Has the “American contractor killed” in Iraq whose death prompted the current occupant of the Oval Office - a/k/a dt - to stage attacks in Iraq been identified? If an incident predicates U.S. military action, we should have as many details as possible.

I have yet to see that the person has been identified.

First, was an “American contractor” even killed? The USA has a troublesome track record as to “incidents” upon which we predicate military attacks. In 1964 the Tonkin Gulf…

   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 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…

   A person who frequently posts to this blog, and who has been a guest on "Civil Discourse Now," Nicolas Martin, noted yesterday something to the effect that negative responses to politicians is nothing new. Nic quoted H.L. Mencken on the point. I would add another, poet e.e. Cummings, whose poem read: "A politician/is an arse upon which/everything has sat except a man." I think I got that right. Seriously, it was off the top of my head.

   The anger to which I referred yesterday is…

   On an evening during mid-terms at DePauw, shortly after the movie "Network" premiered, someone got the idea to throw open a window and shout what became fictional newsman Howard Beale's famous rant. "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!" People around campus threw open their windows, much as New York City dwellers were depicted in the movie, and joined the rant. That all was quite humorous for college students.

   We are 37 years past that time. People seem even…

   Today’s Show: we discuss what the Bill of Rights means. Our guests will be Jeff Cox and Adam Lenkowsky. We stream "live" at 11 a.m.

   There are false beliefs that have been spread and accepted for a long time. One of the most prominent—and false—is that the United States of America is "the land of the free."

   How does one measure freedom?

   The United States has roughly five percent (5%) of the world’s population, but twenty-five percent of the world’s population…

   At the time of the Constitutional Convention, the issue of whether to continue the institution of slavery was critical. The States of Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, and, in particular, South Carolina, were greatly reliant for slave labor on their plantations. It was feared the delegates of those States would walk out of the convention were slavery to be abolished. At least 20 of the 53 delegates who attended the convention claimed ownership in other human beings as…