, Damascus.
Beyond what should be "baseline" troubling questions---the widening of any military conflict, with a premise that war results in killing and therefore is bad, but, in limited instances, justified---I have to ask, what do we know and from whom do we know it?
There are reports that Israel struck shipments of rockets and other arms meant for guerillas who would use those items against…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on May 7, 2013 at 6:00am — 1 Comment
We send too many people to too many places to die. Syria is the latest country at which our military has been pointed.
TV of the 1960s started, for most people, in black-and-white. The screens bore images of shades between black and white, mostly gray. About 1965 many households had color TVs. That was about the time the military conflict in Vietnam heated up. August brought us the Tonkin Gulf resolution, a blueprint for how a government can defraud the American public into…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on May 6, 2013 at 6:10am — No Comments
Most United States troops have withdrawn from Iraq. That was a military conflict—not a "war," as Congress only has followed the Constitution five times in our history to declare war: War of 1812, Mexican-American War, Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II. Thousands were killed and maimed, but "war," as defined by the Constitution, it was not.
We still have troops in Afghanistan. Why they are there is a fair question. One reason could be to continue to prop up a…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on May 5, 2013 at 6:15am — No Comments
I finished my fifteenth Mini-Marathon! Congratulations to all who participated!
Added by Mark Small on May 4, 2013 at 4:52pm — 1 Comment
It promises to be cool this morning. We will stream live from Creation Café, 337 West 11th Street, on the first floor of the former Buggs Temple. As the sergeant used to say on "Hill Street Blues," be safe out there. If you begin to feel like you need to stop, do not hesitate to walk to the side and say that to a course official. They will summon transport to take you to the finish line.
Best of luck to everyone
Added by Mark Small on May 4, 2013 at 5:12am — No Comments
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