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…

   A doctor (MD) was aghast at poor persons coming to the ER, where she worked,, to obtain acetaminophen (Tylenol®) for a headache. She thought this was an abuse of our healthcare system. As I listened, last night, to yesterday's arguments before the United States Supreme Court, I remembered her rant about people who had no choice, except the ER, to buy the medicine because they were poor.

   People are poor in this society. The poor are kept poor. The areas in which many of the poor…

   These blogs are a combination of memories of doing the Mini® and advice, based on those memories, of how to do it. I had no clue, in 1999, about the proper approach to the race. All advice given in this, or any other column, is not given as a healthcare professional. I do not have the formal training received by M.D.s, so check with your physician before the Mini®. And while you’re at her/his office, be sure to get free samples. 

Before the start, part 4.

   Don’t be alarmed…

   I am nearing the home stretch on these blogs that are part combination of memories of doing the Mini® and advice, based on those memories, of how to do it. I had no clue, in 1999, about the proper approach to the race. All advice given in this, or any other column, is not given as a healthcare professional. I do not have the formal training received by M.D.s, so check with your physician before the Mini®. 

Before the start, part 3.

   Choice of music: something with a good…

   As I wrote yesterday, these last blogs about the Mini® will be a combination of memories of doing the Mini® and advice, based on those memories, of how to do it. I had no clue, in 1999, about the proper approach to the race. All advice given in this, or any other column, is not given as a healthcare professional. I do not have the formal training received by M.D.s, so check with your physician before the Mini®. 

Before the start, part 2.

   If you buy new shoes for the race,…

   These last couple of blogs about the Mini® will be a combination of memories of doing the Mini® and advice, based on those memories, of how to do it. Even today, the soles of my feet still are numb from the MS. The MS also has effected my ability to void my bladder. Others might view that as a problem. I say pish-posh. I have to use a catheter to void urine from its reservoir below my belt-line. That means that I am entitled to use the handicapped stall at major sporting events—for a…

   This will be the fourteenth year in a row I have competed in the Indianapolis 500 Festival Mini-Marathon®.  The Mini® is a half-marathon. A marathon is 26.2 miles, the distance from the battle of Marathon, in ancient Greece to the Parthenon. The 26.2 miles is a modern-day guess. Still, that’s a long distance—and one I covered in 2001 at the marathon held each fall at what used to be Fort Benjamin on the east side of Indianapolis.

   My days began with a walk of 3.78 miles. I used a…

   Michael Jackson's death hit me hard to the extent that, pharmaceutically, his death was a direct result of his fear of insomnia. He took what were described as drug cocktails to achieve sleep. When those failed, he resorted to a heavy drug used to render a patient unconscious for surgery.      Michael Jackson had a ton of money (in addition to money he had made from royalties from his own music, he made a lot after he purchased The Beatles® music catalogue and sold licenses to companies…

   The Mini-Marathon® is on May 5. This is my personal account of why the Mini®—this will be my 14^th in a row—is important to me.  To paraphrase the title of The Ventures’ song, I walk—do not run—the 13.1 miles. Considering that in 1994, by the second of nine days in the hospital, I completely had lost use of my legs, doing those 13.1 miles is pretty good.

   I lay on the ice-covered asphalt of the crosswalk, staring at a car heading my direction. My mind moved a bit more…