Evangelicals, et al, are poised to get what they’ve wanted: overturn Roe v Wade. Politico has noted: According to Paul Weyrich, conservative activist & architect of the Religious Right, the movement’s initial focus was segregation They were for it) in the 1970s. As noted 1/6

in Roe, abortion has been common & accepted throughout history, by Christians and, strongly, by Judaism. 410 U.S. 129-30. Evangelicals no longer could advocate overtly for racism, so they shifted to…

In the early 1990s an NFL player negotiated a contract to require that he be 1 of the 3 highest pd linebackers in NFL. What would have happened if 3 other linebackers had the same provision? Our country faces threats on several fronts w/religion a common factor in each. 1/4

A theocracy is “Government of a state by those who are believed to be or represent that they are acting under the immediate direction of God or some other divinity.” Black’s Law Dictionary, 10th ed., 2014, p. 1706.…

As GOP nominee for Indiana House Distr 86 it would be easy to pander to the far-right-wing of this iteration of the GOP & cheer a leaked SCOTUS opinion that indicates Roe v Wade, written by Justice Blackmun, a Nixon appointee, soon will be overturned. I won’t pander. 1/4

I’m pro-choice. If elected to Indiana’s Gen’l Assembly I shall vote against any measures that seek to infringe women’s reproductive choices. Roe hinges on a right to privacy. Alexander Hamilton, one of The…

All 3 GOP candidates for Michigan Att’y Gen’l last evening chimed in on SCOTUS’s decision in Griswold v Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965). Good news? None recognized the case by name & 1 had to look it up on his phone. Bad news? All 3 want Griswold scrapped. 1/7

In Griswold, the Court held there is a right to privacy. If you say, “There’s no ‘right of privacy’ in The Constitution,” you do not understand The Constitution. This sentiment is why Alexander Hamilton, one of The Framers,…

On Tuesday, May 18, at 9 pm I’ll “discuss” (debate) women’s reproductive rights (or, as right-wing people are programmed to say, the murder of millions of beautiful little lives that an all-loving deity can’t save from surgical procedures) on “Mouthwash”, John Schmitz’s FB podcast.

My opponent will be State Rep. John Jacob, whose views are entrenched. My view is that I am not a woman, cannot get pregnant, and so should not tell women what to do with their lives. (So why are two males…

Yesterday a friend suggested I change the topic, guns, I planned to discuss. She said everyone is discussing the impeachment trial. I agree: trump’s trial is important. One issue that needs to be discussed, especially in light of January 6, is private ownership of guns.

One reason people own a gun is self-defense: to defend against a burglar. However, statistics, compiled by Jacksonville State University, show only 27.6% of burglaries occur when someone’s home. If you are not there to…

I’m different from the other white people who seek the GOP nomination for Indiana’s 5th Congressional District in the June 2 primary. I believe we have to return to the original values of the Republican Party.

The Republican Party held values that emphasized racial equality and justice. President Lincoln sought to keep the country together despite the wickedness that had been built into our nation’s structure in The Constitution.

Other Republican candidates brag about their…

The 3rd Amendment (“No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.”) is “almost never-used.” Silvera v. Lockyer, 312 F.3d 1052, 1076 (9th Cir. 2002).

We should learn history, especially the history of our Constitution and case law and amendments that followed ratification in 1789 up to today.

England enacted Quartering Act of 1765 required American colonists to bear the…

Senate Bill 75 has been presented before Indiana’s General Assembly by Senator James Buck, a Republican from Kokomo. The bill would remove nomination of candidates for United States Senate from primaries.

To be clear: Buck is a state Senator, but his bill would change the ways in which the two major political parties nominate candidates for United States Senate. In a meeting of GOP people I attended Saturday, people, at first, were perplexed by this move by Indiana Democrats.

