"Everything gives you cancer." –Joe Jackson, 1982.

   As of 6 a.m. on June 1, 2012, smoking no longer will be allowed in bars or restaurants in Indianapolis. Smoking will be allowed in existing cigar bars and hookah shops. Also exempt are private clubs. The main issue has been smoking in bars.

   The first time I encountered a "no smoking" section in a restaurant was at Delta Sigma Rho-Tau Kappa Alpha debate nationals in 1977 at Salt Lake City. Before, smoking was allowed…

   "Everything gives you cancer." –Joe Jackson, 1982.

   At the outset, I state: I smoke cigars. I smoked my first stogie when I was a delegate to Hoosier Boys State, held during the summer of 1972 at ISU in Terre Haute. I think I had a couple of blueberry tiparillos. I smoked cigarettes from second semester senior year of high school (Salem 100s) through second semester Sophomore year at DePauw (Vantage menthols). I quit smoking cigarettes because they were contraindicated with other…

   Sometimes a person "pumps up" her or his resume in order to obtain employment. One way to pump up that resume, give it a little more juice, is to list jobs or achievements never held or won. An example of that was the resume of a person at DePauw who listed, amongst his prior jobs, "staff photographer for The Wall Street Journal." At the time, that publication had no photographs. At best, line drawings and graphs were placed on its pages. One representative of a potential employer…

   Jack Lugar is a candidate for Indiana’s 5^th Congressional District in the May 8 Republican primary. He is one of seven candidates listed who seeks the party’s nomination for the November election to replace long-time Congressman Dan Burton.

   On his website, one of the issues he lists is "Crime and punishment," in which he begins with:

"As a former attorney with the Appeals Division of the Indiana Attorney General’s Office, Jack made sure that violent criminals…

   Today’s Show has the promise of being really good. Our topic will be Indiana’s 5^th District Congressional race. Our guests include Tony Long, a candidate for the Democratic Party nomination for the general election in November. State Representative Scott Reske is Mr. Long’s opponent. Mr. Reske’s campaign manager, Lisa Carter, originally agreed to appear.

   One aspect of what I believe constitutes "civility" is to let guests know the topic for a program. The topic should…

   Is David McIntosh a resident of Indiana? Or did he give up his claim to Indiana residency when he moved to Virginia and obtained a Virginia driver’s license.

   McIntosh is a candidate in the Republican primary election to replace Dan Burton, who is retiring from Congress. McIntosh served three terms in Congress, from 1995 to 2001. He lost in his bid for Governor of Indiana in 2000, and moved to Virginia to do what so many do after losing a seat in Congress. He became a lobbyist.…

   Our guests on Saturday’s Show will be Democratic candidates for the 5^th Congressional District. I will post their info tomorrow.

   On the Republican side, David McIntosh is a candidate who embraces some of the same stands as our most recent Republican president—George W. Bush. McIntosh would lower taxes and eliminate regulations. That approach did extremely well under George W. Bush—if you are a venture capitalist, manager of a hedge fund, or overseas investor. McIntosh…

  As I wrote yesterday, the race for the Fifth Congressional District, where Dan Burton, a Republican, has held office since 1983, was re-configured. On January 31, he announced his retirement. That was rather a last-minute thing. Candidates’ signature filing deadline—by which a candidate had to have her/his application into the office of the Indiana Secretary of State along with 500 (I believe is the number) signatures in support—was February 24. The election boards have a nasty habit of…

   Congressman Dan Burton, a Republican, has held office in the United States House of Representatives since 1983. The Congressional District from which he has served has been re-configured a couple of times over those years. He has not enjoyed a fuzzy-warm relationship with his party’s leadership. That probably explains, in part, the re-configurations of the district he represents. Re-configuration implies an effort to unseat him. Leadership of the Democratic Party would like to "flip" the…

   Saturday’s Show was a pleasure in which to participate. I hope that those who view it feel that it was informative.

   The May 8 primary election is only three weeks and two days from today. If any candidates for office are interested in appearing on The Show, I would encourage them to contact us.

TODAY: A "TOXIC" SHOW!

   Are there topics we should be "afraid" to discuss on "Civil Discourse Now"? Two days ago I was told, by people whom I respect, that the topic for this week’s Show is "toxic."

   Thursday I attended a Continuing Legal Education Seminar (CLE) in Bloomington. (I did not attend undergrad there and so do not go "gaga" over memories of Kilroy’s, Zagreb’s, Nick’s, etc., although Wednesday evening I had a nice dinner at Malibu Grill as I…

What is the proper means by which we select judges?

   This question embraces a topic many would considered "high-brow." That assessment by those many is: (1) false and (2) an expression of a prejudice against knowledge and intellect grown over the past few decades. A prejudice fostered, in part, by people who want the many to remain ignorant. If you believe the subject of judicial selection will bore you, I suggest the stakes in judicial selection are very…

   This is an open invitation.  Will anyone accept this invitation to defend the system by which Marion County’s political parties—Democratic and Republican—choose candidates for Superior Court Judges?

   The Governor of Indiana, Mitch Daniels, has described the system as corrupt. A recently retired Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court, Justice Boehm, has described the system in similar terms.

   Candidates who wish to run for the office of Superior Court judge must pay a…

   Let me begin by saying: My position is George Zimmerman is innocent until charged, tried by a jury (or, if jury is waived, by a trial court), and found guilty.

   Two lawyers in Florida announced last week they represented George Zimmerman in regard to the shooting of Trayvon Martin. The press reported that the lawyers had not met face-to-face ( as opposed to some other manes by which one would "meet" another person) with Zimmerman.     Not having yet met one’s client is not an…

   I thought the idea was that we should have as many eligible voters vote as want to vote.

   Part of the concept was not to make registration as difficult as possible.

   Part of the concept was not to change rules of eligibility to eliminate persons from being able to register.

   Part of the concept was not to reduce the number and location of polling sites so as to raise the degree of difficulty to that of a walk on the four-inch-wide bar (maybe it is six; you get…

   At 11 a.m. on this 7th day of April, 2012, "Civil Discourse Now" will stream live our discussion of war powers of the United States. Guests will be INdianapolis lawyer and war power advocate Jeff Cox, and pragmatist (by his own description) James Nease.

   We will film at Big Hat Books, 6510 Cornell Avenue in Broad Ripple.

   The Constitution provides that Congress shall have te power to declare war. The president holds the position of Commander-in-Chief. Especially since in…

   George Zimmerman is innocent.

   In this country our rights are recognized by the Federal Constitution, and the constitutions of the 50 states. One basic premise of criminal law is that a person is innocent until proven guilty. Until Zimmerman is charged, tried, and convicted, officially he is innocent. This premise was recognized by the United States Supreme Court in Coffin v. United States, 156 U.S. 432 (1895).

   One problem in the case is the initial reluctance of…

   There should be no controversy over Indiana BMV’s recent de-certification of specialty license plates of three (3) groups, including the plate of one group that helps gay teenagers deal with the stresses of being gay, a teenager, and (I would infer; and perhaps this is the greatest source of stress) a Hoosier.

   License plates on motor vehicles serve two legitimate purposes: identification of individual vehicles and generation of revenue for administration of the system for…

   The topic of next week’s Show is whether a declaration of war is necessary, under the Constitution, to commit United States military forces to combat.

   Too often the U.S. has sent troops to faraway places for reasons difficult to discern. Prior to World War II, Indochina was a possession of France. The people living in Indochina had not invited the French to come and occupy their lands. The French conquered the lands. In turn, Japan swept through the area and took it from the…

   When I was Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper in law school, I caught flack for a lot of items we printed. The issue for which I caught the most flack was the issue we devoted to baseball. That issue ran like 22 pages. People criticized me for engaging in discussion of what they viewed as frivolous when so many awful things were afoot in the world.

   Baseball has been part of this country's culture for 160  years (or more, depending upon how one views the origins of the Game). The…