After…

   Republican candidate for the United States Senate in Iowa, Joni Ernst—who has run a TV ad in which she fires a handgun in a practice range, a metaphor on how “tough” she would be if elected—has been the subject of a story on The Daily Beast.  There the candidate was shown speaing on September 13, 2013, at “a forum held by the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition” in which Ernst said, among other things, Congress should not pass laws “that the states would consider nullifying” and “we’ve…

   Last evening I inferred many of the people who had written about the infamous interview of Phil Robertson, the patriarch of the family at the center of the A & E network's "Duck Dynasty," had not read the interview. There was a feel that many simply quoted outrageous passages from other people's reviews of the article. Those reviews themselves might have relied on quotes from others' reviews. I wanted to read the entire article, so as not to be a hypocrite---at least not in this…

   Whether the color is blue, an example I used last week, or red, as I shall use today, the question still is the same. Do States, or their political subdivisions such as counties and cities, have power, under the United States Constitution, to outlaw whatever conduct they wish under so-called police powers of the States? I use the color red today as I found studies that have determined the color red can cause some people to become angry. I will address that in a moment.

   Paul…

   At 11 a.m Saturday: How free is America? Guest panelist and Indianapolis attorney Ginny Maxwell will join us.

   My answer to the question: not very. We have 25% of the World's prison inmate population, yet we have only five percent of the World's population. That's one statistic with which I will support my position.

   We can speak freely about our government. Of course, the government keeps lists of people to "watch"---on the basis of what people say, write, blog---hello…

   Whatever your view about guns, firearms, the Second Amendment, gun control, may be, one aspect of the public discussion its one-sided nature. I have heard/seen programs on which one side---choose by network---prominently is featured. I have watched people yell or scream at each other, but I have yet to see/hear intelligent, civil discourse on the topic.

   That is why "Civil Discourse Now" was started. I got tired of the "rah rah our side" nature of many shows and the…

   At Grady's Championship Deli, located at 44th and Keystone (east side of Keystone Avenue, just north of Fall Creek Parkway) at 11 a.m. we will stream "live" a discussion about gun rights. My position is what some (many?) in this country would view as extreme. I believe there should be no private ownership of guns. Our guest panelists will be Andrew Kirch, well-known amongst those of the Indy blogosphere as a conservative advocate, and a very passionate advocate of gun "rights." Also,…

   LATEST ON SATURDAY'S SHOW: ON SECOND AMENDMENT. We will air at 11 a.m. sharp. Andrew Kirch will join our panel. We should be able to announce, later today, where we will have The Show.

   President Obama announced his plans to address gun violence. Senator Rand Paul characterized the President as monarchical (as did Sean Hannity, but at least Paul does not have to rely upon staff writers to spell "monarchical" correctly). Others mentioned impeachment of the President because he had…

   Saturday's Show will address the Second Amendment and arguments for control or repeal of the Second Amendment. We stream "live" at 11 a.m.

   One common argument against any restrictions on gun ownership relies upon what is set forth as an historical "fact"---that one of Adolf Hitler's first actions as Chancellor of Germany was to require registration of ownership of guns by private citizens. To authenticate this claim, gun advocates even have a "quote" from Hitler:

      …

   On Today’s Show we will discuss THE TENTH AMENDMENT at 11 a.m. at Big Hat Books, 6510 Cornell Avenue, in Broad Ripple. "Civil Discourse Now" is part of the "Indiana Talks" internet network. If you cannot attend, you can Tweet in questions. I will post "how" on that later today. Our Twitter address is @civildiscoursenow.com

   Our confirmed guests for Saturday will be:

   Mike Maharrey of the Tenth Amendment Center. Their website (tenthamendmentcenter dot com) is…

   Coincidence has brought two bills to the Indiana State Senate that implicate the topic we will discuss—THE TENTH AMENDMENT—this Saturday, January 12, at 11 a.m. at Big Hat Books, 6510 Cornell Avenue, in Broad Ripple. "Civil Discourse Now" is part of the "Indiana Talks" internet network. If you cannot attend, you can Tweet in questions. I will post "how" on that later today.

   Senator Phil Boots, a Republican from Crawfordsville, is sponsor of Senate Bill 230 that (1) authorizes…

Civil Discourse Now will stream (how'd I dodge the obvious verb?) from the Indiana State Fairgrounds on January 19 at 11 a.m. to discuss ramifications of the Second Amendment. So far one panelist we have confirmed is Andrew Kirch. Co-host Mark Small (me) will advocate that the Second Amendment should be repealed. There's no need to talk about slippery slopes with me on this topic. Andrew will argue (vehemently I am sure) against the position I favor. Paul Ogden probably also will favor…